## The Project Gutenberg eBook of The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV

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Title: The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV

Editor: Ida Husted Harper

Susan B. Anthony

Release date: August 31, 2009 [eBook #29870]
Most recently updated: January 5, 2021

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE, VOLUME IV ***

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# THE HISTORY
OF
Woman Suffrage

##### EDITED BY

#### SUSAN B. ANTHONY &
IDA HUSTED HARPER

##### ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPERPLATE AND PHOTOGRAVURE
ENGRAVINGS

#### IN FOUR VOLUMES

#### VOL. IV.

#### 1883-1900

#### "PERFECT EQUALITY OF RIGHTS FOR WOMAN, CIVIL, LEGAL
AND POLITICAL"

##### SUSAN B. ANTHONY
17 Madison Street, Rochester, N. Y.

##### Copyright, 1902, by Susan B. Anthony

##### THE HOLLENBECK PRESS
INDIANAPOLIS

* * * * Make me respect my material so much that I dare not slight my work. Help me to deal very honestly with words and with people, because they are both alive. Show me that, as in a river, so in writing, clearness is the best quality, and a little that is pure is worth more than much that is mixed. Teach me to see the local color without being blind to the inner light. Give me an ideal that will stand the strain of weaving into human stuff on the loom of the real. Keep me from caring more for books than for folks, for art than for life. Steady me to do my full stint of work as well as I can, and when that is done, stop me, pay me what wages thou wilt, and help me to say from a quiet heart a grateful Amen.

Henry Van Dyke.

[Pg v]

## PREFACE

After the movement for woman suffrage, which commenced about the middle of the nineteenth century, had continued for twenty-five years, the feeling became strongly impressed upon its active promoters, Miss Susan B. Anthony and Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, that the records connected with it should be secured to posterity. With Miss Anthony, indeed, the idea had been ever present, and from the beginning she had carefully preserved as far as possible the letters, speeches and newspaper clippings, accounts of conventions and legislative and congressional reports. By 1876 they were convinced through various circumstances that the time had come for writing the history. So little did they foresee the magnitude which this labor would assume that they made a mutual agreement to accept no engagements for four months, expecting to finish it within that time, as they contemplated nothing more than a small volume, probably a pamphlet of a few hundred pages. Miss Anthony packed in trunks and boxes the accumulations of the years and shipped them to Mrs. Stanton's home in Tenafly, N. J., where the two women went cheerfully to work.

Mrs. Stanton was the matchless writer, Miss Anthony the collector of material, the searcher of statistics, the business manager, the keen critic, the detector of omissions, chronological flaws and discrepancies in statement such as are unavoidable even with the most careful historian. On many occasions they called to their aid for historical facts Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, one of the most logical, scientific and fearless writers of her day. To Mrs. Gage Vol. I of the History of Woman Suffrage is wholly indebted for the first two chapters—Preceding Causes and Woman in Newspapers, and for the last chapter—Woman, Church and State, which she later amplified in a book; and Vol. II for the first chapter—Woman's Patriotism in the Civil War.

When the allotted time had expired the work had far exceeded[Pg vi] its original limits and yet seemed hardly begun. Its authors were amazed at the amount of history which already had been made and still more deeply impressed with the desirability of preserving the story of the early struggle, but both were in the regular employ of lecture bureaus and henceforth could give only vacations to the task. They were entirely without the assistance of stenographers and typewriters, who at the present day relieve brain workers of so large a part of the physical strain. A labor which was to consume four months eventually extended through ten years and was not completed until the closing days of 1885. The pamphlet of a few hundred pages had expanded into three great volumes of 1,000 pages each, and enough material remained unused to fill another.[1]

It was almost wholly due to Miss Anthony's clear foresight and painstaking habits that the materials were gathered and preserved during all the years, and it was entirely owing to her unequaled determination and persistence that the History was written. The demand for Mrs. Stanton on the platform and the cares of a large family made this vast amount of writing a most heroic effort, and one which doubtless she would have been tempted to evade had it not been for the relentless mentor at her side, helping to bear her burdens and overcome the obstacles, and continually pointing out the necessity that the history of this movement for the emancipation of women should be recorded, in justice to those who carried it forward and as an inspiration to the workers of the future. And so together, for a long decade, these two great souls toiled in the solitude of home just as together they fought in the open field, not for personal gain or glory, but for the sake of a cause to which they had consecrated their lives. Had it not been for their patient and unselfish labor the story of the hard conditions under which the pioneers struggled to lift woman out of her subjection, the bitterness of the prejudice, the cruelty of the persecution, never would have been told. In all the years that have passed no one else has attempted[Pg vii] to tell it, and should any one desire to do so it is doubtful if, even at this early date, enough of the records could be found for the most superficial account. In not a library can the student who wishes to trace this movement to its beginning obtain the necessary data except in these three volumes, which will become still more valuable as the years go by and it nears success.

Miss Anthony began this work in 1876 without a dollar in hand for its publication. She never had the money in advance for any of her undertakings, but she went forward and accomplished them, and when the people saw that they were good they usually repaid the amount she had advanced from her own small store. In this case she resolved to use the whole of it and all she could earn in the future rather than not publish the History. Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, of New York, a generous patron of good works, gave her the first $1,000 in 1880, but this did not cover the expenses that had been actually incurred thus far in its preparation. She was in nowise discouraged, however, but kept steadily on during every moment which could be spared by Mrs. Stanton and herself, absolutely confident that in some way the necessary funds would be obtained. Her strong faith was justified, for the first week of 1882 came a notice from Wendell Phillips that Mrs. Eliza Jackson Eddy, of Boston, had left her a large legacy to be used according to her own judgment "for the advancement of woman's cause." Litigation by an indirect heir deprived her of this money for over three years, but in April, 1885, she received $24,125.

The first volume of the History had been issued in May, 1881, and the second in April, 1882. In June, 1885, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony set resolutely to work and labored without ceasing until the next November, when the third volume was sent to the publishers. With the bequest Miss Anthony paid the debts that had been incurred, replaced her own fund, of which every dollar had been used, and brought out this last volume. All were published at a time when paper and other materials were at a high price. The fine steel engravings alone cost $5,000. On account of the engagements of the editors it was necessary to employ proofreaders and indexers, and because of the many years over which the work had stretched an immense number of changes[Pg viii] had to be made in composition, so that a large part of the legacy was consumed.

The money which Miss Anthony now had enabled her to carry out her long-cherished project to put this History free of charge in the public libraries. It was thus placed in twelve hundred in the United States and Europe. Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Gage, who had contributed their services without price, naturally felt that it should be sold instead of given away, and in order to have a perfectly free hand she purchased their rights. In addition to the libraries, she has given it to hundreds of schools and to countless individuals, writers, speakers, etc., whom she thought it would enable to do better work for the franchise. For seventeen years she has paid storage on the volumes and the stereotype plates. During this time there has been some demand for the books from those who were able and willing to pay, but much the largest part of the labor and money expended were a direct donation to the cause of woman suffrage.

From the time the last volume was finished it was Miss Anthony's intention, if she should live twenty years longer, to issue a fourth containing the history which would be made during that period, and for this purpose she still preserved the records. As the century drew near a close, bringing with it the end of her four-score years, the desire grew still stronger to put into permanent shape the continued story of a contest which already had extended far beyond the extreme limits imagined when she dedicated to it the full power of her young womanhood with its wealth of dauntless courage and unfailing hope. She resigned the presidency of the National Association in February, 1900, which marked her eightieth birthday, in order that she might carry out this project and one or two others of especial importance. Among her birthday gifts she received $1,000 from friends in all parts of the country, and this sum she resolved to apply to the contemplated volume. One of the other objects which she had in view was the collecting of a large fund to be invested and the income used in work for the enfranchisement of women. Already about $3,000 had been subscribed.

By the time the first half year had passed, nature exacted tribute for six decades of unceasing and unparalleled toil, and[Pg ix] it became evident that the idea of gathering a reserve fund would have to be abandoned. The donors of the $3,000 were consulted and all gave cordial assent to have their portion applied to the publication of the fourth volume of the History. The largest amount, $1,000, had been contributed by Mrs. Pauline Agassiz Shaw, of Boston. Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, of Castile, N. Y., had given $500 and Mrs. Emma J. Bartol, of Philadelphia, $200. The other contributions ranged all the way down to a few dollars, which in many cases represented genuine sacrifice on the part of the givers. It is not practicable to publish the list of the women in full. They will be sufficiently rewarded in the consciousness of having helped to realize Miss Anthony's dream of finishing the story, to the end of her own part in it, of a great progressive movement in which they were her fellow-workers and loyal friends.

Mrs. Gage passed away in 1898. Although Mrs. Stanton is still living as this volume goes to the publishers in 1902, and evinces her mental vigor at the age of eighty-seven in frequent magazine and newspaper articles, she could not be called upon for this heavy and exacting task. It seemed to Miss Anthony that the one who had recently completed her Biography, in its preparation arranging and classifying her papers of the past sixty years, and who necessarily had made a thorough study of the suffrage movement from its beginning, should share with her this arduous undertaking. The invitation was accepted with much reluctance because of a full knowledge of the great labor and responsibility involved. It must be confessed that even a strong sense of obligation to further the cause of woman's enfranchisement would not have been a sufficient incentive, but personal devotion to a beloved and honored leader outweighed all selfish considerations. It is to Miss Anthony, however, that the world is indebted for this as well as the other volumes. It was she who conceived the idea; through her came the money for its publication; for several years her own home has been given up to the mass of material, the typewriters, the coming and going of countless packages, the indescribable annoyances and burdens connected with a matter of this kind. In addition she has borne from her private means a considerable portion of the expenses,[Pg x] and has endured the physical weariness and mental anxiety at a time when she has earned the right to complete rest and freedom from care. There is not a chapter which has not had the inestimable benefit of her acute criticism and matured judgment.

The peculiar difficulties of historical work can be understood only by those who have experienced them. General information is the easiest of all things to obtain—exact information the hardest, and a history that is not accurate has no practical utility. If a reader discover one mistake it vitiates the whole book. Every historian knows how common it is to find several totally different statements of the same occurrence, each apparently as authentic as the others. He also knows the eel-like elusiveness of dates and the flat contradictions of statistics which seem to disprove absolutely the adage that "figures do not lie." He has suffered the nightmare of wrestling with proper names; and if he is conscientious he has agonized over the attempt to do exact justice to the actors in the drama which he is depicting and yet not detract from its value by loading it with trivial details, of vital moment to those who were concerned in them but of no importance to future readers. All of these embarrassments are intensified in a history of a movement for many years unnoticed or greatly misrepresented in the public press, and its records usually not considered of sufficient value to be officially preserved. None, however, has required such supreme courage and faithfulness from its adherents and this fact makes all the more obligatory the preserving of their names and deeds.

To collect the needful information from fifty States and Territories and arrange it for publication has required the careful and constant work of over two years. It has been necessary many times to appeal to public officials, who have been most obliging, but the main dependence has been on the women of various localities who are connected with the suffrage associations. These women have spent weeks of time and labor, writing letters, visiting libraries, examining records, and often leaving their homes and going to the State capital to search the archives. All this has been done without financial compensation, and it is largely through their assistance that the editors have been able to prepare this volume. To give an idea of the exacting work[Pg xi] required it may be stated that to obtain authentic data on one particular point the writer of the Kansas chapter sent 198 letters to 178 city clerks. The meager record of Florida necessitated about thirty letters of inquiry. Several thousand were sent out by the editors of the History, while the number exchanged within the various States is beyond computation.

The demand is widespread that the information which this book contains should be put into accessible shape. Miss Anthony herself and the suffrage headquarters in New York are flooded with inquiries for statistics as to the gains which have been made, the laws for women, the present status of the question and arguments that can be used in the debates which are now of frequent occurrence in Legislatures, universities, schools and clubs in all parts of the country. Practically everything that can be desired on these points will be found herein. The first twenty-two chapters contain the whole argument in favor of granting the franchise to women, as every phase of the question is touched and every objection considered by the ablest of speakers. It has been a special object to present here in compact form the reasons on which is based the claim for woman suffrage. In Chapter XXIV and those following are included the laws pertaining to women, their educational and industrial opportunities, the amount of suffrage they possess, the offices they may fill, legislative action on matters concerning them, and the part which the suffrage associations have had in bringing about present conditions. There are also chapters on the progress made in foreign countries and on the organized work of women in other lines besides that of the franchise. All the care possible has been taken to make each chapter accurate and complete.

Beginning with 1884, where Vol. III closes, the present volume ends with the century. This is not a book which must necessarily wait upon posterity for its readers, but it is filled with live, up-to-date information. Its editors take the greatest pleasure in presenting it to the young, active, progressive men and women of the present day, who, without doubt, will bring to a successful end the long and difficult contest to secure that equality of rights which belongs alike to all the citizens of this largest of republics and greatest of nations.

I. H. H.

### FOOTNOTES:

[1] The reader can not fail to be interested in the personal story of the writing of these books as related in the Reminiscences of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony—the many journeys made by the big boxes of documents from the home of one to that of the other; the complications with those who were gathering data in their respective localities; the trials with publishers; the delays, disappointments and vexations, all interspersed and brightened with many humorous features.

[Pg xiii]

## INTRODUCTION.

It has been frequently said that the first three volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage, which bring the record to twenty years ago, represent the seed-sowing time of the movement. They do far more than this, for seeds sown in the early days which they describe would have fallen upon ground so stony that if they had sprung up they would soon have withered away. The pioneers in the work for the redemption of women found an unbroken field, not fallow from lying idle, but arid and barren, filled with the unyielding rocks of prejudice and choked with the thorns of conservatism. It required many years of labor as hard as that endured by the forefathers in wresting their lands from undisturbed nature, before the ground was even broken to receive the seed. Then followed the long period of persistent tilling and sowing which brought no reaping until the last quarter of the century, when the scanty harvest began to be gathered. The yield has seemed small indeed at the end of each twelvemonth and it is only when viewed in the aggregate that its size can be appreciated. The condition of woman to-day compared with that of last year seems unchanged, but contrasted with that of fifty years ago it presents as great a revolution as the world has ever witnessed in this length of time.

If the first organized demand for the rights of woman—made at the memorable convention of Seneca Falls, N. Y., in 1848—had omitted the one for the franchise, those who made it would have lived to see all granted. It asked for woman the right to have personal freedom, to acquire an education, to earn a living, to claim her wages, to own property, to make contracts, to bring suit, to testify in court, to obtain a divorce for just cause, to possess her children, to claim a fair share of the accumulations during marriage. An examination of Chap. XXIV and the following chapters in this volume will show that in many of the States[Pg xiv] all these privileges are now accorded, and in not one are all refused, but when this declaration was framed all were denied by every State. For the past half century there has been a steady advance in the direction of equal rights for women. In many instances these have been granted in response to the direct efforts of women themselves; in others without exertion on their part but through the example of neighboring States and as a result of the general trend toward a long-delayed justice. Enough has been accomplished in all of the above lines to make it absolutely certain that within a few years women everywhere in the United States will enjoy entire equality of legal, civil and social rights.

Behind all of these has been the persistent demand for political rights, and the question naturally arises, "Why do these continue to be denied? Educated, property-owning, self-reliant and public-spirited, why are women still refused a voice in the Government? Citizens in the fullest sense of the word, why are they deprived of the suffrage in a country whose institutions rest upon individual representation?"

There are many reasons, but the first and by far the most important is the fact that this right, and this alone of all that have had to be gained for woman, can be secured only through Constitutional Law. All others have rested upon statute law, or upon the will of a board of trustees, or of a few individuals, or have needed no official or formal sanction. The suffrage alone must be had through a change of the constitution of the State and this can be obtained only by consent of the majority of the voters. Therefore this most valuable of all rights—the one which if possessed by women at the beginning would have brought all the others without a struggle—is placed absolutely in the hands of men to be granted or withheld at will from women. It is an unjust condition which does not exist even in a monarchy of the Old World, and it makes of the United States instead of a true republic an oligarchy in which one-half of the citizens have entire control of the other half. There is not another country having an elected representative body, where this body itself may not extend the suffrage. While the writing of this volume has been in progress the Parliament of Australia by a single Act has fully enfranchised the 800,000 women of that commonwealth. The Parliament of Great Britain has conferred on women every[Pg xv] form of suffrage except that for its own members, and there is a favorable prospect of this being granted long before the women of the United States have a similar privilege.

Not another nation is hampered by a written Federal Constitution which it is almost impossible to change, and by forty-five written State constitutions none of which can be altered in the smallest particular except by consent of the majority of the voters. Every one of these constitutions was framed by a convention which no woman had a voice in selecting and of which no woman was a member. With the sole exception of Wyoming, not one woman in the forty-five States was permitted a vote on the constitution, and every one except Wyoming and Utah confined its elective franchise strictly to "male" citizens.

Thus, wherever woman turns in this boasted republic, from ocean to ocean, from lakes to gulf, seeking the citizen's right of self-representation, she is met by a dead wall of constitutional prohibition. It has been held in some of the States that this applies only to State and county suffrage and that the Legislature has power to grant the Municipal Franchise to women. Kansas is the only one, however, which has given such a vote. A bill for this purpose passed the Legislature of Michigan, after years of effort on the part of women, and was at once declared unconstitutional by its Supreme Court. Similar bills have been defeated in many Legislatures on the ground of unconstitutionality. It is claimed generally that they may bestow School Suffrage and this has been granted in over half the States, but frequently it is vetoed by the Governor as unconstitutional, as has been done several times in California. In New York, after four Acts of the Legislature attempting to give School Suffrage to all women, three decisions of the highest courts confined it simply to those of villages and country districts where questions are decided at "school meetings." Eminent lawyers hold that even this is "unconstitutional." (See chapter on New York.) The Legislature and courts of Wisconsin have been trying since 1885 to give complete School Suffrage to women and yet they are enabled to exercise it this year (1902) for the first time. (See chapter on Wisconsin.) Some State constitutions provide, as in Rhode Island, that no form even of School Suffrage can be conferred[Pg xvi] on women until it has been submitted as an amendment and sanctioned by a majority of the voters.

The constitutions of a number of States declare that it shall not be sufficient to carry an amendment for it to receive a majority of the votes cast upon it, but it must have a majority of the largest vote cast at the election. Not one State where this in the case ever has been able to secure an amendment for any purpose whatever. Minnesota submitted this question itself to the electors in 1898 in the form of an amendment and it was carried, receiving a total of 102,641, yet the largest number of votes cast at that election was 251,250, so if its own provisions had been required it would have been lost. Nebraska is about to make an effort to get rid of such a provision, but, as this can be done only by another amendment to the constitution, the dilemma is presented of the improbability of securing a vote for it which shall be equal to the majority of the highest number cast at the general election. Since it is impossible to get such a vote even on questions to which there is no special objection, it is clearly evident that an amendment enfranchising women, to which there is a large and strong opposition, would have no chance whatever in States making the above requirement.

It then remains to consider the situation in those States where only a majority of the votes cast upon the amendment itself is required. One or two instances will show the stubborn objection which exists among the masses of men to the very idea of woman suffrage. In 1887 the Legislature of New Jersey passed a law granting School Suffrage to women in villages and country districts. After they had exercised it until 1894 the Supreme Court declared it to be unconstitutional, as "the Legislature can not enlarge or diminish the class of voters." The women decided it was worth while to preserve even this scrap of suffrage, so they made a vigorous effort to secure from the Legislature the submission of an amendment which should give it to them constitutionally. The resolution for this had to pass two successive Legislatures, and it happened in this case that by a technicality three were necessary, but with hard work and a petition signed by 7,000 the amendment was finally submitted in 1897. The unvarying testimony of the school authorities was that the women had used their vote wisely and to the great advantage of[Pg xvii] the schools during the seven years; there was no organized opposition from the class who might object to the Full Suffrage for women lest their business should be injured, or that other class who might fear their personal liberty would be curtailed; yet the proposition to restore to women in the villages and country districts the right simply to vote for school trustees was defeated by 75,170 noes, 65,029 ayes—over 10,000 majority.

South Dakota as a Territory permitted women to vote for all school officers. It entered the Union in 1889 with a clause in its constitution authorizing them to vote "at any election held solely for school purposes." They soon found that this did not include State and county superintendents, who are voted for at general elections, and that in order to get back their Territorial rights an amendment would have to be submitted to the electors. This was done by the Legislature of 1893. There had not been the slightest criticism of the way in which they had used their school suffrage during the past fourteen years, no class was antagonized, and yet this amendment was voted down by 22,682 noes, 17,010 ayes, an opposing majority of 5,672.

With these examples in two widely-separated parts of the country, the old and the new, representing not only crystallized prejudice in the one but inborn opposition in both to any step toward enfranchising women, and with this depending absolutely on the will of the voters, is it a matter of wonder that its progress has been so slow? If the question were submitted in any State to-day whether, for instance, all who did not pay taxes should be disfranchised, and only taxpayers were allowed to vote upon it, it would be carried by a large majority. If it were submitted whether all owning property above a certain amount should be disfranchised, and only those who owned less than this, or nothing, were allowed to vote, it would be carried unanimously. No class of men could get any electoral right whatever if it depended wholly on the consent of another class whose interests supposedly lay in withholding it. Political, not moral influence removed the property restrictions from the suffrage in order to build up a great party—the Democratic—which because of its enfranchisement of wage-earning men has received their support for eighty years. After the Civil War, although the Republican party was in absolute control, amendments to the State constitutions[Pg xviii] for striking out the word "white," in order to enfranchise colored men, were defeated in one after another of the Northern States, even in Kansas, the most radical of them all in its anti-slavery sentiment. It finally became so evident that this concession would not be granted by the voters that Congress was obliged to submit first one and then a second amendment to the Federal Constitution to secure it. But even then the ratification of the necessary three-fourths of the Legislatures could be obtained only because it was positively certain that through this action an immense addition would be made to the Republican electorate. Now after a lapse of thirty years this same party looks on unmoved at the violation of these amendments in every Southern State because it is believed that thus there can be, through white suffrage, the building up of the party in that section which the colored vote has not been able to accomplish.

The most superficial examination of the conditions which govern the franchise answers the question why, after fifty years of effort, so little progress has been made in obtaining it for women. Of late years every new or "third" party which is organized declares for woman suffrage. This is partly because such parties come into existence to carry out reforms in which they believe women can help, and partly because in their weak state they are ready to grasp at straws. While giving them full credit for such recognition, whatever may be its inspiring motive, it is clearly evident that the franchise must come to women through the dominant parties. If either of these could have had assurance of receiving the majority of the woman's vote it would have been obtained for her long ago without effort on her part, just as the workingman's and the colored man's were secured for them, but this has been impossible. Even in the four States where women now have the full suffrage neither party has been able to claim a distinct advantage from it. At the last Presidential election two of the four went Democratic and two Republican. In Colorado, where women owed their enfranchisement very largely to the Populists, that party was deposed from power at the first election where they voted and never has been reinstated. Although there was no justification for holding women responsible, they were so held, and the party consequently did not extend the franchise to women in other States where it[Pg xix] might have done so. Many consider that the principles of the Republican party in general would be more apt to commend themselves to women than those of the Democratic, but others believe that, so great is their antipathy to war and all the evils connected with it and the consequences following it, they would have opposed the party responsible for these during the past four years. It may be accepted, however, as the most probable view that women will divide on the main issues in much the same proportion as men. From this standpoint neither party will see any especial advantage in their enfranchisement, and both will look with disfavor upon adding to the immense number of voters who must now be reckoned with in every campaign an equally great number who are likely to require an entirely different management. There is a certain element in the leadership of all parties which is not especially objectionable to men, but would not be tolerated by women. Candidates who would be perfectly acceptable to men if they were sound on the political issues might be wholly repudiated by the women of their own party. If temperance and morality were made requisites many leaders and officials who now hold high position would be permanently retired. These are all reasons which appeal to politicians for deferring the day of woman suffrage as long as possible.

Each of the two dominant parties is largely controlled by what are known as the liquor interests. Their influence begins with the National Government, which receives from them billions of revenue; it extends to the States, to which they pay millions; to the cities, whose income they increase by hundreds of thousands; to the farmers, who find in breweries and distilleries the best market for their grain. There is no hamlet so small as not to be touched by their ramifications. No "trust" ever formed can compare with them in the power which they exercise. That their business shall not be interfered with they must possess a certain authority over Congress and Legislatures. They and the various institutions connected with them control millions of votes. They are among the largest contributors to political campaigns. There are few legislators who do not owe their election in a greater or less degree to the influence wielded by these liquor interests, which are positively, unanimously and unalterably opposed to woman suffrage. This can be gained only by the submission of[Pg xx] an amendment to the National or State constitutions, and for that women must go to the Congress or the Legislatures. What can they offer to offset the influences behind these bodies? They have no money to contribute for party purposes. They represent no constituency and can not pledge a single vote, a situation in which no other class is placed. They ask men to divide a power of which they now have a monopoly; to give up a sure thing for an uncertainty; to sacrifice every selfish interest—and all in the name of abstract justice, a word which has no place in politics. Was there ever apparently a more hopeless quest?

With the exception of the three amendments made necessary by the Civil War, the Federal Constitution has not been amended for ninety-eight years, and there is strong opposition to any changes in that instrument. If Congress would submit an article to the State Legislatures for the enfranchisement of women the situation would be vastly simplified and eventually the requisite three-fourths for ratification could be secured, but undoubtedly a number of States will have to follow the example of those in the far West in granting the suffrage before this is done. The question at present, therefore, may be considered as resting with the various Legislatures. With all the powerful influences above mentioned strongly intrenched and pitted against the women who come empty-handed, it is naturally a most difficult matter to secure the submission of an amendment where there is the slightest chance of its carrying. With the two exceptions of Colorado and Idaho, it may be safely asserted that in every case where one has been submitted it has been done simply to please the women and to get rid of them, and with the full assurance that it would not be carried. Two conspicuous examples of the impossibility of obtaining an amendment where it would be likely to receive a majority vote are to be found in California and Iowa. In the former State one went before the electors in 1896, and, although the conditions were most unfavorable and the strongest possible fight was made against it, so large an affirmative sentiment was developed that it was clearly evident it would be carried on a second trial. Up to that time the women of this State had very little difficulty in securing suffrage bills, but since then the Legislature has persistently refused to submit another amendment. (See chapter on California.)[Pg xxi]

In probably no State is the general sentiment so strongly in favor of woman suffrage as in Iowa, and yet for the past thirty years the women have tried in vain to secure from the Legislature the submission of an amendment—simply an opportunity to carry their case to the electors. (See chapter on Iowa.) The politics of that State is practically controlled by the great brewing interests and the balance of power rests in the German vote. It is believed that woman suffrage would be detrimental to their interests and they will not allow it. Here, as in many States, a resolution for an amendment must be acted upon by two successive Legislatures. If a majority of either party should pass this resolution, the enemy would be able to defeat its nominees for the next Legislature before the women could get the chance to vote for them. In other words, all the forces hostile to woman suffrage are already enfranchised and are experienced, active and influential in politics, while the women themselves can give no assistance, and the men in every community who favor it are very largely those who have not an aggressive political influence. This very refusal of certain Legislatures to let the voters pass upon the question is the strongest possible indication that they fear the result. If women could be enfranchised simply by an Act of Congress they would have an opportunity to vote for their benefactors at the same time as the enemies would vote against them, and thus the former would not, as at present, run the risk of personal defeat and the overthrow of their party by espousing the cause of woman suffrage.

If, however, Legislatures were willing to submit the question it is doubtful whether, under present conditions, it could be carried in any large number of States, as the same elements which influence legislators act also upon the voters through the party "machines." Amendments to strike the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the Constitution have been submitted by ten States, and by five of these twice—Kansas, 1867-94; Michigan, 1874; Colorado, 1877-93; Nebraska, 1882; Oregon, 1884-1900; Rhode Island, 1886; Washington, 1889-98; South Dakota, 1890-98; California, 1896; Idaho, 1896. Out of the fifteen trials the amendment has been adopted but twice—in Colorado and Idaho. In these two cases it was indorsed by all the political parties and carried with their permission. Wyoming and Utah placed equal[Pg xxii] suffrage in the constitution under which they entered Statehood. In both, as Territories, women had had the full franchise—in Wyoming twenty-one and in Utah seventeen years—and public sentiment was strongly in favor. In the States where the question was defeated it had practically no party support.

Aside from all political hostility, however, woman suffrage has to face a tremendous opposition from other sources. The attitude of a remonstrant is the natural one of the vast majority of people. Their first cry on coming into the world, if translated, would be, "I object." They are opposed on principle to every innovation, and the greatest of these is the enfranchisement of women. To grant woman an equality with man in the affairs of life is contrary to every tradition, every precedent, every inheritance, every instinct and every teaching. The acceptance of this idea is possible only to those of especially progressive tendencies and a strong sense of justice, and it is yet too soon to expect these from the majority. If it had been necessary to have the consent of the majority of the men in every State for women to enter the universities, to control their own property, to engage in the various professions and occupations, to speak from the public platform and to form great organizations, in not one would they be enjoying these privileges to-day. It is very probable that this would be equally true if they had depended upon the permission of a majority of women themselves. They are more conservative even than men, because of the narrowness and isolation of their lives, the subjection in which they always have been held, the severe punishment inflicted by society on those who dare step outside the prescribed sphere, and, stronger than all, perhaps, their religious tendencies through which it has been impressed upon them that their subordinate position was assigned by the Divine will and that to rebel against it is to defy the Creator. In all the generations, Church, State and society have combined to retard the development of women, with the inevitable result that those of every class are narrower, more bigoted and less progressive than the men of that class.

While the girls are crowding the colleges now until they threaten to exceed the number of boys, the demand for the higher education was made by the merest handful of women and granted by an equally small number of men, who, on the boards of trustees,[Pg xxiii] were able to do so, but it would have been deferred for decades if it had depended on a popular vote of either men or women. The pioneers in the professions found their most trying opposition from other women, instigated by the men who did their thinking for them to believe that the whole sex was being disgraced. Married women almost universally were opposed to laws which would give them control of their property, being assured by their masculine advisers that this would deprive them of the love and protection of their husbands. Public sentiment was wholly opposed to these laws and no such objections ever have been made in Legislatures even to woman suffrage as were urged against allowing a wife to own property. The contest was won by the smallest fraction of women and a few strong, far-seeing men, the latter actuated not alone by a sentiment of justice but also by the desire of preventing husbands from squandering the property which fathers had accumulated and wished to secure to their daughters, and fortunate indeed was it that this action did not have to be ratified by the voters.

There are in the United States between three and four million women engaged in wage-earning occupations outside of domestic service. Would this be possible had they been obliged to have the duly recorded permission of a majority of all the men over twenty-one years old? If the question were submitted to the votes of these men to-day whether women should be allowed to continue in these employments and enter any and all others, would it be carried in the affirmative in a single State?

And yet this prejudiced, conservative and in a degree ignorant and vicious electorate possesses absolutely the power to withhold the suffrage from women. A large part of it is composed of foreign-born men, bringing from the Old World the most primitive ideas of the degraded position which properly belongs to woman. Another part is addicted to habits with which it never would give women the chance to interfere. Boys of twenty-one form another portion, fully imbued with a belief in woman's inferiority which only experience can eradicate. Men of the so-called working classes vote against it because they fear to add to the power of the so-called aristocracy. The latter oppose it because they think the suffrage already has been too widely extended and ought to be curtailed instead of expanded.[Pg xxiv] The old fogies cast a negative ballot because they believe woman ought to be kept in her "sphere," and the strictly orthodox because it is not authorized by the Scriptures. A large body who are "almost persuaded," but have some lingering doubts as to the "expediency," satisfy their consciences for voting "no" by saying that the women of their family and acquaintance do not want it. Thus is the most valuable of human rights—the right of individual representation—made the football of Legislatures, the shuttlecock of voters, kicked and tossed like the veriest plaything in utter disregard of the vital fact that it is the one principle above all others on which the Government is founded.

Nevertheless there is abundant reason for belief that, in the face of all the forces which are arrayed against it, this measure could be carried in almost any State where the women themselves were a unit or even very largely in the majority in favor of it. In the indifference, the inertia, the apathy of women lies the greatest obstacle to their enfranchisement. Investigation in States where a suffrage amendment has been voted on has shown that practically every election precinct where a thorough canvass was made and every voter personally interviewed by the women who resided in it, was carried in favor. Some men of course can not be moved, but many who never have given the subject any thought can be set to thinking; while there is in the average man a latent sense of justice which responds to the persuasion of a woman who comes in person and says, "I ask you to grant me the same rights which you yourself enjoy; I am your neighbor; I pay taxes just as you do; our interests are identical; give me the same power to protect mine which you possess to protect yours." A man would have to be thoroughly hardened to vote "no" after such an appeal, but if he were let alone he could do so without any qualms. The same situation obtains in the family and in social life. The average man would not vote against granting women the franchise if all those of his own family and the circle of his intimate friends brought a strong pressure to bear upon him in its favor. The measure could be carried against all opposition if every clergyman in every community would urge the women of his congregation to work for it, assuring them of the sanction of the church and the blessing[Pg xxv] of God, and showing them how vastly it would increase their power for good.

Every privilege which has been granted women has tended to develop them, until their influence is incomparably stronger at the present time than ever before. Their great organizations are a power in every town and city. If these throughout a State would unite in a determined effort to secure the franchise, bringing to bear upon legislators the demands of thousands of women, high and low, rich and poor, of all classes and conditions, they would be compelled to yield; and the same amount of influence would carry the amendment with the voters. But the petitioners for the suffrage are in the minority. There are many obvious reasons for this, and one of them, paradoxical as it may seem, is because so much already has been gained. Woman in general now finds her needs very well supplied. If she wants to work she has all occupations to choose from. If she desires an education the schools and colleges are freely opened to her. If she wishes to address the public by pen or voice the people hear her gladly. The laws have been largely modified in her favor, and where they might press they are seldom enforced. She may accumulate and control property; she may set up her own domestic establishment and go and come at will. If the workingwoman finds herself at a disadvantage she has not time and often not ability to seek the cause until she traces it to disfranchisement, and if she should do so she is too helpless to make a contest against it. Those women who "have dwelt, since they were born, in well-feathered nests and have never needed do anything but open their soft beaks for the choicest little grubs to be dropped into them," can not be expected to feel or see any necessity for the ballot. Nor will the woman half way between, absorbed in her church, her clubs, her charities and her household, make the philosophical study necessary to show that she could do larger and more effective work for all of these if she possessed the great power which lies in the suffrage. Even women of much wealth who are not idle, self-centered and indifferent to the needs of humanity, but are giving munificently for religious, educational and philanthropic purposes, have not been aroused in any large number to the necessity of the suffrage, for reasons which are evident.

Reforms of every kind are inaugurated and carried forward[Pg xxvi] by a minority, and there is no reason why this one should prove an exception. In not an instance has a majority of any class of men demanded the franchise, and there is no precedent for expecting the majority of women to do so. It will have to be gained for them by the foresight, the courage and the toil of the few, just as all other privileges have been, and they will enter into possession with the same eagerness and unanimity as has marked their acceptance of the others.

With this mass of prejudice, selfishness and inertia to overcome is there any hope of future success? Yes, there is a hope which amounts to a certainty. Nothing could be more logical than a belief that where one hundred privileges have been opposed and then ninety-nine of them granted, the remaining one will ultimately follow. While women still suffer countless minor disadvantages, the fundamental rights have largely been secured except the suffrage. This, as has been pointed out, is most difficult to obtain because it is intrenched in constitutional law and because it represents a more radical revolution than all the others combined. The softening of the bitter opposition of the early days through the general spirit of progress has been somewhat counteracted by a modern skepticism as to the supreme merit of a democratic government and a general disgust with the prevalent political corruption. This will continue to react strongly against any further extension of the suffrage until men can be made to see that a real democracy has not as yet existed, but that the dangerous experiment has been made of enfranchising the vast proportion of crime, intemperance, immorality and dishonesty, and barring absolutely from the suffrage the great proportion of temperance, morality, religion and conscientiousness; that, in other words, the worst elements have been put into the ballot-box and the best elements kept out. This fatal mistake is even now beginning to dawn upon the minds of those who have cherished an ideal of the grandeur of a republic, and they dimly see that in woman lies the highest promise of its fulfilment. Those who fear the foreign vote will learn eventually that there are more American-born women in the United States than foreign-born men and women; and those who dread the ignorant vote will study the statistics and see that the percentage of illiteracy is much smaller among women than among men.[Pg xxvii]

The consistent tendency since the right to individual representation was established by the Revolutionary War has been to extend this right, until now every man in the United States is enfranchised. While a few, usually those who are too exclusive to vote themselves, insist that this is detrimental to the electorate, the vast majority hold that in numbers there is the safety of its being more difficult to purchase or mislead; that even the ignorant may vote more honestly than the educated; that more knowledge and judgment can be added through ten million electors than through five; and also that by this universal male suffrage it is made impossible for one class of men to legislate against another class, and thus all excuse for anarchy or a resort to force is removed. Added to these advantages is the developing influence of the ballot upon the individual himself, which renders him more intelligent and gives him a broader conception of justice and liberty. All of these conditions must lead eventually to the enfranchising of the only remaining part of the citizenship without this means of protection and development.

The gradual movement in this direction in the United States is seen in the partial extension of the franchise which has taken place during the past thirty-three years, or within one generation. During this time over one-half of them have conferred School Suffrage on women; one has granted Municipal Suffrage; four a vote on questions of taxation; three have recognized them in local matters, and a number of cities have given such privileges as were possible by charter. Since 1890 four States, by a majority vote of the electors, have enfranchised 200,000 women by incorporating the complete suffrage in their constitutions, from which it never can be removed except by a vote of women themselves. During all these years there have been but two retrogressive steps—the disfranchising of the women of Washington Territory in 1888 by an unconstitutional decision of the Supreme Court, dictated by the disreputable elements then in control; and the taking away of the School Suffrage from all women of the second-class cities in Kentucky by its Legislature of 1902 for the purpose of eliminating the vote of colored women. In every other Legislature a bill to repeal any limited franchise which has been extended has been overwhelmingly voted down.

Another favorable sign is the action taken by Legislatures on[Pg xxviii] bills for the full enfranchisement of women. Formerly they were treated with contempt and ridicule and either thrown out summarily or discussed in language which the descendants of the honorable gentlemen who used it will regret to read. Now such bills are treated with comparative courtesy; a discussion is avoided wherever possible, members not wishing to go on record, but if forced it is conducted in a respectful manner; and, while usually rejected, the opposing majority is small, in many instances only just large enough to secure defeat, and frequently members have to change their votes to the negative as they find the measure is about to be carried. Several instances have occurred in the last year or two where the bill passed but during the night the party whip was applied with such force that the affirmative was compelled to reconsider its action the next day. There is little doubt that even now if members were free to vote their convictions a bill could be carried in many Legislatures.

A most encouraging sign is the attitude of the Press. Although the country papers occasionally refer to the suffrage advocates as hyenas, cats, crowing hens, bold wantons, unsexed females and dangerous home-wreckers—expressions which were common a generation ago—these are no longer found in metropolitan and influential newspapers. Scores of both city and country papers openly advocate the measure and scores of others would do so if they were not under the same control as the Legislatures. Ten years ago it was almost impossible to secure space in any paper for woman suffrage arguments. To-day several of the largest in the country maintain regular departments for this purpose, while the report of the press chairman of the National Association for 1901 stated that during the past eight months 175,000 articles on the subject had been sent to the press and a careful investigation showed that three-fourths of them had been published. In addition different papers had used 150 special articles, while the page of plate matter furnished every six weeks was extensively taken. New York reported 400 papers accepting suffrage matter regularly; Pennsylvania, 368; Iowa, 253; Illinois, 161; Massachusetts, 107, and other States in varying numbers. Since this question is very largely one of educating the people, the opening of the Press to its arguments is probably the most important advantage which has been gained.[Pg xxix]

The progress of public sentiment is strikingly illustrated in a comparison of the votes in those States which have twice submitted an amendment to their constitution that would give the suffrage to women. In Kansas such an amendment in 1867 received 9,070 ayes, 19,857 noes; in 1894, 95,302 ayes, 130,139 noes. The second time it was indorsed by the Populists and not by the Republicans, therefore the latter, who in that State are really favorable to the measure, largely voted against it in order that the Populists might not strengthen their party by appearing to carry it, and yet the percentage of opposition was considerably decreased. In Colorado in 1877 the vote stood 6,612 ayes, 14,055 noes; in 1893 the amendment was carried by 35,698 ayes, 29,461 noes—a majority of 6,237. Oregon in 1884 gave 11,223 ayes, 28,176 noes; in 1900, 26,265 ayes, 28,402 noes—an increase of 226 opponents and 15,042 advocates. The vote in Washington in 1889 was 16,527 ayes, 35,917 noes; in 1898, 20,171 ayes, 30,497 noes—the opposing majority reduced from 19,396 to 10,326, or almost one-half.

One is logically entitled to believe from these figures that the question will be carried in each of those States the next time it is voted on. It must be remembered that women go into all these campaigns with no political influence and practically no money, not enough to employ workers and speakers to make an approach to a thorough organization and canvass of the State; totally without the aid of party machinery; with no platform on which to present their cause except such as is granted by courtesy; and with no advocacy of it by the speakers on the platforms of the various parties. The increased majorities indicate solely that men are emerging from the bondage of tradition, prejudice and creed, and that when they can escape from the bondage of politics they will grant justice to women.

The very fact that women themselves are arousing from their inertia to the extent of organizing in opposition to what they term "the danger of having the ballot thrust upon them" shows life. While their enrollment is infinitesimal it has set women to thinking, and a number who have signed the declaration that they do not want the franchise, have for the first time been compelled to give the matter consideration and have decided that they do want it. The facts also that within a few years the[Pg xxx] membership of the National Suffrage Association has doubled; that auxiliaries have been formed in every State and Territory; that permanent headquarters have been established in New York; and that the revenues (almost wholly the contributions of women) have risen from the $2,000 or $3,000 per annum, which it was barely possible to secure half-a-dozen years ago, to $10,345 in 1899, $22,522 in 1900 (including receipts from Bazar), $18,290 in 1901—these facts are indisputable evidence of the growth of the sentiment among women. In this line of progress must be placed also the thousands of other organizations containing millions of women, which, although not including the suffrage among their objects, are engaged in efforts for better laws, civic improvements and a general advance in conditions that inevitably will bring them to realize the immense disadvantage of belonging to a class without political influence.

Nothing could be more illogical than the belief that a republic would confer every gift upon woman except the choicest and then forever withhold this; or that women would be content to possess all others and not eventually demand the one most valuable. The increasing number who are attending political conventions and crowding mass meetings until they threaten to leave no room for voters, are unmistakable proof that eventually women themselves and men also will see the utter absurdity of their disfranchised condition. The ancient objections which were urged so forcibly a generation or two ago have lost their force and must soon be retired from service. The charge of mental incapacity is totally refuted by the statistics of 1900 showing the percentage of girls in the High Schools to be 58.36 and of boys, 41.64; the number of girl graduates, 39,162; boys, 22,575; 70 per cent. of the public school teachers women; 40,000 women college graduates scattered throughout the country and 30,000 now in the universities, with the percentage of their increase in women students three times as great as that of men, and 431,153 women practicing in the various professions.

The charge of business incompetency is disproved by the 503,574 women who are engaged in trade and transportation, the 980,025 in agriculture and the 1,315,890 in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. Every community also furnishes its special examples of the aptitude of women for business, now that they[Pg xxxi] are allowed a chance to manifest it. Statistics show further that one-tenth of the millionaires are women and that they are large property holders in every locality. Whether they earned or inherited their holdings, the fact remains that they are compelled to pay taxes on billions of dollars without any representation.

The military argument—that women must not vote because they can not fight—is seldom used nowadays, as it is so clearly evident that it would also disfranchise vast numbers of men; that the value of women in the perpetuation of the Government is at least equal to that of the men who defend it; and that there is no recognition in the laws by which the franchise is exercised of the slightest connection between a ballot and a bullet.

The most persistent objection—that if women are allowed to enter politics they will neglect their homes and families—is conclusively answered in the four States where they have had political rights for a number of years and domestic life still moves on just as in other places. In two of the four while Territories women had exercised the franchise from seventeen to twenty-one years, and yet a large majority of the men voted to grant it perpetually. Women do not love their families because compelled to do so by statute, or cling to their homes because there is no place for them outside. This same direful prediction was made at every advanced step, but, although the entire status of women has been changed, and they are largely engaged in the public work of every community, they are better and happier wives, mothers and housekeepers because they are more intelligent and live a broader life. But they are learning, and the world is learning, that their housekeeping qualities should extend to the municipality and their power of motherhood to the children of the whole nation, and that these should be expressed through this very politics from which they are so rigorously excluded.

The objections of the opponents have been so largely confuted that they have for the most part been compelled to make a last defense by declaring: "When the majority of women ask for the suffrage they may have it." By this very concession they admit that there is no valid reason for withholding it, and in thus arbitrarily doing so they are denying all representation to the minority, which is wholly at variance with republican principles. This is excused on the ground that the franchise is not a "right"[Pg xxxii] but a privilege to be granted or not as seems best to those in power. This was the Tory argument before the American Revolution, and, carried back to its origin, it upholds "the divine authority of kings." The law to put in force the one and only amendment ever added to our National Constitution to extend the franchise was entitled, "An act to enforce the right of citizens of the United States to vote;" and the amendment itself reads, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged." (See Chap. I.)

The readers of the present volume will not find such a story of cruel and relentless punishment inflicted upon advocates of woman suffrage as is related in the earlier volumes of this History, but the passing of rack and thumbscrew, of stake and fagot, does not mean the end of persecution in the world. Those who stand for this reform to-day do not tread a flower-strewn path. It is yet an unpopular subject, under the ban of society and receiving scant measure of public sympathy, but it must continue to be urged. If the assertion had been accepted as conclusive, that a measure which after years of advocacy is still opposed by the majority should be dropped, the greatest reforms of history would have been abandoned. The personal character of those who represent a cause, however, sometimes carries more weight than the numbers, and judged by this standard none has had stronger support than the enfranchisement of women[2].

The struggle of the Nineteenth Century was the transference of power from one man or one class of men to all men, it has been said, and while but one country in 1800 had a constitutional government, in 1900 fifty had some form of constitution and some degree of male sovereignty. Must the Twentieth Century be consumed in securing for woman that which man spent a hundred years in obtaining for himself? The determination of those engaged in this righteous contest was thus expressed by the president of the National Suffrage Association in her address at the annual convention of 1902:

> Before the attainment of equal rights for men and women there will be years of struggle and disappointment. We of a younger generation have taken up the work where our noble and consecrated pioneers left it. We, in turn, are enlisted for life, and generations[Pg xxxiii] yet unborn will take up the work where we lay it down. So, through centuries if need be, the education will continue, until a regenerated race of men and women who are equal before man and God shall control the destinies of the earth.

But have we not reason to hope, in this era of rapid fulfilment—when in all material things electricity is accomplishing in a day what required months under the old régime—that moral progress will keep pace? And that as much stronger as the electric power has shown itself than the coarse and heavy forces of the stone and iron periods, so much superior will prove the noblesse oblige of the men and women of the present, achieving in a generation what was not possible to the narrow selfishness and ignorant prejudice of all the past ages?

A part of the magnificent plan to beautify Washington, the capital of the nation, is a colossal statue to American Womanhood. The design embodies a great arch of marble standing on a base in the form of an oval and broken by sweeps of steps. On either side are large bronze panels, bearing groups of figures. One of these will be a symbolic design showing the spirit of the people descending to lay offerings on woman's altar. Lofty pillars crowned by figures representing Victory, are to be placed at the approaches. Surmounting the arch will be the chief group of the composition, symbolizing Woman Glorified. She is rising from her throne to greet War and Peace, Literature and Art, Science and Industry, who approach to lay homage at her feet. Inside the arch is a memorial hall for recording the achievements of women.

How soon this symbol shall become reality and woman stand forth in all the glory of freedom to reach her highest stature, depends upon the use she makes of the opportunities already hers and the fraternal assistance she receives from man. Fearless of criticism, courageous in faith, let each take for a guide these inspiring words which it has been said the Puritan of old would utter if he could speak: "I was a radical in my day; be thou the same in thine! I turned my back upon the old tyrannies and heresies and struck for the new liberties and beliefs; my liberty and my belief are doubtless already tyranny and heresy to thine age; strike thou for the new!"[Pg xxxiv]

### FOOTNOTES:

[2] For partial list, see Appendix—Eminent Advocates of Woman Suffrage.

## ILLUSTRATIONS

Anthony, Susan B. | Frontispiece
Anthony, Mary S. | 848
Avery, Rachel Foster | 270
Avery, Susan Look | 678
Blackwell, Alice Stone | 270
Blankenburg, Lucretia L. | 750
Catt, Carrie Chapman | 388
Chapman, Mariana W. | 848
Clay, Laura | 270
Coggeshall, Mary J. | 948
Eaton, Dr. Cora Smith | 518
Gordon, Kate M. | 678
Greenleaf, Jean Brooks | 848
Gregg, Laura A. | 518
Hall, Florence Howe | 750
Harper, Ida Husted | 1042
Hatch, Lavina A. | 750
Hayward, Mary Smith | 948
Howard, Emma Shafter | 518
Howland, Emily | 848
Jenkins, Helen Philleo | 678
Johns, Laura M. | 948
McCulloch, Catharine Waugh | 270
Meredith, Ellis | 518
Mills, Harriet May | 750
Nelson, Julia B. | 948
Osborne, Elizabeth Wright | 848
Shaw, Rev. Anna Howard | 128
Southworth, Louisa | 678
Spencer, Rev. Anna Garlin | 750
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady | 188
Swift, Mary Wood | 518
Thomas, Mary Bentley | 678
Upton, Harriet Taylor | 270
Wells, Emmeline B. | 948

[Pg xxxv]

## TABLE OF CONTENTS.

List of Illustrations xxxiv

INTRODUCTION.

Review of the Situation xiii-xxxiii
Pioneers break the ground — All their demands now practically conceded except the Franchise — Why is this still refused? — All other rights depend on Statute Law, suffrage on change of Constitution — No other nation thus fettered — Further almost insurmountable obstacles — Experience in many States — Either dominant party would enfranchise women if it were sure of their votes — Liquor interests and political "machines" allied in opposition — They control the situation — Figures of votes on Amendments — Majority of people born opponents of all innovations — Character of electorate on which women must depend — Indifference of women themselves — Reaction against a democratic government — Facts showing steady progress of Woman Suffrage — All signs favorable — Women in education and business — Old objections dying out — Personal character of advocates — Persecution not obsolete but the enfranchisement of women inevitable.

CHAPTER I.

Woman's Constitutional Right to Vote 1-13
Early State constitutions provided against Woman Suffrage — First demand for it — Women after the Civil War — "Male" first used in National Constitution — Fourteenth Amendment — Endeavor to make it include women — They attempt to vote — Susan B. Anthony's trial — Case of Virginia L. Minor — Supreme Court decisions — Suffrage as a right — Arguments for the Federal Franchise — National Association decides to try only for new Amendment — Hearings before Congressional Committees — Reports of these committees — Debate in Congress.

CHAPTER II.

The National Suffrage Convention of 1884 14-30
Forming of National Association in 1869 — Washington selected for annual conventions — Call for that of '84 — Extracts from speeches on Kentucky Laws for Women — Woman before the Law — Outrage of Disfranchisement — Ethics of Woman Suffrage — England vs. the United States — Bishop Matthew Simpson in Favor of Woman's Enfranchisement — Resolutions and Plan of Work — Memorial to Wendell Phillips — Miss Anthony on Disfranchisement a Disgrace — Matilda Joslyn Gage on The Feminine in the Sciences.

[Pg xxxvi]

CHAPTER III.

Congressional Hearings and Reports of 1884 31-55
Debate in the House on a Special Woman Suffrage Committee — Extracts from speeches of John H. Reagan on Awful Effects of Woman Suffrage — James B. Belford on Woman's Right to a Special Committee — J. Warren Keifer on Justice of the Enfranchisement of Women — John D. White on Woman's Right to be Heard — Hearing before Senate Committee — Interdependence of Men and Women — Woman Suffrage a Paramount Question — A Right does not Depend on a Majority's Asking for It — Woman's Ballot for the Good of the Race — Preponderance of Foreign Vote — Miss Anthony on Action by Congress vs. Action by Legislatures — Elizabeth Cady Stanton on Self-Government the Best Means of Self-Development; moral need of woman's ballot, men as natural protectors, inherent right of self-representation — Favorable Senate Report — Adverse House Report by William C. Maybury — Editorial comment — Luke P. Poland on Men Should Represent Women — Strong Report in Favor by Thomas B. Reed, Ezra B. Taylor, Moses A. McCoid, Thomas M. Browne.

CHAPTER IV.

The National Suffrage Convention of 1885 56-69
Startling descriptions of delegates' attire — Mrs. Stanton on Separate Spheres an Impossibility — Discussion on resolution denouncing Religious Dogmas — Criticism by ministers — Great speech in favor of Woman Suffrage in the U. S. Senate by Thomas W. Palmer; action by Congress a necessity, Scriptures not opposed to the equality of woman, figures of women's vote, State needs woman's ballot.

CHAPTER V.

The National Suffrage Convention of 1886 70-84
Relation of the Woman Suffrage Movement to the Labor Question — Take Down the Barriers — German and American Independence Contrasted — Resolution condemning Creeds and Dogmas again discussed — Woman's Right to Vote under Fourteenth Amendment — Disfranchisement Cuts Women's Wages — One-half No Right to a Vote on Liberties of Other Half — Woman Suffrage Necessary for Life of Republic — America lags behind in granting political rights to women — Minority House Report in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment by Ezra B. Taylor, W. P. Hepburn, Lucian B. Caswell, A. A. Ranney; men hold franchise by force, women require it for development, history of woman one of wrong and outrage, Government needs woman's vote, no excuse for waiting till majority demand it.

CHAPTER VI.

First Discussion and Vote in U. S. Senate, 1887 85-111
Joint Resolution for Sixteenth Amendment extending Right of Suffrage to Women — Able speech of Henry W. Blair; Government[Pg xxxvii] founded on equality of rights, no connection between the vote and ability to fight, property qualification an invasion of natural right, man's deification of woman a shallow pretense, no such thing as household suffrage here, maternity qualifies woman to vote, fear of family dissension not a valid excuse — Joseph E. Brown replies; Creator intended spheres of men and women to be different, man qualified by physical strength to vote, caucuses and jury duty too laborious for women, they are queens, princesses and angels, they would neglect their families to go into politics, the delicate and refined would feel compelled to vote, only the vulgar and ignorant would go to the polls, ballot would not help workingwomen, husbands would compel wives to vote as they dictated — Editorial comment — Joseph N. Dolph supports the Resolution; if but one woman wants the suffrage it is tyranny to refuse it, neither in nature nor revealed will of God is there anything to forbid, contest for woman suffrage a struggle for human liberty, its benefits where exercised — James B. Eustis objects — George G. Vest depicts the terrible dangers, negro women all would vote Republican ticket, husband does not wish to go home to embrace of female ward politician, women too emotional to vote, suffrage not a right, we must not unsex our mothers and wives — Editorial comment — George F. Hoar defends woman suffrage; arguments against it are against popular government, Senators Brown and Vest have furnished only gush and emotion — Senator Blair closes debate with an appeal that women may carry their case to the various Legislatures — Vote on submitting an Amendment, 16 yeas, 34 nays.

CHAPTER VII.

The National Suffrage Convention of 1887 112-123
Bishop John P. Newman favors Woman Suffrage — Mrs. Stanton's sarcastic comments on the speeches of Senators Brown and Vest — Lillie Devereux Blake's satire on the Rights of Men — Isabella Beecher Hooker on the Constitutional Rights of Women — Woman of the Present and Past — Delegate Joseph M. Carey on Woman Suffrage in Wyoming — Authority of Congress to Enfranchise Women — Zerelda G. Wallace on Woman's Ballot a Necessity for the Permanence of Free Institutions; the lack of morality in Government has caused the downfall of nations — Resolutions — U. S. Treasurer Spinner first to employ women in a Government department.

CHAPTER VIII.

International Council of Women — Hearing of 1888 124-142
Origin of the Council — Call issued by National Suffrage Association — Official statistics of this great meeting — Eloquent sermon of the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw on the Heavenly Vision; release of woman from bondage of centuries, crucifixion of reformers, the visions of all ages — Miss Anthony opens the Council — Mrs. Stanton's address; psalms of women's lives in a minor key, sympathy as a civil agent powerless until coined into law, women have been mere echoes of[Pg xxxviii] men — Council demands all employments shall be open to women, equal pay for equal work, a single standard of morality — Forming of permanent National and International Councils — Convention of Suffrage Association — Mrs. Stanton expounds National Constitution to Senate Committee and shows the violation of its provisions in their application to women — Mrs. Ormiston Chant makes address — Also Julia Ward Howe — Frances E. Willard pleads for enfranchisement.

CHAPTER IX.

The National Suffrage Convention of 1889 143-157
Official Call shows non-partisan character of the demand for Woman Suffrage — Senator Blair makes clear presentation of woman's right to vote for Representatives in Congress under the Federal Constitution — Mrs. Stanton ridicules women for passing votes of thanks to men for restoring various minor privileges which they had usurped — Hebrew Scriptures not alone the root of woman's subjection — Representative William D. Kelley speaks — Foreign and Catholic vote contrasted with American and Protestant — The Position of Woman in Marriage — Miss Anthony on Woman's Attempt to Vote under the Fourteenth Amendment — The Coming Sex — Woman's Bill of Rights — Favorable report from Committee, Senators Blair, Charles B. Farwell, Jonathan Chace, Edward O. Wolcott.

CHAPTER X.

National-American Convention of 1890 158-174
Mrs. Stanton addresses Senate Committee; the South has not treated negro men more unjustly than the North has treated all women, women never can fully respect themselves or be respected while degraded legally and politically, Queen Victoria contrasted with American women who do not wish to vote — Zebulon B. Vance questions Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony — Committee reports in favor — Celebration of Miss Anthony's Seventieth Birthday — First convention of the two united associations — Striking resolutions — Address of Wm. Dudley Foulke; fundamental right of self-government, equal rights never conceded to women, a just man accords to every other human being the rights he claims for himself, if one woman insists upon the franchise the justice of America can not afford to deny it — Miss Anthony demands free platform — Chivalry of Reform — Mrs. Wallace on A Whole Humanity; woman is teacher, character-builder, soul-life of the race, not a question of woman's rights but of human rights — Washington Star's tribute to Miss Anthony.

CHAPTER XI.

National-American Convention of 1891 175-184
Triennial meeting of National Council — Hail to Wyoming! — Mrs. Stanton on the Degradation of Disfranchisement; women suffer from the disgrace just as men would, State, Church and Society uphold[Pg xxxix] their subordination, all must be brought into harmony with the idea of equality — Lucy Stone speaks — The Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley on Husband and Wife are One; together they must establish justice, temperance and purity — U. S. Senator Carey tells of the admission of Wyoming, first State with full suffrage for women; tribute to their influence in government — The Rev. Miss Shaw describes recent campaign in South Dakota, Indians given preference over women.

CHAPTER XII.

National-American Convention and Hearings of 1892 185-201
Discussion on Sunday opening of Columbian Exposition — Last appearance of Mrs. Stanton at a national convention after an attendance of forty years — Miss Anthony elected President — Value of Organizations for Women — First hearing before a Democratic House Committee — Mrs. Stanton on the Solitude of Self; the right of individual conscience, individual citizenship, individual development, man and woman need the same preparation for time and eternity — Lucy Stone pleads for the rights of women, for justice and fair play, for the feminine as well as the masculine influence in Government — Mrs. Hooker speaks — Senate Committee addressed by Carrie Chapman Catt, and other noted women — Miss Shaw on an Appeal to Deaf Ears; time will come when ears will be unstopped, voice of the people is voice of God, but voice of the whole people never has been heard — Miss Anthony compliments Senator Hoar — Committee report in favor by Senators Hoar, John B. Allen, Francis E. Warren; Vance and George dissent.

CHAPTER XIII.

National-American Convention of 1893 202-220
Washington Evening News pays a compliment to the Association — Memorial service for George William Curtis, John G. Whittier and others — Frederick Douglass speaks of other days — Miss Shaw on Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Rev. Anna Oliver — Miss Anthony tells what has been gained in fourscore years — Woman Independent only when She Can Support and Protect Herself — The Girl of the Future — Opinions of Governors of States on Woman Suffrage — Last Message from Lucy Stone — U. S. Commissioner of Labor, Carroll D. Wright, on the Industrial Emancipation of Women — Miss Anthony on publishing a paper — Discussion on Sunday Observance — Resolutions — Miss Anthony opposes national conventions outside of Washington — Majority votes for alternate meetings elsewhere — Bishop John F. Hurst in favor of Woman Suffrage.

CHAPTER XIV.

National-American Convention of 1894 221-235
Interesting picture of convention in Woman's Journal — Miss Anthony describes forty years' wandering in the wilderness — Colorado women present her with flag — She declares the suffrage association knows no section, no party, no creed — Memorial service for Lucy Stone and[Pg xl] other distinguished members, with addresses by Mrs. Howe, Mr. Foulke, Mr. Blackwell and others — Many interesting speeches — Miss Shaw's anecdotes — Her Sunday sermon, "Let no man take thy crown;" this was written to the church and includes woman, responsibility should be placed on women to steady them in the use of power — Letter commending Woman Suffrage from Gov. Davis H. Waite of Colorado — Rachel Foster Avery tells of Miss Anthony's part in securing the World's Fair Board of Lady Managers — Discussion on Federal Suffrage — Kate Field states her position.

CHAPTER XV.

National-American Convention of 1895 236-251
The Atlanta convention first one held outside of Washington — Cordial reception by press and people — Miss Anthony's charm as presiding officer — Examples of bright informal business meetings — Addresses of welcome by Mayor and others — Woman as a Subject — Out of Her Sphere — The New Woman of the New South — Woman Suffrage a Solution of the Negro Problem — Good suggestions for Organization and Legislative Work — Three Classes of Opponents.

CHAPTER XVI.

National-American Convention of 1896 252-269
The Rev. Miss Shaw's account of Miss Anthony's and her trip to the Pacific Coast — Philosophy of Woman Suffrage — Universal not Limited Suffrage — Memorial service for Frederick Douglass, Theodore Lovett Sewall, Ellen Battelle Dietrick and others — Welcome to Utah, a new State with Full Suffrage for Women — Response by Senator Frank J. Cannon and Representative C. E. Allen — Contest over the resolution against Mrs. Stanton's Woman's Bible — Miss Anthony's eloquent protest — Resolution adopted — Women as Legislators — Charlotte Perkins Stetson on The Ballot as an Improver of Motherhood — Congressional Hearings — Representative John F. Shafroth on the good effects of Woman Suffrage in Colorado — Paper of Mrs. Stanton picturing dark page which present political position of woman will offer to historian of the future.

CHAPTER XVII.

National-American Convention of 1897 270-287
Annual meeting in Des Moines welcomed by the Governor, the Mayor, the Rev. H. O. Breeden and others — Miss Anthony in her president's address describes campaigns the previous year in Idaho, where Woman Suffrage was carried, and in California where it was defeated — Eulogized by the Leader — Mrs. Chapman Catt receives an ovation — Mrs. Colby presents memorial resolutions for nearly forty faithful friends — President George A. Gates of Iowa College advocates woman suffrage — Maternal Love High but Narrow — Domestic Life of Suffragists — Should the Advocates of Woman Suffrage Be[Pg xli] Strictly Non-Partisan? — Celebration in honor of the Free States, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho — All God's Works Recognize Co-equality of Male and Female — Letter from daughter of Speaker Reed — Press Work — Presidential Suffrage.

CHAPTER XVIII.

National-American Convention of 1898 288-321
Fiftieth Anniversary of First Woman's Rights Convention — Chief obstacle to organization is women themselves — Gains of half-a-century — Miss Anthony's birthday luncheon — Mrs. Stanton's paper on Our Defeats and Our Triumphs — The Distinguished Dead — Mrs. Hooker and Miss Anthony in pretty scene — Roll-call of Pioneers — Letter from Abigail Bush, president of first convention — Greetings from Lucinda H. Stone, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and many individuals and associations — Addresses by Mrs. Cannon, a woman State Senator from Utah, Mrs. Conine, a woman State Representative from Colorado, Miss Reel, State Superintendent of Instruction from Wyoming, U. S. Senators Teller and Cannon, and others — Senate Hearing — Wm. Lloyd Garrison on The Nature of a Republican Form of Government — May Wright Sewall on Fitness of Women to Become Citizens from the Standpoint of Education and Mental Development — The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer on Moral Development — Laura Clay on Physical Development — Harriot Stanton Blatch on Woman as an Economic Factor — Florence Kelley, State Factory Inspector of Illinois, on the Workingwoman's Need of the Ballot — Mariana W. Chapman on Women as Capitalists and Taxpayers — Elizabeth Burrill Curtis, Are Women Represented in Our Government? — Henry B. Blackwell, Woman Suffrage and the Home — Mrs. Stanton, The Significance and History of the Ballot — House Hearing — Practical Working of Woman Suffrage — Alice Stone Blackwell on The Indifference of Women — Miss Anthony Closes Hearing.

CHAPTER XIX.

National-American Convention of 1899 322-348
Excellent arrangements at Grand Rapids — Welcome from women's organizations — Miss Anthony's response; counting negro men and refusing them representation no worse than counting all women and refusing them representation, not discouraged, help of the press — The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer on Our Duty to Our New Possessions; strong protest against giving their men political power and refusing it to their women — Discussion; commissions sent to investigate commerce, finance, everything but social conditions, demand for commission of women, in all savage tribes women superior to men, they should have ballot in Hawaii and the Philippines — Letter from Samuel Gompers — Care to secure soldiers' votes — Effects of Suffrage Teaching — Mrs. Sewall on True Civilization — Miss Shaw speaks — Mrs. Stanton on Women Alone Left to Fight their own Battles — Women and War — Epigrams from Southern women—Miss Anthony[Pg xlii] on Every Woman Can Help — Resolutions of encouragement — Memorial services for Parker Pillsbury, Robert Purvis, Matilda Joslyn Gage and many others, with Mrs. Stanton's tribute — Efforts of the National Association to secure equal rights for Hawaiian women — Shameful action of Congressional Committee — Unimpeachable testimony from the Philippines.

CHAPTER XX.

National-American Convention of 1900 349-384
Woman suffrage editorial in Washington Post — Large number of young college women present — Miss Anthony's last opening address as President — Miss Shaw tells joke on her and then describes International Council of Women in London — Miss Anthony reports as delegate to the Council, which was in effect a big suffrage meeting — The Winning of Educational Freedom for Women — Woman Suffrage in Colorado — New Professions for Women Centering in the Home — Justice of Woman Suffrage — Federation of Labor for woman's enfranchisement — Conditions of Wage-earning Women — Miss Shaw's sermon on the Rights of Women — Woman Suffrage in the South — Work done in Congress and Miss Anthony's part in it — Congressional Hearings — Woman's Franchise in England — Mrs. Chapman Catt on Why We Ask for the Submission of an Amendment — Miss Anthony closes Senate hearing with touching appeal — Constitutional Argument before House Committee by Mrs. Blake — Mrs. Stanton's annual State paper — The Economic Basis of Woman Suffrage — The Protective Power of the Ballot — Miss Shaw's plea for justice and liberty — First appearance of Anti-Suffragists — Their amusing inconsistencies — Charges made by them officially refuted — Miss Anthony's reception by President and Mrs. McKinley.

CHAPTER XXI.

National-American Convention of 1900 Continued 385-405
Miss Anthony's determination to resign the presidency — Her address to the convention — Affecting scene at the election of Carrie Chapman Catt — Her acceptance — Press notices of the new President — Birthday gifts to Miss Anthony — Interesting occurrences of the last session — The retiring president introduces her successor, who makes a strong address — Miss Anthony's Farewell — Birthday Celebration in Lafayette Opera House — Program and Woman's Tribune report — Women in all professions bring tributes of gratitude — Organizations of women send greetings — Colored women express devotion — Presents from the "four free States" and from the District of Columbia — Mrs. Coonley-Ward's poem — Mrs. Stanton's daughter brings her mother's love — Miss Shaw's inspiring words — Miss Anthony's beautiful response — Evening reception at Corcoran Art Gallery attended by thousands — Great changes wrought in one life-time.

[Pg xliii]

CHAPTER XXII.

The American Woman Suffrage Association 406-433
Annual meeting of 1884 in Chicago — Lucy Stone's account in Woman's Journal — Work in the South — Resolutions and plan of work — Memorial service for Wendell Phillips, Frances Dana Gage and others — List of officers — Annual meeting of 1885 — Welcomed by Mayor of Minneapolis — Julia Ward Howe responds — Letters from Louisa M. Alcott, Mary A. Livermore, Chancellor Wm. G. Eliot, Dr. Mary F. Thomas — Major J. A. Pickler tells of Woman Suffrage in South Dakota — Need of converting women — Lucy Stone on Fair Play — Annual meeting of 1886 — Cordial greeting of Topeka — Addresses of welcome review history of Woman Suffrage in Kansas — President Wm. Dudley Foulke and Mrs. Howe respond with tributes to men of Kansas — Speech of Prof. W. H. Carruth — Mr. Foulke on the Value of Dreamers — Many letters and telegrams — Annual meeting of 1887 — State Senator A. D. Harlan gives welcome of Philadelphia — Col. T. W. Higginson's address — Report of Lucy Stone, chairman of executive committee — Resolutions congratulating Kansas women on the granting of Municipal Suffrage — Great suffrage bazar in Boston — Annual meeting of 1888 — Favorable comment of Cincinnati papers — Letter from Clara Barton — Address of Henry B. Blackwell — Lucy Stone's description — Large amount of work done — Committee to arrange for union with National Suffrage Association — In 1889 delegates from both organizations perfect arrangements — Appeal of Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Livermore to constitutional conventions of Dakota, Washington, Montana and Idaho — Visit of Mr. Blackwell to first three to secure Woman Suffrage Amendments — In 1890 the two associations hold joint convention in national capital.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Suffrage Work in Political and Other Conventions 434-449
Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony make first appeal to political conventions in 1868 — Faint recognition of National Republican Convention in 1872, 1876, 1888, 1892, 1896 — No Democratic national platform ever noticed women — Record of Populists on Woman Suffrage — Course pursued by Prohibition and other parties — Women as delegates — Miss Anthony's work in various conventions — Unusual efforts made in 1900 — Letters and Memorial to all parties — Amazing result in Republican platform — Ignored by Democrats and Populists — Sentiment developed among delegates — Petitions to non-political conventions — Approval of Labor organizations — Effect in Brewers' Convention — Strong testimony from Wyoming — Thousands of letters written—Petitions for Woman Suffrage representing millions of individuals sent to Congress.

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Rights of Women in the States 450-464
Status of woman at close of the century as shown in Organization, Legislative Action, Laws, Suffrage, Office-holding, Occupations and[Pg xliv] Education — Part of different associations in securing present conditions — Every State shows progress — Legal and civil rights of women now approximate those of men — Property laws for wives — Guardianship of children — Causes for divorce in various States — "Age of protection" for girls — The amount of suffrage women now possess — Women in office in various States — Occupations open to women — Educational advantages.

CHAPTER XXV.

Alabama 465-469
Organization for suffrage — Legislative action and laws — Office-holding — Occupations — Education — Clubs.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Arizona 470-474
Same as above — (School Suffrage).

CHAPTER XXVII.

Arkansas 475-477
Same as above.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

California 478-494
Early efforts for the suffrage — Woman's Congress — Amendment submitted to voters — Great campaign of 1896 — National officers go to its assistance — Experience with State political conventions — Favorable attitude of the Press — Liquor dealers fight Woman Suffrage — Treachery of party managers — Defeat and its causes.

Southern California 494-508
First suffrage society — Woman's Parliament — Organization and work for the great campaign — Methods worthy of imitation — Friendly spirit of the press and many associations — Southern California declares for Woman Suffrage — Laws for women — Ellen Clark Sargent's test case in San Francisco for the franchise — Large donations of women for education.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Colorado 509-534
Organization for Woman Suffrage — Question submitted to voters — Endorsed by all political parties — Work of women in the campaign — Eastern anti-suffragists and Western liquor dealers join hands — Amendment carries by over 6,000 — Reasons for success — After the battle — Political work of women — Only three per cent. failed to vote in 1900 — Laws — Legislature of 1899 urges all States to enfranchise women — General effects of woman suffrage.

CHAPTER XXX.

Connecticut 535-542
Organization for suffrage — Legislative action and laws — School Suffrage — Office-holding of women — Occupations — Education — Clubs.

[Pg xlv]

CHAPTER XXXI.

Dakota 543-544
Suffrage work in the Territory.

North Dakota 544-552
Efforts of women for the franchise in first constitutional convention — Organization of suffrage clubs to secure amendment of constitution — Legislative action and laws — School Suffrage — Office-holding of women — Occupations — Education — Clubs.

South Dakota 552-562
Same as above — Campaign of 1890 to secure Woman Suffrage Amendment — Assistance of National Association — Hardships of the canvass — Treachery of politicians — Amendment defeated by nearly 24,000 — Second attempt in 1898 — Defeated by 3,285.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Delaware 563-566
Organization for suffrage — Legislative action and laws — School Suffrage — Office-holding of women — Occupations — Education — Clubs.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

District of Columbia 567-576
Peculiar position of women — Work of Suffrage Association with Congressional Committees — Property rights secured — Women on School Board — Women in Government Departments — Woman's College of Law — Other things accomplished by women of the District.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Florida 577-580
Organization for suffrage — Effort to raise "age of protection" for girls and its failure — Laws — Occupations — Education.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Georgia 581-588
Same as above — Annual convention of National Association in 1895.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Idaho 589-597
First work for woman suffrage — Submission of Amendment — Campaign of 1896 — Favored by all political parties — Carried by large majority — Favorable decision of Supreme Court — Women elected to office — Percentage of women voting — Effects of woman's vote — Endorsement of prominent men — Laws, etc.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Illinois 598-613
Organization — Obtaining School Suffrage — Supreme Court gives wide latitude to Legislature — Women trustees for State University — Equal[Pg xlvi] guardianship of children for mothers — Many women in office — Women's part in Columbian Exposition — Remarkable achievement of two teachers in compelling corporations to pay taxes — Education.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Indiana 614-627
Early suffrage organization — Efforts in political conventions — Work in Legislature — Laws — Amazing decisions of Supreme Court on the right of women to practice law, keep a saloon and vote — Struggle for police matrons — Women organized in fifty departments of work.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Iowa 628-637
Long years of organized work — Continued refusal of Legislature to submit a Woman Suffrage Amendment to voters — Convention of the National Association in 1897 — Liberal laws for women — Many holding office — Bond Suffrage.

CHAPTER XL.

Kansas 638-664
Organization work and large number of conventions — Granting of Municipal Suffrage — Alliance with parties — Efforts for Full Suffrage — Amendment submitted — Republicans fail to endorse — Campaign of 1894 — National Association and officers assist — Amendment defeated by defection of all parties — Attempt to secure suffrage by statute — A pioneer in liberal laws for women — They hold offices not held by those of any other State — Official statistics of woman's vote — Many restrictions placed on Municipal Suffrage — Class of women who use the franchise.

CHAPTER XLI.

Kentucky 665-677
Organization — Efforts to secure Full Suffrage from Constitutional Convention — State Association succeeds in revolutionizing the property laws for women — School Suffrage — Educational facilities, etc.

CHAPTER XLII.

Louisiana 678-688
Women's work at Cotton Centennial and in Anti-lottery Campaign — Organization for suffrage — Efforts in Constitutional Convention of 1898 — Taxpayer's Suffrage granted to women — Campaign in New Orleans for Sewerage and Drainage — Measure carried by the women — Napoleonic code of laws.

CHAPTER XLIII.

Maine 689-694
Organization for suffrage — Legislative action and laws — Office-holding of women — Occupations — Education — Clubs.

[Pg xlvii]

CHAPTER XLIV.

Maryland 695-700
Same as above — Pioneers in Woman's Rights — Women vote in Annapolis — Contest of Miss Maddox to practice law — Work of women for Medical Department of Johns Hopkins University.

CHAPTER XLV.

Massachusetts 701-750
Pioneer work for suffrage — New England and State Associations and May Festivals — List of Officers — Death of Lucy Stone — Anti-Suffrage Association formed — Fifty years of Legislative Work — Republicans declare for Woman Suffrage — Submission of Mock Referendum — Campaign in its behalf — Activity of the "antis" — Measure defeated, but woman's vote more than ten to one in favor in every district — Laws — Equal guardianship of children — School Suffrage — Women in office — Education — Pay of women teachers.

National Suffrage Association of Massachusetts 750-754
Organization — Efforts to secure large school vote — Legislative work — Assistance in Referendum Campaign — Press work — Many meetings held.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Michigan 755-771
Organization — Efforts in political conventions — Municipal Suffrage granted to women — Declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court — Coarse methods of opponents — Convention of National Association in 1899 — Laws — School Suffrage — Woman can not be prosecuting attorney — Education, etc.

CHAPTER XLVII.

Minnesota 772-782
Organization — Legislative action and laws — School and Library Suffrage — Women in office — Occupations — Education — Clubs.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Mississippi 783-789
Organization — Legislative action — Good property laws — Efforts to secure suffrage for women from Constitutional Convention — Fragmentary franchise — Education.

CHAPTER XLIX.

Missouri 790-795
Organization — Legislative action and laws — Office-holding — Education.

CHAPTER L.

Montana 796-801
Organization — Attempt to obtain Woman Suffrage from first Constitutional Convention — School and Taxpayers' Suffrage granted — Legislative action and laws — Office-holding — Women's work for location of capital and at World's Fair.

[Pg xlviii]

CHAPTER LI.

Nebraska 802-809
Same as above — (School Suffrage).

CHAPTER LII.

Nevada 810-814
Same as above.

CHAPTER LIII.

New Hampshire 815-819
Same as above — School Suffrage.

CHAPTER LIV.

New Jersey 820-834
Organization — Attempt for amendment for School Suffrage — Defeated by 10,000 majority — Legislative action and laws — First State in which women voted — How they were deprived of the ballot — Franchise now possessed — Office-holding — Women in professions.

CHAPTER LV.

New Mexico 835-838
Organization — Legislative action and laws — Office-holding — Education — Equal rights for women among Spanish-Americans.

CHAPTER LVI.

New York 839-873
Battle-ground for Woman Suffrage — Conventions for fifty years — Great campaign in 1894 to secure amendment from Constitutional Convention — Governors Hill and Flower recommend women delegates — Parties refuse to nominate them — Miss Anthony speaks in all the sixty counties — Vast amount of work by other women — In New York and Albany women organize in opposition — 600,000 petition for suffrage, 15,000 against — Convention refuses to submit Amendment to voters — Long-continued efforts in Legislature — Liberal laws for women — School and Taxpayers' Suffrage — Many women in office — Superior educational advantages — Political and other clubs.

CHAPTER LVII.

North Carolina 874-876
Agitation of suffrage question — Legislative action and laws — Education.

CHAPTER LVIII.

Ohio 877-885
Organization — Mrs. Southworth's excellent scheme of enrollment — Legislative action and laws — Successful contest in Legislature and Supreme Court for School Suffrage — Women on School Boards — Education — Clubs — Rookwood pottery.

[Pg xlix]

CHAPTER LIX.

Oklahoma 886-890
Organization — Legislative action and laws — Attempt to secure Full Suffrage from Legislature of 1899 — Eastern "antis" and Oklahoma liquor dealers co-operate — Treachery of a pretended friend — Office-holding — School Suffrage.

CHAPTER LX.

Oregon 891-897
Organization — Congress of Women — Legislature submits Suffrage Amendment — Defeated in 1900 by only 2,000 votes, nearly all in Portland — Excellent laws for women — School Suffrage — Occupations.

CHAPTER LXI.

Pennsylvania 898-906
Organization — Press work — Philadelphia society — Women taxpayers — Legislative action and laws — Office-holding — Hannah Penn a Governor — Women in professions — Oldest Medical College for Women — Educational advantages — Clubs.

CHAPTER LXII.

Rhode Island 907-921
Early organization — State officers — Legislative action and laws — Campaign for Woman Suffrage Amendment in 1887 — Ably advocated but defeated — Efforts to secure Amendment from Constitutional Convention in 1897 — Women in office — Admitted to Brown University — Clubs and Local Council of Women.

CHAPTER LXIII.

South Carolina 922-925
Organization — Legislative action and laws — Office-holding — Education.

CHAPTER LXIV.

Tennessee 926-930
Organization — Protest of women against disfranchisement — Legislative action — Cruel laws for women — Occupations — Education.

CHAPTER LXV.

Texas 931-935
Organization — Laws — Office-holding — Occupations — Education.

CHAPTER LXVI.

Utah 936-956
Women enfranchised by Territorial Legislature in 1870 — Woman's Exponent — Congress disfranchises women in 1887 — They organize to secure their rights — Canvass the State and hold mass meetings — Appear before Constitutional Convention and ask for Suffrage[Pg l] Amendment, which is granted—Miss Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw visit Salt Lake City—Amendment carried by large majority in 1895—Official statistics of woman's vote—Laws—Office-holding—Women legislators—Women delegates—Education—Clubs.

CHAPTER LXVII.

Vermont 957-963
Organization — Legislative action and laws — School Suffrage — Women office-holders — Education — Progressive steps.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

Virginia 964-966
Agitation of suffrage question — Laws for women — Education — Woman head of family.

CHAPTER LXIX.

Washington 967-979
Women enfranchised by Territorial Legislature in 1883 — Figures of vote — Unconstitutionally disfranchised by Supreme Court — Suffrage Amendment refused in Constitutional Convention for Statehood — Submitted separately and defeated in 1889 — Action of political conventions in 1896 — Experience in Legislature — Amendment again submitted — Campaign of 1898 — Defeated by majority less than one-half that of nine years before — Organization — Legislative action and laws — School suffrage — Office-holding — Occupations.

CHAPTER LXX.

West Virginia 980-984
Organization — Legislative action and laws — Office-holding — Education.

CHAPTER LXXI.

Wisconsin 985-993
Organization — Canvass of State — Long but successful struggle to secure School Suffrage — Decisions of Supreme Court — Laws — Women in office — Education.

CHAPTER LXXII.

Wyoming 994-1011
First place in the United States to enfranchise women — Territorial Legislature gave Full Suffrage in 1869 — People satisfied with it — Constitutional Convention for Statehood unanimously includes Woman Suffrage — Strong speeches in favor — Fight against it in Congress — Debate for amusement of present and wonder of future generations — Men of Wyoming stand firm — Finally admitted to the Union — Celebration in new State — Honors paid to women — Miss Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw visit Cheyenne — Interesting scene — Highest testimony in favor of Woman Suffrage — Legislature of 1901 urges every State to enfranchise its women — Women on juries — Effects of woman's vote — Laws — Office-holding.

[Pg li]

CHAPTER LXXIII.

GREAT BRITAIN.

Efforts for Parliamentary Franchise 1012-1037
Household suffrage for men proves a disadvantage to women — Primrose League and Liberal Federation — Women in politics — Vote on Suffrage Bill in 1886 — Nineteenth Century and Fortnightly Review open their columns to a discussion — Parliamentary tactics in 1891 to defeat the Bill — Vote in 1892 shows opposing majority of only 17 out of 367 — Great efforts of women in 1895-6 — Petition of 257,796 presented — In 1897 the Bill passes second reading by majority of 71 — Kept from a vote since then by shrewd management — Its friends and its enemies — Franchise given to women in Ireland — Efforts of wage-earning women — Death of Queen Victoria.

Laws Specially Affecting Women 1021
Guardianship of Children, Property Rights of Wives, etc.

Laws Relating to Local Government 1022
Municipal Franchise for Women of England, Scotland and Ireland — Women on school boards, county councils, poor-law boards, etc. — Deprived of seats in borough councils.

Women in Public Work 1023
On Royal Commissions, as factory, school and sanitary inspectors.

Steps in Education 1024
Admission to Universities and opening of Woman's Colleges.

The Isle of Man 1025
Full Suffrage granted to women.

New Zealand 1025
Steps for the Parliamentary Franchise — Granted in 1893 — Statistics of woman's vote.

South Australia 1027
As above — Granted in 1894.

West Australia 1029
As above — Granted in 1899.

New South Wales 1029
As above — Granted in 1902.

Victoria 1031
Efforts for Parliamentary Franchise.

Queensland 1032
As above.

Tasmania 1033
As above.

South African and Other Colonies 1033

[Pg lii]

Dominion of Canada 1034
Efforts for Parliamentary Franchise — Present political conditions — Municipal and School Suffrage in the various Provinces — Right of women to hold office.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

Woman Suffrage in Other Countries 1038-1041
A limited vote granted in most places — Situation in Germany — Woman's franchise in Russia — Advanced action in Finland — Situation in Belgium — Many rights in Sweden and Norway.

CHAPTER LXXV.

National Organizations of Women 1042-1073
First societies on record — Progress by decades — Women's club houses — Changed status of women's conventions — List of National Associations — Evolution of their objects — Women gradually learning the disadvantages of disfranchisement — 4,000,000 enrolled in organized work for the good of humanity — Must necessarily become great factor in public life — Government will be obliged to have their assistance.

APPENDIX.

Eminent Advocates of Woman Suffrage 1075-1085
Presidents, Vice-presidents, Supreme Court Judges, U. S. Senators and Representatives, Governors of States, Presidents of Universities, Clergymen and other noted individuals who advocate the enfranchisement of women.

Testimony from Woman Suffrage States 1085-1094
Signed statements from the highest authorities in Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming as to the value of woman's vote in public affairs and the absence of predicted evils.

New York 1094-1096
Legal opinion on Suffrage and Office-holding for Women.

Washington 1096-1098
Detailed statement of women's voting and their unconstitutional disfranchisement by the Territorial Supreme Court.

Constitution of National-American Woman Suffrage Association 1098-1104
Résumé of its principal points — Officers — Standing and Special Committees — Life Members — List of delegates to national conventions.

Alphabetical Index of Subjects 1105-1121

Alphabetical Index of Proper Names 1122-1144

[Pg 1]

## CHAPTER I.

### WOMAN'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO VOTE.

In the early days of the movement to enfranchise women, no other method was considered than that of altering the constitution of each individual State, as it was generally accepted that the right to prescribe the qualifications for the suffrage rested entirely with the States and that the National Constitution could not be invoked for this purpose. While the word "male" was not used in this document, yet with the one exception of New Jersey, where women exercised the full suffrage from the adoption of its first constitution in 1776 until 1807, there is no record of any woman's being permitted to vote. At the inception of the republic women were almost wholly uneducated; they were unknown in the industrial world; there were very few property owners among them; the manifold exactions of domestic duties absorbed all their time, strength and interest; and for these and many other causes they were not public factors in even the smallest sense of the word. One could readily believe that the founders of the Government never imagined a time when women would ask for a voice were it not for the significant fact that every State constitution, except the one mentioned above, was careful to put up an absolute barrier against such a contingency by confining the elective franchise strictly to "male" citizens—and there it has stood impassable down to the present day.

It was almost the exact middle of the nineteenth century before the first demand was made by women for the right to represent themselves—the right for which their forefathers had fought a seven-years' war, and the one which had been made the corner-stone of the new Government. The complete story of the startling results which followed this demand never has been told but once, and that was when Vol. I of this History of Woman Suffrage was written. It was related then by the two who were[Pg 2] the principal personages in a period which tried women's souls as they were never tried before—Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.[3]

This movement for the freedom of women was scarcely launched when the long-threatened Civil War broke forth and precipitated the struggle for the liberty of another class whose slavery seemed far more terrible than the servitude of white women. The five years' ordeal which followed developed women as all the previous centuries had not been able to do, and when peace reigned once more, when an entire race had been born into freedom and the republic had been consecrated anew, the whole status of the American woman had been changed and the lines which circumscribed her old sphere had been forever obliterated. Women were studying laws, constitutions and public questions as never before in all history, and, as they saw millions of colored men endowed with the full prerogatives of citizenship, they began to ask, "Am I not also a citizen of this great republic and entitled to all its rights and privileges?"

Up to this time the word "male" never had appeared in the Federal Constitution. In 1865, when the leaders among women were beginning to gather up their scattered forces, and the Fourteenth Amendment was under discussion, they saw to their amazement and indignation that it was proposed to incorporate in that instrument this discriminating word. Miss Anthony was the first to sound the alarm, and Mrs. Stanton quickly came to her aid in the attempt to prevent this desecration of the people's Bill of Rights. The thrilling account of their efforts to thwart this highhanded act, their abandonment in consequence by nearly all of their co-workers before and during the war, their anger and humiliation at seeing the former slaves, whom they had helped to free, made their political superiors and endowed with a personal representation in Government which women had been pilloried for asking—all this is graphically told in Vol. II of the History of Woman Suffrage, Chaps. XVII and XXI. The story with many personal touches is also related in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chaps. XV and XVI.[Pg 3]

The Fourteenth Amendment was declared adopted July 28, 1868,[4] and the women felt that the ground had been swept from beneath their feet, as now the barriers opposed to their enfranchisement by all the State constitutions had been doubly and trebly strengthened by sanction of the National Constitution. The first ray of encouragement came in October, 1869, when, at a State woman suffrage convention held in St. Louis, Mo., Francis Minor, a leading attorney of that city, declared that this very Fourteenth Amendment in enfranchising colored men had performed a like service for all women. His argument was embodied concisely in the following resolutions, which were adopted by that convention with great enthusiasm, and by the National Association at its annual convention in Washington, D. C., the next January:

> Whereas, All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside; therefore be it

> Resolved, 1. That the immunities and privileges of American citizenship, however defined, are national in character and paramount to all State authority.

> 2. That while the Constitution of the United States leaves the qualification of electors to the several States, it nowhere gives them the right to deprive any citizen of the elective franchise which is possessed by any other citizen—to regulate not including the right to prohibit.

> 3. That, as the Constitution of the United States expressly declares that no State shall make or enforce any laws that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, those provisions of the several State constitutions which exclude women[Pg 4] from the franchise on account of sex are violative alike of the spirit and letter of the Federal Constitution.

> 4. That, as the subject of naturalization is expressly withheld from the States, and as the States clearly have no right to deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to deprive native-born women citizens of the franchise.

In support of these resolutions various portions of the National Constitution were quoted, including Article IV, Section 2: "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States;" and Section 4: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government." Many other authorities were cited, including numerous court decisions, as to the right of women to the suffrage now that their citizenship had been clearly established and the protection of its privileges and immunities guaranteed.

This position was sustained by many of the best lawyers in the United States, including members of Congress. The previous May the National Woman Suffrage Association had been formed in New York City, and henceforth this right to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment was made the keynote of all its speeches, resolutions, etc., as will be seen in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, Chap. XXIII.

For the first time the Federal Constitution had defined the term "citizen," leaving no doubt that a woman was a citizen in the fullest meaning of the word. Until now there had been but one Supreme Court decision on this point—that of Chief Justice Taney in 1857, in the Dred Scott Case, which declared that citizens were "the political body who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty and hold the power, and conduct the Government through their representatives." This plainly had barred negroes and white women from citizenship.

At the next general election, in 1872, women attempted to vote in many parts of the country, in some cases their votes being received, in others rejected.[5] The vote of Miss Anthony was accepted in Rochester, N. Y., and she was then arrested for a[Pg 5] criminal offense, tried and fined in the U. S. Circuit Court at Canandaigua, by Associate Justice Ward Hunt of the U. S. Supreme Court. There is no more flagrant judicial outrage on record. The full account of this case, in which she was refused the right of trial by jury as guaranteed by the Constitution, will be found in Vol. II, History of Woman Suffrage, p. 667 and following; also much more in detail in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, p. 423, with her great Constitutional Argument delivered in fifty of the postoffice districts of the two counties before the trial, p. 977 and following.

The vote of Mrs. Virginia L. Minor was refused in St. Louis and she brought suit against the inspectors of election. The case was decided against her in the Circuit Court of the county and the Supreme Court of Missouri. She then carried it to the Supreme Court of the United States—Minor vs. Happersett et al. No. 182, October term, 1874. The case was argued by her husband, Francis Minor, and after the lapse of a quarter of a century it is still believed that his argument could not have been excelled. The decision was delivered by Chief Justice Waite, March 29, 1875, and was in brief: "The National Constitution does not define the privileges and immunities of citizens. The United States has no voters of its own creation. The Constitution does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one, but the franchise must be regulated by the States. The Fourteenth Amendment does not add to the privileges and immunities of a citizen; it simply furnishes an additional guarantee to protect those he already has. Before the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments the States had the power to disfranchise on account of race or color. These Amendments, ratified by the States, simply forbade that discrimination but did not forbid that against sex."

The full text of argument and decision will be found in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 715 and following. In making this decision the Court was compelled to reverse absolutely its own finding of three years previous in what was known as the Slaughter House Cases (16 Wallace) which said: "The negro having by the Fourteenth Amendment been declared to be[Pg 6] a citizen of the United States, is thus made a voter in every State in the Union."

The Fifteenth Amendment says: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude." No right is conferred by this amendment. It simply guarantees protection for a right already existing in the citizen, and the negro having been declared a citizen by the Fourteenth Amendment is thus protected in his right to vote. But whence did he obtain this right unless from the National Constitution, which the Supreme Court in the Minor decision declares "does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one"? Volume II of this History of Woman Suffrage, containing nearly 1,000 pages, is devoted mainly to a recital of the efforts on the part of women to obtain and exercise the franchise through the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. This decision of the Supreme Court destroyed the last hope, although it did not shake the belief of the leaders of this movement in the justice and legality of their claim.

A number of the women contended that, if the National Constitution did not confer Full Suffrage, it did at least guarantee Federal Suffrage—the right to vote for Congressional Representatives—and in this opinion they were sustained by eminent lawyers. The National Association, however, never made an issue of this question, considering that it would be useless, but it has a Standing Committee on Federal Suffrage empowered to make such efforts in this direction as it deems advisable.[6]

The assertion is made that if Congress had no authority over the election of its own members, it would be wholly unable to perpetuate itself should the States at any time decide that they no longer care to be under the authority of a central governing body, and refuse to elect Representatives. Many able reports have been made by this Standing Committee, and the question was clearly stated in an article in The Arena, December, 1891, by Francis Minor, who gave the question of woman suffrage a[Pg 7] more thorough legal examination, perhaps, than any other man. He prepared the following bill which was presented in the House of Representatives, April 25, 1892, by the Hon. Clarence D. Clark, member from Wyoming:

> AN ACT TO PROTECT THE RIGHT OF CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES TO REGISTER AND TO VOTE FOR MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

> Whereas, The right to choose Members of the House of Representatives is vested by the Constitution in the people of the several States, without distinction of sex, but for want of proper legislation has hitherto been restricted to one-half of the people; for the purpose, therefore, of correcting this error and of giving effect to the Constitution:

> Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: That at all elections hereafter held in the several States of this Union for members of the House of Representatives, the right of citizens of the United States, of either sex, above the age of twenty-one years, to register and to vote for such Representatives shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of sex.

The argument for the authority of Congress to pass this law is based partly on Article I of the Federal Constitution:

> Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States; and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.

> Section 4. The time, place and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.[7]

Congress is here endowed unquestionably with the right to regulate the election of Representatives. James Madison, one of the framers of the Constitution, when asked the intention of this clause, in the Virginia convention of 1788, called to ratify this instrument, answered that the power was reserved to Congress because "should the people of any State by any means be deprived of the right of suffrage, it was judged proper that it should be remedied by the General Government." [Elliott's Debates, Vol. II, p. 266.][Pg 8]

Again Madison said in The Federalist (No. 54), in speaking of the enumeration for Representatives:

> The Federal Constitution, therefore, decides with great propriety in the case of our slaves when it views them in the mixed character of persons and property. This is in fact their true character. It is the character bestowed on them by the laws under which they live; and it will not be denied that these are the proper criteria; because it is only under the pretext that the laws have transformed the negroes into subjects of property, that a place is disputed them in the computation of numbers; and it is admitted that, if the laws were to restore the rights which have been taken away, the negroes could no longer be refused an equal share of representation.

Therefore, as women are counted in the enumeration on which the Congressional apportionment is based, they are legally entitled to an equal share in direct representation.

In 1884 the case of Jasper Yarbrough and others who had been sentenced to hard labor in the penitentiary in Georgia for preventing a colored man from voting for a member of Congress, was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court by a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The decision rendered March 2, virtually nullified that given by this court in the case of Mrs. Minor in 1875, as quoted above, which held that "the National Constitution has no voters," for this one declared:

> But it is not correct to say that the right to vote for a member of Congress does not depend on the Constitution of the United States. The office, if it be properly called an office, is created by the Constitution and by that alone. It also declares how it shall be filled, namely, by election. Its language is: "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States; and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature."

> The States in prescribing the qualifications of voters for the most numerous branch of their own Legislature, do not do this with reference to the election for members of Congress. Nor can they prescribe the qualifications for those eo nomine [by that name].

> They define who are to vote for the popular branch of their own Legislature, and the Constitution of the United States says the same persons shall vote for members of Congress in that State.

> It adopts the qualification thus furnished as the qualification of its own electors for members of Congress. It is not true, therefore, that the electors for members of Congress owe their right to vote to the State law in any sense which makes the exercise of the right to depend exclusively on the law of the State.[Pg 9]

> Counsel for petitioners seizing upon the expression found in the opinion of the Court in the case of Minor vs. Happersett, "that the Constitution of the United States does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one," without reference to the connection in which it is used, insists that the voters in this case do not owe their right to vote in any sense to that instrument. But the Court was combating the argument that this right was conferred on all citizens, and therefore upon women as well as men.(!)

> In opposition to that idea it was said the Constitution adopts, as the qualification for voters for members of Congress, that which prevails in the State where the voting is to be done; therefore, said the opinion, the right is not definitely conferred on any person or class of persons by the Constitution alone, because you have to look to the law of the State for the description of the class. But the Court did not intend to say that, when the class or the person is thus ascertained, his right to vote for a member of Congress was not fundamentally based upon the Constitution which created the office of member of Congress, and declared it should be elective, and pointed to the means of ascertaining who should be electors.

> The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution, by its limitation of the power of the States in the exercise of their right to prescribe the qualifications of voters in their own elections, and by its limitation of the power of the United States over that subject, clearly shows that the right of suffrage was considered to be of supreme importance to the National Government and was not intended to be left within the exclusive control of the States.

> In such cases this Fifteenth Article of amendment does proprio vigore [by its own force] substantially confer on the negro the right to vote, and Congress has the power to protect and enforce that right. In the case of United States vs. Happersett, so much relied on by counsel, this Court said, in regard to the Fifteenth Amendment, that it has invested the citizens of the United States with a new constitutional right which is within the protecting power of Congress. That right is an exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

> This new constitutional right was mainly designed for [male] citizens of African descent. The principle, however, that the protection of the exercise of this right is within the power of Congress, is as necessary to the right of other citizens to vote in general as to the right to be protected against discrimination.

This legal hair-splitting is beyond the comprehension of the average lay mind and will be viewed by future generations with as much contempt as is felt by the present in regard to the infamous decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case in 1857. If it decides anything it is that the right to vote for Congressional Representatives is a Federal right, vested in all the[Pg 10] people by the National Constitution, and one which it is beyond the power of the States to regulate. Therefore, no State has the power to deprive women of the right to vote for Representatives in Congress.

Those who hold that women are already entitled to Federal Suffrage under the National Constitution, further support their claim by a series of decisions as to the citizenship of women and the inherent rights which it carries. They quote especially the case of the United States vs. Kellar. The defendant was indicted by a Federal grand jury in Illinois for illegal voting in a Congressional election, as he never had been naturalized. He and his mother were born in Prussia, but came to the United States when he was a minor, and she married a naturalized citizen. The case was tried in June, 1882, in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Illinois, by Associate Justice Harlan of the U. S. Supreme Court, who discharged the defendant. He held that the mother, having become a citizen by marriage while the son was a minor, transferred citizenship to him. In other words she transmitted a Federal Citizenship including the right to vote which she did not herself possess, thus enfranchising a child born while she was an alien. The whole matter was settled not by State but by Federal authority.[8] If a mother can confer this right on a son, why not on a daughter? But why does she not possess it herself? The clause of the National Constitution which established suffrage at the time that instrument was framed, does not mention the sex of the elector.

The argument for Federal Suffrage was presented in a masterly manner before the National Convention of 1889 by U. S. Senator Henry W. Blair (N. H.); and it was discussed by Miss Anthony and Mrs. Minor. See present volume, Chap. IX.

From this bare outline of the claim that women already possess Federal Suffrage, or that Congress has authority to confer it without the sanction of the States, readers can continue the investigation. Notwithstanding its apparent equity, the leaders of the National Association, including Miss Anthony herself, felt convinced after the decision against Mrs. Minor that it would be useless to expect from the Supreme Court any interpretation[Pg 11] of the Constitution which would permit women to exercise the right of suffrage. They had learned, however, through the passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, that it had been possible to amend this document in such a way as to enfranchise an entire new class of voters—or in other words to protect them in the exercise of a right which it seemed that in some mysterious way they already possessed. As the Fourteenth Amendment declared the negroes to be citizens, and the Fifteenth forbade the United States or any State to deny or abridge "the right of citizens of the United States to vote, on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude," it was clearly evident that this right inhered in citizenship. This being the case women must already have it, but as there was no national authority prohibiting the States from denying or abridging it, each of them did so by putting the word "male" in its constitution as a qualification for suffrage; just as many of them had used the word "white" until the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment by a three-fourths majority made this unconstitutional. Therefore, since the Minor vs. Happersett decision, the National Association has directed its principal efforts to secure from Congress the submission to the several State Legislatures of a Sixteenth Amendment which should prohibit disfranchisement on account of "sex," as the Fifteenth had done on account of "color."

The association does not discourage attempts in various States to secure from their respective Legislatures the submission of an amendment to the voters which shall strike out this word "male" from their own constitutions. On the contrary, it assists every such attempt with money, speakers and influence, but having seen such amendments voted on sixteen times and adopted only twice (in Colorado and Idaho), it is confirmed in the opinion that the quickest and surest way to secure woman suffrage will be by an amendment to the Federal Constitution. In other words it holds that women should be permitted to carry their case to the selected men of the Legislatures rather than to the masses of the voters.

From 1869 until the decision in the Minor case in 1875, the National Association went before committees of every Congress[Pg 12] with appeals for a Declaratory Act which would permit women to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment. Since that decision it has asked for a Sixteenth Amendment. In both cases it has been supported by petitions of hundreds of thousands of names.

The ablest women this nation has produced have presented the arguments and pleadings. Many of the older advocates have passed away, but new ones have taken their place. It is the unvarying testimony of the Senate and House Committees who have granted these hearings, that no body of men has appeared before them for any purpose whose dignity, logic and acumen have exceeded, if indeed they have equaled, those of the members of this association. They have been heard always with respect, often with cordiality, but their appeals have fallen, if not upon deaf, at least upon indifferent ears. They have asked these committees to report to their respective Houses a resolution to submit this Sixteenth Amendment. Sometimes the majority of the committee has been hostile to woman suffrage and presented an adverse report: sometimes it has been friendly and presented one favorable; sometimes there have been an opposing majority and a friendly minority report, or vice versa; but more often no action whatever has been taken. During these thirty years eleven favorable reports have been made—five from Senate, six from House Committees.[9]

In the History of Woman Suffrage, Vols. II and III, will be found a full record of various debates which occurred in Senate and House on different phases of the movement to secure suffrage for women previous to 1884, when the present volume begins. In 1885 Thomas W. Palmer gave his great speech in[Pg 13] the United States Senate in advocacy of their enfranchisement; and in 1887 occurred the first and only discussion and vote in that body on a Sixteenth Amendment for this purpose, both of which are described herein under their respective dates.

In the following chapters will be found an account of the annual conventions of the National Suffrage Association since 1883, and of the American until the two societies united in 1890, with many of the resolutions and speeches for which these meetings have been distinguished. They contain also portions of the addresses, covering every phase of this subject, made at the hearings before Congressional Committees, and the arguments advanced for and against woman suffrage in the favorable and adverse reports of these committees, thus presenting both sides of the question. Readers who follow the story will be obliged to acknowledge that the very considerable progress which has been made toward obtaining the franchise is due to the unceasing and long-continued efforts of this association far more than to all other agencies combined; and that the women who compose this body have demonstrated their capacity and their right to a voice in the Government infinitely beyond any class to whom it has been granted since the republic was founded.

### FOOTNOTES:

[3] The part of this record with which Miss Anthony herself was directly connected, and which comprises by far the greater portion of the whole, is given with many personal incidents in her Life and Work. [Husted-Harper.]

[4]

ARTICLE XIV.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, or deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

[5] Women also had attempted to vote in local and State elections in 1870 and 1871. An account of the trials and decisions which followed will be found in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, Chap. XXV.

[6] The most earnest advocates of the constitutional right of women to Federal Suffrage are Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett, Ky.; Mrs. Clara B. Colby, D. C.; Mrs. Martha E. Root, Mich.; Miss Sara Winthrop Smith, Conn. They have done a large amount of persistent but ineffectual work in the endeavor to obtain a recognition of this right.

[7] Senator John Sherman did at one time introduce a bill for this purpose.

[8] This is precisely what was done in the case of Susan B. Anthony above referred to.

[9] The first report, in 1871, was signed by Representatives Benjamin F. Butler (Mass.) and William A. Loughridge (Ia.): History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 464.

The second, in 1879, was signed by Senators George F. Hoar (Mass.), John H. Mitchell (Ore.), Angus Cameron (Wis.): Id., Vol. III, p. 131.

The third, in 1882, was signed by Senators Elbridge G. Lapham (N. Y.), Thomas W. Ferry (Mich.), Henry W. Blair (N. H.), Henry B. Anthony (R. I.): Id., p. 231.

The fourth, in 1883, was signed by Representative John D. White (Ky.): Id., p. 263

For the fifth and sixth, in 1884, see Chap. III of present volume; for the seventh and eighth, in 1886, Id., Chap. V. (See also, Chap. VI.); for the ninth and tenth, in 1890, Id., Chap. X; for the eleventh, in 1892, Id., Chap. XII.

It is worthy of notice that from 1879 to 1891, inclusive, Miss Susan B. Anthony was enabled to spend the congressional season in Washington [see pp. 188, 366], and during this time nine of these eleven favorable reports were made.

For adverse reports see History of Woman Suffrage: 1871, Vol. II, p. 461; 1878, Vol. III, p. 112; 1882, Id., p. 237; 1884, present volume, Chap. III (see also, Chap. VI); 1892, Id., Chap. XII; 1894, Id., Chap. XIV; 1896, Id., Chap. XVI.

[Pg 14]

## CHAPTER II.

### THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1884.

The first Woman's Rights Convention on record was held in Seneca Falls, N. Y., in July, 1848; the second in Salem, O., in April, 1850; the third in Worcester, Mass., in October, 1850. By this time the movement for the civil, educational and political rights of women was fully initiated, and every year thenceforth to the beginning of the Civil War national conventions were held in various States for the purpose of agitating the question and creating a favorable public sentiment. These were addressed by the ablest men and women of the time, and the discussions included the whole scope of women's wrongs, which in those days were many and grievous.

Immediately after the war the political disabilities of the negro man were so closely akin to those of all women that the advocates of universal suffrage organized under the name of the Equal Rights Association. The "reconstruction period," however, engendered so many differences of opinion, and a platform so broad permitted such latitude of debate, the women soon became convinced that their own cause was being sacrificed. Therefore in May, 1869, under the leadership of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony, the National Woman Suffrage Association was formed in New York City, having for its sole object the enfranchisement of women. From this time it held a convention in Washington, D. C., every winter.

The above mentioned associations and conventions, as well as the American Woman Suffrage Association, formed at Cleveland, O., in November, 1869, under the leadership of Mrs. Lucy Stone, are described in detail in the preceding volumes of this History. The present volume begins with the usual convention of the National Association in Washington in 1884. This place[Pg 15] was selected for a twofold purpose: because here a more cosmopolitan audience could be secured than in any other city, including representatives from every State in the Union and from all the nations of the world; and because here the association could carry directly to the only tribunal which had power to act, its demand for a submission to the State Legislatures of an amendment to the Federal Constitution which should forbid disfranchisement on account of sex. During each of these conventions it was the custom for committees of the Senate and House to grant hearings to the leading advocates of this proposition.

The Sixteenth of these annual conventions met in Lincoln Hall, in response to the usual Call,[10] March 4, 1884, continuing in session four days.[11]

On the evening before the convention a handsome reception was given at the Riggs House by Charles W. and Mrs. Jane H. Spofford to Miss Susan B. Anthony, which was attended by several hundred prominent men and women. Delegates were present from twenty-six States and Territories.[12] Miss Anthony was in the chair at the opening session and read a letter from Mrs. Stanton, who was detained at home, in which she paid a glowing tribute to Wendell Phillips, the staunch defender of the rights of women, who had died the preceding month.

Mrs. Mary B. Clay, in speaking of the work in her State, said:

> In talking to a Kentuckian on the subject of woman's right to qualify under the law, you have to batter down his self-conceit that[Pg 16] he is just and generous and chivalric toward woman, and that she can not possibly need other protection than he gives her with his own right arm—while he forgets that it is from man alone woman needs protection, and often does she need the right to protect herself from the avarice, brutality or neglect of the one nearest to her. The only remedy for her, as for man himself, in this republic, is the ballot in her hand. He thinks he is generous to woman when he supplies her wants, forgetting that he has first robbed her by law of all her property in marriage, and then may or may not give her that which is her own by right of inheritance....

> A mother, legally so, has no right to her child, the husband having the right to will it to whom he pleases, and even to will away from the mother the unborn child at his death. The wife does not own her own property, personal or real, unless given for her sole use and benefit. If a husband may rent the wife's land, or use it during his life and hers, and take the increase or rental of it, and after her death still hold it and deprive her children of its use, which he does by curtesy, and if she can not make a will and bequeath it at her death, then I say she is robbed, and insulted in the bargain, by such so-called ownership of land. "A woman fleeing from her husband and seeking refuge or protection in a neighbor's house, the man protecting her makes himself liable to the husband, who can recover damages by law." "If a husband refuse to sue for a wife who has been slandered or beaten, she can not sue for herself." These are Kentucky laws.

Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck closed her record for Massachusetts by saying: "The dead wall of indifference is at last broken down and the women 'remonstrants,' by their active resistance to our advancing progress, are not only turning the attention of the public in our direction and making the whole community interested, but also are paving the way for future political action themselves. By remonstrating they have expressed their opinion and entered into politics."

Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway gave a full report of the situation in Oregon, and a hopeful outlook for the success of the pending suffrage amendment.[13] This was followed later by a strong address. A letter was read from Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.). Dr. Clemence S. Lozier (N. Y.) spoke briefly, saying that for eleven years her parlor had been opened each month for suffrage meetings, and that "this question is the foundation of Christianity; for Christians can look up and truly say 'Our Father' only when they can treat each other as brothers and sisters."[Pg 17] Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.) gave an eloquent address on The Outlook, answering the four stock questions: Why do not more women ask for the ballot? Will not voting destroy the womanly instincts? Will not women be contaminated by going to the polls? Will they not take away employment from men?

At the opening of the evening session Miss Anthony read a letter from Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett of England, and an extract from a recent speech by her husband, Henry Fawcett, member of Parliament and Postmaster General, strongly advocating the removal of all political disabilities of women. Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert (Ills.) spoke on The Statesmanship of Women, citing illustrious examples in all parts of the world. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) gave a trenchant and humorous speech on The Unknown Quantity in Politics, showing the indirect influence of women which unfortunately is not accompanied with responsibility. She took up leading candidates and their records, criticising or commending; illustrated how in every department women are neglected and forgotten, and closed as follows:

> It is better to have the power of self-protection than to depend on any man, whether he be the Governor in his chair of State, or the hunted outlaw wandering through the night, hungry and cold and with murder in his heart. We are tired of the pretense that we have special privileges and the reality that we have none; of the fiction that we are queens, and the fact that we are subjects; of the symbolism which exalts our sex but is only a meaningless mockery. We demand that these shadows shall take substance. The coat of arms of the State of New York represents Liberty and Justice supporting a shield on which is seen the sun rising over the hills that guard the Hudson. How are justice and liberty depicted? As a police judge and an independent voter? Oh, no; as two noble and lovely women! What an absurdity in a State where there is neither liberty nor justice for any woman! We ask that this symbolism shall assume reality, for a redeemed and enfranchised womanhood will be the best safeguard of justice.

Mrs. Blake was followed by Mrs. Martha McClellan Brown, of Cincinnati Wesleyan College, who spoke on Disabilities of Woman. Miss Anthony read the report from Missouri by Mrs. Virginia L. Minor, who strongly supported her belief in the constitutional[Pg 18] right of women to the franchise. A letter of greeting was read from Miss Fannie M. Bagby, managing editor St. Louis Chronicle; Miss Phoebe W. Couzins (Mo.) gave a brilliant address entitled What Answer?

At the evening session the hall was crowded. The speech of Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood (D. C.), the first woman admitted to practice before the Supreme Court, was a severe criticism on the disfranchising of the women in Utah as proposed by bills now before Congress. It was a clear and strong legal argument which would be marred by an attempt at quotation.

In an address on Women Before the Law, the report says:

> Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana traced the development of human liberty as shown in the history of the ballot, which was at first given to a certain class of believers in orthodox religions, then to property holders, then to all white men. She showed how class legislation had been gradually done away with by allowing believer and unbeliever, rich and poor, white and black, to vote unquestioned and unhindered, and as a result of this onward march of justice, the last remaining form of class legislation, now shown by the sex ballot, must pass away. She declared the sex-line to be the lowest standard upon which to base a privilege and unworthy the civilization of the present time. She answered many of the popular objections to woman suffrage by showing that if education were to be made the test of the ballot, women would not be the disfranchised class in America, as three-fifths of all graduates from the public schools in the last ten years have been women. If morality were to be made a test, women would do more voting than men. The ratio of law-abiding women to men is as one to every 103; of drunken women to drunken men, one to every 1,000. Reasoning from these facts, if sobriety, virtue and intelligence were necessary qualifications, women enfranchised would largely reflect these elements in the Government.

At noon on March 6 the delegates were courteously received at the White House by President Chester A. Arthur.

During the afternoon session the Pennsylvania report was presented by Edward M. Davis, son-in-law of Lucretia Mott, and an exhaustive account of Woman's Work in Philadelphia by Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg. A letter from Mrs. Anna C. Wait (Kas.) was read by Mrs. Bertha H. Ellsworth, who closed with a tribute to Mrs. Wait and a poem dedicated to Kansas.

The guest of the convention, Mrs. Jessie M. Wellstood of Edinburgh, presented a report made by Miss Eliza Wigham,[Pg 19] secretary of the Scotland Suffrage Association, prefaced with some earnest remarks in which she said:

> To those who are sitting at ease, folding their hands and sweetly saying: "I have all the rights I want, why should I trouble about these matters?" let me quote the burning words of the grand old prophet Isaiah, which entered into my soul and stirred it to action: "Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech; many days shall ye be troubled, ye careless women, etc." It is just because we fold our hands and sit at ease that so many of our less fortunate fellow creatures are leading lives of misery, want, sin and shame.

In the evening Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) delivered a beautiful address on Forgotten Women, which she closed with these words: "It was not a grander thing to lead the forlorn hope in 1776, not a grander thing to strike the shackles from the black slaves in 1863, than it would be in 1884 to carry a presidential campaign on the basis of Political Equality to Women. The career, the fame, to match that of Washington, to match that of Lincoln, awaits the man who will espouse the cause of forgotten womanhood and introduce that womanhood to political influence and political freedom."

Interesting addresses were made by Mrs. Mary E. Haggart (Ind.), Why Do Not Women Vote? and by the Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, pastor of the Second Universalist Church, Jersey City, on New Jersey as a Leader—the first to grant suffrage to women. They voted from 1776 until the Legislature took away the right in 1807.

At the afternoon session of the last day Mrs. Lizzie D. Fyler, a lawyer of Arkansas, gave an extended résumé of the legal and educational position of women in that State, which was shown to be in advance of many of the eastern and western States. George W. Clark, one of the old Abolition singers contemporaneous with the Hutchinsons, expressed a strong belief in woman suffrage and offered a tribute of song to Wendell Phillips. Brief addresses were made by Mrs. J. Ellen Foster (Ia.) and Mrs. Morrison (Mass.). A letter of greeting was read from the corresponding secretary, Rachel G. Foster, Julia and Mrs. Julia Foster (Penn.), written in Florence, Italy. Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers described School Suffrage in Lansingburgh, N. Y.[Pg 20]

An eloquent address was made by Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.), in which she said:

> There are a great many excellent people in the world who are strongly prejudiced against what they designate "isms," but who are always glad of any opportunity of serving God, as they express it. I ask what can finite beings do to serve Omnipotence unless it be to exert all their powers for the good of humanity, for the uplifting of man, which, if aught of ours could do, must rejoice our Creator. When we see more than one-half of the adult human family—reasonably industrious and intelligent, if we make for them no larger claim, and certainly the raison d'etre of the other half—called to account by the laws of the land and held in strict obedience to them without the slightest voice in their making, with neither form nor shadow of representation before State or country, do we not see that there rests upon the entire race a stigma that materialist and idealist, agnostic and churchman, should each and all hasten to remove?

> "Behold, the fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few!" How can it be longer tolerated that the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters, of a land claiming the highest degree of civilization and boasting of freedom as its watchword, should still rank before the law with criminals, idiots and slaves? I feel as confident as I do of my existence, that the apathy which we are now fighting against, especially among our own sex, springs mainly from want of thought; the women of culture throughout the country placidly accept the comfortable conditions in which they find themselves. They receive without question the formulated theories of woman's sphere as they accept the formulated theories of the orthodox religions into which they may chance to have been born; occasionally an original thinker steps out of the ranks and finds herself after a while with a few followers. They remain but few, however, for it is too much trouble to think.

At the evening session the Rev. Florence Kollock (Ills.) spoke on The Ethics of Woman Suffrage, saying in part:

> By what moral right stands a law upon the statute books that infringes upon the rights and duties of womanhood, that prohibits a mother from the full discharge of the duties of her sacred office, as all are prohibited through the law that forbids them the opportunity of throwing their whole moral strength, influence and convictions against the existence and growth of social and political iniquities and in defense of truth and purity? The great evils of our day are of such a nature that all, regardless of moral principles or sex, suffer from their effects, proving clearly that all have a moral obligation in these matters, and the fact that one human being suffers from an evil carries with it the highest authority to remove that evil.

> The silent influence of woman has failed to accomplish the desired good of humanity, has failed to bring about the needed moral reforms, and all observing persons are ready to concede that posing[Pg 21] is a weak way of combating giant evils—that attitudism can not take the place of activity. To suppress the full utterance of the moral convictions of those who so largely mold the character of the race is a crime against humanity, against progress, against God.

Mrs. Shattuck, in discussing the question, said:

> It is absolutely necessary for the improvement of the race that the manly and womanly elements shall be side by side in all walks of life, and the fact that our social status, our literature and our educational systems have been greatly improved by woman's co-operation with man, points to the eternal truth that man and woman must work hand in hand in the State also, in order that it shall be uplifted and saved. Woman herself will not be harmed by the ballot, for the acquisition of greater responsibilities improves and not degrades the recipient thereof. If the ballot has made man worse it will make woman worse, and not otherwise. Whoever studies the history of the race from age to age and nation to nation finds the world has advanced and not retrograded by giving responsibility to the individual. The opposition to woman suffrage strikes a blow at the foundation-stone of this republic, which is self-representation by means of the ballot. At the bottom of this opposition is a subtle distrust of American institutions, an idea of "restricted suffrage" which is creeping into our republic through so-called aristocratic channels.

A distinguishing feature of this convention was the large number of letters and reports sent from abroad, undoubtedly due to the fact that Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony had spent the preceding year in Europe, making the acquaintance and arousing the interest of foreign men and women in the status of the suffrage question in the United States. Among these letters was one from Miss Frances Power Cobbe in which she said: "The final and complete emancipation of our sex ere long, I think, is absolutely certain. All is going well here and I hope with you in America; and with all my heart, dear Miss Anthony, I wish you and the woman's convention triumphant success."

Miss Jane Cobden, daughter of Richard Cobden, said in the course of her letter: "I feel all the more certain of the righteousness of the work in which I am so much engaged, because I know from words spoken and written by my father as far back as 1845, that had he been living at the present day I should have had his sympathy. He was nothing if not consistent, and so he said in a speech delivered in London that year on Free Trade: 'There are many ladies present, I am happy to say. Now it is a[Pg 22] very anomalous and singular fact that they can not vote themselves and yet they have the power of conferring votes upon other people. I wish they had the franchise, for they would often make a much better use of it than their husbands.'"

Miss Caroline Ashurst Biggs, for many years editor of the Englishwoman's Review, sent a full report of the situation in England. There was a letter of greeting also from Miss Lydia Becker, editor of the Women's Suffrage Journal and member of the Manchester School Board. John P. Thomasson and Peter A. Taylor, members of Parliament, favored woman suffrage in the strongest terms, the latter saying: "Justice never can be done to the rising generations till the influence of the mother is freed from the ignominy of exclusion from the great political and social work of the day." Mrs. Thomasson, daughter of Margaret Bright Lucas, and Mrs. Taylor, known as the organizer of the women's suffrage movement in England, also sent cordial good wishes.[14]

The wife of Jacob Bright, who was largely responsible for the Married Women's Property Bill, presented a review of present suffrage laws; his sister, Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren, wife of Duncan McLaren, M. P., and the great Abolitionist, Mrs. Elizabeth Pease Nichol of Edinburgh, sent long and valuable letters. Mrs. McLaren wrote:

> I was in Exeter Hall, London, on the day our Parliament assembled; a prayer-meeting was held there the whole of that day. Earnest were the intercessions that the hearts of our rulers might be influenced to repeal every vestige of the Contagious Diseases Acts; and the women especially prayed that our men might be led to send representatives to Parliament of much higher morality than such Acts testified to, and that the eyes of the women of their country might be opened to see the iniquity of such legislation. I venture to express that the burden of my prayer had been, whilst sitting in that meeting, that the eyes of the women there assembled, and of the women throughout our country, might be opened to see that we could not expect men who did not consider morality to be a necessary part of their own character, to regard it as needful for the men who were to represent them in Parliament; that we needed a new[Pg 23] moral power to be brought into exercise at our elections, and as Parliament was meeting that day and one of its first acts would be to bring in a new reform bill, that we might unite in prayer that the petitions so long put forth by many of the women of this land, that their claim to the suffrage should be included in this new Act for the extended representation of the people, might be righteously answered; and the power given to women not only to pray for what was just and right, but to have by the Parliamentary vote a direct power to promote that higher legislation which they all so much desired. I know nothing which calls for more faith and patience than to hear women pleading for justice, and refusing to help get it in the only legitimate way....

> Whilst we have our anomalies here, you have a glaring inconsistency in your country. It is not a property qualification which gives a vote in America. Is not every human being, who is of age, according to your Constitution, entitled to equal justice and freedom? Are you women not human beings? The lowest and most ignorant man who leaves any shore and lands on yours, ere he has earned a home or made family ties, becomes a citizen of your great country; whilst your own women, who during a life-time may have done much service and given much to the State, are denied the right accorded to that man, however low his condition may be. You are fighting to overcome this great monopoly of citizenship. We watch your proceedings with deep interest. We rejoice in your successes and sympathize with you in your endeavors to gain fresh victories.

Congratulatory letters were received from Ewing Whittle, M. D., of the Royal Academy, Liverpool, and Miss Isabella M. S. Tod, the well-known reformer of Belfast. M. Leon Richer, the eminent writer of Paris, and Mlle. Hubertine Auclert, editor of La Citoyenne, sent cordial words of co-operation. There were also greetings from Mrs. Ernestine L. Rose, a Polish exile, one of the first women lecturers in America; from the wife and daughter of A. A. Sargent, U. S. Minister to Berlin; from Theodore Stanton; Miss Florence Kelley, daughter of the Hon. William D. Kelley; the wife of Moncure D. Conway; Rosamond, daughter of Robert Dale Owen; Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour and Dr. Frances E. Dickinson, all Americans residing abroad.

Among the noted men and women of the United States who sent letters endorsing equal suffrage, were George William Curtis, William Lloyd Garrison, U. S. Senators Henry B. Anthony and Henry W. Blair, the Hon. George W. Julian, the Hon. William I. Bowditch, Robert Purvis, the Rev. Anna Oliver, Mrs. Zerelda[Pg 24] G. Wallace, the "mother" of Ben Hur, and Mrs. Abby Hutchinson Patton.[15]

To this assembly Bishop Matthew Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, sent almost his last public utterance:

> For more than thirty years I have been in favor of woman suffrage. I was led to this position not by the consideration of the question of natural rights or of alleged injustice or of inequality before the law, but by what I believed would be the influence of woman on the great moral questions of the day. Were the ballot in the hands of women, I am satisfied that the evils of intemperance would be greatly lessened, and I fear that without that ballot we shall not succeed against the saloons and kindred evils in large cities. You will doubtless have many obstacles placed in your way; there will be many conflicts to sustain; but I have no doubt that the coming years will see the triumph of your cause; and that our higher civilization and morality will rejoice in the work which enlightened woman will accomplish.

The resolutions presented by Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert (Ills.), chairman of the committee, were adopted.

> Whereas, The fundamental idea of a republic is the right of self-government, the right of every citizen to choose her own representatives to enact the laws by which she is governed; and

> Whereas, This right can be secured only by the exercise of the suffrage; therefore

> Resolved, That the ballot in the hand of every qualified citizen constitutes the true political status of the people, and to deprive one-half of the people of the use of the ballot is to deny the first principle of a republican government.

> Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to submit a Sixteenth[Pg 25] Amendment to the National Constitution, securing to women the right of suffrage; first, because the disfranchisement of one-half of the people deprives that half of the means of self-protection and support, limits their resources for self-development and weakens their influence on popular thought; second, because giving all men the absolute authority to decide the social, civil and political status of women, creates a spirit of caste, unrepublican in tendency; third, because in depriving the State of the united wisdom of man and woman, that important "consensus of the competent," our form of government becomes in fact an oligarchy of males instead of a republic of the people.

> Resolved, That since the women citizens of the United States have thus far failed to receive proper recognition from any of the existing political parties, we recommend the appointment by this convention of a committee on future political action.

> Resolved, That as there is a general awakening to the rights of women in all European countries, the time has arrived to take the initiative steps for a grand International Woman Suffrage Convention, to be held in either England or America, and that for this purpose a committee of three be appointed at this convention to correspond with leading persons in different countries interested in the elevation of women.

Miss Couzins submitted the following, which was unanimously accepted:

> Resolved, That in the death of Wendell Phillips the nation has lost one of its greatest moral heroes, its most eloquent orator and honest advocate of justice and equality for all classes; and woman in her struggle for enfranchisement has lost in him a steadfast friend and wise counselor. His consistency in the application of republican principles of government brought him to the woman suffrage platform at the inauguration of the movement, where he remained faithful to the end. The National Woman Suffrage Association in convention assembled, would express their gratitude for his brave words for woman before the Legislatures of so many States and on so many platforms, both in England and America, and would extend their sincere sympathy to her who was his constant inspiration to the utterance of the highest truth, his noble wife, Ann Green Phillips.

> Resolved, That the services of Anna Ella Carroll of Maryland, who directed the armies of the republic up the Tennessee river and then southward to the center of the Confederate power to its base in northern Alabama, cutting the Memphis and Charleston railroad and thus breaking the backbone of the rebellion, entitle her justly to the name of the military genius of the war; that her long struggle for recognition at the hands of our Government commends her to the sympathy of all who believe in truth and justice; and the continued refusal of the Government to acknowledge this woman's service, which saved to us the Union, defeated national bankruptcy[Pg 26] and prevented the intervention of foreign powers, merits the condemnation of all lovers of right, and we hereby not only send to her our loving recognition and sympathy, but pledge ourselves to arouse this nation to the fact of her services.[16]

The plan of work submitted by Mrs. Gougar, chairman of the committee, was adopted.[17] This was supplemented by suggestions of the national board as to methods of organization.[18][Pg 27]

The following officers were elected: president, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, N. Y.; vice-presidents-at-large, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, N. Y., the Rev. Olympia Brown, Wis., Phoebe W. Couzins, Mo., Abigail Scott Duniway, Ore.; recording secretaries, Ellen H. Sheldon, D. C., Julia T. Foster, Penn.; Pearl Adams, Ills.; corresponding secretary, Rachel G. Foster (Avery), Penn.; foreign corresponding secretaries, Caroline Ashurst Biggs, Lydia E. Becker, England; Marguerite Berry Stanton, Hubertine Auclert, France; treasurer, Jane H. Spofford, D. C.; auditors, Ruth C. Dennison, Julia A. Wilbur, D. C.; chairman of executive committee, May Wright Sewall, Ind., and vice-presidents in every State.

The financial report showed the receipts for 1884 to be in round numbers $2,000, and a balance of $300 still remaining in the treasury.

In her address closing the convention Miss Anthony said:

> The reason men are so slow in conceding political equality to women is because they can not believe that women suffer the humiliation of disfranchisement as they would. A dear and noble friend, one who aided our work most efficiently in the early days, said to me, "Why do you say the 'emancipation of women?'" I replied, "Because women are political slaves!" Is it not strange that men think that what to them would be degradation, slavery, is to women elevation, liberty? Men put the right of suffrage for themselves above all price, and count the denial of it the most severe punishment. If a man serving a term in State's prison has one friend outside who cares for him, that friend will get up a petition begging the Governor to commute his sentence, if for not more than forty-eight hours prior to its expiration, so that, when he comes out of prison he may not be compelled to suffer the disgrace of disfranchisement and may not be doomed to walk among his fellows with the mark of Cain upon his forehead. The only penalty inflicted upon the men, who a few years ago laid the knife at the throat of the Nation, was that of disfranchisement, which all men, loyal and disloyal, felt was too grievous to be borne, and our Government made haste to permit every one, even the leader of them all, to escape from this humiliation, this degradation, and again to be honored with the crowning[Pg 28] right of United States citizenship. How can men thus delude themselves with the idea that what to them is ignominy unbearable is to women honor and glory unspeakable.[19]

An able address from Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.) arrived too late for the convention. It was a denial of the superiority of man from a scientific standpoint, and was so original in thought that it deserves to be reproduced almost in full:

> ....We must bear in mind the old theologic belief that the earth was flat, the center of the universe, around which all else revolved—that all created things animate and inanimate, were made for man alone—that woman was not part of the original plan of creation but was an after-thought for man's special use and benefit. So that a science which proves the falsity of any of these theological conceptions aids in the overthrow of all.

> The first great battle fought by science for woman was a Geographical one lasting for twelve centuries. But finally, Columbus, sustained and sent on his way by Isabella in 1492, followed by Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe twenty years later, settled the question of the earth's rotundity and was the first step toward woman's enfranchisement.

> Another great battle was in progress at the same time and the second victory was an Astronomical one. Copernicus was born, the telescope discovered, the earth sank to its subordinate place in the solar system and another battle for woman was won.

> Chemistry, long opposed under the name of Alchemy, at last gained a victory, and by its union of diverse atoms began to teach men that nature is a system of nuptials, and that the feminine is everywhere present as an absolute necessity of life.

> Geology continued this lesson. It not only taught the immense age of creation, but the motherhood of even the rocks.

> Botany was destined for a fierce battle, as when Linnæus declared the sexual nature of plants, he was shunned as having degraded the works of God by a recognition of the feminine in plant life.

> Philology owes its rank to Catherine II of Russia, who, in assembling her great congress of deputies from the numerous provinces of her empire, gave the first impetus to this science. Max Müller declares the evidence of language to be irrefragable, and it is the only history we possess prior to historic periods. Through Philology we ascend to the dawn of nations and learn of the domestic, religious and governmental habits of people who left neither monuments nor writing to speak for them. From it we learn the original meaning of our terms, father and mother. Father, says Müller, who is a recognized philological authority, is derived from the root "Pa," which means to protect, to support, to nourish. Among the earliest Aryans, the word mater (mother), from the[Pg 29] root "Ma," signified maker; creation being thus distinctively associated with the feminine. Taylor, in his Primitive Culture says the husband acknowledged the offspring of his wife as his own as thus only had he a right to claim the title of father.

> While Philology has opened a new fount of historic knowledge, Biology, the seventh and most important witness, the latest science in opposition to divine authority, is the first to deny the theory of man's original perfection. Science gained many triumphs, conquered many superstitions, before the world caught a glimpse of the result toward which each step was tending—the enfranchisement of woman.

> Through Biology we learn that the first manifestation of life is feminine. The albuminous protoplasm lying in silent darkness on the bottom of the sea, possessing within itself all the phenomena exhibited by the highest forms of life, as sensation, motion, nutrition and reproduction, produces its like, and in all forms of life the capacity for reproduction undeniably stamps the feminine. Not only does science establish the fact that primordial life is feminine, but it also proves that a greater expenditure of vital force is requisite for the production of the feminine than for the masculine.

> The experiments of Meehan, Gentry, Treat, Herrick, Wallace, Combe, Wood and many others, show sex to depend upon environment and nutrition. A meager, contracted environment, together with innutritious or scanty food, results in a weakened vitality and the birth of males; a broad, generous environment together with abundant nutrition, in the birth of females. The most perfect plant produces feminine flowers; the best nurtured insect or animal demonstrates the same law. From every summary of vital statistics we gather further proof that more abundant vitality, fewer infantile deaths and greater comparative longevity belong to woman. It is a recognized fact that quick reaction to a stimulus is proof of superior vitality. In England, where very complete vital statistics have been recorded for many years, it is shown that while the mean duration of man's life within the last thirty years has increased five per cent. that of woman has increased more than eight per cent. Our own last census (tenth) shows New Hampshire to be the State most favorable for longevity. While one in seventy-four of its inhabitants is eighty years old, among native white men the proportion is but one to eighty, while among native white women, the very great preponderance of one to fifty-eight is shown.

> That the vitality of the world is at a depressed standard is proven by the fact that more boys are born than girls, the per cent. varying in different countries. Male infants are more often deformed, suffer from abnormal characteristics, and more speedily succumb to infantile diseases than female infants, so that within a few years, notwithstanding the large proportion of male births, the balance of life is upon the feminine side. Many children are born to a rising people, but this biological truth is curiously supplemented by the fact that the proportion of girls born among such people, is always in[Pg 30] excess of boys; while in races dying out, the very large proportion of boys' births over those of girls is equally noticeable.

> From these hastily presented scientific facts it is manifest that woman possesses in a higher degree than man that adaptation to the conditions surrounding her which is everywhere accepted as evidence of superior vitality and higher physical rank in life; and when biology becomes more fully understood it will also be universally acknowledged that the primal creative power, like the first manifestation of life, is feminine.

### FOOTNOTES:

[10] The Call ended as follows: "The satisfactory results of Unrestricted Suffrage for Women in Wyoming Territory, of School Suffrage in twelve States, of Municipal and School Suffrage in England and Scotland, of Municipal and Parliamentary Suffrage in the Isle of Man, with the recent triumph in Washington Territory; also the constant agitation of the suffrage question in this country and in England, and the demands that women are everywhere making for larger liberties, are most encouraging signs of the times. This is the supreme hour for all who are interested in the enfranchisement of women to dedicate their time and money to the success of this movement, and by their generous contributions to strengthen those upon whom rests the responsibility of carrying forward this beneficent reform.

"Elizabeth Cady Stanton, President.
"Susan B. Anthony, Vice-Pres't at Large.
"May Wright Sewall, Ch. Ex. Committee.
"Jane H. Spofford, Treasurer."

[11] The report of this convention, edited by Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton, is the most complete of any ever issued by the association and has been placed in most of the public libraries of the United States.

[12] A list of delegates and those making State reports from year to year will be found in the last chapter of the Appendix.

[13] The history of the work in the various States, as detailed more or less fully in these reports from year to year, will be found recorded in the State chapters.

[14] Letters were received from S. Alfred Steinthal, treasurer of the Manchester society; F. Henrietta Müller, member of the London School Board; Frances Lord, poor-law guardian in London; Eliza Orme, England's first woman lawyer; Dr. Agnes McLaren, Hannah Ford, Mary A. Estlin, Anna M. and Mary Priestman, Margaret Priestman Tanner, Rebecca Moore, Margaret E. Parker, all distinguished English women.

[15] California—Clarina I. H. Nichols, Mrs. S. J. Manning, Sarah Knox Goodrich; Colorado—Dr. Alida C. Avery, Henry C. Dillon; Connecticut—Frances Ellen Burr; District of Columbia—Cornelia A. Sheldon; Illinois—Dr. Alice B. Stockham, Ada H. Kepley, Pearl Adams, Lucinda B. Chandler, Annette Porter, M. D.; Iowa—Caroline A. Ingham, Jonathan and Mary V. S. Cowgill, M. A. Root; Kansas—Ex-Governor and Mrs. J. P. St. John, Mary A. Humphrey, Lorenzo Westover, Susan E. Wattles, Mrs. Van Coleman; Kentucky—Ellen B. Dietrick; Massachusetts—Lilian Whiting; Michigan—Catharine A. F. Stebbins, Mrs. R. M. Young, Cordelia F. Briggs; Maine—Ellen French Foster, Lavina M. Snow; Minnesota—Eliza B. Gamble, Laura Howe Carpenter, Mrs. T. B. Walker; Missouri—Elizabeth Avery Meriwether, Annie R. Irvine; Nebraska—Judge and Mrs. A.D. Yocum, Madame Charlton Edholm, Harriet S. Brooks; New Jersey—Theresa Walling Seabrook, Augusta Cooper; New Hampshire—Armenia S. White, Eliza Morrill; New York—Madame Clara Neymann, Mary F. Seymour, Jean Brooks Greenleaf, Mary F. Gilbert, Mathilde F. Wendt, Helen M. Loder, Augusta Lilienthal, Amy Post, Sarah H. Hallock, Elizabeth Oakes Smith; Ohio—Frances Dana Gage; Pennsylvania—Adeline Thomson, Deborah A. Pennock, Matilda Hindman, Hattie M. Du Bois, Mrs. Lovisa C. McCullough; Rhode Island—Catherine C. Knowles; Texas—Jennie Bland Beauchamp; Virginia—N. O. Town; Washington Ty.—Barbara J. Thompson; Wisconsin—Almeda B. Gray, Evaleen L. Mason, Mathilde Anneke; Canada—Dr. Emily H. Stowe.

[16] For a full account of Miss Carroll's services and such congressional action as was taken, see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, pp. 3 and 863. It is the story of a national disgrace.

[17] Resolved, That we hold a convention in every unorganized State and Territory during the present year, as far as possible, at the capital.

Resolved, That we consider the enfranchisement of the women citizens of the United States the paramount issue of the hour, therefore

Resolved, That we will, by all honorable methods, oppose the election of any presidential candidate who is a known opponent to woman suffrage, and we recommend similar action on the part of our State associations in regard to State and congressional candidates and further

Resolved, That the officers of this convention shall communicate with presidential nominees of the several political parties and ascertain their position upon this question.

Resolved, That all Legislatures shall be requested to memorialize Congress upon the submission of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, this to be the duty of the vice presidents of the States and Territories.

Whereas, The National Government, through Congress and the Supreme Court, has persistently refused to protect the women of the several States and Territories in "the right of the citizen to vote," therefore

Resolved, That this association most earnestly protests against national interference to abolish the right where it has been secured by the Legislature—as, for example, the Edmunds Tucker Bill, which proposes to disfranchise all the women of Utah, thus inflicting the most degrading penalty upon the innocent equally with the guilty, by robbing them of their most sacred right of citizenship.

[18] The method of organization must be governed by circumstances. In some localities it is best to call a public meeting, in others to invite the friends of the movement to a private conference. Both women and men should be members and co-operate, and the society should be organized on as broad and liberal a basis as possible.

Hold conventions, picnics, teas, and occasionally have a lecture from some one who will draw a large crowd. Utilize your own talent, encourage your young women and men to speak, read essays and debate on the question. Hold public celebrations of the birthdays of eminent women, and in that way interest many who would not attend a pronounced suffrage meeting.

Persons who can not be induced to attend a public meeting will often accept an invitation to a parlor conference or entertainment where woman suffrage can be made the subject of conversation. Cultured women and men, who "have given the matter no thought," can be interested through a paper presenting the life and work of such women as Margaret Fuller, Abigail Adams, Lucretia Mott, etc., or showing the rise and progress of the woman suffrage movement, giving short biographies of the leaders.

Advocate suffrage through your local papers. Send them short, pithy communications, and, when possible, secure a column in each, to be edited by the society.

Invite pastors of churches to select from the numerous appropriate texts in the Bible and preach occasionally upon this subject.

A strong effort should be made to circulate literature. Every society should own a copy of the Woman Question in Europe, by Theodore Stanton, of the History of Woman Suffrage, by Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and Mrs. Gage, of Mrs. Robinson's Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement, of T. W. Higginson's Common Sense for Women, of John Stuart Mill's Subjection of Women, and of Frances Power Cobbe's Duties of Women. These will furnish ammunition for arguments and debates.

Suffrage leaflets should be circulated in parlors and places of business, and "pockets" should be filled and hung in railroad stations, post-offices and hotels, that "he who runs may read." Over these should be printed "Woman Suffrage—Take and Read."

All the above methods aim rather at the education of the popular mind than the judiciary and legislative branches of the Government. The next step is to educate the representatives in Congress and on the bench of the Supreme Court in the principles of constitutional law and republican government, that they may understand the justice of the demands for a Sixteenth Amendment which shall forbid the several States to deny or abridge the rights of women citizens of the United States.

[19] Miss Anthony never wrote her addresses and no stenographic reports were made. Brief and inadequate newspaper accounts are all that remain.

[Pg 31]

## CHAPTER III.

### CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS AND REPORTS OF 1884.

Both Senate and House of the preceding Congress had appointed Select Committees on Woman Suffrage to whom all petitions, etc., were referred.[20] The Senate of the Forty-eighth Congress renewed this committee, but the House declined to do so. Early in the session, Dec. 19, 1883, the Committee on Rules refused to report such a committee but authorized Speaker Warren Keifer of Ohio to present the question to the House. A spirited debate followed which displayed the sentiment of members against the question of woman suffrage itself. John H. Reagan of Texas was the principal opponent, saying in the course of his remarks:

> I hope that it will not be considered ungracious in me that I oppose the wish of any lady. But when she so far misunderstands her duty as to want to go to working on the roads and making rails and serving in the militia and going into the army, I want to protect her against it. I do not think that sort of employment suits her sex or her physical strength. I think also, when we attempt to overturn the social status of the world as it has existed for six thousand years, we ought to begin somewhere where we have a constitutional basis to stand upon....

> But I suppose whoever clamors for action here finds a warrant for it in the clamor outside, and it is not necessary to look to the Constitution for it; it is not necessary to regard the interests of civilization and the experience of ages in determining our social as well as our political policy; but we will arrange it so that there shall be no one to nurse the babies, no one to superintend the household, but all shall go into the political scramble, and we shall go back as rapidly as we can march into barbarism. That is the effect of such doings as this, disregarding the social interests of society for a clamor that never ought to have been made.

Mr. Reagan then rambled into a long discussion of the rights[Pg 32] allowed under the Constitution, although no action had been proposed except the mere appointment of a Select Committee, to whom all questions relating to woman suffrage might be referred, such as already existed in the Senate.

James B. Belford of Colorado in an able reply said:

> I have no doubt that this House will be gratified with the profound respect which the gentleman from Texas has expressed for the Constitution of the country. The last distinguished act with which he was connected was its attempted overthrow; and a man who was engaged in an enterprise of that kind can fight a class to whom his mother belonged. I desire to know whether a woman is a citizen of the United States or an outcast without any political rights whatever....

> What is the proposition presented by the gentleman from Ohio? That we will constitute a committee to whom shall be referred all petitions presented by women. Is not the right of petition a constitutional right? Has not woman, in this country at least, risen above the horizon of servitude, discredit and disgrace, and has she not a right, representing as she does in many instances great questions of property, to present her appeals to this National Council and have them judiciously considered? I think it is due to our wives, daughters, mothers and sisters to afford them an avenue through which they can legitimately and judicially reach the ear of this great nation.

Moved by Mr. Reagan's attacks, Mr. Keifer made a strong plea for the rights of women, which deserves a place in history, saying in part:

> We must remember that we stand here committed in a large sense to the matter of woman suffrage. In the Territories of Wyoming and Utah for fifteen years past women have had the right to vote on all questions which men can vote upon; and the Congress of the United States has stood by without disapproving the legislative acts of those Territories. And we now have before us a law passed at the last session of the Legislature of Washington, giving to its women the right to vote. We have not passed upon the question one way or the other, but we have the right to pass upon it. This, I think, seems to dispose sufficiently of the question of constitutional legislative power without trampling upon the toes of any State-rights man.

> The right of petition belongs to all persons within the limits of our republic, and with the right of petition goes the right on the part of the Congress through constitutional means to grant relief. Do gentlemen claim it is unconstitutional to amend the Constitution? I know that claim was made at one time on the floor of this House and on the floor of the Senate. When it was proposed to abolish slavery in the United States, distinguished gentlemen argued that it[Pg 33] was unconstitutional to amend the Constitution so as to abolish slavery. But all that has passed away and we now find ourselves, in the light of the present, seeing clearly that we may amend the Constitution in any way we please, pursuing always the proper constitutional methods of doing so.

> There are considerations due to the women of this country which ought not to be lightly thrust aside. For thirty-five years they have been petitioning and holding conventions and demanding that certain relief should be granted them, to the extent of allowing them to exercise the right of suffrage. In that thirty-five years we have seen great things accomplished. We have seen some of the subtleties of the Common Law, which were spread over this country, swept away. There is hardly anybody anywhere who now adheres to the doctrine that a married woman can not make a contract, and that she has no rights or liabilities except those which are centered in her husband. Even the old Common-Law maxim that "husband and wife are one, and that one the husband," has been largely modified under the influence of these patriotic, earnest ladies who have taken hold of this question and enlightened the world upon it. There are now in the vaults of this Capitol hundreds of thousands of petitions for relief, sent in here by women and by those who believed that women ought to have certain rights and privileges of citizenship granted to them. For sixteen years there has been held in this city, annually, a convention composed of representative women from all parts of the country. These conventions, as well as various State and local conventions, have been appealing for relief; and they ought not to be met by the statement that we will not even give them the poor privilege of a committee to whom their petitions and memorials may be referred.

> We have made some progress. In 1871 there was a very strong minority report made in this House in favor of woman suffrage. Notwithstanding the notion that we must stand by all our old ideas, the Supreme Court of the United States, after deliberately considering the question, admitted a woman to practice at the bar of that Court.[21] A hundred years ago, in the darkness of which some gentlemen desire still to live, I suppose they would not have done this. Favorable reports on this subject were made by the Committee on Privileges and Elections in the Senate of the Forty-fifth Congress, and in the last Congress by a Select Committee of the Senate and of the House. The Legislatures of many of the States have expressed their judgment on the matter. There has been a great deal of progress in that direction. The Senate and the House of Representatives of the last Congress provided Select Committees to whom all matters relating to woman suffrage could be referred. Will this House take a step backward on this question?[Pg 34]

> I want especially to notify the gentleman from Texas that we are not standing still on this matter. Eleven States—New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Oregon—have authorized women to vote for school trustees and members of school boards. Kentucky extends this right to widows who have children and pay taxes. Women are nominated and voted for not only in the eleven States and three Territories, but in nearly all the Northern and Western States. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa and other States have large numbers of women county superintendents of public schools. And let me say, for the benefit of the Democratic party, that in the great, progressive western State of Kansas the Democracy rose so high as to nominate and vote for a woman for State Superintendent of Public Instruction at the last election. So there has been a little growing away from those old ideas and notions, even among the Democracy. We are permitting women to fill public offices. Why should they not participate in the election of officers who are to govern them? We require them to pay taxes and there are a great many burdens imposed upon them. Kansas, Michigan, Colorado and Nebraska have in recent years submitted the question of woman suffrage to a vote of the people and more than one-third of the electors of each voted in favor. Oregon has now a similar proposition pending.

> By the laws of all the States women are required to pay taxes; but we are practically working on the theory that these women shall be taxed without the right of representation. Taxation without representation led to the separation of the colonies from the mother country. They were not so much opposed to being taxed as they were to being taxed without representation. The patriots of that day conceived the idea that there was a principle somewhere involved in the right of representation. So they evolved and formulated that Revolutionary maxim, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." The basis of that maxim was that they would not give to the payment of taxes without the right of representation. Revolution and war made representation and taxation correlative. But the States tax all women on their property. For illustration, 8,000 women of Boston and 34,000 in Massachusetts pay $2,000,000 of taxes, one-eleventh of the entire tax of that great and wealthy State. The same ratio will be found to prevail in all the other States.

> Progress has gone on elsewhere than in the United States. England has been moving forward in this matter, and we should not stand behind her in anything....

> I am one of those who do not believe that to give to women common rights and privileges will degrade them, but on the contrary I believe it will ennoble them; and I believe further that to put them on an equality in the matter of rights and privileges with men will enhance their charms and not lessen their beauty.

The vote resulted—yeas, 85; nays, 124; not voting, 112. Of[Pg 35] the affirmative votes 72 were Republican, 13 Democratic; of the negative, 4 were Republican, 120 Democratic.

In January, 1884, after the return of the members from their holiday recess, Miss Anthony addressed letters to the 112 absentees, asking each how he would have voted had he been present. Fifty-two replies were received, 26 from Republicans, all of whom would have voted yes; 26 from Democrats, 10 of whom would have voted yes, 10, no, and 6 could not tell which way they would have voted.

In the hope that this respectable minority could be increased to a majority, the Hon. John D. White (Ky.) made a further attempt, Feb. 7, 1884, to secure the desired committee, saying in his speech upon this question:

> It seems to me to be an anomalous state of affairs that in a great Nation like this one-half of the people should have no committee to which they could address their appeals.

> Women consider they have the same political rights as men. I might read from such distinguished authority as Miss Susan B. Anthony, whose name has been jeered in her native State, and who has been prosecuted there for voting, but who stands before the American people to-day the peer of any woman in the nation, and the superior of half the men occupying a representative capacity. It does seem to me hard that when a woman like this comes to Congress, instructed by thousands and tens of thousands of her sex, in order to be heard she should be compelled to hang around the doors of the Judiciary Committee, or of some other committee, pre-eminently occupied with other matters. But we are told there is no room. Yet we have a room where lobbyists of every sort are provided for. And are we to be told that no room in this wing of the Capitol can be had where respectable women of the nation can present arguments for the calm consideration of their friends in this body? I ask simply for the opportunity to be afforded the representatives of the political rights of women to be heard in making respectful argument to the law-making power of the nation.

Byron M. Cutcheon (Mich.) also spoke in favor of the committee, saying:

> Ever since the organization of this House I have received petitions from my constituents in regard to this matter of the political rights of women, but there seems to be no committee to which they could properly be referred. A few years since, when this question of woman suffrage was submitted to the people in my State, more than 40,000 electors were in favor of it. It seems to me, without committing ourselves on the question of the political rights of women,[Pg 36] it is but respectful to a very large number of people in all our States that there should be a committee to receive and consider and report upon these petitions which come to us from time to time.

The House refused to allow a vote.

The Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage granted a hearing March 7, 1884, at 10:30 a. m., in the Senate reception room, to the speakers and delegates in attendance at the convention, the entire committee being present.[22] In introducing the speakers Miss Anthony said: "This is the sixteenth year that we have come before Congress in person, and the nineteenth by petitions, asking national protection for the citizen's right to vote, when the citizen happens to be a woman."

> Mrs. Harriet R. Shattuck (Mass.): We canvassed four localities in the city of Boston, two in smaller cities, two in country districts and made one record also of school teachers in nine schools of one town. The teachers were unanimously in favor of woman suffrage, and in the nine localities we found that the proportion of women in favor was very much larger than of those opposed. The total of women canvassed was 814. Those in favor were 405, those opposed, 44; indifferent, 166; refused to sign, 160; not seen, 39. These canvasses were made by respectable, responsible women, and they swore before a Justice of the Peace as to the truth of their statements. Thus we have in Massachusetts this reliable canvass of women showing those in favor are to those opposed as nine to one....

> Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.): ... My friend has said that men have always kept us just a little below them where they could shower upon us favors and they have done that generously. So they have, but, gentlemen, has your sex been more generous to women than they have been generous toward you in their favors? Neither can dispense with the service of the other, neither can dispense with the reverence of the other or with the aid of the other in social life. The men of this nation are rapidly finding that they can not dispense with the service of woman in business life. I know that they are also feeling the need of the moral support of woman in their political life.

> You, gentlemen, by lifting the women of the nation into political equality would simply place us where we could lift you where you never yet have stood—upon a moral equality with us. I do not speak to you as individuals but as the representatives of your sex, as I stand here the representative of mine, and never until we are your equals politically will the moral standard for men be what[Pg 37] it now is for women, and it is none too high. Let woman's standard be still more elevated, and let yours come up to match it.

> We do not appeal to you as Republicans or as Democrats. We were reared with our brothers under the political belief and faith of our fathers, and probably as much influenced by that rearing as they were. We shall go to strengthen both the parties, neither the one nor the other the more, probably. So this is not a partisan measure; it is a just measure, which is our due, because of what we are, men and women both, by virtue of our heritage and our one Father, our one Mother eternal.

> Mrs. Helen M. Gougar (Ind.): I maintain there is no political question paramount to that of woman suffrage before the people of America to-day. Political parties would have us believe that tariff is the great question of the hour. It is an insult to the intelligence of the present to say that when one-half of the citizens of this republic are denied a direct voice in making the laws under which they shall live, that the tariff, the civil rights of the negro, or any other question which can be brought up, is equal to the one of giving political freedom to women.

> I ask you to let me have a voice in the laws under which I shall live because the older empires of the earth are sending to the United States a population drawn very largely from their asylums, penitentiaries, jails and poor-houses. They are emptying those men upon our shores, and within a few months they are intrusted with the ballot, the law-making power in this republic, and they and their representatives are seated in official and legislative positions. I, as an American-born woman, enter my protest at being compelled to live under laws made by this class of men while I am denied the protection that can only come from the ballot. While I would not have you take this right from those men whom we invite to our shores, I do ask you, in the face of this immense foreign immigration, to enfranchise the tax-paying, intelligent, moral, native-born women of America.

> ....We have in our State the signatures of over 5,000 of the school teachers asking for woman's ballot. I ask you if the Government does not need the voice of those 5,000 educated teachers as much as it needs the voice of the 240 criminals who are, on an average, sent out of the penitentiary of Indiana each year, to go to the ballot-box upon every question, and make laws under which those teachers must live, and under which the mothers of our State must keep their homes and rear their children?

> On behalf of the mothers of this country I demand that their hands shall be loosened before the ballot-box, and that they shall have the privilege of throwing the mother heart into the laws which shall follow their sons not only to the age of majority, but even after their hair has turned gray and they have seats in the United States Congress; yes, to the very confines of eternity. This can be done in no indirect way; it can not be done by silent influence; it can not be done by prayer. While I do not underestimate the power of prayer, I say give me my ballot with which to send statesmen instead[Pg 38] of modern politicians into our legislative halls. I would rather have that ballot on election day than the prayers of all the disfranchised women in the universe!

> ....Our forefathers did not object to taxation, but they did object to taxation without representation, and we object to it. We are willing to contribute our share to the support of this Government, as we always have done; but we demand our little yes and no in the form of the ballot so that we shall have a direct influence in distributing the taxes.

> I am amenable to the gallows and the penitentiary, and it is no more than right that I shall have a voice in framing the laws under which I shall be rewarded or punished. It is written in the law of every State in this Union that a person tried in the courts shall have a jury of his peers; yet so long as the word "male" stands as it does in the Constitution of the United States and the States, no woman can have a jury of her peers. I protest in the name of justice against going into the court-room and being compelled to run the gauntlet of the gutter and saloon—yes, even of the police court and of the jail—as is done in selecting a male jury to try the interests of woman, whether relating to life, property or reputation....

> The political party that presumes to fight the moral battles of the future must have the women in its ranks. We are non-partisan. We come as Democrats, Republicans, Prohibitionists and Green-backers, and if there were half a dozen other political parties some of us would affiliate with them. We ask this beneficent action upon your part, because we believe the intelligence and justice of the hour demand it. We ask you in the name of equity and humanity alone, and not in that of any party....

> You ask us if we are impatient. Yes; we are impatient. Some of us may die, and I want our grand old standard-bearer, Susan B. Anthony, whose name will go down to history beside those of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Wendell Phillips—I want that woman to go to Heaven a free angel from this republic. The power lies in your hands to make all women free.

> Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers (N. Y.): It is often said to us that when all the women ask for the ballot it will be granted. Did all the married women petition the Legislatures of their States to secure to them the right to hold in their own name the property which belonged to them? To secure to the poor forsaken wife the right to her earnings? All the women did not ask for these rights, but all accepted them with joy and gladness when they were obtained, and so it will be with the franchise. Woman's right to self-government does not depend upon the numbers that demand it, but upon precisely the same principles on which man claims it for himself. Where did man get the authority which he now exercises to govern one-half of humanity; from what power the right to place woman, his helpmeet in life, in an inferior position? Came it from nature? Nature made woman his superior when it made her his mother—his equal when it fitted her to hold the sacred position of wife. Did women meet in council and voluntarily give up all their[Pg 39] right to be their own law-makers? The power of the strong over the weak makes man the master. Thus, and thus only, does he gain the authority.

> It is all very well to say, "Convert the women." While we most heartily wish they could all feel as we do, yet when it comes to the decision of this great question they are mere ciphers, for if it is settled by the States it will be left to the men, not to the women, to decide. Or if suffrage comes to women through a Sixteenth Amendment to the National Constitution, it will be decided by Legislatures elected by men only. In neither case will women have an opportunity of passing upon the question. So reason tells us we must devote our best efforts to converting those to whom we must look for the removal of the barriers which now prevent our exercising the right of suffrage....

> Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.): We ask for the ballot for the good of the race. Huxley says: "Admitting, for the sake of argument, that woman is the weaker, mentally and physically, for that very reason she should have the ballot and every help which the world can give her." When you debar from your councils and legislative halls the purity, the spirituality and the love of woman, then those councils are apt to become coarse and brutal. God gave us to you to help you in this little journey to a better land, and by our love and our intellect to help make our country pure and noble, and if you would have statesmen you must have stateswomen to bear them....

> Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.): It is often said that we have too many voters; that the aggregate of vice and ignorance among us should not be increased by giving women the right of suffrage. In the enormous immigration which pours upon our shores every year, numbering nearly half a million, there come twice as many men as women. What does this mean? It means a constant preponderance of the masculine over the feminine; and it means also, of course, a preponderance of the voting power of the foreign men as compared to the native born men. To those who fear that our American institutions are threatened by this gigantic inroad of foreigners, I commend the reflection that the best safeguard against any such preponderance of foreign influence is to put the ballot in the hands of the American born woman, and of all other women also, so that if the foreign born man overbalances us in numbers we shall be always in a majority on the side of the liberty which is secured by our institutions....

> Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert: From the great State of Illinois I come, representing 200,000 men and women of that State who have recorded their written petitions for woman's ballot, 90,000 of these being citizens under the law, male voters; those 90,000 have signed petitions for the right of woman to vote on the temperance question; 90,000 women also signed those petitions; 50,000 men and women signed the petitions for the school vote, and 60,000 more have signed petitions that the full right of suffrage might be accorded to woman.[Pg 40]

> This growth of public sentiment has been occasioned by the needs of the children and the working women of that great State. I come here to ask you to make a niche in the statesmanship and legislation of the nation for the domestic interests of the people. You recognize that the masculine thought is more often turned to material and political interests. I claim that the mother-thought, the woman-element needed, is to supplement the statesmanship of American men on political and industrial affairs with domestic legislation.

In her closing address Miss Anthony took up the question of obtaining suffrage for women through the States instead of Congress and said:

> My answer is that I do not wish to see the women of the thirty-eight States of this Union compelled to leave their homes to canvass each one of these, school district by school district. It is asking too much of a moneyless class. The joint earnings of the marriage co-partnership in all the States belong legally to the husband. It is only that wife who goes outside the home to work whom the law permits to own and control the money she earns. Therefore, to ask of women, the vast majority of whom are without an independent dollar of their own, to make a thorough canvass of their several States, is asking an impossibility.

> We have already made the experiment of canvassing four States—Kansas in 1867, Michigan in 1874, Colorado in 1877, Nebraska in 1882—and in each, with the best campaign possible for us to make, we obtained a vote of only one-third. One man out of every three voted for the enfranchisement of the women of his household, while two out of every three voted against it....

> We beg, therefore, that instead of insisting that a majority of the individual voters must be converted before women shall have the franchise, you will give us the more hopeful task of appealing to the representative men in the Legislatures of the several States. You need not fear that we shall get suffrage too quickly if Congress submits the proposition, for even then we shall have a long siege in going from Legislature to Legislature to secure the vote of three-fourths of the States necessary to ratify the amendment. It may require twenty years after Congress has taken the initiative step, to obtain action by the requisite number, but once submitted by Congress it always will stand until ratified by the States.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's paper on Self-Government the Best Means of Self-Development was read to the committee. A few extracts will serve to show its broad scope:

> The basic idea of a republic is the right of self-government, the right of every citizen to choose his own representatives and to have a voice in the laws under which he lives. As this right can be secured only by the exercise of the suffrage, the ballot in the hand of[Pg 41] every qualified citizen constitutes the true political status of the people in a republic.

> The right of suffrage is simply the right to govern one's self. Every human being is born into the world with this right, and the desire to exercise it comes naturally with the feeling of life's responsibilities. Those only who are capable of appreciating this dignity, can measure the extent to which women are defrauded, and they only can measure the loss to the councils of the nation of the wisdom of representative women. They who say that women do not desire the right of suffrage, that they prefer masculine domination to self-government, falsify every page of history, every fact in human experience.

> It has taken the whole power of the civil and canon law to hold woman in the subordinate position which it is said she willingly accepts. If woman naturally has no will, no self-assertion, no opinions of her own, what means the terrible persecution of the sex under all forms of religious fanaticism, culminating in witchcraft in which scarce one wizard to a thousand witches was sacrificed? So powerful and merciless has been the struggle to dominate the feminine element in humanity, that we may well wonder at the steady, determined resistance maintained by woman through the centuries. To every step of progress which she has made from slavery to the partial freedom she now enjoys, the Church and the State alike have made the most cruel opposition, and yet, under all circumstances she has shown her love of individual freedom, her desire for self-government, while her achievements in practical affairs and her courage in the great emergencies of life have vindicated her capacity to exercise this right....

> The right of suffrage in a republic means self-government, and self-government means education, development, self-reliance, independence, courage in the hour of danger. That women may attain these virtues we demand the exercise of this right. Not that we suppose we should at once be transformed into a higher order of beings with all the elements of sovereignty, wisdom, goodness and power full-fledged, but because the exercise of the suffrage is the primary school in which the citizen learns how to use the ballot as a weapon of defense; it is the open sesame to the land of freedom and equality. The ballot is the scepter of power in the hand of every citizen. Woman can never have an equal chance with man in the struggle of life until she too wields this power. So long as women have no voice in the Government under which they live they will be an ostracised class, and invidious distinctions will be made against them in the world of work. Thrown on their own resources they have all the hardships that men have to encounter in earning their daily bread, with the added disabilities which grow out of disfranchisement. Men of the republic, why make life harder for your daughters by these artificial distinctions? Surely, if governments were made to protect the weak against the strong, they are in greater need than your stalwart sons of every political right which can give them protection, dignity and power....[Pg 42]

> The disfranchisement of one-half the people places a dangerous power in the hands of the other half. All history shows that one class never did legislate with justice for another, and all philosophy shows they never can, as the relations of class grow out of either natural or artificial advantages which one has over the other and which it will maintain if possible. It is folly to say that women are not a class, so long as there is any difference in the code of laws for men and women, any discrimination in the customs of society, giving advantages to men over women; so long as in all our State constitutions women are ranked with lunatics, idiots, paupers and criminals. When you say that one-half the people shall be governed by the other half, surely the class distinction is about as broad as it can be....

> The disfranchisement of one-half the people deprives the State of the united wisdom of man and woman—that "consensus of the competent" so necessary in national affairs—making our Government an oligarchy of males, instead of a republic of the people, thus perpetuating with all its evils a dominant masculine civilization. But in answer to this it is said that although women do not vote, yet they have an indirect influence in Government through their husbands and brothers. Yes, an "irresponsible power," of all kinds of influence the most dangerous....

> The dogged, unreasonable persecutions of sex in all ages, the evident determination to eliminate, as far as possible, the feminine element in humanity, has been the most fruitful cause of the moral chaos the race has suffered, under every form of government and religion.... The loss to women themselves of the highest development of which they are capable is sad, but when this involves a lower type of manhood and danger to our free institutions, it is still more sad. The primal work in every country, for its own safety, should be the education and freedom of woman.

The arguments before the Judiciary Committee of the House were given the next morning, March 8, twelve of the fifteen members being present.[23] Miss Anthony opened the hearing with an earnest address in which she referred to the hundreds of thousands of petitions which had been sent to Congress for woman suffrage—far more than for any other measure—and continued:

> Negro suffrage was again and again overwhelmingly voted down in various States—New York, Connecticut, Ohio, etc.—and you know, gentlemen, that if the negro had never had the right to vote until the majority of the rank and file of white men, particularly foreign-born men, had voted "Yes," he would have gone without it[Pg 43] till the crack of doom. It was because of the prejudice of the unthinking majority that Congress submitted the question of the negro's enfranchisement to the Legislatures of the several States, to be adjudicated by the educated, broadened representatives of the people. We now appeal to you to lift the decision of woman suffrage from the vote of the populace to that of the Legislatures, that you may thereby be as considerate, as just, to the women of this nation as you were to the male ex-slaves.

> Every new privilege granted to women has been by the Legislatures. The liberal laws for married women, the right of the wife to own and control her inherited property and separate earnings, the right of women to vote at school elections in a dozen States, the right to vote on all questions in three Territories, have all been gained through the Legislatures. Had any one of these beneficent propositions been submitted to the masses, do you believe a majority would have placed their sanction upon them? I do not.

> It takes all too many of us women, and too much of our hard earnings, from our homes and from the works of charity and education of our respective localities, even to come to Washington, session after session, until Congress shall have submitted the proposition, and then to go from Legislature to Legislature, urging its adoption; but when you insist that we shall beg at the feet of each and every individual voter of each and every one of the thirty-eight States, native and foreign, white and black, educated and ignorant, you doom us to incalculable hardships and sacrifices and to most exasperating insults and humiliations. I pray you, therefore, save us from the fate of working and waiting for our freedom until we shall have educated the masses of men to consent to give their wives and sisters equality of rights with themselves. You surely will not compel us to wait the enlightenment of all the freedmen of this nation and all the newly-made voters from the monarchial governments of the Old World!

> Liberty for one's self is a natural instinct possessed alike by all, but to be willing to accord liberty to another is the result of education, of self-discipline, of the practice of the golden rule—"Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you." Therefore we ask that the question of equality of rights to women shall be arbitrated upon by the picked men of the nation in Congress, and the picked men of the several States in their respective Legislatures.

> The Rev. Florence Killock (Ills.): ... Called as I am into the homes of the people through the requirements of my office, I know whereof I speak when I say that I am as faithfully fulfilling its sacred duties when I come before you urging this claim, as when, on my bended knees, I plead at the throne of God for the salvation of souls.

> I know too well the suffering that might be alleviated, the terrible wrongs that might be righted, the sins that might be punished, could the moral power of the women of our land be utilized—could it be brought to bear on those great questions which affect so vitally the welfare of society. The gigantic evil of intemperance is prostrating[Pg 44] the finest powers of our country and threatening the life of social purity; it is in truth the fell destroyer of peace, virtue and domestic and national safety, and upon the unoffending the blow falls with the greatest weight. Why should not they who suffer the most deeply through this evil, be authorized before the law of the land to protect themselves and their loved ones from its fearful ravages? Is it other than simple justice which I ask for them? I have listened to too many sad stories from heart-broken wives and mothers not to know that the demand which the women of the land make in this matter comes not from love of power, is not prompted by false ambition, springs not from unwomanly aspirations, but does come from a direful need of self-protection and an earnest desire to protect those dearer than life itself.

> Gentlemen of the Judiciary Committee, in the same spirit in which I seek the aid of Heaven in my endeavor to promote the spiritual welfare of mankind, I now and here seek your aid in promoting the highest moral welfare of every man, woman and child. This you will do in giving your vote and influence for the equality of women before the law, and as you thus confer this new power upon the women of our land, like the bread cast upon the waters, it shall come to you in a higher, nobler type of womanhood, in sweeter homes, in purer social life, in all that contributes to the welfare of the individual and the state.

> Mrs. Mary B. Clay (Ky.): We do not come here to plead as individual women with individual men, but as a subject class with a ruling class; nor do we come as suffering individuals—though God knows some of us might do that with propriety—but as the suffering millions whom we represent....

> We are born of the same parents as men and raised in the same family. We are possessed of the same loves and animosities as our brothers, and we inherit equally with them the substance of our fathers. So long as we are minors the Government treats us as equals, but when we come of age, when we are capable of feeling and knowing the difference, the boy becomes a free human being, while the girl remains a slave, a subject, and no moral heroism, no self-sacrificing patriotism, ever entitles her to her freedom. Is this just? Is it not, indeed, barbarous?

> If American men intend always to keep women slaves, political and civil, they make a great mistake when they let the girl, with the boy, learn the alphabet, for no educated class will long remain in subjection. We are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket-handkerchief?

> Each one of you is responsible for these laws continuing as they are, and you can not avoid responsibility by saying that you did not help to make them. Great injustice is done us in the fact that we[Pg 45] are not tried by a jury of our peers. Great injustice is done us everywhere by our not having a vote. Human nature is naturally selfish, and, as woman is deprived of the ballot, and powerless either to punish or reward, man, loving his bread and butter more than justice, will ever thrust her aside for the benefit of those who can help him, those with ballots in their hands.

> ....All that is good in the home, and largely the highest principles taught in your youth, were given by your mothers. How then it is possible for you to return this love and interest, as soon as you are capable of acting, by riveting the chains which hold them still slaves, politically and civilly?

> You need woman's presence and counsel in legislation as much as she needs yours in the home; you need the association and influence of woman; her intuitive knowledge of men's character and the effect of measures upon the household; you need her for the economical details of public work; you need her sense of justice and moral courage to execute the laws; you need her for all that is just, merciful and good in government. But above all, women themselves need the ballot for self-protection, and as we are by common right and the laws of God free human beings, we demand that you no longer hold us your subjects—your political slaves.

> Mrs. Mary E. Haggart (Ind.): When Abraham Lincoln penned the immortal emancipation proclamation he did not stop to inquire whether every man and every woman in Southern slavery did or did not want to be free. Whether women do or do not wish to vote does not affect the question of their right to do so. The right of man to the ballot is a logical deduction from the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. And singular to say, while this inheres in all people alike, the privilege of exercising it is withheld from women by a class who have no right to say whether they are willing or not that women should vote. Their right to the ballot was long ago settled beyond a quibble, by laws and principles of justice which are superior to the codes of men, who have usurped the power to regulate the voting privileges of citizens. If this right be inherent and existing in the great body of society before governments are formed, it follows that all citizens of a republic, be they male or female, are alike entitled to its exercise.

> ....Is there a man among you willing to resign his own right to the ballot and to place his own business interests and general welfare at the mercy of the votes of others? Would you not resent an attempt on the part of any man, or set of men, to fix your mental status, assign your work in life and lay out with mathematical precision your exact sphere in the world? And yet men undertake to adjust the limitations of the Elizabeth Cady Stantons, the Susan B. Anthonys, the Harriet Beecher Stowes, the Frances E. Willards, the Harriet Hosmers of the world, and continue to talk with patronizing condescension of female retirement, female duties and female spheres.

> The question is not whether women want or do not want to vote, but how can republican inconsistencies be wiped out, justice universally[Pg 46] recognized and impartially administered, and the civil and political errors of the past effectually repaired. Whoever admits that men have a right to the franchise must include in the admission women also, for there are no reasons capable of demonstrating an abstract right in behalf of one sex which are not equally applicable to the other....

> The assertion that women do not want to vote is absolutely without authority, so long as each individual woman does not speak out for herself. In Ohio 225,000, and in Illinois 185,000, have signified a desire to use the ballot for home protection, and yet it is still asserted in those States that women do not want it. Over 100,000 women have already notified this Congress that they desire equality of political rights, and still it is declared all around us that women do not want to vote. Gentlemen, this is most emphatically an assertion which no individual can be justified in making for another.

> Since the elective franchise is the parent stem from which branch out legal, industrial, social and educational enterprises necessary to the welfare of the citizens, it will be readily seen how women engaged in reforms, public charities, social enterprises, are hampered and trammeled in their progress without the ballot. Women have beheld their plans frustrated, their Herculean labor undone, their lives wasted, for want of legislative power through the citizen's emblem of sovereignty....

> All ranks and occupations are beginning to realize that monstrous evils must ever crowd upon both classes while one side of humanity only is represented, and while one sex has the irresponsible keeping of the rights and privileges of the other. To-day, throughout the length and breadth of our land, woman finds the greatest need of the ballot through an almost overpowering desire to have her wishes and opinions crystallized into law.

> I have no hesitancy in saying that if the conditions which surround the women of this nation to-day were the conditions of the male citizens of the country, they would rise up and pronounce them the exact definition of civil and political slavery, instead of the true interpretation of natural justice and civil equity.

> Many persons claim that men are born with the right to vote, as they are to the right of life, liberty and happiness; that suffrage is the gift of the State, and that the State has a right to regulate it in any way that it may deem best for the common good. If men are born with the right to life, liberty and happiness, they are also born with the right to give expression as to how these are to be maintained; and in this nation, which professes to rest upon the consent of the governed, this expression is given through the ballot. Consequently the expression of a freeman's will is as God-given as his right to be free. Since the year of Magna Charta we have repudiated the idea of representation by proxy.

> We all know that there are thousands of women in this nation who are owners of property, mothers of children, devoted to their homes and families and to all the duties and responsibilities which grow out of social life, and hence are most deeply interested[Pg 47] in the public welfare. They have just as much at stake in this Government, which affords them no opportunity of giving or withholding their consent, as men who are consulted. John Quincy Adams said in that grand speech in defense of the petitions of the women of Plymouth: "The women are not only justified, but exhibit the most exalted virtue, when they do depart from the domestic sphere and enter upon the concerns of their country, of humanity and of God."

Miss Phoebe W. Couzins (Mo.) in closing her address said: "At the gateway of this nation, the harbor of New York, there soon shall stand a statue of the Goddess of Liberty, presented by the republic of France—a magnificent figure of a woman, typifying all that is grand and glorious and free in self-government. She will hold aloft an electric torch of great power which is to beam an effulgent light far out to sea, that ships sailing towards this goodly land may ride safely into harbor. So should you thus uplift the women of this nation, and teach these men, at the very threshold, when first their feet shall touch the shore of this republic, that here woman is exalted, ennobled and honored; that here she bears aloft the torch of intelligence and purity which guides our Ship of State into the safe harbor of wise laws, pure morals and secure institutions."

It had been the custom of these committees, when they reported at all, to delay doing so until the following year. In 1884, however, those of both Senate and House submitted reports soon after the hearings. The favorable recommendation was presented March 28, 1884, signed by Thomas W. Palmer, Henry W. Blair, Elbridge G. Lapham and Henry B. Anthony. Senators Francis Marion Cockrell and Joseph E. Brown dissented.[24] The name of Senator James G. Fair does not appear on either document, but he had signed an adverse report in 1882.

An adverse majority report from the House Judiciary Committee was presented by William C. Maybury (Mich.) and began thus:

> The right of suffrage is not and never has, under our system of government, been one of the essential rights of citizenship....[Pg 48]

> What class or portion of the whole people of any State should be admitted to suffrage, and should, by virtue of such admission, exert the active and potential control in the direction of its affairs, was a question reserved exclusively for the determination of the State.

[The report loses sight entirely of the point that this question was not and never has been left to "the people" of a State, but that men alone usurped the right to decide who should be admitted to the suffrage, arbitrarily excluded women and have kept them excluded.]

> Under the influence of a just fear that without suffrage as a protective power to the newly-acquired rights and privileges guaranteed to the former slave he might suffer detriment, and with this dominant motive in view, originated the Fifteenth Amendment. It will be noted that by this later amendment the privilege of suffrage is not sought to be conferred on any class; but an inhibition is placed upon the States from excluding from the privilege of suffrage any class on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

[The Fifteenth Amendment does not mention the "privilege" of suffrage. It says expressly, "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged." But whether it be a "right" or a "privilege," where did the negro get that which the States are forbidden to deny or abridge, if it does not inhere in citizenship? The report is incorrect in saying that the State is prohibited from excluding any "class;" it is only the "males" of any class who are protected from exclusion. The same right or privilege belongs to women, but they are not protected in the exercise of it. Women never have asked Congress to grant them any new right or privilege, but only to prohibit the States from denying or abridging what is already theirs, as it did in the case of negro men.]

> Woman's true sphere is not restricted, but is boundless in resources and consequences. In it she may employ every energy of the mind and every affection of the heart, while within its limitless compass, under Providence, she exercises a power and influence beyond all other agencies for good. She trains and guides the life that is, and forms it for the eternity and immortality that are to be. From the rude contact of life, man is her shield. He is her guardian from its conflicts. He is the defender of her rights in his home, and the avenger of her wrongs everywhere.

[That is, what man considers her true sphere is not restricted, but she is not allowed to decide for herself what shall be its[Pg 49] dimensions. "Her power for good is beyond all other agencies," but it is not wanted in affairs of State, where surely it is needed quite as badly as in any place in the world. "Man is her shield, guardian, defender and avenger." Witness the Common Law of England, made by men, under which women lived for centuries and which is still in force in a number of the States; witness the records of the courts with the wife-beaters and slayers, the rapists, the seducers, the husbands who have deserted their families, the schemers who have defrauded widows and orphans—witness all these and then say if all men are the natural protectors of women. But even if they were, witness the millions of women who are not legally entitled to the protection and assistance of any man. However, the report does not forget these women.]

> The exceptional cases of unmarried females are too rare to change the general policy, while expectancy and hope, constantly being realized in marriage, are happily extinguishing the exceptions and bringing all within the rule which governs wife and matron.

> To permit the entrance of political contention into the home would be either useless or pernicious—useless if man and wife agree, and pernicious if they differ. In the former event the volume of ballots alone would be increased without changing results. In the latter, the peace and contentment of home would be exchanged for the bedlam of political debate and become the scene of base and demoralizing intrigue.

[What a breadth of statesmanship, what a grasp of the principles of a republican form of government, to see in the voting of husband and wife only an "increase of ballots"; what a reflection upon men to assume that if there were an honest difference of opinion "the home would become a scene of base and demoralizing intrigue"; what a recognition of justice to decree that, since possibly there might be a disagreement, the man should do the voting and the woman should be forbidden a voice!]

> In respect to married women, it may well be doubted whether the influences which result from the laws of property between husband and wife, would not make it improbable that the woman should exercise her suffrage with freedom and independence. This, too, in despite of the fact that the dependence of woman under the Common Law has been almost entirely obliterated by statutory enactments.

[Pg 50]

[Almost, but not quite, and it would still prevail everywhere had its obliteration depended upon the committee making this report. Think of saying in cold blood that, as the husband holds the purse-strings, the wife would not dare vote with freedom and independence!]

> Your committee are of the opinion that while a few intelligent women, such as appeared before the committee in advocacy of the pending measure, would defy all obstacles in the way of their casting the ballot, yet the great mass of the intelligent, refined and judicious, with the becoming modesty of their sex, would shrink from the rude contact of the crowd and, with the exceptions mentioned, leave the ignorant and vile the exclusive right to speak for the gentler sex in public affairs.

[This opinion has been wholly disproved by the experience of States where women do vote. The "intelligent and judicious" have learned that there is more "rude contact" in going to the market, the theater, the train and the ferry-boat, than in a quiet booth where no man is permitted to come within a hundred feet. But women are not so "modest and refined" as to shrink from "rude contact" even, if it would give them the opportunity to control the conditions which surround and influence their husbands, their children, their homes and their community.]

> Your committee are of the opinion that the general policy of female suffrage should remain in abeyance, in so far as the general Government is concerned, until the States and communities directly chargeable under our system of government with the exercise and regulation of this privilege, shall put the seal of affirmation upon it; and there certainly can be no reason for an amendment of the Constitution to settle a question within the jurisdiction of the States, and which they should first settle for themselves.

[Of course, according to this logic, after the States settle the question and put the seal of affirmation on it, then the general Government will take a hand!]

This House Report (No. 1330) was not drastic enough to suit the Hon. Luke P. Poland (Vt.), so he made his own, in which he said:

> No government founded upon the principle that sovereignty resides in the people has ever allowed all the people to vote, or to directly participate in making or administering the laws. Suffrage has never been regarded as the natural right of all the people or of[Pg 51] any particular class or portion of the people. Suffrage is representation, and it has been given in free governments to such class of persons as in their judgment [whose judgment?] would fairly and safely represent the rights and interests of the whole. The right has generally, if not universally, been conferred on men above twenty-one years of age, and often this has been restricted by requiring the ownership of property or the payment of taxes. [Which?]

> The great majority of women are either under the age of twenty-one, or are married and therefore under such influence and control as that relation implies and confers. Is there any necessity for the protection and preservation of the rights of women, that they must be allowed to vote and, of course, to hold office and directly to participate in the administration of the laws?

> Nearly every man who votes has a wife or mother or sisters or daughters; some sustain all these relations or more than one. I think it certain that the great majority of men when voting or when engaged as legislators or in administering the laws in some official character, are fully mindful of the interests of all that class with whom they are so closely connected, and whose interests are so bound up with their own, and that, therefore, they fairly represent all the rights and interests of women as well as their own. Persons who have been accustomed to see legal proceedings in the courts, and occasionally to see a female litigant in court, know very well whether they are apt to suffer wrong because their rights are determined wholly by men.[25] There is just as little reason for suspicion that their rights are not carefully guarded in legislation, and in every way where legislation can operate.

> There is another reason why I think this proposal to enlist the women of the country as a part of its active political force, and to cast upon them an equal duty in the political meetings, campaigns and elections—to make them legislators, jurors, judges and executive officers—is all wrong. I believe it to be utterly inconsistent with the very nature and constitution of woman, and wholly subversive of the sphere and function she was designed to fill in the home and in society. The office and duty which nature has devolved upon woman during all the active and vigorous portion of her life would often render it impossible, and still more often indelicate, for her to appear and act in caucuses, conventions or elections, or to act as a member of the Legislature or as a juror or judge.

> I can not bring myself to believe that any large portion of the intelligent women of this country desire any such thing granted them, or would perform any such duties if the chance were offered them.

[To comment upon this would be "to gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet." It would be positively "indelicate."]

William Dorsheimer (N. Y.) agreed with the committee to[Pg 52] table the resolution, but did not endorse their arguments. He signed the following statement: "I think it probable that the interests of society will some time require that women should have the right of suffrage, and I am not willing to say more than that the present is not an opportune time for submission to the States of the proposed amendment."

In this, it will be observed, there is no recognition of woman's right to represent herself, no disposition to grant her petition for her own sake, but simply the opinion that should there ever be a crisis when her suffrage was needed it should be allowed as a matter of expediency.

In the eyes of posterity the Judiciary Committee of this Forty-eighth Congress will be redeemed from the disgrace of these reports by that of the minority, signed by Thomas B. Reed, afterwards for many years Speaker of the House; Ezra B. Taylor (O.); Moses A. McCoid (Ia.); Thomas M. Browne (Ind.). The question of woman suffrage never has been and never can be more concisely and logically stated.

> No one who listens to the reasons given by the superior class for the continuance of any system of subjection can fail to be impressed with the noble disinterestedness of mankind. When the subjection of persons of African descent was to be maintained, the good of those persons was always the main object. When it was the fashion to beat children, to regard them as little animals who had no rights, it was always for their good that they were treated with severity, and never on account of the bad temper of their parents. Hence, when it is proposed to give to the women of this country an opportunity to present their case to the various State Legislatures to demand equality of political rights, it is not surprising to find that the reasons on which the continuance of the inferiority of women is urged are drawn almost entirely from a tender consideration of their own good. The anxiety felt lest they should thereby deteriorate would be an honor to human nature were it not an historical fact that the same sweet solicitude has been put up as a barrier against all the progress which women have made since civilization began.

> There is no doubt that if to-day in Turkey or Algiers, countries where woman's sphere is most thoroughly confined to the home circle, it was proposed to admit them to social life, to remove the veil from their faces and permit them to converse in open day with the friends of their husbands and brothers, the conservative and judicious Turk or Algerine of the period, if he could be brought even to consider such a horrible proposition, would point out that the sphere of woman was to make home happy by those gentle insipidities which education would destroy; that by participating in conversation[Pg 53] with men they would debase their natures, and men would thereby lose that ameliorating influence which still leaves them unfit to associate with women. He would point out that "nature" had determined that women should be secluded; that their sphere was to raise and educate the man-child, and that any change would be a violation of the divine law which, in the opinion of all conservative men, ordains the present but never the future.

> So in civilized countries when it was proposed that women should own their own property, that they should have the earnings of their own labor, there were not wanting those who were sure that such a proposition could work only evil to women, and that continually. It would destroy the family, discordant interests would provoke dispute, and the only real safety for woman was in the headship of man; not that man wanted superiority for any selfish reason, but to preserve intact the family relation for woman's good. To-day a woman's property belongs to herself; her earnings are her own; she has been emancipated beyond the wildest hopes of any reformer of twenty-five years ago. Almost every vocation is open to her. She is proving her usefulness in spheres which the "nature" worshiped by the conservative of the last generation absolutely forbade her to enter. Notwithstanding all these changes the family circle remains unbroken, the man-child gets as well educated as before, and the ameliorating influence of woman has become only the more marked.

> Thirty years ago hardly any political assemblage of the people was graced by the presence of women. Had it needed a law to enable them to be present, what an argument could have been made against it! How easily it could have been shown that the coarseness, the dubious expressions, the general vulgarity of the scene, could have had no other effect than to break down that purity of thought and word which women have, and which conservative and radical are alike sedulous to preserve. And yet the actual presence of women at political meetings has not debased them but has raised the other sex. Coarseness has not become diffused through both sexes but has fled from both. To put the whole matter in a short phrase: The association of the sexes in the family circle, in society, and in business, having improved both, there is neither history, reason nor sense to justify the assertion that association in politics will lower the one or demoralize the other.

> Hence, we would do well to approach the question without trepidation. We can better leave the "sphere" of woman to the future than confine it in the chains of the past. Words change nothing. Prejudices are none the less prejudices because we vaguely call them "nature," and prate about what nature has forbidden, when we only mean that the thing we are opposing has not been hitherto done. "Nature" forbade a steamship to cross the Atlantic the very moment it was crossing, and yet it arrived just the same. What the majority call "nature" has stood in the way of all progress of the past and present, and will stand in the way of all future progress. It is only another name for conservatism. With conservatism the minority have no quarrel. It is essential to the stability of mankind, of government[Pg 54] and of social life. To every new proposal it rightfully calls a halt, demanding countersign, whether it be friend or foe. The enfranchisement of women must pass this ordeal like everything else. It must give good reason for its demand to be, or take its place among the half-forgotten fantasies which have challenged the support of mankind and have not stood the test of argument and discussion.

> The majority of the committee claim that suffrage is not a right but a privilege to be guarded by those who have it, and to be by them doled out to those who shall become worthy. That every extension of suffrage has been granted in some form or other by those already holding it is probably true. In some countries, however, it has been extended upon the simple basis of expediency, and in others in obedience to a claim of right. If suffrage be a right, if it be true that no man has a claim to govern any other man except to the extent that the other man has a right to govern him, then there can be no discussion of the question of Woman Suffrage. No reason on earth can be given by those who claim suffrage as a right of manhood which does not make it a right of womanhood also. If the suffrage is to be given man to protect him in his life, liberty and property, the same reasons urge that it be given to woman, for she has the same life, liberty and property to protect. If it be urged that her interests are so bound up in those of man that they are sure to be protected, the answer is that the same argument was urged as to the merging in the husband of the wife's right of property, and was pronounced by the judgment of mankind fallacious in practice and in principle. If the natures of men and women are so alike that for that reason no harm is done by suppressing women, what harm can be done by elevating them to equality? If the natures be different, what right can there be in refusing representation to those who might take juster views about many social and political questions?

> Our Government is founded, not on the rule of the wisest and best, but upon the rule of all. The learned and the ignorant, the wise and the unwise, the judicious and the injudicious are all invited to assist in governing, and upon the broad principle that the best government for mankind is not the government which the wisest and best would select, but that which the average of mankind would select. Laws are daily enacted, not because they seem the wisest even to those legislators who pass them, but because they represent what the whole people wish. And, in the long run, it may be just as bad to enact laws in advance of public sentiment as to hold on to laws behind it. Upon what principle in a Government like ours can one-half the minds be denied expression at the polls? Is it because they are untrained in public affairs? Are they more so than the slaves were when the right of suffrage was conferred on them? It is objected that to admit women would be temporarily to lower the suffrage on account of their lack of training in public duties. What is now asked of us is not immediate admission to the right, but the privilege of presenting to the Legislatures of the different States the amendment,[Pg 55] which can not become effective until adopted by three-fourths of them. It may be said that the agitation and discussion of this question will, long before its adoption, have made women as familiar with public affairs as the average of men, for the agitation is hardly likely to be successful until after a majority, at least, of women are in favor of it.

> We believe in the educating and improving effect of participation in government. We believe that every citizen in the United States is made more intelligent, more learned and better educated by his participation in politics and political campaigns. It must be remembered that education, like all things else, is relative. While the average American voter may not be all that impatient people desire, and is far behind his own future, yet he is incomparably superior to the average citizen of any other land where the subject does not fully participate in the government. Discussions on the stump, and above all the discussions he himself has with his fellows, breed a desire for knowledge which will take no refusal and which leads to great general intelligence. In political discussion, acrimony and hate are not essential, and have of late years quite perceptibly diminished and will more and more diminish when discussions by women, and in the presence of women, become more common. If, then, discussion of public affairs among men has elevated them in knowledge and intelligence, why will it not lead to the same results among women? It is not merely education that makes civilization, but diffusion of education. The standing of a nation and its future depend not upon the education of the few, but of the whole. Every improvement in the status of woman in the matter of education has been an improvement to the whole race. Women have by education thus far become more womanly, not less. The same prophecies of ruin to womanliness were made against her education on general subjects that are now made against her participation in politics.

> It is sometimes asserted that women now have a great influence in politics through their husbands and brothers. This is undoubtedly true. But that is just the kind of influence which is not wholesome for the community, for it is influence unaccompanied by responsibility. People are always ready to recommend to others what they would not do themselves. If it be true that women can not be prevented from exercising political influence, is not that only another reason why they should be steadied in their political action by that proper sense of responsibility which comes from acting themselves?

> We conclude then, that every reason which in this country bestows the ballot upon man is equally applicable to the proposition to bestow the ballot upon woman, and that in our judgment there is no foundation for the fear that woman will thereby become unfitted for all the duties she has hitherto performed.

### FOOTNOTES:

[20] For an interesting account of the struggle to secure these committees see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 198.

[21] But it was after five years of persistent appeal to Congress by Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, and the enactment of a law, by overwhelming majorities in both Houses, prohibiting the Supreme Court from denying admission to lawyers on account of sex, that this act of justice was accomplished.

[22] This committee was composed of Senators Cockrell (Mo.), Fair (Nev.), Brown (Ga.), Anthony (R. I.), Blair (N. H.), Palmer (Mich.), Lapham (N. Y.).

[23] J. Randolph Tucker, Va.; Nathaniel J. Hammond, Ga.; David B. Culberson, Tex.; Samuel W. Moulton, Ills.; James O. Broadhead, Mo.; William Dorsheimer, N. Y.; Patrick A. Collins, Mass.; George E. Seney, O.; William C. Maybury, Mich.; Thomas B. Reed, Me.; Ezra B. Taylor, O.; Moses A. McCoid, Ia.; Thomas M. Browne, Ind.; Luke P. Poland, Vt.; Horatio Bisbee, Jr., Fla.

[24] Their report, dated April 23, 1884, was used entire by Senator Brown in the debate on woman suffrage which took place in the Senate of the United States January 25, 1887, and will be found in Chapter VI, which contains also a portion of the majority report included in the speech of Senator Blair.

[25] Would the men whose crimes very often have sent these "female litigants" into the courts, be willing to have their cases tried before a jury of women?

[Pg 56]

## CHAPTER IV.

### THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1885.[26]

The Seventeenth of the national conventions was held in Lincoln Hall, Washington, D. C., Jan. 20-22, 1885, preceded by the usual brilliant reception, which was extended by Mr. and Mrs. Spofford each season for the twelve years during which the association had its headquarters at the Riggs House.

It is rather amusing to note the custom of the newspaper reporters to give a detailed description of the dress of each one of the speakers, usually to the exclusion of the subject-matter of her speech. On this occasion the public was informed that one lady "spoke in dark bangs and Bismarck brown;" one "in black and gold with angel sleeves, boutonnière and ear-drops;" another "in a basque polonaise and snake bracelets;" another "in black silk dress and bonnet, gold eye-glasses and black kid gloves." One lady wore "a small bonnet made of gaudy-colored birds' wings;" one "spoke with a pretty lisp, was attired in a box-pleated satin skirt, velvet newmarket basque polonaise, hollyhock corsage bouquet;" another "addressed the meeting in low tones and a poke bonnet;" still another "discussed the question in a velvet bonnet and plain linen collar." "A large lady wore a green cashmere dress with pink ribbons in her hair;" then there was "a slim lady with tulle ruffles, velvet sacque and silk skirt." Of one it was said: "Her face, though real feminine in shape, was painted all over with business till it looked like a man's, and her hair was shingled and brushed in little banglets." "Miss Anthony," so the report said, "wore a blue barbe trimmed in lace," while Mrs. Stanton "was attired in a black silk dress with a white handkerchief around her throat." One record declares that "there was not a pair of earrings on the platform, but most of the ladies wore gold watch-chains."

These extracts are taken verbatim from the best newspapers[Pg 57] of the day. The conventions had passed the stage where, according to the reporters, all of the participants had short hair and wore bloomers, but, according to the same authority, they had reached the wonderful attire described above. This was fifteen years ago. The proceedings of the national convention of 1900 occupied from four to seven columns daily in each of the Washington papers, and one or more columns were telegraphed each day to the large newspapers of the United States, and yet it may be safely said that there was not one line of reference to the costumes of the ladies in attendance. The business meetings, speeches, etc., were reported with the same respect and dignity as are accorded to national conventions of men. The petty personalities of the past were wholly eliminated and women were presented from an intellectual standpoint, to be judged upon their merits and not by their clothes. This result alone is worth the fifty years of endeavor.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton presided over all of the sessions. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake gave a full report of the legislative work done in New York during the past year. In the address of Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck (Mass.) she laid especial stress on the need for women to be invested with responsibility. Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.) discussed the woman question from a scientific standpoint. She was followed by Mrs. Laura de Force Gordon, the second woman admitted to practice before the U. S. Supreme Court, who answered the question, Is our Civilization Civilized? and described the legal status of women in California. Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers (N. Y.) gave a spirited talk on the Aristocracy of Sex. The principal address of the evening was by Mrs. Stanton, a long and thoughtful paper in which she said:

> Those people who declaim on the inequalities of sex, the disabilities and limitations of one as against the other, show themselves as ignorant of the first principles of life as would that philosopher who should undertake to show the comparative power of the positive as against the negative electricity, of the centrifugal as against the centripetal force, the attraction of the north as against the south end of the magnet. These great natural forces must be perfectly balanced or the whole material world would relapse into chaos. Just so the masculine and feminine elements in humanity must be exactly balanced to redeem the moral and social world from the chaos[Pg 58] which surrounds it. One might as well talk of separate spheres for the two ends of the magnet as for man and woman; they may have separate duties in the same sphere, but their true place is together everywhere. Having different duties in the same sphere, neither can succeed without the presence and influence of the other. To restore the equilibrium of sex is the first step in social, religious and political progress. It is by the constant repression of the best elements in humanity, by our false customs, creeds and codes, that we have thus far retarded civilization....

> There would be more sense in insisting on man's limitations because he can not be a mother, than on woman's because she can be. Surely maternity is an added power and development of some of the most tender sentiments of the human heart and not a "limitation." "Yes," says another pertinacious reasoner, "but it unfits woman for much of the world's work." Yes, and it fits her for much of the world's work; a large share of human legislation would be better done by her because of this deep experience....

> If one-half the effort had been expended to exalt the feminine element that has been made to degrade it, we should have reached the natural equilibrium long ago. Either sex, in isolation, is robbed of one-half its power for the accomplishment of any given work. This was the most fatal dogma of the Christian religion—that in proportion as men withdrew from all companionship with women, they could get nearer to God, grow more like the Divine Ideal.

Telegrams of greetings were received from many associations and individuals. Miss Frances Ellen Burr, who made a fine stenographic report of the entire convention, spoke for Connecticut, closing with an ideal picture of civilization as it might be with the wisdom of both sexes brought to bear on the problems of society. The following resolutions were written by Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby:

> Whereas, The dogmas incorporated in the religious creeds derived from Judaism, teaching that woman was an afterthought in creation, her sex a misfortune, marriage a condition of subordination, and maternity a curse, are contrary to the law of God as revealed in nature and the precepts of Christ; and,

> Whereas, These dogmas are an insidious poison, sapping the vitality of our civilization, blighting woman and palsying humanity; therefore,

> Resolved, That we denounce these dogmas wherever they are enunciated, and we will withdraw our personal support from any organization so holding and teaching; and,

> Resolved, That we call upon the Christian ministry, as leaders of thought, to teach and enforce the fundamental idea of creation that man was made in the image of God, male and female, and given equal dominion over the earth, but none over each other. And further we invite their co-operation in securing the recognition of the[Pg 59] cardinal point of our creed, that in true religion there is neither male nor female, neither bond nor free, but all are one.

The resolutions were introduced and advocated by Mrs. Stanton, who said: "Woman has been licensed to preach in the Methodist church; the Unitarian and Universalist and some branches of the Baptist denomination have ordained women, but the majority do not recognize them officially, although for the first three centuries after the proclamation of Christianity women had a place in the church. They were deaconesses and elders, and were ordained and administered the sacrament. Yet through the Catholic hierarchy these privileges were taken away in Christendom and they have never been restored. Now we intend to demand equal rights in the church."

This precipitated a vigorous discussion which extended into the next day. Miss Anthony was opposed to a consideration of the resolutions and in giving her reasons said:

> I was on the old Garrisonian platform and found long ago that this matter of settling any question of human rights by people's interpretation of the Bible is never satisfactory. I hope we shall not go back to that war. No two can ever interpret alike, and discussion upon it is time wasted. We all know what we want, and that is the recognition of woman's perfect equality—in the Home, the Church and the State. We all know that such recognition has never been granted her in the centuries of the past. But for us to begin a discussion here as to who established these dogmas would be anything but profitable. Let those who wish go back into the history of the past, but I beg it shall not be done on our platform.

Mrs. Mary E. McPherson (Ia.) insisted that the Bible did not ignore women, although custom might do so. The Rev. Dr. McMurdy (D. C.) declared that women were teachers under the old Jewish dispensation; that the Catholic church set apart its women, ordained them and gave them the title "reverend"; that the Episcopal church ordained deaconesses. He hoped the convention would not take action on this question. John B. Wolf upheld the resolution. Mrs. Shattuck thought the church was coming around to a belief in woman suffrage and it would be a mistake to antagonize it.

Mrs. Colby insisted the resolutions did not attack the Bible, but the dogmas which grew out of man's interpretation of it, saying:[Pg 60]

> This dogma of woman's divinely appointed inferiority has sapped the vitality of our civilization, blighted woman and palsied humanity. As a Christian woman and a member of an orthodox church, I stand on this resolution; on the divine plan of creation as set forth in the first chapter of Genesis, where we are told that man was created male and female and set over the world to have equal dominion; and on the gospel of the new dispensation, in which there is neither male nor female, bond nor free, but all are one. This resolution avows our loyalty to what we believe to be the true teachings of the Bible, and the co-operation of the Christian ministry is invited in striving to secure the application of the golden rule to women.

Edward M. Davis (Penn.) declared that, while individual members might favor woman suffrage, not one religious body ever had declared for it, and the convention ought to express itself on this subject. Mrs. Gordon pointed out the difference between religion and theology. Mrs. Stanton, being called on for further remarks, spoke in the most earnest manner:

> You may go over the world and you will find that every form of religion which has breathed upon this earth has degraded woman. There is not one which has not made her subject to man. Men may rejoice in them because they make man the head of the woman. I have been traveling over the old world during the last few years and have found new food for thought. What power is it that makes the Hindoo woman burn herself on the funeral pyre of her husband? Her religion. What holds the Turkish woman in the harem? Her religion. By what power do the Mormons perpetuate their system of polygamy? By their religion. Man, of himself, could not do this; but when he declares, "Thus saith the Lord," of course he can do it. So long as ministers stand up and tell us that as Christ is the head of the church, so is man the head of the woman, how are we to break the chains which have held women down through the ages? You Christian women can look at the Hindoo, the Turkish, the Mormon women, and wonder how they can be held in such bondage. Observe to-day the work women are doing for the churches. The church rests on the shoulders of women. Have we ever yet heard a man preach a sermon from Genesis i:27-28, which declares the full equality of the feminine and masculine element in the Godhead? They invariably shy at that first chapter. They always get up in their pulpits and read the second chapter.

> Now I ask you if our religion teaches the dignity of woman? It teaches us that abominable idea of the sixth century—Augustine's idea—that motherhood is a curse; that woman is the author of sin, and is most corrupt. Can we ever cultivate any proper sense of self-respect as long as women take such sentiments from the mouths of the priesthood?... The canon laws are infamous—so infamous that a council of the Christian church was swamped by them. In republican America, and in the light of the nineteenth[Pg 61] century, we must demand that our religion shall teach a higher idea in regard to woman. People seem to think we have reached the very end of theology; but let me say that the future is to be as much purer than the past as our immediate past has been better than the dark ages. We want to help roll off from the soul of woman the terrible superstitions that have so long repressed and crushed her.

Through the determined efforts of Miss Anthony and some others the resolution was permitted to lie on the table.

Miss Matilda Hindman (Penn.) gave an address on As the Rulers, So the People, well fortified with statistics. The Rev. Olympia Brown (Wis.) made a stirring appeal under the title All Are Created Equal. Among the many excellent addresses were those of Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Annie L. Diggs (Kas.) and Dr. Alice B. Stockham (Ills.). The usual resolutions were adopted, and the memorial called forth a number of eulogies:

> Resolved, That in the death of the Hon. Henry Fawcett, of England, Senator Henry B. Anthony, the Rev. William Henry Channing, ex-Secretary of the Treasury Charles J. Folger, Bishop Matthew Simpson, Madame Mathilde Anneke, Kate Newell Doggett, Frances Dana Gage, Laura Giddings Julian, Sarah Pugh and Elizabeth T. Schenck, the year 1884 has been one of irreparable losses to our movement.

Among the many interesting letters written to the convention was one from Wm. Lloyd Garrison, inclosing letters received in times past expressing sympathy with the efforts of the suffrage advocates, from his father, from Ralph Waldo Emerson and from the Rev. William Henry Channing, whose body at this very time was being borne across the ocean to its resting place in this country. A touching message was read from that faithful and efficient pioneer, Clarina I. H. Nichols, of California, which ended: "My last words in the good work for humanity are, 'God is with us.' There can be no failure and no defeat outside ourselves." The writer passed away before it reached the convention. Other encouraging letters were received from the Reverends Anna Garlin Spencer (R. I.), Ada C. Bowles and Phebe A. Hanaford (Mass.); from Mrs. Julia Foster and her daughters, Rachel and Julia, in Berlin; from Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick (La.), Mrs. Emma C. Bascom, of Wisconsin University, and friends and workers in all parts of the country.

The convention adopted a comprehensive plan of work submitted[Pg 62] by Mrs. Blake, Miss Hindman and Mrs. Colby.[27] At the last session Miss Anthony made a strong, practical speech on the Present Status of the Woman Suffrage Question, and Mrs. Stanton closed the convention.

A number of ministers on the following Sunday took as a text the resolution which had been discussed so vigorously, and used it as an argument against the enfranchisement of women, some of them going so far as to denounce the suffrage advocates as infidels and the movement itself as atheistic and immoral. They wholly ignored the facts—first, that the resolution was merely against the dogmas which had been incorporated into the creeds, and was simply a demand that Christian ministers should teach and enforce only the fundamental declarations of the Scriptures; second, that there was an emphatic division of opinion among the members on the resolution; third, that by consent it was laid on the table; and fourth, that even had it been adopted, it was neither atheistic nor immoral.

On February 6, 1885, Thomas W. Palmer (Mich.) brought up in the Senate the joint resolution for a Sixteenth Amendment which had been favorably reported by the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage the previous winter, and in its support made a masterly argument which has not been surpassed in the fifteen years that have since elapsed, saying in part:[Pg 63]

> This resolution involves the consideration of the broadest step in the progress of the struggle for human liberty that has ever been submitted to any ruler or to any legislative body. Its taking is pregnant with wide changes in the pathway of future civilization. Its obstruction will delay and cripple our advancement. The trinity of principles which Lord Chatham called the "Bible of the English Constitution," the Magna Charta, the Petition of Rights, and the Bill of Rights, are towering landmarks in the history of our race, but they immediately concerned but few at the time of their erection.

> The Declaration of Independence by the colonists and its successful assertion, the establishment of the right of petition, the abolition of imprisonment for debt, the property qualification for suffrage in nearly all the States, the recognition of the right of women to earn, hold, enjoy and devise property, are proud and notable gains.

> The emancipation of 4,000,000 slaves and the subsequent extension of suffrage to the male adults among them were measures enlarging the possibilities of freedom, the full benefits of which have yet to be realized; but the political emancipation of 26,000,000 of our citizens, equal to us in most essential respects and superior to us in many, it seems to me would translate our nation, almost at a bound, to the broad plateau of universal equality and co-operation to which all these blood-stained and prayer-worn steps have surely led.

> Like life insurance and the man who carried the first umbrella, the inception of this movement was greeted with derision. Born of an apparently hopeless revolt against unjust discrimination, unequal statutes, and cruel constructions of courts, it has pressed on and over ridicule, malice, indifference and conservatism, until it stands in the gray dawn before the most powerful legislative body on earth and challenges final consideration.

> The laws which degraded our wives have been everywhere repealed or modified, and our children may now be born of free women. Our sisters have been recognized as having brains as well as hearts, and as being capable of transacting their own business affairs. New avenues of self-support have been found and profitably entered upon, and the doors of our colleges have ceased to creak their dismay at the approach of women. Twelve States have extended limited suffrage through their Legislatures, and three Territories admit all citizens of suitable age to the ballot-box, while from no single locality in which it has been tried comes any word but that of satisfaction concerning the experiment.

> The spirit of inquiry attendant upon the agitation and discussion of this question has permeated every neighborhood in the land, and none can be so blind as to miss the universal development in self-respect, self-reliance, general intelligence and increased capacity among our women. They have lost none of the womanly graces, but by fitting themselves for counselors and mental companions have benefited man, more perhaps than themselves.

> In considering the objections to this extension of the suffrage we are fortunate in finding them grouped in the adverse report of the[Pg 64] minority of your committee, and also in confidently assuming, from the acknowledged ability and evident earnestness of the distinguished Senators who prepared it, that all is contained therein in the way of argument or protest which is left to the opponents of this reform after thirty-seven years of discussion. I wish that every Senator would examine this report and note how many of its reasonings are self-refuting and how few even seem to warrant further antagonism.

> They cite the physical superiority of man, but offer no amendment to increase the voting power of a Sullivan or to disfranchise the halt, the lame, the blind or the sick. They regard the manly head of the family as its only proper representative, but would not exclude the adult bachelor sons. They urge disability to perform military service as fatal to full citizenship, but would hardly consent to resign their own rights because they have passed the age of conscription; or to question those of Quakers, who will not fight, or of professional men and civic officials, who, like mothers, are regarded as of more use to the State at home.

> They are dismayed by a vision of women in attendance at caucuses at late hours of the night, but doubtless enjoy their presence at balls and entertainments until the early dawn. They deprecate the appearance of women at political meetings, but in my State women have attended such meetings for years upon the earnest solicitation of those in charge, and the influence of their presence has been good. Eloquent women are employed by State committees of all parties to canvass in their interests and are highly valued and respected....

> They object that many women do not desire the suffrage and that some would not exercise it. It is probably true, as often claimed, that many slaves did not desire emancipation in 1863—and there are men in most communities who do not vote, but we hear of no freedman to-day who asks re-enslavement, and no proposition is offered to disfranchise all men because some neglect their duty.

> The minority profess a willingness to have this measure considered as a local issue rather than a national one, but those who recall the failures to extend the ballot to black men, in the most liberal Northern States, by a popular vote, may be excused if they question their frankness in suggesting this transfer of responsibility. The education of the people of a whole State on this particular question is a much more laborious and expensive work than an appeal to the several Legislatures. The subject would be much more likely to receive intelligent treatment at the hands of the picked men of a State, where calm discussion may be had, than at the polls where prejudice and tradition oftentimes exert a more potent influence than logic and justice. To refuse this method to those to whom we are bound by the dearest ties betrays an indifference to their requests or an inexplicable adhesion to prejudice, which is only sought to be defended by an asserted regard for women, that to me seems most illogical.

> I share no fears of the degradation of women by the ballot. I[Pg 65] believe rather that it will elevate men. I believe the tone of our politics will be higher, that our caucuses will be more jealously guarded and our conventions more orderly and decorous. I believe the polls will be freed from the vulgarity and coarseness which now too often surround them, and that the polling booths, instead of being in the least attractive parts of a ward or town, will be in the most attractive; instead of being in stables, will be in parlors. I believe the character of candidates will be more closely scrutinized and that better officers will be chosen to make and administer the laws. I believe that the casting of the ballot will be invested with a seriousness—I had almost said a sanctity—second only to a religious observance.

> The objections enumerated above appear to be the only profferings against this measure excepting certain fragmentary quotations and deductions from the sacred Scriptures; and here, Mr. President, I desire to enter my most solemn protest. The opinions of Paul and Peter as to what was the best policy for the struggling churches under their supervision, in deferring to the prejudices of the communities which they desired to attract and benefit, were not inspirations for the guidance of our civilization in matters of political co-operation; and every apparent inhibition of the levelment of the caste of sex may be neutralized by selections of other paragraphs and by the general spirit and trend of the Holy Book.... Sir, my reverence for this grandest of all compilations, human or divine, compels a protest against its being cast into the street as a barricade against every moral, political and social reform; lest, when the march of progress shall have swept on and over to its consummation, it may appear to the superficial observer that it is the Bible which has been overthrown and not its erroneous interpretation.

> If with our present experience of the needs and dangers of co-operative government and our present observation of woman's social and economic status, we could divest ourselves of our traditions and prejudices, and the question of suffrage should come up for incorporation into a new organic law, a distinction based upon sex would not be entertained for a moment. It seems to me that we should divest ourselves to the utmost extent possible of these entanglements of tradition, and judicially examine three questions relative to the proposed extension of suffrage: First, Is it right? Second, Is it desirable? Third, Is it expedient? If these be determined affirmatively our duty is plain.

> If the right of the governed and the taxed to a voice in determining by whom they shall be governed and to what extent and for what purposes they may be taxed is not a natural right, it is nevertheless a right to the declaration and establishment of which by the fathers we owe all that we possess of liberty. They declared taxation without representation to be tyranny, and grappled with the most powerful nation of their day in a seven-years' struggle for the overthrow of such tyranny. It appears incredible to me that any one can indorse the principles proclaimed by the patriots of 1776 and deny their application to women.[Pg 66]

> Samuel Adams said: "Representation and legislation, as well as taxation, are inseparable, according to the spirit of our Constitution and of all others that are free." Again, he said: "No man can be justly taxed by, or bound in conscience to obey, any law to which he has not given his consent in person or by his representative." And again: "No man can take another's property from him without his consent. This is the law of nature; and a violation of it is the same thing whether it is done by one man, who is called a king, or by five hundred of another denomination."

> James Otis, in speaking of the rights of the colonists as descendants of Englishmen; said they "were not to be cheated out of them by any phantom of virtual representation or any other fiction of law or politics." Again: "No such phrase as virtual representation is known in law or constitution. It is altogether a subtlety and illusion, wholly unfounded and absurd."

> The Declaration of Independence asserts that, to secure the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, governments are instituted among men, "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

> Benjamin Franklin wrote that "liberty or freedom consists in having an actual share in the appointment of those who frame the laws and who are the guardians of every man's life, property and peace;" that "they who have no voice nor vote in the electing of representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes and to their representatives."

> James Madison said: "Under every view of the subject, it seems indispensable that the mass of the citizens should not be without a voice in making the laws which they are to obey, and in choosing the magistrates who are to administer them." ...

> The right of women to personal representation through the ballot seems to me unassailable, wherever the right of man is conceded and exercised. I can conceive of no possible abstract justification for the exclusion of the one and the inclusion of the other.

> Is the recognition of this right desirable? The earliest mention of the Saxon people is found in the Germany of Tacitus, and in his terse description of them he states that "in all grave matters they consult their women." Can we afford to dispute the benefit of this counseling in the advancement of our race?

> The measure of the civilization of any nation may be no more surely ascertained by its consumption of salt than by the social, economic and political status of its women. It is not enough for contentment that we assert the superiority of our women in intelligence, virtue, and self-sustaining qualities, but we must consider the profit to them and to the State in their further advancement.

> Our statistics are lamentably meager in information as to the status of our women outside their mere enumeration, but we learn that in a single State 42,000 are assessed and pay one-eleventh of the total burden of taxation, with no voice in its disbursements. From the imperfect gleaning of the Tenth Census we learn that of the total enumerated bread-winners of the United States more than one-seventh[Pg 67] are women.... That these 2,647,157 citizens of whom we have official information labor from necessity and are everywhere underpaid is within the knowledge and observation of every Senator upon this floor. Only the Government makes any pretense of paying women in accordance with the labor performed—without submitting them to the competition of their starving sisters, whose natural dignity and self-respect have suffered from being driven by the fierce pressure of want into the few and crowded avenues for the exchange of their labor for bread. Is it not the highest exhibit of the moral superiority of our women that so very few consent to exchange pinching penury for gilded vice?

> Will the possession of the ballot multiply and widen these avenues to self-support and independence? The most thoughtful women who have given the subject thorough examination believe it, and I can not but infer that many men, looking only to their own selfish interests, fear it.

> History teaches that every class which has assumed political responsibility has been materially elevated and improved thereby, and I can not believe that the rule would have an exception in the women of to-day. I do not say that to the idealized women so generally described by obstructionists—the dainty darlings whose prototypes are to be found in the heroines of Walter Scott and Fenimore Cooper—immediate awakening would come; but to the toilers, the wage-workers and the women of affairs, the consequent enlargement of possibilities would give new courage and stimulate to new endeavor, and the State would be the gainer thereby.

> The often-urged fear that the ignorant and vicious would swarm to the polls while the intelligent and virtuous would stand aloof, is fully met by the fact that the former class has never asked for the suffrage or shown interest in its seeking, while the hundreds of thousands of petitioners are from our best and noblest women, including those whose efforts for the amelioration of the wrongs and sufferings of others have won for them imperishable tablets in the temple of humanity. Would fear be entertained that the State would suffer mortal harm if, by some strange revolution, its exclusive control should be turned over to an oligarchy composed of such women as have been and are identified with the agitation for the political emancipation of their sex? Saloons, brothels and gaming-houses might vanish before such an administration; wars avoidable with safety and honor might not be undertaken, and taxes might be diverted to purposes of general sanitation and higher education, but neither in these respects nor in the efforts to lift the bowed and strengthen the weak would the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness be placed in peril. Women have exercised the highest civil powers in all ages of the world—from Zenobia to Victoria—and have exhibited statecraft and military capacity of high degree without detracting from their graces as women or their virtues as mothers....

> The preponderance of women in our churches, our charitable organizations, our educational councils, has been of such use as to suggest[Pg 68] the benefit of their incorporation into our voting force to the least observant. A woman who owns railroad or manufacturing or mining stock may vote unquestioned by the side of the brightest business men of our continent, but if she transfers her property into real estate she loses all voice in its control.

> Their abilities, intellectual, physical and political, are as various as ours, and they err who set up any single standard, however lovely, by which to determine the rights, needs and possibilities of the sex. To me the recognition of their capacity for full citizenship is right and desirable, and it only remains to consider whether it is safe, whether it is expedient. To this let experience answer to the extent that the experiment has been made.

> During the first thirty years of the independence of New Jersey, universal suffrage was limited only by a property qualification; but we do not learn that divorces were common, that families were more divided on political than on religious differences, that children were neglected or that patriotism languished, although the first seven years of that experiment were years of decimating war, and the remaining twenty-three of poverty and recuperation—conditions most conducive to discontent and erratic legislation.

> The reports from Wyoming, which I have examined, are uniform in satisfaction with the system, and I do not learn therefrom that women require greater physical strength, fighting qualities or masculinity to deposit a ballot than a letter or visiting card; while in their service as jurors they have exhibited greater courage than their brothers in finding verdicts against desperadoes in accordance with the facts. Governors, judges, officers and citizens unite in praises of the influence of women upon the making and execution of wholesome laws.

> In Washington Territory, last fall, out of a total vote of 40,000 there were 12,000 ballots cast by women, and everywhere friends were rejoiced and opponents silenced as apprehended dangers vanished upon approach. Some of the comments of converted newspaper editors which have reached us are worthy of preservation and future reference. The elections were quiet and peaceable for the first time; the brawls of brutal men gave place to the courtesies of social intercourse; saloons were closed, and nowhere were the ladies insulted or in any way annoyed. Women vote intelligently and safely, and it does not appear that their place is solely at home any more than that the farmer should never leave his farm, the mechanic his shop, the teacher his desk, the clergyman his study, or the professional man his office, for the purpose of expressing his wishes and opinions at the tribunal of the ballot-box.

> To-day—and to a greater extent in the near future—we are confronted with political conditions dangerous to the integrity of our nation. In the unforeseen but constant absorption of immigrants and former bondmen into a vast army of untrained voters, without restrictions as to the intelligence, character or patriotism, many political economists see the material for anarchy and public demoralization. It is claimed that the necessities of parties compel subserviency to the lawless and vicious classes in our cities, and that,[Pg 69] without the addition of a counterbalancing element, the enactment and enforcement of wholesome statutes will soon be impossible. Fortunately that needed element is not far to seek. It stands at the door of the Congress urging annexation. In its strivings for justice it has cried aloud in petitions from the best of our land, and more than one-third of the present voters of five States have indorsed its cause. Its advocates are no longer the ridiculed few, but the respected many. A list of the leaders of progressive thought of this generation who espouse and urge this reform would be too long and comprehensive for recital.

> Mr. President, I do not ask the submission of this amendment, nor shall I urge its adoption, because it is desired by a portion of the American women, although in intelligence, property and numbers that portion would seem to have every requisite for the enforcement of their demands; neither are we bound to give undue regard to the timidity and hesitation of that possibly larger portion who shrink from additional responsibilities; but I ask and shall urge it because the nation has need of the co-operation of women in all directions.

> The war power of every government compels, upon occasion, all citizens of suitable age and physique to leave their homes, families and avocations to be merged in armies, whether they be willing or unwilling, craven or bold, patriotic or indifferent, and no one gainsays the right, because the necessities of State require their services. We have passed the harsh stages incident to our permanent institution. We have conquered our independence, conquered the respect of European powers, conquered our neighbors on the western borders, and at vast cost of life and waste have conquered our internal differences and emerged a nation unchallenged from without or within. The great questions of the future conduct of our people are to be economic and social ones. No one doubts the superiority of womanly instincts, and consequent thought in the latter, and the repeated failures and absurdities exhibited by male legislators in the treatment of the former, should give pause to any assertion of superiority there.

> The day has come when the counsel and service of women are required by the highest interests of the State, and who shall gainsay their conscription? We place the ballot in the keeping of immigrants who have grown middle-aged or old in the environment of governments dissimilar to the spirit and purpose of ours, and we do well, because the responsibility accompanying the trust tends to examination, comparison and consequent political education; but we decline to avail ourselves of the aid of our daughters, wives and mothers, who were born and are already educated under our system, reading the same newspapers, books and periodicals as ourselves, proud of our common history, tenacious of our theories of human rights and solicitous for our future progress. Whatever may have been wisest as to the extension of suffrage to this tender and humane class when wars of assertion or conquest were likely to be considered, to-day and to-morrow and thereafter no valid reason seems assignable for longer neglect to avail ourselves of their association.

### FOOTNOTES:

[26] This chapter closes with the speech in favor of woman suffrage by Thomas W. Palmer in the U. S. Senate.

[27] The primal object of the National Woman Suffrage Association has been from its foundation to secure the submission by the Congress of a Sixteenth Amendment which shall prohibit the several States from disfranchising United States citizens on account of sex. To this end all State societies should see that senators and members of Congress are constantly appealed to by their constituents to labor for the passage of this amendment by the next Congress.

Woman suffrage associations in the several States are advised to push the question to a vote in their respective Legislatures. The time for agitation alone has passed, and the time for aggressive action has come. It will be found by a close examination of many State constitutions that by the liberal provisions of their Bill of Rights—often embodied in Article I—the women of the State can be enfranchised without waiting for the tedious and hopeless proviso of a constitutional amendment....

In States where there has been little or no agitation we recommend the passage of laws granting School Suffrage to women. This first step in politics is an incentive to larger usefulness and aids greatly in familiarizing women with the use of the ballot.

We do not specially recommend Municipal Suffrage, as we think that the agitation expended for the fractional measure had better be directed towards obtaining the passage of a Full Suffrage Bill, but we leave this to the discretion of the States.

The acting Vice-President in every State must hold a yearly convention in the capital or some large town. No efficient organization can exist without some such annual reunion of the friends.

In each county there should be a county woman suffrage society auxiliary to the State; in each town or village a local society auxiliary to the county. Friends desirous of forming a society should meet, even though few in number, and organize.

[Pg 70]

## CHAPTER V.

### THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1886.

The Eighteenth national convention met in the Church of Our Father, Washington, D. C., Feb. 17-19, 1886, presided over by Miss Susan B. Anthony, vice-president-at-large, with twenty-three States represented. In her opening address Miss Anthony paid an eloquent tribute to her old friend and co-laborer, their absent president, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton; sketched the history of the movement for the past thirty-six years, and described the first suffrage meeting ever held in Washington. This had been conducted by Ernestine L. Rose and herself in 1854, and the audience consisted of twenty or thirty persons gathered in an upper room of a private house. To-night she faced a thousand interested listeners.

The first address was given by Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins (O.), Are Women Citizens? "While suffrage will not revolutionize the world," she said, "the door of the millennium will have a little child's hand on the latch when the mothers of the nation have equal power with its fathers."

In the evening Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby addressed the audience on The Relation of the Woman Suffrage Movement to the Labor Question. She began by saying, "All revolutions of thought must be allied to practical ends." After sketching those already attained by women, she continued:

> The danger threatens that, having accomplished all these so thoroughly and successfully that they no longer need our help and already scarcely own their origin, we will be left without the connecting line between the abstract right on which we stand and the common heart and sympathy which must be enlisted for our cause ere it can succeed. Why is it that, having accomplished so much, the woman suffrage movement does not force itself as a vital issue into the thoughts of the masses? Is it not because the ends which it most prominently seeks do not enlist the self-interest of mankind,[Pg 71] and those palpable wrongs which it had in early days to combat have now almost entirely disappeared?...

> We need to vitalize our movement by allying it with great non-partisan questions, and many of these are involved in the interests of the wage-earning classes.... We need to labor to secure a change of the conditions under which workingwomen live. We need to help them to educative and protective measures, to better pay, to better knowledge how to make the most of their resources, to better training, to protection against frauds, to shelter when health and heart fail. We must help them to see the connection between the ballot and better hours, exclusion of children from factories, compulsory education, free kindergartens; between the ballot and laws relating to liability of employers, savings banks, adulteration of food and a thousand things which it may secure when in the hands of enlightened and virtuous people.

Miss Ada C. Sweet, who for a number of years occupied the unique position of pension agent in Chicago, supplemented Mrs. Colby's remarks by urging all women to work for the ballot in order to come to the rescue of their fellow-women in the hospitals, asylums and other institutions. She emphasized her remarks by recounting instances of personal knowledge.

The Rev. Rush R. Shippen, pastor of All Souls Unitarian Church of Washington, a consistent advocate of equal suffrage, spoke on woman's advance in every department of the world's work, on the evolution of that work itself and the necessity for a continued progress in conditions.

Mrs. May Wright Sewall presented a comprehensive report of the year's work of the executive committee. The Edmunds Bill had been a special point of attack because of its arbitrary disfranchisement of Utah women, and Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace (Ind.) had written a personal plea against it to every member of the House. At the close of this report a vote on woman suffrage was called for. The audience voted unanimously in favor, except one man whose "no" called forth much laughter. Miss Anthony said she sympathized with him, as she had been laughed at all her life.

Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.), whose specialty was the Bible argument for woman's equality, said in the course of her remarks: "I am filled with shame and sorrow that from listening to men, instead of studying the Bible for myself, I did once think that the God who said He came into the world to preach glad[Pg 72] tidings to the poor, to break every yoke and to set the prisoners free, had really come to rivet the chains with which sin had bound the women, and to forge a gag for them more cruel and silencing than that put into their mouths by heathen men; for in many heathen nations women were once selected to preside at their most sacred altars."

Miss Mary F. Eastman (Mass), in an impressive address, said:

> I asked a friend what phase of the subject I should talk about to-night. She answered, "The despair of it.".. Can you conceive what it is to native-born American women citizens, accustomed to the advantages of our schools, our churches and the mingling of our social life, to ask over and over again for so simple a thing as that "we, the people," should mean women as well as men; that our Constitution should mean exactly what it says?...

> Men tell us that they speak for us. There is no companionship of women as equals permitted in the State. A man can not represent a woman's opinion. It was in inspiration that magnificent Declaration of Independence was framed. Men builded better than they knew; they were at the highest perception of principles; but after declaring this magnificent principle they went back on it....

> Although I hold the attitude of a petitioner, I come not with the sense that men have any right to give. Our forefathers erected barriers which exclude women. I want to press it into the consciousness of the legislator and of the individual citizen that he is personally responsible for the continuance of this injustice. We ask that men take down the barriers. We do not come to pledge that we will be a unit on temperance or virtue or high living, but we want the right to speak for ourselves, as men speak for themselves.

Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.) spoke strongly on A Case in Point. Mrs. Elizabeth Avery Meriwether, of St. Louis, devoted her remarks chiefly to a caustic criticism of Senator George G. Vest, who had recently declared himself uncompromisingly opposed to woman suffrage. He was made the target of a number of spicy remarks, and some of the newspaper correspondents insisted that the presence of the suffrage convention in the city was responsible for the Senator's severe illness, which followed immediately afterwards. Mrs. Meriwether's son, Lee, paid a handsome tribute to "strong-minded mothers".

Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck (Mass.) addressed the convention on The Basis of Our Claim, the right of every individual to make his personality felt in the Government. Madame Clara[Pg 73] Neymann (N. Y.) gave a scholarly paper on German and American Independence Contrasted, in which she said:

> The difference between the German and the American is simply this: Germans believe in monarchism, in the rule of the Emperor and Prince Bismarck, while Americans believe in the government by all the people, high or low, rich or poor. You have conferred the blessings of free citizenship upon the negro; you invite the humblest, the lowest men to cast their vote; you make them feel that they are sovereign human beings; you place those men above the most virtuous, intelligent women; you set them above your own daughters. Yes, your own child, if born a girl on this free soil, is not free, for she stands without the pale of the Constitution. She, and only she, is deprived of her rightful heritage.

> Oh, shame upon the short-sightedness, the delinquency of American statesmen, who will quietly look on and suffer such an injustice to exist! Nowhere in the world is woman so highly respected as in free America, and nowhere does she feel so keenly and deeply her degradation. The vote—you know it full well—is the insignia of power, of influence, of position. And from this position the American woman is debarred.

> Do you wonder at the low estimate of American politics? The exclusion of women means the exclusion of your best men. Not before the husband can take his wife, the brother his sister, the father his daughter to the primary meeting, to the political assembly and to the polls, will he himself become interested and fulfil his duty as a voter and a citizen....

> "Look at the homes of the wealthy, or even of the large middle-class", it is often said; "what shallowness and pretense among the women; how they shrink from the responsibility of motherhood; how they spend their days in idle gossip, in hollow amusements; how they waste their hours in frivolities; see what extravagant, unhallowed lives they lead". Sad and true enough! For there is no aristocracy so pernicious as a moneyed aristocracy—no woman so dangerous as she who has privileges and no corresponding duties. There is nothing so wasteful as wasted energies, nothing so harmful as powers wrongfully directed; and the gifts and powers of our wealthy, well-to-do women are wrongfully directed. They are employed in the interest of vanity, of worldly ambition, of public display, of sense gratification.

> From whence arises this misdirected ambition? The harm is caused by the false standard man holds up to woman. If men would no longer admire the shallowness of such women they would undoubtedly aim higher. On the one side man subordinates himself to woman's whims and caprices, and on the other side she is made conscious all the time of her dependence and subordination in all that pertains to the higher interests of life; and while he makes a slave of her, she revenges herself and makes a slave of him. See how these women hold men down to their own low level; for women who have no higher aspirations than their own immediate pleasure[Pg 74] will induce men to do the same. There is an even-handed justice that rules this world. For every wrong society permits to exist, society must suffer. Look what fools men are made by foolish women—women who are brought up with the idea that they must be ornamental, a beautiful toy for man to play with. See how they turn around and make a toy of him, an instrument to play upon at their leisure.

> What we ask in place of all this indulgence is simple justice, a recognition of woman's higher endowment. In giving her larger duties to perform, nobler aims to accomplish—in making her a responsible human being—you not only will benefit her, but will regenerate the manhood of America....

> To make the advocates of suffrage responsible for the sins of American women is simply atrocious, since it is from these very advocates that every reform for and among women has started; it is they who preach simplicity, purity, devotion, and who would gird all womanhood with the armor of self-respect and true womanliness. That such women are compelled to come before the public, before the Congress and the Legislatures, and pray for such rights as are freely given to every unenlightened foreigner is a burning shame and reflects badly upon the intelligence, the righteousness of Legislatures and people.

Much indignation was expressed during the convention over the recent action of Gov. Gilbert A. Pierce, of the Territory of Dakota. The Legislature, composed of residents, the previous year passed a bill conferring Full Suffrage on women, which was vetoed by the Governor, an outsider appointed a short time before by President Chester A. Arthur. With a stroke of the pen he prevented the enfranchisement of 50,000 women.

Hundreds were turned away at the last evening session and there was scarcely standing room within the church. A witty and vivacious speech by Mrs. Helen M. Gougar (Ind.) was the first number on the program. Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (Minn.) followed in an original dialect poem, Hans Dunderkopf's Views of Equality. Mrs. Sewall showed the Absurdity of the American Woman's Disfranchisement:

> The inconsistency of the present position of the American woman is forcibly shown in that she is now making such an advance in education, studying political science under the best teachers of constitutional law, and enjoying such advantages at the expense of the Government, yet is not allowed to make use of this knowledge in the Government....

> Much has been said about the need of the ballot to protect the industrial interests of men, but is it not as ungallant as it is illogical[Pg 75] that they should have the ballot for their protection while women, pressed by the same necessities, should be denied it?...

> I may perhaps put it that man is composed of brain and heart and woman of heart and brain. We must have the brain of man and the heart of woman employed in the higher developments to come. There can be no great scheme that does not require to be conceived by our brains, quickened by our hearts and carried into execution by our skilled hands. The activities which are considered the especial sphere of woman need more brain; the realm of State developed by the brain of man needs more heart. Home and State have been too long divided. Man must not neglect the interests of home, woman must care for the State. Our public interests and private hopes need all the subtle forces of brain and heart.

An interesting feature of these national conventions was the State reports, which contained not only valuable specific information, but often felicitous little arguments quite equal to those of the more formal addresses. Such reports were received in 1886 from thirty different States. A large number of interesting letters also were read, among them one from George W. Childs, inclosing check; John W. Hutchinson, Belva A. Lockwood, the Hon. J. A. Pickler, Madame Demorest, Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Lucinda B. Chandler, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Mary E. Haggart, Armenia S. White, Emma C. Bascom, Almeda B. Gray and many others.

A letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton urged that the question of woman suffrage should now be carried into the churches and church conventions for their approval, and that more enlightened teaching from the pulpit in regard to women should be insisted upon. The letter was accompanied by a resolution to this effect, both expressed in very strong language. They were read first in executive session. The following extracts are taken from the stenographic report of the meeting:

> Mrs. Helen M. Gougar (Ind.) moved that the resolution be laid upon the table, saying: "A resolution something like this came into the last convention, and it has done more to cripple my work and that of other suffragists than anything which has happened in the whole history of the woman suffrage movement. When you look this country over you find the slums are opposed to us, while some of the best leaders and advocates of woman suffrage are among the Christian people. A bishop of the Roman Catholic Church stood through my meeting in Peoria not long since. We can not afford to antagonize the churches. Some of us are orthodox, and some of us[Pg 76] are unorthodox, but this association is for suffrage and not for the discussion of religious dogmas. I can not stay within these borders if that resolution is adopted, from the fact that my hands would be tied. I hope it will not go into open convention for debate.

> Mrs. Perkins (O.): I think we ought to pay due consideration and respect to our beloved president. I have no objection to sending missionaries to the churches asking them to pay attention to woman suffrage; but I do not think the churches are our greatest enemies. They might have been so in Mrs. Stanton's early days, but to-day they are our best helpers. If it were not for their co-operation I could not get a hearing before the public. And now that they are coming to meet us half way, do not throw stones at them. I hope that resolution, as worded, will not go into the convention.

> Mrs. Meriwether (Mo.): I think the resolution could be amended so as to offend no one. The ministers falsely construe the Scriptures. We can overwhelm them with arguments for woman suffrage—with Biblical arguments. We can hurl them like shot and shell. Herbert Spencer once wrote an article on the different biases which distort the human mind, and among the first he reckoned the theological bias. In Christ's time and in the early Christian days there was no liberty, every one was under the despotism of the Roman Cæsars, but women were on an equality with men, and the religion that Christ taught included women equally with men. He made none of the invidious distinctions which the churches make to-day.

> Mrs. Shattuck (Mass.): We did not pass the resolution of last year, so it could not have harmed anybody. But I protest against this fling at masculine interpretation of the Scriptures.

> Mrs. Minor (Mo.): I object to the whole thing—resolution and letter both. I believe in confining ourselves to woman suffrage.

> Mrs. Colby (Neb.): I was on that committee of resolutions last year and wrote the modified one which was presented, and I am willing to stand by it. I have not found that it hurts the work, save with a few who do not know what the resolution was, or what was said about it. The discussion was reported word for word in the Woman's Tribune and I think no one who read it would say that it was irreligious or lacked respect for the teachings of Christ. I believe we must say something in the line of Mrs. Stanton's idea. She makes no fling at the church. She wants us to treat the Church as we have the State—viz., negotiate for more favorable action. We have this fact to deal with—that in no high orthodox body have women been accorded any privileges.

> Edward M. Davis (Penn.): I think we have never had a resolution offered here so important as this. We have never had a measure brought forward which would produce better results. I agree entirely with Mrs. Stanton on this thing, that the church is the greatest barrier to woman's progress. We do not want to proclaim ourselves an irreligious or a religious people. This question of religion does not touch us either way. We are neutral.[Pg 77]

> Madame Neymann (N. Y.): Because the clergy has been one-sided, we do not want to be one-sided. I know of no one for whom I have a greater admiration than for Mrs. Stanton. Her resolution antagonizes no one.

> Mrs. Brooks (Neb.): Let us do this work in such a way that it will not arouse the opposition of the most bigoted clergyman. All this discussion only shows that the old superstitions have got to be banished.

> Mrs. Snow (Me.): Mrs. Stanton wishes to convert the clergy.

> Mrs. Dunbar (Md.): I don't want the resolution referred back to the committee, out of respect to Mrs. Stanton and the manner in which she has been treated by the clergy. I do not want to lose the wording of the original resolution, and therefore move that it be taken up here.

> Mrs. Gougar: I think it is quite enough to undertake to change the National Constitution without undertaking to change the Bible. I heartily agree with Mrs. Stanton in her idea of sending delegates to church councils and convocations, but I do not sanction this resolution which starts out—"The greatest barrier to woman's emancipation is found in the superstitions of the church." That is enough in itself to turn the entire church, Catholic and Protestant, against us.

> Mrs. Nelson (Minn.): The resolution is directed against the superstitions of the church and not against the church, but I think it would be taken as against the church.

> Miss Anthony (N. Y.): As the resolution contains the essence of the letter, I move that the whole subject go to the Plan of Work Committee.

> The meeting adjourned without action, and on Friday morning the same subject was resumed. A motion to table Mrs. Stanton's resolution was lost. Miss Anthony then moved that both letter and resolution be placed in her hands, as the representative of the president of the association, to be read in open convention without indorsement. "I do not want any one to say that we young folks strangle Mrs. Stanton's thought."

> The Rev. Dr. McMurdy (D. C.): I do not intend to oppose or favor the motion, but as a clergyman and a High Church Episcopalian, I can not see any particular objections to Mrs. Stanton's letter. The Scriptures must be interpreted naturally. Whenever Paul's remarks are brought up I explain them in the light of this nineteenth century as contrasted with the first.

> It was finally voted that the letter be read without the resolution.

The resolution was brought up later in open convention and the final vote resulted in 32 ayes and 24 noes. This was not at that time a delegate body, but usually only those voted who were especially connected with the work of the association. Before the present convention adjourned a basis of delegate representation[Pg 78] was adopted, and provision made that hereafter only regularly accredited delegates should be entitled to vote.

The resolution calling upon Congress to take the necessary measures to secure the ballot for women through an amendment to the Federal Constitution, was vigorously opposed by the Southern delegates as contrary to States' Rights, but was finally adopted. There was some discussion also on the resolution which condemned the disfranchising of Gentile as well as Mormon women, but which approved the action of Congress in making disfranchisement a punishment for the crime of polygamy. A difference of opinion was shown in regard to the latter clause. This closed the convention.

As a favorable Senate report was pending, no hearing was held before that committee.

The House Judiciary Committee[28] granted a hearing on the morning of February 20. The speakers, as usual, were introduced to the chairman of the committee by Miss Anthony. The first of these, Mrs. Virginia L. Minor, had attempted to vote in St. Louis, been refused permission, carried her case to the Supreme Court and received an adverse decision.[29] Miss Anthony said in reference to this decision: "Chief Justice Waite declared the United States had no voters. The Dred Scott Decision was that the negro, not being a voter, was not a citizen. The Supreme Court decided that women, although citizens, were not protected in the rights of citizenship by the Fourteenth Amendment." Mrs. Minor said in part:

> I do not stand here to represent rich women but poor women. Should you give me the right to vote and deny it to my sister I should spurn the gift. Without the ballot no class is so helpless as the working women. If the ballot is necessary for man, it is necessary for woman. We must have one law for all American citizens.

> The Supreme Court has half done the work. When my case came up, and I asked them that the same law should protect me as protected the negro, the court said, "When the State gives you the right to vote, we will perpetuate it; the United States has no voters." I want to ask you one question. If there are no United States voters,[Pg 79] what right has the U. S. Court to go into the State of New York, arrest Susan B. Anthony and condemn her under Federal Law?[30]

> Another decision of the Supreme Court said in relation to the Fourteenth Amendment, that the negro, because of citizenship, was made a voter in every State of the Union. The court went on to say that it had a broader significance, that it included the Chinese or any nationality that should become citizens. That court has said we are citizens. If the Chinese would have the right to vote if they were citizens, have not we the right to vote because of citizenship?

> A third decision was in the case of the United States vs. Kellar in the State of Illinois. A man arrested for illegal voting was brought before the court; he was born abroad and was the son of an American woman. Justice Harlan held that because his mother was a citizen, she had transmitted citizenship to her son, therefore he had a right to vote. This right must have been inherent in the mother, else she could not have transmitted it to her son.

Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (Minn.), who had been for many years teaching the freed negroes of the South, said:

> What are the obligations of the Government to me, a widow, because my husband gave his life for it? I have been forced to think. As a law-abiding citizen and taxpayer and one who has given all she could give to the support of this Government, I have a right to be heard. I am teaching for it, teaching citizens. I began teaching freedmen when it was so unpopular that men could not have done it. The voting question met me in the office of the mission, which sends out more women than men because better work is done by them. A woman gets for this work $15 per month; if capable of being a principal she has $20. A man in this position receives $75 a month. There must be something wrong, but I do not need to explain to you that an unrepresented class must work at a disadvantage.

> If it were granted to women to fill all positions for which they are qualified, they would not be so largely compelled to rush into those occupations where they are unfairly remunerated. As so many people have faith that whatever is is right, the law as it stands has great influence. If it puts woman down as an inferior, she will surely be regarded as such by the people. If I am capable of preparing citizens, I am capable of possessing the rights of a citizen myself. I ask you to remove the barriers which restrain women from equal opportunities and privileges with men.

Mrs. Meriwether pointed out the helplessness of mothers to obtain legal protection for themselves and their children, or to influence the action of municipal bodies, without the suffrage. Miss Eastman said in the course of her address:

> The first business of government is foreshadowed in the Constitution,[Pg 80] that it is to secure justice between man and man by allowing no intrusion of any on the rights of others. This principle is large in application although simple in statement. The first words, "We, the people," contain the foundation of our claim. If we limit the application of the word "people," all the rest falls to the ground. Whatever work of government is referred to, it all rests on its being managed by "We, the people." If we strike that out, we have lost the fundamental principle. Who are the people? I feel that it is not my business to ask men to vote on my right to be admitted to the franchise. I have been debarred from my right. You hold the position to do me justice. Why should I go to one-half of the people and ask whether so clear and explicit a declaration as this includes me? The suffrage is not theirs to give, and I would not get it from them easily if it were. Neither would you get even education if you had to ask them for it. This question is not for the people at large to settle. Justice demands that we should be referred to the most intelligent tribunals in the land, and not remanded to the popular vote.

Mrs. Clay Bennett based her argument largely on the authority of the Scriptures. Mrs. Gougar said:

> We do not come as Democrats or Republicans, not as Northern or as Southern, but as women representing a great principle. This is in line with the Magna Charta, with the Petition of Rights, with the Articles of Confederation, with the National Constitution. This is in direct line of the growth of human liberty. The Declaration of Independence says, "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." Are you making a single law which does not touch me as much as it does you?

> Questions are upon you which you can not solve without the moral sentiment of womanhood. You need us more than we need suffrage. In our large cities the vicious element rules. The reserve force is in the womanhood of the nation. Woman suffrage is necessary for the preservation of the life of the republic. To give women the ballot is to increase the intelligent and law-abiding vote. The tramp vote is entirely masculine. By enfranchising the women of this country, you enfranchise humanity.

Mrs. Colby thus described to the committee the recent vote in Nebraska on a woman suffrage amendment:

> The subject was well discussed; the leading men and the majority of the press and pulpit favored it. Everything indicated that here at last the measure might be safely submitted to popular vote. On election day the women went to the polling places in nearly every precinct in the State, with their flowers, their banners, their refreshments and their earnest pleadings. But every saloon keeper worked against the amendment, backed by the money and the power of the[Pg 81] liquor league. The large foreign vote went almost solidly against woman suffrage. Nebraska defies the laws of the United States by allowing foreigners to vote when they have been only six months on the soil of America. Many of these, as yet wholly unfamiliar with the institutions of our country, voted the ballot which was placed in their hands. The woman suffrage amendment received but a little over one-third of the votes cast.

> Men were still so afraid women did not want to vote that only one thing remained to convince them we were in earnest, and that was for us to vote that way. So the next session we had another amendment introduced, to be voted on by the men as before, but not to take effect until ratified by a majority of the women. We were willing to be counted if the Legislature would make it legal to count us. It refused because the question, it said, had already been settled by the people. Although we had worked and pleaded and done all that women could do to obtain our rights of citizenship, yet the Legislature looking at "the people" did not see us, and refused to submit the question again. Having failed to obtain our rights by popular vote, we now appeal to you.

Miss Anthony related the unsuccessful efforts of Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick and other ladies of Louisiana to have women placed on the school boards of that State, due wholly to their disfranchisement. In a forcible speech Mrs. Sewall declared:

> In coming here my sense of justice is satisfied, for we belong to this nation as well as you. This room, this building, this committee, the whole machinery of government is supported in part by the money of women and is for their protection as well as for that of men....

> Our question should never be partisan. We do not wish to go before our State Legislatures crippled with the fact that an amendment has been submitted by one party rather than the other. The Republican party gave the ballot to the negro and claimed its vote in return. We do not wish any party to feel it has a right to our vote. The Senate now has a majority of Republicans and the House of Democrats, consequently any measure which is passed by this Congress will be unpartisan. This question should receive support of both parties by the higher laws of the universe. Another name for life is helpfulness. Separation of parts belonging to one whole is death. Separation of parties on questions not of partisan interest is death to many issues. It is in your power to bring the parties together by that higher law of the universe on this proposition to submit a Sixteenth Amendment to our Legislatures, that without entanglement of partisan interests this question can be decided.

The committee were so interested in the address of Madame Neymann that the time of the hearing was extended in order that she might finish it. She said in part:[Pg 82]

> Why Americans, so keen in their sense of what is right and just, should be so dull on this question of giving woman her due share of independence, I can not comprehend. Is not this the land where foreigners flock because they have heard the bugle call of freedom? Why then is it that your own children, the patriotic daughters of America, who have been reared and nurtured in free homes, brought up under the guidance and amidst the blessings of freedom—why is it that you hold them unworthy of the honor of being enrolled as citizens and voters? England, Canada and even Ireland have gone ahead of us, and was not America destined by its tradition to be first and foremost in this important movement of making women the equal, the true partner of man?

> In a free country the national life stands in direct relation to the home life, the public life reacts upon the family, and the family furnishes the material for the State. The lives and the characters of our children are influenced by the manners and methods of our Government, and to say that mothers have no right to be concerned in the politics of the country is simply saying that the life and character of our children are of no concern to us.

> The citizen's liberty instead of being sacrificed by society has to be defended by society. Who defends woman's individuality in our modern State? Universal suffrage is the only guarantee against despotism. Every man who believes in the subjection of woman will play the despot whenever you give him an opportunity.

> We have no right to ask if it is expedient to grant suffrage to women. We recognize that the principle is just and justice must be done though the heavens fall. It is small minds that bring forth small objections. The man who believes in a just principle trusts and confides in it, and thus we ask you to confide in suffrage for women.

On May 6, 1886, the committee report, made by the Hon. John W. Stewart (Vt.), stated that the resolution was laid on the table. The following minority report was submitted:

> In a Government by the people the ballot is at once a badge of sovereignty and the means of exercising power. We need not for our present purpose define the right to vote, nor inquire whence it comes. Whether it is a natural or a political right, one arising from social relations and duties, or a necessity incidental to individual protection and communal welfare, is immaterial to the discussion. Let the advocates of man's right to participate in governmental affairs choose their own ground and we will be content. The voting franchise exists, and it exists because it has been seized by force or because of some right antedating its sanction by law. Nativity does not confer it, because aliens exercise it; it does not arise from taxation, for many are taxed who can not vote and many vote who are not taxed. Ability to bear arms is not the test of the voting franchise, as many legally vote who were never able to bear arms, and others who have become unable to do so by reason of sickness,[Pg 83] accident or age; nor does education mark the line, for the learned and the illiterate meet at the ballot box.

> With us a portion of the adult population have assumed to exercise the right, admitted to exist somewhere, of governing, and have forced another portion into the position of the governed. That this assumption is just and wise is averred by some and denied by others. If we call upon these rulers for a copy of their commission they present one written by themselves.

> Children, idiots and convicted felons properly belong to the governed and not to the governing class, as they are intellectually or morally unfit to govern. Necessity only places them there; necessity is an absolute monarch and will be everywhere obeyed. To this governed class has been added woman, and we beg the House and the country to inquire why. They are also "people" and we submit that they are neither moral nor intellectual incapables, and no necessity for their disfranchisement can be suggested; on the contrary, we believe that they are now entitled to immediate and absolute enfranchisement.

> First: Because their own good demands it. Give woman the ballot and she will have additional means and inducements to a broader and better education, including a knowledge of affairs, of which she will not fail to avail herself to the uttermost; give her the ballot and you add to her means of protection of her person and estate. The ballot is a powerful weapon of defense sorely needed by those too weak to wield any other, and to take it from such and give to those already clothed in strength and fully armed, would appear to be unjust, unfair and unwise to one unaccustomed to the sight. Long usage "sanctions and sanctifies" wrongs and abuses, and causes cruelty to be mistaken for kindness.

> The history of woman is for the most part a history of wrong and outrage. Created the equal companion of man, she early became his slave, and still is so in most parts of the world. In many so-called Christian nations of Europe she is to-day yoked with beasts and is doing the labor of beasts, while her son and husband are serving in the army, protecting the divine right of kings and men to slay and destroy. In the farther East she is still more degraded, being substantially excluded from the world. Man has not been consciously unjust to woman in the past, nor is he now, but he believes that she is in her true sphere, not realizing that he has fixed her sphere, and not God. This is as true of the barbarian as of the Christian, and no more so. If the "unspeakable Turk" should be solicited to open the doors of his harem and let the inmates become free, he would be indignant, doubtless, and would swear by the beard of the Prophet that he never would so degrade lovely woman, who, in her sphere, was intended to be the solace of glorious, superior man.

> Yet, as man advances, woman is elevated, and her elevation in turn advances him. No liberty ever given her has been lost or abused or regretted. Where most has been given she has become[Pg 84] best. Liberty never degrades her; slavery always does. For her good, therefore, she needs the ballot.

> Second: Woman's vote is needed for the good of others. Our horizon is misty with apparent dangers. Woman may aid in dispelling them. She is an enemy of foreign war and domestic turmoil; she is a friend of peace and home. Her influence for good in many directions would be multiplied if she possessed the ballot. She desires the homes of the land to be pure and sober; with her help they may become so. Without her what is the prospect in this regard?

> We do not invite woman into the "dirty pool of politics," nor does she intend to enter that pool. Politics is not necessarily unclean; if it is unclean she is not chargeable with the great crime, for crime it is. Politics must be purified or we are lost. To govern this great nation wisely and well is not degrading service; to do it, all the wisdom, ability and patriotism of all the people is required. No great moral force should be unemployed.

> But it is sometimes said that women do not desire the ballot. Some may not; very many do not, perhaps a majority. Such indifference can not affect the right of those who are not indifferent. Some men, for one or other insufficient reason, decline to vote; but no statesman has yet urged general disfranchisement on that account. It may be true, and in our judgment it is, that those individuals who so fail to appreciate the rights and obligations of freemen as to deliberately refuse to vote should be disfranchised and made aliens, but their offense should not be visited on vigilant and patriotic citizens. Neither male nor female suffragists can be forced to use the ballot, and while the individuals of each class may fail to appreciate the privilege or recognize the duty the franchise confers, in the main it will result otherwise.

> The conservative woman who feels that her present duties are as burdensome as she can bear, when she realizes what she can accomplish for her country and for mankind by the ballot, will as reverently thank God for the opportunity and will as zealously discharge her new obligations, as will her more radical sister who has long and wearily labored and fervently prayed for the coming of the day of equality of rights, duties and hopes.

> E. B. Taylor.
> W. P. Hepburn.
> L. B. Caswell.

> I concur in the opinion of the minority that the resolution ought to be adopted.

> A. A. Ranney.

### FOOTNOTES:

[28] John Randolph Tucker, Va.; Nathaniel J. Hammond, Ga.; David B. Culberson, Tex.; Patrick A. Collins, Mass.; George E. Seney, O.; William C. Oates, Ala.; John H. Rogers, Ark.; John R. Eden, Ill.; Risden T. Bennett, N. C.; Ezra B. Taylor, O.; Abraham X. Parker, N. Y.; Ambrose A. Ranney, Mass.; William P. Hepburn, Ia.; John W. Stewart, Vt.; Lucien B. Caswell, Wis.

[29] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 715.

[30] This had been done when Miss Anthony voted in Rochester, N. Y., in 1872.

[Pg 85]

## CHAPTER VI.

### FIRST DISCUSSION AND VOTE IN THE U. S. SENATE—1887.

Although the Senate Select Committee on Woman Suffrage had reported several times in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution which should prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex, and although Thomas W. Palmer, in 1885, had delivered a speech on the question in the Senate, it never had been brought to a discussion and vote.[31] Urged by the members of the National Association, and by his own strong convictions as to the justice of the cause, Senator Henry W. Blair (N. H.), on Dec. 8, 1886, called up the following, which he had reported for the majority of the committee on February 2 of that year:

> JOINT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES EXTENDING THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE TO WOMEN.

> Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States; which, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, shall be valid as part of said Constitution, namely:

> Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

> Section 2. The Congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the provisions of this article.

Senator Blair supported this resolution in a long and comprehensive[Pg 86] speech, that will be recorded in history as one of the ablest ever made on this subject, in the course of which he said:[32]

> Upon solemn occasions concerning grave public affairs, and when large numbers of the citizens of the country desire to test the sentiments of the people upon an amendment of the organic law in the manner provided by the provisions of that law, it may well become the duty of Congress to submit the proposition to the amending power, which is the same as that which created the original instrument itself—the electors of the several States. It can hardly be claimed that two-thirds of each branch of Congress must necessarily be convinced that the Constitution should be amended, before it submits the same to the judgment of the States.

> If there be any principle upon which our form of government is founded, and wherein it is different from aristocracies, monarchies and despotisms, that principle is this: Every human being of mature powers, not disqualified by ignorance, vice or crime, is the equal of and is entitled to all the rights and privileges which belong to any other human being under the law.

> The independence, equality and dignity of all human souls is the fundamental assertion of those who believe in what we call human freedom. But we are informed that women are represented by men. This can not reasonably be claimed unless it first be shown that their consent has been given to such representation, or that they lack the capacity to consent. But the exclusion of this class from the suffrage deprives them of the power of assent to representation even when they possess the requisite ability.... The Czar represents his whole people, just as much as voting men represent women who do not vote at all.

> True it is that the voting men, in excluding women and other classes from the suffrage, by that act charge themselves with the trust of administering justice to all, even as the monarch whose power is based upon force is bound to rule uprightly. But if it be true that "all just government is founded upon the consent of the governed," then the government of woman by man, without her consent given in a sovereign capacity, even if that government be wise and just in itself, is a violation of natural right and an enforcement of servitude against her on the part of man. If woman, like the infant or the defective classes, be incapable of self-government, then republican society may exclude her from all participation in the enactment and enforcement of the laws under which she lives. But in that case, like the infant and the idiot and the unconsenting subject of tyrannical forms of government, she is ruled and not represented by man. This much I desire to say in the beginning in reply to the broad assumption of those who deny women the suffrage by[Pg 87] saying that they are already represented by their fathers, their husbands, their brothers and their sons.

> The common ground upon which all agree may be stated thus: All males having certain qualifications are in reason and in law entitled to vote. These qualifications affect either the body or the mind or both. The first is the attainment of a certain age. The age in itself is not material, but maturity of mental development is material, although soundness of body in itself is not essential, and want of it never works forfeiture of the right. Age as a qualification for suffrage is by no means to be confounded with age as a qualification for service in war. Society has well established the distinction, and also that one has no relation whatever to the other—the one having reference to physical prowess, while the other relates only to the mental state. This is shown by the ages fixed by law, that of eighteen years as the commencement of the term of presumed fitness for military service and forty-five as the period of its termination; while the age of presumed fitness for the suffrage, which requires no physical superiority certainly, is set at twenty-one years when still greater strength of body has been attained than at the period when liability to the dangers and hardships of war begins. There are at least three million more male voters in our country than of the population liable by law to the performance of military duty. It is still further to be observed that the right of suffrage continues as long as the mind lasts, while ordinary liability to military service ceases at a period when the physical powers, though still strong, are beginning to wane. The truth is that there is no legal or natural connection between the liability to fight and the right to vote.

> The right to fight may be exercised voluntarily, or the liability to fight may be enforced by the community, whenever there is need for it, and the extent to which the physical forces of society may be called upon in self-defense or in justifiable revolution is measured not by age or sex, but by necessity, which may go so far as to call into the field old men and women and the last vestige of physical force. It can not be claimed that woman has no right to vote because she is not liable to fight, for she is so liable, and the freest government on the face of the earth has the reserved power under the call of necessity to place her in the forefront of the battle itself; and more than this, woman has the right, and often has exercised it, to go there. If any one could question the existence of this reserved power to call woman to the common defense, either in the hospital or the field, it would be woman herself, who has been deprived of participation in the Government and in shaping public policies which have resulted in dire emergency to the State. But in all times, and under all forms of government and of social existence, woman has given her body and her soul to the common defense.

> The qualification of age, then, is imposed for the purpose of securing mental and moral fitness for the suffrage on the part of those who exercise it. It has no relation to the possession of physical powers at all.[Pg 88]

> The property qualification for suffrage is, to my mind, an invasion of natural right, which elevates mere property to an equality with life and personal liberty, and it ought never to be imposed. But, however that may be, its application has no relation to sex, and its only object is to secure the exercise of the suffrage under a stronger sense of obligation and responsibility. The same is true of the qualifications of sanity, education and obedience to the laws, which exclude dementia, ignorance and crime from participation in the sovereignty. Every condition or qualification imposed upon the exercise of the suffrage, save sex alone, has for its only object or possible justification the possession of mental and moral fitness, and has no relation to physical power.

> The question then arises why is the qualification of masculinity required? The distinction between human beings by reason of sex is a physical distinction. The soul is of no sex. If there be a distinction of soul by reason of the physical difference, woman is the superior of man. In proof of this see the minority report of this committee with all the eulogiums of woman pronounced by those who, like the serpent of old, would flatter her vanity that they may continue to wield her power. I repeat that the soul is of no sex, and that so far as the possession and exercise of human rights and powers are concerned, sex is but a physical property, whose possession renders the female just as important as the male, and in just as great need of power in the government of society. If there be a difference, however, her average physical inferiority is really compensated for by a superior mental and moral fitness to give direction to the course of society and to the policy of the State. If, then, there be a distinction between the souls of human beings resulting from sex, woman is better fitted for the exercise of the suffrage than man.

> It is asserted by some that the suffrage is an inherent natural right, and by others that it is merely a privilege extended to the individual by society at its discretion. However this may be, its extension to any class must come through the exercise of the suffrage by those who already possess it. Therefore, the appeal by those who have it not must be made to those who are asked to part with a portion of their own power. It is only human nature that the male sex should hesitate to yield one-half of its power to those whose cause, however strong in reason and justice, lacks that physical force by which so largely the masses of men themselves have wrung their own rights from rulers and kings.

> It is not strange that when overwhelmed with argument and half won by appeals to his better nature, and ashamed to refuse blankly that which he finds no reason for longer withholding, man avoids the dilemma by a pretended elevation of woman to a higher sphere, where, as an angel, she has certain gauzy, ethereal resources and superior attributes and functions which render the possession of mere earthly, every-day powers and privileges non-essential to her, however mere mortal men may find them indispensable to their own freedom and happiness. But to the denial of her right to vote,[Pg 89] whether that denial be the blunt refusal of the ignorant or the polished evasion of the refined courtier and politician, woman can oppose only her most solemn and perpetual appeal to the reason of man and to the justice of Almighty God. She must continually point out the nature and object of the suffrage and the necessity that she possess it for her own and the public good.

> What, then, is the suffrage, and why is it necessary that woman should possess and exercise this function of freemen? I quote briefly from the majority report of the Senate Committee:[33]

> "The rights for the maintenance of which human governments are constituted are life, liberty and property. These rights are common to men and women alike and both are entitled to the sovereign power to protect these rights. This right to the protection of rights appertains to the individual, not to the family, or to any form of association, whether social or corporate. Probably not more than five-eighths of the men of legal age, qualified to vote, are heads of families, and not more than that proportion of adult women are united with men in the legal merger of married life. It is, therefore, quite incorrect to speak of the State as an aggregate of families duly represented at the ballot-box by their male head. The relation between the government and the individual is direct; all rights are individual rights, all duties are individual duties.

> "Government in its two highest functions is legislative and judicial. By these powers the sovereignty prescribes the law and directs its application to the vindication of rights and the redress of wrongs. Conscience and intelligence are the only forces which enter into the exercise of these primary and highest functions of government. The remaining department is the executive or administrative, and in all forms of government the primary element of administration is force, but even in this department conscience and intelligence are indispensable to its direction.

> "If, now, we are to decide who of our sixty millions of human beings are, by virtue of their qualifications, to be the law-making power, by what tests shall the selection be determined? The suffrage is this great primary law-making power. It is not the executive power. It is not founded upon force. Never in the history of this or any other genuine republic has the law-making power, whether in general elections or in the framing of laws in legislative assemblies, been vested in individuals by reason of their physical powers....

> "The executive power of itself is a mere physical instrumentality—an animal quality—and it is confided from necessity to those who possess that quality, but always with danger, except so far as wisdom and virtue control its exercise. Therefore it is obvious that the greater the spiritual forces, whether found in those who execute the law, or in the large body by whom the suffrage is exercised, and who direct its execution, the greater will be the safety and the surer will be the happiness of the State.[Pg 90]

> "It is too late to question the intellectual and moral capacity of woman to understand political issues and intelligently decide them at the polls. Indeed the pretense is no longer advanced that woman should not vote because of her mental or moral unfitness to perform this legislative function; but the suffrage is denied to her because she can neither hang criminals, suppress mobs nor handle the enginery of war. We have already seen the untenable nature of this assumption, because those who make it bestow the suffrage upon very large classes of men who, however well qualified they may be to vote, are physically unable to perform any of the duties which appertain to the execution of the law and the defense of the State. Scarcely a Senator on this floor is liable by law to perform military or other administrative duty, yet this rule set up against the right of women to vote would disfranchise nearly this whole body.

> "But it is unnecessary to grant that woman can not fight. History is full of examples of her heroism in danger, of her endurance and fortitude in trial, of her indispensable and supreme service in hospital and field.... It is hardly worth while to consider this trivial objection—that she is incompetent for purposes of national murder or of bloody self-defense—as the basis for denying a fundamental right, when we consider that if this right were given to her she would by its very exercise almost certainly abolish this great crime of the nations, which has always inflicted upon woman the chief burden of woe."

Mr. Blair then demonstrated the intellectual ability of the woman of the present day, proving in this respect her capacity and fitness to vote. He quoted from the minority report of the Senate Committee, which had been submitted by Senators Brown and Cockrell, saying:

> It proceeds to show that both man and woman are designed for a higher final estate—to-wit, that of matrimony. It seems to be conceded that man is just as well fitted for matrimony as woman herself, and the whole subject is illuminated with certain botanical lore about stamens and pistils, which, however relevant to matrimony, does not prove that woman should not vote unless at the same time it proves that man should not vote. And certainly it can not apply to those women, any more than to those men, whose highest and final estate never is merged in the family relation at all....

> The right to vote is the great primitive right in which all freedom originates and culminates. It is the right from which all others spring, in which they merge, and without which they fall whenever assailed. This right makes all the difference between government by and with the consent of the governed, and government without and against the consent of the governed; and that is the difference between freedom and slavery. If the right to vote be not that difference, what is? If either sex as a class can dispense with the[Pg 91] right to vote, then take it from the strong and do not longer rob the weak of their defense for the benefit of the strong. But it is impossible to conceive of the suffrage as a right dependent at all upon such an irrelevant condition as sex. It is an individual, a personal right, and if withheld by reason of sex it is a moral robbery.

> It is said that the duties of maternity disqualify for the performance of the act of voting. It can not be, and I think is not claimed by any one, that the mother who otherwise would be fit to vote is rendered mentally or morally less fit to exercise this high function in the State because of motherhood. On the contrary, if any woman has a motive more than another person, man or woman, to secure the enactment and enforcement of good laws, it is the mother, who, besides her own life, person and property—to the protection of which the ballot is as essential as to those of man—has her little contingent of immortal beings to conduct safely to the portals of active life through all the snares and pitfalls woven around them by bad men and bad laws, and to prepare rightly for the discharge of all the duties of their day and generation, including, if boys, the exercise of the very right denied to their mother.

> Certainly if but for motherhood woman should vote, then ten thousand times more necessary is it that the mother should be armed with this great social and political power for the sake of all men and women who are yet to be. It is said that she has not the time. Let us see. By the best deductions I can make from the census and from other sources, of the women of voting age in this country not more than one-half are married and still liable to the duties of maternity; for it will be remembered that a considerable proportion of the mothers at any given time are below the voting age, while another large proportion have passed beyond the point of this objection. Then why disfranchise the half to whom your objection, even if valid as to any, does not apply at all; and most of these, too, the most mature and therefore the best qualified to vote of any of their sex?

> But how much is there of this objection of want of time or physical strength to vote in its application to those women who are bearing and training the coming millions?... The average mother will attend church at least forty times yearly from her cradle to her grave; and there is, besides, an infinity of other social, religious and industrial obligations which she performs because she is a married woman and a mother rather than for any other reason whatever. Yet it is proposed to deprive all women alike of an inestimable privilege for the reason that on any given day of election perhaps one woman in twenty of voting age may not be able to reach the polls....

> When one thinks of the innumerable and trifling causes which keep many of the best of men and the strongest opponents of woman suffrage from the polls upon important occasions, it is difficult to be tolerant of the objection that woman by reason of motherhood has no time to vote....

> It is urged that woman does not desire the privilege. If the right[Pg 92] exist at all it is an individual right, and not one which belongs to a class or to the sex as such. Yet men tell us that they will vote to give the suffrage to women whenever the majority of women desire it. What would we say if it were seriously proposed to recall the suffrage from all colored or from all white men because a majority of either class should decline or for any cause fail to vote? If one or many choose not to claim their right it is no argument for depriving me of mine or one woman of hers. There are many reasons why some women declare themselves opposed to the extension of suffrage to their sex. Some well-fed and pampered, without serious experiences in life, are incapable of comprehending the subject at all. Vast numbers, who secretly and earnestly desire it, from the long habit of deference to the wishes of the other sex upon whom they are so entirely dependent, and knowing the hostility of their "protectors" to it, conceal their real sentiments. The "lord" of the family referring this question to his wife, who has heard him sneer or worse than sneer at suffragists for half a lifetime, ought not expect an answer which she knows will subject her to his censure and ridicule. It is like the old appeal of the master to his slave to know if he would like to be free. Full well did the wise and wary slave know that happiness depended upon declaring contentment with his lot....

> We are told that husband and wife will disagree and thus the suffrage will destroy the family and ruin society. If a married couple will quarrel at all, they will find the occasion, and it would be fortunate indeed if their contention might concern important affairs. There is no peace in the family save where love is, and the same spirit which enables husband and wife to enforce the toleration act between themselves in religious matters will keep the peace between them in political discussions. At all events this argument is unworthy of notice unless we are to push it to its logical conclusion, and, for the sake of peace in the family, to prohibit woman absolutely the exercise of free speech and action. Men live with their countrymen and yet disagree with them in politics, religion and ten thousand of the affairs of life, as often the trifling as the important. What harm, then, if woman be allowed her thought and vote upon the tariff, education, temperance, peace, war, and whatsoever else the suffrage decides.

> We are told that no government of which we have authentic history ever gave to women a share in the sovereignty. This is not true, for the annals of monarchies and despotisms have been rendered illustrious by queens of surpassing brilliance and power. But even if it be true that no nation ever enfranchised woman—even so until within one hundred years universal or even general suffrage was unknown among men.

> Has the millennium yet dawned? Is all progress at an end? If that which is should therefore remain, why abolish the slavery of men?

> We are informed that woman does not vote when she has the opportunity. Wherever she has the unrestricted right she exercises[Pg 93] it. The records of Wyoming and Washington demonstrate this fact.

Mr. Blair then quoted the statistics embodied in the report of the committee, showing the slow but sure progress of the enfranchisement of women, and concluded:

> It is sometimes urged against this movement for the submission of a resolution for a National Constitutional Amendment that women should go to the States and fight it out there. But we did not send the colored man to the States. No other amendment touching the general national interest has been left to be fought out by individual action in the separate States....

> We only ask for woman an opportunity to bring her suit in the great court for the amendment of fundamental law. It is impossible for any right mind to escape the impression of solemn responsibility which attaches to our decision. Ridicule and wit of whatever quality are here as much out of place as in the debates upon the Declaration of Independence. We are affirming or denying the right of petition which by all law belongs as much to women as to men....

> Let us by our action to-day indorse, if we do not initiate, a movement which, in the development of our race, shall guarantee liberty to all without distinction of sex, even as our glorious Constitution already grants the suffrage to every male citizen without distinction of color or race.

As Senator Brown was absent, Senator Cockrell objected to a consideration of the resolution and it was postponed. The minority report of the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage signed by these two Senators consisted wholly of extracts from a series of anonymous articles which had appeared in the Chicago Tribune, entitled "Letters from a Chimney-Corner."

On January 25, 1887, Senator Blair again called up his resolution and a spirited debate followed. Senators Joseph E. Brown (Ga.) and George G. Vest (Mo.) represented the negative; Henry W. Blair (N. H.) and Joseph N. Dolph (Ore.) the affirmative. Senator Brown opened the discussion by presenting, word for word, the report signed by Senator Francis M. Cockrell (Mo.) and himself in 1884. It embodied the stock objections to woman suffrage, practically all in fact which are ever made, and was in part as follows:[34]

[Pg 94]

> Mr. President, the joint resolution introduced by my friend, the Senator from New Hampshire, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, conferring the right to vote upon the women of the United States, is one of paramount importance, as it involves great questions far-reaching in their tendency, which seriously affect the very pillars of our social fabric, which involve the peace and harmony of society, the unity of the family, and much of the future success of our Government....

> I believe that the Creator intended that the sphere of the males and females of our race should be different, and that their duties and obligations, while they differ materially, are equally important and equally honorable, and that each sex is equally well qualified by natural endowments for the discharge of the important duties which pertain to each, and that each sex is equally competent to discharge those duties.

> We find an abundance of evidence, both in the works of nature and in the Divine revelation, to establish the fact that the family properly regulated is the foundation and pillar of society, and is the most important of any other human institution. In the Divine economy it is provided that the man shall be the head of the family, and shall take upon himself the solemn obligation of providing for and protecting the family.

> Man, by reason of his physical strength, and his other endowments and faculties, is qualified for the discharge of those duties that require strength and ability to combat with the sterner realities and difficulties of life. It is not only his duty to provide for and protect the family, but as a member of the community it is also his duty to discharge the laborious and responsible obligations which the family owe to the State, and which obligations must be discharged by the head of the family, until the male members have grown up to manhood and are able to aid in the discharge of those obligations, when it becomes their duty each in turn to take charge of and rear a family, for which he is responsible.

> Among other duties which the head of the family owes to the State is military duty in time of war, which he, when able-bodied, is able to discharge and which the female members of the family are unable to discharge.[35]

> He is also under obligation to discharge jury duty,[36] and by himself or his representatives to perform his part of the labor necessary to construct and keep in order roads, bridges, streets and all grades of public highways.[37] And in this progressive age upon the male sex is devolved the duty of constructing and operating our railroads, and the engines and other rolling stock with which they are operated; of building, equipping and launching shipping and other water craft of every character necessary for the transportation of passengers and freight upon our rivers, our lakes, and upon the high seas.[Pg 95]

> The labor in our fields, sowing, cultivating and reaping crops must be discharged mainly by the male sex, as the female sex, for want of physical strength, are generally unable to discharge these duties. As it is the duty of the male sex to perform the obligations to the State, to society and to the family, already mentioned, with numerous others that might be enumerated, it is also their duty to aid in the government of the State, which is simply a great aggregation of families.[38] Society can not be preserved nor can the people be prosperous without good government. The government of our country is a government of the people, and it becomes necessary that the class of people upon whom the responsibility rests should assemble together and consider and discuss the great questions of governmental policy which from time to time are presented for their decision.

> This often requires the assembling of caucuses in the night time, as well as public assemblages in the daytime. It is a laborious task, for which the male sex is infinitely better fitted than the female sex; and after proper consideration and discussion of the measures that may divide the country from time to time, the duty devolves upon those who are responsible for the government, at times and places to be fixed by law, to meet and by ballot to decide the great questions of government upon which the prosperity of the country depends.

> These are some of the active and sterner duties of life to which the male sex is by nature better fitted than the female sex. If in carrying out the policy of the State on great measures adjudged vital such policy should lead to war, either foreign or domestic, it would seem to follow very naturally that those who have been responsible for the management of the State should be the parties to take the hazards and hardships of the struggle.[39] Here again man is better fitted by nature for the discharge of the duty—woman is unfit for it.

> On the other hand, the Creator has assigned to woman very laborious and responsible duties, by no means less important than those imposed upon the male sex, though entirely different in their character.[40] In the family she is a queen. She alone is fitted for the discharge of the sacred trust of wife and the endearing relation of mother. While the man is contending with the sterner duties of life, the whole time of the noble, affectionate and true woman is required in the discharge of the delicate and difficult duties assigned her in the family circle, in her church relations and in the society where her lot is cast. When the husband returns home weary and worn in the discharge of the difficult and laborious tasks assigned him, he finds in the good wife solace and consolation which is nowhere else afforded.

> But a still more important duty devolves upon the mother. After[Pg 96] having brought into existence the offspring of the nuptial union, the children are dependent upon the mother as they are not upon any other human being. The trust is a most sacred, most responsible and most important one. She molds the character. She educates the heart as well as the intellect, and she prepares the future man, now the boy, for honor or dishonor. Upon the manner in which she discharges her duty depends the fact whether he shall in future be a useful citizen or a burden to society. She inculcates lessons of patriotism, manliness, religion and virtue, fitting the man by reason of his training to be an ornament to society, or dooming him by her neglect to a life of dishonor and shame. Society acts unwisely, when it imposes upon her the duties that by common consent have always been assigned to the stronger and sterner sex, and the discharge of which causes her to neglect those sacred and all-important duties to her children and to the society of which they are members.[41]

> In the church, by her piety, her charity and her Christian purity, she not only aids society by a proper training of her own children, but the children of others, whom she encourages to come to the sacred altar. In the Sunday-school room the good woman is a princess and she exerts an influence which purifies and ennobles society. In the sick room and among the humble, the poor and the suffering the good woman is an angel of light....

> If the wife and the mother is required to leave the sacred precincts of home and to attempt to do military duty when the State is in peril; or if she is to be required to leave her home from day to day in attendance upon the court as a juror, and to be shut up in the jury room from night to night with men who are strangers, while a question of life or property is being discussed; if she is to attend political meetings, take part in political discussions and mingle with the male sex at political gatherings; if she is to become an active politician; if she is to attend political caucuses at late hours of the night; if she is to take part in all the unsavory work that may be deemed necessary for the triumph of her party; and if on election day she is to leave her home and go upon the streets electioneering for votes for the candidates who receive her support, and mingling among the crowds of men who gather round the polls, she is to press her way through them to the precinct and deposit her ballot; if she is to take part in the corporate struggles of the city or town in which she resides, attend to the duties of his honor, the mayor, the councilman, or of policeman, to say nothing of the many other like obligations which are disagreeable (!) even to the male sex, how is she, with all these heavy duties of citizen, politician and officeholder resting upon her shoulders, to attend to the more sacred, delicate, refining trust to which we have already referred, and for which she is peculiarly fitted by nature? Who is to[Pg 97] care for and train the children while she is absent in the discharge of these masculine duties?[42]

> But it has been said that the present law is unjust to woman; that she is often required to pay tax on the property she holds without being permitted to take part in framing or administering the laws by which her property is governed, and that she is taxed without representation. That is a great mistake. It may be very doubtful whether the male or female sex in the present state of things has more influence in the administration of the affairs of the government and the enactment of the laws by which we are governed.[43]

> While the woman does not discharge military duty, nor does she attend courts and serve on juries, nor does she labor on the public streets, bridges or highways, nor does she engage actively and publicly in the discussion of political affairs, nor does she enter the crowded precincts of the ballot-box to deposit her suffrage, still the intelligent, cultivated, noble woman is a power behind the throne. All her influence is in favor of morality, justice and fair dealing, all her efforts and her counsel are in favor of good government, wise and wholesome regulations and a faithful administration of the laws.[44] ...

> It would be a gratification, and we are always glad to see the ladies gratified, to many who have espoused the cause of woman suffrage if they could take active part in political affairs and go to the polls and cast their votes alongside the male sex; but while this would be a gratification to a large number of very worthy and excellent ladies who take a different view of the question from that which we entertain, we feel that it would be a great cruelty to a much larger number of the cultivated, refined, delicate and lovely women of this country who seek no such distinction, who would enjoy no such privilege, who would with womanlike delicacy shrink from the discharge of any such obligation, and who would sincerely regret that what they consider the folly of the State had imposed upon them any such unpleasant duties. But should female suffrage be once established it would become an imperative necessity that the very large class, indeed much the largest class, of the women of this country of the character last described should yield, contrary to their inclinations and wishes, to the necessity which would compel them to engage in political strife.

> We apprehend no one who has properly considered this question will doubt, if female suffrage should be established, that the more ignorant and less refined portions of the female population, to say nothing of the baser class of females, laying aside feminine delicacy and disregarding the sacred duties devolving upon them, to which[Pg 98] we have already referred, would rush to the polls and take pleasure in the crowded association which the situation would compel, of the two sexes in political meetings and at the ballot-box....

> It is now a problem which perplexes the brain of the ablest statesmen to determine how we will best preserve our republican system as against the demoralizing influence of the large class of our present citizens and voters who by reason of their illiteracy are unable to read or write the ballot they cast. If our colored population, who were so recently slaves that even the males who are voters have had but little opportunity to educate themselves or to be educated, whose ignorance is now exciting the liveliest interest of our statesmen, are causes of serious apprehension, what is to be said in favor of adding to the voting population all the females of that race, who, on account of the situation in which they have been placed, have had much less opportunity to be educated than even the males of their own race?[45]

> It may be said that their votes could be offset by the ballots of the educated and refined ladies of the white race in the same section; but who does not know that the ignorant female voters would be at the polls en masse, while the refined and educated, shrinking from public contact on such occasions, would remain at home and attend to their domestic and other important duties?[46] Are we ready to expose the country to the demoralization, and our institutions to the strain, which would be placed upon them, for the gratification of a minority of the virtuous and good of our female population at the expense of the mortification of a very large majority of the same sex?

> It has been frequently urged that the ballot is necessary to women to enable them to protect themselves in securing occupations, and to enable them to realize the same compensation for the like labor which is received by men. This argument is plausible, but upon a closer examination it will be found to possess but little real force. The price of labor is and must continue to be governed by the law of supply and demand, and the person who has the most physical strength to labor, and the most pursuits requiring such strength open for employment, will always command the higher prices.

> Ladies make excellent teachers in public schools; many of them are every way the equals of their male competitors, and still they secure less wages than males. The reason is obvious. The number of ladies who offer themselves as teachers is much larger than the number of males who are willing to teach. The larger number of females offer to teach because other occupations are not open to them. The smaller number of males offer to teach because other more profitable occupations are open to most males who are competent to teach....

> The ballot can not impart to the female physical strength which[Pg 99] she does not possess, nor can it open to her pursuits which she does not have physical ability to engage in; and as long as she lacks the physical strength to compete with men in the different departments of labor, there will be more competition in her department, and she must necessarily receive less wages.[47]

> But it is claimed again that females should have the ballot as a protection against the tyranny of bad husbands. This is also delusive. If the husband is brutal, arbitrary or tyrannical, and tyrannizes over her at home, the ballot in her hands would be no protection against such injustice, but the husband who compelled her to conform to his wishes in other respects would also compel her to use the ballot, if she possessed it, as he might please to dictate. The ballot would, therefore, be of no assistance to the wife in such case, nor could it heal family strifes or dissensions. On the contrary, one of the gravest objections to placing the ballot in the hands of the female sex is that it would promote unhappiness and dissensions in the family circle. There should be unity and harmony in the family.[48] ...

> When woman becomes a voter she will be more or less of a politician, and will form political alliances or unite with political parties which will frequently be antagonistic to those to which her husband belongs. This will introduce into the family circle new elements of disagreement and discord which will frequently end in unhappy divisions, if not in separation and divorce. This must frequently occur when she becomes an active politician, identified with a party which is distasteful to her husband. On the other hand, if she unites with her husband in party associations and votes with him on all occasions so as not to disturb the harmony and happiness of the family, then the ballot is of no service, as it simply duplicates the vote of the male on each side of the question and leaves the result the same.[49] ...

> It may be said, however, that there is a class of young ladies who do not choose to marry, and who select professions or avocations and follow them for a livelihood. This is true, but this class, compared with the number who unite in matrimony with the husbands of their choice, is comparatively very small, and it is the duty of society to encourage the increase of marriages rather than of celibacy. If the larger number of females select pursuits or professions which require them to decline marriage, society to that extent is deprived of the advantage resulting from the increase of population by marriage.[Pg 100]

> It is said by those who have examined the question closely that the largest number of divorces is now found in the communities where the advocates of female suffrage are most numerous, and where the individuality of woman as related to her husband, which such a doctrine inculcates, is increased to the greatest extent.[50] ...

Senator Brown then introduced a long quotation from the "Chimney-Corner," covering so exactly the ground of his speech and in so nearly the same language as to suggest, if not collusion, at least "two souls with but a single thought," which he thus emphasized in closing:

> The woman with the infant at the breast is in no condition to plow on the farm, labor hard in the workshop, discharge the duties of a juryman, conduct cases as an advocate in court, preside in important cases as a judge, command armies as a general, or bear arms as a private. These duties, and others of like character, belong to the male sex; while the more important duties of home, to which I have already referred, devolve upon the female sex. We can neither reverse the physical nor the moral laws of our nature, and as this movement is an attempt to reverse these laws, and to devolve upon the female sex important and laborious duties for which they are not by nature physically competent, I am not prepared to support this bill.

He was followed by Senator Dolph, who said:

> Mr. President, I shall not detain the Senate long. I do not feel satisfied, when a measure so important to the people of this country and to humanity is about to be submitted to a vote of the Senate, to remain wholly silent.

> Fortunately for the perpetuity of our institutions and the prosperity of the people, the Federal Constitution contains a provision for its own amendment. The framers of that instrument foresaw that time and experience, the growth of the country and the consequent expansion of the Government, would develop the necessity for changes in it. Under this provision, at the first session of the First Congress, ten amendments were submitted to the Legislatures of the several States, in due time ratified by the constitutional number, and thus became a part of the Constitution. Since then there have been added to the Constitution by the same process five different articles. To secure an amendment requires the concurrent action of two-thirds of both branches of Congress and the affirmative action of three-fourths of the States. The question as to whether this resolution shall be submitted to the Legislatures for ratification does not involve the right or policy of the proposed amendment....[Pg 101]

> No question in this country has been more ably discussed than this has been by the women themselves. I do not think a single objection which is made to woman suffrage is tenable. No one will contend but that women have sufficient capacity to vote intelligently. Sacred and profane history is full of the records of great deeds by women. They have ruled kingdoms, and, my friend from Georgia to the contrary notwithstanding, they have commanded armies. They have excelled in statecraft, they have shone in literature, and, rising superior to their environments and breaking the shackles with which custom and tyranny have bound them, they have stood side by side with men in the fields of the arts and the sciences.

> If it were a fact that woman is intellectually inferior to man, which I do not admit, still that would be no reason why she should not be permitted to participate in the formation and control of the government to which she owes allegiance. If we are to have as a test for the exercise of the right of suffrage a qualification based upon intelligence, let it be applied to women and to men alike. If it be admitted that suffrage is a right, that is the end of controversy; there can no longer be any argument made against woman suffrage; because, if it is her right, then, if there were but one poor woman in all the United States demanding the right it would be tyranny to refuse the demand.

> But our opponents say that suffrage is not a right; that it is a matter of grace only; that it is a privilege which is conferred upon or withheld from individual members of society by society at pleasure. Society as here used means man's government, and the proposition assumes that men have a right to institute and control governments for themselves and for women. I admit that in the governments of the world, past and present, men as a rule have assumed to be the ruling class; that they have instituted governments from participation in which they have excluded women; that they have made laws for themselves and for women, and have themselves administered them. But, that the provisions conferring or regulating suffrage, in the constitutions and laws of governments so constituted, have determined the question of the right of suffrage, can not be maintained.

> Let us suppose, if we can, a community separated from all others—having no organized government, owing no allegiance to any existing governments, without any knowledge of the character of those present or past, so that when they come to form one for themselves they can do so free from the bias or prejudice of custom or education—a community composed of an equal number of men and women, having equal property rights to be defined and to be protected by law. When such community came to institute a government—and it would have an undoubted right to institute one for itself, and the instinct of self-preservation would soon lead it to do so—will my friend from Georgia tell me by what right, human or divine, the male portion could exclude the female portion, equal in number and having equal property rights, from participation in the formation of such government and in the enactment of its laws?[Pg 102] I understand that the Senator, if he would answer, would say that he believes the author of our existence, the ruler of the universe, has given different spheres to man and woman. Admit that; and still neither in nature nor in the revealed will of God do I find anything to lead me to believe that the Creator did not intend that a woman should exercise the right of self-government.

> During the consideration by this body, at the last session, of the bill to admit Washington Territory into the Union, referring to the fact that in that Territory woman already had been enfranchised, I briefly submitted my views on this subject, which I now ask the Secretary to read.

> The Secretary read as follows: " ... I do not believe the proposition so often asserted that suffrage is a political privilege only, and not a natural right. It is regulated by the constitution and laws of a State, I grant, but it needs no argument to show that a constitution and laws adopted and enacted by a fragment only of the whole body of the people, but binding alike on all, are a usurpation of the powers of government.

> "Government is but organized society. Whatever its form, it has its origin in the necessities of mankind and is indispensable for the maintenance of civilized society. It is essential to every government that it should represent the supreme power of the State, and be capable of subjecting the will of its individual citizens to its authority. Such a government can derive its just powers only from the consent of the governed, and can be established only under a fundamental law which is self-imposed. Every person of suitable age and discretion who is to be subject to such a government has, in my judgment, a natural right to participate in its formation. It is a significant fact that, should Congress pass this bill and authorize the people of Washington Territory to frame a State constitution and organize a State government, the fundamental law of the State would be made by all the citizens who were to be subject to it, and not by one-half of them. And we shall witness the spectacle of a State government founded in accordance with the principles of equality, and have a State at last with a truly republican form of government.[51]

> "The fathers of the republic enunciated the doctrine 'that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' It is strange that any one in this enlightened age should be found to contend that this declaration is true only of men, and that a man is endowed by his Creator with inalienable rights not possessed by a woman. The lamented Lincoln immortalized the expression that ours is a government 'of the people, by the people and for the people,' and yet it is far from that. There can be no government by the people where one-half of them are allowed no voice in its organization and control. I regard the struggle going on in this country and elsewhere for the enfranchisement[Pg 103] of women as but a continuation of the great struggle for human liberty which, from the earliest dawn of authentic history, has convulsed nations, rent kingdoms and drenched battlefields with human blood. I look upon the victories which have been achieved in the cause of woman's enfranchisement in Washington Territory and elsewhere, as the crowning victories of all which have been won in the long-continued, still-continuing contest between liberty and oppression, and as destined to exert a greater influence upon the human race than any achieved upon the battlefield in ancient or modern times."

> Mr. President, the movement for woman suffrage has passed the stage of ridicule. The pending joint resolution may not pass during this Congress, but the time is not far distant when in every State of the Union and in every Territory women will be admitted to an equal voice in the government, and that will be done whether the Federal Constitution is amended or not....

> No measure involving such radical changes in our institutions and fraught with so great consequences to this country and to humanity has made such progress as the movement for woman suffrage. Denunciation will not much longer answer for arguments by the opponents of this measure. The portrayal of the evils to flow from woman suffrage such as we have heard pictured to-day by the Senator from Georgia, the loss of harmony between husband and wife and the consequent instability of the marriage relation, the neglect of husbands and children by wives and mothers for the performance of their political duties, in short the incapacitating of women for wives and mothers and companions, will not much longer serve to frighten the timid. Proof is better than theory. The experiment has been made and the predicted evils to flow from it have not followed. On the contrary, if we can believe the almost universal testimony, wherever it has been tried it has been followed by the most beneficial results.

> In Washington Territory, since woman was enfranchised, there have been two elections. At the first there were 8,368 votes cast by women out of a total vote of about 34,000. At the second election, which was held in November last, out of 48,000 votes, 12,000 were cast by women.

> I desire also to inform my friend from Georgia that since women were enfranchised in Washington Territory nature has continued in her wonted course. The sun rises and sets; there are seed-time and harvest; seasons come and go. The population has increased with the usual regularity and rapidity. Marriages have been quite as frequent and divorces have been no more so. Women have not lost their influence for good upon society, but men have been elevated and refined. If we are to believe the testimony which comes from lawyers, physicians, ministers of the gospel, merchants, mechanics, farmers and laboring men—the united testimony of the entire people of the Territory—the results of woman suffrage there have been all that could be desired by its friends. Some of the results have been seen in its making the polls quiet and orderly, awakening a new interest[Pg 104] in educational questions and those of moral reform, securing the passage of beneficial laws and the proper enforcement of them, elevating men, and doing so without injury to women.

Senator James B. Eustis (La.) inquired whether, if the right of suffrage were conferred, women ought to be required to serve on juries. To this Senator Dolph replied: "I can answer that very readily. It does not necessarily follow that because a woman is permitted to vote and thus have a voice in making the laws by which she is to be governed and by which her property rights are to be determined, she must perform such duty as service upon a jury. But I will inform the Senator that in Washington Territory she does serve upon juries, and with great satisfaction to the judges of the courts and to all parties who desire to see an honest and efficient administration of law." The following colloquy then ensued:

> Mr. Eustis: I was aware of the fact that women are required to serve on juries in Washington Territory because they are allowed to vote. I understand that under all State laws those duties are considered correlative. Now, I ask the Senator whether he thinks it is a decent spectacle to take a mother away from her nursing infant and lock her up all night to sit on a jury?

> Mr. Dolph: I intended to say before I reached this point of being interrogated that I not only do not believe that there is a single argument against woman suffrage which is tenable, but also that there is not a single one which is really worthy of any serious consideration. The Senator from Louisiana is a lawyer, and he knows very well that a mother with a nursing infant, that fact being made known to the court, would be excused. He knows himself, and he has seen it done a hundred times, that for trivial excuses compared to that, men have been excused from service on a jury.

> Mr. Eustis: I will ask the Senator whether he knows that under the laws of Washington Territory this is a legal excuse from serving on a jury?

> Mr. Dolph: I am not prepared to state that it is; but there is no question in the world but that any Judge, this fact being made known, would excuse a woman from attendance upon a jury. No special authority would be required. I will state further that I have not learned that there has been any serious objection on the part of any woman summoned for jury service in that Territory to performing that duty. I have not learned that it has worked to the disadvantage of any family, but I do know that the judges of the courts have taken especial pains to commend the women who have been called to serve upon juries for the manner in which they have discharged their duty.

> I wish to say further that there is no connection whatever between[Pg 105] jury service and the right of suffrage. The question as to who shall perform jury service, who shall perform military service, who shall perform civil official duty, is certainly a matter to be regulated by the community itself; but the question of the right to participate in the formation of a government which controls the life, the property and the destinies of its citizens, I contend is one which goes back of these mere regulations for the protection of property and the punishment of offenses under the laws. It is a matter of right which it is a tyranny to refuse to any citizen demanding it.

> Now, Mr. President, I shall close by saying, God speed the day when not only in all the States of the Union and in all the Territories, but everywhere, woman shall stand before the law freed from the last shackle which has been riveted upon her by tyranny and the last disability which has been imposed upon her by ignorance—not only in respect to the right of suffrage but in every other respect the peer and equal of her brother, man.

Senator Vest then entered into a long and elaborate discussion of the resolution, in which he said:

> Mr. President, any measure of legislation which affects popular government based on the will of the people as expressed through their suffrage is not only important but vitally so. If this government which is based on the intelligence of the people, shall ever be destroyed it will be by injudicious, immature or corrupt suffrage. If the Ship of State launched by our fathers shall ever be destroyed, it will be by striking the rock of universal, unprepared suffrage. Suffrage once given can never be taken away. Legislatures and conventions may do everything else; they never can do that. When any particular class or portion of the community is once invested with this privilege it is fixed, accomplished and eternal.[52]

> The Senator who spoke last on this question refers to the successful experiment in regard to woman suffrage in the Territories of Wyoming and Washington. It is not upon the plains of the sparsely-settled Territories of the West that woman suffrage can be tested. Suffrage in the rural districts and sparsely-settled regions of this country must from the very nature of things remain pure when corrupt everywhere else. The danger of corrupt suffrage is in the cities, and those masses of population to which civilization tends everywhere in all history. Wyoming Territory! Washington Territory! Where are their large cities? Where are the localities in which the strain upon popular government must come?

> The Senator from New Hampshire, who is so conspicuous in this movement, appalled the country some months since by his ghastly array of illiteracy in the Southern States.... He proposes to give the negro women of the South this right of suffrage, utterly unprepared as they are for it. In a convention some two-years-and-a-half[Pg 106] ago in the city of Louisville an intelligent negro from the South said the negro men could not vote the Democratic ticket because the women would not live with them if they did. The negro men go out in the hotels and upon the railroad cars; they go to the cities and by attrition they wear away the prejudice of race; but the women remain at home, and their emotional natures aggregate and compound the race-prejudice, and when suffrage is given them what must be the result?

> Mr. President, it is not my purpose to speak of the inconveniences, for they are nothing more, of woman suffrage.[53] I trust that as a gentleman I respect the feelings of the ladies and their advocates. I am not here to ridicule. My purpose only is to use legitimate argument as to a movement which commands respectful consideration if for no other reason than because it comes from women. But it is impossible to divest ourselves of a certain degree of sentiment when considering this question. I pity the man who can consider any question affecting the influence of woman with the cold, dry logic of business. What man can, without aversion, turn from the blessed memory of that dear old grandmother, or the gentle words and caressing hand of that blessed mother gone to the unknown world, to face in its stead the idea of a female justice of the peace or township constable? For my part I want when I go to my home—when I turn from the arena where man contends with man for what we call the prizes of this paltry world—I want to go back, not to be received in the masculine embrace of some female ward politician, but to the earnest, loving look and touch of a true woman. I want to go back to the jurisdiction of the wife, the mother; and instead of a lecture upon finance or the tariff or the construction of the Constitution, I want those blessed, loving details of domestic life and domestic love.

> I have said I would not speak of the inconveniences to arise from woman suffrage—when the mother is called upon to decide as a juryman or jurywoman rights of property or rights of life, whilst her baby is "mewling and puking" in solitary confinement at home. There are other considerations more important, and one of them to my mind is insuperable. I speak now respecting women as a sex. I believe that they are better than men, but I do not believe they are adapted to the political work of this world. I do not believe that the Great Intelligence ever intended them to invade the sphere of work given to men, tearing down and destroying all the best influences for which God has intended them.

> The great evil in this country to-day is in emotional suffrage. The great danger to-day is in excitable suffrage. If the voters of this country could think always coolly, and if they could deliberate, if they could go by judgment and not by passion, our institutions would survive forever, eternal as the foundations of the continent itself; but massed together, subject to the excitement of mobs and[Pg 107] of these terrible political contests that come upon us from year to year under the autonomy of our government, what would be the result if suffrage were given to the women of the United States?

> Women are essentially emotional. It is no disparagement to them they are so. It is no more insulting to say that women are emotional than to say that they are delicately constructed physically and unfitted to become soldiers or workmen under the sterner, harder pursuits of life. What we want in this country is to avoid emotional suffrage, and what we need is to put more logic into public affairs and less feeling.[54]

> There are spheres in which feeling should be paramount. There are kingdoms in which the heart should reign supreme. That kingdom belongs to woman, the realm of sentiment, the realm of love, the realm of the gentler and holier and kindlier attributes that make the name of wife, mother and sister next to that of God himself.

> I would not, and I say it deliberately, degrade woman by giving her the right of suffrage. I mean the word in its full signification, because I believe that woman as she is today, the queen of home and of hearts, is above the political collisions of this world, and should always be kept above them....

> Sir, if it be said to us that this is a natural right belonging to women, I deny it. The right of suffrage is one to be determined by expediency and by policy, and given by the State to whom it pleases. It is not a natural right; it is a right that comes from the State.[55]

> It is claimed that if the suffrage be given to women it is to protect them. Protect them from whom? The brute that would invade their rights would coerce the suffrage of his wife or sister or mother as he would wring from her the hard earnings of her toil to gratify his own beastly appetites and passions.[56]

> It is said that the suffrage is to be given to enlarge the sphere of woman's influence. Mr. President, it would destroy her influence. It would take her down from that pedestal where she is today, influencing as a mother the minds of her offspring, influencing by her gentle and kindly caress the action of her husband toward the good and pure.[57]

Senator Vest then presented a list of two hundred men from Massachusetts, among them forty-five clergymen, remonstrating against any further extension of suffrage to women. He next presented the old-time letter of Mrs. Clara T. Leonard of that[Pg 108] State protesting against the enfranchisement of women. Senator Hoar called attention to the fact that the writer herself was an office-holder, a member of the State Board of Lunacy and Charity, to which Senator Vest answered:

> Ah! but what sort of an office-holder? She held the office delegated to her by God himself, a ministering angel to the sick, the afflicted and the insane. What man in his senses would take from woman this sphere? What man would close to her the charitable institutions and eleemosynary establishments of the country? That is part of her kingdom; that is part of her undisputed sway and realm. Is that the office to which woman suffragists of this country ask us now to admit them? Is it to be the director of a hospital? Is it to the presidency of a board of visitors of an eleemosynary institution? Oh, no; they want to be President, to be Senators and Members of the House of Representatives and, God save the mark, ministerial and executive officers, sheriffs, constables and marshals. Of course, this lady is found on this board of directors. Where else should a true woman be found? Where else has she always been found but by the fevered brow, the palsied hand, the erring intellect, aye, God bless them, from the cradle to the grave the guide and support of the faltering steps of childhood and the weakening steps of old age.[58]

> Oh, no, Mr. President, this will not do. If we are to tear down all the blessed traditions, if we are to desolate our homes and firesides, if we are to unsex our mothers and wives and sisters and turn our blessed temples of domestic peace into ward political-assembly rooms, pass this joint resolution. But for one I thank God that I am so old-fashioned that I would not give one memory of my grandmother or of my mother for all the arguments that could be piled, Pelion upon Ossa, in favor of this political monstrosity.

> I now present a pamphlet sent to me by a lady. I do not know whether she be wife or mother. She signs this pamphlet as Adeline D. T. Whitney. I have read it twice, and read it to pure and gentle and intellectual women. I shall not read it today for my strength does not suffice.[59] ... There is not one impure, unintellectual aspiration or thought throughout the whole of it. Would to God that I knew her, that I could thank her on behalf of the society and politics of the United States for this production. She says to her own sex: "After all, men work for women; or, if they think they do not, it would leave them but sorry satisfaction to abandon them to such existence as they could arrange without us."

> Oh, how true that is, how true!

[Pg 109]

This pamphlet of over five thousand words which began, "What is the law of woman-life? What was she made woman for, and not man?"—might be described as the apotheosis of the sentimental effusions of Senators Brown and Vest.

During the discussion Senator George F. Hoar (Mass.) said:

> Mr. President, I do not propose to make a speech at this late hour of the day, it would be cruel to the Senate, and I had not expected that this measure would be here this afternoon. I was absent on a public duty and came in just at the close of the speech of my honorable friend from Missouri. I wish, however, to say one word in regard to what seemed to be the burden of his speech.

> He says that the women who ask this change in our political organization are not simply seeking to be put upon school boards and upon boards of health and charity and to fulfil all the large number of duties of a political nature for which he must confess they are fit, but he says they will want to be President of the United States, and Senators and marshals and sheriffs, and that seems to him supremely ridiculous. Now I do not understand that this is the proposition. What they want is simply to be eligible to such public duty as a majority of their fellow-citizens may think they are fitted for. The most of the public duties in this country do not require robust, physical health, or exposure to what is base or unhealthy; and when those duties are imposed upon anybody it will be only upon such persons as are fit for them.

> My honorable friend spoke of the French revolution and the horrors in which the women of Paris took part, and from that he would argue that American wives and mothers and sisters are not fit for the calm and temperate management of our American republican life. His argument would require him by the same logic to agree that republicanism itself is not fit for human society. The argument is against popular government, whether by men or women, and the Senator only applies to this new phase of the claim of equal rights what his predecessors would have argued against the rights which men now enjoy.

> But the Senator thought it was unspeakably absurd that woman with her sentiment and emotional nature and liability to be moved by passion and feeling should hold the office of Senator. Why, Mr. President, the Senator's own speech is a refutation of its own argument. Everybody knows that my honorable friend from Missouri is one of the most brilliant men in this country. He is a logician, he is an orator, he is a man of wide experience, he is a lawyer entrusted with large interests; yet when he was called upon to put forth this great effort of his, this afternoon, and to argue this question which he thinks so clear, what did he do? He furnished the gush and the emotion and the eloquence, but when he wanted an argument he had to call upon two women to supply it. If Mrs. Leonard and Mrs. Whitney have to make the argument in the Senate[Pg 110] of the United States for the distinguished Senator from Missouri, it does not seem to me so absolutely ridiculous that they should have, or that women like them should have, seats in this body to make arguments of their own.

Senator Blair closed the debate by saying in part:

> I appeal to Senators not to decide this question upon the arguments which have been offered here today for or against the merits of the proposition. I appeal to them to decide it upon that other principle to which I have adverted, whether one-half of the American people shall be permitted to go into the arena of public discussion in the various States, and before their Legislatures be heard upon the issue, "Shall the Federal Constitution be so amended as to extend this right of suffrage?" If, with this opportunity, those who believe in woman suffrage shall fail, then they must be content; for I agree with the Senators upon the opposite side of the chamber and with all who hold that if the suffrage is to be extended at all, it must be by the operation of existing law. I believe it to be an innate right; yet even an innate right must be exercised only by the consent of the controlling forces of the State. That is all woman asks—that an amendment be submitted.

The opposition had presented three documents, each representing the views of one woman, and one of these anonymous. Senator Blair presented a petition for the suffrage from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of 200,000 members, signed by Miss Frances E. Willard, president, and the entire official board. This was accompanied by a strong personal appeal from a number of distinguished women, and hundreds of thousands of petitions had been previously sent. The Senator also received permission to have printed in the Congressional Record the arguments made by the representatives of the suffrage movement before the Senate committee in 1880 and 1884.[60]

A vote was then taken on the resolution to submit to the State Legislatures an amendment to the Federal Constitution forbidding the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex, which resulted in 16 yeas, 34 nays, 26 absent.[61] Of the[Pg 111] absentees Senators Chace, Dawes, Plumb and Stanford announced that they would have voted "yea;" Jones of Arkansas and Butler that they would have voted "nay."

Thus on January 25, 1887, occurred the first and only discussion and vote in the United States Senate on the submission of an amendment to the Federal Constitution which should forbid disfranchisement on account of sex, that took place up to the end of the nineteenth century.

### FOOTNOTES:

[31] The only time the direct question of woman suffrage ever had been discussed and voted on in the U. S. Senate was in December, 1866, on the Bill to Regulate the Franchise for the District of Columbia—History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 102; and in May, 1874, on the Bill to Establish the Territory of Pembina—the same, p. 545; but these were entirely distinct from the submission of a constitutional amendment.

[32] Extended space is accorded this discussion, as it might reasonably be expected that on the floor of the United States Senate would be made the most exhaustive arguments possible on both sides of this important question.

[33] This report had been presented Mar. 28, 1884, by Senators T. W. Palmer, H. W. Blair, E. G. Lapham and H. B. Anthony.

[34] The italics are made by the editors of the History.

[35] Senator Brown did not enter the army during the Civil War.

[36] As a lawyer Senator Brown was always exempt from jury service.

[37] Senator Brown had this done by his representatives, as any woman could do.

[38] As every private family urgently needs the man and the woman, why are both not needed in this "great aggregation?"

[39] Do women have no hardships or hazards in time of war?

[40] If her duties are just as laborious, responsible and important as man's, do they not entitle her to a voice in the Government?

[41] Since this tremendous responsibility is placed upon woman, why should she not have a voice in the conditions which surround these children outside the home? Why should man alone determine these conditions which often counteract all the mother's training?

[42] Senator Brown assumes that all women are wives and the mothers of young children, and that the mother's sense of duty would not hold her to the care of her children if she had a chance to go into politics.

[43] Would any man be willing to exchange his influence for that of a woman in the affairs of government?

[44] This would seem to be the very influence which ought to be enforced by a vote.

[45] In readjusting the qualifications for the suffrage the Southern States have been very careful to secure the right to all the illiterate white men.

[46] Senator Brown says in the preceding paragraph that the "delicate and lovely women" would not remain at home but would consider it an imperative duty to go to the polls.

[47] Is it because women lack physical strength that they are not allowed to practice law in Georgia or to act as notaries public or to fill any office, even that of school trustee, and that no woman is permitted to enter the State University? The men should at least give their "queens" and "princesses" and "angels" an education.

[48] Yes, if the husband has to enforce it with a club. This paragraph does not tally with the one in the early part of the Senator's speech where all women were placed on a throne, and all men were declared to be their natural protectors.

[49] The picture of family life in Georgia is not alluring, but the Senator takes small account of the woman who does not happen to possess a "male," or rather to be possessed by one.

[50] Therefore the wife should not be allowed any individuality. Statistics, however, from the States where women do vote prove exactly the opposite of this assertion in regard to divorce.

[51] For account of the unconstitutional disfranchisement of the women of Washington Territory by its Supreme Court, see chapter on that State.

[52] This does not seem to apply to negro suffrage in the Southern States.

[53] One hearing Senator Brown's blood-curdling descriptions would think they were more than "inconveniences."

[54] Observe that Senator Vest's entire argument against woman suffrage is based wholly on sentiment and emotion and is entirely devoid of logic.

[55] The Senator meant that it is a right which comes from the men of the State, from one-half of its people.

[56] Because of a few such brutes millions of women must be deprived of the suffrage. If women had some control over the conditions which tend to make men brutes, might the number not be lessened? The Senator ignores entirely the secret ballot which would prevent the aforesaid brutes from knowing how the women voted.

[57] In the preceding paragraph she did not seem to be on a pedestal.

[58] The advocates of woman suffrage have repeatedly had bills in the various Legislatures asking that women might be appointed on the boards of all State institutions, and as physicians in all where women and children are placed, but up to the present day not one woman is allowed this privilege in Senator Vest's own State of Missouri.

[59] This does not accord with the argument of Senator Brown that man must do the voting for the family on account of his superior physical strength.

[60] These were Susan B. Anthony, Nancy R. Allen, Lillie Devereux Blake, Lucinda B. Chandler, Abigail Scott Duniway, Helen M. Gougar, Mary Seymour Howell, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, Julia Smith Parker, Caroline Gilkey Rogers, Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, May Wright Sewall, Mary A. Stuart, Sara Andrews Spencer, Harriette R. Shattuck, Zerelda G. Wallace, Sarah E. Wall—nearly all of national reputation.

[61] Yeas: Blair, N. H.; Bowen, Col.; Cheney, N. H.; Conger, Mich.; Cullom, Ills.; Dolph, Ore.; Farwell, Ill.; Hoar, Mass.; Manderson, Neb.; Mitchell, Ore.; Mitchell, Penn.; Palmer, Mich.; Platt, Conn.; Sherman, O.; Teller, Col.; Wilson, Iowa—16. Nays: Beck, Ky., Berry, Ark, Blackburn, Ky., Brown, Ga., Call, Fla., Cockrell, Mo., Coke, Tex., Colquitt, Ga., Eustis, La., Evarts, N. Y., George, Miss., Gray, Del., Hampton, S. C., Harris, Tenn., Hawley, Conn., Ingalls, Kan., Jones, Nev., McMillan, Mich., McPherson, N. J., Mahone, Va., Morgan, Ala., Morrill, Vt., Payne, O., Pugh, Ala., Saulsbury, Del., Sawyer, Wis., Sewell, N. J., Spooner, Wis., Vance, N. C.; Vest, Mo., Walthall, Miss., Whitthorne, Tenn., Williams, Cal., Wilson, Md.—34.

Absent: Aldrich, R. I., Allison, Ia., Butler, S. C., Camden, W. Va., Cameron, Penn., Chace, R. I., Dawes, Mass., Edmunds, Vt., Fair, Nev., Frye, Me., Gibson, La., Gorman, Md., Hale, Me., Harrison, Ind., Jones, Ark., Jones, Fla., Kenna, W. Va., Maxey, Tex., Miller, N. Y., Plumb, Kan., Ransom, N. C., Riddleberger, Va.; Sabin, Minn., Stanford, Cal.; Van Wyck, Neb., Voorhees, Ind.—26.

[Pg 112]

## CHAPTER VII.

### THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1887.

The Nineteenth national convention assembled in the M. E. Metropolitan Church of Washington, Jan. 25, 1887, continuing in session three days. On no evening was the building large enough to accommodate the audience. The Rev. John P. Newman, pastor of the church, prayed earnestly for the blessing of God "on these women, who, through good and evil report, have been striving for the right."[62] Miss Susan B. Anthony came directly from the Capitol and opened the convention by reading a letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was in England. She then referred to the fact that while this convention was in session the United States Senate was discussing the question of woman suffrage. There would be taken the first direct vote in that body on a Sixteenth Amendment to enfranchise women. The attention of the advocates of woman suffrage was directed to Congress for the first time when the Fourteenth Amendment was under discussion in 1865. That article in the beginning was broad enough to include women but political expediency inserted the word "male," so that if any State should disfranchise any of its male citizens they should be counted out of the basis of representation. She continued:

> This taught us that we might look to Congress. We presented our first petition in 1865. In December, 1866, came the discussion in the Senate on the proposition to strike the word "male" from the District of Columbia Suffrage Bill and nine voted in favor. From[Pg 113] that day we have gone forward pressing our claims on Congress. Denied in the construction of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments we have been trying for a Sixteenth Amendment. We have gained so much as a special committee, who hear our arguments and have four times reported in our favor; Senator Hoar, chairman in 1879, Senator Lapham in 1882, Senator Palmer in 1884, and Senator Blair in 1886. This is the bill which is pending now. We are not asking Congress to enfranchise us, because it does not possess that power. We are asking it to submit a proposition to be voted on by the Legislatures.

Mrs. Stanton's letter said in part:

> For half a century we have tried appeals, petitions, arguments, with thrilling quotations from our greatest jurists and statesmen, and lo! in the year of our Lord, 1887, the best answer we can wring from Senators Brown and Cockrell, in the shape of a minority report, is a "chimney corner letter" written by a woman ignorant of the first principles of republican government, which, they say, gives a better statement of the whole question than they are capable of producing. Verily this is a new departure in congressional proceedings! Though a woman has not sufficient capacity to vote, yet she has superior capacity to her representatives in drawing up a minority report....

> But if Senators Cockrell and Brown hope to dispose of the question by remanding us to "the chimney corner" we trust their constituents will send them to keep us company, that they may enliven our retirement and make us satisfied 'in the sphere where the Creator intended we should be' by daily intoning for us their inspired minority report.

> The one pleasant feature in this original document is the harmony between the views of these gentlemen and their Creator. The only drawback to our faith in their knowledge of what exists in the Divine mind, is in the fact that they can not tell us when, where and how they interviewed Jehovah. I have always found that when men have exhausted their own resources, they fall back on "the intentions of the Creator." But their platitudes have ceased to have any influence with those women who believe they have the same facilities for communication with the Divine mind as men have.

> The right and liability to be called on to fight, if we vote, as continually emphasized by our opponents, is one of the greatest barriers in our way. If all the heroic deeds of women recorded in history and our daily journals, and the active virtues so forcibly illustrated in domestic life, have not yet convinced our opponents that women are possessed of superior fighting qualities, the sex may feel called upon in the near future to give some further illustrations of their prowess. Of one thing they may be assured, that the next generation will not argue the question of woman's rights with the infinite patience we have had for half a century, and to so little purpose.[Pg 114] To emancipate woman from the fourfold bondage she has so long suffered in the State, the church, the home and the world of work, harder battles than we have yet fought are still before us.

Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.) paid a beautiful tribute to Miss Anthony, "the Sir Galahad in search of the Holy Grail," and closed with an eloquent prophecy of future success. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) gave a clever satire on The Rights of Men, which was very imperfectly reported.

> ....Surely it is time that some one on this platform should say something for this half of humanity, which we really must confess after all is an important half. Ought we not admit that men have wrongs to complain of? Are they not constantly declaring themselves our slaves? Is it not a well known fact, conceded even here, that women shine in all the tints of the rainbow while men must wear only costumes of dull brown and somber black? Nor is this because men do not like bright colors, for never a belle in all the sheen of satin and glimmer of pearls looks half so happily proud as does a man when he has on a uniform, or struts in a political procession with a white hat on his head, a red ribbon in his buttonhole and a little cane in his hand.

> Then, too, have not men, poor fellows, had to do all the talking since the world began? Have we not heretofore been the silent sex? Even to-day a thousand men speak from pulpit and platform where one woman uplifts her voice.

> But let us pass to other and more important rights which have been denied to man in the past. The first right that any man ought to be allowed—a right paramount to all others—is the right to a wife. But look how even in this matter he has been hardly dealt with. Has he had just standards set before him as to what a wife should be? No, but he has been led to believe that the weak woman, the dependent woman, is the one to be desired....

> Look again at the unhappy mess into which man all by himself has brought politics and public affairs. Is it not too bad to leave him longer alone in his misery? Like the naughty boy who has broken and destroyed his toys, who needs mamma to help him mend them, and perhaps also to administer to him such wholesome discipline as Solomon himself has advised—so does man need woman to come to his rescue. Look what politics is now. Who to-day can tell the difference between a Democrat and a Republican? Even a Mugwump is becoming a doubtful being....

> Do not these wrongs which men suffer appeal to our tenderest sympathies? Is it not evident that the poor fellows can't go on alone much longer, that it is high time we should take the boys in hand and show them what a correct government really is?

> There is another question which deserves our gravest consideration. Man sinks or rises with woman; if she is degraded he is tempted to vice; if she is oppressed he is brutalized. What is the industrial condition of women to-day?...[Pg 115]

> In behalf of the sons, the brothers and the husbands of these wage-earning women we ask for that political power which alone will insure equality of pay without regard to sex. For the sake of man's redemption and morality we demand that this injustice shall cease, for it is not possible for woman to be half-starved and man not dwarfed; for many women to be degraded and all men's lives pure; for women to be fallen and no man lost.

> We all know that man himself has been most willing to grant to women every right, every opportunity. If he has hesitated it has been rather from love and admiration of woman than from any tyrannical desire of oppression. He has said that women must not vote because they can not perform military duty. Can they not serve the nation as well as those men, who during the last war sent substitutes and to-day hold the highest places in the Government? But we ask one question: Which every year does most for the State, the soldier or the mother who risks her life not to destroy other life but to create it? Of the two it would be better to disfranchise the soldiers and enfranchise the mothers. For much as the nation owes to the soldiers, she owes far more to the mothers who in endless martyrdom make the nation a possibility....

> Man deserves that we should consider his present unhappy condition. In all ages he has proved his reverence for woman by embodying every virtue in female form, and has left none for himself. Truth and chastity, mercy and peace, charity and justice, all are represented as feminine, and lately, as a proof of his devotion, he has erected at the entrance to the harbor of our greatest metropolis a statue of liberty and this too is represented as a woman.... And so we hail the men, liberty enlightening a world where woman and man shall alike be free.

One interesting address followed another throughout the convention, presenting the question of suffrage for women with appeal, humor, logic, statistics and every variety of argument.

Mrs. Harriette Robinson Shattuck (Mass.) presented in striking contrast The Women Who Ask and the Women Who Object. Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert in a fine address told of Our Motherless Government. Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) gave for the first time her masterly speech, The Constitutional Rights of the Women of the United States, which has been so widely circulated in pamphlet form, and which closed with this peroration:

> There are those who say we have too many voters already. No, we have not too many. On the contrary, to take away the ballot even from the ignorant and perverse is to invite discontent, social disturbance, and crime. The restraints and benedictions of this little[Pg 116] white symbol are so silent and so gentle, so atmospheric, so like the snow-flakes that come down to guard the slumbering forces of the earth and prepare them for springing into bud, blossom, and fruit in due season, that few recognize the divine alchemy, and many impatient souls are saying we are on the wrong path—the Old World was right—the government of the few is safe; the wise, the rich, should rule; the ignorant, the poor, should serve. But God, sitting between the eternities, has said otherwise, and we of this land are foreordained to prove His word just and true. And we will prove it by inviting every newcomer to our shore to share our liberties so dearly bought and our responsibilities now grown so heavy that the shoulders which bear them are staggering under their weight; that by the joys of freedom and the burdens of responsibility they, with us, may grow into the stature of perfect men, and our country realize at last the dreams of the great souls who, "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of their intentions," did "ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America"—the grandest charter of human rights that the world has yet conceived.

In an impassioned address Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.) contrasted The Present and the Past, saying:

> The destiny of the world to-day lies in the hearts and brains of her women. The world can not travel upward faster than the feet of her women are climbing the paths of progress. Put us back if you can; veil us in harems; make us beasts of burden; take from us all knowledge; teach us we are only material; and humanity will go back to the dark ages. The nineteenth century is closing over a world arising from bondage. It is the grandest, sublimest spectacle ever beheld. The world has seen and is still looking at the luminous writing in the heavens—"The truth shall make you free"—and for the first time is gathering to itself the true significance of liberty. All the progress of these years has not come easily or from conservatism, but from the persistent efforts of enthusiastic radicals, men and women with ideas in their heads and courage in their hearts to make them practical.

> Ever since woman took her life in her own hands, ever since she began to think for herself, the dawning of a great light has flooded the world. We are the mothers of men. Show me the mothers of a country and I will tell you of the sons. If men would ever rise above their sensuality and materialism, they must have mothers whose pure souls, brave hearts and clear intellects have touched them deeply before their birth and equipped them for the journey of life....

> It is the evening of the nineteenth century, but the starlight is clearer than the morning of its existence. I look back and see in each year improvement and advancement. I see woman gathering up her soul and personality and claiming them as her own against all odds and the world. I see her asking that this personality may[Pg 117] be impressed upon her nation. I see her speaking her soul from platforms, preaching in pulpits of a life of which this is the shadow. I see her pleading before courts, using her brains to solve the knotty questions of the law. Woman's sphere is the wide world, her sceptre the mind that God has given her, her kingdom the largest place that she has the brains to fill and the will to hold. So is woman influencing the world, and as her sphere widens the world grows better. With the freedom she now has, see how she is arousing the public conscience on all questions of right....

> What is conservatism? It is the dying faith of a closing century. What is fanaticism? It is the dawning light of a new era. Yes, a new era will dawn with the twentieth century. I look to that time and see woman the redeeming power of the world.

Mrs. Pearson of Nottingham gave a glowing account of the progress of suffrage in England and the work of the Primrose League; Madame Clara Neymann (N. Y.) made a scholarly address entitled Skeptics and Skepticism; Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (Neb.), the Rev. Rush R. Shippen of Washington City and Miss Phoebe W. Couzins (Mo.) were among the speakers. Delegate Joseph M. Carey (Wy.) said in the course of his address:

> Eighteen years ago the right of suffrage was given to the women of Wyoming. Women have voted as universally and as conscientiously as men. I have had the honor of voting for women and of being voted for by them. There are not three per cent. of women old enough who do not vote in every part of the Territory. In intelligence, beauty, grace, in perfection of home and social duties, the women of Wyoming will compare favorably with those of any other State. I have been asked if they neglect home affairs on account of politics. I have never known an instance of this. I have never known a controversy to arise from the wives voting differently from their husbands, which they often do. If women could vote in the States to-day they would vote as wisely as men....

> I will say to woman's credit she has not sought office, she is not a natural office-seeker, but she desires to vote, has preferences and exercises her rights. The superintendents in nearly all the counties are women. They have taken a deep interest in school matters and as a rule they control school meetings. Three-fourths of the voters present at these are women. In Cheyenne they alone seem to have the time to attend. Give woman this right to vote and she will make out of the boys men more capable of exercising it. I have seen the results and am satisfied that every woman should have the suffrage.

Mrs. Carey sat on the platform with Miss Anthony, Mrs. Hooker and other prominent members of the convention. The eloquent address of Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) on The Conditions[Pg 118] of Liberty attracted special attention. Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers (N. Y.) proved in an original manner that There is Nothing New under the Sun. In a statesmanlike paper Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.) set forth the authority of Congress to secure to woman her right to the ballot:

> To protect all citizens in the use of the ballot by national authority is not to deprive the States of the right of local self-government. When Andrew Jackson, who had been elected as a State's Rights man, asserted the supremacy of the National Government, that assertion, carried out as it was, did not deprive States of their power of self-government. Neither did the Reconstruction Acts nor the adoption of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Yet in many ways it is proved that States are not sovereign. Besides their inability to coin money, to declare peace and war, they are proved by their own acts not even to be self-protective. If women as individuals, as one-half of the people, call upon the nation for protection, they are doing no more nor less than so-called sovereign States themselves do. National aid has been frequently asked to preserve peace, or to insure that protection found impossible under mere local or State authority....

> In ratifying an amendment States become factors in the nation, the same as by the acts of their representatives and senators in Congress. A law created by themselves in this way can be no interference with their local rights of self-government; because in helping enact these laws, either through congressional action, or by legislative ratification of amendments, each State has arisen above and beyond itself into a higher national realm.

> The one right above all others which is not local is the right of self-government. That right being the corner stone on which the nation was founded, is a strictly national right. It is not local, it is not State....

> It does not matter by what instrumentality—whether by State constitution or by statute law—woman has been deprived of her national right of self-government, it is none the less the duty of Congress to protect her in regaining it. Surely her right to govern herself is of as much value as the protection of property, the quelling of riots, the destruction or establishment of banks, the guarding of the polls, the securing of a free ballot for the colored race or the taking of it from a Mormon voter.

In her address on The Work of Women, Miss Mary F. Eastman (Mass.) said: "Men say the work of the State is theirs. The State is the people. The origin of government is simply that two men call in a third for umpire. The ideal of the State is gradually rising. No State can be finer in its type of government than the individuals who make it. We enunciate a grand[Pg 119] principle, then we are timid and begin restricting its application. We are a nation of infidels to principle."

The leading feature of the last evening was the address of Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace (Ind.) on Woman's Ballot a Necessity for the Permanence of Free Institutions. A Washington paper said: "As she stood upon the platform, holding her hearers as in her hand, she looked a veritable queen in Israel and the personification of womanly dignity and lofty bearing. The line of her argument was irresistible, and her eloquence and pathos perfectly bewildering. Round after round of applause greeted her as she poured out her words with telling effect upon the great congregation before her, who were evidently in perfect accord with her earnest and womanly utterances."

An imperfect extract from a newspaper report will suggest the trend of her argument:

> In this Nineteenth annual convention, reviewing what these nineteen years have brought, we find that we have won every position in the field of argument for our cause. By its dignity and justice we have overcome ridicule, although our progress has been impeded by the tyranny of custom and prejudice.

> I will ask the American question "will it pay" to enfranchise the women of this nation—I will not say republic? The world has never been blessed with a republic. Those who think this is a narrow struggle for woman's rights have never conceived the height, length and breadth of this momentous question.

> The purpose of divinity is enunciated in that it is said He would create humanity in His image. The purpose of the Creator is that the two are to have dominion; woman is included in the original grant. Free she must be before you yourselves will be free. The highest form of development is to govern one's self. No man governs himself who practices injustice to another....

> We have passed through one Gethsemane because of our refusal to co-operate with the Deity in His purpose to establish justice and liberty on this continent. It took a hundred years and a Civil War to evolve the principle in our nation that all men were created free and equal. Will it require another century and another Civil War before there is secured to humanity the God-given inalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" The most superficial observer can see elements at work, a confusion of forces, that can only be wiped out in blood, unless some new, unifying power is brought into Government. No class was ever known to extend a right or share the application of a just principle as long as it could safely retain these exclusively for itself.

> We have no quarrel with men. They are grand and just and noble in exact proportion as their spiritual nature is exalted. As[Pg 120] sure as you live down low to the animal that is in you, will the animal dominate your nature. Woman is the first to recognize the Divine. When God was incarnated in humanity, when the Word was made flesh and born of a woman, the arsenal of Heaven was exhausted to redeem the race....

> Woman is your last resource, and she will not fail you. I have faith that humanity is to be perfected. Examine the record for yourselves. I do not agree with the view of some of our divines. We find the Creator taking a survey, and man is the only creation he finds imperfect. Therefore a helpmeet is created for him. According to accepted theology the first thing that helpmeet does is to precipitate him into sin. I have unbounded faith in the plans of God and in His ability to carry them out, and when He said He would make a helpmeet I believe He did it, and that Eve helped Adam, gave him an impetus toward perfection, instead of causing him to fall. Man was a noble animal and endowed with intellectual ability, but Eve found him a moral infant and tried to teach him to discriminate between good and evil. That is the first and greatest good which comes to anybody, and Adam, instead of falling down when he ate the apple, rose up. There is no moral or spiritual growth possible without being able to discern good from evil. Adam was an animal superior to all others that preceded him, but it needed a woman to quicken his spiritual perceptions.

> Eve having taken it upon herself to teach man to know the difference between good and evil, the responsibility rests upon woman to teach man to choose the good and refuse the evil. She will do this if she has freedom of opportunity.

> Man has been given schools to develop brain power, and I do not underrate their value. He has nearly entered into his domain as far as the material forces are concerned, but there is a moral and spiritual element in humanity which eludes his grasp in practically everything he undertakes. This lack of the moral element is to-day our greatest danger. We do not ask for the ballot because men are tyrants, but because God has made us the conservators of the race. To-day we are queens without a scepter; the penalty to the nation is that men are largely indifferent to its best interests and many do not vote. Men are under the influence of women during the formative period of their lives, first of their mothers, then of women teachers; how can they do otherwise than underestimate the value of citizenship? How can the young men of this nation be inspired with a love of justice? It is a dangerous thing that the education of citizens is given over to women, unless these teachers have themselves the rights of citizens. How can you expect such women as have addressed you here in this convention to teach the youth to honor a Government which thus dishonors women?

> The world has never known but one Susan B. Anthony. God and the world needed her and God gave her to the world and to humanity. The next Statue of Liberty will have her features. Of all the newspaper criticisms and remarks which have been made about her I read one the other day which exactly suited me; it called her "that grand old champion of progress."[Pg 121]

> The women are coming and the men will be better for their coming. Men say women are not fit to govern because they can not fight. When men live upon a very low plane so there is only one way to manage them and that is to knock them on the head, that is true. It probably was true of government in the beginning, but we are to grow up out of this low state.

> When we reach the highest development, moral and spiritual forces will govern. That women can and do govern even in our present undeveloped condition is shown by the fact that three-fourths of our educators are women. I remember when it used to be said, "You can not put the boys and girls into the hands of women, because they can not thrash them." To-day brute force is almost entirely eliminated from our schools. That women should not take part in government because they can not fight was probably true in ages gone by when governments were maintained by brute force, but it does not obtain in a government ruled by public opinion expressed on a little piece of paper. Women as a class do not fight, and that is the reason they are needed to introduce into government a power of another kind, the power with which women govern their children and their husbands, that beautiful law of love which is to be the only thing that remains forever....

> Our statesmen are doubting the success of self-government. They say universal suffrage is a failure, forgetting that we have never had universal suffrage. The majority of the race has never expressed its sense in government. We are a living falsehood when we compare the basic principles of our Government with things as they are now. It is becoming a common expression, "The voice of the people is not the voice of God." If you do not find God in the voice of the people you can not find him anywhere. It is said, "Power inheres in the people," and the nation is shorn of half its power for progress as long as the ballot is not in the hands of women.

> What has caused heretofore the downfall of nations? The lack of morality in government. It will eat out the life of a nation as it does the heart of an individual. This question of woman's equal rights, equal duties, equal responsibilities, is the greatest which has come before us. The destiny of the whole race is comprised in four things: Religion, education, morals, politics. Woman is a religious being; she is becoming educated; she has a high code of morals; she will yet purify politics.

> I want to impress upon the audience this thought, that every man is a direct factor in the legislation of this land. Every woman is not a direct factor, but yet is more or less responsible for every evil existing in the community. I have nothing but pity for that woman who can fold her hands and say she has all the rights she wants. How can she think of the great problem God has given us to solve—to redeem the race from superstition and crime—and not want to put her hand to the wheel of progress and help move the world?

Mrs. Hannah Whitall Smith (Penn.) pronounced the benediction at the closing session.[Pg 122]

Sixteen States were represented at this Nineteenth convention, and reports were sent from many more. Mrs. Sewall, chairman of the executive committee, presented a comprehensive report of the past year's work, which included appeals to many gatherings of religious bodies. Conventions had been held in each congressional district of Kansas and Wisconsin. She referred particularly to the completion of the last of the three volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage by Miss Anthony, Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Gage. An elaborate plan of work was adopted for the coming year, which included the placing of this History in public libraries, a continuation of the appeals to religious assemblies, the appointment of delegates to all of the approaching national political conventions, and the holding by each vice-president of a series of conventions in the congressional districts of her State. It was especially desired that arrangements should be made for the enrollment in every State of the women who want to vote, and Mrs. Colby was appointed to mature a suitable plan.

Among the extended resolutions adopted were the following:

> Whereas, For the first time a vote has been taken in the Senate of the United States on an amendment to the National Constitution enfranchising women; and

> Whereas, Nearly one-third of the Senators voted for the amendment; therefore,

> Resolved, That we rejoice in this evidence that our demand is forcing itself upon the attention and action of Congress, and that when a new Congress shall have assembled, with new men and new ideas, we may hope to change this minority into a majority.

> Whereas, The Anti-Polygamy bill passed by both Houses of Congress provides for the disfranchisement of the non-polygamous women of Utah; and

> Whereas, The women thus sought to be disfranchised have been for years in the peaceable exercise of the ballot, and no charge is made against them of any crime by reason of which they should lose their vested rights; therefore,

> Resolved, That this association recognizes in these measures a disregard of individual rights which is dangerous to the liberties of all; since to establish the precedent that the ballot may be taken away is to threaten the permanency of our republican form of government.

> Resolved, That we call the attention of the working women of the country to the fact that a disfranchised class is always an oppressed class and that only through the protection of the ballot can they secure equal pay for equal work.

> Resolved, That we recognize as hopeful signs of the times the[Pg 123] indorsement of woman suffrage by the Knights of Labor in national assembly, and by the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and that we congratulate these organizations upon their recognition of the fact that the ballot in the hands of woman is necessary for their success.

> Resolved, That we extend our sympathy to our beloved president, in the recent death of her husband, Henry B. Stanton; and we recall with gratitude the fact that he was one of the earliest and most consistent advocates of human liberty.

Thanks were extended to the United States Senators who voted for a Sixteenth Amendment. A committee was appointed, Mrs. Blake, chairman, to wait upon President Grover Cleveland and protest against the threatened disfranchising of the women of Washington Territory; also to secure a hearing before the proper congressional committee in reference to the Edmunds-Tucker Bill, which proposed to disfranchise both the Gentile and Mormon women of Utah. The usual large number of letters were received.[63]

The following letter was read from ex-United States Treasurer F. E. Spinner, the first official to employ women:

> I am eighty-five years old, and I can no longer look forward for future earthly happiness. All my joys are now retrospective, and in the long vista of years that I constantly look back upon, there is no time that affords me more pleasure than that when I was in the Treasury of the United States. The fact that I was instrumental in introducing women to employment in the offices of the Government, gives me more real satisfaction than all the other deeds of my life.

A committee consisting of the national board and chairman of the executive committee was appointed to arrange for a great international meeting the next year.

On the opening day of this convention a vote on woman suffrage was taken in the United States Senate as described in the preceding chapter; at its close a telegram was received that a Municipal Suffrage Bill had been passed by the Kansas Legislature; and its members separated with the consciousness that two distinctly progressive steps had been taken.

### FOOTNOTES:

[62] Dr. Newman was an advocate of suffrage for women. After he became Bishop he wrote for publication, July 12, 1894: "The exalted mission of Christianity is to reverse the verdict of the world on the rights of woman. Until Christ came she had been regarded by State and Church, in the most highly civilized lands, as the servant of man, created for his pleasure and subordinated to his authority. Her rights of life, property and vocation were in his hands for control and final disposition.

"Against this tyranny we wage a war of extermination. Henceforth in State and Church, in business and pleasure, whether married or single, woman is to be esteemed an individual, one of the two equal units of humanity, to count one the whole world over, and to possess and exercise the rights of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'"

[63] Among the writers were Harriot Stanton Blatch of England, the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Philadelphia; Prudence Crandall Philleo (Kan.); Mary V. Cowgill, Mary J. Coggeshall, editor Woman's Standard, (Ia.); Belva A. Lockwood (D. C.); General and Mrs. Rufus Saxton, Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.); Alice M. Pickler (Dak.); Sarah R. Langdon Williams, Sarah M. Perkins (O.); Mr. and Mrs. McClung (Tenn.); telegram signed by Emmeline B. Wells and a long list of names from Utah.

[Pg 124]

## CHAPTER VIII.

### INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN—HEARING OF 1888.

The year 1888 is distinguished for the largest and most representative woman's convention held up to that time—the International Council of Women, which met in Washington, D. C., March 25, continuing until April 1. The origin of this great body is briefly stated in the official report as follows: "Visiting England and France in 1882, Mrs. Stanton conceived the idea of an International Council of Women interested in the movement for suffrage, and pressed its consideration on the leading reformers in those countries. A few accepted the idea, and when Miss Anthony arrived in England early the following year, they discussed the question fully with each other, and seeing that such a convention was both advisable and practicable, they resolved to call it in the near future. On the eve of their departure, at a reception given them in Liverpool, the subject was presented and favorably received. Among the guests were Priscilla Bright McLaren, Margaret Bright Lucas, Alice Scatcherd and Margaret E. Parker. The initiative steps for an International Council were then taken and a committee of correspondence appointed.[64]

"When Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony returned to America it was decided, in consultation with friends, to celebrate the fourth decade of the woman suffrage movement by calling an[Pg 125] International Council. At its nineteenth annual convention, January, 1887, the National Suffrage Association had resolved to assume the entire responsibility and to extend the invitation to all associations of women in the trades, professions and reforms, as well as those advocating political rights. The herculean task of making all the necessary arrangements fell chiefly on Miss Anthony, Miss Rachel G. Foster (Avery) and Mrs. May Wright Sewall, as Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Spofford were in Europe. To say nothing of the thought, anxiety, time and force expended, we can appreciate in some measure the magnitude of the undertaking by its financial cost of nearly $12,000.

"This was the first attempt to convene an international body of women and its conception would have been possible only with those to whom the whole cause of woman is indebted for its most daring and important innovations. The call for this meeting was issued in June, 1887:

> The first public demand for equal educational, industrial, professional and political rights for women was made in a convention held at Seneca Falls, New York, in the year 1848.

> To celebrate the Fortieth Anniversary of this event, an International Council of Women will be convened under the auspices of the National Woman Suffrage Association, in Albaugh's opera house, Washington, D. C., on March 25, 1888.

> It is impossible to overestimate the far-reaching influence of such a Council. An interchange of opinions on the great questions now agitating the world will rouse women to new thought, will intensify their love of liberty and will give them a realizing sense of the power of combination.

> However the governments, religions, laws and customs of nations may differ, all are agreed on one point, namely: man's sovereignty in the State, in the Church and in the Home. In an International Council women may hope to devise new and more effective methods for securing in these three institutions the equality and justice which they have so long and so earnestly sought. Such a Council will impress the important lesson that the position of women anywhere affects their position everywhere. Much is said of universal brotherhood, but for weal or woe, more subtle and more binding is universal sisterhood.

> Women recognizing the disparity between their achievements and their labors, will no doubt agree that they have been trammeled by their political subordination. Those active in great philanthropic enterprises sooner or later realize that, so long as women are not acknowledged to be the political equals of men, their judgment on political questions will have but little weight.[Pg 126]

> It is, however, neither intended nor desired that discussions in the International Council shall be limited to questions touching the political rights of women. Formal invitations requesting the appointment of delegates will be issued to representative organizations in every department of woman's work. Literary Clubs, Art Unions, Temperance Unions, Labor Leagues, Missionary, Peace and Moral Purity Societies, Charitable, Professional, Educational and Industrial Associations will thus be offered equal opportunity with Suffrage Societies to be represented in what should be the ablest and most imposing body of women ever assembled.

> The Council will continue eight days, and its sixteen public sessions will afford ample opportunity for reporting the various phases of woman's work and progress in all parts of the world, during the past forty years. It is hoped that all friends of the advancement of women will lend their support to this undertaking.

> On behalf of the National Woman Suffrage Association:

> Elizabeth Cady Stanton, President.
> Susan B. Anthony, First Vice-Pres.
> Matilda Joslyn Gage, Second Vice-Pres.
> Rachel G. Foster, Corresponding Sec'y.
> Ellen H. Sheldon, Recording Sec'y.
> Jane H. Spofford, Treasurer.
> May Wright Sewall, Chairman Ex. Com.

"All of the intervening months from June until the next March were spent in the extensive preparations necessary to the success of a convention which proposed to assemble delegates and speakers from many parts of the world. As the funds had to be raised wholly by private subscription, no bureau with an expensive pay-roll was established but the entire burden was carried by a few individuals, who contributed their services."[65][Pg 127]

Fifty-three organizations of women, national in character, of a religious, patriotic, charitable, reform, literary and political nature, were represented on the platform by eighty speakers and forty-nine delegates, from England, Ireland, France, Norway, Denmark, Finland, India, Canada and the United States. Among the subjects discussed were Education, Philanthropies, Temperance, Industries, Professions, Organizations, Social Purity, Legal, Political and Religious Conditions. While no restriction was placed upon the fullest expression of the most widely divergent views upon these vital questions of the age, the sessions, both executive and public, were absolutely without friction.

A complete stenographic report of these fifty-three meetings was transcribed and furnished to the press by a thoroughly organized corps of women under the direction of Miss Mary F. Seymour of New York City, an unexcelled if not an unparalleled feat.[66] The management of the Council by the different committees was perfect in every detail, and the eight days' proceedings passed without a break, a jar or an unpleasant circumstance.

Saturday evening, March 23, Mr. and Mrs. Spofford, of the Riggs House, gave a reception to enable the people of Washington to meet the distinguished speakers and delegates. The large parlors were thrown open and finally the big dining-room, but the throng was so dense that it was almost impossible to move from one room to another.

President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland received the Council Friday afternoon. Monday evening a reception was given by Senator and Mrs. Thomas W. Palmer of Michigan, for which eight hundred invitations were sent to foreign legations, prominent officials and the members of the Council. Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford opened their elegant home on Tuesday afternoon[Pg 128] in honor of the pioneers in the woman suffrage movement. In addition to these many special entertainments were given for the women lawyers, physicians, ministers, collegiate alumnae, etc., and those of a semi-private nature were far too numerous for mention.

Albaugh's Opera House was crowded to its capacity at all of the sixteen sessions. Religious services were held on both Sundays, conducted entirely by women representing many different creeds. Some of the old-time hymns were sung, but many were from modern writers—Whittier, Samuel Longfellow, John W. Chadwick, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Julia Mills Dunn, etc. The assisting ministers for the first Sunday were the Reverends Phebe A. Hanaford, Ada C. Bowles, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Amanda Deyo. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw gave the sermon, a matchless discourse on The Heavenly Vision.

> "Whereupon, O, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." Acts, xxvi:19.

> In the beauty of his Oriental home the Psalmist caught the vision of the events in the midst of which you and I are living to-day. And though he wrought the vision into the wonderful prophecy of the 68th Psalm, yet so new and strange were the thoughts to men, that for thousands of years they failed to catch its spirit and understand its power.

> The vision which appeared to David was a world lost in sin. He heard its cry for deliverance, he saw its uplifted hands. Everywhere the eyes of good men were turned toward the skies for help. For ages had they striven against the forces of evil; they had sought by every device to turn back the flood-tide of base passion and avarice, but to no purpose. It seemed as if all men were engulfed in one common ruin. Patient, sphinx-like, sat woman, limited by sin, limited by social custom, limited by false theories, limited by bigotry and by creeds, listening to the tramp of the weary millions as they passed on through the centuries, patiently toiling and waiting, humbly bearing the pain and weariness which fell to her lot.

> THE REV. ANNA HOWARD SHAW.
> Vice-President-at-Large of National-American Woman Suffrage Association.

> Century after century came forth from the divine life only to pass into the great eternity—and still she toiled and still she waited. At last, in the mute agony of despair, she lifted her eyes above the earth to heaven and away from the jarring strifes which surrounded her, and that which dawned upon her gaze was so full of wonder that her soul burst its prison-house of bondage as she beheld the vision of true womanhood. She knew then it was not the purpose of the Divine that she should crouch beneath the bonds of custom and ignorance. She learned that she was created not from the side of man, but rather by the side of man. The world had suffered because[Pg 129] she had not kept her divinely-appointed place. Then she remembered the words of prophecy, that salvation was to come to the race not through the man, but through the descendant of the woman. Recognizing her mission at last, she cried out: "Speak now, Lord, for thy servant heareth thee." And the answer came: "The Lord giveth the Word, and the women that publish the tidings are a great host."

> To-day the vision is a reality. From every land the voice of woman is heard proclaiming the word which is given her, and the wondering world, which for a moment stopped its busy wheel of life that it might smite and jeer her, has learned at last that wherever the intuitions of the human mind are called into special exercise, wherever the art of persuasive eloquence is demanded, wherever heroic conduct is based upon duty rather than impulse, wherever her efforts in opening the sacred doors for the benefit of truth can avail—in one and all these respects woman greatly excels man. Now the wisest and best people everywhere feel that if woman enters upon her tasks wielding her own effective armor, if her inspirations are pure and holy, the Spirit Omnipotent, whose influence has held sway in all movements and reforms, whose voice has called into its service the great workmen of every age, shall, in these last days, fall especially upon woman. If she venture to obey, what is man that he should attempt to abrogate her sacred and divine mission? In the presence of what woman has already accomplished, who shall say that a true woman—noble in her humility, strong in her gentleness, rising above all selfishness, gathering up her varied gifts and accomplishments to consecrate them to God and humanity—who shall say that such an one is not in a position to do that for which the world will no longer rank her other than among the first in the work of human redemption? Then, influenced by lofty motives, stimulated by the wail of humanity and the glory of God, woman may go forth and enter into any field of usefulness which opens up before her....

> In the Scripture from which the text is taken we recognize a universal law which has been the experience of every one of us. Paul is telling the story of a vision he saw, which became the inspiration of his life, the turning point where his whole existence was changed, when, in obedience to that vision, he put himself in relation with the power to which he belonged, and recognizing in that One which appeared to him on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus his Divine Master, he also recognized that the purpose of his life could be fulfilled only when, in obedience to that Master, he caught and assimilated to himself the nature of Him, whose servant he was....

> Every reformer the world has ever seen has had a similar experience. Every truth which has been taught to humanity has passed through a like channel. No one of God's children has ever gone forth to the world who has not first had revealed to him his mission, in a vision.[Pg 130]

> To this Jew, bound by the prejudices of past generations, weighed down by the bigotry of human creeds, educated in the schools of an effete philosophy, struggling through the darkness and gloom which surrounded him, when as a persecutor he sought to annihilate the disciples of a new faith, there came this vision into his life; there dawned the electric light of a great truth, which found beneath the hatred and pride and passion which filled his life and heart, the divine germ that is implanted in the soul of each one of God's children....

> Then came crowding through his mind new queries: "Can it be that my fathers were wrong, and that their philosophy and religion do not contain all there is of truth? Can it be that outside of all we have known, there lies a great unexplored universe to which the mind of man can yet attain?" And filled with the divine purpose, he opened his heart to receive the new truth that came to him from the vision which God revealed to his soul.

> All down through the centuries God has been revealing in visions the great truths which have lifted the race, step by step, until to-day womanhood, in this sunset hour of the nineteenth century, is gathered here from the East and the West, the North and the South, women of every land, of every race, of all religious beliefs. But diverse and varied as are our races, our theories, our religions, yet we come together here with one harmonious purpose—that of lifting humanity into a higher, purer, truer life.

> To one has come the vision of political freedom. She saw how the avarice and ambition of one class with power made them forget the rights of another. She saw how the unjust laws embittered both—those who made them and those upon whom the injustice rested. She recognized the great principles of universal equality, seeing that all alike must be free; that humanity everywhere must be lifted out of subjection into the free and full air of divine liberty.

> To another was revealed the vision of social freedom. She saw that sin which crushed the lives of one class, rested lightly on the lives of the other. She saw its blighting effect on both, and she lifted up her voice and demanded that there be recognized no sex in sin.

> Another has come hither, who, gazing about her, saw men brutalized by the rum fiend, the very life of a nation threatened, and the power of the liquor traffic, with its hand on the helm of the Ship of State, guiding it with sails full spread straight upon the rocks to destruction. Then, looking away from earth, she beheld a vision of what the race and our nation might become, with all its possibility of wealth and power, if freed from this burden, and forth upon her mission of deliverance she sped her way.

> Another beheld a vision of what it is to be learned, to explore the great fields of knowledge which the Infinite has spread before the world. And this vision has driven her out from the seclusion of her own quiet life that she might give this great truth to womanhood everywhere....[Pg 131]

> And so we come, each bearing her torch of living truth, casting over the world the light of the vision that has dawned upon her soul.

> But there is still another vision which reaches above earth, beyond time—a vision which has dawned upon many, that they are here not to do their own work, but the will of Him who sent them. And the woman who sees the still higher truth, recognizes the great power to which she belongs and what her life may become when, in submission to that Master, she takes upon herself the nature of Him whom she serves.

> We will notice in the second place the purpose of all these visions which have come to us. Paul was not permitted to dwell on the vision of truth which came to him. God had a purpose in its manifestation, and that purpose was revealed when He said to the wonder-stricken servant, "Arise; for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, not that thou behold the truth for thyself, but to make thee a minister and a witness both of that which thou hast already seen and of other truths which I shall reveal unto thee. Go unto the Gentiles. Give them the truth which thou shalt receive that their eyes may be opened, and that they may be turned from darkness to light; that they, too, may receive a like inheritance with thyself...."

> This, then, is God's lesson to you and to me. He opens before our eyes the vision of a great truth and for a moment He permits our wondering gaze to rest upon it; then He bids us go forth. Jacob of old saw the vision of God's messengers ascending and descending, but none of them standing still.

> Herein, then, lies the secret of the success of the reformer. First the vision, then the purpose of the vision. "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." This is the manly and noble confession of one of the world's greatest reformers, and in it we catch a glimpse of the secrets of the success of his divinely-appointed mission. The difference between the Saul of Tarsus and Paul the Prisoner of the Lord was measured by his obedience. This, too, is a universal law, true of the life of every reformer, who, having had revealed to him a vision of the great truth, has in obedience to that vision carried it to humanity. Though at first he holds the truth to himself, and longs to be lifted up by its power, he soon learns that there is a giving forth of that which one possesses which enriches the giver, and that the more he gives of his vision to men the richer it becomes, the brighter it grows, until it illuminates all his pathway....

> Yet Paul's life was not an idle dream; it was a constant struggle against the very people whom he tried to save; his greatest foes were those to whom he was sent. He had learned the lesson all reformers must sooner or later learn, that the world never welcomes its deliverers save with the dungeon, the fagot or the cross. No man or woman has ever sought to lead his fellows to a higher and better mode of life without learning the power of the world's ingratitude; and though at times popularity may follow in the wake of a reformer, yet the reformer knows popularity is not love. The world will support you when you have compelled it to do so by manifestations[Pg 132] of power, but it will shrink from you as soon as power and greatness are no longer on your side. This is the penalty paid by good people who sacrifice themselves for others. They must live without sympathy; their feelings will be misunderstood; their efforts will be uncomprehended. Like Paul, they will be betrayed by friends; like Christ in the agony of Gethsemane, they must bear their struggle alone.

> Our reverence for the reformers of the past is posterity's judgment of them. But to them, what is that now? They have passed into the shadows where neither our voice of praise or of blame disturbs their repose.

> This is the hardest lesson the reformer has to learn. When, with soul aglow with the light of a great truth, she, in obedience to the vision, turns to take it to the needy one, instead of finding a world ready to rise up and receive her, she finds it wrapped in the swaddling clothes of error, eagerly seeking to win others to its conditions of slavery. She longs to make humanity free; she listens to their conflicting creeds, and yearns to save them from the misery they endure. She knows that there is no form of slavery more bitter or arrogant than error, that truth alone can make man free, and she longs to bring the heart of the world and the heart of truth together, that the truth may exercise its transforming power over the life of the world. The greatest test of the reformer's courage comes when, with a warm, earnest longing for humanity, she breaks for it the bread of truth and the world turns from this life-giving power and asks instead of bread a stone.

> It is just here that so many of God's workmen fail, and themselves need to turn back to the vision as it appeared to them, and to gather fresh courage and new inspiration for the future. This, my sisters, we all must do if we would succeed. The reformer may be inconsistent, she may be stern or even impatient, but if the world feels that she is in earnest she can not fail. Let the truth which she desires to teach first take possession of herself. Every woman who to-day goes out into the world with a truth, who has not herself become possessed of that truth, had far better stay at home.

> Who would have dreamed, when at that great anti-slavery meeting in London, some years ago, the arrogance and pride of men excluded the women whom God had moved to lift up their voices in behalf of the baby that was sold by the pound—who would have dreamed that that very exclusion would be the keynote of woman's freedom? That out of the prejudice of that hour God should be able to flash upon the crushed hearts of those excluded the grand vision which we see manifested here to-day? That out of a longing for the liberty of a portion of the race, God should be able to show to women the still larger vision of the freedom of all human kind?

> Grand as is this vision which meets us here, it is but the dawning of a new day; and as the first beams of morning light give promise of the radiance which shall envelop the earth when the sun shall have arisen in all its splendor, so there comes to us a prophecy of that glorious day when the vision which we are now beholding,[Pg 133] which is beaming in the soul of one, shall enter the hearts and transfigure the lives of all.

The formal opening of the Council, Monday morning, March 25, was thus described: "The vast auditorium, perfect in its proportions and arrangements, was richly decorated with the flags of all nations and of every State in the Union. The platform was fragrant with evergreens and flowers, brilliant with rich furniture, crowded with distinguished women, while soft music with its universal language attuned all hearts to harmony. The beautiful portrait of the sainted Lucretia Mott, surrounded with smilax and lilies of the valley, seemed to sanctify the whole scene and to give a touch of pathos to all the proceedings."

This great meeting, like so many before and since that time, was opened by Miss Anthony. After the invocation and the hymn, she said in part:

> Forty years ago women had no place anywhere except in their homes; no pecuniary independence, no purpose in life save that which came through marriage. From a condition, as many of you can remember, in which no woman thought of earning her bread by any other means than sewing, teaching, cooking or factory work, in these later years the way has been opened to every avenue of industry, to every profession, whereby woman to-day stands almost the peer of man in her opportunities for financial independence. What is true in the world of work is true in education, is true everywhere.

> Men have granted us, in the civil rights which we have been demanding, everything almost but the pivotal right, the one that underlies all other rights, the one with which citizens of this republic may protect themselves—the right to vote.

> I have the pleasure of introducing to you this morning the woman who not only joined with Lucretia Mott in calling the first convention, but who for the greater part of twenty years has been president of the National Suffrage Association—Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

The entire audience arose with clapping of hands and waving of handkerchiefs to greet this leader, who had come from England to attend the Council. In the course of a long and dignified address of welcome, she said:

> Whether our feet are compressed in iron shoes, our faces hidden with veils and masks; whether yoked with cows to draw the plow through its furrows, or classed with idiots, lunatics and criminals in the laws and constitutions of the State, the principle is the same; for the humiliations of spirit are as real as the visible badges of servitude. A difference in government, religion, laws and social customs[Pg 134] makes but little change in the relative status of woman to the self-constituted governing classes, so long as subordination in all countries is the rule of her being. Through suffering we have learned the open sesame to the hearts of each other. With the spirit forever in bondage, it is the same whether housed in golden cages with every want supplied, or wandering in the dreary deserts of life, friendless and forsaken. Long ago we of America heard the deep yearnings of the souls of women in foreign lands for freedom responsive to our own. Mary Wollstonecraft, Madame de Stael, Madam Roland, George Sand, Frederica Bremer, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Frances Wright and George Eliot alike have pictured the wrongs of woman in poetry and prose. Though divided by vast mountain ranges, oceans and plains, yet the psalms of our lives have been in the same strain—too long, alas, in the minor key—for hopes deferred have made the bravest hearts sometimes despairing. But the same great over-soul has been our faith and inspiration. The steps of progress already achieved in many countries should encourage us to tune our harps anew to songs of victory....

> I think most of us have come to feel that a voice in the laws is indispensable to achieve success; that these great moral struggles for higher education, temperance, peace, the rights of labor, international arbitration, religious freedom, are all questions to be finally adjusted by the action of government and thus, without a direct voice in legislation, woman's influence will be entirely lost.

> Experience has fully proved that sympathy as a civil agent is vague and powerless until caught and chained in logical propositions and coined into law. When every prayer and tear represents a ballot, the mothers of the race will no longer weep in vain over the miseries of their children. The active interest women are taking in all the great questions of the day is in strong contrast with the apathy and indifference in which we found them half a century ago, and the contrast in their condition between now and then is equally marked. Those who inaugurated the movement for woman's enfranchisement, who for long years endured the merciless storm of ridicule and persecution, mourned over by friends, ostracized in social life, scandalized by enemies, denounced by the pulpit, scarified and caricatured by the press, may well congratulate themselves on the marked change in public sentiment which this magnificent gathering of educated women from both hemispheres so triumphantly illustrates....

> We, who like the children of Israel, have been wandering in the wilderness of prejudice and ridicule for forty years feel a peculiar tenderness for the young women on whose shoulders we are about to leave our burdens. Although we have opened a pathway to the promised land and cleared up much of the underbrush of false sentiment, logic and rhetoric intertwisted with law and custom, which blocked all avenues in starting, yet there are still many obstacles to be encountered before the rough journey is ended. The younger women are starting with great advantages over us. They have the results of our experience; they have superior opportunities for education;[Pg 135] they will find a more enlightened public sentiment for discussion; they will have more courage to take the rights which belong to them. Hence we may look to them for speedy conquests. When we think of the vantage-ground woman holds to-day, in spite of all the artificial obstacles placed in her way, we are filled with wonder as to what the future mothers of the race will be when free to have complete development.

> Thus far women have been the mere echoes of men. Our laws and constitutions, our creeds and codes, and the customs of social life are all of masculine origin. The true woman is as yet a dream of the future. A just government, a humane religion, a pure social life await her coming....

At the close of this address Miss Anthony presented greetings from the Woman's Liberal Association of Bristol, England, signed by many distinguished names; from the Woman Suffrage Association of Norway, and from a number of prominent women in Dublin.[67] There were also individual letters from Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren and many other foreigners.[68]

Dr. Elizabeth C. Sargent and eight other women physicians of San Francisco sent cordial good wishes. Congratulations were received from many Americans,[69] and a cablegram from Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, of England.

Miss Anthony then presented the foreign delegates: England, Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant, Mrs. Alice Scatcherd, Mrs. Ashton Dilke, Madame Zadel B. Gustafson; Ireland, Mrs. Margaret Moore; France, Madame Isabella Bogelot; Finland, Baroness[Pg 136] Alexandra Gripenberg; Denmark, Madame Ada M. Frederiksen; Norway, Madame Sophie Magelsson Groth; Italy, Madame Fanny Zampini Salazar; India, Pundita Ramabai Sarasvati; Canada, Mrs. Bessie Starr Keefer.

After all had acknowledged the introduction with brief remarks, Miss Anthony presented, amid much applause, Lucy Stone, Frances E. Willard, Julia Ward Howe, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Clara Barton—the most eminent galaxy of women ever assembled upon one platform. Frederick Douglass and Robert Purvis were introduced as pioneers in the movement for woman suffrage.

It would be impossible within the limits of one chapter to give even the briefest synopsis of the addresses which swept through the week like a grand procession. The program only could convey an idea of the value of this intellectual entertainment which called together, day after day and night after night, audiences that taxed the capacity of the largest opera house in Washington.[70]

On the second Sunday afternoon, Easter Day, the services consisted of a symposium conducted by sixteen women, of all religious faiths and of none. In the evening, when as in the morning a vast and interested audience was present, brief farewells were spoken by a number of the foreign delegates. The leading address was by Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace on the Moral Power of the Ballot. Mrs. Stanton closed the meeting with a great speech, and the following resolution was adopted:

[Pg 137]

> It is the unanimous voice of this International Council that all institutions of learning and of professional instruction, including schools of theology, law and medicine, should, in the interests of humanity, be as freely opened to women as to men, and that opportunities for industrial training should be as generally and as liberally provided for one sex as for the other. The representatives of organized womanhood in this Council will steadily demand that in all avocations in which both men and women engage, equal wages shall be paid for equal work; and they declare that an enlightened society should demand, as the only adequate expression of the high civilization which it is its office to establish and maintain, an identical standard of personal purity and morality for men and women.

During the month of preparation for this International Council, the idea came many times to Mrs. Sewall that it should result in a permanent organization. The other members gave a cordial assent to this proposition, and the necessary committees were appointed. Before the delegates left Washington both a National and International Council of Women were formed.[71]

Immediately following the Council the National Woman Suffrage Association held its Twentieth annual convention in the Church of Our Father, April 3, 4, 1888. As there had been eight days of continuous speech-making this meeting was devoted principally to the presenting of State reports and transacting of necessary business. There were, however, a number of addresses from the distinguished women who remained after the Council to attend this convention.

The Committee on National Enrollment, Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Ohio, chairman, reported 40,000 names of adult citizens who favored equal suffrage; 9,000 of these were from Ohio and 9,000 from Nebraska. Women were urged to send petitions to members of Congress from their respective States. Mrs. Stanton was requested to prepare a memorial to be presented to each of the national political conventions to be held during the year, and committees were appointed to visit each for the purpose of securing in their platforms a recognition of woman suffrage.

The most interesting feature was the hearing before the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage, which took place April 2.[72] Mrs.[Pg 138] Stanton made the opening address, in which she took up the provisions of the Federal Constitution, one by one, and showed how they had been violated in their application to women, saying:

> Even the preamble of the Constitution is an argument for self-government—"We, the people." You recognize women as people, for you count them in the basis of representation. Half our Congressmen hold their seats to-day as representatives of women. We help to swell the figures by which you are here, and too many of you, alas, are only figurative representatives, paying little heed to our rights as citizens.

> "No bill of attainder shall be passed." "No title of nobility granted." So says the Constitution; and yet you have passed bills of attainder in every State of the Union making sex a disqualification for the franchise. You have granted titles of nobility to every male voter, making all men rulers, governors, sovereigns over all women.

> "The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government." And yet you have not a republican form of government in a single State. One-half the people have never consented to one law under which they live. They have rulers placed over them in whom they have no choice. They are taxed without representation, tried in our courts by men for the violation of laws made by men, with no appeal except to men, and for some crimes over which men should have no jurisdiction....

> Landing in New York one week ago, I saw 400 steerage passengers leave the vessel. Dull-eyed, heavy-visaged, stooping with huge burdens and the oppressions endured in the Old World, they stood in painful contrast with the group of brilliant women on their way to the International Council here in Washington. I thought, as this long line passed by, of the speedy transformation the genial influences of equality would effect in the appearance of these men, of the new dignity they would acquire with a voice in the laws under which they live, and I rejoiced for them; but bitter reflections filled my mind when I thought that these men are the future rulers of our daughters; these will interpret the civil and criminal codes by which they will be governed; these will be our future judges and jurors to try young girls in our courts, for trial by a jury of her peers has never yet been vouchsafed to woman. Here is a right so ancient that it is difficult to trace its origin in history, a right so sacred that the humblest criminal may choose his juror. But alas for the daughters of the people, their judges, advocates, jurors, must be men, and for them there is no appeal. But this is only one wrong among many inevitable for a disfranchised class. It is impossible[Pg 139] for you, gentlemen, to appreciate the humiliations women suffer at every turn....

> You have now the power to settle this question by wise legislation. But if you can not be aroused to its serious consideration, like every other step in progress, it will eventually be settled by violence. The wild enthusiasm of woman can be used for evil as well as good. To-day you have the power to guide and direct it into channels of true patriotism, but in the future, with all the elements of discontent now gathering from foreign countries, you will have the scenes of the French Commune repeated in our land. What women, exasperated with a sense of injustice, have done in dire extremities in the nations of the Old World, they will do here....

> I will leave it to your imagination to picture to yourselves how you would feel if you had had a case in court, a bill before some legislative body or a political aspiration for nearly half a century, with a continual succession of adverse decisions, while law and common justice were wholly on your side. Such, honorable gentlemen, is our case....

> In the history of the race there has been no struggle for liberty like this. Whenever the interest of the ruling classes has induced them to confer new rights on a subject class it has been done with no effort on the part of the latter. Neither the American slave nor the English laborer demanded the right of suffrage. It was given in both cases to strengthen the Liberal party. The philanthropy of the few may have entered into those reforms, but political expediency carried both measures. Women, on the contrary, have fought their own battles and in their rebellion against existing conditions have inaugurated the most fundamental revolution the world has ever witnessed. The magnitude and multiplicity of the changes involved make the obstacles in the way of success seem almost insurmountable....

> Society is based on this fourfold bondage of woman—Church, State, Capital and Society—making liberty and equality for her antagonistic to every organized institution. Where, then, can we rest the lever with which to lift one-half of humanity from these depths of degradation, but on "that columbiad of our political life—the ballot—which makes every citizen who holds it a full armed monitor?"

Miss Anthony then introduced a number of the foreign delegates who had been in attendance at the National Council. Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant of England, in an eloquent address, said:

> I stand here as the grandniece of one of the greatest orators and clearest and wisest statesmen that Europe has known, Edmund Burke. It seems to me an almost overwhelming humility that I should be compelled to echo the magnificent impeachment that he made against Warren Hastings, in our House of Commons, on behalf of the oppressed women of Hindostan, in this my passionate appeal on behalf of oppressed women all over the world....[Pg 140]

> By all you have held most sacred and beautiful in the women who have loved you and made life possible for you—for their sake and in their name—I do intreat that you will not allow your grandest women to plead for another half century. Say rather "the past has been a long night of wrong, but the day has come and the hour in which justice shall conquer."

Mrs. Alice Scatcherd, delegate from the Liberal and the Suffrage Associations of Leeds and neighboring cities, gave an interesting account of the manner in which Englishwomen exercise the franchise and the influence they wield in politics.

Miss Anthony then said, "I have the pleasure of introducing to you the woman who, twenty-five years ago, wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe." Mrs. Howe spoke briefly, saying: "My heart has been full with the words of others which have been here uttered; but a single word will enable me to cast in my voice with theirs with all the emphasis that my life and such power as I have will enable me to add. Gentlemen, what a voice you have here to-day for universal suffrage. Think that not only we American women, your own kindred, appear here—and you know what we represent—but these foremost women from other countries, representing not alone the native intelligence and character of those countries, but deep and careful study and precious experience, and think that between them and us who ask for suffrage, there is entire unanimity. We all say the same words; we are all for the same thing...."

Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick, wife of the former Chief Justice of Louisiana, addressed the committee with that deep and touching earnestness so characteristic of Southern women.

After saying that women were present from every State and Territory who would add their pleadings if there were time, Miss Anthony introduced Mrs. Bessie Starr Keefer of Canada, who told of the good effects of woman suffrage in that country. Miss Anthony then said: "Gentlemen of the committee, here stands before you one who is commander-in-chief of an army of 250,000 women. It is said women do not want to vote, but this woman has led this vast army to the ballot-box, or to a wish to get there. I present to you Miss Frances E. Willard."

This was the only time Miss Willard ever appeared before a[Pg 141] Suffrage Committee in the Capitol, and she was heard with much interest. Beginning with the playful manner which rendered her speeches so attractive, she closed with great seriousness:

> I suppose these honorable gentlemen think that we women want the earth, when we only want half of it. We call their attention to the fact that our brethren have encroached upon the sphere of woman. They have definitely marked out that sphere, and then they have proceeded with their incursion by the power of invention. They have taken away the loom and the spinning-jenny, and they have obliged Jenny to seek her occupation somewhere else. They have set even the tune of the old knitting-needle to humming by steam. So that we women, full of vigor and desire to be active and useful and to react upon the world around us, finding our industrial occupations largely gone, have been obliged to seek out a new territory and to pre-empt from the sphere of our brothers some of that which they have hitherto considered their own.

> I know it is a sentiment of chivalry in some good men which hinders them from giving us the ballot. They think we might not be what they admire so much; they think we should be lacking in womanliness of character. I ask you to notice if the women who have been in this International Council, if the women who are school teachers all over this nation, if these hundreds of thousands are not a womanly set of women, and yet they have gone outside of the old sphere. We believe that in the time of peace women can come forward and with peaceful plans can use weapons which are grand and womanly, and that their thoughts, winged with hope and the force of the heart given to them, will have an effect far mightier than physical power. For that reason we ask you that they shall be allowed to stand at the ballot-box, because we believe that there every person expresses his individuality. The majesty or the meanness of a person comes out at the ballot-box more than anywhere else. The ballot is the compendium of all there is in civilization, and of all that civilization has done for us. We believe that the mothers who had the good sense to train noble men, like you who have achieved high positions, had the good sense to train your sisters in the same way, and that it is a pity the State has lost that other half of the conservative power which comes from a Christian rearing and a Christian character.

> I have spoken thus on the principles which have made me, a conservative woman, devoted to the idea of the ballot, and one in heart with all these good and true suffrage women, though not one in organic community. I represent before you the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and not a suffrage society, but I bring these principles to your sight, and I ask you, my brothers, to be grand and chivalrous towards us in this new departure which we now wish to make.

> I ask you to remember that it is women who have given the costliest hostages to fortune, and out into the battle of life they have sent[Pg 142] their best beloved into snares that have been legalized on every hand. From the arms which held him long, the boy has gone forever, for he will not come back again to the home. Then let the world in the person of its womanhood go forth and make a home in the State and in society. By all the pains and dangers the mother has shared, by the hours of patient watching over beds where little children tossed in fever and pain, by the incense of ten thousand prayers wafted to God from earnest lips, I charge you, gentlemen, give woman power to go forth, so that when her son undertakes life's treacherous battle, his mother will still walk beside him clad in the garments of power.

Miss Anthony, who knew better than anyone else when not another word was needed, said at the close of Miss Willard's touching address: "Now, gentlemen, we are greatly obliged to you. I feel very proud of all my 'girls' who have come before you this morning, and you may consider the meeting adjourned."

### FOOTNOTES:

[64] The following report was prepared by Mrs. Parker: At a large and influential gathering of the friends of woman suffrage, at Parliament Terrace, Liverpool, November 16, 1883, convened by E. Whittle, M. D., to meet Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony prior to their return to America, a resolution was proposed by Mrs. Parker of Penketh, seconded by Mrs. McLaren of Edinburgh, and unanimously passed: "Recognizing that union is strength and that the time has come when women all over the world should unite in the just demand for their political enfranchisement; therefore

"Resolved, That we do here appoint a committee of correspondence, preparatory to forming an International Woman Suffrage Association.

"Resolved, That the committee consist of the following friends, with power to add to their number.

"For the American Center—Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Miss Susan B. Anthony, Miss Rachel G. Foster. For Foreign Centers—(An extended committee was named of prominent persons in Great Britain, Ireland and France)."

[65] There were printed and distributed by mail 10,000 Calls (four pages each); 10,000 Appeals (two pages each); sketches were prepared of the lives and work of a number of the delegates and circulated by means of a Press Committee of over ninety persons in various cities of many States. On March 10, the first edition (5,000) of the sixteen-page program was issued; this was followed by five other editions of 5,000 each and a final seventh edition of 7,000 copies. Each edition required revision and the introduction of alterations made necessary by changing conditions. There were written in connection with the preparations about 4,000 letters. Including those concerning railroad rates, there were not less than 10,000 more circulars of various kinds printed and distributed. A low estimate of the number of pages thus issued (circulars, calls, programs, etc.) gives 672,000. During the week of the Council and the following convention of the N. W. S. A., the Woman's Tribune was published by Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby eight times (four days sixteen pages, four days twelve pages), the daily edition averaging 12,500 copies.

The receipts from contributions and memberships were in round numbers $5,000; from sale of seats and boxes at opera-house $5,000, and from sale of daily Woman's Tribune, photographs and badges, collections, advertisements, etc., $1,500, making a total of nearly $12,000. The largest sums were from Julia T. Foster, $400; Elizabeth Thompson, $250; Mrs. Leland Stanford, $200; Rachel G. Foster, $200; and $100 each from Adeline Thomson, Ellen Clark Sargent, Emma J. Bartol, Margaret Caine, Sarah Knox Goodrich, Mary Hamilton Williams, Lucy Winslow Curtis, Mary Gray Dow, Jane S. Richards, George W. Childs and Henry C. Parsons. The cost of the Tribune (printing, stenographic report, mailing, etc.) was over $3,600; hall rent, $1,800. When one considers the entertainment of so many officers, speakers and delegates, printing, postage, the salary of one clerk for a year (whose board was a contribution from Miss Adeline Thomson and Miss Julia Foster of Philadelphia), and the thousand et ceteras of such a meeting, the total cost of about $12,000 is not surprising. An international convention of men, held in Washington within the year, cost in round numbers $50,000.

[66] After the Council Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and Miss Foster remained in Washington for six weeks preparing a complete report of the addresses and proceedings which filled nearly 500 pages. Five thousand copies of these were printed, a large number of which were placed in the public libraries of the United States and foreign countries.

[67] Anna Maria Haslam, Honorable Secretary Woman's Suffrage Association; Mary Edmundson, Honorable Secretary Dublin Prison Gate Mission; Hannah Maria Wigham, President Women's Temperance Association, Dublin, and Member of Peace Committee; Wilhelmina Webb, Member of Ladies' Sanitary Committee, Women's Suffrage, etc., Rose McDowell, Honorable Secretary Women's Suffrage Committee, Isabella Mulvany, Head Mistress Alexandra School, Dublin, Harriet W. Russell, Member of Women's Temperance Association; Deborah Webb, late Honorable Secretary Ladies' Dublin Contagious Diseases Act Repeal Association; Lucy Smithson, Member of the Sanitary Committee and Women's Suffrage Association; Emily Webb, Member of Women's Suffrage Association; Agnes Mason, Medical Student and Member of the Women's Suffrage Committee; Ellen Allen, Member of Women's Temperance and Peace Associations.

[68] Among these were Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Eliza Wigham, Edinburgh; Mrs. Jacob Bright, Catherine Lucas Thomasson, Margaret E. Parker, Jane Cobden, Margaret Bright Lucas, Caroline Ashurst Biggs, Frances Lord, F. Henrietta Muller, England; Isabella M. S. Tod, Belfast, Caroline de Barrau, Theodore Stanton, Hubertine Auclert, editor of La Citoyenne, Maria Deraismes, Eugénie Potonié, M. Dupuis Vincent, France; Johanna Frederika Wecket, Germany, Prince Kropotkin, Russia.

[69] John G. Whittier, T. W. Higginson, Oliver Johnson, George W. Julian, Samuel E. Sewall, Amelia Bloomer, Dr. James C. Jackson, Theodore D. Weld, Elizabeth Buffam Chace, Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, Abigail Scott Dumway, Mrs. Frank Leslie, Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott, Charlotte B. Wilbour, Dr. Agnes Kemp, Augusta Cooper Bristol, Dr. Seth and Mrs. Hannah Rogers, Dr. Alida C. Avery, Harriet S. Brooks, Sarah Burger Stearns, Helen M. Gougar, Caroline B. Buell, Lucy N. Colman.

[70] Among those not mentioned above who gave addresses were E. Florence Barker, Susan H. Barney, Leonora M. Barry, Isabel C. Barrows, Cora A. Benneson, Ada M. Bittenbender, Henry B. Blackwell, Lillie Devereux Blake, Martha McClellan Brown, Dr. Mary Weeks Burnett, Helen Campbell, Matilda B. Carse, Ednah D. Cheney, Sarah B. Cooper, "Jennie June" Croly, Caroline H. Dall, Abby Morton Diaz, Mary F. Eastman, Martha A. Everett, Martha R. Field, Alice Fletcher, J. Ellen Foster, Caroline M. S. Frazer, Helen H. Gardiner, Anna Gordon, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Frances E. W. Harper, Marilla M. Hills, Clara C. Hoffman, Laura C. Holloway, John W. Hutchinson, Mary H. Hunt, Laura M. Johns, Mary A. Livermore, Huldah B. Loud, Ella M. S. Marble, Marion McBride, Laura McNeir, Prof. Rena A. Michaels, Harriet N. Morris, Amelia Hadley Mohl, Mrs. John P. Newman, Clara Neymann, ex-U. S. Senator S. C. Pomeroy, Anna Rice Powell, Amelia S. Quinton, Emily S. Richards, Victoria Richardson, Harriet H. Robinson, Elizabeth Lisle Saxon, Lita Barney Sayles, Harriette R. Shattuck, Hannah Whitall Smith, Elizabeth G. Stuart, Prof. Louisa Reed Stowell, Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, M. Louise Thomas, Esther M. Warner, Dr. Caroline B. Winslow, Jennie Fowler Willing, Dr. Ruth M. Wood, Anna M. Worden.

On Pioneers' Evening about forty of the most prominent of the old workers were on the platform.

[71] The officers of the National Council were: President, Frances E. Willard, Ill.; vice-president-at-large, Susan B. Anthony, N. Y.; cor. sec., May Wright Sewall, Ind.; rec. sec., Mary F. Eastman, Mass.; treas., M. Louise Thomas, N. Y. Officers of the International Council: President, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, England; vice-president-at-large, Clara Barton, United States; cor. sec. Rachel G. Foster, United States; rec. sec., Kirstine Frederiksen, Denmark.

[72] This committee consisted of Senator Francis M. Cockrell, Mo.; Joseph E. Brown, Ga.; Samuel Pasco, Fla.; Henry W. Blair, N. H.; Thomas W. Palmer, Mich.; Jonathan Chace, R. I.; Thomas M. Bowen, Colo. No hearing was held before the Judiciary Committee of the House, but on April 24 Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett of Kentucky obtained an audience and made an extended and unanswerable argument from two points of view, the Scriptural and the Constitutional. Her address is printed in full in the Woman's Tribune of April 28, 1888.

[Pg 143]

## CHAPTER IX.

### THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE CONVENTION OF 1889.

The Twenty-first annual convention of the National Association met in the Congregational Church at Washington, Jan. 21-23, 1889, in answer to the official Call:

> Neither among politicians, nor among women themselves, is this in any sense a party movement. While the Prohibition party in Kansas incorporated woman suffrage in its platform, the Republicans made it a fact by extending municipal suffrage to the women of that State. The Democrats of Connecticut on several occasions voted for woman suffrage while Republicans voted against it. In the New York Legislature Republicans and Democrats alike have advocated and voted for the measure. In Congress the last vote in the House stood eighty Republicans for woman suffrage and nearly every Democrat against it, while not a single Democrat voted in favor of it on the floor of the Senate. Both the Labor and Greenback parties have uniformly recognized woman suffrage in their platforms.... Our strength for future action lies in the fact that woman suffrage has some advocates in all parties and that we, as an association, are pledged to none.

> The denial of the ballot to woman is the great political crime of the century, before which tariff, finance, land monopoly, temperance, labor and all economic questions sink into insignificance; for the right of suffrage involves all questions of person and of property.

> While each party in power has refused to enfranchise woman, being skeptical as to her moral influence in government, yet with strange inconsistency they alike seek the aid of her voice and pen in all important political struggles. While not morally bound to obey the laws made without their consent, yet we find women the most law-abiding class of citizens in the community. While not recognized as a component part of the Government, they are most active in all great movements for education, religion, philanthropy and reform.

> The magnificent convocation of women from the world over—held in Washington last March—a Council more important than any since the Diet of Worms—was proof of woman's marvelous power of organization and her clear comprehension of the underlying principles of all questions of government. With such evidence of her keen insight and executive ability, we invite all interested[Pg 144] in good government to give us the inspiration of their presence in the coming convention.

In the absence of Mrs. Stanton Miss Anthony presided, opening her address with the sentence, "Here we have stood for the last twenty-one years, demanding of Congress to take the necessary step to secure to the women of this nation protection in the exercise of their constitutional right to a voice in the government." She introduced the Hon. Albert G. Riddle (D. C.), who in 1871 had made an argument before the Joint Judiciary Committee in favor of woman's right to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment; and later had argued before the Supreme Court her right to vote in the District. In the course of his remarks he said: "All the changes in favor of woman—everything indeed that has been achieved—has been in consequence of this contest for woman suffrage. Its advocates began it; they traveled along with it; and all that has been gained in the statutes of the various States and of the United States has been by their efforts; whatever has taken a crystallized form of irrepealable law is because of this discussion, because of this agitation."

Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) read the resolution demanding a representation of women in the Centennial Celebration of the Adoption of the United States Constitution soon to be held in New York City. Miss Anthony then introduced Senator Henry W. Blair (N. H.), who was received with much applause, as the unswerving champion of woman suffrage. In an address considering the constitutional phase of the question, he said:

> There has been such progress in the formulation of the State and the national law that it has become necessary for the Supreme Court of the United States to decide that we are not a sovereign people, that we have no nation at all, in order to prevent woman from exercising the right of suffrage throughout this country. In that decision which deprived Mrs. Virginia L. Minor of her right, the Supreme Court was driven to the necessity of deciding in express terms, "The United States has no voters of its own creation." If the United States has no voters, then the old doctrine of State sovereignty is the true one and there is no nation. We are subservient and subordinate to the power of the States to-day by virtue of this decision just exactly as it was claimed we were prior to the recent war. We thought the war established the fact that we were a nation; that the controversy which led up to the war[Pg 145] had been decided in favor of the sovereignty of the nation. Under our republican form of government the sovereignty is lodged in the masses of the people. If, therefore, it is not in the man who votes by virtue of his membership in the association of the people known as the United States, then there is no sovereignty there....

> As the law now is, in the Federal Constitution there must always have been such a voter of the United States, for in the second clause of the first article it is provided that there shall be a House of Representatives "elected by the people in the States." Where that provision is made it says that the electors shall have the qualifications of the electors in the States. But it does not say that they shall be the same individuals; it does not say that they are to act in the same capacity. They might vary in different portions of the country, in different States; but nevertheless, in giving to the people of the States the right to specify the qualifications which should belong to the electors of the United States, the Constitution did not give up the power to create electors itself....

> Take the Fifteenth Amendment. There is the first instance in the entire Constitution where we find the franchise declared to be a "right," and in specific terms alluded to as such. And there it is provided that a right already recognized as existing shall not be abridged by the United States or by the States—a right already existing, not established. And by virtue of that amendment and the provision that this existing right shall not be denied or abridged on account of "race, color or previous condition of servitude," either by the United States or by the States, the national existence of the voter is established....

> I think our great difficulty about this is that women perhaps do not, to the extent that they should, place their cause upon the platform that it is a right; that to uphold that it is not a right is a wrong greater than any which has been perpetrated in the past; that freedom to half the human race is a glorious achievement which it still remains for mankind to accomplish....

> There is no way in which you can do so much for this world as by giving liberty to those who are the mothers of the generations past and to come; so that freedom to think, freedom to formulate opinions, freedom to decide by the majority of the whole of mature human nature, shall be the universal boon as far as the human race extends....

Miss Anthony then read a letter from Mrs. Stanton which embodied that spirit of independence possessed by her almost beyond all other women:

> I notice that in some of our conventions resolutions of thanks are passed to senators, congressmen and legislators for advocating some minor privileges which have been conceded to women, such as admission to colleges and professions, limited forms of suffrage,[Pg 146] etc. Now I do not see any occasion for gratitude to these honorable gentlemen who, after robbing us of all our fundamental rights as citizens, propose to restore a few minor privileges. There is not one impulse of gratitude in my soul for any of the fragmentary privileges which by slow degrees we have wrung out of our oppressors during the last half century, nor will there be so long as woman is robbed of all the essential rights of citizenship.

> If strong appeals could induce the highway robber to return a modicum of what he had stolen, it might mitigate the miseries of his victim, but surely there would be no reason for gratitude, and an expression of thanks to him would be quite as much out of place as are complimentary resolutions passed in our conventions to legislators for their concessions to women. They deserve nothing at our hands until they make full restitution of all we possessed in the original compact under the colonial constitutions—rights over which in the nature of things men could have no lawful jurisdiction whatever.... Woman has the same right to a voice in this government that man has, and it is based on the same natural desire and capacity for self-government and self-protection....

> Until woman is recognized as an equal factor in civilization, and is possessed of her personal property, civil and political rights, all minor privileges and concessions are but so many added aggravations, and are insulting mockeries of that justice, liberty and equality which are the birthright of every citizen of a republic. "Universal suffrage," said Charles Sumner, "is the first proof and only basis of a genuine republic."

Mrs. Stanton referred to the bravery of recent women writers in attacking social problems, citing Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Margaret Deland, Olive Schreiner, Mona Caird and Helen Gardiner. She closed with a tribute to the co-laborers who had died during the past year, among them the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Judge Samuel E. Sewall, Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Miss Abby W. May and numerous others.

During the second day's proceedings the Rev. Alexander Kent, of the Church of Our Father (Universalist), addressed the convention, saying in part:

> It is not uncommon among writers on woman suffrage to find the root of the trouble in those notions of the creation and fall set forth in the ancient Jewish Scriptures—notions which have very generally prevailed throughout Christendom until recently, and which even yet have a large hold upon many people professing to be Christians. In the account of the origin of evil given by the ancient Hebrew writer, woman is the chief offender, and upon her falls the burden of the penalty. In sorrow she is to bring forth her children; her desire is to be to her husband and he is to rule over[Pg 147] her. Unquestionably this has tended to prolong the reign of brute force in Christendom by perpetuating a belief in the rightful headship of man in the family and State. But it is a great mistake to see in this Scripture the root of the evil. It is only the record of a theory offered to explain a fact—which antedated both the theory and the record. We find the fact to-day even where we do not find the record—the woman ruled by the man in places where there is no knowledge whatever of the Hebrew Scriptures. I doubt not that among the founders of our Government—meaning the people generally—this doctrine of the rightful headship of man and the subordination of woman was sacredly held as a part of the revealed word of God, and that as such it operated to keep the women as well as the men of that day from perceiving the full significance, the comprehensive scope of the principles affirmed by their leaders, in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence....

> If the ballot in the hands of woman is to do a great work for society, it will be first and foremost because of its wholesome influence on herself—because it rouses in her more of hope, more of laudable ambition, more of earnest purpose, more of self-reliance, more independence of the fashions, frivolities and conventionalities of society and the dictates of the church....

> Praying for the speedy coming of this day, and hoping it may work gradually toward a purer and happier social life, and a further companionship in thought and feeling, in purpose and effort, between men and women, and especially between husbands and wives in the life of the home, I express my sympathy with the purpose of this convention.

Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.) took the ground that, after fifty years of argument, women now should unite in a continuous demand for the rights of citizenship.

In introducing the Hon. William D. Kelley (Penn.) Miss Anthony said that not only in Congress, where he was known as the Father of the House, but years ago in his own State Legislature, he advocated the political equality of women. After paying a tribute to his mother, to Mary Wollstonecraft and to Frances Wright, he said: "I am here, because I feel that I should again declare publicly the justice of the enfranchisement of women, which, having cherished through youth and early manhood, I asserted in a public address in Independence Hall, at high noon on the Fourth of July, 1841, before there was any organization for promoting woman's rights politically." He then sketched results already achieved and urged women to keep the flame burning for the benefits which would come to posterity.

The Rev. Olympia Brown (Wis.) spoke on Foreign Rule,[Pg 148] and after pointing out the glory of a country which offered a home to all, and expressing a belief in universal suffrage, she continued:

> In Wisconsin we have by the census of 1880 a population of 910,072 native-born, 405,425 foreign-born. Our last vote cast was 149,463 American, 189,469 foreign; thus you see nearly 1,000,000 native-born people are out-voted and out-governed by less than half their number of foreigners. Is that fair to Americans? Is it just to American men? Will they not, under this influence, in a little while be driven to the wall and obliged to step down and out? When the members of our Legislatures are the greater part foreigners, when they sit in the office of mayor and in all the offices of our city, and rule us with a rod of iron, it is time that American men should inquire if we have any rights that foreigners are bound to respect....

> The last census shows, I think, that there are in the United States three times as many American-born women as the whole foreign population, men and women together, so that the votes of women will eventually be the only means of overcoming this foreign influence and maintaining our free institutions. There is no possible safety for our free school, our free church or our republican government, unless women are given the suffrage and that right speedily.... The question in every political caucus, in every political convention, is not what great principles shall we announce, but what kind of a document can we draw up that will please the foreigners?...

> When we remember that the first foot to touch Plymouth Rock was a woman's—that in the first settlement of this country women endured trials and privations and stood bravely at the post of duty, even fighting in the ranks that we might have a republic—and that in our great Western world women came at an early day to make the wilderness blossom as the rose, and rocked their babies' cradles in the log cabins when the Indians' war-whoop was heard on the prairies and the wolves howled around their doors—when we remember that in the last war thousands of women in the Northwest bravely took upon themselves the work of the households and the fields that their husbands and sons might fight the battles of liberty—when we recollect all this, and then are told that loyal women, pioneer women, the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers, are not even to ask for the right of suffrage lest the Scandinavians should be offended, it is time to rise in indignation and ask, Whose country is this? Who made it? Who have periled their lives for it?

> Our American women are property holders and pay large taxes; but the foreigner who has lived only one year in the State, and ten days in the precinct, who does not own a foot of land, may vote away their property in the form of taxes in the most reckless manner, regardless of their interests and their rights. Women are well-educated; they are graduating from our colleges; they are[Pg 149] reading and thinking and writing; and yet they are the political inferiors of all the riff-raff of Europe that is poured upon our shores. It is unbearable. There is no language that can express the enormous injustice done to women....

> We can not separate subjects and say we will vote on temperance or on school matters, for all these questions are part of government.... When women as well as men are voters, the church will get some recognition. I marvel that all ministers are not in favor of woman suffrage, when I consider that their audiences are almost entirely composed of women and that the church to-day is brought into disrepute because it is made up of disfranchised members. The minister would stand a hundred-fold higher than he does now if women had the suffrage. Everybody would want to know what the minister was saying to those women voters.

> We are in danger in this country of Catholic domination, not because the Catholics are more numerous than we are, but because the Catholic church is represented at the polls and the Protestant church is not. The foreigners are Catholic—the greater portion of them; the foreigners are men—the greater part of them, and members of the Catholic church, and they work for it and vote for it. The Protestant church is composed of women. Men for the most part do not belong to it; they do not care much for it except as something to interest the women of their household. The consequence is the Protestant church is comparatively unrepresented at the ballot-box....

> I urge upon you, women, that you put suffrage first and foremost, before every other consideration upon earth. Make it a religious duty and work for the enfranchisement of your sex, which means the growth and development of noble characters in your children; for you can not educate your children well surrounded by men and women who hold false doctrines of society, of politics, of morals. Leave minor issues, leave your differences of opinion about the Trinity, or the Holy Ghost, or endless misery; about high license and low license; or Dorcas Societies and Chautauqua Circles. Let them all go; they are of no consequence compared with the enfranchisement of women.

Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell gave a humorous series of Suffrage Pictures in New York, which was greatly relished by the audience. Mrs. Laura M. Johns described Municipal Suffrage in Kansas in an enthusiastic and interesting manner. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw then delivered her lecture, which has since become so famous, The Fate of Republics, tracing the rise and fall of the republics of history, which grew because of material prosperity and failed because of moral weakness. All were in the hands of men, and women were excluded from any share.[73][Pg 150]

Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck gave an account of the recent school election in Boston where 19,490 women voted, a much higher percentage of those registered than of the men, and thus defeated the dangerous attempt which had been made by the Church to interfere with the State. Richard W. Blue, State Senator of Kansas, was called to the platform by Mrs. Gougar as one who had greatly aided its Municipal Suffrage Bill.

Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) spoke on Women in the Recent Campaign. In the National Prohibition Convention they sat as delegates and served on committees. In all parts of the country Republican and Democratic women organized clubs and marched in processions; but she called attention to the fact that these methods are not advocated by the suffrage societies so long as women remain disfranchised. Over two hundred clubs were formed for political study. All of the parties placed women on their platforms to speak in behalf of the candidates. A Central Republican Headquarters was opened in New York and put in charge of a national committee of women who sent out hundreds of thousands of campaign documents. When election day came not one of all these women could put her opinion in the ballot-box.

At the evening session Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) in her trenchant way discussed Political Methods and pointed out the inconsistent and illogical declarations of platforms and speakers when applied to women, also the delight afforded to men by the tin horns and fireworks. She suggested for President Harrison's Cabinet, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Secretary of State; Susan B. Anthony, Secretary of War; May Wright Sewall, Secretary of the Treasury; Zerelda G. Wallace, Secretary of the Navy; Clara Barton, Secretary of the Interior; Laura de Force Gordon, Attorney-General.

Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins (O.) spoke on The Concentration of Forces, showing how prone women are to organize for every object except suffrage, and yet the majority of these workers would rejoice to have the power which lies in the ballot and would be infinitely better equipped for their work.

Mrs. Mary B. Clay (Ky.) opened the last day's session with[Pg 151] a forcible address entitled, Are American Women Civil and Political Slaves? She proved the affirmative of her question by quoting the spoken and written declarations of the greatest statesmen on the right of individual representation and the exceptions made against women, citing Walker, the legal writer: "This language applied to males would be the exact definition of political slavery; applied to females, custom does not so regard it."

Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway (Ore.) described the recent arbitrary and unwarranted disfranchisement of the women of Washington Territory. Frederick Douglass was loudly called for and in responding expressed his gratitude to women, "who were chiefly instrumental in liberating my people from actual chains of bondage," and declared his full belief in their right to the franchise.

Mrs. Helen M. Gougar (Ind.) made a strong speech upon Partisan or Patriot? In her address on Woman in Marriage Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, editor of the Woman's Tribune, said:

> It is customary to regard marriage as of even more importance to woman than to man, since the maternal, social and household duties involved in it consume the greater portion of the time and thought of a large majority. Love, it is commonly said, is an incident in a man's life, but makes or mars a woman's whole existence. This, however, is one of the many popular delusions crystallized into opinion by apt phraseology. To one who believes in the divinely intended equality of the sexes it is impossible to consider that any mutual relation is an incident for the one and the total of existence for the other. We may lay it down as a premise upon which to base our whole reasoning that all mutual relations of the sexes are not only divinely intended to, but actually do bring equal joys, pains, pleasures and sacrifices to both. Whatever mistake one has made has acted upon the other, and reacted equally upon the first.

> The one great mistake of the ages—since woman lost her primal independence and supremacy—to which is due all the sins and sorrows growing out of the association of the sexes, has been in making woman a passive agent instead of an equal factor in arranging the laws, customs and conditions of this mutual state. Whether marriage be a purely business partnership for the care and maintenance of children, or whether it be a sacrament to which the benediction of the church gives peculiar sanctity and perpetuity and makes the parties "no more twain but one flesh," in either case it is an absurdity, which we only tolerate because of custom, for men alone to make all the regulations and stipulations concerning it.

> This unnatural and strained assumption by one sex of the control[Pg 152] of everything relating to marriage, and the equally unnatural and mischievous passivity on the part of the other, have given birth to the meek maiden waiting for her fate, to the typical disconsolate and forlorn "superfluous woman," to the two standards of morality for the sexes, to the mercenary marriage with all its attendant miseries, to the selfish, exacting, querulous wife, to the disappointed or tyrannical husband; and of late, with the wider possibilities of individual pleasure and satisfaction, to the growing aversion of young people to matrimony, and the rush of women to the divorce courts for freedom from the galling bonds; all these and a thousand variations of each, until the nature of both sexes is so perverted that it is impossible to decide what is nature.

A letter was read from Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.) urging women individually to petition Senators and Representatives for the removal of their political disabilities, because by this means these men were compelled to think on the question.

Mrs. Virginia L. Minor (Mo.) addressed the convention on The Law of Federal Suffrage, a legal argument on the right to vote conferred by the Constitution. Miss Anthony supplemented Mrs. Minor's argument with a history of the Fourteenth Amendment, in which she said:

> When that Fourteenth Amendment was under discussion—when it was proposed to put the word "male" into the second section—it read: "If any State shall disfranchise any of its citizens on account of color, all of that class shall be counted out of the basis of representation." But there were timid souls on the floor of Congress at the close of the war, as well as at other periods of our history, and to prevent the enfranchisement of women by this amendment they moved to make it read: "If any State shall disfranchise any of its male citizens, all of that class shall be counted out of the basis of representation." Male citizens! For the first time in the history of our Government that discriminating adjective was placed in the Constitution, and yet the men on the floor of Congress, from Charles Sumner down, all declared that this amendment would not in any wise change the status of women!

> We at once asserted our right to vote under this amendment: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." Our first trial was on civil rights, when Mrs. Myra Bradwell of Chicago, who had been for some time publishing a law journal which every lawyer in the State said he could not afford to do without, applied for admission to the bar, and these same lawyers denied it. She appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court and it confirmed the denial, because she was not only[Pg 153] a woman but a married woman. Then she appealed her case to the Supreme Court of the United States, and a majority of this court decided that the right to be a lawyer was not especially a citizen's right and that therefore the State of Illinois could legally abridge the privileges and immunities of its women by denying them admission to the bar.

> I shall never forget how our hearts sank when in 1871 that decision came, declaring the powerlessness of the Federal Constitution to protect women in their civil right of being eligible to the legal profession. When we said if these rights which it is meant to protect are not civil they must be political rights, we thought we had the Supreme Court in a corner. But when my trial for voting came on, Justice Hunt said that the right to vote was a special right belonging to men alone. We didn't believe that this decision could be confirmed, but it was, when Mrs. Minor, who attempted to vote at the same election in her State of Missouri, appealed her case to the Supreme Court of the United States. It was argued by her husband, the ablest of lawyers, and when the Judges brought in their decision it was to the effect that the Constitution of the United States has no voters. Thus it is that we have two Supreme Court decisions relative to the powers of the Fourteenth Amendment to protect women, and in both cases they have been excluded absolutely from its provisions.

> I remember, Mrs. Minor (turning to that lady), how we discussed these questions in those early years. We weren't sleepy in our talk as we were being cut off inch by inch from the protection of the Constitution. I remember how Mrs. Stanton said in a public address: "If you continue to deny to women the protection of this amendment, you will finally come to the point when it will cease to protect even black men," and we have lived to see that day.

The address on The Coming Sex by Mrs. Eliza Archard Connor, a well-known journalist of New York, was declared by the press to be in its delivery "the gem of the convention." She said in part:

> It is my conviction that women are the natural orators of the race. They have keener sympathies and quicker intuitions than men. They have a gift of language that not even their worst enemies will deny, and these are just the qualities which go to make the orator.... The time is coming when we shall need all our eloquence, all our intellectual power and all our love. The day is approaching when men will come with ballots in their hands, begging women to use them....

> Wherever you go, wake women up, tell them to learn everything. Tell them to study with all their might history, civil government, political economy, social and industrial science—for the time is coming when they will need them all....

> This is the work before us. This is the meaning of the desperate[Pg 154] unrest and unhappiness of women. It is this that has drawn us here to enter our protest against the wicked, old, one-legged order of things. Our honored Miss Anthony has gone through fire and hail while she worked for her convictions. All of us have wrought as best we might for the higher education of women, for their pecuniary independence, for their civil and political rights, fighting the world, the flesh and the devil.

> My own work has been in the field of journalism. For nearly twenty years I have faced here every form of disability because I am a woman, have met defeat after defeat, till the iron has entered my soul. Yet every day I have thanked God that I have been permitted to bear my share in the tremendous struggle for the development of women in the nineteenth century. Struggle means development; it can come in no other way, and this will be the grandest since creation began—the crowned, perfected woman. For this the cry of womanhood has risen out of the depths through the centuries. Up through agony and despair it has come, through sin and shame, through poverty and martyrdom, through torture which has wrung drops of blood from woman's lips, still up, up, till it has reached the great white throne itself.

The enrollment committee reported a list of about one hundred thousand names of persons asking for woman suffrage. The treasurer announced the receipts for 1888 to be $12,510. All of the expenses of the great International Council had been paid and a balance of nearly $300 remained.

The resolutions might be described as an epitomized recital of wrongs and a Bill of Rights.

> Whereas, Women possessed and exercised the right of suffrage in the inauguration of this Government; and,

> Whereas, They were deprived of this right by the arbitrary Acts of successive State Legislatures in violation of the original compact as seen in the early constitutions; therefore,

> Resolved, That it is the duty of the several States to make prompt restitution of these ancient rights, recognized by innumerable precedents in English history, and to-day by the gradual extension of the suffrage over vast territories.

> Whereas, Woman's title deed to an equal share in the inheritance left her by the fathers of the Republic has been examined and proved by able lawyers; and,

> Whereas, This right is already exercised in some form in one hundred localities in different parts of the world; therefore,

> Resolved, That sex is no longer considered a bar to the exercise of suffrage by civilized nations.

> Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to pass a declaratory act, compelling the several States to establish a "republican form of government" within their borders by securing to women their[Pg 155] right to vote, thus nullifying the fraudulent Acts of Legislatures and making our Government homogeneous from Maine to Oregon.

> Resolved, That the question of enfranchising one-half the people is superior to that of Indian treaties, admission of new States, tariff, international copyright or any other subject before the country, and that it is the foremost duty of the Fiftieth Congress at this, its last session, to submit an amendment to the Constitution forbidding States to disfranchise citizens on account of sex.

> Resolved, That as a question of ethics the difference between putting a fraudulent ballot in the box and keeping a rightful ballot out is nothing, and that we condemn the action which prevents women from casting a ballot at any election as a shameful evidence of the corruption of dominant political parties in this country.

> Whereas, The Legislature of Washington Territory has twice voted for woman suffrage—women for the most part having gladly accepted and exercised the right, Governor Squire in his report to the Secretary of the Interior in 1884 having declared that it met the approval of a large majority of the people; and,

> Whereas, In 1887, after the women had voted for three and a half years, the Territorial Supreme Court pronounced the law invalid on the ground that the nature of the bill must be described in the title of the act; and,

> Whereas, In January, 1888, another bill passed by the Legislature gave to this law an explicit title; and the bill, again granting suffrage to women, was signed by Governor Semple, thus triumphantly showing the approval of the people, the Legislature and the Governor; and,

> Whereas, The Territorial Supreme Court, in August, 1888, again rendered a decision against the right of the women of the Territory to vote, basing their decision upon the false assumption that Congress had never delegated to the Territories the right to define the status of their own voters; and,

> Whereas, This decision strikes a blow at the fundamental powers of the United States Congress, confounding laws delegated to the Territories by the Organic Act of 1852, which vests in their Legislatures the power to prescribe their qualifications for voting and holding office—with State governments which limit legislative enactments by constitutions of their own making—thus setting at naught the will of the people; therefore,

> Resolved, That we earnestly and respectfully petition Congress that in passing an enabling act or acts for the admission of the other Territories there be incorporated a clause allowing women to vote for delegates to their constitutional conventions, and at the election for the adoption of the constitution, in every one where the Legislature has granted woman suffrage and such law has not been repealed by a subsequent Legislature.

> Whereas, In the year 1873 our leader, Susan B. Anthony, was deprived of the right of trial by jury, by a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, simply because she was a woman, it is the duty of all women to resent the insult thus offered to womanhood[Pg 156] and demand of the men of this closing century of constitutional government such condemnation of this infamous decision of Judge Ward Hunt[74] as shall teach the coming generation of voters that the welfare of the republic demands that women be protected equally with men in the exercise of citizenship; and,

> Whereas, In the great Centennial Celebration of 1876 women were denied all participation in the public proceedings commemorating the birth of the Declaration of Independence, though they sought earnestly and respectfully to declare their sentiments of loyalty to the great principles of liberty and responsibility there enunciated, they should now demand official recognition by Congress and the State Legislature on all the Boards of Commissioners which, at the public expense, are to initiate and carry out the august ceremonials of the coming Constitutional Celebration in New York in April, 1889, to the end that taxation without representation shall no longer be acknowledged a just and constitutional policy in this government nominally of the people, therefore,

> Resolved, That a committee be appointed by the National W. S. A. to memorialize Congress on this subject, and to take such other action as shall bring before the enlightened manhood of our country their duty of chivalry no less than justice in this important matter.[75]

> Whereas, The question of woman's enfranchisement is fundamental and of paramount importance; therefore,

> Resolved, That, while the National Woman Suffrage Association welcomes and claims the support of persons of all parties and beliefs, it desires to strongly reassert the position which it has held of being nonpartisan.

A hearing was granted by the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage the morning of January 24. Mrs. Hooker, Mrs. Minor, Mrs. Duniway, Mrs. Johns, the Rev. Olympia Brown, the Rev. Miss Shaw and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell were introduced to the committee by Miss Anthony, and each from a different standpoint presented the arguments for the submission of a Sixteenth Amendment enfranchising women.

On February 7, Senator Blair reported for the committee—Senators Charles B. Farwell (Ill.), Jonathan Chace (R. I.), Edward O. Wolcott (Col.), in favor of the amendment. After an able and exhaustive argument the report closed as follows:

> Unless this Government shall be made and preserved truly republican in form by the enfranchisement of woman, the great reforms which her ballot would accomplish may never be; the demoralization and disintegration now proceeding in the body politic are not likely soon to be arrested. Corruption of the male suffrage[Pg 157] is already a well-nigh fatal disease; intemperance has no sufficient foe in the law-making power; a republican form of government can not survive half-slave and half-free.

> The ballot is withheld from women because men are not willing to part with one-half the sovereign power. There is no other real cause for the continued perpetration of this unnatural tyranny.

> Enfranchise women or this republic will steadily advance to the same destruction, the same ignoble and tragic catastrophe, which has engulfed the male republics of history. Let us establish a government in which both men and women shall be free indeed. Then shall the republic be perpetual.

The women of the nation are deeply indebted to Senator Blair for his able and persistent efforts in their behalf. Year after year, in the midst of the great pressure of duties connected with his office, he carefully prepared these constitutional and legal reports knowing that they could have only the indirect results of educating public sentiment and contributing to the history of this great movement for the political rights of half the race.

The other members of the committee, Senators Zebulon B. Vance (N. C.), Joseph E. Brown (Ga.), J. B. Beck (Ky.), announced that they should present a minority report in opposition, but as "Letters from a Chimney Corner," by Mrs. Caroline F. Corbin, and "The Law of Woman Life," by Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney, apparently had been exhausted, and as no other woman had provided them with the necessary ideas, the report never materialized. Senator Vance, however, as chairman of this Select Suffrage Committee asked for a clerk at this time, to be paid out of the contingent fund.

The House Judiciary Committee granted a hearing January 28, which was addressed by Miss Anthony, Mrs. Hooker, Mrs. Duniway, Mrs. Minor, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Mrs. Colby, Miss Lavina A. Hatch (Mass.) and Mrs. Ella M. Marble (Minn.). The committee took no action.

### FOOTNOTES:

[73] It is a loss to posterity that Miss Shaw never writes her addresses. She is beyond question the leading woman orator of this generation, and is not surpassed in power by any of the men.

[74] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 647.

[75] This was done, but no representation was allowed women in the celebration.

[Pg 158]

## CHAPTER X.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1890.

The winter of 1890 brought the usual crowd of eminent women to Washington to attend the Twenty-second national convention of the suffrage association, February 18-21. As the president, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was to start for Europe on the 19th, the congressional hearings took place previous to the convention and consisted only of her address. The Senate hearing on February 8 was held for the first time in the new room set apart for the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage, but much objection was made because on account of its size only a small audience could be admitted. Senators Vance, Farwell, Blair and John B. Allen of the new State of Washington were present. Mrs. Stanton said in part:

> For almost a quarter of a century a body of intelligent and law-abiding women have held annual conventions in Washington and made their appeals before committees of the House and the Senate, asking to be recognized as citizens of this Republic. A whole generation of distinguished members, who have each in turn given us aid and encouragement, have passed away—Seward, Sumner, Wilson, Giddings, Wade, Garfield, Morton and Sargent—with Hamlin, Butler and Julian still living, have all declared our demands just, our arguments unanswerable.

> In consulting at an early day as to the form in which our claims should be presented, some said by an amendment to the Constitution, others said the Constitution as it is, in spirit and letter, is broad enough to protect the rights of every citizen under our flag. But when the war came and we saw that it took three amendments to make the slaves of the South full-fledged citizens, we thought it would take at least one to make woman's calling and election sure. So we asked for a Sixteenth Amendment. But learned lawyers, Judges and Congressmen took the ground that women were already enfranchised by the Fourteenth Amendment. The House minority report in 1871, signed by Benjamin F. Butler and William Loughridge, held that view. It is an able, unanswerable argument on the whole question, based on the oft-repeated principles of the Republican[Pg 159] party at that time. It stands to-day a living monument of the grossest inconsistencies of which the Republican party ever was guilty.[76] ...

> We can not play fast and loose with the eternal principle of justice without being caught sooner or later in the net of our own weaving. The legitimate results of the war have been all frittered away by political maneuvering. While Northern statesmen have made a football of the rights of 12,000,000 women as voters, and by Supreme Court decisions driven them from the polls, why arraign the men in the South for treating 1,000,000 freedmen in the same way? Are the rights of that class of citizens more sacred than ours? Are the violations of the fundamental principles of our Government in their case more dangerous than in ours?...

> In addressing those who already enjoy the right of suffrage, one naturally would suppose that it would not be necessary to enlarge on the advantages of having a voice in deciding the laws and the rulers under which one lives. And neither would it if each member of this committee understood that woman's wants and needs are similar to his own; that the cardinal virtues belong to her as well as to him; that personal dignity, the power of self-protection, are as important for her as for him; that woman loves justice, equality, liberty, and wishes the right to give her consent to the Government under which she lives, as much as man does. Matthew Arnold says: "The first desire of every cultured mind is to take part in the great work of government." ...

> If we would rouse new respect for womanhood in the hearts of the masses, we must place woman in a position to respect herself, which she can never do as long as her political status is beneath that of the most degraded, ignorant classes of men. To make women the political equals of their sons, or even of their gardeners and coachmen, would add new dignity to their position; and to change our laws and constitutions in harmony with the new status would have its influence on the large class of young men now devoting themselves to the study of the law. Lord Brougham said long ago that the Common Law of England for women, and all the statutes based on such principles, were a disgrace to the Christianity and civilization of the nineteenth century. Do you think our sons can rise from such studies with a high ideal of womanhood? And with what feelings do you suppose women themselves read these laws, and the articles in the State constitutions, rating them with the disreputable and feeble-minded classes? Can you not understand the dignity, the pride, the new-born self-respect which would thrill the hearts of the women of this nation in their enfranchisement? It would elevate their sphere of action and every department of labor in which they are occupied; it would give new force to their words as teachers, reformers and missionaries, new strength to their work as guardians of the young, the wayward and the unfortunate. It would transform them from slaves to sovereigns,[Pg 160] crowned with the rights of citizenship, with the ballot, that scepter of power, in their own right hands....

> If there are any who do not wish to vote, that is the strongest reason for their enfranchisement. If all love of liberty has been quenched in their souls by their degraded condition, the duties of citizenship and the responsibility of self-government should be laid upon them at once, for their pitiful indifference is merely the result of their disfranchisement. Would that I could awake in the minds of my countrywomen the full significance of this demand for the right of suffrage; what it is to be queens in their own right, intrusted with the power of self-government, possessed of all the privileges and immunities of American citizens....

> Whoever heard of an heir apparent to a throne in the Old World abdicating her rights because some conservative politician or austere bishop doubted woman's capacity to govern? History affords no such example. Those who have had the right to a throne have invariably taken possession of it and, against intriguing cardinals, ambitious nobles and jealous kinsmen, fought even to the death to maintain the royal prerogatives which by inheritance were theirs. When I hear American women, descendants of Jefferson, Hancock and Adams, say they do not want to vote, I feel that the blood of the revolutionary heroes must long since have ceased to flow in their veins.

> Suppose when the day dawned for Victoria to be crowned Queen of England she had gone before the House of Commons and begged that such terrible responsibilities might not be laid upon her, declaring that she had not the moral stamina nor intellectual ability for the position; that her natural delicacy and refinement shrank from the encounter; that she was looking forward to the all-absorbing duties of domestic life, to a husband, children, home, to her influence in the social circle where the Christian graces are best employed. Suppose with a tremulous voice and a few stray tears in her blue eyes, her head drooping on one side, she had said she knew nothing of the science of government; that a crown did not befit a woman's brow; that she had not the physical strength even to wave her nation's flag, much less to hold the scepter of power over so vast an empire; that in case of war she could not fight and hence could not reign, as there must be force behind the throne, and this force must be centered in the hand which governed. What would her Parliament have thought? What would other nations have thought?...

> None of you would admit, honorable gentlemen, that all the great principles of government which center round our theories of justice, liberty and equality in favor of individual sovereignty have not as yet produced as high a type of womanhood as has a monarchy in the Old World. We have a large number of women as well fitted as Victoria for the most responsible positions in the Government, who could fill the highest places with equal dignity and wisdom.

> There is no subject more intensely interesting to men than the science of government, and when their wives are intelligent on all[Pg 161] the questions it comprises they will be far more valuable companions than they are to-day. Marriage means companionship, a similarity of tastes and opinions, and where one of the parties has no interest in or knowledge of those subjects most absorbing to the other, the bonds of union necessarily are weakened. So long as woman's thought is centered in personal and family aggrandizement, her strongest influence will be used to keep man's interest there also. The virtue of patriotism would be far greater among men, their devotion to the public good far more earnest, if the influences of home life were not continually drawing them into a narrow selfishness.

> Women naturally take no interest in questions where their opinions have no weight, in a sphere of action from which they are excluded. They are not supposed to know what is necessary for the public good, hence how could they influence their husbands to make that their first duty when in public life? But when women are enfranchised their interest in the State will deepen. They will see that the welfare of their own children depends as much on the conditions of the outside world as on the environments of their own homes. This settled discontent of women is exerting an insidious influence which is undermining the very foundations of the home as well as the State. We must rouse them to new hopes, new ambitions, new aspirations, through the enjoyment of the blessings of freedom and self-government.

> Moreover, an active participation in the practical duties of government by educated women would bring a new and needed element to the State. We can not overestimate the influence women exert, whether for good or ill, hence the immense importance of their having right views on all questions of public interest and some knowledge of the requirements of practical politics. But their power to-day is wholly irresponsible and hence dangerous. Lay on them the responsibility of legislating, with all the criticism and odium of a constituency and a party, in case they make some blunder, and you render them wiser in judgment and more deliberate in action. To secure this large disfranchised class as allies to one of the leading parties would be a wise measure for that party and bring a new element of morality and intelligence into the body politic. Women are now taking a more active part in public affairs than ever before and, with political freedom, always will be the reserved moral power to sustain great men in their best endeavors.

An interesting conversation followed. Chairman Zebulon B. Vance (N. C.) asked Mrs. Stanton if women would be willing to go to war if they had the ballot. She answered that they would decide whether there should be war. He inquired whether women would not lose their refining influence and moral qualities if they engaged in men's work. She replied that there would[Pg 162] have to be a definition of "men's work" and that she found the latter in many avocations, such as washing, cooking, and selling needles and tape, which might be considered the work of women. "The moral qualities," she said, "are more apt to grow when a human being is useful, and they increase in the woman who helps to support the family rather than in the one who gives herself to idleness and fashionable frivolities. The consideration of questions of legislation, finance, free trade, etc., certainly would not degrade woman, nor is her refinement so evanescent a virtue that it could be swept away by some work which she might do with her hands. Queen Victoria looked as dignified and refined in opening Parliament as any lady one ever had seen."

Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was never so happy as when her beloved friend was scoring a victory, said there would always be a division of labor, in time of war as in time of peace. Women would do their share in the hospitals and elsewhere, and if they were enfranchised, the only difference would be that they would be paid for their services and pensioned at the close of the war. Mrs. Colby reminded the committee that the report of the U. S. Commissioner of Labor showed that the largest proportion of immoral women came from home life and the more feminine occupations.

Mrs. Stanton drew from the chairman the admission that his wife wanted the franchise, and he laughingly admitted that he had had the worst of the discussion. Senator Allen expressed himself in favor of woman suffrage, and Senator Charles B. Farwell said, "The suffragists have logic, argument, everything on their side."

Another heaping was granted by the Senate Committee, February 24, when they were addressed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett, Mrs. Virginia L. Minor and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby.

Later in the session Senator Henry W. Blair (N. H.) presented the majority report of the Committee (No. 1576), the usual strong, dignified statement. It closed as follows: "To deny the submission of this joint resolution to the action of the Legislatures of the States is analogous to the denial of the right of justice in the courts. It is to say that no plaintiff shall bring[Pg 163] his suit; no claimant of justice shall be heard; and whatever may be the result to the friends of woman suffrage when they reach the Legislatures of the States, it is, in our belief, the duty of Congress to submit the joint resolution and give them the opportunity to try their case."

Mrs. Stanton presented the same address before the House Judiciary Committee, February 11, with the result that for the first time in history a majority House report in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment was submitted. It was presented by Lucien B. Caswell (Wis.) and said in conclusion: "The disfranchisement of twelve millions of people, who are citizens of the United States, should command from us an immediate action. Since the women of this country are unjustly deprived of a right so essential to complete citizenship in a republic as the elective franchise, common justice requires that we should submit the proposition for a change in the fundamental law to the State Legislatures, where the correction can be made."[77]

The fiftieth birthday of Susan B. Anthony had been celebrated in New York City in 1870 by a large number of prominent men and women, the first instance of the kind on record. It had been decided by her friends that her seventieth birthday should receive a similar recognition, but that it should be more national in character. The arrangements were made by Mrs. May Wright Sewall and Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, and on the evening of February 15 a distinguished company of two hundred sat around the banquet tables in the great dining-room of the Riggs House. Miss Anthony occupied the place of honor, on her right Senator Blair and Mrs. Stanton, on her left Robert Purvis, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker and Mrs. Sewall, who presided. In addition to the after-dinner speeches of these distinguished guests there were clever and sparkling responses to toasts by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, Miss Phoebe W. Couzins, the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Representative J. A. Pickler (S. D.), Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Stanton's two daughters—Mrs. Harriot Blatch and Mrs. Margaret Lawrence—Mrs. Laura Ormiston[Pg 164] Chant of England, and others. Mrs. Stanton began her address by saying: "If there is one part of my life which gives me more intense satisfaction than another, it is my friendship of more than forty years' standing with Susan B. Anthony." The key-note to Miss Anthony's touching response was struck in the opening sentence: "The thing I most hope for is that, should I stay on this planet twenty years longer, I still may be worthy of the wonderful respect you have manifested for me to-night."

Among the more than two hundred letters, poems and telegrams received were those of George William Curtis, William Lloyd Garrison, John G. Whittier, George F. Hoar, Lucy Stone, Frances E. Willard, Speaker Thomas B. Reed, Mrs. John A. Logan, Thomas W. Palmer, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Harriet Hosmer, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Alice Williams Brotherton, Charles Nordhoff, Frank G. Carpenter, U. S. Senator Henry L. Dawes, Neal Dow, Laura M. Johns, T. V. Powderly and Leonora M. Barry. Most of the prominent newspapers in the country contained editorial congratulations, and the Woman's Tribune issued a special birthday edition.

The convention opened in Metzerott's Music Hall, February 18, 1890, continuing four days. The feature of this occasion which will distinguish it in history was the formal union of the National and the American Associations under the joint name. For the past twenty-one years two distinctive societies had been in existence, both national as to scope but differing as to methods. Negotiations had been in progress for several years toward a uniting of the forces and, the preliminaries having been satisfactorily arranged by committees from the two bodies,[78] the officers and members of both participated in this national convention of 1890.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the newly-elected president of the united societies, faced a brilliant assemblage of men and women as she arose to make the opening address. Having declared[Pg 165] that in going to England as president of the National-American Association she felt more honored than if sent as minister plenipotentiary of the United States, she spoke to a set of resolutions which she presented to the convention.[79] After reviewing the history of the movement for the rights of woman and naming some of its brilliant leaders she said:

> For fifty years we have been plaintiffs in the courts of justice, but as the bench, the bar and the jury are all men, we are nonsuited every time. Some men tell us we must be patient and persuasive; that we must be womanly. My friends, what is man's idea of womanliness? It is to have a manner which pleases him—quiet, deferential, submissive, approaching him as a subject does a master. He wants no self-assertion on our part, no defiance, no vehement arraignment of him as a robber and a criminal. While the grand motto, "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God," has echoed and re-echoed around the globe, electrifying the lovers of liberty in every latitude and making crowned heads tremble on their thrones; while every right achieved by the oppressed has been wrung from tyrants by force; while the darkest page on human history is the outrages on women—shall men still tell us to be patient, persuasive, womanly?

> What do we know as yet of the womanly? The women we have seen thus far have been, with rare exceptions, the mere echoes of men. Man has spoken in the State, the Church and the Home, and made the codes, creeds and customs which govern every relation in[Pg 166] life, and women have simply echoed all his thoughts and walked in the paths he prescribed. And this they call womanly! When Joan of Arc led the French army to victory I dare say the carpet knights of England thought her unwomanly. When Florence Nightingale, in search of blankets for the soldiers in the Crimean War, cut her way through all orders and red tape, commanded with vehemence and determination those who guarded the supplies to "unlock the doors and not talk to her of proper authorities when brave men were shivering in their beds," no doubt she was called unwomanly. To me, "unlock the doors" sounds better than any words of circumlocution, however sweet and persuasive, and I consider that she took the most womanly way of accomplishing her object. Patience and persuasiveness are beautiful virtues in dealing with children and feeble-minded adults, but those who have the gift of reason and understand the principles of justice, it is our duty to compel to act up to the highest light that is in them, and as promptly as possible.

Mrs. Stanton urged that women should have more power in church management, saying:

> As women are taking an active part in pressing on the consideration of Congress many narrow sectarian measures, such as more rigid Sunday laws, the stopping of travel, the distribution of the mail on that day, and the introduction of the name of God into the Constitution; and as this action on the part of some women is used as an argument for the disfranchisement of all, I hope this convention will declare that the Woman Suffrage Association is opposed to all union of Church and State, and pledges itself as far as possible to maintain the secular nature of our Government. As Sunday is the only day that the laboring man can escape from the cities, to stop the street-cars, omnibuses and railroad trains would indeed be a lamentable exercise of arbitrary authority. No, no, the duty of the State is to protect those who do the work of the world, in the largest liberty, and instead of shutting them up in their gloomy tenement houses on Sunday, to open wide the parks, horticultural gardens, museums, libraries, galleries of art and the music halls where they can listen to the divine melodies of the great masters.

She demanded that women declare boldly and decisively on all the vital issues of the day, and said:

> In this way we make ourselves mediums through which the great souls of the past may speak again. The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life flow no longer into our souls. Every truth we see is ours to give the world, not to keep for ourselves alone, for in so doing we cheat humanity out of their rights and check our own development.

[Pg 167]

As Mrs. Stanton finished she introduced her daughter, Mrs. Blatch, a resident of England, who in a few impressive remarks showed that on the great socialistic questions of the day—capital and labor, woman suffrage, race prejudice—England was liberal and the United States conservative; that the latter had beautiful ideas but did not apply them, and tended too much to the worship of legislation.

The Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, retiring president of the American Association, an uncompromising advocate of woman's enfranchisement, then made a strong and scholarly address in the course of which he said:

> The fundamental rights of self-government, the right of each man to cast his single vote and have it counted as it is cast, is of greater and more lasting importance than any of the temporary consequences which flow from the result of any election. Beyond all matters of expediency and good administration lies the great question of human liberty and equality, which can only be maintained by the uncorrupted equal suffrage of every citizen; and so sacred is this in the eyes of the law that years of penitentiary service are prescribed for the interference with the right of a single human being of the male sex to cast the vote which the law allows him.

> But there may be a moral guilt outside the law, of a character quite similar to that which is so punished when it comes within the terms of the statute, and it may be the crime, not of a single lawbreaker, but of the entire community that establishes the constitutions and enacts the statutes, which denies these equal rights to citizens who are subject to equal burdens. Wherever the rule of power is substituted for the just and equitable principle that all who are subject to government should have a voice in controlling it, we are guilty under the form of law of the same violation of the just rights of others for which the corruptor of elections and the forger of tally-sheets is tried, convicted and incarcerated. Yet from the remotest times the world has done this thing, for equal rights have never been conceded to women, and so warped are our convictions by custom and prejudice that a denial of their political equality seems as natural as the breath we draw....

> Paternalism in government, which seeks to do good to the people against their will, is wrong in the Czar of Russia and in old King George, but is quite right and just when it affects only our wives, sisters and daughters! They have everything they need, why ask the ballot? Ah, my friends, so long as they have not the right to determine the thing they need, so long as the ultimate sovereignty remains with men to say what is good and what is bad for them, they are deprived of that which we, as men, esteem the most precious of all rights. I suppose there never was a time when men did not believe that women had everything they ought to want; that they had[Pg 168] as much as was good for them. The woman must obey in consideration of the kind protection which her lord vouchsafes to her. The wife's property ought to belong to the husband, because upon him the law casts the burden of sustaining the family. There must be a ruler, and the husband ought to be that one. But this is the same principle which, during thousands of years, maintained the divine right of kings. When we apply it to our system of suffrage the number of sovereigns is increased, that is all. It is a recognition of the divine right of man to legislate for himself and woman too. It is only a difference in the number of autocrats and the manner in which their decrees are promulgated....

> By what argument can a man defend his own suffrage as a right and not concede an equal right to woman? A just man ought to accord to every other human being, even his own wife, the rights which he demands himself.

> "But she has her sphere and she ought not go beyond it." My friend, who gave you the right to determine what that sphere should be? If nature prescribes it, nature will carry out her own ordinances without your prohibitory legislation. I have the greatest contempt for the sort of legislation which seeks to enable nature to carry out her own immutable laws. I would have very little respect for any decree, enacted with whatever solemnity, which should prescribe that an object shall fall towards the earth and not from it; and I have just as little respect for any statute of man which enacts that women shall continue to love and care for their children by shutting them out from political action and preferment lest they should neglect the duties of the household....

> "But," say you, "woman is already adequately represented. She does not form a separate class. She has no interests different from those of her husband, brother or father." These arguments have been used even by so eminent an authority as John Bright. Is it indeed a fact? Wherever woman owns property which she would relieve from unjust taxation; wherever she has a son whom she would preserve from the temptations of intemperance, or a daughter from the enticements of a libertine, or a husband from the conscriptions of war, she has a separate interest which she is entitled to protect.

> "But she can control legislation by her influence." If it were proposed to take away our right to vote, we would think it a satisfactory answer that our influence would still remain? If she has influence she is entitled to that and her vote too. You have no right to burn down a man's house because you leave him his lot.

> "But woman does not want the suffrage." How do you know? have you given her an opportunity of saying so? Wherever the right has been accorded it has been generally exercised, and the best proof of her wishes is the actual use which she makes of the ballot when she has it. But it makes no difference whether all women want to vote or whether most women want to vote, so long as there is one woman who insists upon this simple right, the justice of America can not afford to deny it....

[Pg 169]

At the close of Mr. Foulke's address Mrs. Stanton was obliged to leave in order to reach New York City in time for her steamer. The entire audience arose, the women waving handkerchiefs and the men joining in three farewell cheers.

One splendid address followed another, morning and evening, while the afternoons were occupied with business meetings, and even here there were many little speeches which were worthy of preservation. Among them was one of Miss Anthony's, in which she said: "If it is necessary, I will fight forty years more to make our platform free for the Christian to stand upon, whether she be a Catholic and counts her beads, or a Protestant of the straightest orthodox sect, just as I have fought for the rights of the 'infidels' the last forty years. These are the principles I want to maintain—that our platform may be kept as broad as the universe, that upon it may stand the representatives of all creeds and of no creeds—Jew and Christian, Protestant and Catholic, Gentile and Mormon, believer and atheist."

Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) discussed The Centennial of 1892, demanding the recognition of women. Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.) spoke on the Present, the Destiny of To-day. Mrs. Ormiston Chant (Eng.) depicted the glory of The Coming Woman. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt made her first appearance on the national platform with an address on The Symbol of Liberty, describing political conditions with a keen knowledge of the facts and showing their need of the intelligence, morality and independence of women. The subject selected by Miss Phoebe W. Couzins, herself an office-holder, was Woman's Influence in Official Government.

Henry B. Blackwell made a strong speech on Woman Suffrage a Growth of Civilization. He read a letter from Lucy Stone, his wife, who was to have spoken on The Progress of Women but was prevented by illness, in which she said: "The time is full of encouragement for us. We look back to our small beginnings and over the many years of constant endeavor to secure for women the application of the principles which are the foundation of a representative government. Now we are a host. Both Houses of Congress and the legislative bodies in nearly all the States, have our questions before them. So has the civilized[Pg 170] world. Surely at no distant day the sense of justice which exists in everybody will secure our claim, and we shall have at last a truly representative government, of the people, by the people and for the people. We may, therefore, rejoicing in what is already gained, look forward with hope to the future."

A large audience listened to the address of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe on The Chivalry of Reform, during which she said:

> The political enfranchisement of woman has long been sought upon the ground of abstract right and justice. This ground is surely the soundest and safest basis for any claim to rest upon. But mankind, after yielding a general obedience to the moral law, will reserve for themselves a certain freedom in its application to particular things. Even in so imperative a matter as the salvation of their own souls they will not be content with weights and measures. The touch of sentiment must come in, uplifting what law knocks down, freeing what it trammels, satisfying man's love for freedom by ministering to his sense of beauty. When this subtle power joins itself to the demonstrations of reason, the victory is sure and lasting.

> It is in the grand order of these ideas that I stand here to advocate the enfranchisement of my sex. Morally, socially, intellectually equal with men, it is right that we should be politically equal with them in a society which claims to recognize and uphold one equal humanity. I do not say it is our right. I say it is right—God's right and the world's.

> In the name of high sentiment then, in the name of all that good men profess, I ask that the gracious act may be consummated which will admit us to the place that henceforth befits us, that of equal participants with you in the sovereignty of the people. Do this in the spirit of that mercy whose quality is not strained. Remember that the neglect of justice brings with it the direst retribution. Make your debt to us a debt of honor, and pay it in that spirit; if you do not pay it, dread the proportions which its arrears will assume. Remember that he who has the power to do justice and refrains from doing it, will presently find it doing itself, to his no small discomfiture....

> Women, trained for the moral warfare of the time, armed with the fine instincts which are their birthright, are not doomed to sit forever as mere spectators in these great encounters of society. They are to deserve the crown as well as to bestow it; to meet the powers of darkness with the powers of light; to bring their potent aid to the eternal conquest of right. And let me say here to those women who not only hang back from this encounter but who throw obstacles in the way of true reform and progress, that the shallow ground upon which they stand is within the belt of the moral earthquake, and that what they build upon it will be overthrown....

The Rev. Miss Shaw, in an address filled with humor as well[Pg 171] as logic, treated of Our Unconscious Allies, among whom she included clergymen who oppose equal suffrage, the women remonstrants with their weak documents, the colleges which try to keep out girls, and the many cases of outrage and wrong committed by "our motherless Government." The Rev. Olympia Brown replied to the question, Where is the Mistake? With great power and earnestness she pointed out the mistakes made by our Government during the century of its existence and demanded the correction of the greatest one of all—the exclusion of women.

The address of Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace (Ind.), A Whole Humanity, aroused the universal sympathy and appreciation of the audience, permeated as it was with the spirit of love, charity and justice:

> ....The animus of this movement for woman's freedom has been mistaken in the idea that it meant competition between women and men; to my thought it simply means co-operation in the work of the world. The man is to bring the physical forces, and he has done that work magnificently. I never go over this continent and see what men have done, that I do not feel like bowing my head in reverence to their wisdom, their strength, their power, and I think the nearest thing we see to divinity is the incarnation of the God-head in a grand good man.

> But there are other forces which must be brought into subjection to humanity before we reach the highest development, and those are the moral and spiritual forces. That is woman's share largely, not that I exempt man, but pre-eminently woman is the teacher of the race; in virtue of her motherhood she is the character builder; she forms the soul life; she rears the generations. It is not part of woman's work to contend with man for supremacy over the material forces. It was never told to woman that she should earn her bread by the sweat of her brow. That was man's curse. He was to earn his bread and woman's too, if he faithfully performed his duty, and we are not "dependents" even if he does that. I never allow a man to say in my presence that he "supports" his wife, and I want every woman to take the same position. I would correct any man and tell him he was mistaken in his phraseology if he should say anything of that kind. You have something different to do, my sisters. You shall hate evil, was said to woman, and evil shall hate you. There shall go forth from you an influence which shall ultimately exterminate evil.... The men of this nation would never have made the success they have in the material world, if some stronger force had limited them on all sides.

> I said a moment ago that I do not like the idea of dependence of women on men, or the dependence of men on women. I do not like[Pg 172] the word independence, but I do like the word interdependence. It is said of this beautiful country, "United we stand, divided we fall." It is the same with men and women. Men without women would go back to barbarism, and women without men would be most frivolous and vain. If we work not in competition but in co-operation and harmony we shall bring the race to its ultimate inheritance, which is rulership over the universe.

> Now to deprive woman of the right to express her thought with authority at the ballot-box in regard to the laws under which she is governed, puts a mark of imbecility upon her at once. So far as the Government is concerned we are held in perpetual tutelage, we are minors always, and while good men will act justly towards women, it is an excuse for every bad and foolish man to oppress them, and every unfledged boy to make them the subject of ridicule....

> I believe the great majority of American men love our free institutions; I believe they have hope and pride in the future of this nation; but as sure as you live, every argument you use against the enfranchisement of women deals a death-blow against the fundamental principle which lies at the base of our government, and it is treason to bring an argument against it.

> Another thing which you permit is reacting now to the detriment of our free institutions; if from prejudice or expediency you think you have a right to withhold the ballot from the women of this nation, you have but to go one step further and deprive any other class of a right they already have, should you think it expedient to do so. It is beginning to bear its fruit now in your elections. You are becoming demoralized; ballots are bought and sold; you have your blocks of five; and in some entire communities the men are deprived of the right of suffrage. It is simply a question of time how long you will be able to maintain the freedom you cherish for yourselves.

> If we women are citizens, if we are governed, if we are a part of the people, according to the plain declarations of the fundamental principles which underlie this nation, we are as much entitled to vote as you, and you can not make an argument against us that would not disfranchise yourselves.

> I feel this phase of the question more acutely than any other because I think from a fundamental standpoint the progress of the race is bound up in republican institutions. It is not a question of woman's rights, it is a question of human rights, of the success or failure of these institutions, and the more highly cultured a woman is the more deeply she feels this humiliation....

> I do not think it weakness to say that women love, and that love predominates in their nature, because, my friends, love is the only immortal principle in the universe. Love is to endure forever. Faith will be swallowed up in knowledge after a while, and hope in fruition, but love abides forever. It is peculiarly an attribute of our feminine nature to love our offspring over everything else; for them we would peril our lives; and for the men of this nation, under our form of government, to say to us that we shall not have the power which will enable us through laws and legislation to decide the conditions[Pg 173] which shall surround them, and throw the mother love around these children from the cradle to the grave, is an inhuman use of their authority....

The Washington Star said: "If the first day of the convention was Mrs. Stanton's, the rest have belonged to Miss Anthony, 'Saint Susan,' as her followers love to call her. As vice-president-at-large she presided over every session, and never was in better voice or more enthusiastic spirits. As she sat by the table clad in a handsome dress of black satin, she was the life and soul of the meetings.... She does not make much noise with her gavel,[80] nor does she have to use it often, but she manages to keep the organization over which she presides in a state of order that puts to shame many a convention of the other sex. Business is transacted in proper shape, and every important measure receives its due share of attention. There is no filibustering. The speakers who have been invited to address the convention are listened to with attention and interest. When speeches are on the program they are made. When resolutions are desired they are presented, discussed, rejected or adopted as the case may be.... There are no attempts to push through unsuitable measures in haste and without the necessary attention. If any of those who have not attended the meetings of the association are of the opinion that serious breaches of parliamentary usage are committed through ignorance or with intent, they are laboring under a decided delusion."

The business meeting devoted to a discussion of Our Attitude toward Political Parties proved to be the most exciting of the series. Among the speakers were Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Sewall, Mrs. Howe, Miss Blackwell, Mrs. Blake, the Rev. Mr. Hinckley, Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler, Mrs. Ellen Sully Fray, Mr. Blackwell, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Martha McClellan Brown, the Rev. Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Martha E. Root and Miss Mary Desha. Without exception the sentiment was in favor of keeping strictly aloof from all political alliances. It was pointed out that repeatedly the promises made by politicians were violated and the planks in the platforms ignored; it was shown that the suffrage can be gained only through the assistance of men in all parties; and it[Pg 174] was proved beyond doubt that in the past, where members had allied themselves with a political party it had injured the cause of woman suffrage.

In addition to the speakers already mentioned Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Col. D. R. Anthony, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Laura Clay, the Hon. J. A. Pickler, Sallie Clay Bennett, Margaret W. Campbell, Laura M. Johns, Frances Ellen Burr, Frances Stuart Parker, Dr. Frances Dickinson and others participated in the various discussions of the convention.

A deep interest was felt in the pending woman suffrage amendment in South Dakota. The subject was presented by Representative and Mrs. Pickler, national speakers were appointed to canvass the State and a fund of over $5,000 was eventually raised.

Tributes of respect were paid to Caroline Ashurst Biggs and Margaret Bright Lucas of England, U. S. Senator Elbridge G. Lapham, Maria Mitchell, the great astronomer, Prudence Crandall Philleo, Harriet Winslow Sewall, Amy Post, Wm. D. Kelley, M. C., Dinah Mendenhall, Emerine J. Hamilton, Amanda McConnell and other friends and supporters of woman suffrage who had passed away during the year.

The vote for officers of the united association, which was limited strictly to delegates, stood as follows: For president, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 131; Susan B. Anthony, 90; scattering, 2: for vice-president-at-large, Susan B. Anthony, 213; scattering, 9.[81] Rachel Foster Avery was elected recording secretary; Alice Stone Blackwell, corresponding secretary; Jane H. Spofford, treasurer; Lucy Stone, chairman of the executive committee by unanimous vote; Eliza T. Ward and the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, auditors. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw was appointed national lecturer.

### FOOTNOTES:

[76] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 464.

[77] The other members in favor of this report were Ezra B. Taylor, O., Chairman; George E. Adams, Ill.; James Buchanan, N. J.; Albert C. Thompson, O.; H. C. McCormick, Penn., and Joseph R. Reed, Ia. The six members from the Southern States were opposed.

[78] National:—May Wright Sewall, Chairman; Isabella Beecher Hooker, Harriette R. Shattuck, Olympia Brown, Helen M. Gougar, Laura M. Johns, Clara Bewick Colby, Virginia L. Minor, Abigail Scott Duniway, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mary B. Clay, Mary F. Eastman, Clara Neymann, Sarah M. Perkins, Jane H. Spofford, Lillie Devereux Blake, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Rachel Foster Avery, Secretary. American:—Julia Ward Howe, Chairman; Wm. Dudley Foulke, Margaret W. Campbell, Anna Howard Shaw, Mary F. Thomas, Hannah M. Tracy Cutler, Henry B. Blackwell, Secretary.

[79] The resolutions declared the constitutional right of women to vote, and continued:

Resolved, That as the fathers violated the principles of justice in consenting to a three-fifths representation, and in recognizing slavery in the Constitution, thereby making a civil war inevitable, so our statesmen and Supreme Court Judges by their misinterpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, declaring that the United States has no voters and that citizenship does not carry with it the right of suffrage, not only have prolonged woman's disfranchisement but have undermined the status of the freedman and opened the way for another war of races.

Whereas, It is proposed to have a national law, restricting the right of divorce to a narrower basis, and

Whereas, Congress has already made an appropriation for a report on the question, which shows that there are 10,000 divorces annually in the United States and the majority demanded by women, and

Whereas, Liberal divorce laws for wives are what Canada was for the slaves—a door of escape from bondage, therefore,

Resolved, That there should be no farther legislation on this question until woman has a voice in the State and National Governments.

Resolved, That the time has come for woman to demand of the Church the same equal recognition she demands of the State, to assume her right and duty to take part in the revision of Bibles, prayer books and creeds, to vote on all questions of business, to fill the offices of elder, deacon, Sunday school superintendent, pastor and bishop, to sit in ecclesiastical synods, assemblies and conventions as delegates, that thus our religion may no longer reflect only the masculine element of humanity, and that woman, the mother of the race, may be honored as she must be before we can have a happy home, a rational religion and an enduring government.

They concluded with a demand that the platform of the suffrage association should recognize the equal rights of all parties, sects and races.

[80] There is no woman in the world who has wielded the gavel at as many conventions as has Miss Anthony.

[81] For account of Miss Anthony's determination not to accept the presidency see her Life and Work, p. 631.

[Pg 175]

## CHAPTER XI.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1891.

Immediately preceding the Twenty-third annual suffrage convention in 1891, the first triennial meeting took place of the National Council of Women, which had been formed in 1888. It was held in Albaugh's Opera House, Washington, beginning Sunday, February 22, and continuing four days, an assemblage of the most distinguished women of the nation in many lines of work. Miss Frances E. Willard presided and the other officers contributed to the success of the Council—Miss Susan B. Anthony, vice-president; Mrs. May Wright Sewall, corresponding secretary; Miss Mary F. Eastman, recording secretary; Mrs. M. Louise Thomas, treasurer. Ten national organizations were represented by official delegates and forty sent fraternal delegates.

The Sunday services were conducted entirely by women, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin giving the sermon from the text, "For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth". The program of the week included Charities, Education, Temperance, Religion, Organized Work, Political Status of Women, etc.[82] On Saturday evening Mrs. Jane H. Spofford gave a large reception at the Riggs House to the Council and the Suffrage Association. The latter held its sessions February 26-March 1, occupying the same beautifully decorated opera house which had been filled for four days by audiences in attendance at the Council, who kept on coming, scarcely knowing the difference.

The Call for this convention expressed the great joy over the[Pg 176] action of Congress during the past year in admitting Wyoming as a State with woman suffrage in its constitution:

> The admission of Wyoming into the Union as a State with equal rights for women guaranteed in its organic law, not only sets a seal of approval upon woman suffrage after a practical experience of twenty-one years, but it makes woman a recognized factor in national politics. Hereafter the Chief Executive and both Houses of Congress will owe their election partly to the votes of women. The injustice and absurdity of allowing women in one State to be sovereign rulers, and across the line in every direction obliging them to occupy the position of a subject class, taxed without representation and governed without consent—and this in a nation which by its Constitution guarantees equal rights to all the States and equal protection to all their citizens—must soon be manifest even to the most conservative and prejudiced. We therefore congratulate the friends of woman suffrage everywhere that at last there is one spot under the American flag where equal justice is done to women. Wyoming, all hail; the first true republic the world has ever seen!

The program attracted considerable attention from a design on the cover showing a woman yoked with an ox to the plow, and, looking down upon them a girl in a college cap and gown with the inscription, "Above the Senior Wrangler," referring to the recent victory at Cambridge University, England, by Philippa Fawcett, in outranking the male student who stood highest in mathematics. The first session was opened by the singing of Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert's inspiring hymn, The New America. After a welcome by Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble, president of the District W. S. A., Miss Anthony read the address of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was in England, entitled, The Degradation of Disfranchisement, which said in part:

> Disfranchisement is the last lingering shadow of the old spirit of caste which always has divided humanity into classes of greater or less inferiority, some even below certain animals that were considered special favorites with Heaven. One can not contemplate these revolting distinctions among mankind without amazement and disgust. This spirit of caste which has darkened the lives of millions through the centuries still lives. The discriminations against color and sex in the United States are but other forms of this same hateful spirit, still sustained by our religion as in the past. It is the outgrowth of the false ideas of favoritism ascribed to Deity in regard to races and individuals, but which have their origin in the mind of man. Banish the idea of divine authority for these machinations of the human mind, and the power of the throne and the church, of a royal family and an apostolic order of succession, of kings and[Pg 177] queens, of popes and bishops, and man's headship in the State, the Church, and the Home will be heard of no more forever....

> All men of intelligence appreciate the power of holding the ballot in their own hands; of having a voice in the laws under which they live; of enjoying the liberty of self-government. Those who have known the satisfaction of wielding political influence would not willingly accept the degradation of disfranchisement. Yet men can not understand why women should feel aggrieved at being deprived of this same protection, dignity and power. This is the Gibraltar of our difficulties to-day. We can not make men see that women feel the humiliation of their petty distinctions of sex precisely as the black man feels those of color. It is no palliation of our wrongs to say that we are not socially ostracized as he is, so long as we are politically ostracized as he is not. That all orders of foreigners also rank politically above the most intelligent, highly-educated women—native-born Americans—is indeed the most bitter drop in the cup of our grief which we are compelled to swallow....

> Again, the degradation of woman in the world of work is another result of her disfranchisement. Some deny that, and say the laboring classes of men have the ballot yet they are still helpless victims of capitalists. They have the power and hold the weapon of defense but have not yet learned how to use it. The bayonet, the sword, the gun, are of no value to the soldier until he knows how to wield them. Yet without the weapons of defense what could individuals and nations do in time of war for their own protection? The first step in learning to use a gun or a ballot is to possess one....

> Man has the prestige of centuries in his favor, with the force to maintain it, and he has possession of the throne, which is nine-tenths of the law. He has statutes and Scriptures and the universal usages of society all on his side. What have women? The settled dissatisfaction of half the race, the unorganized protests of the few, and the open resistance of still fewer. But we have truth and justice on our side and the natural love of freedom and, step by step, we shall undermine the present form of civilization and inaugurate the mightiest revolution the world has ever witnessed. But its far-reaching consequences themselves increase the obstacles in the way of success, for the selfish interests of all classes are against us. The rulers in the State are not willing to share their power with a class over whom as equals they could never obtain absolute control, whose votes they could not manipulate to maintain the present conditions of injustice and oppression....

> Again, the rulers in the church are hostile to liberty for a sex supposed for wise purposes to have been subordinated to man by divine decree. The equality of woman as a factor in religious organizations would compel an entire change in church canons, discipline, authority, and many doctrines of the Christian faith. As a matter of self-preservation, the church has no interest in the emancipation of woman, as its very existence depends on her blind faith....[Pg 178]

> Society at large, based on the principle that might makes right, has in a measure excluded women from the profitable industries of the world, and where she has gained a foothold her labor is at a discount. Man occupies the ground and holds the key to the situation. As employer, he plays the cheap labor of a disfranchised class against the employe, thus in a measure undermining his independence, making wife and daughter in the world of work the rivals of husband and father.

> The family, too, is based on the idea of woman's subordination, and man has no interest, as far as he sees, in emancipating her from that despotism by which his narrow, selfish interests are maintained under the law and religion of the country.

> Here, then, is a fourfold bondage, so many cords tightly twisted together, strong for one purpose. To attempt to undo one is to loosen all.... To my mind, if we had at first bravely untwisted all the strands of this fourfold cord which bound us, and demanded equality in the whole round of the circle, while perhaps, we should have had a harder battle to fight, it would have been more effective and far shorter. Let us henceforth meet conservatives on their own ground and admit that suffrage for woman does mean political, religious, industrial and social freedom—a new and a higher civilization....

> Woman's happiness and development are of more importance than all man's institutions. If constitutions and statute laws stand in the way of woman's emancipation, they must be amended to meet her wants and needs, of which she is a better judge than man possibly can be. If church canons and scriptures do not admit of woman's equal recognition in all the sacred offices, then they must be revised in harmony with that idea. If the present family life is necessarily based on man's headship, then we must build a new domestic altar, at which the mother shall have equal dignity, honor and power; and we do not propose to wait another century to secure all this; the time has come....

Miss Anthony, with an allusion to pioneer days, then introduced Lucy Stone, who, amid much applause, said that, while this was the first time she had stood beside Susan B. Anthony in a Washington suffrage convention, she had stood beside her on more than one hard-fought battle-field before many of those present were born. After sketching briefly the progress of the last forty years and giving some trying personal experiences, she said in conclusion: "The vote will not make a man of a woman, but it will enable her to demand and receive many things which are hers by right; to do the things which ought to be done, to prevent what ought not to be done. Women and men can help each other in making the world better. This is not an anti-man movement, but an effort toward the highest good of the race. We can[Pg 179] congratulate ourselves upon what we have gained, but the root of the evil still remains—the root of disfranchisement. All organizations of women should join with us in pulling steadily at this deeply-planted and obstinate root."

Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) read an able paper on Woman in Politics and Jurisprudence, in which she showed the necessity in politics and in law of a combination of the man's and the woman's nature, point of view and distinguishing characteristics.

The second evening Mrs. Julia Ward Howe gave an address on The Possibilities of the American Salon, and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer considered The Democratic Principle. Mrs. Spencer pointed out that the reason why the advance in the specific line of woman suffrage had not been so great as in some other directions was because its advocates had to contend with a reaction of disbelief in the democratic principle. In expressing her own faith in this principle she said: "There are wisdom enough and virtue enough in this country to take care of all its ignorance and wickedness. The difficulty is that the average American citizen does not know that he wears a crown. And oh, the pity of it, and the shame of it, when some of us women, who do feel the importance of the duty of suffrage and who need no man to teach us patriotism, wish to help in this work that any man should say us nay!"

Miss Florence Balgarnie, who brought the greetings of a number of great English associations,[83] gave a comprehensive sketch of The Status of Women in England. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin (Ills.) followed in an eloquent appeal that there should be no headship of either man or woman alone, but that both should represent humanity; government is a development of humanity and if woman is human she has an equal right in that development. Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick (Mass.) showed that the present supremacy of men was a reaction from the former undue supremacy of women, and brought out many historical points of deep interest. Mrs. Josephine K. Henry spoke on The Kentucky Constitutional Convention, illustrating the terrible injustice[Pg 180] of the laws of that State in regard to women and the vain efforts of the latter to have them changed. The Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley (R. I.) lifted the audience to the delectable heights, taking as a text, "Husband and Wife are One." After illustrating the tendency of all nature and all science toward unity and harmony, he said:

> Humanity is the whole. Men alone are half a sphere; women alone half a sphere; men and women together the whole of truth, the whole of love, the whole of aspiration. We have come to recognize this thought in nearly all the walks of life. We want to acknowledge it in the unity of mankind. The central thought we need in our creeds and in our lives is that of the solidarity and brotherhood of the race. This movement derives its greatest significance not because it opens a place here and there for women; not because it enables women to help men; but because in all the concerns of life it places man and woman side by side, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, putting their best thought, their finest feeling, their highest aspiration, into the work of the world. This reflection gives us a lasting and sublime satisfaction amid defeat and derision. Whatever of fortune or misfortune befalls the Suffrage Association in the carrying on of its work, this belief is the root which is calculated to sustain and inspire us—that this movement is the next step in the progress of the race towards the unification of humanity....

> I look forward to the time when men and women, labor and capital, all classes and all sections, shall work side by side with one great co-operative spirit, the denizens of the world and the keepers of human progress. When that time comes we may not have reached the millennium but we shall be nearer to it. We shall then together establish justice, temperance, purity of life, as never has been done before. Earth's aspirations then shall grow to events. The indescribable—that shall then be done.

U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey was introduced by Miss Anthony as "the man who on the floor of Congress fought Wyoming's battle for Statehood." His address on Wyoming, the True Republic, was a leading feature of the convention. He said in part:

> On the tenth day of July last, the State of Wyoming was born and the forty-fourth star took its place on the old flag. Never was first-born more warmly welcomed, for not only had a commonwealth been created, but the principle of equality of citizenship without regard to sex had been fully recognized and incorporated as a part of the constitution of the new State.

The adoption of a woman suffrage bill by the first Territorial Legislature was graphically described, and after relating the subsequent[Pg 181] efforts for its repeal, and its incorporation finally into the State constitution, he told of the struggle in Congress and said:

> While I would not make invidious distinctions by giving the names of those in both branches of Congress who favored Wyoming's admission, I wish to say that I was agreeably surprised to have many of the ablest members, both in public and private, disclose the fact that they firmly believed the time would come when women would be permitted to exercise full political rights throughout the United States. They rejoiced that an opportunity had presented itself by which they could show they had no prejudice or opposition in their hearts to women's exercising the rights of citizenship.

He closed with the following strong argument for the enfranchisement of women:

> Suffrage should be granted to women for two reasons: first, because it will help women; and second, because it will promote the interests of the State. Whatever doubt I may have entertained in the past concerning either the first or second proposition, has entirely disappeared. From the experiment made under my own eyes I can state in all candor that suffrage has been a real benefit to women. It gives them a character and standing which they would not otherwise possess. It does not lower a woman to be consulted about public affairs, but is calculated to make her more intelligent and thoughtful in matters that concern her own household, especially in bringing up her sons and daughters. It increases her interest in those things which concern the great body of the people. Men in office and out of office, particularly those who expect to serve the public, are compelled to be more considerate of her wishes, and more desirous of doing those things which will secure her approval. The greater the number of persons living under a government who are interested in the administration of its affairs, its well-being and the perpetuity of its institutions, the stronger the government and the more difficult it will be to compass its overthrow....

> We frequently hear it said that women will not vote if they have the opportunity; or, if permitted to vote, such an inconsiderable number will exercise the privilege that it will not be worth while to encumber the electoral system by granting it. In all matters in which women have an interest, as large a percentage vote as of the other sex. They have the same interest in all which pertains to good government. They have exercised the privilege of voting not in a careless and indifferent manner but in a way reflecting credit on their good sense and judgment.

> I know women who have exercised the fullest political rights for a period of more than twenty years. They have taken the deepest interest in the political affairs of the Territory and young State. Neither in their homes nor in public places have they lost one womanly[Pg 182] quality; but their minds have broadened and they have become more influential in the community in which they live. During these years I have never heard of any unhappiness brought into the home on account of women's exercising their political rights. A fair and unbiased test of this question has been made by the people of Wyoming, and no unprejudiced man or woman who has seen its workings, can now raise a single honest objection. Where women have voted, the family relation has not been destroyed, men have loved them none the less, the mountains have not been shaken from their foundations, nor have social earthquakes or political convulsions taken place....

> In order that women shall be more influential citizens of the State and better qualified to raise noble men and women to fight the battles of life, and to carry out the true purpose of this republic, they must possess the full rights of citizenship.

At the close of his speech the Senator was presented with a large basket of roses from the delegates.

Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) spoke on The Right of a Citizen to a Trial by a Jury of His Peers, showing that women never have possessed this right; that in many criminal cases, such as seduction and infanticide, women could better understand the temptations than could men; that the feminine heart, the maternal influence, are needed in the court-room as well as in the home. Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether (Tenn.) spoke in a keen, sarcastic but humorous manner of The Silent Seven, "the legally mute"—minors, aliens, paupers, criminals, lunatics, idiots and women.

The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw took for her subject Women vs. Indians, and reviewed the suffrage amendment campaign in South Dakota the previous year. In an address brimming and bubbling over with wit, satire and pathos, she showed how much greater consideration the Indians received from the men of that State than did women. She told how 45 per cent. of the votes cast the preceding year were for male Indian suffrage and only 37 per cent. for woman suffrage; how Indians in blankets and moccasins were received in the State convention with the greatest courtesy, and Susan B. Anthony and other eminent women were barely tolerated; how, while these Indians were engaged in their ghost dances, the white women were going up and down the State pleading for the rights of citizens; how the law in that State gives not only the property but the children to the husband, in the face of all the hardships endured by those pioneer wives and[Pg 183] mothers. She suggested that the solution of the Indian question should be left to a commission of women with Alice Fletcher at its head, and said in closing: "Let all of us who love liberty solve these problems in justice; and let us mete out to the Indian, to the negro, to the foreigner, and to the woman, the justice which we demand for ourselves, the liberty which we love for ourselves. Let us recognize in each of them that One above, the Father of us all, and that all are brothers, all are one."

The Moral and Political Emergency was presented by Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe (S. D.). Henry B. Blackwell and Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler described the South Dakota Campaign. Representative J. A. Pickler was introduced by Miss Anthony as the candidate who, when told that if he expressed his views on woman suffrage he would lose votes, expressed them more freely than ever and ran ahead of his ticket; and his wife as the woman who bade her husband to speak even if it lost him the office, and who was herself the only Congressman's wife that ever took the platform for the enfranchisement of women.

Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby took for her subject Ibsen's drama, A Doll's House, and discussed its ethical problems, closing with the sentence: "As long as the fighting qualities of woman remain, there is a chance for the nation to make a robust, steady progress; but if these die out and woman willingly surrenders herself for the sake of selfish ease to the dominance of man, civilization is arrested and true manhood becomes impossible." The convention ended with a scholarly address by Wm. Lloyd Garrison (Mass.) on The Social Aspect of the Woman Question.

The present officers were re-elected. Mrs. Lucia E. Blount (D. C.), chairman of the committee appointed to push the claim of Anna Ella Carroll, reported that a great deal of work had been done by Mr. and Mrs. Melvin A. Root of Michigan, Mrs. Colby and herself. Every possible effort had been made but the prospect was that Congress would do nothing for Miss Carroll. Miss Frances E. Willard brought an invitation from Mrs. Harrison to the National Council of Women and the members of all its auxiliary societies to attend a reception at the White House, which was accepted by the convention. Mrs. Ellen M. Henrotin presented[Pg 184] in the name of Mrs. Bertha Honoré Palmer an official invitation to the association to meet in Chicago during the Columbian Exposition, promising a hall which would seat five thousand.

Miss Anthony announced that she had engaged permanent headquarters for the association in the Wimodaughsis club building, which action was ratified. It was decided to give especial attention to suffrage work in the Southern States during the year. The wives of the two senators from Wyoming, Mrs. Warren and Mrs. Carey, occupied seats on the platform.

Mrs. Blake reported the work done by the Platform Committee in having suffrage resolutions endorsed by a large number of Labor Unions. Miss Sara Winthrop Smith had been equally successful in Granges and branches of the Knights of Labor. Dr. Frances Dickinson, Dr. Lucy Waite, Mrs. Corinne S. Brown and Mrs. Colby had visited the National Convention of Locomotive Engineers and secured the endorsement of a suffrage petition. They obtained also the cordial approval of T. V. Powderly and the Knights of Labor, and of Samuel Gompers and the Federation of Labor. The Illinois Trade and Labor Assembly endorsed their petition. All of these bodies circulated suffrage petitions among their members, as also did the Illinois Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association and the Grand Army Posts, a number of which were reported as heartily recommending the enfranchisement of women. Signatures representing millions of voters were thus obtained.[84]

In addition to the resolutions adopted by the convention bearing directly on suffrage, there was a demand for women on school boards and as physicians, matrons and managers in all public institutions containing women and children; and for a revision of the laws on marriage and property.

On Sunday afternoon a great audience assembled for the closing exercises. The sermon was given by the Rev. Caroline J. Bartlett from the text, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." It had been said on the preceding Sunday that the sermon of Miss Hultin could not be equalled. The verdict now was that the honors must be evenly divided.

### FOOTNOTES:

[82] A complete report of the able addresses made by specialists in these subjects was prepared by the new corresponding secretary, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, and placed by Miss Anthony in the large libraries of the country.

[83] The Central National Society for Women's Suffrage; the Women's Franchise Leagues of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bedford, Bridgeport, Leicester, Nottingham and York; the Bristol Woman's Temperance Association; the International Arbitration and Peace Society; the Woman Councillors' Society; the Women's Federal Association of Great Britain.

[84] The funds necessary for this work were furnished by J. W. Hedenberg of Chicago, who also made a personal appeal to many of these bodies; but he claimed possession of the petitions, and for some reason never permitted them to be presented to Congress.

[Pg 185]

## CHAPTER XII.

### NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION AND HEARINGS OF 1892.

The Twenty-fourth annual woman suffrage convention, held in the Church of Our Father, Washington, D. C., Jan. 17-21, 1892, was preceded by the usual services at three o'clock on Sunday afternoon. The text of the sermon, by the Rev. Mila Tupper, was "Think on these things" and it was devoted to a lofty consideration of "success through the moral power of ideals." Unexpectedly the congressional hearings were set for Monday morning, which called to the Capitol both Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony, president and vice-president of the association. The convention was called to order by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, and Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard (O.) was made chairman pro tem. Twenty-six States were represented by seventy-six delegates, the reports showed a year of unprecedented activity and there were requests from every State for speakers and organizers. The treasurer reported receipts for the past year, $3,830.

The executive sessions throughout the convention were spirited and interesting. After some discussion it was decided to carry the work into the Southern States, and also to appropriate money and workers for Kansas, where it was likely that an amendment for full suffrage soon would be submitted. It was voted to accept the space offered at the Columbian Exposition, to furnish and decorate a booth, circulate literature, etc. The motion to have the next meeting in Chicago during the Fair renewed the question of holding alternate conventions in some other city besides Washington, but the measure was defeated.

Mrs. Stanton introduced a resolution in favor of keeping the World's Fair open on Sunday, which was advocated and opposed with great earnestness. The majority of opinion evidently was in favor of opening the gates on Sunday but many felt that the[Pg 186] subject was not germane to the purposes of the association, while others were conscientiously opposed to Sunday opening. Finally, in the midst of the controversy Mrs. Stanton withdrew her resolution, saying that she had offered it largely for the sake of discussion. Miss Shaw presented a resolution opposing the sale of intoxicating liquor on the Fair Grounds, saying that she did so as a matter of conscience and in order that it might go on record. It was voted to call an international suffrage meeting at Chicago during the Columbian Exposition. Miss Anthony urged more systematic organization, special efforts with the Legislatures, the securing of a Woman's Day at all Chautauqua Assemblies, county fairs, camp meetings, etc.

At the earnest request of Mrs. Stanton, who had now reached the age of seventy-six, she was permitted to retire from the presidency, and Miss Anthony, aged seventy-two, was elected in her place. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw was made vice-president-at-large. Lucy Stone, who was now seventy-four, begged to be released as chairman of the executive committee, which was then abolished, the duties being transferred to the business committee consisting of all the officers of the association. Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Stone were made honorary presidents.

This was Mrs. Stanton's last appearance at a national convention after an attendance of forty years, but she never failed to take an active interest in the proceedings and to send her speech to be read by Miss Anthony. This also was the last time Lucy Stone appeared upon the national platform, as she died the next year, and Miss Anthony alone, of this remarkable trio of women, was left to carry forward the great work.

The addresses of this convention were up to the high standard of those which had preceded them during the past years, and no organization in existence, of either men or women, can show a more brilliant record of oratory. As Mrs. Stanton, Lucy Stone and Miss Anthony came on the platform the first evening they were enthusiastically applauded. The mental and physical vigor of Mrs. Stanton was much commented upon as in a rich and resonant voice she read the speech which she had that morning delivered before the Judiciary Committee of the House. It was entitled The Solitude of Self, and is considered by many to be her masterpiece.[Pg 187]

Lucy Stone discussed The Outlook with clear vision. She contrasted the woman of the past, her narrow life, her limited education, her inferior position, with the educated, ambitious, independent woman of to-day, and urged that the latter should be equal to her opportunities, lay aside all frivolous things and labor unceasingly to secure for her sex an absolute equality of civil and political rights.

In the half-humorous address of Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.) on The Golden Rule, she said:

> I am firmly convinced that our present powerless—I may almost say ignominious—position arises not so much, as many aver, from the lukewarmness of our own sex as from the supreme and absolute indifference of men. With a few honorable exceptions, men do not care one iota whether we vote or not....

> Now if only men would take to betting on this question of woman suffrage, if we could open it up as a field of speculation, if we could manipulate it by some sort of patent process into stocks or bonds and have it introduced into Wall Street, we should very soon find ourselves emancipated. I keep on hoping that, by some fortuitous chance, fate may eventually execute for us as brilliant a coup d'etat as did General Butler for the colored slaves when he made them contraband of war, so that we shall just tumble into freedom as they did very soon thereafter. Until then let us trust in God, keep our powder very dry and our armies well drilled and disciplined.

In an inspiring address on The True Daughters of the Republic, Mme. Clara Neymann (N. Y.) pointed out the splendid material progress of our country under the guidance of men, and urged that women should be the power to lift it up to an equally exalted spiritual plane. The paper of Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) on Wyoming, in which as a Territory women had voted for twenty years and as a State for two years, presented a most convincing array of statistics proving the benefits of equal suffrage. Ex-Governor John W. Hoyt of Wyoming came to the platform and corroborated these statements, paying a fine tribute to the political influence of women. He was followed by Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether (Tenn.), whose reputation as a humorist was fully sustained in her clever portrayal of Dreams that Go by Contraries. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt (N. Y.) gave a brilliant address on The Mission of a Republic.

In discussing The Value of Organizations for Women, Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon (La.) said:[Pg 188]

> Among the various organizations of women the suffrage society must rank first, for its demands have reached out and embraced every reform which comes under the head of right, justice or charity; and I am firmly persuaded that if the demand for the ballot, the full right of citizenship, had not been made the foundation of all other advantages, our organization would have fallen apart and drifted into the more conservative and popular lines along which less courageous women have successfully worked....

> Financial independence has been gained by many women, who, proud of their own success, never try to benefit others, and fail to comprehend the debt they owe to the brave, unselfish ones who first made demands for them and who never ceased their efforts until one after another the barriers were removed and opportunities secured for thousands which they never could have found themselves. It was this stanch band of pioneers, defying criticism, scorn and hate, who forced open college doors, invaded the law courts and stubbornly contested every inch of ground so persistently held by fraud or force from the daughters of the great republic....

> Organized as women now are, they could pour such an overwhelming moral influence into the political life of the country as to become its saving grace; for when women vote they will show good men, who have weakly shrunk from political duty, that they have a moral and clean constituency to stand with them.

The platform proceedings of the convention closed with Miss Shaw's splendid delineation of The Injustice of Chivalry.

Every suffrage convention for the last twelve years had been preceded by a handsome reception at the Riggs House. This well-known and commodious hotel had been the convention headquarters, and it also had been the winter home of Miss Anthony, where she remained as a guest of the proprietor, C. W. Spofford, and his wife, being thus enabled to do a vast amount of congressional and political work, such as never has been done since. The hotel now had passed into other hands and the Washington Post, in speaking of this matter, said: "The delegates feel like lost sheep without Mrs. Spofford's hospitality at the Riggs House, which has always been headquarters for suffragist and all women's conventions. Probably no one but those in the inner circle will ever know just how much Mrs. Spofford has done for the advancement of women in every direction. Whatever was hers was at the disposal of the leaders, and in the absence of so much assistance it is appreciated more nearly at its real worth."

MRS. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.
Honorary President of National-American Woman Suffrage Association.

The new club house of Wimodaughsis was opened for a reception to the delegates by the District W. S. A., with Miss Anthony,[Pg 189] Lucy Stone, Mrs. Stanton, Henry B. Blackwell, and Miss Shaw, president of Wimodaughsis, as guests of honor. All made clever little speeches toward the close of the evening, which were supplemented with remarks by Senator Joseph M. Carey (Wy.), Representatives J. A. Pickler (S. D.), Martin N. Johnson (N. D.) and the Rev. Dr. Corey of the Metropolitan church.

The hearing on January 17 was held for the first time before a Judiciary Committee of the House, the majority of which was Democratic.[85] The Washington Star said: "The new members of the committee were apparently surprised at receiving such a talk from a woman and there was the most marked attention on the part of every one present. Their surprise was still greater when they found that Mrs. Stanton was not a phenomenal exception, but that every woman there could make an argument which would do credit to the best of public men."

The hearing before the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage was held the morning of February 20. Four of the greatest women this nation ever produced addressed this committee, asking for themselves and their sex a privilege which is freely granted without the asking to every man, no matter how humble, how ignorant, how unworthy, who is not included within the category of the insane, the idiotic, the convicted criminal—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Isabella Beecher Hooker. Mrs. Stanton (N. Y.) gave her address, The Solitude of Self, in place of the old arguments so many times repeated, saying in part:

> The point I wish plainly to bring before you on this occasion is the individuality of each human soul—our Protestant idea, the right of individual conscience and judgment—our republican idea, individual citizenship. In discussing the rights of woman, we are to consider, first, what belongs to her as an individual, in a world of her own, the arbiter of her own destiny, an imaginary Robinson Crusoe with her woman Friday on a solitary island. Her rights under such circumstances are to use all her faculties for her own safety and happiness.

> Secondly, if we consider her as a citizen, as a member of a great[Pg 190] nation, she must have the same rights as all other members, according to the fundamental principles of our Government.

> Thirdly, viewed as a woman, an equal factor in civilization, her rights and duties are still the same—individual happiness and development.

> Fourthly, it is only the incidental relations of life, such as mother, wife, sister, daughter, which may involve some special duties and training. In the usual discussion in regard to woman's sphere, such men as Herbert Spencer, Frederick Harrison and Grant Allen uniformly subordinate her rights and duties as an individual, as a citizen, as a woman, to the necessities of these incidental relations, some of which a large class of women never assume. In discussing the sphere of man we do not decide his rights as an individual, as a citizen, as a man, by his duties as a father, a husband, a brother or a son, some of which he may never undertake. Moreover he would be better fitted for these very relations, and whatever special work he might choose to do to earn his bread, by the complete development of all his faculties as an individual. Just so with woman. The education which will fit her to discharge the duties in the largest sphere of human usefulness, will best fit her for whatever special work she may be compelled to do.

> The isolation of every human soul and the necessity of self-dependence must give each individual the right to choose his own surroundings. The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her forces of mind and body; for giving her the most enlarged freedom of thought and action; a complete emancipation from all forms of bondage, of custom, dependence, superstition; from all the crippling influences of fear—is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life. The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread, is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty; because, as an individual, she must rely on herself....

> To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes; to deny the rights of property is like cutting off the hands. To refuse political equality is to rob the ostracized of all self-respect, of credit in the market place, of recompense in the world of work, of a voice in choosing those who make and administer the law, a choice in the jury before whom they are tried, and in the judge who decides their punishment. Shakespeare's play of Titus and Andronicus contains a terrible satire on woman's position in the nineteenth century—"Rude men seized the king's daughter, cut out her tongue, cut off her hands, and then bade her go call for water and wash her hands." What a picture of woman's position! Robbed of her natural rights, handicapped by law and custom at every turn, yet compelled to fight her own battles, and in the emergencies of life to fall back on herself for protection....

> How the little courtesies of life on the surface of society, deemed[Pg 191] so important from man towards woman, fade into utter insignificance in view of the deeper tragedies in which she must play her part alone, where no human aid is possible!

> Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like individual responsibility. Nothing adds such dignity to character as the recognition of one's self-sovereignty; the right to an equal place, everywhere conceded—a place earned by personal merit, not an artificial attainment by inheritance, wealth, family and position. Conceding then that the responsibilities of life rest equally on man and woman, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time and eternity. The talk of sheltering woman from the fierce storms of life is the sheerest mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the compass, just as they do on man, and with more fatal results, for he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, to conquer....

> In music women speak again the language of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and are worthy interpreters of their great thoughts. The poetry and novels of the century are theirs, and they have touched the keynote of reform in religion, politics and social life. They fill the editor's and professor's chair, plead at the bar of justice, walk the wards of the hospital, speak from the pulpit and the platform. Such is the type of womanhood that an enlightened public sentiment welcomes to-day, and such the triumph of the facts of life over the false theories of the past.

> Is it, then, consistent to hold the developed woman of this day within the same narrow political limits as the dame with the spinning wheel and knitting needle occupied in the past? No, no! Machinery has taken the labors of woman as well as man on its tireless shoulders; the loom and the spinning wheel are but dreams of the past; the pen, the brush, the easel, the chisel, have taken their places, while the hopes and ambitions of women are essentially changed.

> We see reason sufficient in the outer conditions of human beings for individual liberty and development, but when we consider the self-dependence of every human soul, we see the need of courage, judgment and the exercise of every faculty of mind and body, strengthened and developed by use, in woman as well as man....

With the earnest persuasiveness for which she had been noted nearly half a century, Lucy Stone (Mass.) said:

> I come before this committee with the sense which I always feel, that we are handicapped as women in what we try to do for ourselves by the single fact that we have no vote. This cheapens us. You do not care so much for us as if we had votes, so that we come always with that infinite disadvantage.

> But the thing I want to say particularly is that we have our immortal Declaration of Independence and the various bills of rights of the different States (George Washington advised us to recur often to first principles), and in these nothing is clearer than the basis of the claim that women should have equal rights with men. A complete government is a perfectly just government....[Pg 192]

> What I desire particularly to impress upon this committee is the gross and grave injustice of holding thirty millions of women absolutely helpless under the Government. The laws touch us at every point. From the time the girl baby is born until the time the aged woman makes her last will and testament, there is not one of her affairs which the law does not control. It says who shall own the property, and what rights the woman shall have; it settles all her affairs, whether she shall buy or sell or will or deed....

> Persons are elected by men to represent them in Congress and the State Legislatures, and here are these millions of women, with just the same stake in the Government that men have, with a class interest of their own, and with not one solitary word to say or power to help settle any of the things which concern them.

> Men know the value of votes and the possession of power, and I look at them and wonder how it is possible for them to be willing that their own mothers, sisters, wives and daughters should be debarred from the possession of like power. We have been going to the Legislature in Massachusetts longer than Mrs. Stanton has been coming here. We asked that when a husband and wife make a contract with each other, as for instance, if the wife loan the husband her money, the contract should be considered valid just as it would be between any other parties—for now in case the husband fails in business, she can not get her money—and the Legislature very kindly gave us leave to withdraw. Then we asked that when a man dies and the wife is left alone, with the whole burden of life on her shoulders, the law might give her more than forty days in which to stay in her home without paying rent. But we could not defeat one of our legislators, and they cared not a cent for our petition and less than a cent for our opinion; and so when we asked for this important measure they gave us leave to withdraw.

> They respect the wants of the voter, but they care nothing about the wants of those who do not have votes. So, when we asked for protection for wives beaten by their husbands, and that the husband should be made to give a portion of his earnings to support the minor children, again we had leave to withdraw....

> I can think of nothing so helpless and humiliating as the position of a disfranchised person. I do not know whether I am treading on dangerous toes when I say that, after the late war the Government in power wished to punish Jefferson Davis, and it considered that the worst punishment it could inflict upon him was to take away his right to vote. Now, the odium which attached to him from his disfranchisement is just the same as attaches to women from their disfranchisement. The only persons who are not allowed to vote in Massachusetts are the lunatics, idiots, felons and people who can not read and write. In what a category is this to place women, after one hundred years and at the close of this nineteenth century? And yet that is history. In Massachusetts we are trying to get a small concession—the right to vote in the cities and towns in which we live in regard to the taxes we have to pay. In 1792, in Newburyport, Mass., it was not thought necessary to give women education.[Pg 193] At that time there were no schools for girls; the public money was not so used, and when one man said he had five daughters, and paid his taxes like other men, and his girls were not allowed to attend school, and that they ought to give the girls a chance, another man said, "Take the public money and educate shes? Never!"

> Remember this was one hundred years ago. Some of the fathers urged that the girls should be educated in the public schools, and so the men—God forgive them!—said, "We will let the girls go in the morning between 6 and 8 o'clock, before the boys want the schoolhouse." Just think of the time those girls would have to rise in order to have a little instruction before the boys got there! This plan did not work well, and the teacher was directed not to teach females any longer. Every descendant of those men now feels ashamed of them; and I think that in one hundred years the children of the men who are now letting us come here, year after year, pleading for suffrage, will feel ashamed. Men would rather lose anything than their votes; they would fight for their right of suffrage, and if anybody attempted to deprive them of it there would be war to the knife and the knife to the hilt. We come here to carry on our bloodless warfare, praying that the privilege granted in the foundation of the Government should be applied to women....

> What we look forward to is part of the eternal order. It is not possible that thirty millions of women should be held forever as lunatics, fools and criminals. It is not possible, as the years go on, that each person should not at least have the right to look after his or her own interests. As the home is at its best when the father and mother consult together in regard to the family interests, so it is with the Government. I do not think a man can see from a man's point of view all the things that a woman needs, or a woman from her single point of view all the things that a man needs. Now men have brought their best, and also brought their worst, into the Government, and it is all here, but the thing you have not at all is the qualities which women possess, the feminine qualities. It has been said that women are more economical, peaceful and law-abiding than men, and all these qualities are lacking in the Government today.... But whether this be so or not, it is right that every class should be heard in behalf of its own interest....

> Now, gentlemen, I hope you will try to make this case your own. It is simple justice and fair play, and it is also a fundamental principle of the Government. Here we are trying to have a complete republic, and yet there are twelve millions of disfranchised adults. I believe that among the great people—and by the people I do not mean men, but men and women, the whole people—nothing creates such disrespect for a fundamental principle as not to apply it. The Government was founded upon the principle that those who obey the laws should make them, and yet it shuts out a full half. As long as this continues to be done, it certainly tends to create disrespect for the principle itself. Do you not see it? Why not reach out a hand to woman and say, "Come and help us make the laws and secure fair play"?

[Pg 194]

At the close of this argument Miss Anthony said: "We have with us one not so old in our cause as Mrs. Stone—I never call myself old because I shall be young until the crack of doom—and that is Mrs. Hooker, a sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher. The world has always made special place for the family of Beechers."

Mrs. Hooker (Conn.) spoke very briefly, saying: "You all know those old Jewish words in the Decalogue, 'Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee.' If we want to help the republic, if we want to perpetuate the institutions our fathers brought across the water, we must honor the mothers equally with the fathers in the Government. To-day the laws compel our sons the moment they are twenty-one to come to us and say: 'My mother, I owe you much; sometimes I think all that is good in me has come from you, but to-day you will retire and I will rule. I will no longer listen to your counsel; but I will make the laws for you and my sisters, and you must obey them. Henceforth I am your ruler.' Now, friends, a Government can not last long which teaches its sons disrespect to its mothers. It is in line with our principles that we recognize the mother element in the Government as well as in the family."

Miss Anthony closed the hearing with a strong appeal for a report from the committee which should recommend Congress to submit a Sixteenth Amendment and allow the women of the country to carry their case to the State Legislatures. The committee seemed much impressed by the arguments, but evidently there was no change of opinion.[86]

A hearing was granted February 17 by the House Judiciary Committee, with delegates present from twenty-six States. Addresses were made in part as follows:

> Mrs. Chapman Catt: ... You know that in these modern years there has been a great deal of talk about natural rights, and we have had an innumerable host of philosophers writing books to tell us what natural rights are. I believe that to-day both scientists and philosophers are agreed that they are the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to free speech, the right to go where you will and when you please, the right to earn your own living and the[Pg 195] right to do the best you can for yourself. One of the greatest of those philosophers and writers, Herbert Spencer, has accorded to woman the same natural rights as to man. I believe every thoughtful man in the United States to-day concedes that point.

> The ballot has been for man a means of defending these natural rights. Even now in some localities of the world those rights are still defended by the revolver, as in former days, but in peaceable communities the ballot is the weapon by means of which they are protected. We find, as women citizens, that when we are wronged, when our rights are infringed upon, inasmuch as we have not this weapon with which to defend them, they are not considered, and we are very many times imposed upon. We find that the true liberty or the American people demands that all citizens to whom these rights have been accorded should have that weapon....

> Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether (Tenn.): "Oh, Cæsar, we who are about to die salute you!" was the gladiators' cry in the arena, standing face to face with death and with the Roman populace. All over this fair city, youth and beauty, freshness and joy, stand with welcoming hands, calling you to all pleasures of ear and eye, of soul and sense. But here, into the inner sanctuary of your deepest, gravest thought, come, year after year, a little band of women over whose heads the snows of many winters and of many sorrows have sifted. Here "we who are about to die salute you." We do not come asking for gifts of profit or preferment for ourselves; for us the day for ban or benison has almost passed. But we ask for greater freedom, for better conditions for the children of our love, whom we shall so soon leave behind. In the short space allowed each petitioner we have not time to ask for much. But in my State the grandmothers of seventy are growing weary of being classed with the grandsons of seven. They fail to find a valid reason why they should be relegated to perpetual legal and political childhood.

> Years ago, when the bugle call rang out over this unhappy land, as the men rallied to the standard of their State, we, the wives and mothers, who had no voice in bringing about those cruel conditions, were called to give up our brightest and best for cannons' food. We furnished the provisions, ministered on the battlefield, nursed in the hospital; we, equally with our brothers, regarded "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor" only as gifts held in trust to spend and be spent for home and State. And to-day when we see the wayfaring man, who probably hails from a penal institution of the Old World, who honors no home, no country and no political faith, freely enjoying the right to say who shall make and who shall enforce the laws by which we women are governed, we grow weary of being classed as perpetual aliens upon our nation's soil.

> The honest, industrious, bread-winning women of Tennessee do not enjoy the knowledge that the pauper of their State is their political superior. Four years ago we saw it practically demonstrated that when a great moral issue was at stake the male pauper could cast his ballot without hindrance from the penal code, but if the widow or the single woman, who earned and owned property and[Pg 196] paid her quota of the tax for his support, should attempt to cast a counteracting ballot, her penalty would be fine or imprisonment.

> Year after year we have journeyed to the Mecca of the petitioner—the legislative halls. There we have asked protection for our boys from the temptation of the open saloon; we have asked that around our baby girls the wall of protection might be raised at least a little higher than ten years; we have asked for reform schools for boys, where they should not be thrown in daily contact with old and hardened criminals. Year after year we have pleaded for better conditions for the children to whom we have given the might of our love, the strength and labor of our lives; but in not one instance has that prayer been granted. And at last we have found the reason why. A senator in a sister State said to a body of petitioners: "Ladies, you won't get your bill, but your defeat will be a paying investment if it only teaches you that the politician, little or big, is now, always was, and always will be, the drawn image, pocket edition, safety valve and speaking-trumpet of the fellow that voted him in."

> Gentlemen, we ask your help to the end that not we, perhaps, but the daughters and granddaughters whom we leave behind, may be counted with "those that voted him in."

> Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf (N. Y.): Soon after I came to Washington to make it my home for two years, one clear, bright morning I drove up to this Capitol with a friend. As we ascended the hill on the left we warmly expressed our admiration for the beautiful structure within whose walls we are now standing, and were enthusiastic in our admiration for those who so nobly planned that, with the growth of the nation, there could be a commensurate outstretching of its legislative halls without loss to the dignity of the whole. We drove slowly around the front and commenced the descent on the opposite side, when I called to the driver to stop in order that we might feast our eyes on the inspiring view which lay before us. There rose Washington Monument so simple yet so grand, and I recalled the fact that in its composition it fitly represented the Union of the States. My heart swelled and my eyes overflowed as I thought of the grand idea embodied in this Government, the possibilities of this country's future. The lines of "My country, 'tis of thee," rose to my lips, but they died there.

> Whence came my right to speak those words? True I was born here; true I was taught from my earliest youth to repeat the glorious words of Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and other patriots; but when I grew to womanhood I had to learn the bitter lesson that these words applied only to men; that I simply counted as one in the population; that I must submit to be governed by the laws in the selection of whose makers I had no choice; that my consent to be governed would never be asked; that for my taxation there would be no representation; that, so far as my right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" was concerned, others must judge for me; that I had no voice for myself; that I was a woman without a country, and only on the plane of political equality with the insane, the[Pg 197] idiot, the pauper, Indians not taxed, the criminal, and the unnaturalized foreigner.

> Honorable gentlemen, women come here annually to ask that these wrongs be righted. To-day we have come again to entreat that, as you have extended this building to meet the needs of the people, you will extend your thought of the people and make it possible that the principle underlying the Government of this country may be embodied in a law which will make the daughters of the land joint heirs with the sons to all the rights and privileges of an enfranchised people. In the name of the women of the State of New York, I ask it.

> Miss Alice Stone Blackwell (Mass.): Except where there is some very strong reason to the contrary, it is generally admitted that every man has a right to be consulted in regard to his own concerns. The laws which he has to obey and the taxes he has to pay are things that do most intimately concern him, and the only way of being directly consulted in regard to them, under our form of government, is through the ballot. Is there any very good reason why women should not be free to be consulted in this direct manner? Let us consider a few of the reasons which are generally given against this freedom of women, and see whether they are good.

> It is said that women do not need to vote, because they are virtually represented by their husbands, fathers and brothers. The first trouble with this doctrine of virtual representation is that it is not according to numbers. I know a man who had a wife, a widowed mother, four unmarried daughters and five unmarried sisters. According to this theory his vote represented himself and all those eleven women. Yet it counted but one, just the same as the vote of his next-door bachelor neighbor without a female relative in the world.

> Then, again, suppose that all the women in one family do not think alike. A member of our Massachusetts Legislature had two daughters. One was a suffragist, the other was so much opposed that she used to burn the Woman's Journal as soon as it came in the house. How was that man to represent both his daughters by his single vote on the suffrage question? Instead of two daughters he might have had three, one a Republican, one a Democrat and the other a Prohibitionist. How could he have represented all of them by his one vote unless he had voted "early and often?"

> Again, in order to represent the women of his family a man may have to go without representation himself. There was a case of an old gentleman in Chicago, a Greenbacker, who had three daughters, all of whom were Republicans. When election day approached his three daughters said to him that he was the natural representative of their family—he had always told them so, and they fully agreed with him—and they pointed out to him how very wrong it would be, when that family consisted of three Republicans and only one Greenbacker, with but one ballot to represent the family, that it should be cast for the Greenback candidate. The old gentleman was conscientious and consistent and, although he was a man of strong Greenback[Pg 198] convictions, he actually voted the Republican ticket in order to represent his daughters. It was the nearest he could come to representing them under this theory. But did it give that family any accurate or adequate representation? Evidently not. The Greenback candidate was entitled to one vote from that family, and he did not get it; and the Republican candidate was entitled to three ballots, and he got only one. And then, in order to represent his daughters, that chivalrous father had to go without any representation himself. It is evident that the only fair way to get at public sentiment in such a case is for each member of the family to have one vote, and thus represent himself or herself.

> Another proof that women are not virtually represented is to be found in the laws as they actually exist. These one-sided laws were not made because men meant to be unjust or unkind to women, but simply because they naturally looked at things mainly from their own point of view. It does not indicate any special depravity on the part of men. I have no doubt that if women alone had made the laws, those laws would be just as one-sided as they are to-day, only in the opposite direction.

> It is said that if women are enfranchised, husbands and wives will vote just alike, and you will simply double the vote and have no change in the result. Then, in the next breath, it is said that husbands and wives would vote for opposing candidates, and then there would be matrimonial quarrels. If they vote just alike there will be no harm done, and this good may be done—the women will be broadened by a knowledge of public affairs, and husband and wife will have a subject of mutual interest in which they can sympathize with each other. In cases where husband and wife do not think alike as to who will make the best selectmen, for instance, you will admit that is hardly sufficient to cause them to quarrel; but if they should think differently on very many other points, they would quarrel anyway, so that politics would not make much difference with them.

> Then it is said that women do not want to vote, and in proof it is said they do not vote generally for school committeemen where allowed to do so. We all know that the size of the vote cast at any election is just in proportion to the amount of interest that election calls forth. At a Presidential election nearly all the voters turn out; in an ordinary State election only about half; at a municipal election only a small fraction of the men take the trouble to vote. The Troy Press states that at a recent election in Syracuse for a board of education, out of about 3,000 qualified voters only 40 voted.

> Then, it is said that this movement is making no progress; that while the movements along other lines are largely succeeding, there has been no advance along this line. Twenty-five years ago, with insignificant exceptions, women could not vote anywhere. To-day they have school suffrage in twenty-three States, full suffrage in Wyoming, municipal suffrage in Kansas, and municipal suffrage for single women and widows in England, Scotland and most of the British provinces. The common sense of the world is slowly but surely working toward the enfranchisement of women.[Pg 199]

> Mrs. Annie L. Diggs (Kan.): You remember the time when the theoretical objection was often urged that if the suffrage was given to women, men would cease to show them the proper respect. For instance, the weighty argument was made that they would not raise their hats when they met women on the street, and that they would not give up their seats in the cars. But, gentlemen, you should just see how they take off their hats to us in Kansas, and how every man of them gets up and offers us his seat when we come into a street car!

> It was also urged that if the ballot were put into the hands of women it would be detrimental to the interests of the home. There is not a man in the State to-day who would venture to go before a Kansas audience and urge that objection. There is not a man there who would be willing to jeopardize his political, social or business interests by casting any kind of obloquy upon the women who have exercised the right of the elective franchise for the last five years. This is the result of success. We have Municipal Suffrage. One little ounce of fact outweighs whole tons of theory....

> The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw (Penn.): Yesterday I noticed in a report of our hearing before the Judiciary Committee of the House the headline, "Appeals to Deaf Ears". And I said, "Has it come to this, that when earnest and sincere women of this great country make an appeal to the heads of the Government it is dubbed an 'Appeal to Deaf Ears'?" Time was when the British Government thought our ancestors had not sufficient merit in their cause to be heard, and when they made an "appeal to deaf ears". But the time came when those ears were unstopped and they heard, and what they heard was the cry of victory by a free people. We may be appealing to deaf ears to-day, but the time is coming when it will not be so. Men will hear and, hearing, they will answer, because ultimately men desire the right. If I were asked what I conscientiously believe the real condition of the hearts of most men to be, I should say they are positively ignorant in regard to the justice of this matter, and if it could be brought properly before them, they would stand on the side of justice and right for women.

> Therefore I desire only to say that I know from my travels all over the country, conferring with the intelligent women to bring before them this great principle, that the good work is going on. It may be deafness yesterday and partial hearing to-day, but it will be full hearing to-morrow. To-day we may be blind to the truth; to-morrow we shall see the whole truth. We may not have another centennial before we shall see justice for all human kind.

> You know, gentlemen, that this Government exists for only three things, and in those every woman is as much interested as every man. It exists for the administration of justice, for the protection of person and property, and for the development of society. Just as you and all men have persons and property to protect, so we women have. We are because of our nature and because it seems as if the Almighty had intended it should be so, more interested than men in the development of society. Wherever there is[Pg 200] any movement for the uplifting of society you will find women in the forefront. There never has been any great movement in this nation when women have not stood side by side with the noblest and truest men.

> We do to-day nine-tenths of the philanthropic work, nine-tenths of the church work, and form three-fourths of the church membership. We are the teachers of the young; we are the mothers of the race. If you want the noblest men you must have the noblest mothers. "Eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive" the kind of men and women God had in view when He created man in His own likeness and gave to male and female dominion over the world, to subdue it and to bring out of it the best things.

> You who talk of a great Government in which the voice of God is heard must remember that, if "the voice of the people is the voice of God," you never will know what that is until you get the voice of the people, and you will find it has a soprano as well as a bass. You must join the soprano voice of God to the bass voice in order to get the harmony of the Divine voice. Then you will have a law which will enable you to say, "We are a people justly ruled, because in this nation the voice of the people is the voice of God, and the voice of the people has been heard."

Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles (R. I.) said in the course of her remarks: "The conditions surrounding women to-day are quite different from what they were in the days of our grandmothers. Women are becoming property earners and owners, as they were not in those former times before they began asking for the ballot. Twenty-five per cent. or more of the women of this country are property owners. Nearly nine-tenths of the laws are made for the protection of property and of those who own it and who earn wages. Now it seems to me that this twenty-five per cent. of the women should have a voice in the making of laws for the protection of their property and of their right to earn a living...."

Mrs. Colby thus closed her address on Wyoming: "Having thus shown that the twenty-two years' experience of woman suffrage has been satisfactory to the citizens of Wyoming; that it has conduced to good order in the elections and to the purity of politics; that the educational system is improved and that teachers are paid without regard to sex; that Wyoming stands alone in a decreased proportion of crime and divorce; and that it has elevated the personal character of both sexes—what possible good is there left to speak of as coming to that State from woman suffrage save its position as the vanguard of progress and human[Pg 201] freedom. Not the Bartholdi statue in New York harbor, but Wyoming on the crest of the continent, the first true republic, represents Liberty enlightening the world."

Short addresses were made also by Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard, Mrs. Mary Jewett Telford, the Rev. Mila F. Tupper, Mrs. Marble, Dr. Frances Dickinson, Miss H. Augusta Howard, Mrs. Saxon, Mrs. Hannah J. Bailey, Mrs. Evaleen L. Mason and Mrs. Olive Pond Amies.[87]

The Post, in an account of the Senate hearing, said: "Miss Anthony called attention to Senator Hoar as the gentleman who had presented the first favorable suffrage report to the Senate in 1879. Everybody shouted "Stand up," and as he retired deeper into his leather chair they continued to cry, "Up, up!" It was a tableau when the Senator found his feet, and at the same time was confronted with a round of applause and a volley of white handkerchiefs waved at him in Chautauqua style. He capped the climax by moving at once a favorable report. Laurel wreaths and bouquets would have been Senator Hoar's portion if they had been available, but the women all assured him afterward of their sincere appreciation. The hearing was held in the ladies' reception room, which was completely filled."

These matchless arguments had no effect upon the Democratic members of the committee, but Senator Warren of Wyoming made a favorable report for himself, Senators Hoar of Massachusetts, Quay of Pennsylvania and Allen of Washington, which concluded by saying: "The majority of the members of this committee, believing that equal suffrage, regardless of sex, should be the legitimate outgrowth of the principles of a republican form of government, and that the right of suffrage should be conferred upon the women of the United States, earnestly recommend the passage of the amendment submitted herewith."

Senators Vance of North Carolina and George of Mississippi filed the same minority report which already had done duty several times, although the former was said to have declared that the speeches of the women surpassed anything he ever had heard, and that their logic, if used in favor of any other measure, could not fail to carry it.

### FOOTNOTES:

[85] David B. Culberson, Tex.; William C. Oates, Ala.; Thomas R. Stockdale, Miss.; Charles J. Boatner, La.; Isaac H. Goodnight, Ky.; John A. Buchanan, Va.; William D. Bynum, Ind.; Alfred C. Chapin, N. Y.; Fernando C. Layton, O.; Simon P. Wolverton, Penn.; Case Broderick; Kan.; James Buchanan, N. J.; George W. Ray, N. Y.; H. Henry Powers, Vt.

[86] Zebulon B. Vance, N. C.; John G. Carlisle, Ky.; J. Z. George, Miss.; George F. Hoar, Mass.; John B. Allen, Wash.; Matthew S. Quay, Penn.; Francis E. Warren, Wyo.

[87] After the convention had adjourned Miss Sara Winthrop Smith (Conn.) made an argument on Federal Suffrage before the Judiciary Committee of the House. See Chap. I for general statement of position taken by its advocates.

[Pg 202]

## CHAPTER XIII.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1893.

At the close of the Twenty-fifth annual meeting the Washington Evening News said: "There will be an exodus from Washington during the next three days—an exodus of some of the intellectually powerful and brilliant women who participated in what was agreed to be the brightest and most successful convention ever held by the National Suffrage Association. Whatever may be the opinion of the world at large upon the feasibility or desirability of granting the franchise to women, none who attended their annual reunion of delegates or listened to the addresses of their orators and leaders, can deny that the convention was composed of clever, sensible and attractive women, splendidly representative of their sex and of the present time."

After complimentary notices of the leading members, it continued: "'One very pleasant thing connected with our business committee is the beautiful relations existing among its members,' said one of the officers the other evening. 'We all have our opinions and they often differ, but we are absolutely true to each other and to the cause. We are most of us married, and all of us have the co-operation of our husbands and fathers. Of the business committee of nine, six are married. For the past two years we have had one man on our board, the Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, but as a rule men have not the time and thought to give this subject, as they are engaged in more remunerative employment.' The self-control and good-nature prevailing even in the heated debate on the religious liberty interference resolution have already been alluded to in our columns."

Miss Susan B. Anthony presided over the convention, Jan. 16-19, 1893, held in Metzerott's Music Hall and preceded by the usual religious services Sunday afternoon. The sermon was given by the Rev. Annis F. Eastman (N. Y.), an ordained Congregational minister, from the text in Isaiah, "Take away the yoke."[Pg 203]

The memorial service, which was of unusual impressiveness, opened with the reading by Miss Anthony of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's tribute to the distinguished dead of the past year who advocated equality of rights for women—George William Curtis, John Greenleaf Whittier, Ernestine L. Rose, Abby Hutchinson Patton and others.[88] Of Mr. Curtis she said:

> If the success of our cause could be assured by the high character of the men who from the beginning have identified themselves with it, woman would have been emancipated long ago. A reform advocated by Garrison, Phillips, Emerson, Alcott, Theodore Parker, Gerrit Smith, Samuel J. May and George William Curtis must be worthy the consideration of statesmen and bishops.

> For more than one generation Mr. Curtis maintained a brave attitude on this question. As editor of Harper's Magazine, and as a popular lecturer on the lyceum platform, he was ever true to his convictions. Before the war his lecture on Fair Play for Women aroused much thought among the literary and fashionable classes. In the New York Constitutional Convention in 1867, a most conservative body, Mr. Curtis, though a young man and aware that he had but little sympathy among his compeers, bravely demanded that the word "male" should be stricken from the suffrage article of the proposed constitution. His speech on that occasion, in fact, philosophy, rhetoric and argument never has been surpassed in the English language. From the beginning of his public life to its close Mr. Curtis was steadfast on this question. Harper's Magazine for June, 1892, contains his last plea for woman and for a higher standard for political parties....

Mrs. Ernestine L. Rose, exiled from Poland on account of her religious faith, married an Englishman and came to America, where she was one of the first and most eloquent of the women who spoke on the public platform. In 1836 she circulated petitions for the property rights of married women, in company with Mrs. Paulina Wright (Davis), and presented them to the New York Legislature. For forty years she was among the ablest advocates of the rights of women, lecturing also on religion, government and other subjects. Mrs. Abby Hutchinson Patton was lovingly referred to, the last but one of that family who had sung so many years for freedom, not only for the negro but for woman. Whittier, the uncompromising advocate of liberty for woman as well as for man, was eulogized in fitting terms.[Pg 204]

The Hon. A. G. Riddle (D. C.) offered a fine testimonial to Francis Minor and Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, saying: "Mr. Minor was the first to urge the true and sublime construction of that noble amendment born of the war. It declares that all persons—not simply males—born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. Those who are denied or are refused the right to exercise the privileges and franchises of citizenship are less than citizens. Those who still declare that women may not vote, simply write 'falsehood' across that glorious declaration." General Butler, as a leading member of the House Judiciary Committee, in a matchless argument had asserted the right of women to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment,[89] and used all his influence to secure suffrage for women. Miss Anthony said in part:

> The good of this hour is that it brings to the knowledge of the young the work of the pioneers who have passed away. It seems remarkable to those standing, as I do, one of a generation almost ended, that so many of these young people know nothing of the past; they are apt to think they have sprung up like somebody's gourd, and that nothing ever was done until they came. So I am always gratified to hear these reminiscences, that they may know how others have sown what they are reaping to-day.

> One of the earliest advocates of this cause was Sally Holly, the daughter of Myron Holly, founder of the Liberty Party in the State of New York, and also founder of Unitarianism in the city of Rochester. Frederick Douglass will say a few words in regard to Sally Holly, and of such of the others as he may feel moved to speak; and I want to say that when, at the very first convention called and managed by women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton read her resolution that the elective franchise is the underlying right, there was but one man to stand with her, and that man was Frederick Douglass.

Mr. Douglass (D. C.) told of attempting to speak in Buffalo against slavery in 1843, when every hall was closed to him and he went into an abandoned storeroom:

> I continued from day to day speaking in that old store to laborers from the wharves, cartmen, draymen and longshoremen, until after awhile the room was crowded. No woman made her appearance at the meetings, but day after day for six days in succession I spoke—morning, afternoon and evening. On the third day there came into the room a lady leading a little girl. No greater contrast could possibly have been presented than this elegantly dressed, refined and[Pg 205] lovely woman attempting to wend her way through that throng. I don't know that she showed the least shrinking from the crowd, but I noticed that they rather shrank from her, as if fearful that the dust of their garments would soil hers. Her presence to me at that moment was as if an angel had been sent from Heaven to encourage me in my anti-slavery endeavors. She came day after day thereafter, and at last I had the temerity to ask her name. She gave it—Sally Holly. "A daughter of Myron Holly?" said I. "Yes," she answered. I understood it all then, for he was amongst the foremost of the men in western New York in the anti-slavery movement. His home was in Rochester and his dust now lies in Mt. Hope, the beautiful cemetery of that city. Over him is a monument, placed there by that other true friend of women, Gerrit Smith of Peterboro....

> I have seen the Hutchinson family in a mob in New York. When neither Mr. Garrison, Mr. Phillips nor Mr. Burleigh, nor any one could speak, when there was a perfect tempest and whirlwind of rowdyism in the old Tabernacle on Broadway, then this family would sing, and almost upon the instant that they would raise their voices, so perfect was the music, so sweet the concord, so enchanting the melody, that it came down upon the audience like a summer shower on a dusty road, subduing, settling everything.

> I can not add to the paper which Mrs. Stanton has sent. After her—silence. Your cause has raised up no voice so potent as that of Elizabeth Cady Stanton—no living voice except yours, Madame President.

> How delighted I am to see that you have the image of Lucretia Mott here [referring to her marble bust on the stage]. I am glad to be here, glad to be counted on your side, and glad to be able to remember that those who have gone before were my friends. I was more indebted to Whittier perhaps than to any other of the anti-slavery people. He did more to fire my soul and enable me to fire the souls of others than any other man. It was Whittier and Pierpont who feathered our arrows, shot in the direction of the slave power, and they did it well. No better reading can now be had in favor of the rights of woman or the liberties of man than is to be found in their utterances....

Miss Clara Barton (D. C.) spoke in a touching manner of the great service rendered to humanity by Dr. Harriet N. Austin, who assisted Dr. James C. Jackson to establish the "Home on the Hillside," the Dansville (N. Y.) Sanitorium. Henry B. Blackwell told of John L. Whiting, "a power and a strength to the Massachusetts Suffrage Association for many years, one of those rare men not made smaller by wealth, and always willing to give himself, his mind, his heart, his money, to help the cause of woman." The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw said in part:[Pg 206]

> I have been asked to speak a word of Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emerson. It has been said by some people that we have wrongfully quoted Mr. Emerson as being on our side. His biographers appear to have put in his early statements and forgotten to include his later declarations, which were all in favor of the enfranchisement of women.

> I was once sent to Concord by the Massachusetts society to hold a meeting. The churches were closed against suffrage speakers and there was not money enough to pay for a hall. Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emerson heard the meeting was to be given up, and she sent a message to the lady having the work in charge, saying: "Shall it be said that here in Concord, where the Revolutionary war began, there is no place to speak for the freedom of women? Get the best hall in town and I will pay for it." So on that occasion and on another Mrs. Emerson paid for the hall and sent a kind word to the meeting, declaring herself in favor of the suffrage for women, and stating that her husband's views and her own were identical on this question. She had the New England trait of being a good wife, a good mother and a good housekeeper, and Mr. Emerson's home was a restful and blessed place. We sometimes forget the wives of great men in thinking of the greatness of their husbands, but Mrs. Emerson was as great in her way as Mr. Emerson in his, and no more faithful friend to woman and to woman's advancement ever has lived among us.[90]

> A word as to the Rev. Anna Oliver, the first woman to enter the theological department of Boston University. She was much beloved by her class. She was a devoted Christian, eminently orthodox, and a very good worker in all lines of religious effort. After Miss Oliver graduated she was ambitious to become ordained, as all women ought to be who desire to preach the gospel; and so after I had graduated from the theological school, the year following, we both applied to the conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church for admission. Miss Oliver's name beginning with O and mine with S, her case was presented first. She was denied ordination by Bishop Andrews. Our claims were carried to the general conference in Cincinnati, and the Methodist Episcopal Church denied ordination to the women whom it had graduated in its schools and upon whom it had conferred the degree of bachelor of divinity. It not only did this, but it made a step backwards; it took from us the licenses to preach which had been granted to Miss Oliver for four years and to myself for eight years.

> But Miss Oliver was earnest in her efforts, and so she began to preach in the city of Brooklyn, and with great courage bought a church in which a man had failed as a minister, leaving a debt of $14,000. She was like a great many other women—and here is a warning for all women. God made a woman equal to a man, but He did not make a woman equal to a woman and a man. We usually try to do the work of a man and of a woman too; then we break down, and they say that women ought not to be ministers[Pg 207] because they are not strong enough. They do not get churches that can afford to send them to Europe on a three months' vacation once a year. Miss Oliver was not only the minister and the minister's wife, but she started at least a dozen reforms and undertook to carry them all out. She was attacked by that influential Methodist paper, the Christian Advocate, edited by the Rev. Dr. James M. Buckley, who declared that he would destroy her influence in the church, and so with that great organ behind him he attacked her. She had that to fight, the world to fight and the devil to fight, and she broke down in health. She went abroad to recover, but came home only to die.[91]

The death of those less widely known was touchingly referred to by women of the different States. Miss Anthony closed the services by saying: "I am just informed that we must add to this list the revered name of Abby Hopper Gibbons, of four-score-and-ten, who with her father, Isaac T. Hopper, formed the Women's Prison Association, and who has stood for more than the allotted years of man the sentinel on the watch-tower to guard unfortunate women and help them back into womanly living."

At the first evening session Miss Anthony, in her president's address, answered the question, "What has been gained by the forty years' work?" She called attention to the woman who had preached the day before, ordained by an orthodox denomination; to the women alternate delegates to the late National Republican Convention; to the recommendation of Gov. Roswell P. Flower that women should be delegates to the approaching New York Constitutional Convention. She pointed out rapidly many other straws showing the direction of the wind, saying: "Wendell Phillips said what he wanted to do on the abolition question was to turn Congress into an anti-slavery debating society. That is what we have done with every educational, industrial, religious and political body—we have turned them all into debating societies on the woman question."

U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey (Wy.) sent a letter reaffirming his conviction that the granting of full political rights to women would be for the best interests of the country. Mr. Blackwell sketched the successive extensions of suffrage to women, and set forth the special importance of their trying to secure the Municipal and the Presidential franchises, both of[Pg 208] which could be granted by the Legislature. Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick (Mass.) read an able paper on The Best Methods of Interesting Women in Suffrage, in which she said:

> The truth is, the American woman has been so pleasantly soothed by the sweet opiate of that high-sounding theory of her "sovereignty," that until very recently she could not be aroused to examine the facts. Forty years ago the voices of a few crying in the wilderness began to prepare the way for the present awakening....

> The deliverance of woman must have as its corner-stone self-support. The first step in this direction must be to explode the fallacy that marriage is a state of being supported. As men are most largely the gatherers of money, it is mistakenly assumed that they are most largely the creators of wealth. The man goes abroad and gives his daily labor toward earning his board and clothes; but what he actually receives for his work can neither be eaten nor worn. It does nothing whatever until he puts it into his wife's hands, and upon her intelligence, energy and ability depend how much can be done through the using of it. Not until her labor in transforming raw material, in cooking, sewing, and rendering a house habitable, is joined to his, can a man be said to have really received anything worth having. He begins, she completes, the making of their joint wealth. Their dependence is mutual; the position of the one who turns the money into usable material by her labor being equally important, equally valuable, with that of him who turned his labor into money; and this must be fully recognized if woman is ever to come into her true relation to man. She supports him exactly as he supports her, and this is equally the case with the wife who herself produces directly, or the one who gives her time and intelligence to direct the production of others....

> Closely allied to the fallacy that man supports woman is the fallacy that man protects woman, and has a right to control her by virtue of this protection. There was a period in the world's transition from savagery to civilization when mankind had so little conception of the mutuality of human interests that war was a perpetual condition of society. Originally women also were fighters; just as the lioness or tigress is as capable as her mate of self-defense and protection of her young, so the savage woman, when necessity required, was equally capable of conducting warfare in the same cause. But long before men had given up killing each other for the better business of trading with and helping each other woman had ceased to be a fighter. She was the first to see the advantages of peace, both because she was the earliest manufacturer and trader and because it cost her more in the production of every soldier than it cost man. Instinct directed her toward peace long before reason made it possible for her to explain why she hated war, and she hated it as an occupation for herself long before it occurred to her to despise it as an occupation for man. To-day the love of peace and[Pg 209] hatred for war which she is rapidly spreading through the world is the real protector of woman; she is a self-protector by virtue of this proclivity, and, as war is equally the enemy of man, here again woman gives to man as much as she receives. Whatever force the argument based on the right of soldiers to rule may once have had is rapidly passing away. The era of the destroyer is dying, the epoch of the Creator is coming in....

> The subjugation of woman doubtless arose from an honest desire of man to protect her. His mistake lay in assuming that his mind and will could do private and public duty for both. Woman's mistake lay in assuming that she might with safety permit man's mind and will to discharge the duties nature meant to be fulfilled by her own. Unhappily nature has a way of allowing the human race to learn by its own experience, even though the lesson consume ages of time; and she has also a rule that unused faculties and functions fall into a state of atrophy. It was by such a substitution of masculine for feminine will that woman fell so far behind him whom she originally led in the race, industrial and intellectual. If they are ever to march side by side as true comrades and free partners, it must be by a voluntary resumption of independence in feminine mind and will. In this man can assist by stimulating her spirit of independence, or he can discourage it by a contrary course, but the final result lies with woman herself. She alone can free herself from the habits of thought and action engendered by thousands of years of slavery.

> The steps toward the emancipation of women are first intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. Great strides in the first two of these stages already have been made by millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely carrying them towards the last.

In the address of Mrs. Ruth C. D. Havens (D. C.) on The Girl of the Future, which was greatly enjoyed, she said:

> The training and education of the girl of the present have seldom been discussed except from one standpoint—her suitable preparation for becoming an economical housekeeper, an inexpensive wife, a willing and self-forgetful mother, a cheap, unexacting, patient, unquestioning, unexpectant, ministering machine. The girl's usefulness to herself, to her sex and race, her preferences, tastes, happiness, social, intellectual or financial prosperity, hardly have entered into the thought upon this question....

> If woman would be a student, a scientist, a lecturer, a physician; if she would be a pioneer in a wilderness of scoffers to make fair roads up which her sex might easily travel to equal educational and legal rights, equal privileges and pay in fields of labor, equal suffrage—she must divide her eager energies and give the larger half to superior homekeeping, wifehood and motherhood, in order that her new gospel shall be received with any respect or acceptance.[Pg 210] And probably no class of women have been such sticklers for the cultivation of all woman's modest, unassuming home duties as have been the great, ambitious teachers on this suffrage platform....

> But this will not be the training of the girl of the future. It is not the sort of preparation to which the boy of the present is urged. "Jack of all trades, good at none" is the old epithet bestowed upon a man who thus diffuses his energies. You do not expect a distinguished lawyer to clean his own clothes, a doctor to groom his horse, a teacher to take care of the schoolhouse furnace, a preacher to half-sole his shoes. This would be illogical, and men are nothing if not logical. Yet a woman who enters upon any line of achievement is invariably hampered, for at least the early years, with the inbred desire to add to the labor of her profession all the so-called feminine duties, which, fulfilled to-day, are yet to be done to-morrow, which bring to her neither comfort, gain nor reputation, and which by their perpetual demand diminish her powers for a higher quality of work....

> Everywhere there is too much housekeeping. It is not economy of time or money for every little family of moderate means to undertake alone the expensive and wearing routine. The married woman of the future will be set free by co-operative methods, half the families on a square, perhaps, enjoying one luxurious, well-appointed dining-room with expenses divided pro rata. In many other ways housekeeping will be simplified. Homes have no longer room for people—they are consecrated to things. Parlors and bedrooms are full of the cheap and incongruous or expensive and harmonious belongings of a junk shop. Plush gods hold the fort. All the average house needs to make it a museum is the sign, "Hands off." ...

> The girl of the future will select her own avocation and take her own training for it. If she be a houseworker, and many will prefer to be, she will be so valuable in that line as to command much respect and good wages. If she be an architect, a jeweler, an electrical engineer, she will not rob a cook by mutilating a dinner, or a dressmaker by amateur cutting and sewing, or a milliner by creating her own bonnet. The house helper will not be incompetent, because the development and training of woman for her best and truest work will have extended to her also, and she will do housework because she loves it and is better adapted to it than to any other employment. She will preside in the kitchen with skill and science.

> The service girl of the future will be paid perhaps double or treble her present wages, with wholesome food, a cheerful room, an opportunity to see an occasional cousin and some leisure for recreation. At present this would be ruinous, and why? Because too frequently the family has but one producer. The wife, herself a consumer, produces more consumers. Daughters grow up around a man like lilies of the field, which toil not, neither do they spin. Every member of every family in the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will have the[Pg 211] right of exemption will be the mother, for a child can hardly be born with cheerful views of living whose mother's life has been, for its sake, a double burden. From this root spring melancholy, insanity, suicide. The production of human souls is the highest production of all, the one which requires most preparation, truest worth, gravest care and holiest consecration. If the girl of the future recognizes this truth, she will have made an advance indeed. But apart from the mother every member of the family should be a material producer; and then there will be means sufficient for the producer in the kitchen to get such remuneration for her skill as will eliminate the incompetent, shirking, migratory creature of today....

> I hardly need say to this audience that the girl of the future will vote. She will not plead for the privilege—she will be urged to exercise the right, and no one will admit that he ever opposed it, or remember that there was a time when woman's ballot was despised and rejected of men. She will not be told that she needs the suffrage for her own protection, but she will be urged to exercise it for the good of her country and of humanity. It will not be known that the Declaration of Independence was once a dead letter. No one will believe that it ever was declared that the Constitution did not protect this right. It will be incredible that women were once neither people nor citizens, and yet were the mothers, and in so much the creators, of the men who governed them.

Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood (D. C.), member-at-large of the World's Fair Board of Lady Managers, read a carefully prepared statement of the methods and aims of that body, which began: "The Board of Lady Managers owe their existence to Susan B. Anthony and her co-workers. It was these women who went before Congress and not only asked but demanded that women should have a place in the management of this Columbian Exposition—and they got it"![92] She closed as follows:

> I have been greatly impressed as I have come into this hall from day to day, and have looked upon the sweet representative face in marble of Lucretia Mott and the benign, glorified face of Mrs. Stanton, with Susan B. Anthony as the central figure of the trio, and have thought of the years they have lifted up their voices praying they might see the glory of the coming of the Lord; and I have felt if only I could bring before them the sheaves which we are gathering from the women of the earth for this great exposition; if only I could show them how their work has put the women of this nation in touch with the women of every other country, awakening them to new aspirations, new hopes, new efforts, to whom the dawn of a brighter day is visible—these pioneers would say, "Our eyes[Pg 212] are indeed opened; a handful of corn planted on the top of the mountain has been made to shake all Lebanon."

Miss Mary H. Williams (Neb.) reported that, as chairman of a committee for this purpose, she had sent letters to forty-nine Governors of States and Territories; twenty-one replies had been received—nine in favor of full suffrage for women, two of school suffrage only, three were totally opposed and the others made evasive replies. The nine in favor were Governors Barber of Wyoming, Routt of Colorado, Mellette of South Dakota, Winans of Michigan, Thomas of Utah, Burke of North Dakota, Humphrey of Kansas, Colcord of Nevada, Knapp of Alaska. All of these were Western men and all Republicans but Winans. Tillman of South Carolina and Willey of Idaho favored school suffrage alone. Stone of Mississippi and Fleming of West Virginia answered "no". Gov. James E. Boyd of Nebraska was opposed, although he would allow women to vote on school questions. Governor Boyd's election had been contested on the ground that his father had not been properly naturalized.

Gov. Thomas M. Holt of North Carolina replied: "I am utterly opposed to woman suffrage in any shape or form. I have a wife and three daughters, all married, who are as much opposed to women going into politics as I am, and they reflex the sentiment of our Southern women generally."

Gov. Francis P. Fleming of Florida gave nine reasons why he was opposed, but concluded: "The above objections would not as a rule apply to church or school elections, and as women are usually much more pious than men and take more interest in church matters, I am inclined to think it would be well for them to vote at church elections, and am not aware of any particular objection to their voting at school elections."

The address of Mrs. Orra Langhorne (Va.) was read by her niece, Miss Henderson Dangerfield. It gave a charming picture of the oldtime Southern woman, her responsible social position, her care for her great household in her own small world; described how she was handicapped by tradition and lack of intellectual training; depicted the changed conditions since the war and her gradual awakening to the demands of modern life and the need of larger rights.[Pg 213]

Lucy Stone was not able to be present and a letter from her was read by her husband, Mr. Blackwell:

> Dear Friends:—Wherever woman suffragists are gathered together in the name of equal rights, there am I always in spirit with them. Although unable to be present in person, my glad greeting goes to you, every one, to those who have borne the heat and burden of the day, and to the strong, brave, younger workers who have come to lighten the load and help bring the victory. The work still calls for patient perseverance and ceaseless endeavor; but we have every reason to rejoice when there are so many gains and when favorable conditions abound on every hand. The end is not yet in sight, but it can not be far away. The road before us is shorter than the road behind.

This was her last message to the association. She passed away in October of this year, having labored nearly half a century for the enfranchisement of women.

Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, in an address entitled Comparisons Are Odious, showed the contrast between the Government's treatment of the Sioux Indians, exempted from taxation and allowed to vote, and of law-abiding, intelligent women in the same section of the country, compelled to pay taxes and not allowed to vote.[93] Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates closed the evening with a brilliant address.

Before adjourning Miss Anthony read Gov. Roswell P. Flower's certificate appointing her a member of the Board of Managers of the State Industrial School at Rochester, N. Y. She took considerable satisfaction in pointing out that it referred to her as "him," because she had always contended that, if the masculine pronoun in an official document is sufficient to send a woman to the jail or the gallows, it is sufficient to enable her to vote and hold office.

On the last evening, the Hon. Carroll D. Wright, U. S. Commissioner of Labor, delivered a valuable address on The Industrial Emancipation of Women, in which he said:

> Until within a comparatively recent period, woman's subjection to man has been well-nigh complete in all respects, whether such subjection is considered from a social, political, intellectual or even a physical point of view. At first the property of man, she emerged under civilization from the sphere of a drudge to that of a social[Pg 214] factor and, consequently, into the liberty of cultivating her mental faculties....

> Industrial emancipation, using the term broadly, means the highest type of woman as the result, the word "industrial" comprehending in this sense all remunerative employment. The entrance of woman into the industrial field was assured when the factory system of labor displaced the domestic or hand labor system. The age of invention, with the wonderful ramifications which invention always has produced, must be held accountable for bringing woman into a field entirely unknown to her prior to that age. As an economic factor, either in art, literature or industry, she was before that time hardly recognizable. With the establishment of the factory system, the desire of woman to have something more than she could earn as a domestic or in agricultural labor, or to earn something where before she had earned nothing, resulted in her becoming an economic factor, and she was obliged to submit to all the conditions of this new position. It hardly can be said that in the lower forms of industrial pursuits she superseded man, but it is true that she supplemented his labors....

> Each step in industrial progress has raised her in the scale of civilization rather than degraded her. As a result she has constantly gone up higher and gained intellectual advantages, such as the opening to her of the higher institutions of learning, which have in turn equipped her for the best professional employment. The moral plane of the so-called workingwoman certainly is higher than that of the woman engaged in domestic service, and is equal to that of any class of women in the community....

> As women have occupied the positions of bookkeepers, telegraphers and many of what might be called semi-professional callings, men have entered engineering, electrical, mechanical and other spheres of work which were not known when women first stepped into the industrial field. As the latter have progressed from entire want of employment to that which pays a few dollars per week, men, too, have progressed in their employments, and occupied larger fields not existing before....

> Woman is now stepping out of industrial subjection and coming into the industrial system of the present as an entirely new economic factor. If there were no other reasons, this alone would be sufficient to make her wages low and prevent their very rapid increase.... The growing importance of woman's labor, her general equipment through technical education, her more positive dedication to the life-work she chooses, the growing sentiment that an educated and skilful woman is a better and truer companion in marriage than an ignorant and unskilful one, her appreciation of the value of organization, the general uplifting of the principle of integrity in business circles, woman's gradual approach to man's powers in mental achievement also, her possible and probable political influence—all these combined, working along general avenues of progress and evolution, will bring her industrial emancipation, by which she will stand on an equality with man in those callings[Pg 215] in life for which she may be fitted. As she approaches this equality her remuneration will be increased and her economic importance acknowledged....

> If woman's industrial emancipation leads to what many are pleased to call "political rights," we must not quarrel with it. It is not just that all other advantages which may come through this emancipation shall be withheld simply because one great privilege on which there is a division of sentiment may also come.

> One of the greatest boons which will result from the industrial emancipation of woman will be the frank admission on the part of the true and chivalric man that she is the sole and rightful owner of her own being in every respect, and that whatever companionship may exist between her and man shall be as thoroughly honorable to her as to him.

Miss Harriet May Mills (N. Y.) gave a paper on The Present Political Status of Woman, which showed the trained mind and logical method of thought one would expect from a graduate of Cornell University. The last address of the convention was given by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, entitled The America Undiscovered by Columbus. This, like so many of Miss Shaw's unsurpassed lectures, will be lost to posterity because unwritten and not stenographically reported.

In her report as vice-president-at-large Miss Shaw announced that she had given during the year 215 lectures for which she had received pay, twenty-five of these for suffrage associations and the rest for temperance and literary organizations, but on every occasion it had been a suffrage lecture. In addition she had given gratuitously to the service of this cause lectures which at her regular price would have amounted to $1,265. She also related the following incident: "I was present at the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Denver, and Miss Willard introduced me as a fraternal delegate from the National Suffrage Association. I made my little speech and the whole convention arose and waved their handkerchiefs at the message sent by this body. One woman jumped to her feet and moved that a telegram be returned from that convention, giving its sisterly sympathy. Miss Willard got up and said, 'Shoo, ladies; this is different from what it was in Washington in 1881, when you refused to let me have Miss Anthony on my platform. Things are coming around, girls.'"

The corresponding secretary, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, announced[Pg 216] that thirty-three State associations were auxiliary to the national. Miss Adelaide Johnson was introduced as the sculptor who had modeled the fine busts of Lucretia Mott, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, which were on the platform. Miss Laura Clay reported on the work that had just been commenced in the Southern States, which she considered a most hopeful field. In the discussion on Press Work, when it was proposed that the association start an official paper, Miss Anthony said with much feeling: "I had an experience in publishing a paper about twenty-five years ago and I came to grief. I never hear of a woman starting a suffrage paper that my blood does not tingle with agony for what that poor soul will have to endure—the same agony I went through. I feel, however, that we shall never become an immense power in the world until we concentrate all our money and editorial forces upon one great national daily newspaper, so we can sauce back our opponents every day in the year; once a month or once a week is not enough.

The resolutions presented by the chairman, Mrs. Dietrick, were adopted without dissent,[94] except the last:

> Whereas, The Constitution of the United States promises noninterference with the religious liberty of the people; and[Pg 217]

> Whereas, Congress is now threatening to abridge the liberties of all in response to ecclesiastical dictation from a portion of the people; therefore,

> Resolved, That this association enters a protest against any national attempt to control the innocent inclinations of the people either on the Jewish Sabbath or the Christian Sunday, and this we do quite irrespective of our individual opinions as to the sanctity of Sunday.

> Resolved, That we especially protest against this present attempt to force all the people to follow the religious dictates of a part of the people, as establishing a precedent for the entrance of a most dangerous complicity between Church and State, thereby subtly undermining the foundation of liberty, so carefully laid by the wisdom of our fathers.

This precipitated the discussion as to the opening of the World's Fair on Sunday which had been vigorously waged during two preceding conventions without resulting in definite action. It was now continued during three sessions and then, by majority vote, indefinitely postponed. Mrs. Avery, chairman of the Columbian Exposition Committee,[95] closed her report as follows: "As we are to be represented in so many ways during the World's Fair—i. e., at the World's Congress of Representative Women, in the Suffrage Congresses, in the meetings to be held in the auditorium of the Woman's Building, in the program to be presented by us for the approval of the Committee on General Meetings of the Board of Lady Managers—I would strongly urge against attempting to hold a separate Suffrage Congress, either national or international, during the Exposition." This was agreed to.

The Congressional Committee, through Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, reported that 375 letters had been sent to members of Congress asking for an expression on the question of woman suffrage. Of those who responded fifty-nine were in favor of full suffrage; twenty-five of qualified suffrage; sixty-five wholly opposed. The remainder did not reply, although stamps were enclosed. This committee also arranged for the printing, purchasing and distributing of 23,000 copies of the Senate and House hearings. The report concluded: "The time has come[Pg 218] when women wanting legislation must proceed exactly as men do who want it. No man procures an office for himself or a friend, nor does any man or association get an Act passed, unless the claim is persistently pressed, not only upon the members of the committee in charge of it but upon his friends and acquaintances in Congress. There is no use in supposing the justice or right of a question, without persistent work, is going to bring about a reform."[96]

Mrs. Colby, chairman of the Committee on Federal Suffrage, appointed to urge the legal right of women to vote for Representatives under the U. S. Constitution, reported that she had sent a copy of Francis Minor's argument to every member of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, with a personal letter asking for an opinion, and that not one replied. Petitions were sent from twenty States, including suffrage associations, temperance societies, granges, etc. Letters asking an opinion were written to nineteen Senators who were considered friendly to the enfranchisement of women, and only one answered, Joseph N. Dolph of Oregon. Miss Sara Winthrop Smith (Conn.) opened the discussion.[97]

The motion of Miss Alice Stone Blackwell to amend the constitution so that it would not be obligatory to hold every annual convention in Washington, was amended by Mrs. Avery to the effect that "the annual delegate convention shall be held in Washington during the first session of each Congress, in order to influence national legislation; the meeting of the alternate conventions to be left an open question." Miss Anthony was greatly opposed to holding any of the national meetings outside of Washington, and in a forcible speech she said:

> The sole object, it seems to me, of this organization is to bring the combined influence of all the States upon Congress to secure national legislation. The very moment you change the purpose of this great body from National to State work you have defeated its object. It is the business of the States to do the district work; to create public sentiment; to make a national organization possible;[Pg 219] and then to bring their united power to the capital and focus it on Congress. Our younger women naturally can not appreciate the vast amount of work done here in Washington by the National Association in the last twenty-five years. The delegates do not come here as individuals but as representatives of their entire States.

> We have had these conventions here for a quarter of a century, and every Congress has given hearings to the ablest women we could bring from every section. In the olden times the States were not fully organized—they had not money enough to pay their delegates' expenses. We begged and worked and saved the money and the National Association paid the expenses of delegates from Oregon and California in order that they might come and bring the influence of their States to bear upon Congress.

> Last winter we had twenty-three States represented by delegates. Think of those twenty-three women going before the Senate committee, each making her speech, and showing these Senators the interest in all these States. We have educated at least a part of three or four hundred men and their wives and daughters every two years to return as missionaries to their respective localities. I shall feel it a grave mistake if you vote in favor of a movable convention. It will lessen our influence and our power; but come what may, I shall abide by the decision of the majority.

Miss Anthony was strongly supported by Miss Shaw, Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Louisa Southworth, Mrs. Rosa L. Segur, Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf and others.

Mrs. Claudia Quigley Murphy (O.) expressed the sentiment of the other side in saying:

> It seems better to sow the seed of suffrage throughout the country by means of our national conventions. We may give the people mass meetings and district and State conventions and various other things, but we can never give them anything as good as the national convention. We must get down to the unit of our civilization, which is the individual voter or person. We have worked for twenty-five years here among the legislators at Washington; we have gone to the halls of Congress and to the Legislatures, and we have found the average legislator to be but a reflex of the sentiment of his constituents. If we wish representation at Washington we can send our delegation to the halls of Congress this year and next year, the same as we have done in the past. This great convention does not go to Congress; it sends a committee.... Let us get down to the people and sow the seed among them. It is the people we want to reach if we expect good results.

The amendment was warmly advocated by Mr. and Miss Blackwell, Miss Clay, Mrs. Dietrick, Mrs. Esther F. Boland and others. It was finally adopted by a vote of 37 yeas, 28 nays.[Pg 220]

Among the many excellent State reports that of Kansas, prepared by Mrs. Laura M. Johns and read by Miss Jennie, daughter of Representative Case Broderick, was of special interest, as a suffrage campaign was imminent in that State and the National Association had resolved to contribute speakers and money. It spoke of the great canvass of thirty conventions the previous year, with Mrs. Johns as chairman and a large corps of speakers from outside and inside the State; of their cordial reception by the Republican State Convention; of the benefits of Municipal Suffrage; and ended with an earnest appeal for the friends to rally to the support of Kansas.

Brief remarks were made by the wives of Representatives John G. Otis of Kansas and Halbert S. Greenleaf of New York. Letters of greeting were received from Mrs. Annie Besant of England, and many others. Bishop John F. Hurst, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in regretting that it was impossible to accept the invitation to address the convention, said: "I have the fullest sympathy with your work and have had for many years. I believe that every year brings nearer the great achievement when women will have the right of the ballot if they please to use it."

### FOOTNOTES:

[88] Bishop Phillips Brooks, who declared himself unequivocally for woman suffrage, died the week following the convention.

[89] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 482.

[90] For other instances see Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, pp. 132, 251.

[91] The Rev. Anna Oliver left $1,000 to the National Suffrage Association.

[92] For the part of Miss Anthony and others in securing this board, see Chap. XIV.

[93] As Mrs. Chapman Catt spoke always without MS., it is impossible to give extracts from her speeches, which were among the ablest made at the national conventions.

[94] Resolved, That without expressing any opinion on the proper qualifications for voting, we call attention to the significant facts that in every State there are more women who can read and write than the whole number of illiterate male voters; more white women who can read and write than all negro voters; more American women who can read and write than all foreign voters; so that the enfranchisement of such women would settle the vexed question of rule by illiteracy, whether of home-grown or foreign-born production.

Resolved, That as all experience proves that the rights of the laboring man are best preserved in governments where he has possession of the ballot, we therefore demand on behalf of the laboring woman the same powerful instrument, that she may herself protect her own interests; and we urge all organized bodies of working women, whether in the field of philanthropy, education, trade, manufacture or general industry, to join our association in the endeavor to make woman legally and politically a free agent, as the best means for furthering any and every line of woman's work.

Resolved, That in all States possessing School Suffrage for women, suffragists are advised to organize in each representative district thereof, for the purpose of training and stimulating women voters to exercise regularly this right, using it as a preparatory school for the coming work of full-grown citizenship with an unlimited ballot. We also advise that women everywhere work for the election of an equal number of women and men upon school boards, that the State in taking upon itself the education of children may provide them with as many official mothers as fathers.

Whereas, Many forms of woman suffrage may be granted by State Legislatures without change in existing constitutions; therefore,

Resolved, That the suffragists in every State should petition for Municipal, School and Presidential Suffrage by statute, and take every practicable step toward securing such legislation.

Resolved, That we urge all women to enter protest, at the time of paying taxes, at being compelled to submit to taxation without representation.

[95] Rachel Foster Avery, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Stone Blackwell, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, the Rev. Florence Kollock, Lida A. Meriwether, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, May Wright Sewall, Mrs. Leland Stanford, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Jane H. Spofford, Harriet Taylor Upton.

[96] During the years when Mrs. Upton's father, the Hon. Ezra B. Taylor of Ohio, was in Congress, she made it her especial business to press this matter upon the members. At least two favorable reports were due to her efforts, and the association greatly missed her congressional work when she left Washington.

[97] The arguments for Federal Suffrage are contained in Chapter I.

[Pg 221]

## CHAPTER XIV.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1894.

The Call for the Twenty-sixth annual convention contained this paragraph of hope and joy: "The Government's recognition of women on the Board of Managers for the World's Columbian Exposition; the World's Congress of Representative Women—the greatest convocation of women ever assembled; their participation in the entire series of Congresses; the gaining of Full Suffrage in Colorado—all give to our demand for equality for women unprecedented prestige in the world of thought."

The meetings were held in Metzerott's Music Hall, Washington, D. C., Feb. 15-20, 1894. An excellent summary of the week was given by the secretary, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, in the Woman's Journal, of which she was editor:

> Over the platform was draped a large suffrage flag, bearing two full stars for Wyoming and Colorado, and two more merely outlined in gold for Kansas and New York, which have equal suffrage amendments now pending and hope to add their stars to the galaxy next November. Instead of "Old Glory," the equal rights banner might be called "New Glory." Beside it hung the American flag, the great golden flag of Spain with its two red bars, the crimson flag of Turkey with its crescent and star, and the British flag—these last three in honor respectively of Senorita Catalina de Alcala of Spain, Madame Hanna Korany of Syria and Miss Catherine Spence of Australia, who were on the program. At one side the serene face of Lucy Stone looked down upon the audience. On the afternoon of the memorial service the frame of the portrait was draped with smilax, entwining bunches of violets from South Carolina, and beneath stood a jar of great white lilies....

> Kansas and New York divided the interest of the convention, and the importance of the two campaigns was ably presented by the respective State presidents, stately Mrs. Greenleaf and graceful Mrs. Johns. The appeals of the former were warmly supported by Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, and of the latter by Mrs. Annie L. Diggs. Mrs. Johns is a strong Republican, and Mrs. Diggs an equally ardent Populist, but they were perfectly agreed in their devotion to the woman suffrage amendment and in their desire that[Pg 222] help should be given to the Kansas campaign. Both are small women of gentle and feminine aspect, though known as mighty workers; and when Mrs. Diggs, a soft-voiced, bright-eyed morsel of humanity, said in presenting the needs of the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association, "Mrs. Johns is our president, and I am vice-president; she is the gentle officer, I am the savage one; my business is to frighten people"—the audience roared with laughter. The New York women generously declared that they would carry the financial burden of their own campaign and would ask no outside help except in speakers and sympathy. This left the field clear for Kansas and more than $2,200 were raised at one session towards the expenses of the campaign....

> The two delegates from Colorado, Mrs. Ellis Meredith and Mrs. Hattie E. Fox, were the objects of much interest and of hearty congratulations. They seemed very happy over their recent enfranchisement, as they well might be. Mrs. Meredith, who is very small, looked up brightly at a tall Maryland lady, who was congratulating her, and said, "I feel as tall as you." These two ladies looked just like other women and had developed no horns or hoofs or other unamiable and unfeminine characteristics in consequence of their having obtained the right to vote.... The Southern women have distinguished themselves in the national suffrage conventions during the last few years. This year, on "presidents' evening," among a number of brilliant addresses that of Mrs. Virginia D. Young of South Carolina fairly brought down the house....

> A beautiful silk flag, bearing the two suffrage stars, was presented to Miss Anthony in honor of her seventy-fourth birthday, on the first evening of the convention, a gift from the enfranchised women of Wyoming and Colorado. One of these women had been called upon to act as a judge of elections and had received three dollars for her services. She spent two dollars on shoes for her little boy and sent the third dollar as her contribution toward the suffrage flag.

> It was a pleasure to see the gathering of the clans—so many good and able and interesting women assembled together to report their work for equal rights and to plan more for the future. One with a pleasant, honest face and wistful brown eyes, had been lecturing in the interest of the amendment in the country districts of New York, riding from village to village in an open sleigh, with the thermometer many degrees below zero, and speaking sometimes in unwarmed halls. She did not expect to take a day's rest until the 6th of next November, and then if the amendment carried, she said quietly, she should be willing to lie down and die....

> It is pleasant also to note the increasing number of bright, sensible, earnest young women coming from all parts of the country to aid the older workers and to close up their thinning ranks. The sight would be a revelation to that Massachusetts legislator who was lately reported as saying that the petitioners who had been asking for suffrage for so many years were fast dying off, and soon[Pg 223] there would be none left. He would have seen how greatly he was reckoning without his host—or his hostesses. A sound and righteous reform does not die with any leader, however beloved.

The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw pronounced the invocation at the opening session. In the course of her president's address Miss Susan B. Anthony said:

> For the twenty-sixth time we have come together under the shadow of the Capitol, asking that Congress shall take the necessary steps to secure to the women of the nation their right to a voice in the national government as well as that of their respective States. For twelve successive Congresses we have appeared before committees of the two Houses making this plea, that the underlying principle of our Government, the right of consent, shall have practical application to the other half of the people. Such a little simple thing we have been asking for a quarter of a century. For over forty years, longer than the children of Israel wandered through the wilderness, we have been begging and praying and pleading for this act of justice. We shall some day be heeded, and when we shall have our amendment to the Constitution of the United States, everybody will think it was always so, just exactly as many young people believe that all the privileges, all the freedom, all the enjoyments which woman now possesses always were hers. They have no idea of how every single inch of ground that she stands upon to-day has been gained by the hard work of some little handful of women of the past.

This was Miss Anthony's birthday and Mrs. Chapman Catt concluded her little speech in presenting a silk flag by saying: "And now, our beloved leader, the enfranchised women of Wyoming and Colorado, upon this the seventy-fourth anniversary of your life—a life every year of which has been devoted to the advancement of womankind—have sent this emblem and with it the message that they hope you will bear it at the head of our armies until there shall be on this blue field not two stars but forty-four. They have sent it with the especial wish that its silent lesson shall teach such justice to the men of the State of New York that in November they will rise as one man to crown you, as well as their own wives and daughters, with the sovereignty of American citizenship."

For a few moments Miss Anthony was unable to reply and then she said: "I have heard of standard bearers in the army who carried the banner to the topmost ramparts of the enemy, and there I am going to try to carry this one. You know without[Pg 224] my telling how proud I am of this flag and how my heart is touched by this manifestation." Large boxes of flowers were sent her from Georgia and South Carolina, a telegram of greeting was received from ex-Governor and Mrs. Routt of Colorado, and there were many other pleasant remembrances.

The convention was welcomed by the Hon. John Ross, commissioner of the District of Columbia. Miss Catherine H. Spence of South Australia said in speaking of the suffrage there: "This country was not only the birthplace of the Australian ballot, by which you now vote in the United States, but it was the birthplace of woman suffrage, because six years before the Municipal Franchise was granted to women in England it was in effect in the towns and cities in South Australia." At a later session Miss Spence gave a practical illustration of what is known as proportional representation. Miss Windeyer also represented the women electors of Australia.

In response to Mrs. Young, bearing the greetings of South Carolina, Miss Anthony said with much feeling:

> I think the most beautiful part of our coming together in Washington for the last twenty-five years has been that more friendships, more knowledge of each other, have come through the hand-shakes here than would have been possible through any other instrumentality. I shall never cease to be grateful for all the splendid women who have come up to this great center for these twenty-six conventions, and have learned that the North was not such a cold place as they had believed; I have been equally glad when we came down here and met the women from the sunny South and found they were just like ourselves, if not a little better. In this great association we know no North, no South, no East, no West. This has been our pride for all these years. We have no political party. We never have inquired what anybody's religion is. All we ever have asked is simply, "Do you believe in perfect equality for women?" This is the one article in our creed.

Senator Joseph M. Carey of Wyoming and Representative Lafayette Pence of Colorado referred with great pride to the enfranchisement of the women of their respective States. Mrs. Johns was introduced by Miss Anthony as "the general of the Kansas army;" Mrs. Greenleaf as the Democratic nominee for member of the N. Y. Constitutional Convention; Mrs. Henry as the woman who received 4,500 votes for Clerk of the Supreme[Pg 225] Court of Kentucky. Miss Anthony's spicy introductions of the various speakers were always greatly relished by the audiences.

No more impressive or beautiful memorial service ever was held than that in remembrance of Lucy Stone. The principal address was made by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe (Mass.), in the course of which she said:

> In all action taken under her supervision, Mrs. Stone was most careful that the main issue should be constantly presented and kept in view. While welcoming every reform which gave evidence of the ethical progress of the community, she yet held to woman suffrage, pure and simple, as the first condition upon which the new womanhood should base itself. Efforts were often made to entangle suffrage with the promise of endless reforms in various directions, but firm as Cato, who always repeated his words that Carthage should be destroyed, Lucy Stone always asked for suffrage because it is right and just that women should have it, and not on the ground of a swiftly-coming millennium which should follow it....

> When Lucy Stone first resolved to devote her life to the rehabilitation of her sex, to what a task did she pledge herself! The high road to reform which she held so dear was not even measured before her. The ground was covered with a growth of centuries. Could this small hand that held a sickle hope to cut down those forests of time-honored prejudice and superstition? What had she to work with? A silver voice, a winning smile, the great gift of a persuasive utterance. What had she to work from? A deep and abiding faith in divine justice and in man's ability to follow its laws and to execute its decrees.

> The prophetic sense of good to come, vouchsafed to her in the morning of life, did not forsake her at its close. Her mind was of a very practical cast and in her many days of labor her eyes were always fixed upon her work. But when her work was taken from her, she saw at once the heavens open before her and the eternal life and light beckoning to her to go up higher. With a smile she passed from the struggle of earthly existence to the peace of the saints made perfect. Here she was still debarred the right to cast her ballot at the polls, but lo, in the blue urn of heaven her life was received, one glowing and perfect vote for the rights of women, for the good of humanity, for the Kingdom of God on earth.

A few sentences may be given as the key-note of the eulogy of the Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke (Ind.): "Her career, while different from that of most women, was characterized throughout by entire and consistent womanliness. Among the many admirable qualities that she possessed, it is difficult to single out[Pg 226] the one for which she will hereafter be best remembered, but as dauntless moral courage is a rarer quality perhaps than any other, it seems to me that this will remain her brightest jewel."

In the address of Mrs. Josephine K. Henry (Ky.) she referred to the marriage of Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell as follows:

> Their matrimonial contract is the grandest chart of the absolute equality of man and woman that has ever been made, and it throws a new halo of consecration and sanctity around the institution of marriage. It has not yet been written in our ecclesiastical and civil codes that every woman shall retain and dignify her own name through life, but civilization is preparing now to issue this edict. The coming woman will not resign her name at the marriage altar, and it will be told in future years of these two great souls who were the first to recognize the dignity of human individuality. The domestic life of this couple who set up the standard of absolute equality of husband and wife was an exquisite idyl, fragrant with love and tenderness, a poem whose rhythm was not marred, a divine melody that rose above the discords and dissensions of domestic life upon the lowlands where man is the ruler and woman the subject.

In the touching tribute of Miss Laura Clay (Ky.) she said: "Lucy Stone is one of those who paid what must be paid for liberty or for any high good of humanity. She made sacrifices and did things that none of us to-day would be called upon to do, did them bravely, did them without shrinking, did them almost without knowing that she was doing anything which would call forth the blessing, the gratitude of the human race."

Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) referred more especially to the domestic qualities, saying:

> When the gift of a little child came it was more to her than all else beside. For a while the world centered in that tiny cradle, and the hand which rocked that cradle had rather perform this gentle office than rule the world. It will ever be thus. With the true woman, dearer than wealth or fame is the touch of baby hands, sweeter than the applause of multitudes is the ripple of a baby's laughter. As the years passed by, the mother gave more of her life to the public, but always with the thought of the young girl who was growing up beside her and making of her home the dearest and most sacred spot.

This part of the memorial services appropriately closed with[Pg 227] the tender reminiscences of forty-five years of married life, by the husband, Mr. Blackwell.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (N. Y.) sent an eloquent tribute to the memory of Lucy Stone, Leland Stanford, George W. Childs, Elizabeth Oakes Smith and Elizabeth Peabody. After reciting the contributions of each in the cause of woman, she closed with these words from The Prince of India in reference to the last great record: "There is thy history and mine, and all of little and great and good and bad that shall befall us in this life. Death does not blot out the records. Everlastingly writ, they shall be everlastingly read; for the shame of some, for the glory of others."

Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of Philadelphia told of the loyalty to women of Mr. Child's paper, the Public Ledger, and of his many benefactions. Frederick Douglass gave the offering of his eloquence and ended as follows:

> It is not alone because of the goodness of any cause that men can safely predicate success. Much depends on the character and quality of the men and women who are its advocates. The Redeemer must ever come from above. Only the best of mankind can afford to support unpopular opinions. The common sort will drift with the tide. No good cause can fail when supported by such women as were Lucretia Mott, Abby Kelly, Angelina Grimke, Lydia Maria Child, Maria W. Chapman, Thankful Southwick, Sally Holly, Ernestine L. Rose, E. Oakes Smith, Elizabeth Peabody and the noble and gifted Lucy Stone. Not only have we a glorious constellation of women on the silent continent to assure us that our cause is good and that it must finally prevail, but we have such men as William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, William Henry Channing, Francis Jackson, Gerrit Smith, Samuel J. May, Samuel E. Sewall—now no longer with us in body, but in spirit and memory to cheer us on in the good work of lifting women in the fullest sense to the dignity of American liberty and American citizenship.

Miss Anthony closed the services with heartfelt testimonials to Mrs. Myra Bradwell, one of the first woman lawyers and founder and editor of The Legal News; Miss Mary F. Seymour, founder of The Business Woman's Journal; and Col. John Thompson, a founder of the Patrons of Husbandry, the first national organization of men to indorse woman suffrage.

At one of the evening sessions Miss Anthony presented Dr. John Trimble, secretary of the National Grange, and Leonard[Pg 228] Rhone, chairman of its executive committee. The latter said in course of a few brief remarks: "When the farmers of this country organized they took with them their wives and daughters, and for twenty-seven years we have tried woman suffrage in the Grange and it has worked well. What we have demonstrated by experience in our organization we are ready to indorse, and by almost a unanimous vote at our last national convention we passed a resolution in favor of woman suffrage."

Mrs. Orra Langhorne read a clever paper on House Cleaning in Old Virginia, describing present social and political conditions and showing the need of woman's participation. Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson (N. Y.), secretary of the King's Daughters, gave a talk which sparkled with anecdotes and illustrations, every one scoring a point for woman suffrage. Madame Hanna Korany, from Syria, told in her soft, broken English how the women of the old world looked to those of America to free them from the slavery of customs and laws.

Mrs. Miriam Howard DuBose took for her subject Some Georgia Curiosities, which she showed to be "men who love women too dearly to accord them justice; women who are deceived by such affection; the self-supporting woman, who crowds all places where there is any money to be made without encountering the masculine frown and declares she has all the rights she wants. Georgia's motto should read: Unwisdom, Injustice, Immoderation."

Miss Harriet A. Shinn (Ills.), president of the National Association of Women Stenographers, gave unanswerable testimony from employers in many different kinds of business expressing a preference for women stenographers. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.) illustrated how class distinctions, public schools, religious liberty and social life have been affected by the thought of the times, by fashionable thought. The official report said: "So bristling with humor was this address that there were several times when the speaker had to stop and wait for the laughter to subside. At the conclusion, her effort was acknowledged by long applause."

Miss Shaw closed an evening which had been full of mirth, saying in the course of her vivacious remarks:[Pg 229]

> I spoke at a woman's club in Philadelphia yesterday and a young lady said to me afterwards: "Well, that sounds very nice, but don't you think it is better to be the power behind the throne?" I answered that I had not had much experience with thrones, but a woman who has been on a throne, and who is now behind it, seems to prefer to be on the throne.[98] Mr. Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, says that by careful watching for many years, he has come to the conclusion that no woman has had any business relations with men who has not been contaminated by them; and this same individual who does not want us to have business relations with men, lest we be contaminated by the association, wants us to marry these same men and live with them three hundred and sixty-five and one-fourth days a year!

On Sunday Mrs. Chapman Catt gave a sermon in the People's Church, Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick in All Soul's Church (Unitarian), and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw in Metzerott's Music Hall. At the last named meeting Mrs. Howe offered the prayer and, at the close, recited her Battle Hymn of the Republic. Miss Shaw preached from the text, "Let no man take thy crown."

> ....Since the beginning of the Christian era those who have expounded the Scriptures have been principally men, and the Gospel has been presented to us from the standpoint of men. In all these interpretations Heaven has been peopled with men, God has been pictured as a man, and even the earth has been represented as masculine.

> In the beginning this was wise, because people have always been more impressed by law, order, system and government than by the spirit of faith. But we have passed the stage of force in nature, of force in physical life, and have arrived at the age of spiritual thought and earthly needs when the mother comes to the front. In the Old World I have seen venerable men, strong men, and women kneeling together at the shrine of Mary pouring out their sufferings into the mother heart of the Virgin and rising refreshed and solaced. What Catholicism has done for its church, Protestantism must do for Christianity everywhere, by revealing the mother-life and the mother-spirit of divine nature. In the lesson of life there is not only a father but a mother-love.

> Jesus Christ, we are told, was a man and so were His disciples, and this is given as the reason why men only should preach the Gospel, yet the Scriptures tell us that the first divinely-ordained preacher was a woman. All the way down in the history of Christianity are found women side by side with men, always ready and willing to bear the burdens and sorrows of life in order to better their fellows. In this country every reformation has been urged by[Pg 230] women as well as men. The names of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips will go down to posterity linked with those of Lucretia Mott, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Susan B. Anthony. In the great temperance movement the name of Gough will at once bring to mind Frances E. Willard. There is no name more prominently identified in the effort to uplift the Indian than that of Helen Hunt Jackson. Wherever there has been a wrong committed there have always been women to defend the wronged. Julia Ward Howe gave us the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," while Lucy Stone's last words should be the motto of every young girl's life, "Make the world better."

> With respect to my text, "Let no man take thy crown," these words were written to the church, and not to the men alone, and the command should be obeyed by every woman. If the churches then were anything like the churches of to-day, they were composed of three-fourths women. Hence this injunction was intended especially for women. This crown, I take it, means the crown of righteousness, of regeneration, of redemption, of purity, and applies to the whole body of the church. I believe the crown of womanhood in its highest sense means womanly character and nature. We never can wear a higher or nobler crown than pure and womanly womanhood....

> The world has always been more particular how we did things than what things we did.... All human beings are under obligations first to themselves. If self-sacrifice seems best, then we should practice that; while if self-assertion seems best, then we should assert ourselves. The abominable doctrine taught in the pulpit, the press, in books and elsewhere, is that the whole duty of women is self-abasement and self-sacrifice. I do not believe subjection is woman's duty any more than it is the duty of a man to be under subjection to another man or to many men. Women have the right of independence, of conscience, of will and of responsibility.

> Women are robbed of themselves by the laws of the country and by fashion. The time has not passed when women are bought and sold. Social custom makes the world a market-place in which women are bought and sold, and sometimes they are given away. In the marriage ceremony woman loses her name, and under the old Common Law a married woman had no legal rights. She occupied the same position to her husband as the slave to his master. These things degraded marriage, but the home would be the holiest of spots if the wife asserted her individuality and worked hand-in-hand with her husband, each uplifting the other. Women are robbed of the right of conscience. Their silence and subjection in the church have been the curse not only of womanhood but of manhood. No other human being should decide for us in questions pertaining to our own moral and spiritual welfare. Women are beginning to believe that God will listen to a woman as quickly as to a man. The time has come when councils of women will gather and do their work in their quiet way without regard to men.[Pg 231]

> No person is human who may not "will" to be anything he can be. When the woman says "I will," there is not anything this side of the throne of God to stop her, and the girls of the present day should learn this lesson. Now there is placed upon women the obligation of service without the responsibility of their actions. The man who leads feels the responsibility of his acts, and this urges him to make them noble. Women should have this same responsibility and be made to feel it. The most dangerous thing in the world is power without responsibility....

Monday night's session was designated "president's evening" and many short, clever talks were given.[99] James L. Hughes, Superintendent of Schools in Toronto and president of the Equal Suffrage Association of that city, told how the women of Canada voted, sat on the public and High School boards and even served as president of the Toronto board.

At the Tuesday evening meeting Miss Anthony introduced Senator W. A. Peffer and Representatives Jerry Simpson, John C. Davis, Case Broderick and Charles Curtis of Kansas, and Henry A. Coffeen of Wyoming. Ex-Senator Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi was invited to the platform and responded by saying he hoped to see the day when every qualified woman could exercise the suffrage. The Hon. Simon Wolf, commissioner of the District, urged equality of rights for women.

Grace Greenwood was presented as one of the pioneer woman suffragists. Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.), the heroine of many campaigns, in a stirring speech related her varied experiences and said: "Ours is one of the greatest wars of the centuries. Indeed, it is a continuation of the same battle which has been waged almost since the world began but carried on with different tactics. It stands unique. No cannon is heard. No smoke tells of defeat or victory. No bloody battlefields lift their blushing faces to the heavens. It is a battle of ideas, a battle of prejudices, the right and the wrong, the new and the old, meeting in close contact. It is the 'war of the roses,' if you so please to call it. It is the motherhood of the republic asking for full political recognition."[Pg 232]

The last address of the convention was made by the Rev. Ida C. Hultin, on the Crowning Race, whose men and women should be equally free. Gov. Davis H. Waite of Colorado sent a letter in relation to the enfranchising of women the previous year, in which he said:

> The Populists more than any other political party in Colorado favored equal suffrage, but many Republicans and Democrats also voted for it, and in my opinion the result may be considered as due to the enlightened public sentiment of the common people of the State. The more I consider the matter the more it grows upon me in importance, and the more I realize the fact that all the patriotism, all the intelligence and all the virtue of the commonwealth are necessary to preserve it from the corrupt and mercenary attacks made upon it from all points by corporate trusts and monopolies. Equal suffrage can not fail to encourage purity in both private and public life, and to elevate the official standard of fitness.

A letter from Mrs. May Wright Sewall, regretting her enforced absence, closed by saying:

> Many of you know that the last few months I have spent in editing the papers presented at the World's Congress of Representative Women, held in Chicago last May. It is a remarkable and to me quite an unexpected fact that the papers upon the subject of Civil and Political Reform are hardly more earnest appeals for political equality than are the addresses to be found in every other chapter. Hereafter if one asserts that the interest in the woman suffrage movement is not growing, let him be cited to this galaxy of witnesses, whose testimony is all the more valuable because in the large majority of instances it proceeds from women who never have identified themselves with it, and are not at all known as advocates of political equality. The meaning of the entire report is equality, co-operation, organization; that is, the demand made by the National Suffrage Association is the demand borne to us by the echoes of that great congress.

Among the committee reports that of Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, Chairman of Columbian Exposition Work, attracted especial attention and was in part as follows:

> There is a most valuable and interesting bit of unpublished history which seems to me to form an integral part of your committee's report. It concerns the origin of the Board of Lady Managers, and this association should be proud to be able to feel that to our president is largely due the recognition of women in official capacity at the World's Fair. The fact that women were not officially recognized during the Centennial Exposition in 1876 was a great disappointment to all interested in the advancement of womankind,[Pg 233] and while it was suggested on every side that women must have a voice in the management of the World's Fair in 1893, it remained for Susan B. Anthony to take the initiatory step which led to the creation of the Board of Lady Managers. She had invitations sent to women of official and social position to meet in the Riggs House parlors to consider this matter, in December, 1889. At this meeting Mrs. Conger, wife of Senator Omar D. Conger of Michigan, was made chairman, and Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, secretary. Miss Anthony was not present, fearing lest her well-known radical views might hinder the progress of affairs in the direction she wished them to take, but she restlessly walked about her room in the hotel anxiously awaiting the result.

> Several meetings followed this and a committee was appointed to wait upon Congress, asking that the commission should consist of both men and women. Meanwhile the World's Fair Bill had been brought before the House and Miss Anthony soon saw that there would not be time for this committee to act. She therefore prepared petitions, sent them to women in official life and asked them to obtain signatures of official people.[100] On the strength of these petitions there was added to the bill, in March, 1890, an amendment providing for the appointment of women on the Board.

> Miss Anthony's self-effacement was perhaps the wisest thing under the circumstances, for the Board, as appointed, being unconnected with woman suffrage, proved an immense source of education to the conservative women of the whole world—an education not needed by the radical women of our own ranks. I think the time has surely come when the truth of this history should be known to all.

The election of officers resulted in Miss Anthony's receiving for president 139 out of 140 possible votes; Miss Shaw for vice-president-at-large, 130; Rachel Foster Avery for corresponding secretary, unanimous; Alice Stone Blackwell for recording secretary, 136; Harriet Taylor Upton for treasurer, unanimous.

During the convention the death of Miss Anna Ella Carroll was announced. A resolution of sympathy with her sister was adopted and a collection was taken up, as had been done for Miss[Pg 234] Carroll a number of times during the past twenty-five years, which resulted in over forty dollars.

Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.), the faithful champion of Federal Suffrage, insisted that, instead of asking for an amendment to confer suffrage, we should demand protection in the right already guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution: "Even when asking for Municipal Suffrage, we never should fail to assert that it is already ours under the Constitution, and that there is strength enough in our national government to protect every woman in the Union provided the men had interpreted the laws right." Miss Sara Winthrop Smith (Conn.) supported Mrs. Bennett, saying: "It is useless labor to petition for a Sixteenth Amendment—we do not need it. Our fundamental institutions most adequately protect the rights of all citizens of the United States, irrespective of sex. In the twenty-four years since the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, 300 amendments to the Constitution have been introduced into Congress which never met with any approval from either House. I think it is wasted time for us to continue in this work, and therefore I feel that it concerns our dignity as a part of the people of this great United States that we declare and ask only for that which recognizes the dignity of such citizens." Mrs. Diggs, Mrs. Dietrick, Mrs. Colby and others supported this view.

In expressing his dissent Mr. Blackwell said: "I do not believe in Federal Suffrage. I agree with the State's Rights party in their views." Miss Blackwell and others took the same position, and Miss Anthony closed the debate by saying: "There is no doubt that the spirit of the Constitution guarantees full equality of rights and the protection of citizens of the United States in the exercise of these rights, but the powers that be have decided against us, and until we can get a broader Supreme Court—which will not be until after the women of every State in the Union are enfranchised—we never will get the needed liberal interpretation of that document." The majority concurred in this view.

The most spirited discussion of the convention was in regard to the place of holding the next annual meeting. Urgent invitations were received from Detroit and Cincinnati, but the persuasive[Pg 235] Southern advocates, Claudia Howard Maxwell, Miriam Howard DuBose and H. Augusta Howard, three Georgia delegates, carried off the prize for Atlanta.

This was the first and last appearance on the suffrage platform of Miss Kate Field, who was introduced by Miss Anthony with her characteristic abruptness: "Now, friends, here is Kate Field, who has been talking all these years against woman suffrage. She wants to tell you of the faith that is in her." Miss Field responded quickly:

> I take exception to what Miss Anthony has said, because I think she has misconstrued my position entirely. I never have been against woman suffrage. I have been against universal suffrage of any kind, regardless of sex. I think that morally woman has exactly as much right to the suffrage as man. It is a disgrace that such women as you and I have not the suffrage, but I do think that all suffrage should be regarded as a privilege and should not be demanded as a right. It should be the privilege of education and, if you please—I will not quarrel about that—of a certain property qualification. I have not changed my opinion, but I did say that I was tired of waiting for men to have common sense, that there evidently never would be any restriction in suffrage and that I should come in for the whole thing, woman included. Now, that is my position.... I withdraw my former attitude and take my stand on this platform.

The usual able "hearings" were held. Before the Senate committee—Senators Hoar, Teller, Wolcott, Blackburn and Hill—the speakers were the Rev. Ida C. Hultin, Miss Blackwell, Mrs. Lucretia Mitchell, Mrs. Diggs, Mrs. Phoebe C. Wright, Miss Alice Smith, Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Colby, Representative John C. Davis of Kansas. Although the majority of the committee were in favor of woman suffrage no report was made.

The Hon. Isaac H. Goodnight (Ky.) was in the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, which was addressed by the Reverends Miss Shaw and Miss Hultin, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Emily G. Ketcham, Miss Lavina A. Hatch, Prof. Jennie Gifford, Mrs. Alice Waugh, Mrs. Pickler, Miss Howard, Mrs. Meredith, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mr. Blackwell. Miss Anthony presented the speakers and closed the discussion. Later Mr. Goodnight submitted an adverse report for a majority of the committee.

### FOOTNOTES:

[98] The Hawaiian ex-queen, then in the United States endeavoring to have her throne restored to her.

[99] Among the speakers were Mrs. Mary L. Bennett, Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, Miss Laura Clay, Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, Mrs. Etta Grymes Farrah, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, Mrs. Rebecca Henry Hayes, Mrs. Laura M. Johns, Mrs. Emily B. Ketcham, Mrs. Claudia Howard Maxwell, Mrs. Ellis Meredith, Mrs. Mary Bentley Thomas, Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells, Mrs. Virginia D. Young.

[100] Miss Anthony herself also went among prominent persons of her own acquaintance obtaining signatures. In a few days 111 names were secured of the wives and daughters of Judges of the Supreme Court, the Cabinet, Senators, Representatives, Army and Navy officers—as influential a list as the national capital could offer. These names may be found in the published minutes of this convention of 1894, p. 135.

At the time Miss Anthony secured this petition no organization of women had considered the question and, if she had not been on the ground and taken immediate action, there is every reason to believe that the bill would have passed Congress without any provision for a board of women. For a further account of this matter, and for a description of this great Congress of Women, see Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLI; also chapter on Illinois in this volume of the History.

[Pg 236]

## CHAPTER XV.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1895.

The Twenty-seventh annual convention—Jan. 31-Feb. 5, 1895—possessed an unusual interest because of its being held outside of Washington. The American society had been accustomed to migratory conventions, but the National had gone to the capital for twenty-six winters. The Woman's Journal, whose editors were strongly in favor of the former plan, said of the Atlanta meeting:

> There had been some fears that holding the convention so far south might result in a smaller attendance of delegates than usual; but there were ninety-three delegates, representing twenty-eight States, and also a large number of visitors. Some, like Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon, had come nearly 4,000 miles to be present. De Give's Opera House was crowded. Even at the morning meetings the seats were full and men stood for hours, several rows deep all around the sides and back of the house—a novel and gratifying sight at a business meeting. The proportion of men among the delegates and in the audiences, both day and evening, was larger than usual....

> Over the platform hung two large flags, that of the association, with the two stars of Wyoming and Colorado, and another flag, the work of Georgia ladies, on which was ingeniously depicted the relative standing of the different States on this question. The States where women have no form of suffrage were represented by black stars. Those where they can vote for school committee or on certain local questions had a golden rim. Kansas and Iowa had a wider golden rim, to indicate municipal and bond suffrage. Wyoming and Colorado shone with full and undimmed luster. Portraits of Lucy Stone and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, draped in yellow, adorned opposite sides of the platform.

> Many of the delegates were from the Southern States, and some of them strikingly illustrated Miss Anthony's assertion, "These Southern women are born orators." In sweetness of voice, grace of manner and personal charm they have all the qualities to make most effective speakers, while in the fervor of their equal rights sentiments they go even beyond their sisters from the North and West. One handsome young lady, who sat on the platform a good[Pg 237] deal of the time, was supposed to be from New England, because she wore her hair short. It turned out, however, that she was from New Orleans and was a cousin of Jefferson Davis. The announcement of this fact caused her to be received by the audience with roars of enthusiasm.

> The Atlanta papers devoted columns every day to friendly reports and innumerable portraits. Ministers of different denominations opened the convention with prayer and their pulpits afterwards for addresses by the ladies. Some of the best people of the city took visitors into their homes, entertaining them hospitably and delightfully, and showing them what a Southern home is like. The national officers and speakers were entertained by the Georgia W. S. A. at the Aragon, and the State officers generously insisted upon taking almost the entire expenses of the great convention upon their own young shoulders. These "Georgia girls" devoted unlimited time, thought and work to getting up the convention, and then effaced themselves as far as possible....[101]

> Perhaps no one person did more, unintentionally, to promote the enthusiasm of the convention than the Rev. Dr. Hawthorne, a Baptist preacher. He had felt called upon to denounce all woman suffragists from his pulpit, not only with severity but with discourtesy, and had been so misguided as to declare that the husbands of suffragists were all feeble-minded men. As the average equal-rights woman is firmly convinced that her husband is the very best man in the world, this remark stirred the women up to a degree of wrath which no amount of abuse leveled against themselves would have aroused. On the other hand, the Atlanta people, even those who were not in favor of suffrage, felt mortified by this unprovoked insult to their guests, and many of them took occasion in private to express their regret. Several speakers at the convention criticised Dr. Hawthorne's utterances, and every such allusion was received with warm applause by the audience....

At the beginning of the convention four announcements were made which added much to the general good cheer—that South Australia had followed the example of New Zealand in extending Full Suffrage to women; that the Supreme Court of Ohio had pronounced the School Suffrage Law constitutional; that the Governor of Illinois had filled a vacancy on the Board of Trustees of the State University by appointing a woman; that the Idaho Legislature had submitted a woman suffrage amendment.

The most perfect arrangements had been made for the meetings, and the novelty of the occasion attracted large crowds, but[Pg 238] there was also much genuine interest. The success was partly due to the excellent work of the press of Atlanta. There was, however, no editorial endorsement except by The Sunny South, Col. Henry Clay Fairman, editor.

The national president, Miss Susan B. Anthony, said in opening the convention: "With this gavel was called to order in 1869 that Legislature of Wyoming which established the first true republic under the Stars and Stripes and gave the franchise to what men call the better-half of the people. We women do not say that, but we do claim to be half."

Miss Anthony seldom made a stated address either in opening or closing, but throughout the entire convention kept up a running fire of quaint, piquant, original and characteristic observations which delighted the audience and gave a distinctive attraction to the meetings. It was impossible to keep a record of these and they would lose their zest and appropriateness if separated from the circumstances which called them forth. They can not be transmitted to future generations, but the thousands who heard them during the fifty years of her itineracy will preserve them among their delightful memories. Perfectly at home on the platform, she would indulge in the same informality of remarks which others use in private conversation, but always with a quick wit, a fine satire and a keen discrimination. Words of praise or criticism were given with equal impartiality, and accepted with a grace which would have been impossible had the giver been any other than the recognized Mentor of them all. Her wonderful power of reminiscence never failed, and she had always some personal recollection of every speaker or of her parents or other relatives. She kept the audience in continuous good-humor and furnished a variety to the program of which the newspaper reporters joyfully availed themselves. At the morning business meetings which were always informal there would often be a running dialogue something like the following, when Mrs. Alberta C. Taylor was called to the platform:

> Miss Anthony: This is an Alabama girl, transplanted to the Rockies—a daughter of Governor Chapman of Alabama. She is as good a Southerner as any one, and also as good a Northerner and Westerner.

> Mrs. Taylor: A Southern paper lately said no Southern woman[Pg 239] could read the report of the late election in Colorado without blushing. I went through the election itself without blushing, except with gratification.

> Miss Anthony: Instead of degrading a woman it makes her feel nobler not to be counted with idiots, lunatics and criminals. It even changes the expression of her face.

> Voice in the Audience: How many women are there in the Colorado Legislature?

> Mrs. Taylor: Three.

> Miss Anthony: It has always been thought perfectly womanly to be a scrub-woman in the Legislature and to take care of the spittoons; that is entirely within the charmed circle of woman's sphere; but for women to occupy any of those official seats would be degrading.

> Miss Lucy E. Anthony: What salaries do the women legislators receive?

> Mrs. Taylor: The same as the men, $4 a day. The pay of our legislators is small. A prosperous business man has to make a great sacrifice to go to the Legislature, and we can not always get the best men to serve. This is an additional reason for making women eligible. There are more first-class women than first-class men who have the leisure.

> Miss Shaw: We are accused of wishing to belittle men, but in Colorado they think a man's time is worth only as much as a woman's.

> Mrs. Clara B. Colby: The Hon. Mrs. Holley has just introduced in the Colorado House, and carried through it against strong opposition, a bill raising the age of protection for girls to eighteen years.

> Mrs. Duniway: I was in the Colorado House and saw it done. The women members are highly respected. I have never seen women so honored since those of Washington were disfranchised. The leading men are as proud of the enfranchisement of their women as Georgia men will be when the time comes. The Colorado women have organized a Good Government League to promote education, sanitation and general prosperity.

> Mrs. Taylor: A bookseller in Denver told me that since women were given the suffrage he had sold more books on political economy than he had sold since Colorado was admitted into the Union.

> Miss Anthony: The bill raising the age of protection for girls shows that suffrage does not make a woman forget her children, and the bookseller's remark shows that she will study the science of government.

> Mrs. Mary Bentley Thomas: One of our most conservative Maryland women, who married in Colorado ten years ago, writes to me: "I enjoyed every moment of the campaign, especially the primary meetings." A Virginia woman who also married a Colorado man writes back: "Come West, where women are appreciated, and where they are proud and happy citizens." She adds:[Pg 240] "If you will come I will show you the sweetest girl baby you ever saw."

> Mrs. Henry: Let it be recorded that the first bill introduced by a woman member in any State Legislature was a bill for the protection of girls.

> On motion of Mrs. Colby, it was voted to send a telegram of congratulation to the Hon. Mrs. Holley.

Again:

> Before introducing the president of the Florida W. S. A. Miss Anthony said: "For several years a big box of oranges has come to me from Florida. Not long ago, I got home on one of the coldest nights of the year, and found a box standing in my woodshed, full of magnificent oranges. Next morning the papers reported that all the oranges in Florida were frozen; but the president of the suffrage association saved that boxful for me."

> Mrs. Ella C. Chamberlain: Those were all we saved.... A man in Florida who hires himself and his wife out to hoe corn, charges $1.25 for his own services and 75 cents for hers, although she does just as much work as he, so the men who employ them tell me. It costs his wife 50 cents a day to be a woman.

> Voice in the Audience: And the 75 cents paid for her work belongs to her husband.

> Miss Anthony: I suppose those are colored men.

> Mrs. Chamberlain: No, they are white.

> Miss Anthony: White men have always controlled their wives' wages. Colored men were not able to do so until they themselves became free. Then they owned both their wives and their wages.

The delegate from the District of Columbia answered in a very faint tone of voice, and Miss Anthony remarked that "this was through mortification because even the men there had no more rights than women." When another delegate could not be heard she said: "Women have always been taught that it is immodest to speak in a loud voice, and it is hard for them to get out of the old rut." At another time:

> Miss Lavina A. Hatch: In Massachusetts there are between 103,000 and 105,000 families which have no male head. Some of these pay large taxes and none of them has any representation.

> Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman: In about two-thirds of the State of New York, and not including New York City, women are assessed on $348,177,107.

> Mrs. Louisa Southworth: This year, with the new income tax, I shall pay in taxes, national, State and municipal, $5,300.

> Miss Anthony: Yet why should she have a right to vote? Inconsistency is the jewel of the American people.

> Mrs. Meriwether: Tennessee caps the climax in taxation without[Pg 241] representation. In Shelby County there are two young women, sisters, who own farms. Both are married, and both were sensible enough to have their farms secured to themselves and their children. In one case, at least, it proved a wise precaution. One of these young women asked the other, when she went to town, to pay a few bills for her and settle her taxes. Accordingly she went to the tax office, and as she handed in the papers she noticed written at the foot of her sister's tax bill, "Poll tax, $1.00." She exclaimed, "Oh, when did Mrs. A. become a voter? I am so glad Tennessee has granted suffrage to women!" "Oh, she hasn't; it doesn't," said the young clerk with a smile. "That is her husband's poll tax." "And why is she required to pay her husband's poll tax?" "It is the custom," he said. She replied, "Then Tennessee will change its custom this time. I will see the tax collector dead and very cold before I will pay Mr. A.'s poll tax out of my sister's property in order that he may vote, while she is not allowed to do so!"

> Miss Anthony: It seems to me that these Southern women are in a state of chronic rebellion.

> Mrs. Meriwether: We are.

In closing this meeting Miss Anthony said: "Now, don't all of you come to me to tell me how glad you are that I have worked for fifty years, but say rather that you are going to begin work yourselves."

The delegates were eloquently welcomed in behalf of the South by Bennett J. Conyers of Atlanta, who declared that "suffrage for women is demanded by the divine law of human development." He said in part:

> The work of Miss Anthony needs no apology. She has blazed a way for advanced thought in her lonely course over the red-hot plowshares of resistance. Now almost at the summit she looks back to see following her an army with banners. May she long worship where she stands at Truth's mountain altar, as, with the royal sunset flush upon her brow, she catches the beckoning of the lights twinkling on the heavenly shore.... The South is a maiden well worthy of the allegiance of this cause, and when her aid is given it will be as devoted as it has been reserved. The South is the land where has lingered latest on earth the chivalry which idealized its objects of worship. What though it may have meant repression? Is it any wonder that the tender grace of a day that is dead even now lingers and makes men loath to welcome change? Perhaps it can not be told how much it has cost men to surrender the ideal, even though it be to change it for the perfected womanhood....

[Pg 242]

The address of welcome for the State was made by Mrs. Mary L. McLendon, who spoke earnestly in favor of equal suffrage, saying:

> If Georgia women could vote, this National Convention could hold its session in our million dollar capitol, which rears its grand proportions on yonder hill. Crowning its loftiest pinnacle is the statue of a woman representing Liberty, and on its front the motto, "Justice, Wisdom and Moderation." It was built with money paid into our State's treasury by women as well as men, both white and black; but men alone, white and black, have the privilege of meeting in legislative session to make laws to govern women. Men are also allowed to hold their Democratic, Republican, Prohibition and Populist Conventions in its halls. It is with difficulty that women can secure a hearing before a legislative committee to petition for laws to ameliorate their own condition, or to secure compulsory training in the public schools, that their children may be brought up in the way they should go, and become sober, virtuous citizens.

Major Charles W. Hubner extended the welcome of the city, saying in conclusion: "Reason and right are with you, and these, in the name of God, will at last prevail." Afterwards he contributed the poem, "Thank God that Thought is Free." Miss Anthony was presented by Miss H. Augusta Howard and, after a speech complimentary to Southern women, introduced Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), who eulogized Southern Chivalry, and Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether (Tenn.), who spoke in behalf of Motherhood. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.) made the closing address, in which she said: "As surely as I want to vote—and nothing is more certain—the man for whom I have most wished to vote was your own beloved Henry W. Grady. There is something else for women to do than to sit at home and fan themselves, 'cherishing their femininity.' Womanliness will never be sacrificed in following the path of duty and service."

One of the principal addresses of the convention was that of Gen. Robert R. Hemphill of South Carolina, who began by saying that in 1892 he introduced a woman suffrage resolution in his State Senate, which received fourteen out of thirty-five votes. He closed as follows: "The cause is making headway, though slowly it is true, for it has the prejudices of hundreds of years to contend against. The peaceful revolution is upon us. It will not turn backward but will go on conquering until its final triumph. Woman will be exalted, she will enjoy equal rights; pure[Pg 243] politics and good government will be insured, the cause of morality advanced, and the happiness of the people established."

Miss Alice Stone Blackwell (Mass.) discussed The Strongholds of Opposition, showing what they are and how they must be attacked. Woman as a Subject was presented by Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick (La.), who said in part:

> Women are, and ever will be, loyal, tender, true and devoted to their well beloved men; for they naturally love them better than they do themselves. It is the brave soldier submissive to authority who deserves promotion to rank and honor; so woman, having proved herself a good subject, is now ready for her promotion and advancement. She is urgently asking, not to rule over men, but to take command of herself and all her rightful belongings....

> As a self-respecting, reasonable being, she has grave responsibilities, and from her is required an accountability strict and severe. If she owns stock in one of your banks, she has an influence in the management of the institution which takes care of her money. The possession of children makes her a large stockholder in public morality, but her self-constituted agents act as her proxy without her authorization, as though she were of unsound mind, or not in existence.

> The great truths of liberty and equality are dear to her heart. She would die before she would imperil the well-being of her home. She has no design to subvert church government, nor is she organized to tear up the social fabric of polite society. But she has now come squarely up to a crisis, a new epoch in her history here in the South, and asks for a womanly right to participate by vote in this representative government.

> Gentlemen, you value the power and privilege which the right of suffrage has conferred upon you, and in your honest, manly souls you can not but disdain the meanness and injustice which might prompt you to deny it to women. Language utterly fails me when I try to describe the painful humiliation and mortification which attend this abject condition of total disfranchisement, and how anxiously and earnestly women desire to be taken out of the list of idiots, criminals and imbeciles, where they do not belong, and placed in the respectable company of men who choose their lawmakers, and give an intelligent consent to the legal power which controls them.

> Do women deserve nothing? Are they not worthy? They have a noble cause, and they beg you to treat it magnanimously.

Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon (La.) described in an interesting manner Club Life among the Women of the South. Mrs. Blake gave a powerful address on Wife, Mother and Citizen. Miss Shaw closed the meeting with an impromptu speech in which, according to the reporter, she said: "It is declared that women[Pg 244] are too emotional to vote; but the morning paper described a pugilistic encounter between two members of Congress which looked as if excitability were not limited to women. It is said that 'the legal male mind' is the only mind fit for suffrage." Miss Shaw then made her wit play around the legal male mind like chain lightning. "It is said that women are illogical, and jump to their conclusions, flea-like. I shall not try to prove that women are logical, for I know they are not, but it is beyond me how men ever got it into their heads that they are. When we read the arguments against woman suffrage, we see that flea-like jumping is by no means confined to women."

On one evening the Hon. Henry C. Hammond of Georgia made the opening address, which was thus reported:

> After declaring that the atmosphere of the nineteenth century is surcharged with the sentiment of woman's emancipation, he traced the gradual evolution of this sentiment, showing that one by one the shackles had been stricken from the limbs of woman until now she was making her final protest against tyranny and her last appeal for liberty. "What is meant," said he, "by this mysterious dictum, 'Out of her sphere?' It is merely a sentimental phrase without either sense or reason." He then proceeded to say that if woman had a sphere the privilege of voting was clearly within its limitations. There was no doubt in his mind as to woman's moral superiority, and the politics of the country was in need of her purifying touch. In its present distracted and unhappy condition, the adoption of the woman suffrage platform and the incorporation of equal rights into the supreme law of the land was the only hope of its ultimate salvation....

J. Colton Lynes of Georgia, taking for his subject Women to the Front, gave a valuable historical review of their progress during the last half century. Mrs. Josephine K. Henry was introduced as "the daughter of Kentucky," and the Constitution said the next day: "If the spirit of old Patrick Henry could have heard the eloquent plea of his namesake, he would have had no reason to blush for a decadence of the oratory which gave the name to the world." In considering Woman Suffrage in the South, Mrs. Henry said:

> It is asserted on all sides that the women of the South do not want the ballot. The real truth is the women of the South never have been asked what they want. When Pundita Ramabai was in this country she saw a hen carried to market with its head downward.[Pg 245] This Christian method of treating a poor, dumb creature caused the heathen woman to cry out, "Oh, how cruel to carry a hen with its head down!" and she quickly received the reply, "Why, the hen does not mind it"; and in her heathen innocence she inquired, "Did you ask the hen?" Past civilization has not troubled either dumb creatures or women by consulting them in regard to their own affairs. For woman everything in sociology, law or politics has been arranged without consulting her in any way, and when her rights are trampled on and money extorted from her by the votes of the vicious and ignorant, the glib tongue of tyranny says, "Tax her again, she has no wish or right to tell what she wants." ...

> Where the laws rob her in marriage of her property, she does want possession and control of her inheritance and earnings. Where she is a mother, she wants co-guardianship of her own children. Where she is a breadwinner she wants equal pay for equal work. She wants to wipe out the law that in its savagery protects brutality when it preys upon innocent, defenseless girlhood. She wants the streets and highways of the land made safe for the child whose life cost her a hand to hand conflict with death. She wants a single standard of morals established, where a woman may have an equal chance with a man in this hard, old world, and it may not be possible to crowd a fallen woman out of society and close against her every avenue whereby she can make an honest living, while the fallen man runs for Congress and is heaped with honors. More than all, she needs and wants the ballot, the only weapon for the protection of individual rights recognized in this government.

> In short, this New Woman of the New South wants to be a citizen queen as well as a queen of hearts and a queen of home, whose throne under the present regime rests on the sandy foundation of human generosity and human caprice. It should be remembered that the women of the South are the daughters of their fathers, and have as invincible a spirit in their convictions in the cause of liberty and justice as had those fathers.

> We come asking the men of our section for the right of suffrage, not that it be bestowed on us as a gift on a suppliant, but that our birthright, bequeathed to us by the immortal Jefferson, be restored to us....

> The most pathetic picture in all history is this great conflict which women are waging for their liberty. Men armed with all the death-dealing weapons devised by human ingenuity, and with the wealth of nations at their backs, have waged wars of extermination to gain freedom; but women with no weapon save argument, and no wealth save the justice of their cause, are carrying on a war of education for their liberty, and no earthly power can keep them from winning the victory.

The Next Phase of the Woman Question was considered by Miss Mary C. Francis (O.) from the standpoint of a practical newspaper woman. Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman of the national[Pg 246] organization committee, made the last address, taking for a subject Eternal Justice. The Constitution said: "As a rapid, logical and fluent speaker it is doubtful if America ever has produced one more gifted, and the suffrage movement is fortunate in having so brilliant a woman for its champion."

Henry B. Blackwell urged the South to adopt woman suffrage as one solution of the negro problem:

> Apply it to your own State of Georgia, where there are 149,895 white women who can read and write, and 143,471 negro voters, of whom 116,516 are illiterates.

> The time has come when this question should be considered. An educational qualification for suffrage may or may not be wise, but it is not necessarily unjust. If each voter governed only himself, his intelligence would concern himself alone, but his vote helps to govern everybody else. Society in conceding his right has itself a right to require from him a suitable preparation. Ability to read and write is absolutely necessary as a means of obtaining accurate political information. Without it the voter is almost sure to become the tool of political demagogues. With free schools provided by the States, every citizen can qualify himself without money and without price. Under such circumstances there is no infringement of rights in requiring an educational qualification as a pre-requisite of voting. Indeed, without this, suffrage is often little more than a name. "Suffrage is the authoritative exercise of rational choice in regard to principles, measures and men." The comparison of an unintelligent voter to a "trained monkey," who goes through the motion of dropping a paper ballot into a box, has in it an element of truth. Society, therefore, has a right to prescribe, in the admission of any new class of voters, such a qualification as every one can attain and as will enable the voter to cast an intelligent and responsible vote.

> In the development of our complex political society we have to-day two great bodies of illiterate citizens: In the North, people of foreign birth; in the South, people of the African race and a considerable portion of the native white population. Against foreigners and negroes, as such, we would not discriminate. But in every State, save one, there are more educated women than all the illiterate voters, white and black, native and foreign.

The convention proper closed on Saturday night, but the exercises Sunday afternoon may be said to have been a continuation of it. The official report said:

> The services began at 3 o'clock and more than half an hour before this time the theatre was filled almost to its fullest capacity. When the opening hour arrived there was not an empty chair in the house, every aisle was crowded, and people anxious to hear the sermon of the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw had invaded the stage. So[Pg 247] dense became the crowd that the doors were ordered closed and people were refused admission even before the services began. After the doors were closed the disappointed ones stood on the stairs and many of them remained in the streets. The vast congregation was made up of all classes of citizens. Every chair that could be found in the theatre had been either placed in the aisles or on the stage, and then boxes and benches were pressed into service. Many of the most prominent professional and business men were standing on the stage and in different parts of the house.

Miss Shaw gave her great sermon The Heavenly Vision. She told of the visions of the man which it depended upon himself to make reality; of the visions of the woman which were forever placed beyond her reach by the church, by society and by the laws, and closed with these words: "We ask for nothing which God can not give us. God created nature, and if our demands are contrary to nature, trust nature to take care of itself without the aid of man. It is better to be true to what you believe, though that be wrong, than to be false to what you believe, even if that belief is correct."

Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) preached to more than a thousand people at the Bethel (colored) Church; Mrs. Meriwether at the Unitarian Church; Miss Yates and Miss Emily Howland (N. Y.) also occupied pulpits.

The evening programs with their formal addresses naturally attracted the largest audiences and occupied the most space in the newspapers, but the morning and afternoon sessions, devoted to State and committee reports and the business of the association, were really the life and soul of this as of all the conventions. Among the most interesting of the excellent State reports presented to the Atlanta meeting were those of New York and Kansas, because during the previous year suffrage campaigns had been carried on in those States. The former, presented by Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, State president, said in part:

> The New York Constitutional Convention before whom we hopefully carried our cause—"so old, so new, so ever true"—is a thing of the past. We presented our petition, asking that the word "male" be eliminated from the organic law, with the endorsement of over half a million citizens of the State. We laid before the convention statistics showing that outside the city of New York the property on which women pay taxes is assessed at $348,177,107; the number of women taxed, 146,806 in 571 cities and towns; not reported, 389.[Pg 248]

> We had the satisfaction of knowing that the delegates assembled were kept upon a strong equal suffrage diet for days and nights together. At the public hearings, graciously granted us, we saw the great jury listen not only with patience but with evident pleasure and enthusiasm, while women representing twenty-six districts gave reasons for wanting to be enfranchised; and we also saw the creative body itself turned into a woman suffrage meeting for three evenings. At the close of the last we learned that there were in this convention ninety-eight men who dared to say that the freemen of the State should not be allowed to decide whether their wives, mothers and daughters should be enfranchised or not. We learned also, that there were fifty-eight men, constituting a noble minority, who loved justice better than party power, and were willing to risk the latter to sustain the former.[102]

The report of the Press Committee Chairman, Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick (Mass.), called especial attention to the flood of matter relating to the woman question which was now appearing in the newspapers and magazines of the country, to the activity of the enemy and to the necessity for suffragists to "publish an antidote wherever the poison appears." The Legislative Committee, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Diggs, closed their report as follows:

> In a State where there is hope of support from the political parties, where there has been long agitation and everything points to a favorable result, it is wise to urge a constitutional amendment striking out the word "male" as a qualification for voters. This must pass both Houses in the form of concurrent resolution; in some States it must pass two successive Legislatures; and it must be ratified at the polls by a majority of the voters.

> When the conditions are not yet ripe for a constitutional amendment, there are many measures which are valuable in arousing public interest and preparing the way for final triumph, as well as important in ameliorating the condition of women. Among these are laws to secure school suffrage for women; women on boards of education and as school trustees; equality of property rights for husbands and wives; equal guardianship of children for mother and father; women factory inspectors; women physicians in hospitals and insane asylums; women trustees in all State institutions; police matrons; seats for saleswomen; the raising of "the age of consent."

The report of the Plan of Work Committee, Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman, began by saying:

[Pg 249]

> The great need of the hour is organization. There can be no doubt that the advocates of woman suffrage in the United States are to be numbered by millions, but it is a lamentable fact that our organization can count its numbers only by thousands. There are illustrious men and women in every State, and there are men and women innumerable, who are not known to the public, who are openly and avowedly woman suffragists, yet we do not possess the benefit of their names on our membership lists or the financial help of their dues. In other words, the size of our membership is not at all commensurate with the sentiment for woman suffrage. The reason for this condition is plain; the chief work of suffragists for the past forty years has been education and agitation, and not organization. The time has come when the educational work has borne its fruit, and there are States in which there is sentiment enough to carry a woman suffrage amendment, but it is individual and not organized sentiment, and is, therefore, ineffective.

The audience was greatly amused when Miss Anthony commented on this: "There never yet was a young woman who did not feel that if she had had the management of the work from the beginning the cause would have been carried long ago. I felt just so when I was young." There was much laughter also over one of Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway's short speeches in which she said:

> There are in Oregon three classes of women opposed to suffrage. 1. Women who are so overworked that they have no time to think of it. They are joined to their wash-tubs; let them alone. But the children of these overworked women are coming on. 2. Women who have usurped all the rights in the matrimonial category, their husbands' as well as their own. The husbands of such women are always loudly opposed to suffrage. The "sassiest" man in any community is the hen-pecked husband away from home. 3. Young girls matrimonially inclined, who fear the avowal of a belief in suffrage would injure their chances. I can assure such girls that a woman who wishes to vote gets more offers than one who does not. Their motto should be "Liberty first, and union afterwards." The man whose wife is a clinging vine is apt to be like the oaks in the forest that are found wrapped in vines—dead at the top.

When Miss Anthony said, "One reason why politicians hesitate to grant suffrage to woman is because she is an unknown quantity," Mrs. Henry responded quickly, "There are two great unknown forces to-day, electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity than they can on woman." A resolution was adopted for a public celebration in New York City[Pg 250] of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's eightieth birthday, November 12, by the association.[103]

The treasurer, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, reported the receipts of the past year to be $5,820, of which $2,571 went to the Kansas campaign. The contributions and pledges of this convention for the coming year were about $2,000. In addition, Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Cleveland gave $1,000 to Miss Anthony to use as she thought best, and she announced that it would be applied to opening national headquarters. A National Organization Committee was for the first time formally organized and Mrs. Chapman Catt was made its chairman by unanimous vote.

Mrs. Colby presented the memorial resolutions, saying in part:

> During the past year our association has lost by death a number of members whose devotion to the cause of woman's liberty has contributed largely to the position she holds to-day, and whose labors are a part of the history of this great struggle for the amelioration of her condition. Among these beloved friends and co-workers three stood, each as the foremost representative in a distinct line of action: Myra Bradwell of Chicago, Virginia L. Minor of St. Louis, Amelia Bloomer of Council Bluffs, Ia.

> Mrs. Bradwell was the first to make a test case with regard to the civil rights of women, and to prove that the disfranchised citizen is unprotected. [Her struggle to secure from the U.S. Supreme Court a decision enabling women to practice law was related.] The special importance of Mrs. Minor's connection with the suffrage work lies in the fact that she first formulated and enunciated the idea that women have the right to vote under the United States Constitution. [The story was then told of Mrs. Minor's case in the U.S. Supreme Court to test the right of women to vote under the Fourteenth Amendment.][104] Mrs. Amelia Bloomer was the first woman to own and edit a paper devoted to woman suffrage and temperance, the Lily, published in Seneca Falls, N. Y. She was also an eloquent lecturer for both these reforms and one of the first women to hold an office under the Government, as deputy postmaster. The costume which bears her name she did not originate, but wore and advocated for a number of years.

> Of the noble band that started in 1848, few now remain, but a host of young women are already on the stage of action, even better[Pg 251] equipped than were our pioneers to plead their own cases in the courts, the halls of legislation, the pulpit and the press.

Two large receptions were given to the delegates and visitors, one at the Hotel Aragon, and one by Mrs. W. A. Hemphill, chairman of the Committee on the Professional Work of Women at the approaching Cotton States Exposition soon to be held in Atlanta. She was assisted by Mrs. W. Y. Atkinson, wife of the newly-elected Governor of Georgia.

During several weeks before the convention Miss Anthony and Mrs. Chapman Catt had made a tour of the Southern States, speaking in the principal cities to arouse suffrage sentiment, as this section was practically an unvisited field. Immediately after the convention closed a mass meeting was held in the court-house of Atlanta. Afterwards Mrs. Blake was requested to address the Legislature of North Carolina, Miss Anthony lectured in a number of cities on the way northward, and others were invited to hold meetings in the neighboring States. Most of the speakers and delegates met in Washington on February 15 to celebrate Miss Anthony's seventy-fifth birthday and participate in the triennial convention of the National Council of Women.

### FOOTNOTES:

[101] The three sisters, Claudia Howard Maxwell, Miriam Howard Du Bose and H. Augusta Howard, who as delegates at Washington the previous winter had invited the association to Atlanta, bore the principal part of these expenses and were largely responsible for the success of the convention.

[102] The facts and figures presented in the report from Kansas by the president, Mrs. Laura M. Johns, will be found in the chapter on that State.

[103] For an account of this beautiful celebration in the Metropolitan Opera House with an audience of 3,000, see Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, p. 848; also Reminiscences of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

[104] For account of Mrs. Bradwell's case see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 601; of Mrs. Minor's, same, p. 715.

[Pg 252]

## CHAPTER XVI.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1896.

The suffrage association held its Twenty-eighth annual convention in the Church of Our Father, Washington, D. C., Jan. 23-28, 1896. In her opening remarks the president, Miss Susan B. Anthony, said:

> The thought that brought us here twenty-eight years ago was that, if the Federal Constitution could be invoked to protect black men in the right to vote, the same great authority could be invoked to protect women. The question has been urged upon every Congress since 1869. We asked at first for a Sixteenth Amendment enfranchising women; then for suffrage under the Fourteenth Amendment; then, when the Supreme Court had decided that against us, we returned to the Sixteenth Amendment and have pressed it ever since. The same thing has been done in this Fifty-fourth Congress which has been done in every Congress for a decade, namely, the introducing of a bill providing for the new amendment....

> You will notice that the seats of the delegation from Utah are marked by a large United States flag bearing three stars, a big one and two smaller ones. The big star is for Wyoming, because it stood alone for a quarter of a century as the only place where women had full suffrage. Colorado comes next, because it is the first State where a majority of the men voted to grant women equal rights. Then comes Utah, because its men in convention assembled—in spite of the bad example of Congress, which took the right away from its women nine years ago—those men, having seen the good effects of woman suffrage for years, voted by an overwhelming majority to leave out the little word "male" from the suffrage clause of their new State Constitution, and their action was ratified by the electors. Next year, if I am here, I hope to rejoice with you over woman suffrage in California and Idaho.

Some one whispered to Miss Anthony that the convention had not been opened with prayer, and she answered without the slightest confusion: "Now, friends, you all know I am a Quaker. We give thanks in silence. I do not think the heart of any one here has been fuller of silent thankfulness than mine, but I should not have remembered to have the meeting formally opened with[Pg 253] prayer if somebody had not reminded me. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw will offer prayer."

Miss Shaw's report as vice-president-at-large was full of the little touches of humor for which she was noted:

> The report of my specific work would not take long; but the work that really did count for our association began last May, when your president and I were invited to California. On the way we stopped first at St. Louis, where Miss Anthony spoke before the Women's Federation, the Woman's Council, and the State W. S. A. From there we went to Denver, where we had a remarkable meeting, and a warm greeting was given to Miss Anthony by the newly enfranchised women of Colorado. It was pleasant to find them so grateful to the pioneers. The large opera house was packed, and a reception, in which the newspapers estimated that 1,500 persons took part, was afterwards given at the Palace Hotel.

> From Denver we went to Cheyenne, where we addressed the citizens, men and women. For once there were present at our meeting quite as many men as women, and not only ordinary but extraordinary men. After introducing us to the audience, Mrs. Theresa A. Jenkins introduced the audience to us. It included the Governor, Senators, Representatives, Judges of the Supreme Court, city officials, and never so many majors and colonels, and it showed that where women have a vote, men think their meetings are worth going to. We were the guests of the Governor during our stay in Colorado, and guests of a U. S. Senator in Wyoming. At Salt Lake all the city turned out, and I spoke in the Tabernacle to the largest audience I ever had. It was sympathetic too, for Utah people are accustomed to go to church and listen. At Ogden they had to take two buildings for the meeting. At Reno, Nevada, there was a large audience.

> The Woman's Congress at San Francisco was the most marvelous gathering I ever saw. The newspapers said the men were all hypnotized, or they would not stand on the sidewalk two hours to get into a church. Every subject considered during the whole week, whether it was the care of children or the decoration of the home, turned on the ballot for women, and Susan B. Anthony was the belle of the ball. The superintendent of San Francisco closed the schools that Miss Anthony might address the 900 teachers. The Ministers' Association passed resolutions favoring the amendment. We went the whole length of the State and the meetings were just as enthusiastic.

> The Citizens' Committee asked women to take part in the Fourth of July celebration. The women accepted more than the men meant they should, for they insisted that a woman should be on the program. The Program Committee refused, and the Executive Committee said if they did not put a woman on they should be discharged. Instead of this they proposed that Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper should provide sandwiches for over 5,000 kindergarten children. That was the kind of work they invited such women to do.[Pg 254]

> The Program Committee discussed the matter, and their discussion could be heard four blocks away, but they finally yielded and invited me to speak. So Miss Anthony and I rode for three miles in a highly-decorated carriage, just behind the mayor and followed by a brass band and the fire brigade, and I wore a big badge that almost covered me, just like the badge worn by the masculine orator. The dispute between the Executive and the Program Committees had excited so much interest that there were more cheers for your president and vice-president as we passed along than there were for the mayor....

> They wanted us both to come back in the fall. I went and spoke thirty-four times in thirty-seven evenings.

As the vice-president finished, Miss Anthony observed in her characteristic manner: "Miss Shaw said she only went to California to hold Miss Anthony's bonnet, but, when we left, everybody thought that I had come to hold her bonnet. It is my delight to see these girls develop and outdo their elders. There is another little woman that I want to come up here to the platform, Mrs. Chapman Catt. While she is blushing and getting ready, there is a delegation here from the Woman's National Press Association." Mesdames Lockwood, Gates, Cromwell and Emerson were introduced, and Miss Anthony remarked: "Our movement depends greatly on the press. The worst mistake any woman can make is to get crosswise with the newspapers."[105]

By this time Mrs. Chapman Catt had reached the platform, and Miss Anthony continued: "Mrs. Catt went down South with me last year to hold my bonnet; and wherever we were, at Memphis or New Orleans or elsewhere, when she had spoken, Miss Anthony was nowhere. It is she who has done the splendid organization work which has brought into the association nearly every State in the Union, and every Territory except the Indian and Alaska and we shall have them next year."

An able address was given by Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) on The Philosophy of Woman Suffrage, in which she said:

> Woman suffrage is in harmony with the evolution of the race. The progress of civilization has developed the finer forces of mankind and made ready for the entrance of woman into government. As long as man was merely a slayer of men and animals he did not[Pg 255] feel the need of the co-partnership of woman, but as his fatherhood was developed he felt his inadequacy and the necessity of the maternal element by his side. Woman suffrage is in harmony with the growth of the idea of the worth of the individual, which has its best expression in our republic. Our nation is heir of all the struggles for freedom which have been made....

> The Magna Charta belongs to us as much as does the Declaration of Independence. In all these achievements for liberty women have borne their share. Not only have they inspired men but the record of the past is illumined with the story of their own brave deeds. Women love liberty as well as men do. The love of liberty is the corollary of the right of consent to government. All the progress of our nation has been along the line of extending the application of this basic idea....

> Woman suffrage is in harmony with the evolution in the status of women. They always have done their share in the development of the race. There always has been a "new woman," some one stepping out in advance of the rest and gaining a place for others to stand upon.... We have no cause to blush for our ancestors. We may save our blushes for the women of to-day who do not live up to their privileges.

> Now that woman has made such advance in personal and property rights, educational and industrial opportunities, to deny her the ballot is to force her to occupy a much more degrading position than did the women of the past. We think the savage woman degraded because she walks behind her husband bearing the burden to leave his hands free for the weapon which is his sign of sovereignty; what shall we say of the woman of to-day who may not follow her husband and brother as he goes forth to wield the weapon of civilization, the ballot? If the evolution in the status of woman does not point to the franchise it is meaningless.

Mrs. Colby was followed by Miss Julie R. Jenney, a member of the bar in Syracuse, N. Y., with a thoughtful address on Law and the Ballot. She showed that woman's present legal rights are in the nature of a license, and therefore revocable at the will of the bodies granting them, and that until women elect the lawmakers they can not be entirely sure of any rights whatever. Between Daybreak and Sunrise was the title of the address of Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs (Mich.), who pleaded for the opportunity of complete co-operation between men and women, declaring that "each human being is a whole, single and responsible; each human unit is concerned in the social compact which is formed to protect individual and mutual rights."

This was the first appearance of Mrs. Stetson on this national platform. She came as representative of the Pacific Coast[Pg 256] Woman's Congress and California Suffrage Association. The Woman's Journal said: "Those of us who have for years admired Mrs. Stetson's remarkably bright poems were delighted to meet her, and to find her even more interesting than her writings. She is still a young woman, tall, lithe and graceful, with fine dark eyes, and spirit and originality flashing from her at every turn like light from a diamond. She read several poems to the convention, made an address one evening and preached twice on Sunday; and the delegates followed her around, as iron filings follow a magnet."

Mrs. Catharine E. Hirst, president of the Ladies of the G. A. R.; Mrs. Lillian M. Hollister, representing the Supreme Hive Ladies of the Maccabees; Miss Harriette A. Keyser, from the Political Study Club of New York; Mrs. Rose E. Lumpkin, president Virginia King's Daughters, were presented as fraternal delegates. Grace Greenwood and Mrs. Caroline B. Buell were introduced to the convention.

Mrs. Chapman Catt spoke for the Course of Study in Political Science, which had been in operation only five months, had sold five hundred full sets of books and reported over one hundred clubs formed. The committee on credentials reported 138 delegates present, and all the States and Territories represented except thirteen. A very satisfactory report of the first year's work of the organization committee was presented by its chairman, Mrs. Chapman Catt, which closed as follows:

> Our committee are more than ever convinced that it is possible to build a great organization based upon the one platform of the enfranchisement of women. With harmony, co-operation and determination we shall yet build this organization, of such numbers and political strength that through the power of constituency it can dictate at least one plank in the platform of every political party, and secure an amendment from any Legislature it petitions. We believe it will yet have its auxiliaries in every village and hamlet, township and school district, to influence majorities when the amendment is submitted. More—we believe ere many years its powers will be so subtle and widespread that it can besiege the conservatism of Congress itself, and come away with the laurel wreath of victory.

Nearly $3,300 were at once pledged for the committee, Miss Anthony herself agreeing to raise $600 of this amount.

Mrs. Chapman Catt presented also a detailed Plan of Work, which included Organization, Club Work, Letter Writing, Raising[Pg 257] of Money and Political Work. Of the last she said: "The time has fully come when we should carry the rub-a-dub of our agitation into 'the political Africa,' that is into every town meeting of every township of every county, and every caucus or primary meeting of every ward of every city of every State.... For a whole half century we have held special suffrage meetings, with audiences largely of women; that is, women have talked to women. We must now carry our discussion of the question into all of the different political party gatherings, for it is only there that the rank and file of the voters ever go. They won't come to our meetings, so we must carry our gospel into theirs. It will be of no more avail in the future than it has been in the past to send appeals to State and national conventions, so long as they are not backed by petitions from a vast majority of the voting constituents of their members."

With the thousand dollars which had been put into Miss Anthony's hands by Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Cleveland the preceding year, national headquarters had been opened in Philadelphia with Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, corresponding secretary, in charge. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, treasurer, reported total receipts for 1895 to be $9,835, with a balance of several hundred dollars in the treasury.

The principal feature of the Saturday evening meeting was the address of Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis, daughter of George William Curtis, on Universal Suffrage. She said in part:

> I find many people in my native State of New York who are leaning toward a limited suffrage, and therefore I am beginning to ask, "What does it mean? Is democratic government impossible after all?" For a government in order to be democratic must be founded on the suffrages of all the people, not a part. A republic may exist by virtue of a limited suffrage, but a democracy can not, and a democratic government has been our theoretical ideal from the first. Are we prepared, after a hundred and twenty years, to own ourselves defeated?... Universal suffrage, to me, means the right of every man and woman who is mentally able to do so, and who has not forfeited the right by an ill use of it, to say who shall rule them, and what action shall be taken by those rulers upon questions of moment....

> This brings me to what I wish to say about those who desire a limited suffrage. Who are they, and to what class do they belong? For the most part, as I know them, they are men of property, who[Pg 258] belong to the educated classes, who are refined and cultivated, and who see the government about them falling into the hands of the unintelligent and often illiterate classes who are voted at the polls like sheep. Therefore these gentlemen weep aloud and wail and say: "If we had a limited suffrage, if we and our friends had the management of affairs, how much better things would be!"

> Do not misunderstand me here. I am far from decrying the benefits of education. Nobody believes in its necessity more sincerely than I do. In fact I hold that, other things being equal, the educated man is immeasurably in advance of the uneducated one; but the trouble is that other things are often very far from being equal and it is utterly impossible for the average man, educated or not, to be trusted to decide with entire justice between himself and another person when their interests are equally involved....

> The intelligent voter in a democratic community can not abdicate his responsibility without being punished. He is the natural leader, and if he refuses to fulfil his duties the leadership will inevitably fall into the hands of those who are unfitted for the high and holy task—and who is to blame? It is the educated men, the professional men, the men of wealth and culture, who are themselves responsible when things go wrong; and the refusal to acknowledge their responsibility will not release them from it....

> The principle of universal suffrage, like every other high ideal, will not stand alone. It carries duties with it, duties which are imperative and which to shirk is filching benefits without rendering an equivalent. How dare a man plead his private ease or comfort as an excuse for neglecting his public duties? How dare the remonstrating women of Massachusetts declare that they fear the loss of privileges, one of which is the immunity from punishment for a misdemeanor committed in the husband's presence? "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

> Throughout history all women and many men have been forced, so far as government has been concerned, to speak, think and understand as children. Now, for the first time, we are asking that the people, as a whole body, shall rise to their full stature and put away childish things.

The sermon on Sunday afternoon was given by Mrs. Stetson from the topic which was to have been considered by the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, The Spiritual Significance of Democracy and Woman's Relation to It. She spoke without notes and illustrated the central thought that love grows where people are brought together, and that they are brought together more in a democracy than in any other mode of living. "Women have advanced less rapidly than men because they have always been more isolated. They have been brought into relation with their own families only. It is men who have held the inter-human relation....[Pg 259] Everything came out of the home; but because you began in a cradle is no reason why you should always stay there. Because charity begins at home is no reason why it should stop there, and because woman's first place is at home is no reason why her last and only place should be there. Civilization has been held back because so many men have inherited the limitations of the female sex. You can not raise public-spirited men from private-spirited mothers, but only from mothers who have been citizens in spite of their disfranchisement. In holding back the mothers of the race, you are keeping back the race."

At the memorial services loving tributes were paid to the friends of woman suffrage who had passed away during the year. Among these were ex-Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, ex-Governor Oliver Ames (Mass.), Dr. James C. Jackson of Dansville (N. Y.), Dr. Abram W. Lozier of New York City, Thomas Davis, Sarah Wilbur of Rhode Island, Marian Skidmore of Lily Dale, N. Y., and Amelia E. H. Doyon of Madison, Wis., who left $1,000 to the National Association.

Henry B. Blackwell spoke of Theodore D. Weld, the great abolitionist, leader of the movement to found Oberlin, the first co-educational college, and one of the earliest advocates of equal rights for women. He told also of Frederick Douglass, whose last act was to bear his testimony in favor of suffrage for women at the Woman's Council in Washington on the very day of his death. Mrs. Avery gave a tender eulogy of Theodore Lovett Sewall of Indianapolis, his brilliancy as a conversationalist, his charm as a host, his loyalty as a friend, his beautiful devotion to his wife, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, and his lifelong adherence to the cause of woman.

The loss of Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick came with crushing force, as her services to the association were invaluable. To her most intimate friend, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, was assigned the duty of speaking a word in her memory, and in broken sentences she said: "I never knew such earnest purpose and consecration or such a fund of knowledge in any one as Mrs. Dietrick possessed. She never stopped thinking because she had reached the furthest point to which some one else had thought. She was the best antagonist I ever saw; I never knew any one who could differ so intensely, and yet be so perfectly calm and good-tempered.[Pg 260] What she was as a friend no one can tell. Her death is a great loss to our press work. Perhaps no one ever wrote so many articles in the same length of time. This was especially the case last summer. It seemed as if she had a premonition that her life would soon end, for she sat at her desk writing hour after hour. I believe it shortened her life. She had just finished a book—Women in the Early Christian Ministry—and she left many other manuscripts. It would be a pity if the rich, ripe thought of this woman should not be preserved. Her funeral was like her life, without show or display. No one outside the family was present except myself. No eulogy was uttered there; she would not have wanted it. Tennyson's last poem, Crossing the Bar, was recited by her brother-in-law, the Rev. J. W. Hamilton.[106]" Miss Shaw ended her remarks by reciting this poem.

Miss Anthony, who was to close the exercises, was too much affected to speak and motioned that the audience was dismissed, but no one stirred. At length she said: "There are very few human beings who have the courage to utter to the fullest their honest convictions—Mrs. Dietrick was one of these few. She would follow truth wherever it led, and she would follow no other leader. Like Lucretia Mott, she took 'truth for authority, not authority for truth.' Miss Anthony spoke also of the "less-known women": "Adeline Thomson, a most remarkable character, was a sister to J. Edgar Thomson, first president of the Pennsylvania railroad. She lived to be eighty, and for years she stood there in Philadelphia, a monument of the past. Her house was my home when in that city for thirty years. We have also lost in Julia Wilbur of the District a most useful woman, and one who was faithful to the end. This is the first convention for twenty-eight years at which she has not been present with us. We should all try to live so as to make people feel that there is a vacancy when we go; but, dear friends, do not let there be a vacancy long. Our battle has just reached the place where it can win, and if we do our work in the spirit of those who have gone before, it will soon be over."

There was special rejoicing at this convention over the admission of Utah as a State with full suffrage for women. Senator and Mrs. Frank J. Cannon and Representative and Mrs. C. E.[Pg 261] Allen of Utah were on the platform. In her address of welcome Miss Shaw said:

> Every star added to that blue field makes for the advantage of every human being. We are just beginning to learn that we are all children of one Father and members of one family; and when one member suffers or is benefited, all the members suffer or rejoice. So when Utah comes into the Union with every one free, it is not only that State which is benefited, but we and all the world. As the stars at night come out one by one, so will they come out one by one on our flag, till the whole blue field is a blaze of glory.

> We expected it of the men of Utah. No man there could have stood by the side of his mother and heard her tell of all that the pioneers endured, and then have refused to grant her the same right of liberty he wanted for himself, without being unworthy of such a mother. They are the crown of our Union, those three States on the crest of the Rockies, above all the others. In the name of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, we extend our welcome, our thanks and our congratulations to Utah, as one of the three so dear to the heart of every woman who loves liberty in these United States.

Senator Cannon said in response: " ... Only one serious question came before our constitutional convention, and that was whether the adoption of woman suffrage would hinder the admission of our Territory as a State.... But our women had furnished courage, patience and heroism to our men, and so we said: 'Utah shall take another forty-nine years of wandering in the wilderness as a Territory before coming in as a State without her women.' My mother wandered there for twelve years. Women trailed bleeding feet and lived on roots that those of to-day might reap bounteous harvests. Utah gave women the suffrage while still a Territory. Congress, in its not quite infinite wisdom, took it away after they had exercised it intelligently for seventeen years; but the first chance that the men of Utah had they gave it back."

Representative Allen was called on by Miss Anthony to "tell us how nice it seems to feel that your wife is as good as you are," and said in part: "Perhaps you have read what the real estate agents say about Utah—how they praise her sun and soil, her mountains and streams, and her precious metals. They tell you that she is filled with the basis of all material prosperity, with gold, silver, lead and iron: but greatness can not come from material resources alone—it must come from the people who till[Pg 262] and delve. Utah is great because her people are great. When she has centuries behind her she will make a splendid showing because she has started right. She has given to that part of the people who instinctively know what is right, the power to influence the body politic.... This movement is destined to go on until it reaches every State in the Union."

Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Sarah A. Boyer told of the heroic efforts the women had made for themselves; and Mrs. Emily S. Richards, vice-president of the Territorial suffrage association, described in a graphic manner the systematic and persistent work of this organization. The tribute to its president, Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells, whose influence had been paramount in securing the franchise for the women of Utah, was heartily applauded and a telegram of congratulation was sent to her.[107]

The address of Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, Assistant Attorney-General of Montana, on The Environments of Woman as Related to her Progress, attracted much attention. She had been the Populist candidate for Attorney-General and made a strong canvass but went down to defeat with the rest of her party. Soon afterward she married her competitor, who appointed her his assistant. She reviewed the laws of past ages, showing how impossible it was then for women to rise above the conditions imposed upon them, and pointed out the wonderful progress they had made as soon as even partial freedom had been granted.

Mrs. Virginia D. Young (S. C.), taking as a subject The Sunflower Bloom of Woman's Equality, gave an address which in its quaint speech, dialect stories and attractive provincialisms captivated the audience.

The convention received an invitation from Mrs. John R. McLean for Monday afternoon to meet Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant on her seventieth birthday. The ladies were welcomed by their hostess and Mrs. Nellie Grant Sartoris, while Miss Anthony, who had attended the luncheon which preceded the reception, presented the ladies to Mrs. Grant.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, corresponding secretary, devoted a[Pg 263] portion of her report to an account of the visit made by the delegates of the association in response to an invitation from the Woman's Board of Congresses of the Atlanta Exposition, Oct. 17, 1895. The principal address on that occasion was made by Mrs. Helen Gardiner.

This convention was long remembered on account of the vigorous contest over what was known as the Bible Resolution. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton recently had issued a commentary on the passages of Scripture referring to women, which she called "The Woman's Bible." Although this was done in her individual capacity, yet some of the members claimed that, as she was honorary president of the National Association, this body was held by the public as partly responsible for it and it injured their work for suffrage. A resolution was brought in by the committee declaring: "This association is non-sectarian, being composed of persons of all shades of religious opinion, and has no official connection with the so-called 'Woman's Bible' or any theological publication."

The debate was long and animated, but although there was intense feeling it was conducted in perfectly temperate and respectful language. Those participating were Rachel Foster Avery, Katie R. Addison, Henry B. Blackwell, Alice Stone Blackwell, Carrie Chapman Catt, Annie L. Diggs, Laura M. Johns, Helen Morris Lewis, Anna Howard Shaw, Frances A. Williamson and Elizabeth U. Yates speaking for the resolution; Lillie Devereux Blake, Clara B. Colby, Cornelia H. Cary, Lavina A. Hatch, Harriette A. Keyser, J. B. Merwin, Caroline Hallowell Miller, Althea B. Stryker, Charlotte Perkins Stetson, Mary Bentley Thomas and Victoria C. Whitney speaking against it.

Miss Anthony was thoroughly aroused and, leaving the chair, spoke against the resolution as follows:

> The one distinct feature of our association has been the right of individual opinion for every member. We have been beset at each step with the cry that somebody was injuring the cause by the expression of sentiments which differed from those held by the majority. The religious persecution of the ages has been carried on under what was claimed to be the command of God. I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. All the way along the history of our movement there has been this same contest on account of religious theories. Forty years ago one of our noblest[Pg 264] men said to me: "You would better never hold another convention than allow Ernestine L. Rose on your platform;" because that eloquent woman, who ever stood for justice and freedom, did not believe in the plenary inspiration of the Bible. Did we banish Mrs. Rose? No, indeed!

> Every new generation of converts threshes over the same old straw. The point is whether you will sit in judgment on one who questions the divine inspiration of certain passages in the Bible derogatory to women. If Mrs. Stanton had written approvingly of these passages you would not have brought in this resolution for fear the cause might be injured among the liberals in religion. In other words, if she had written your views, you would not have considered a resolution necessary. To pass this one is to set back the hands on the dial of reform.

> What you should say to outsiders is that a Christian has neither more nor less rights in our association than an atheist. When our platform becomes too narrow for people of all creeds and of no creeds, I myself can not stand upon it. Many things have been said and done by our orthodox friends which I have felt to be extremely harmful to our cause; but I should no more consent to a resolution denouncing them than I shall consent to this. Who is to draw the line? Who can tell now whether these commentaries may not prove a great help to woman's emancipation from old superstitions which have barred its way?

> Lucretia Mott at first thought Mrs. Stanton had injured the cause of all woman's other rights by insisting upon the demand for suffrage, but she had sense enough not to bring in a resolution against it. In 1860 when Mrs. Stanton made a speech before the New York Legislature in favor of a bill making drunkenness a ground for divorce, there was a general cry among the friends that she had killed the woman's cause. I shall be pained beyond expression if the delegates here are so narrow and illiberal as to adopt this resolution. You would better not begin resolving against individual action or you will find no limit. This year it is Mrs. Stanton; next year it may be I or one of yourselves who will be the victim.

> If we do not inspire in women a broad and catholic spirit, they will fail, when enfranchised, to constitute that power for better government which we have always claimed for them. Ten women educated into the practice of liberal principles would be a stronger force than 10,000 organized on a platform of intolerance and bigotry. I pray you vote for religious liberty, without censorship or inquisition. This resolution adopted will be a vote of censure upon a woman who is without a peer in intellectual and statesmanlike ability; one who has stood for half a century the acknowledged leader of progressive thought and demand in regard to all matters pertaining to the absolute freedom of women.

Notwithstanding this eloquent appeal the original resolution was adopted by 53 yeas, 41 nays.[108][Pg 265]

At the request of about thirty of the delegates, mostly from the far Western States, Miss Anthony sent a message to Mrs. Cleveland asking that they might be permitted to call upon her, and she received them with much courtesy.

The association decided to help California and Idaho in whatever manner was desired in their approaching campaigns for a woman suffrage amendment. Invitations for holding the national convention were received from Springfield, Ill.; Denver, Col.; Cincinnati, O.; St. Louis, Mo.; Portland, Ore.; Charleston, S. C. It was voted to leave the matter to the business committee, who later accepted an invitation from Des Moines, Ia., as the suffrage societies of that State were organizing to secure an amendment from the Legislature.

At the last meeting, on Tuesday evening, every inch of space was occupied and people were clinging to the window sills. Miss Anthony stated that since Frederick Douglass was no longer among them as he had been for so many years, his grandson, Joseph Douglass, who was an accomplished violinist, would give two selections in his memory.

Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), spoke on Presidential Candidates and the Interests of Women, outlining the attitude of the various nominees and parties. Miss Harriet May Mills (N. Y.) discussed Our Unconscious Allies, the Remonstrants, illustrating from her experience as organizer how their efforts really help the cause they try to hinder. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe (Ills.),[Pg 266] in demonstrating that The Liberty of the Mother means the Liberty of the Race, showed the need of truer companionship between man and woman and that the political disabilities of women affect all humanity. This was further illustrated by Mrs. Annie L. Diggs (Kas.) under the topic Women as Legislators. She said in part:

> You have before you a great problem as to whether republican government itself is to be successful at this time, and statesmen to save their souls can not tell what will be the outcome. We believe that women have in their possession what is needed to make it a success—those things upon which are built the home life and the ethical life of the nation. We can supply what is lacking, not because women are better than men, but because they are other than men; because they have a supplementary part, and it is their mission to guard most sacredly and closely those things which protect the home life. Because of their womanhood, because of their divine function of motherhood, women must always be most closely concerned with the matters that pertain to the home. It belongs to man, with his strong right arm, to pioneer the way, and then woman comes along to help him build the enduring foundation upon which everything rests.

Miss Shaw, in a short, good-naturedly sarcastic speech on The Bulwarks of the Constitution, showed the illogical position of President Eliot of Harvard in declaiming grand sentiments in favor of universal suffrage and then protesting against having them applied to women. The last number on the program was The Ballot as an Improver of Motherhood, by Mrs. Stetson. It was an address of wonderful power which thrilled the audience. Among other original statements were these:

> We have heard much of the superior moral sense of woman. It is superior in spots but not as a whole.... Here is an imaginary case which will show how undeveloped in some respects woman's moral sense still is: Suppose a train was coming with a children's picnic on board—three hundred merry, laughing children. Suppose you saw this train was about to go through an open switch and over an embankment, and your own child was playing on the track in front of it. You could turn the switch and save the train, or save your own child by pulling it off the track, but there was not time to do both. Which would you do? I have put that question to hundreds of women. I never have found one but said she would save her own child, and not one in a hundred but claimed this would be absolutely right. The maternal instinct is stronger in the hearts of most women than any moral sense....

> What is the suffrage going to do for motherhood? Women enter[Pg 267] upon this greatest function of life without any preparation, and their mothers permit them to do it because they do not recognize motherhood as a business. We do not let a man practice as a doctor or a druggist, or do anything else which involves issues of life and death, without training and certificates; but the life and death of the whole human race are placed in the hands of utterly untrained young girls. The suffrage draws the woman out of her purely personal relations and puts her in relations with her kind, and it broadens her intelligence. I am not disparaging the noble devotion of our present mothers—I know how they struggle and toil—but when that tremendous force of mother love is made intelligent, fifty per cent of our children will not die before they are five years old, and those that grow up will be better men and women. A woman will no longer be attached solely to one little group, but will be also a member of the community. She will not neglect her own on that account, but will be better to them and of more worth as a mother.

Mrs. Stetson closed with her own fine poem, Mother to Child.

The usual congressional hearings were held on Tuesday morning, January 28.[109] The speakers were presented by Miss Shaw, who made a very strong closing argument. At its conclusion Senator Peffer announced his thorough belief in woman suffrage, and Senator Hoar planted himself still more firmly in the favorable position he always had maintained.[110]

Miss Anthony led the host before the Judiciary Committee of the House, and opened with the statement that the women had been coming here asking for justice for nearly thirty years. She gave a brief account of the status of the question before Congress and then presented her speakers, each occupying the exact limit of time allotted and each taking up a different phase of the question.[111] Miss Anthony called on Representative John F. Shafroth[Pg 268] of Colorado, who was among the listeners, to say something in regard to the experiment in his State. He spoke in unqualified approval, saying: "In the election of 1894 a greater per cent. of women voted than men, and instead of their being contaminated by any influence of a bad nature at the polls, the effect has been that there are no loafers, there are no drunkards, there are no persons of questionable character standing around the polls. One of the practical effects of woman suffrage will be to inject into politics an element that is independent and does not have to keep a consistent record with the party. We find that the ladies of Colorado do not care whether they vote for one ticket or the other, but they vote for the men they think the most deserving. Consequently if a man is nominated who has a questionable record invariably they will strike the party that does it. That tendency, I care not where it may exist, must be for good."

Miss Anthony closed with an earnest appeal that the committee would report in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, thus enabling the women to carry their case to the Legislatures of the different States instead of to the masses of voters. She then submitted for publication and distribution the address of Mrs. Stanton, which said in part:

> There is not a principle of our Government, not an article or section of our Constitution, from the preamble to the last amendment, which we have not elucidated and applied to woman suffrage before the various committees in able arguments that have never been answered. Our failure to secure justice thus far has not been due to any lack of character or ability in our advocates or of strength in their propositions, but to the popular prejudices against woman's emancipation. Eloquent, logical arguments on any question, though based on justice, science, morals and religion, are all as light as air in the balance with old theories, creeds, codes and customs.

> Could we resurrect from the archives of this Capitol all the petitions and speeches presented here by women for human freedom during this century, they would reach above this dome and make a more fitting pedestal for the Goddess of Liberty than the crowning point of an edifice beneath which the mother of the race has so long pleaded in vain for her natural right of self-government—a right her sons should have secured to her long ago of their own free will by statutes carved indelibly on the corner-stones of the Republic.[Pg 269]

> As arguments have thus far proved unavailing, may not appeals to your feelings, to your moral sense, find the response so long withheld by your reason? Allow me, honorable gentlemen, to paint you a picture and bring within the compass of your vision at once the comparative position of two classes of citizens: The central object is a ballot box guarded by three inspectors of foreign birth. On the right is a multitude of coarse, ignorant beings, designated in our constitutions as male citizens—many of them fresh from the steerage of incoming steamers. There, too, are natives of the same type from the slums of our cities. Policemen are respectfully guiding them all to the ballot box. Those who can not stand, because of their frequent potations, are carefully supported on either side, each in turn depositing his vote, for what purpose he neither knows nor cares, except to get the promised bribe.

> On the left stand a group of intelligent, moral, highly-cultivated women, whose ancestors for generations have fought the battles of liberty and have made this country all it is to-day. These come from the schools and colleges as teachers and professors; from the press and pulpit as writers and preachers; from the courts and hospitals as lawyers and physicians; and from happy and respectable homes as honored mothers, wives and sisters. Knowing the needs of humanity subjectively in all the higher walks of life, and objectively in the world of work, in the charities, in the asylums and prisons, in the sanitary condition of our streets and public buildings, they are peculiarly fitted to write, speak and vote intelligently on all these questions of such vital, far-reaching consequence to the welfare of society. But the inspectors refuse their votes because they are not designated in the Constitution as "male" citizens, and the policemen drive them away.

> Sad and humiliated they retire to their respective abodes, followed by the jeers of those in authority. Imagine the feelings of these dignified women, returning to their daily round of duties, compelled to leave their interests, public and private, in the State and the home, to these ignorant masses. The most grievous result of war to the conquered is wearing a foreign yoke, yet this is the position of the daughters of the Puritans....

> What a dark page the present political position of women will be for the future historian! In reading of the republics of Greece and Rome and the grand utterances of their philosophers in pæans to liberty, we wonder that under such governments there should have been a class of citizens held in slavery. Our descendants will be still more surprised to know that our disfranchised citizens, our pariahs, our slaves, belonged to the most highly educated, moral, virtuous class in the nation, women of wealth and position who paid millions of taxes every year into the State and national treasuries; women who had given thousands to build colleges and churches and to encourage the sciences and arts. From the dawn of creation to this hour history affords no other instance of so large a class of such a character subordinated politically to the ignorant masses.

### FOOTNOTES:

[105] Letters and telegrams of greeting were received from the Hon. Mrs. C. C. Holly, member Colorado Legislature, Mrs. Henry M. Teller, Mrs. Francis E. Warren, Mrs. Foster, from the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, State and local associations of various kinds.

[106] Now Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

[107] George W. Catt presented a significant paper showing that the victory of Utah was almost wholly due to the excellent organization of the suffrage forces, as with a population of 206,000 it had over 1,000 active workers for the franchise. If the same proportion existed in other States nothing could prevent the success of the movement to enfranchise women. This report was printed by the association as a leaflet.

[108] Yeas: Rachel Foster Avery, Katie R. Addison, Lucy E. Anthony, Mary O. Arnold, Lucretia L. Blankenburg, Caroline Brown Buell, Sallie Clay Bennett, Henry B. Blackwell, Alice Stone Blackwell, Emma E. Bower, Jennie Broderick, Jessie J. Cassidy, Carrie Chapman Catt, Mariana W. Chapman, Mary N. Chase, Laura Clay, Elizabeth B. Dodge, Annie L. Diggs, Matilda E. Gerrigus, Caroline Gibbons, John T. Hughes, Mary Louise Haworth, Mrs. Frank L. Hubbard, Mary N. Hubbard, Mary G. Hay, Mary D. Hussey, Hetty Y. Hallowell, Laura M. Johns, Mary Stocking Knaggs, Helen Morris Lewis, Mary Elizabeth Milligan, Rebecca T. Miller, Jessie G. Manley, Alice M. A. Pickler, Florence M. Post, Florence Post, the Rev G. Simmons, Anna R. Simmons, Alice Clinton Smith, Sarah H. Sawyer, Amanthus Shipp, Mrs. M. R. Stockwell, Mary Clarke Smith, D. Viola Smith, Anna H. Shaw, Sarah Vail Thompson, Harriet Taylor Upton, Laura H. Van Cise, Frances A. Williamson, Mary J. Williamson, Eliza R. Whiting, Elizabeth A. Willard, Elizabeth Upham Yates—53

Nays: Susan B. Anthony, Mary S. Anthony, S. Augusta Armstrong, Elizabeth D. Bacon, Lillie Devereux Blake, Elisan Brown, Annie Caldwell Boyd, Cornelia H. Cary, Clara Bewick Colby, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Caroline McCullough Everhard, Dr. M. Virginia Glauner, Mary E. Gilmer, Mrs. L. C. Hughes, Lavina A. Hatch, Emily Howland, Isabel Howland, Julie R. Jenney, Harriette A. Keyser, Jean Lockwood, Orra Langhorne, Mary E. Moore, J. B. Merwin, Harriet May Mills, Mrs. M. J. McMillan, Julia B. Nelson, Adda G. Quigley, Charlotte Perkins Stetson, Althea B. Stryker, Mary B. Sackett, Harriet Brown Stanton, Mrs. R. W. Southard, Ellen Powell Thompson, Helen Rand Tindall, Mary Bentley Thomas, Martha S. Townsend, Mary Wood, Victoria Conkling Whitney, Mary B. Wickersham, Mrs. George K. Wheat, Virginia D. Young—41.

[109] The Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage—Senators Wilkinson Call, James Z. George, George F. Hoar, Matthew S. Quay and William A. Peffer—were addressed by Elizabeth D. Bacon (Conn.), Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.), Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), Lucretia L. Blankenburg (Penn.), Mariana W. Chapman (N. Y.), Mary N. Chase (Vt.), Dr. Mary D. Hussey (N. J.), Mrs. Frank Hubbard (Ills.), Lavina A. Hatch (Mass.), May Stocking Knaggs (Mich.), Helen Morris Lewis (N. C.), Orra Langhorne (Va.), Mary Elizabeth Milligan (Del.), Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.), Julia B. Nelson (Minn.), Mrs. R. W. Southard (Ok.), Ellen Powell Thompson (D. C.), Victoria Conkling Whitney (Mo.), Virginia D. Young (S. C.).

[110] On April 23 Senator Call submitted the Bill for a Sixteenth Amendment without recommendation, and for himself and Senator George the same old adverse report which had begun to do duty in 1882, and which, he said, expressed their views. It will be found in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 237. Senator Quay evidently allowed himself to be counted in the opposition.

[111] The members of the committee present were Representatives David B. Henderson (chairman), Broderick, Updegraff, Gillett (Mass.) Baker (N. H.), Burton (Mo.), Brown, Culberson, Boatner, Washington, Terry and De Armond. Absent: Ray, Connolly, Bailey, Strong and Lewis. The speakers were Mrs. L. C. Hughes (Ariz.), Charlotte Perkins Stetson (Cal.), Annie L. Diggs, Katie R. Addison (Kan.), Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.), Henry B. Blackwell (Mass.), Harriet P. Sanders (Mont.), Clara B. Colby (Neb.), Frances A. Williamson (Nev.), Dr. Cora Smith Eaton (N. D.), Caroline McCullough Everhard (O.), Anna R. Simmons (S. D.), Emily S. Richards (Utah), Jessie G. Manley (W. Va.).

[Pg 270]

## CHAPTER XVII.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1897.

This year the suffrage association took its convention west of the Mississippi River, the Twenty-ninth annual meeting being held in Des Moines, Ia., Jan. 26-29, 1897. Circumstances were unfavorable, the thermometer registering twenty-four degrees below zero and a heavy blizzard prevailing throughout the West. Nevertheless sixty-three delegates, representing twenty States, were present. All the visitors were entertained in the hospitable homes of this city, and the entire executive board were the guests of James and Martha C. Callanan at their handsome home in the suburbs. Receptions were given by the Des Moines Woman's Club, by the Young Women's Christian Association and by Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Hubbell at their palatial residence, Terrace Hill. The convention was welcomed in behalf of the State by Gov. Francis M. Drake, who paid the highest possible tribute to the social and intellectual qualities of women, pointed out the liberality of Iowa in respect to manhood suffrage and congratulated the association generally, but was extremely careful not to commit himself on the question of woman suffrage. Mayor John McVicar extended the welcome of the city in eloquent language. He also skirted all around the suffrage question, came much nearer an expression of approval than did the Governor, but cleverly avoided a direct assertion in favor. He was followed by the Rev. H. O. Breeden, pastor of the Christian Church in which the convention was assembled. Not being in politics he dared express an honest opinion and said in the course of his remarks:

(Miss Anthony's Cabinet in 1900.)
CATHARINE WAUGH McCULLOCH. |  | ALICE STONE BLACKWELL.
Second Auditor. |  | Recording Secretary.
RACHEL FOSTER AVERY.
Corresponding Secretary 21 Years.
LAURA CLAY. |  | HARRIET TAYLOR UPTON.
First Auditor. |  | Treasurer.

> It is my privilege to address you in behalf of the churches, and I do so with great pleasure, because I have a robust faith that you are right, and also that the churches are with you in sympathy and heart. I belong to one which welcomes women to its pulpit and to all its offices. I should distrust the Christianity of any that would deny to my mother and wife the rights it accords to[Pg 271] my father and myself. We welcome you to this city of churches and to the churches of the city, and to its homes.

> Woman shows her capacity for the highest functions in proportion as she is admitted to them. I hold it true, with Dr. Storrs, that as Dante measured his progress in Paradise not by outer objects but by the increased beauty upon the face of Beatrice, so the progress of the race is measured by the increasing beauty of character shown in its women. The fanaticism of yesterday is the reform of to-day, and the victory of to-morrow. Truth always goes onward and never back. The day of equal rights for women is surely coming. You are fighting a good warfare, with God, with conscience and with right to inspire you, and the triumph is near at hand.

Mrs. Mattie Locke Macomber extended the greetings of the Women's Clubs of the State; Mrs. Adelaide Ballard, president of the Iowa Suffrage Association, presented its welcome, and greetings were read from various Women's Christian Temperance Unions. Miss Anthony responded briefly, contrasting the welcome by Governor, mayor and different societies with the olden times when perhaps not one person would extend a friendly hand to those who attempted to hold a suffrage meeting. "I hardly know what to say now," she continued. "It is so much easier to speak when brickbats are flying. But I do rejoice with you over the immense revolution and evolution of the past twenty-five years, and I thank you for this cordial greeting."

The meetings were held in the large and well-arranged Christian Church, with an auditorium seating 1,500. The four daily papers gave full and fair reports and, although there was no editorial endorsement, there was no adverse comment. The Leader thus described the opening session, Tuesday afternoon:

> It is doubtful if the church ever before held so many people. They poured in at all the doors, and the great audience room, with the balconies and the windows, the choir and the aisles, the platform and every foot of available space, was early occupied. There were many gentlemen in the audience, but probably four of every five were women. The men had come, apparently, to see and hear Miss Anthony; and when she was done many of them left. It was such an audience as is not often seen. The ladies were generally elderly, the great majority beyond middle-age; they had braved the cold and wind to hear the leader whom they had known and loved for many years, but whom most of them had never seen. Their bright faces framed in silvery hair, with brighter eyes upturned to the speakers, must have been an inspiration to those on the platform; in the case[Pg 272] of Miss Anthony it was plain that she was indeed inspired by her audience.

There was much rejoicing over the enfranchisement of the women of Idaho by an amendment to the State constitution during the past year; and much sorrow over the defeat of a similar amendment in California. In her president's address Miss Anthony said in part:

> The year 1896 witnessed greater successes than any since the first pronunciamento was made at Seneca Falls, N. Y., July 19, 1848. On January 6 President Cleveland proclaimed Utah to be a State, with a constitution which does not discriminate against women. With Utah and Wyoming we have two States coming into the Union with the principle of equal rights to women guaranteed by their constitutions.

> On November 3 the men of Idaho declared in favor of woman suffrage, and for the first time in the history of judicial decisions upon the enlargement of women's rights, civil and political, a Supreme Court gave a broad interpretation of the constitution. The Supreme Court of Idaho—Isaac N. Sullivan, Joseph W. Huston, John T. Morgan—unanimously decided that the amendment was carried constitutionally. This decision is the more remarkable because the Court might as easily have declared that the constitution requires amendments to receive a majority of the total vote cast at the election, instead of a majority of the votes cast on the amendment itself. By the former construction it would have been lost, notwithstanding two to one of all who expressed an opinion were in favor.

> If anyone will study the history of our woman suffrage movement since the days of reconstruction and the adoption of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution—taking the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in the cases of Mrs. Myra Bradwell for the protection of her civil rights; of Mrs. Virginia L. Minor for the protection of her political rights; of the law granting Municipal Suffrage to women in Michigan; on giving women the right to vote for County School Commissioners in New York, and various other decisions—he will find that in every case the courts have put the narrowest possible construction upon the spirit and the letter of the constitution. The Judges of Idaho did themselves the honor to make a decision in direct opposition to judicial precedent and prejudice. The Idaho victory is a great credit not only to the majority of men who voted for the amendment, but to the three Judges who made this broad and just decision.

After sketching the situation in California, and relating the[Pg 273] part taken by the National Association in these two campaigns, she concluded:

> In every county which was properly organized, with a committee in every precinct, who visited every voter and distributed leaflets in every family, the amendment received a majority vote. This ought to be sufficient to teach the women of all the States that what we need is house-to-house educational work throughout every voting precinct. We may possibly carry amendments with education short of this, but we are not likely to. I believe if the slums of San Francisco and Oakland had been thus organized, even the men there could have been made to see that it was for their interest and that of their wives and daughters to vote for the amendment. But, while the suffragists had no committees whatever in those districts, the "liquor men" had an active committee in every saloon, "dive" and gambling house. I am, therefore, more and more convinced that it is educational work which needs to be done. It is of little use for us to make our appeals to political party conventions, State Legislatures or Congress for resolutions in favor of woman's enfranchisement, while no appeal comes up to them from the rank and file of the voters.

> Until we do this kind of house-to-house work we can never expect to carry any of the States in which there are large cities. If Idaho had had San Francisco, with all its liquor interests and foreigners banded together, she would probably have been defeated as was California.

> So, friends, I am not in any sense disheartened, and while I rejoice exceedingly over Idaho, I also rejoice exceedingly over the grand work done in California, and over the 110,000 votes given for woman suffrage in that State. It was vastly more than was ever done in any other amendment campaign. Study then the methods of California and Idaho and improve on them as much as you possibly can.

The Des Moines Leader thus finished its report:

> It was not difficult for one who saw Miss Anthony for the first time to understand why she is so well beloved by her associates. Seventy-seven years old, she is the most earnest worker of them all; she is not only their leader but their counsellor and friend. While she occupied the platform the utmost solicitude was manifested for her on the part of everybody. Once a glass of water was sent for but did not come as soon as it should, and everyone on the stage was visibly concerned except Miss Anthony herself, who calmly observed, by way of apology for a trifling difficulty with her voice, that she was not accustomed to speak in public, at which a laugh went round.... Her silvery hair was parted in the middle and brushed down over her ears. Her eyes have the deep-set appearance which is characteristic of elderly people who have been[Pg 274] hard mental laborers, but on the whole she did not look all her years, though older than most of her hearers had expected to see her. But those beaming, earnest eyes, taking in her whole audience as she talked, told of a nature tenacious of purpose and not to be daunted by any obstacle—the qualities which in her many years' work in the cause Miss Anthony has so many times manifested.

The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw devoted the most of her report as vice-president-at-large to the California campaign, as she had spent the greater part of the past year in that State. She closed by saying: "Our reception by the Californians was such as to make them forever dear to us. I wish you could have seen Miss Anthony for once walking ankle-deep in roses. It showed that the sentiment for suffrage had reached the point where its advocates not only were tolerated but honored. I used to like to see her sitting in a chair all adorned with flowers and with a laurel crown suspended over her head, and to feel that it was woman suffrage that was crowned. The work was hard, but we all came back from California better in health and stronger in hope."

On Wednesday evening the crowd was so great it became necessary to hold an overflow meeting, which was attended by five hundred persons. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, who was introduced as "one of Iowa's own daughters," was received with great applause. She said in part:

> I have a deep and tender love for Iowa. When I cross her boundary, I always feel that I am coming home. In my travels through the West I meet many men and women who give me a warmer hand-shake because they too are from Iowa. But this State no longer occupies the first place in my heart. There are four that I love better, and every woman here feels the same. The first is Wyoming. Many pass through that State and see only a barren plain covered with sage brush, but when I cross her border, I feel a thrill as sacred as ever the crusaders felt in visiting the Holy Land. The second State is Colorado, the third Utah, and the fourth Idaho. All of us Iowa women will love these States better than our own until it shall arouse and place its laws and institutions on an equality for women and men....

> We ask suffrage in order to make womanhood broader and motherhood nobler. Men and women are inextricably bound together. If we are to have a great race, we must have a great motherhood. Do you ask why people can not see this? In all history no class has been enfranchised without some selfish motive underlying. If to-day we could prove to Republicans or Democrats that every woman would vote for their party, we should be enfranchised.[Pg 275]

> Do you say that whenever all women wish the ballot they will have it? That time will never come. Not all of any class of men ever wanted to vote till the ballot was put into their hands. When the first woman desired to study medicine, not one school would admit her. Since that time, only half a century ago, 25,000 women have been admitted to the practice of medicine. If a popular vote had been necessary, not one of them would yet have her diploma. We have gained these advantages because we did not have to ask society for them. If woman suffrage were granted in Iowa, women would soon wish to vote, and every home would become a forum of education....

There never had been so many deaths in the ranks as during the past year. The following were among the names presented by Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby as those whom the association would ever hold in reverent memory:

> Hannah Tracy Cutler of Illinois, former president of the American Association and one of the earliest and most self-sacrificing of woman suffrage lecturers; Sarah B. Cooper of California, auditor of this association, whose labors for the enfranchisement of the women of the Pacific coast will be remembered and honored equally with her beneficent work in founding and sustaining free kindergartens, and in whatever promoted justice, truth and mercy, so that on the day of her funeral all the flags in San Francisco were placed at half-mast; Mary Grew, who began her work for freedom as corresponding secretary of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1834, one of the founders of the New Century Club of Philadelphia, and of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association, of which she was president for twenty-three years; Elizabeth McClintock Phillips, who in 1848 signed the call for the first convention which demanded the ballot for women; J. Elizabeth Jones of New York, a pioneer in anti-slavery and woman suffrage; Judge E. T. Merrick of New Orleans, whose home was ever open to the woman suffrage lecturers in that section, and who by his eminent position as Chief Justice of Louisiana for many years, sustained his wife in work which in earlier days but for him would have been impossible; Eliza Murphy of New Jersey, who bequeathed five hundred dollars to this association; Harriet Beecher Stowe of Connecticut, who, although the apostle of freedom in another field, yet held as firmly and expressed as steadfastly her allegiance to the cause of woman suffrage; Dr. Caroline B. Winslow, the earliest woman physician in the District of Columbia, intrepid as a journalist, successful in practice, a leader in many lines of reform; Maria G. Porter of Rochester, N. Y.; Sarah Hussey Southwick of Massachusetts, a worker in the cause of liberty for more than sixty years; Kate Field of Washington, D. C.; Gov. Frederick T. Greenhalge of Massachusetts; Dr. Hiram Corson of Pennsylvania, who stood for the full opportunities of women in medicine, and secured[Pg 276] the opening to them of the conservative medical societies of Philadelphia.

The names of over thirty other tried and true friends who had passed away during the months since the last meeting were given. Mrs. Colby closed the memorial service by saying:

> The best that comes to this world comes through the love of liberty. These were souls of noble aspiration and undaunted courage. We enter into their labors; we will enshrine them in the history of the suffrage movement and bear them gratefully in our hearts forever. May our lives be as fruitful as theirs, and when we too pass away may we

> "Join the choir invisible
> Of these immortal dead who live again,
> In minds made better by their presence."

Among letters received was one from Parker Pillsbury (N. H.), now 88 years old, who had spoken so eloquently in early days for the emancipation of the slaves and the freedom of women. One of the many excellent addresses was on the general topic Equal Rights, by Miss Alice Stone Blackwell (Mass.), illustrated by a number of the piquant and appropriate stories for which she is noted and which perhaps leave a more lasting impression than a labored argument. Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, a practicing lawyer of Chicago, considered the hackneyed phrase All the Rights We Want, showing up in a humorous way the legal disabilities of women in her own State. The wife's earnings may be seized to pay for her husband's clothes; she can not testify against her husband; she can not enter into a business partnership without his consent; a married mother has no right to her children; the age of protection for girls is only fourteen, etc.

President George A. Gates of Iowa College said in part: "I never heard or read a single sound argument against the suffrage of women in a democracy. There are a hundred arguments for it. The question now is one of organization, of agitation, of perseverance. In my judgment he who sneers at suffrage not only proclaims himself a boor and casts discredit on at least four women—his mother, his wife, his sister and his daughter—but he reveals a depth of ignorance that is pitiable. Let the appeal be to experience. Not one of the direful consequences predicted has come to pass where suffrage is enjoyed. Homes have not[Pg 277] been deserted, bad women have not flocked to the polls, conjugal strife has not been aroused, bad effects have not come but good effects have. Bad men seek office in vain where women have the ballot. New States are coming into line and the triumph of the cause can not much longer be delayed."

Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson spoke with her usual ability on Duty and Honor:

> Underlying the objections to woman suffrage is a reason of which, as an American, I am deeply ashamed. I do not think either men or women have the same honest pride in our democracy that they had fifty years ago. We are becoming a little afraid of what Europe has always told us was an experiment, but one reason it has not yet been all we could wish is that it is not a democracy at all, but a semi-democracy, one-half of the race ruling over the other half.

> Another deep-seated feeling is that, while development is the general rule, yet the production of the best men and women requires "the maternal sacrifice," i. e. that the mother shall be sacrificed to her children, and incidentally to her husband. If the sacrifice is necessary, well and good; but how if it is not?... It has been regarded as dangerous to improve the condition of women for fear they would not be as good mothers. If gain to the mother means robbery to the child, let the mother remain as she is. But the standard is the amount of good done to the children, not the amount of evil done to herself....

> Grant that it is a woman's business to take care of her children—not merely of her own children. If children anywhere are not under right conditions, women ought to see to it. The trouble is we are too wrapped up in my children to think of our children. We can not keep out disease by shutting our own front door. We have to know and care about the world outside our gates. In order to do our duty to our children we must make this world a better place to live in.

> Our children are not born with that degree of brain power that we could wish. They will not be, until our minds are widened by study of the whole duty of a human being.... What is needed for women is an enlargement of their moral sense so as to include social as well as private virtues. We have been taught that there is only one virtue for us. Our morality is high but narrow. It is not wholesome to limit oneself to one virtue, or to six or to ten. Sons resemble their mothers. While mothers limit their interests to their own narrow domestic affairs, regardless of the world outside, their sons will betray the interests of the country for their own private business interests.... Women and men are so connected that we can not improve one without improving the other. Under equal rights we shall raise the moral sense of the community by the natural laws of transmission through the mothers. We shall[Pg 278] learn to blame a man as much if he betrays a public trust as we do if he deserts his wife.

> Have we done our full duty when we have loved and served and taken care of those that every beast on earth loves and serves and takes care of—our own young? That is the beginning of human duty but not the whole of it. The duty of woman is not confined to the reproduction of the species; it extends to the working of the will of God on earth. The family is a leaf on the tree of the State. It can grow in strength and purity while the State is healthy, but when the State is degraded the family becomes degraded with it. We have not done our full duty to the family till we have done our best to serve the State.

Miss Shaw took up this subject, saying:

> The millennium will not come as soon as women vote, but it will not come until they do vote. If a woman has only a little brain, she has a right to the fullest development of all she has.... If we are to keep our children healthy, as Mrs. Stetson says is our duty, pure water is essential. I know a city (Philadelphia) where you can fast for forty days, drinking only water, and grow fat—because you have chowder every time. Is there any reason why women should not have a vote in regard to water-works? A woman knows as much about water as a man. Generally, she drinks more of it. See how the street cleaners sweep the dirt into heaps on Monday and leave it to blow about until Saturday, before it is taken up. Any housekeeper would know better. Sewers and man-traps spread disease literally and also metaphorically. You may teach your boy every precept in the Bible from beginning to end, and he will go out into the street and be taught to violate every one of them, under the protection of law, and you can't help yourself or him.

At one of the morning meetings Miss Anthony said in response to a message from the W. C. T. U. accompanied by a great bunch of daisies: "We always are glad to receive greetings from this society, because one of its forty departments is for the franchise. The suffrage association has only one, but that one aims to make every State a true republic." She continued: "A newspaper of this city has criticized the suffrage banner with its four stars and has accused us of desecrating our country's flag. But no one ever heard anything about desecration of the flag during the political campaign, when the names and portraits of all the candidates were tacked to it. Our critics compare us to Texas and its lone star. We have not gone out of the Union, but four States have come in. Keep your flag flying, and do not let any one persuade you that you are desecrating it by putting on stars for the[Pg 279] States where government is based on the consent of the governed, and leaving them off for those which are not."

State Senators Rowen, Kilburn and Byers brought an official message inviting the convention to visit the Senate and select certain of their members to address that body. Each of these gentlemen spoke briefly but unequivocally in favor of the enfranchisement of women.

The ladies found the Senate Chamber crowded from top to bottom on the occasion of their visit Friday morning, and they were welcomed by Lieutenant-Governor Parrott. In her response Miss Anthony called attention to the fact that the women of Iowa had been pleading their cause in vain before the Legislature for nearly thirty years. Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells and Mrs. Mell C. Woods spoke for the States of Colorado, Utah and Idaho, which had enfranchised women; Mrs. Colby represented Wyoming. Clever two-minute speeches were made by Mrs. Ballard, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt, which were highly appreciated by the legislators and the rest of the audience.

During the convention an informal speech of Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton (O.), As the World Sees Us, was much enjoyed. In the course of her remarks she said:

> The world thinks our husbands are inferior men, and I do not like it. For fifty years they have said all sorts of things about the overbearing suffragists—that they were crazy, tyrannical, etc., but they never have said we were fools. Why should they think that we would pick out fools for our husbands?...

> The world also thinks the suffrage advocates are poor housekeepers. I know, for I was in the world a long time and I thought so. When I was brought into the movement and visited the leaders, I was surprised to find the order and executive ability with which their homes were conducted.

> The world thinks we are office-seekers. Most of us have not the slightest wish for office, but we do want to see women serving on all boards that deal with matters where woman's help is needed.

> The world thinks we are irreligious; but our individual churches do not think so—for most of us are members of churches in good and regular standing, and we are not denied communion. We can not be vestrymen, but if the church wants a steam heater it is voted to have one, without a cent in the treasury, because the women are relied upon to raise the money. We are religious enough to have oyster suppers in aid of the church and to make choir-boys' vestments[Pg 280] and to raise the minister's salary and to make up the congregation. Religion is love to God and man. If it is not religion to promote a cause that will make men better and women wiser and happier, what is it? The world thinks we are irreligious because in the early days some of our leaders were held to be unorthodox. But most of those who years ago were looked upon as such are regarded as orthodox to-day. The eye-sight of the world is much better than it used to be....

The discussion—Resolved, That the propaganda of the woman suffrage idea demands a non-partisan attitude on the part of individual workers—was led by Miss Laura Clay in the affirmative and Henry B. Blackwell in the negative. Miss Clay said in part:

> It is a well established rule that the greater should never be subordinated to the less. Therefore, suffrage should never be made a tail to the kite of any political party. There are momentous issues now before the people, but none so momentous as woman suffrage. This principle appeals to the conscience of the people, and will ultimately convince all those who cherish the political principles of our fathers. Already we believe we have convinced a sufficient number to make this a practical question. We have now to deal with the politicians. They may be divided into two classes, men of high ideals and those who cling to party, right or wrong. It is necessary to gain both classes.

> Partisan methods are not suited to the discussion of this question. We must show that when enfranchised we shall hold a self-preservative attitude; that we know our rights, and, knowing them, dare maintain. Wisdom is less tangible than force but more powerful in the end. Women are different from men and their political methods will differ from those of men. Women will never win so long as they consent to barter their services for vague promises of what will be done for them in the future, or to subordinate woman suffrage to the interests of any party.

> Mr. Blackwell: We are all agreed that Woman Suffrage Associations, local, State and national, are and must be non-partisan. But a clear distinction should be made between the attitude of a society and that of the individual women and men who compose its membership. Suffrage societies, being composed of men and women of all shades of political belief, can not take sides on any other question without violating each member's right and duty to have and express personal political opinions. But, as individuals, it is our duty to be partisans. Woman suffrage is not the only issue. In almost every political contest one party is right and the other wrong. Everybody is bound to do what he or she can to promote the success of the right side. If no moral questions were involved, political contests would be ignoble and insignificant. We value suffrage mainly because questions of right and wrong are settled by votes....[Pg 281]

> Every woman, equally with every man, should be affiliated with some political party.... Every manifestation by women of intelligent interest in political questions helps woman suffrage. Political questions necessarily become party questions, for we live under a government of parties.

> A non-partisan attitude is a phrase which needs definition. If "partisan" means "our party, right or wrong," then no woman and no man should be a partisan. An attitude of moderation and conciliation befits every candid person. I am for holding equal suffrage paramount to ordinary political questions, but I am not for repudiating party ties altogether. Woman suffrage, though the most important question, is not always the one to be first settled. It is not the only question. Voting, though the most direct form of political power, is not the only political power. Women's interests and those of their children are involved, equally with those of men, in every question of finance, currency, tariff, domestic and foreign relations. They have no right to be neutral or apathetic. So long as they remain silent and inert they command no attention or respect. I maintain, therefore, that affirmative political activity, working by and through party machinery, is the duty of every individual citizen—whether man or woman.

> In States where a suffrage amendment is pending, in meetings where suffrage is advocated, party politics should be laid aside for the time being. In religious meetings no distinction should be made between Republicans, Democrats or Populists. In political meetings no distinction should be made between Methodists, Baptists or Presbyterians. In suffrage meetings there should be no distinction of sect or party. But we hold our individual opinions all the same.

> Miss Anthony: I want to say that you can not possibly divide yourself up as Mr. Blackwell suggests. You can not be a Republican in one convention to-day and non-partisan in another to-morrow. The men who believe in suffrage are voters, and must have their parties, of course. But any woman who champions either political party makes more votes against than for suffrage. I could give numerous examples. Do not be deluded with this idea that one party is right and the other wrong. Which is it? One party seems right to one-half of the people, and the other party to the other half. As long as women have no votes, any one of them who will make a speech either for gold or silver or for any party issue is lacking in self-respect.

> Miss Blackwell: Miss Clay seems to have understood the question presented for discussion in a different sense from what I did. I do not believe in making suffrage a tail to any party kite, of course; but women as well as men are bound to do what they can to promote good government, and hence to promote by all legitimate means the party which they believe to be in the right. They will inevitably do this more and more as they become more interested in public questions. See how many women took part in the late campaign, making speeches for gold or silver, not with any eye to[Pg 282] woman suffrage—for neither party was committed to it—but purely for the sake of the welfare of the country, as they understood it. I can not agree that they were lacking in self-respect....

> Miss Shaw: I have made only one party speech in my life. That was ten years ago, for the Prohibition Party; and if the Lord will forgive me, I will never do it again till women vote.

In spite of the lively difference of opinion, the meeting adjourned in great good humor and amid considerable laughter.

The last session of the convention was a celebration of the suffrage victory in Idaho, conducted by representatives of what the association liked to call "the free States." Mrs. Colby said in behalf of Wyoming:

> ....No matter if we fill the field of blue with stars, one will always shine with peculiar lustre, the star of Wyoming, who opened the door of hope for women.

> There is a beautiful custom in Switzerland among the Alpine shepherds. He who, tending his flock among the heights, first sees the rays of the rising sun gild the top of the loftiest peak, lifts his horn and sounds forth the morning greeting, "Praise the Lord." Soon another shepherd catches the radiant gleam, and then another and another takes up the reverent refrain, until mountain, hill and valley are vocal with praise and bathed in the glory of a new day.

> So the dawn of the day that shall mean freedom for woman and the ennobling of the race was first seen by Wyoming, on the crest of our continent, and the clarion note was sounded forth, "Equality before the law." For a quarter of a century she was the lone watcher on the heights to sound the tocsin of freedom. At last Colorado, from her splendid snow-covered peaks, answered back in grand accord, "Equality before the law." Then on Utah's brow shone the sun, and she, too, exultantly joined in the trio, "Equality before the law." And now Idaho completes the quartette of mountain States which sing the anthem of woman's freedom. Its echoes rouse the sleepers everywhere, until from the rock-bound coast of the Atlantic to the golden sands of the Pacific resounds one resolute and jubilant demand, "Equality before the law," and lo, the whole world wakes to the sunlight of liberty!

Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, in speaking for Colorado, said:

> Civilization means self-realization. The level is being slowly but surely raised and the atmosphere improved. Freedom for the individual, properly guarded, is the ideal to-day. When woman is free, the eternal feminine shows itself to be also the truly human. Witness Wyoming, with its magnificent school system, its equal pay for equal work. Witness Colorado, where women cast 52 per cent. of the total vote though the State contains a large majority of men. What does this show if not that women wish to vote? We women[Pg 283] believe that election day administers to each of us the sacrament of citizenship, and we go, most of us, prayerfully and thankfully to partake in this outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace....

> The first time I went to vote I was out of the house just nine minutes. The second time I took my little girl along to school, stopped in to vote, and then went down town and did my marketing; and I was gone twenty minutes. While I was casting my vote the men gave my little one a flower. They always decorate the polling-places with flowers now, for they know women love beauty.

> The tone of political conventions has improved since suffrage was granted to women. So has the character of the candidates.... There is no character-builder like responsibility. Every woman's club in the State has been turned into a study club, and the women are examining public questions for themselves. This is one of the best results of equal suffrage.

> When women obtained the ballot they wanted to know about public affairs, and so they asked their husbands at home (every woman wants to believe that her husband knows everything), and the husbands had to inform themselves in order to answer their wives' questions. Equal suffrage has not only educated women and elevated the primaries, but it has given back to the State the services of her best men, large numbers of whom had got into the habit of neglecting their political duties....

Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells said in describing the conditions in Utah:

> After the ballot was given to women the men soon came to us and asked us to help them. We divided on party lines but not rigidly so. We helped not only the good men and women of our own party, but those of the other. If they put up a Republican or a Democrat who is not fit for the position, the women vote against him. In all the work I do for the Republicans, I never denounce the Democrats....

> This year the men were more willing to have us go to the primaries than we were to go. Even the women who had not wished for suffrage voted. I do not mind going to the primaries. I am not afraid of men—not the least in the world. I have often been on committees with men. I don't think it has hurt me at all, and I have learned a great deal. They have always been very good to me. We must stand up for the men. We could not do without them. Certainly we could not have settled Utah without them. They built the bridges and killed the bears; but I think the women worked just as hard, in their way....

When Mrs. Mell C. Woods came forward to speak for Idaho the audience arose and received her with cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs. She brought letters of greeting from most of[Pg 284] the women's clubs of that State, and in a long and beautiful address she said:

> With her head pillowed in the lap of the North, her feet resting in the orchards of the South, her snowy bosom rising to the clouds, Idaho lies serene in her beauty of glacier, lake and primeval forest, guarding in her verdure-clad mountains vast treasures of precious minerals, with the hem of her robe embroidered in sapphires and opals.... As representing Idaho, first I wish to express the heartfelt gratitude of every equal suffragist in our proud and happy State to the National Association for the most generous help afforded us in our two years' campaign. Without the aid of the devoted women, Mrs. DeVoe, Mrs. Chapman Catt, Mrs. Bradford and Mrs. Johns, who made the arduous journey to organize our clubs, plead our cause and teach us how to work and win, we should not be celebrating Idaho's victory to-night....

After describing the great output of the mines and the fruit-producing value of the State, she continued:

> I fancy few of you know much of the conditions existing in the mining country, dotted with camps in every gulch; the preponderance of the adult males over the women of maturity; the power of the saloon element, and the cosmopolitan character of the people—men from all parts of the world, ignorant and cultured, depraved and respectable, seeking fame and fortune in the far West—no reading-rooms, no lectures, no lyceums, no spelling-bees or corn-huskings, the relaxation of the farm hand; single men away from home and its influences, forced from the draughty lobby of the hotel or tavern to the warmth and comfort of the well-appointed saloon.

> The missionary suffrage work in such places was obliged to be quietly done, without any apparent advocacy on the part of men who were in reality ardent supporters of our cause, lest the saloon element should organize and, by concerted action, crush the movement as they did in the State of Washington in 1889; and California, too, owes her defeat of the amendment at least partially to this cause. Yet you may go far to find nobler men than we have in Idaho, and we did not lack able champions. Our amendment was carried by more than a two-thirds majority of the votes cast upon it.

The last address, by the Rev. Ida C. Hultin (Ills.), The Point of View, was a masterly effort. She said in part:

> Before any woman is a wife, a sister or a mother she is a human being. We ask nothing as women but everything as human beings. The sphere of woman is any path that she can tread, any work that she can do. Let no one imagine that we wish to be men. In the beginning God created them male and female. The principle of co-equality is recognized in all of God's kingdom. We are beginning[Pg 285] to find in the human race, as in the vegetable and the animal, that the male and the female are designed to be the equals of each other.

> It is because woman loves her home that she wants her country to be pure and holy, so that she may not lose her children when they go out from her protection. We want to be women, womanly women, stamping the womanliness of our nature upon the country, even as the men have stamped the manliness of their nature upon it. The home is the sphere of woman and of man also. The home does not mean simply bread-making and dish-washing, but also the place into which shall enter that which makes pure manhood possible. Give woman a chance to do her whole duty. What is education for, what is religion for, but as a means to the end of the development of humanity? If national life is what it ought to be also, a means to the same end, it needs then everything that humanity has to make it sweet and hopeful. Women have moral sentiments and they want to record them. That is the only difference between voting and not voting. The national life is the reflected life of the people. It is strong with their strength and weak with their weakness.

A letter was read to the convention by Miss Anthony from Miss Kitty Reed, daughter of Speaker Thomas B. Reed, who had been with her father in California during the recent suffrage campaign. In referring to this she said:

> There and elsewhere the thinking women who opposed it used this argument: There are too many people voting already; the practical effect of woman suffrage would be an increase in the illiterate vote, without a proportionate increase in the intelligent vote. They were not in favor of it unless there could be an educational qualification. In other words, they were opposed to woman suffrage because they were opposed to universal suffrage. I have always regarded universal suffrage as the foundation principle of our government. If "governments deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" does not mean that, what can it mean? So I tried to persuade these women of the truth of that which I supposed had been settled about one hundred and twenty-one years ago. It is necessary to make women believe that suffrage is a natural right rather than a privilege; that, while abstractly it seems well for an intelligent citizen to govern an ignorant one, human nature is such that the intelligent will govern selfishly and leave the ignorant no opportunity to improve.

> It seems to me that the worst obstacle we have to encounter now is not the prejudice of men against women's voting, but a misunderstanding on the part of women of the real meaning of government by the people. This may be ancient history to you, but it impressed me deeply while I was in California and that is why I write it. Of course there are many women who do not think. When they hear woman suffrage spoken of, they go to their husbands and ask them what they think about it, and their husbands tell them that they are[Pg 286] too good to vote, and those women are content. It does not occur to them to ask why, if they are too pure and good to vote, they are not excused from obeying the laws and paying taxes.

The report of the first year's work done at national headquarters was very satisfactory. In regard to the Press it contained the following:

> The year 1896 has seen the beginning of an effort by our National Association to use systematically the mighty lever of the public press in behalf of our work. We have sent out in regular weekly issues since March hundreds of copies of good equal suffrage articles. These go into the hands of Press Committees in forty-one States, and now between six and seven hundred papers publish them each week. Of forty-one different articles by about thirty different writers, nearly 25,000 copies have been distributed to newspapers. These articles reach, in local papers, not less than one million readers weekly.

> We have taken charge of the National Suffrage Bulletin which is edited by the chairman of the organization committee, have had it printed in Philadelphia and mailed from the headquarters. In the past twelve months there have been wrapped and sent out separately 17,700 copies of the Bulletin. A portion of the expenses has been defrayed by special contributions of $900 of the $1,000 given to Miss Anthony by Mrs. Southworth, and $400 through the New York State Association, from the bequest of Mrs. Eliza J. Clapp of Rochester to Miss Anthony.

Mr. Blackwell, as usual, reported for the Committee on Presidential Suffrage, suggesting a form of petition as follows:

> Whereas, The Constitution of the United States, the supreme law of the land, expressly confers upon the Legislature of every State the sole and exclusive right to appoint or to delegate the appointment of presidential electors, in article II, section 1, paragraph 2, as follows: "Each State shall appoint in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress;" and

> Whereas, In some of the States said appointment has been repeatedly made by the Legislature; and

> Whereas, Women equally with men are citizens of this State and of the United States; therefore,

> The undersigned, citizens of the State of ——, 21 years of age and upwards, respectfully petition your honorable bodies so to amend the election laws as to enable women to vote in the appointment of presidential electors.

The report of the treasurer, Mrs. Upton, showed that the receipts[Pg 287] had risen to $11,825 during the year just passed. It ended thus: "In closing this report the treasurer would like to say that no one person has ever been to the treasury what Miss Anthony has been and is. Every dollar given to her for any purpose whatever, she feels belongs to the work and is most happy when she turns it in. On the other hand the association does very little for her. She pays her own traveling expenses and her own clerk hire. It is to be hoped that this is the last year we may be so neglectful in this direction."

The Congressional Committee, Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson, acting chairman, reported as a part of the work done: "To still further advance the matter we determined to address a letter to each member of the House and Senate, asking his opinion on the proposed amendment to enfranchise women. At least three-fourths of these letters were promptly answered in most gracious terms, and in many of them hearty sympathy with the purpose of the amendment was expressed. Not a small number declared they were ready to vote for the amendment when opportunity should be given."

Among the State reports those of California, by Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent, and of Idaho, by Mrs. Eunice Pond Athey, were of special interest, as they contained an epitomized history of the recent campaigns in these States. It was decided that there should be a special effort to make the next annual meeting a noteworthy affair, as it would celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Woman's Rights Convention.

[Pg 288]

## CHAPTER XVIII.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1898.

The Thirtieth annual convention of the suffrage association took place in the Columbia Theatre, Washington, D. C., Feb. 13-19, 1898, and celebrated the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Woman's Rights Convention.[112] In the center of the stage was an old-fashioned, round mahogany table, draped with the Stars and Stripes and the famous silk suffrage flag with its four golden stars. In her opening address the president, Miss Susan B. Anthony, said: "On this table the original Declaration of Rights for Women was written at the home of the well-known McClintock family in Waterloo, N. Y., just half a century ago. Around it gathered those immortal four, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha C. Wright and Mary Ann McClintock, to formulate the grievances of women. They did not dare to sign their names but published the Call for their convention anonymously.[113] We have had that remarkable document printed for distribution here, and you will notice that those demands which were ridiculed and denounced from one end of the country to the other, all have now been conceded but the suffrage, and that in four States."

This convention was the largest in number of delegates and States represented of any in the history of the association, 154 being in attendance and all but four of the States and Territories represented.

The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw devoted the most of her vice-president's report to an account of the work to secure a suffrage amendment from the Legislature which was being done in Iowa, where she had been spending considerable time. The report on Press Work by the chairman, Miss Jessie J. Cassidy, stated that[Pg 289] 30,000 suffrage articles had been sent from headquarters to the various newspapers of the country and the number willing to accept these was constantly increasing. The headquarters had been removed from Philadelphia to New York City during the year and united with the organization office. The Committee on Course of Study, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman, reported that during the past three years they had published 25,000 books and pamphlets, purchased from publishers 3,100 and had 9,000 contributed. The treasurer, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, announced the receipts of the past year to be $14,055. Bequests had been received of $500 by the will of Mrs. Eliza Murphy of New Jersey, and $500 from Mrs. A. Viola Neblett of South Carolina.

The report of the Organization Committee, Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman, showed a large amount of work done in Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and the Southern States, the writing of 10,000 letters, the holding of 1,000 public meetings under the auspices of this committee. It closed by saying:

> The chief obstacle to organization is not found in societies opposed to the extension of suffrage to woman, nor in ignorance, nor in conservatism; it is to be found in that large body of suffragists who believe that the franchise will come, but that it will come in some unaccountable way without effort or concern on their part. It is to be found in the hopeless, faithless, lifeless members of our own organization. They are at times the officers of local clubs, and the clubs die on their hands; in State executive committees, and there, appalled by the magnitude of the undertaking, they decide that organization is impossible because there is no money, and they make no effort to secure funds. They are in our national body, ready to find fault with plans and results and to criticise the conscientious efforts of those who are struggling to accomplish good—yet they are never ready to propose more helpful methods. In short, we find them everywhere, doing practically nothing themselves, but "throwing cold water" upon every effort inaugurated by others. "It can not be done" is their motto, and by it they constantly discourage the hopeful and extract all enthusiasm from new workers. Judging from the intimate knowledge of the condition of our association gained in the last three years, I am free to say that these are our most effective opponents to-day, and, without question, the best result of the three years' work is the gradual strengthening of belief in the possibility of organization.

Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett, chairman, presented the report on[Pg 290] Federal Suffrage;[114] Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, chairman, on Legislation; and Miss Laura Clay on the Suffrage Convocation at the Tennessee Exposition the preceding year. The Plan of Work, offered by the chairman, Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, and adopted, represented the best result of many years' experience and exemplified the aims and methods of the association. The old board of officers was almost unanimously re-elected.

The afternoon Work Conferences, to exchange ideas as to methods for organizing, raising funds, etc., which met in a small hall, aroused so much interest and attracted so many people that it was necessary to transfer them to the large auditorium. The Resolutions Committee presented by its chairman, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, a brief summary of the results already accomplished and the rights yet to be secured, in part as follows:

> The National-American Woman Suffrage Association, at this its thirtieth annual meeting, celebrates the semi-centennial anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention, held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, N. Y., and reaffirms every principle then and there enunciated. We count the gains of fifty years. Woman's position revolutionized in the home, in society, in the church and in the State; public sentiment changed, customs modified, industries opened, co-education established, laws amended, economic independence partially secured, and equal suffrage a recognized subject of legislation. Fifty years ago women voted nowhere in the world; to-day Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho have established equal suffrage for women, and have already in the Congress of the United States eight Senators and seven Representatives with women constituents. Kansas has granted women Municipal Suffrage, and twenty-three other States have made women voters in school elections. This movement is not confined to the United States; in Great Britain and her colonies women now have Municipal and County Suffrage, while New Zealand and South Australia have abolished all political distinctions of sex. Therefore,

> Resolved, That we hereby express our profound appreciation of the prophetic vision, advanced thought and moral courage of the pioneers in this movement for equality of rights, and our sincere gratitude for their half century of toil and endurance to secure for women the privileges they now enjoy, and to make the way easier for those who are to complete the work. We, their successors, a thousandfold multiplied, stand pledged to unceasing effort until women have all the rights and privileges which belong equally to every citizen of a republic.

> That in every State we demand for women citizens equality with male citizens in the exercise of the elective franchise, upon such terms and conditions as the men impose upon themselves.[Pg 291]

> That we appeal to Congress to submit a Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, thereby enabling the citizens of each State to carry this question of woman suffrage before its Legislature for settlement.

> That we will aid, so far as practicable, every State campaign for woman suffrage; but we urgently recommend our auxiliary State societies to effect thorough county organizations before petitioning their Legislatures for a State constitutional amendment.

> Whereas, The good results of woman suffrage in Wyoming since 1869 have caused its adoption successively by the three adjoining States; therefore,

> Resolved, That we earnestly request the citizens of these four free States to make a special effort to secure the franchise for women in the States contiguous to their own.

> That we demand for mothers equal custody and control of their minor children, and for wives and widows an equal use and inheritance of property.

> That we ask for an equal representation of women on all boards of education and health, of public schools and colleges, and in the management of all public institutions; and for their employment as physicians for women and children in all hospitals and asylums, and as police matrons and guards in all prisons and reformatories.

> That this Association limits its efforts exclusively to securing equal rights for women, and it appeals for co-operation to the whole American people.

Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer and Mrs. Harper were appointed fraternal delegates to the Woman's Press Association, in session at this time in Washington.

A beautiful feature of this occasion was the luncheon given by Mrs. John R. McLean to Miss Anthony on her seventy-eighth birthday, February 15, attended by thirty-six of the most distinguished ladies in the national capital, and followed by a reception to the members of the convention. Mrs. McLean was assisted in receiving by Miss Anthony and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant. Seventy-eight wax tapers burned upon the birthday cake, which was three feet in diameter and decorated with flowers. It was presented to Miss Anthony, who carried it in triumph to the convention in Columbia Theatre, where it was cut into slices that were sold as souvenirs and realized about $120, which she donated to the cause.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, at the age of eighty-two, sent two papers for this fiftieth anniversary, one for the congressional hearing, on The Significance of the Ballot; the other, Our Defeats and our Triumphs, was read to the convention by Mrs.[Pg 292] Colby. Both displayed all the old-time vigor of thought and beauty of expression. The latter, filled with interesting reminiscence, closed with these words:

> Another generation has now enlisted for a long or short campaign. What, say they, shall we do to hasten the work? I answer, the pioneers have brought you through the wilderness in sight of the promised land; now, with active, aggressive warfare, take possession. Instead of rehearsing the old arguments which have done duty fifty years, make a brave attack on every obstacle which stands in your way.... Lord Brougham said: "The laws for women [in England and America] are a disgrace to the civilization of the nineteenth century." The women in every State should watch their law-makers, and any bill invidious to their interests should be promptly denounced, and with such vehemence and indignation as to agitate the whole community....

> There is no merit in simply occupying the ground which others have conquered. There are new fields for conquest and more enemies to meet. Whatever affects woman's freedom, growth and development affords legitimate subject for discussion here.... Some of our opponents think woman would be a dangerous element in politics and destroy the secular nature of our Government. I would have a resolution on that point discussed freely, and show liberal thinkers that we have a large number in our association as desirous to preserve the secular nature of our Government as they themselves can possibly be.... When educated women, teachers in all our schools, professors in our colleges, are governed by rulers, foreign and native, who can neither read nor write, I would have this association discuss and pass a resolution in favor of "educated suffrage." ...

> The object of our organization is to secure equality and freedom for woman: First, in the State, which is denied when she is not permitted to exercise the right of suffrage; second, in the Church, which is denied when she has no voice in its councils, creeds and discipline, or in the choice of its ministers, elders and deacons; third, in the Home, where the State makes the husband's authority absolute, the wife a subject, where the mother is robbed of the guardianship of her own child, and where the joint earnings belong solely to the husband.

> ....Let this generation pay its debt to the past by continuing this great work until the last vestige of woman's subjection shall be erased from our creeds and codes and constitutions. Then the united thought of man and woman will inaugurate a pure religion, a just government, a happy home and a civilization in which ignorance, poverty and crime will exist no more. They who watch behold already the dawn of a new day.

The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell (N. Y.), the first woman to graduate in theology and be ordained, delineated The Changing Phases of Opposition, pointing out that when the first[Pg 293] Woman's Rights Convention was held the general tone of the press was shown in that newspaper which said: "This bolt is the most shocking and unnatural incident ever recorded in the history of humanity; if these demands were effected, it would set the world by the ears, make confusion worse confounded, demoralize and degrade from their high sphere and noble destiny women of all respectable and useful classes, and prove a monstrous injury to all mankind." Yet this present convention was celebrating the granting of all those demands except the suffrage and not one of the predicted evils had come to pass. The direful prophecies of the early days were taken up, one by one, and their utter absurdity pointed out in the light of experience. Now all of those ancient, stereotyped objections were concentrated against granting the suffrage.

Mrs. Virginia D. Young (S. C.) delighted the audience with one of her characteristic addresses. Prof. Frances Stewart Mosher, of Hillsdale College (Mich.), gave an exhaustive review of the great increase and value of Woman's Work in Church Philanthropies. Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) demonstrated the wonderful Progress of Women in Education. The New Education possessed the charm of novelty in being presented by Miss Grace Espy Patton, State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Colorado, a lady so delicate and dainty that, when Miss Anthony led her forward and said, "It has always been charged that voting and officeholding will make women coarse and unwomanly; now look at her!" the audience responded with an ovation.

Miss Belle Kearney (Miss.) discussed Social Changes in the South, depicting in a rapid, magnetic manner, interspersed with flashes of wit, the evolution of the Southern woman and the revolution in customs and privileges which must inevitably lead up to political rights. Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.) gave an eloquent review of the splendid services of Women in Philanthropy.

At the memorial services Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) offered the following resolutions:

> It is fitting in this commemorative celebration to pause a moment to place a laurel in memory's chaplet for those to whom it was given to be the earliest to voice the demand that woman should be allowed to enter into the sacred heritage of liberty, as one made[Pg 294] equally with man in the image of the Creator and divinely appointed to co-sovereignty over the earth. To name them here is to recognize their presence with us in spirit and to invoke their benediction upon this generation which, entering into the results of their labors, must carry them forward to full fruition.

> Lucretia Mott always will be revered as one of those who conceived the idea of a convention to make an organized demand for justice to women. She became a Quaker preacher in 1818 at the age of twenty-five, and the last suffrage convention she attended was in her eighty-sixth year. Her motto, "Truth for authority and not authority for truth," is still the tocsin of reform. Sarah Pugh, the lovely Quaker, was ever her close friend and helper.

> Frances Wright, a noble Scotchwoman, a friend of General Lafayette, early imbibed a love for freedom and a knowledge of the principles on which it is based. In this the land of her adoption she was the first woman to lecture on political subjects, in 1826.

> Ernestine L. Rose, the beautiful Polish patriot, sent the first petition to the New York Legislature to give a married woman the right to hold real estate in her own name. This was in 1836, and she continued the work of securing signatures until 1848, when the bill was passed. She was a matchless orator and lectured on woman suffrage for nearly fifty years.

> Lucy Stone's voice pleaded the wide continent over for justice for her sex. Her life-long devotion to the woman suffrage cause was idealized by the companionship and assistance of her husband, Henry B. Blackwell, the one man in this nation who under any and all circumstances has made woman's cause his chief consideration. Her first lecture on woman's rights was given in 1847, the year of her graduation at Oberlin College, and her life work was epitomized in her dying words, "Make the world better."

> Martha C. Wright, Jane Hunt and Mary Ann McClintock were three of those noble women who issued the call for the Seneca Falls Convention, and were ever ready for service.

> Paulina Wright Davis, who called the first National Convention in 1850 and presided over its twentieth celebration in 1870, was one of the moving spirits of the work for more than twenty-five years. Assisted by Caroline H. Dall, she edited the Una, founded in 1853, the first distinctively woman suffrage paper.

> Frances Dana Gage, better known by her pen-name, "Aunt Fanny," was farmer, editor, lecturer and worker in the Sanitary Commission. Of her eight children six were stalwart sons, and she used to boast that she was the mother of thirty-six feet of boys. She was a pillar of strength to the movement in early days.

> Clarina Howard Nichols is associated with the seed-sowing in Vermont, in Wisconsin and especially in Kansas, where her labors with the first constitutional convention, in 1859, engrafted in organic law many rights for women which were obtained elsewhere, if at all, only by slow and difficult legislative changes. Susan E. Wattles led the Kansas campaign of 1859 with Mrs. Nichols.

> Emily Robinson of Salem, Ohio, was one of the chief movers in[Pg 295] the second Woman's Rights Convention, and this was held in her own town in 1850. From that time until the present year she has been unfaltering in her devotion.

> Dr. Susan A. Edson, who was graduated in medicine in 1854, was a fellow-pioneer in the District of Columbia with Dr. Caroline B. Winslow, whose death preceded hers by about one year. She was one of the most distinguished army nurses and the friend and faithful attendant of President Garfield. For many years she was the president of the District Woman Suffrage Association. Among the earlier woman physicians who espoused the cause were Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, Dr. Mary B. Jackson, Dr. Ann Preston, one of the founders and physicians of the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Dr. Clemence S. Lozier, a founder and physician of the New York Medical College for Women.

> Sarah Helen Whitman was the first literary woman of reputation who gave her name to the movement, which later counted among its warmest friends Lydia Maria Child, Alice and Phoebe Cary and Mary Clemmer.

> Amalia B. Post of Cheyenne, to whom the enfranchisement of the women of Wyoming was largely due, was ready, as she often said, at the first tap of the drum at Seneca Falls. She occupied the place of honor by the side of the Governor on that proud day when the admission of Wyoming as a State was celebrated.

> Josephine S. Griffing, organizer of the Freedman's Bureau; Amelia Bloomer, editor of the Lily, the first temperance and woman's rights paper; Mary Grew, for twenty-three years president of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association; Myra Bradwell, the first woman to enter the ranks of legal journalism; Virginia L. Minor, the dove with the eagle's heart, who took to the U. S. Supreme Court her suit against the Missouri officials for refusing her vote—all these, and many more who might be added, form the noble galaxy who brought to the cause of woman's liberty rare personal beauty, social gifts, intellectual culture, and the all-compelling eloquence of earnestness and sincerity.

> Albert O. Willcox of New York, whose eighty-seven years were filled with valuable work for reforms, was drawn to the conviction that women should have a share in the Government by a sermon preached by Lucretia Mott in 1831, and from that time declared himself publicly for the movement and was its life-long supporter.

> James G. Clark, the sweet-souled troubadour of reform, sang for woman's freedom in suffrage conventions all over the land.

> Joseph N. Dolph was always to be counted on to further the political emancipation of women, both in his own State of Oregon and in the U. S. Senate, of which he was long an honored member.

> To name the men who have been counselors and friends of the woman suffrage movement is to name the greatest poets, preachers and statesmen of the last half century. Wherever there has been a woman strong enough to demand her rights there has been a man generous and just enough to second her. Surely we may say[Pg 296] that "the spirits of just men made perfect" are our strength and our inspiration.

> No less entitled to remembrance and gratitude are the unnamed multitude who have helped the onward march of freedom by standing for the truth that was revealed to them. Whether they pass away in the beauty of youth, the strength of maturity or the glory of old age, they who have given to the world one impulse on the upward path to freedom and to light are not dead. They live here in the life of all good things, and, because of strength gained in earthly activity, have strength to perfect in other spheres what here they but dreamed of.

The Woman's Tribune thus described one scene of the convention:

> The opening address of Wednesday evening was by Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) on United States Citizenship. She was not heard distinctly and the audience was very fidgety. Miss Anthony came forward and told them they ought to be perfectly satisfied just to sit still and look at Mrs. Hooker. She is always a commanding presence on the stage, and on this evening, impressed with the deep significance of the event, and clad in silver gray, which harmonized beautifully with her whitening curls, she was a picture which would delight an artist. But notwithstanding Miss Anthony's admonition, the audience really wanted to hear as well as to see. Mrs. Hooker realizing this at last said impatiently, "I never could give a written speech, but Susan insisted that I must this time," and, discarding her manuscript, she spoke clearly and forcibly with her old-time power. A portion of her address was a graphic recital of Miss Anthony's trial for illegal voting in 1872.

> When Mrs. Hooker's time had expired Miss Anthony rose and put her arm around her, and thus these striking figures, representing the opposite poles of the woman suffrage force, made a tableau which will never pass from the mental vision of those who witnessed it. At the close of her remarks Mrs. Hooker threw her arms around Miss Anthony and kissed her. The latter, more moved than was her wont, gave vent to that strong feeling of the injustice of woman's disfranchisement which is ever present with her, and exclaimed: "To think that such a woman, belonging by birth and marriage to the most distinguished families in our country's history, should be held as a subject and have set over her all classes of men, with the prospect of there being added to her rulers the Cubans and the Sandwich Island Kanakas. Shame on a government that permits such an outrage!"

Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.), one of the first suffrage advocates south of Mason and Dixon's line, gave A Glimpse of the Past and Present. Dr. Clara Marshall, Dean of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, presented the history of Fifty Years in Medicine. She related in a graphic manner the struggle[Pg 297] of women to gain admission to the colleges, the embarrassments they suffered, the obstacles they were obliged to overcome, reading from published reports the hostile demonstrations of the male students. In closing she bore testimony to the encouragement and assistance rendered by those men who were broad-minded and generous enough to recognize the rights of women in this profession and help secure them. The Ministry of Religion as a Calling for Women was the subject of an able and interesting address by the Rev. Florence Buck of Unity Church, Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, assistant attorney-general of Montana, spoke on Women in the Legal Profession, giving many incidents of the practice of law in the far West.

Samuel J. Barrows, member of Congress from Massachusetts, was called from the audience by Miss Anthony, and closed his brief remarks by saying: "I believe in woman suffrage; it has in it the elements of justice which entitle it to every man's support, and we all ought to help secure it." A leading feature of the program was the speech of August W. Machen, head of the free delivery division of the national post office, on Women in the Departmental Service of the United States. He gave the history of their employment by the government, declared they had raised the standard of work and testified to their efficiency and faithfulness.

The Civil Rights of Women were ably discussed by the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley of the Second Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, who reviewed the existing laws and pointed out the changes in favor of women. In regard to the prevalence of divorce he said: "There is a large class of our fellow-citizens who greatly misinterpret, in my opinion, the significance of the increase in the number of divorces. No one would counsel more earnestly than I, patience and consideration and every reasonable effort on the part of people once married to live together. But I can not dispute the proposition, nor do I believe any one can dispute it, that in the great process of evolution divorce is an indication of growing independence and self-respect in women, a proclamation that marriage must be the union of self-respecting and mutually respected equals, and that in the ideal home of the future that hideous thing, the subjugation of woman, is to be unknown."

Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch (Ills.) discussed The Economic[Pg 298] Status of Women. Madame Clara Neymann (N. Y.) read a philosophical paper on Marriage in the Light of Woman's Freedom. The Progress of Colored Women was pictured in an impassioned address by Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, president of the National Association of Colored Women. She received numerous floral tributes at its close. Mrs. Emmy C. Evald of Chicago, with an attractive foreign enthusiasm, told of the work of Swedish women in their own country and in the United States. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) with clever satire and amidst laughter and applause, considered Women in Municipalities.

The Pioneers' Evening was one of great interest, when Miss Anthony marshalled her hosts and made "the roll-call of the years." As each decade was called, beginning with 1848, those who began the suffrage work at that time rose on the stage and in all parts of the house and remained standing. Not one was there who was present at the original Seneca Falls Convention, but it had held an adjourned meeting at Rochester, three weeks later, and Miss Anthony's sister, Mary S., responded as having attended then and signed the Declaration of Rights. The daughters of Mrs. Martha C. Wright, who called this convention—Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne and Mrs. Wm. Lloyd Garrison—and also Mrs. Millie Burtis Logan, whose mother, Miss Anthony's cousin, served as its secretary, were introduced to the audience. The children of Frederick Douglass, who had spoken at both meetings, were present and should have come forward with this group. The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell stated that she had spoken in favor of woman's rights in 1846. Among the earliest of the pioneers present were John W. Hutchinson, the last of that famous family of singers; Henry B. Blackwell, Mrs. Helen Philleo Jenkins (Mich.), Miss Sarah Wall (Mass.) and Mrs. Hooker. Many of those who arose made brief remarks and the occasion was one which will not be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

Among the letters received from the many pioneers still living was one from Mrs. Abigail Bush, now eighty-eight years old and residing in California, who presided over the Rochester meeting, Aug. 2, 1848. It is especially interesting as showing that even so advanced women as Lucretia Mott and Mrs. Stanton, although they dared call such a meeting, were yet so conservative as to object to a woman's presiding over it:[Pg 299]

> To Susan B. Anthony, Greeting: You will bear me witness that the state of society is very different from what it was fifty years ago, when I presided at the first Woman's Rights Convention. I had not been able to meet in council at all with the friends until I met them in the hall as the congregation was gathering, and then fell into the hands of those who urged me to take part with the opposers of a woman serving, as the party had with them a fine-looking man to preside at all of their meetings, James Mott, who had presided at Seneca Falls. Afterward I fell in with the old friends, Amy Post, Rhoda de Garmo and Sarah Fish, who at once commenced labors with me to prove that the hour had come when a woman should preside, and led me into the church. Amy proposed my name as president; I was accepted at once, and from that hour I seemed endowed as from on high to serve.

> It was a two days' meeting with three sessions per day. On my taking the chair, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton left the platform and took their seats in the audience, but it did not move me from performing all my duties, and at the close of the meeting Lucretia Mott came forward, folded me tenderly in her arms and thanked me for presiding. That settled the question of men's presiding at a woman's convention. From that day to this, in all the walks of life, I have been faithful in asserting that there should be "no taxation without representation." It has seemed long in coming, but I think the time draws near when woman will be acknowledged as equal with man. Heaven grant the day to dawn soon!

Mrs. Catharine A. F. Stebbins (Mich.), who had attended the Seneca Falls Convention and signed the Declaration of Rights, sent an interesting descriptive letter. Mrs. Lucinda H. Stone (Mich.), the mother of women's clubs and a pioneer on educational lines, wrote:

> You wanted I should write you any anecdotes of early interest in woman suffrage. The remembrance of Dr. Stone's waking up to that subject has come to me, and I have thought I would tell you about it.

> It was some time in the forties that he was requested to deliver a Fourth of July oration in Kalamazoo. I can not tell the exact year, but it was before I had ever heard of the Rochester Convention, or of you or Mrs. Stanton, and he was looking up all that he could find in the early history of our Declaration of Independence, and the principles of Jefferson and the early revolutionists. I remember his coming in one day (it must have been before 1848), seeming very much absorbed in something that he was thinking about. He threw down the book he had been reading, and said to me: "The time will come when women will vote. Mark my words! We may not live to see it, we probably shall not, but it will come. It is not a woman's right or a man's right; it is a human right, and their voting is but a natural process of evolution." ...

[Pg 300]

Mrs. Esther Wattles, who helped secure School Suffrage and equal property laws for women in the State constitution of Kansas in 1859, sent this message: "My attention was first called to the injustice done to women by a lecture given near Wilmington, Ohio, by John O. Wattles in 1841. He devoted most of his time to lecturing on Woman's Rights, The Sin of Slavery, The Temperance Reform and Peace. I heard him on all these subjects, off and on, till 1844, when we were married.... Seventy-nine summers with their clouds and sunshine, make it fitting I should greet you by letter rather than personal presence. May the cause never falter till the victory is won."

Most of the letters were sent to Miss Anthony personally. Among these were the following:

> We, the members of the National Association of Woman Stenographers, take great pleasure in extending congratulations to you on the occasion of your seventy-eighth birthday, and hope that the days of your years may still be many and happy. We also desire to express our appreciation of and gratitude for the work you have done in securing freedom and justice for women. As business women we are better able to comprehend what you have accomplished, especially for those who are bread-winners, and we trust the time may soon come when we shall not be limited to understanding what freedom is, but be able to act in accordance with its principles.

> The Nevada Equal Suffrage Association: Although we are young in the ranks and few in number compared with the older States, yet we are none the less loyal to the principles advocated and established by the National Association. We are brave because we draw inspiration from the thoughts and acts of that Spartan band of suffragists of fifty years ago, who devoted the sunshine of their lives and the energies of their philosophic minds to the effort to obtain for womankind their inherent right to have a voice in the Government which derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.

> Alfred H. Love, president of the Universal Peace Union: From our rooms in the east wing of Independence Hall, I send greetings to you and your cause. Your cause is ours, and has been one of our essential principles since our organization. Your success is a triumph for peace.

> Mary Lowe Dickinson, secretary of the International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons: I hope you will live to see the full day for the cause whose dawn owed so much to your labors, and I can ask nothing better for you than that you have "the desire of your heart," which I am sure will be the ballot for us all.

> Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman physician: Although[Pg 301] I can not respond in person to your very friendly invitation to be a representative of "the pioneers," yet I gladly send my hearty greeting to you and to the other brave workers for the progress of the race—a progress slow but inevitable. Amongst all its steps I consider the admission of women to the medical profession as the most important. Whilst thankfully recognizing the wonderful accumulations of knowledge which generations of our brethren have gathered together, our future women physicians will rejoice to help in the construction of that noble temple of medicine, whose foundation stone must be sympathetic justice. Pray allow me to send my warm greeting to the Congress through you.

There were messages and grateful recognition from so many societies and individuals in the United States that it would be impossible even to call them by name; also from the Dominion of Canada Suffrage Club, through Dr. Augusta Stowe Gullen; the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in Great Britain, with individual letters from Lady Aberdeen, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren and others; on behalf of the Swedish Frederika Bremer Förbundet, by Carl Lindhagen; on behalf of Finnish women by Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg; on behalf of German women by Frau Hanna Bieber-Bohm, president of the National Council of Women; on behalf of the Woman Suffrage Society of Holland by its secretary, Margarethe Gallé; from the Norwegian Woman Suffrage Club; from the Verein Jugendschutz of Berlin, and from the Union to Promote Woman's Rights in Finland.

The remarkable scenes of the closing evening made a deep impression upon the large audience. After fifty years of effort to overcome the most stubborn and deeply-rooted prejudices of the ages, the results were beginning to appear. Among the speakers were a woman State senator from Utah, Mrs. Martha Hughes Cannon; a woman member of the Colorado Legislature, Mrs. Martha A. B. Conine; a woman State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Miss Estelle Reel of Wyoming; U. S. Senators Henry M. Teller of Colorado, and Frank J. Cannon of Utah, States where women have full suffrage; Representative John F. Shafroth of Colorado—and in the center of this distinguished group, Susan B. Anthony, receiving the fruits of her half century of toil and hardship.

> Miss Reel: I want to tell you a little about our work in Wyoming,[Pg 302] where women have been voting and holding office for nearly thirty years, and where our people are convinced that it has been of great benefit. Our home life there is as sacred and sweet as anywhere else on the globe. Equal suffrage has been tried and not found wanting. You may ask, What reforms has Wyoming to show? We were the first State to adopt the Australian ballot, and to accept a majority verdict of juries in civil cases. We are noted for our humane treatment of criminals, our care of the deserving poor and the education of our young. Child labor is prohibited. The Supreme Court has just decided that every voter must be able to read the Constitution in English. We have night schools all over the State for those who can not attend school by day. Equal suffrage was given to help protect the home element, and the home vote is a great conservative force. Woman suffrage means stable government, anchored in the steadfast rock of American homes.

Mrs. Conine was commissioned as a delegate to the convention by Gov. Alva Adams of Colorado. She read the statement recently put forth, testifying to the good results of equal suffrage and signed by the Governor, three ex-Governors, all the State Senators and the Representatives in Congress, the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, the Judges of the Court of Appeals, the Judges of the District Court, the Secretary of State, the State treasurer, auditor, attorney-general, the mayor of Denver, the presidents of the State University and of Colorado College, the president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the presidents of thirteen women's clubs, and said:

> During the session of the Legislature last winter, there were three women in the House. We met the other members upon terms of absolute equality. No thought of incongruity or unfitness seems to have arisen, and at the same time those little courtesies which gentlemen instinctively pay to ladies were never omitted. Each of the ladies was given a chairmanship, one of them that of the Printing Committee, and the printing bill was lower by thousands of dollars than for any previous session. The women were as frequently called to the chair in Committee of the Whole as were the men. One of them was placed upon the Judiciary Committee at the request of its chairman. Every honorary committee appointed during the session included one or more of the ladies.

> Our State Federation of Women's Clubs now numbers about 100, representing a united membership of 4,000. They are largely occupied in studying social and economic questions, earnestly seeking for the best methods of educating their children, reforming criminals, alleviating poverty and purifying the ballot; in short, striving to make their city and their State a cleaner, better home for their families. Their work receives added encouragement from[Pg 303] the knowledge that by their ballots they may determine who shall make and administer the laws under which their children must be reared. The home has always been conceded to be the woman's kingdom. In the free States she has but expanded the walls of that home, that she may afford to the inmates, and also to those who unfortunately have no other home, the same protection and loving care which was formerly limited to the few short years of childhood passed beneath the parental roof.

> Senator Teller: I want to indorse what has been said by the two members from Colorado and Wyoming. The former is rather young as a suffrage State, but we are living side by side with the latter, where they have had equal suffrage for nearly thirty years. The results of woman suffrage have proved entirely satisfactory—not to every individual, but to the great mass of the people: I hear it said in this city every day that if women are allowed to vote the best women will not take part. I want to say to you that this is a mistake. To my certain knowledge, the best women do take part. When I went back to Colorado, after the granting of equal suffrage, a prominent society woman, whom I had known for years, telephoned me to come up and speak to the ladies at her house. I found her big parlors full of representative women—the wives of bankers, lawyers, preachers—society women. If you put any duty upon women they are not going to shirk it. Those who feared the responsibility are now as enthusiastic as those who had been "clamoring" for it. In the past, women have had no object in studying political questions; now they have, and they are taking them up in their clubs. We find that women are less partisan than men. Why? Because they generally have more conscience than men. They will not vote for a dissolute and disreputable man who may happen to force himself on a party ticket....

> We are an intelligent community; we have long had a challenge to our fellow-citizens to show any other city that has as large a proportion of college graduates as Denver. Colorado people are proud of equal suffrage. The area where it prevails spread last year and took in Utah and Idaho. It will take in more neighboring States. I predict that in ten years, instead of four suffrage States, we shall have twice as many—perhaps three or four times that number.

> Representative Shafroth: I want to say this, as coming from Colorado: The experience we have had ought to demonstrate to every one that woman suffrage is not only right but practical. It tends to elevate. There is not a caucus now but is better attended and by better people, and held in a better place. I have seen the time when a political convention without a disturbance and the drawing of weapons was rare. That time is past in Colorado, and it is due to the presence of women. Every man now shows that civility which makes him take off his hat and not swear, and deport himself decently when ladies are present. Instead of women's going to the polls corrupting them it has purified the polls. Husband and wife go there together. No one insults them. There are[Pg 304] no drunken men there, nothing but what is pleasant and decorous.

> Woman is an independent element in politics. She has no allegiance to any party. When a ticket is presented to her, she asks, "Are these good men?" A man is apt to say, "Well, this is a bad ticket, but I must stand by my party." He wants to keep his party record straight. She votes for the best man on the ticket. That element is bound to result in good in any State.

> People say they don't know how it will work; they are afraid of it. Can it be that we distrust our mothers and sisters? We shall never have the best possible government till women participate in it.

> Senator Cannon: No nation can exist half slave and half free. Ten years before I was old enough to vote, my mother was a voter. I learned at her knee to vote according to my conscience, and not according to the dictation of the bosses. The strongest argument for the suffrage of any class exists in behalf of womankind, because women will not be bound by mere partisanship. If the world is to be redeemed, it must be by the conscience of the individual voter. The woman goes to the truth by instinct. Men have to confer together and go down street and look through glasses darkly. The woman stays at home and rocks the cradle, and God tells her what to do. The suffrage never was abused by women in Utah. During the seventeen years that they voted in the Territory there was not a defalcation in any public office.

> I believe in the republic. I believe that its destiny is to shed light not only here, but all over the world. If we can trust woman in the house to keep all pure and holy there, so that the little ones may grow up right, surely we can trust her at the ballot-box. When children learn political wisdom and truth from their mother's lips, they will remember it and live up to it; for those lessons are the longest remembered. When Senator Teller withdrew from a political convention for conscience's sake, a man said, commenting on his action: "It is generally safe to stay with your party." His wife said: "And it is always safe to stay with your principles."

In the midst of the convention came the sad news on February 17 of the death of Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Affectionate tributes were offered by Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and other members; a telegram of sympathy was sent to her secretary and close companion, Miss Anna Gordon, by a rising vote, and the audience remained standing for a few moments in silent prayer. A large wreath of violets and Southern ivy, adorned with miniatures of Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and other pioneer suffrage workers was sent by the delegates to be laid on her coffin.

The congressional hearings on the morning of February 15, Miss Anthony's birthday, attracted crowds of people to the Capitol.[Pg 305] The hearing before the Senate Committee was conducted by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, and considered The Philosophy of the Movement for Woman Suffrage. Only two members of the committee were present—James H. Berry of Arkansas, and George P. Wetmore of Rhode Island—but a number of other senators were interested listeners, and the large Marble Room was crowded with delegates and spectators. The first paper, by Wm. Lloyd Garrison (Mass.) considered The Nature of a Republican Form of Government:

> The advocates of complete enfranchisement of women base their demand upon the principles underlying all suffrage, rather than upon the question of sex. If manhood suffrage is a mistake; if voting is a privilege and not a right; if government does not derive its just powers from the consent of the governed; if Lincoln's aphorism that ours is a "government of the people, for the people and by the people" is only a rhetorical generality, then women have no case. If not, they see no reason why, as they are governed, they should not have a voice in choosing their rulers; why, as people, they are not covered by Lincoln's definition. They feel naturally that their exclusion is unjust.

> Woman suffragists are not unconscious of the glaring contrast between declared principles and actual practice, and they venture to believe that a professed self-government which deliberately ignores its own axioms is tending to decadence. They are not unmindful of the slow evolution of human government from earliest history, beginning in force and greed, reaching through struggles of blood, in the course of time, to the legislative stage where differences are adjudicated by reason, and the sword reserved as the last resort. This vantage ground has been gained only by a recognition of the primal right of the people to be consulted in regard to public affairs; and in proportion as this right has been respected and the franchise extended has government grown more stable and society more safe. It has come through a succession of steps, invariably opposed by the dominant classes, and only permitted after long contest and a changed public opinion.

> In England, where the progress of constitutional government can be most accurately traced, there was a time when the landowning aristocracy controlled the franchise and elected the members of Parliament. The dawn of a sense of injustice in the minds of the mercantile classes brought with it a demand for the extension of the suffrage, which was of course vigorously combated. It was an illogical resistance, which ended in the admission of the tradesmen. Later the workingmen awakened to their political disability and asserted their rights, only to be promptly antagonized by both classes in power. Eventually logic and justice won in this issue. In the light of history none of the objections urged against[Pg 306] the extension of the right of voting have been sustained by subsequent facts. On the contrary, the broadening of the suffrage base has been found to add stability to the superstructure of British government and to have been in the interest of true conservatism.

> In the course of time the woman's hour has struck. Her cause is now going through the same ordeal suffered by the classes referred to. Her triumph is as sure as theirs. The social and industrial changes of constitutional government in all countries have revolutionized her condition. Fifty years ago the avenues of employment open to women were few and restricted. To-day, in every branch of manufacture and trade, and in the professions formerly monopolized by men, they are actively and successfully engaged. Every law put upon the statute books affects their interests directly and indirectly—undreamed of in a social order where household drudgery and motherhood limited a woman's horizon.

> It is inevitable, therefore, that, feeling the pressure of legislation under which they suffer, a new intelligence should stir the minds of women such as stirred the once disfranchised classes of men in Great Britain. It leads to an examination of the principles of self-government and to their application on lines of equality and not of sex. In them is found no justification for the present enforced political disability. Therefore all legislative bodies vested with the power to change the laws are petitioned to consider the justice and expediency of allowing women to register their opinions, on the same terms with men, at the ballot-box.

> The principles at stake are rarely alluded to by the opponents of woman suffrage. The battle rages chiefly upon the ground of expediency. Every argument formerly used by the English Tories is to-day heard in the mouths of men who profess a belief in a democratic form of government....

> In the discussion of the rights of labor, the inadequacy of wages, the abuses of the factory system, the management of schools, of reformatory and penal institutions, the sanitary arrangements of a city, the betterment of public highways, the encroachment of privileged corporations, the supervision of the poor, the improvement of hospitals, and the many branches of collective housekeeping included in a municipality—women are by nature and education adapted to participate. In many States, certainly in Massachusetts, it is a common practice to appoint women to responsible positions demanding large organizing and directing power. If thus fitted to rule, are women unfitted to have a voice in choosing rulers?

> The true advancement of common interest waits for the active and responsible participation of women in political matters. Indirect and irresponsible influence they have now, but indirection and irresponsibility are dangerous elements in governments which assume to be representative, and are a constant menace. If this whole question of equal political rights of women is considered in the light of common sense and common justice, the sooner will the present intolerable wrong be wiped out and self-government be put upon a broader and safer basis.

[Pg 307]

Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) discussed the Fitness of Women to Become Citizens from the Standpoint of Education and Mental Development.

> From the close of the Revolution, we find all the distinguished American patriots expressing the conviction that a self-governing people must be an educated people. Hancock, Jay, Franklin, Morris, Paine, Quincy Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, Washington, all urge the same argument in support of education. It is no longer to produce an educated ministry, but to insure educated citizens, that schools are maintained and colleges multiplied....

> In this year of 1897-98 not less than 20,000,000 pupils and students of all ages, from the toddlers in the kindergartens to the full-grown candidates for post-graduate honors, are registered in the schools, academies, colleges and universities of the United States. The average length of time which girls spend in school exceeds by nearly three years the average length of time which boys stay there; while the number of girls graduating from high-school courses, those which include United States history and civil government, is almost double the number of boys. Thus, at the present time, largely more than one-half of the moneys spent by the governments, local and national, in support of free schools, is used in the education of girls. By what authority does the Government tax its citizens to support schools for the education of millions of women to whom, after they have received the education declared necessary to citizenship, this is denied?

> Is it urged that the Government gets its return upon its investment in the education of women through the increased intelligence with which women rear their children, manage their homes and conduct the larger social affairs outside the boundary of their home life? I have no disposition to diminish the Government's recognition of such return, but I wish to remind you that no one has ever justified the maintenance of public schools, and an enforced attendance upon them, on the theory that the Government has a right to compel men to be agreeable husbands and wise fathers, or that it is responsible for teaching men how to conduct their own business with discretion and judgment. Quite in another tone is it urged that the schools are the fountains of the nation's liberties and that a government whose policy is decided by a majority of the votes cast by its men is not safe in the hands of uneducated voters. ....It is the political life of our nation which stands in the sorest need; yet this is the only department of our national life which rejects the aid of women.

> If intelligence is vital to good citizenship in a republic, it would seem that, to justify the exclusion of the present generation of American women, whose intelligence is bought at so high a price and at the expense of the whole people, there must be some proof that they have qualities which so vitiate it as to render it unserviceable. Such proof has never yet been presented.

> At the present moment the education and the intellectual culture[Pg 308] of American women has reached a plane where its further development is a menace, unless it is to be accompanied by the direct responsibility of its possessors—a responsibility which in a republic can be felt only by those who participate directly in the election of public officers and in the shaping of public policies.

The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer (R. I.) considered the Fitness of Women to Become Citizens from the Standpoint of Moral Development.

> Government is not now merely the coarse and clumsy instrument by which military and police forces are directed; it is the flexible, changing and delicately adjusted instrument of many and varied educative, charitable and supervisory functions, and the tendency to increase the functions of government is a growing one. Prof. Lester F. Ward says: "Government is becoming more and more the organ of the social consciousness and more and more the servant of the social will." The truth of this is shown in the modern public school system; in the humane and educative care of dependent, defective and wayward children; in the increasingly discriminating and wise treatment of the insane, the pauper, the tramp and the poverty-bound; in the provisions for public parks, baths and amusement places; in the bureaus of investigation and control and the appointment of officers of inspection to secure better sanitary and moral conditions; in the board of arbitration for the settlement of political and labor difficulties; and in the almost innumerable committees and bills, national, State and local, to secure higher social welfare for all classes, especially for the weaker and more ignorant. Government can never again shrink and harden into a mere mechanism of military and penal control.

> It is, moreover, increasingly apparent that for these wider and more delicate functions a higher order of electorate, ethically as well as intellectually advanced, is necessary. Democracy can succeed only by securing for its public service, through the rule of the majority, the best leadership and administration the State affords. Only a wise electorate will know how to select such leadership, and only a highly moral one will authoritatively choose such....

> When the State took the place of family bonds and tribal relationships, and the social consciousness was born and began its long travel toward the doctrine of "equality of human rights" in government and the principle of human brotherhood in social organization, man, as the family and tribal organizer and ruler, of course took command of the march. It was inevitable, natural and beneficent so long as the State concerned itself with only the most external and mechanical of social interests. The instant, however, the State took upon itself any form of educative, charitable or personally helpful work, it entered the area of distinctive feminine training and power, and therefore became in need of the service of woman. Wherever the State touches the personal life of the infant, the child, the youth, or the aged, helpless, defective in mind, body or moral[Pg 309] nature, there the State enters "woman's peculiar sphere," her sphere of motherly succor and training, her sphere of sympathetic and self-sacrificing ministration to individual lives. If the service of women is not won to such governmental action (not only through "influence or the shaping of public opinion," but through definite and authoritative exercise), the mother-office of the State, now so widely adopted, will be too often planned and administered as though it were an external, mechanical and abstract function, instead of the personal, organic and practical service which all right helping of individuals must be.

> In so far as motherhood has given to women a distinctive ethical development, it is that of sympathetic personal insight respecting the needs of the weak and helpless, and of quick-witted, flexible adjustment of means to ends in the physical, mental and moral training of the undeveloped. And thus far has motherhood fitted women to give a service to the modern State which men can not altogether duplicate....

> Whatever problems might have been involved in the question of woman's place in the State when government was purely military, legal and punitive have long since been antedated. Whatever problems might have inhered in that question when women were personally subject to their families or their husbands are well-nigh outgrown in all civilized countries, and entirely so in the most advanced. Woman's nonentity in the political department of the State is now an anachronism and inconsistent with the prevailing tendencies of social growth....

> The earth is ready, the time is ripe, for the authoritative expression of the feminine as well as the masculine interpretation of that common social consciousness which is slowly writing justice in the State and fraternity in the social order.

Miss Laura Clay (Ky.) illustrated the Fitness of Women to Become Citizens from the Standpoint of Physical Development.

> Among the objections brought against the extension of suffrage to women, that of their physical unfitness to perform military duties is the most plausible, because in the popular mind there is an idea that the right of casting a ballot is in its final analysis dependent upon the ability to defend it with a bullet....

> It is by no means self-evident that women are naturally unfitted for fighting or are unwarlike in disposition. The traditions of Amazons and the conduct of savage women give room to believe that the instinct for war was primitively very much the same in both sexes. Though the earliest division of labor among savages known to us is that of assigning war and the chase to men, yet we have no reason to believe that this was done by way of privilege to women; but in the struggle for tribal supremacy that tribe must have ultimately survived and succeeded best which exposed its women the least. Polygamy, universal among primitive races, could in a degree sustain population against the ravages among men of continual[Pg 310] warfare, but any large destruction of women must extinguish a tribe that suffered it. So those tribes which earliest engrafted among their customs the exclusion of women from war were the ones that finally survived....

> Military genius among women has appeared in all ages and people, as in Deborah, Zenobia, Joan of Arc and our own Anna Ella Carroll. The prowess of women has often been conspicuous in besieged cities. Our early history of Indian warfare recounts many of their valiant deeds. It is well known that in the late war many women on both sides eluded the vigilance of recruiting officers, enlisted and fought bravely. Who knows how many of such women there might have been if their enlistment had been desired and stimulated by beat of drum and blare of trumpet and "all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war?" But no State can afford to accept military service from its women, for while a nation may live for ages without soldiers, it could exist but for a span without mothers. Since woman's exemption from war is not an un-bought privilege, it is evident that in justice men have no superior rights as citizens on that account.

> It is an equally fallacious idea that sound expediency demands that every ballot shall be defended by a bullet. The theory of representative government does not admit of any connection between military service and the right and duty of suffrage, even among men. It is trite to point out that the age required for military service begins at eighteen years, when a man is too young to vote, and ends at forty-five years, when he is usually in the prime of his usefulness as a citizen. Some very slight physical defects will incapacitate a man under the usual recruiting rules. Many lawyers, judges, physicians, ministers, merchants, editors, authors, legislators and Congressmen are exempt on the ground of physical incapacity. A citizen's ability to help govern by voting is in no manner proportioned to ability to bear arms....

> In the finest conception of government not only is there room for women to take part, but it can not be realized without help from them. Men alone possess only a half of human wisdom; women possess the other half of it, and a half that must always be somewhat different from men's, because women must always see from a somewhat different point of view. The wisdom of men must be supplemented by that of women to discover the whole of governmental truth. Women's help is equally indispensable in persuading society to love and obey law. This help is very largely given now, or civilization as we know it would be impossible. But the best interests of society demand that women's present indirect and half-conscious influence shall be strengthened by the right of suffrage, so that their sense of duty to government may be stimulated by a clear perception of the connection which exists between power and responsibility.

Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch (Eng.) treated of Woman as an Economic Factor.[Pg 311]

> It is often urged that women stand greatly in need of training in citizenship before being finally received into the body politic.... As a matter of fact women are the first class who have asked the right of citizenship after their ability for political life has been proved. I have seen in my time two enormous extensions of the suffrage to men—one in America and one in England. But neither the negroes in the South nor the agricultural laborers in Great Britain had shown before they got the ballot any capacity for government; for they had never had the opportunity to take the first steps in political action. Very different has been the history of the march of women toward a recognized position in the State. We have had to prove our ability at each stage of progress, and have gained nothing without having satisfied a test of capacity....

> The public demand for "proved worth" suggests what appears to me the chief and most convincing argument upon which our future claims must rest—the growing recognition of the economic value of the work of women.... There has been a marked change in the estimate of our position as wealth producers. We have never been "supported" by men; for if all men labored hard every hour of the twenty-four, they could not do all the work of the world. A few worthless women there are, but even they are not so much supported by the men of their family as by the overwork of the "sweated" women at the other end of the social ladder. From creation's dawn our sex has done its full share of the world's work; sometimes we have been paid for it, but oftener not.

> Unpaid work never commands respect; it is the paid worker who has brought to the public mind conviction of woman's worth. The spinning and weaving done by our great-grandmothers in their own homes was not reckoned as national wealth until the work was carried to the factory and organized there; and the women who followed their work were paid according to its commercial value. It is the women of the industrial class, the wage-earners, reckoned by the hundreds of thousands, and not by units, the women whose work has been submitted to a money test, who have been the means of bringing about the altered attitude of public opinion toward woman's work in every sphere of life.

> If we would recognize the democratic side of our cause, and make an organized appeal to industrial women on the ground of their need of citizenship, and to the nation on the ground of its need that all wealth producers should form part of its body politic, the close of the century might witness the building up of a true republic in the United States.

Mrs. Florence Kelley, State Factory Inspector of Illinois, showed the Working Woman's Need of the Ballot.

> No one needs all the powers of the fullest citizenship more urgently than the wage-earning woman, and from two different points of view—that of actual money wages and that of her wider needs as a human being and a member of the community.[Pg 312]

> The wages paid any body of working people are determined by many influences, chief among which is the position of the particular body of workers in question. Thus the printers, by their intelligence, their powerful organization, their solidarity and united action, keep up their wages in spite of the invasion of their domain by new and improved machinery. On the other hand, the garment-workers, the sweaters' victims, poor, unorganized, unintelligent, despised, remain forever on the verge of pauperism, irrespective of their endless toil. If, now, by some untoward fate the printers should suddenly find themselves disfranchised, placed in a position in which their members were politically inferior to the members of other trades, no effort of their own short of complete enfranchisement could restore to them that prestige, that good standing in the esteem of their fellow-craftsmen and the public at large which they now enjoy, and which contributes materially in support of their demand for high wages.

> In the garment trades, on the other hand, the presence of a body of the disfranchised, of the weak and young, undoubtedly contributes to the economic weakness of these trades. Custom, habit, tradition, the regard of the public, both employing and employed, for the people who do certain kinds of labor, contribute to determine the price of that labor, and no disfranchised class of workers can permanently hold its own in competition with enfranchised rivals. But this works both ways. It is fatal for any body of workers to have forever hanging from the fringes of its skirts other bodies on a level just below its own; for that means continual pressure downward, additional difficulty to be overcome in the struggle to maintain reasonable rates of wages. Hence, within the space of two generations there has been a complete revolution in the attitude of the trades-unions toward the women working in their trades. Whereas forty years ago women might have knocked in vain at the doors of the most enlightened trade-union, to-day the Federation of Labor keeps in the field paid organizers whose duty it is to enlist in the unions as many women as possible. The workingmen have perceived that women are in the field of industry to stay; and they see, too, that there can not be two standards of work and wages for any trade without constant menace to the higher standard. Hence their effort to place the women upon the same industrial level with themselves in order that all may pull together in the effort to maintain reasonable conditions of life.

> But this same menace holds with regard to the vote. The lack of the ballot places the wage-earning woman upon a level of irresponsibility compared with her enfranchised fellow workingman. By impairing her standing in the community the general rating of her value as a human being, and consequently as a worker, is lowered. In order to be rated as good as a good man in the field of her earnings, she must show herself better than he. She must be more steady, or more trustworthy, or more skilled, or more cheap in order to have the same chance of employment. Thus, while women are accused of lowering wages, might they not justly reply[Pg 313] that it is only by conceding something from the pay which they would gladly claim, that they can hold their own in the market, so long as they labor under the disadvantage of disfranchisement?...

> Finally, the very fact that women now form about one-fifth of the employes in manufacture and commerce in this country has opened a vast field of industrial legislation directly affecting women as wage-earners. The courts in some of the States, notably in Illinois, are taking the position that women can not be treated as a class apart and legislated for by themselves, as has been done in the factory laws of England and on the continent of Europe, but must abide by that universal freedom of contract which characterizes labor in the United States. This renders the situation of the working woman absolutely anomalous. On the one hand, she is cut off from the protection awarded to her sisters abroad; on the other, she has no such power to defend her interests at the polls, as is the heritage of her brothers at home. This position is untenable, and there can be no pause in the agitation for full political power and responsibility until these are granted to all the women of the nation.

Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman (N. Y.) spoke from the standpoint of Women as Capitalists and Taxpayers.

> The first impulse toward the organization of women to protect their own rights came from the injustice of laws toward married women, and in 1848 it manifested itself in the first Woman's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. Slowly the leaven spread. There was agitation in one State after the other about the property rights of women.... Now in many States married as well as single women are proprietors of business enterprises upon the same basis as men, and are interested as capitalists and tax-payers in every law which affects the country industrially or financially.

> In 1894 a careful copy was made of the women taxpayers of Brooklyn. Names with initials were not placed on the list, so that the total was probably under rather than over estimated. This showed 22.03 or nearly one-fourth of all the assessable realty in the names of women, amounting to $110,000,000, besides many large estates in which they were interested. In 1896 the assessed value of real estate in the State of New York was $4,506,985,694, which, if estimated in the same ratio, would give taxable property owned by women to the extent of $1,124,221,423.

> They are agriculturally interested, inasmuch as they are frequently owners of large tracts of land in the West as well as of smaller farms in our Eastern States. What shall we say to a Government that gives land in severalty to the Indian, supplies him with tools and rations, puts a ballot in his hand, and then says to the American woman who purchases the same right to land, "You shall not have the political privileges of American citizenship?" Under the laws of our country every stock company is obliged to[Pg 314] give men and women shareholders a vote upon the same basis, and one fails to see why a government, which professedly exists to maintain the rights of the people, should practice in its own dealing such flaunting injustice....

> Women help to support every public institution in the State and should have representation upon every board, and in the laws which control them. They help to pay the army pensions and should be allowed to help in deciding how much shall be paid. They help to pay for standing armies and for navies and they have the larger part in the nurture and training of every man who is in army or navy, and this is not the smaller part of the tax, since it is at times the matter of a life for a life. Women pay their part of the taxes to support our public schools and have intense interests in their well-doing. Twenty-six States have recognized this fact and have given to women some kind of School Suffrage, one has granted Municipal Suffrage and four Full Political Equality; but this is only a fraction of the justice which belongs to a government founded by statesmen whose watchword was, "No taxation without representation."

Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis (N. Y.) answered the question, Are Women Represented in our Government?

> "Taxation without representation is tyranny" was one of the slogans of liberty in this country one hundred and twenty years ago. Have we outlived this principle? If not, why is it supposed to have no application to women?

> That a century ago the latter were not thought of as having any rights under this motto is not surprising. So few women then held property in their own name that the injustice done them was not so apparent. But the situation is changed now, and the right of women to be considered as individuals is everywhere acknowledged save in this one particular. Even those who feel that the granting of universal male suffrage was a mistake, and that the right to self-government should be proved by some test, educational or otherwise—even those do not assert that it would be anything but gross injustice to tax men without allowing them a voice in the disposal of their money....

> But there is still another side to the question. It is not only that the disfranchised women are unfairly treated, but the public good inevitably suffers from the political nonexistence of half the citizens of the republic. Either women are interested in politics or they are not. If the former, the country is distinctly injured, for nothing is more fatal to good government than the intermeddling of a large body of people who have never studied the questions at issue and whose only interest is a personal one. If, on the other hand, women are not interested in politics, what is the condition of that country, half of whose citizens do not care whether it be well or ill governed? That women influence men is never denied, even by the most strenuous opponents of woman suffrage. It is, on the contrary, most[Pg 315] violently asserted by those very people; but of what value is that interest if woman is utterly ignorant of one of the most important duties of a man's life?...

> On one hand the public good demands that no class of citizens be arbitrarily prevented from serving the commonweal; and on the other hand thinking and patriotic women are crying against the injustice which forbids them to prove their fitness for self-government. What shall be the result of this double demand?

Woman Suffrage and the Home was the topic of Henry B. Blackwell (Mass.).

> One of the objections to extending suffrage to women is a fear that its exercise will divert their attention from domestic pursuits, and diminish their devotion to husband, children and home. We believe, on the contrary, that it will increase domestic happiness by giving women greater self-respect and greater respect and consideration from men.

> People who make this objection seem to regard the conjugal and maternal instincts as artificial, as the result of education and circumstances, losing sight of the fact that these qualities are innate in the feminine soul. Mental cultivation and larger views of life do not tend to make women less womanly any more than they tend to make men less manly. No one imagines that business or politics diminishes or destroys the conjugal and paternal instinct in men. We do not look for dull or idle or indolent men as husbands for our daughters. Ignorant, narrow-minded men do not make the best husbands and fathers. Ignorant, narrow-minded women do not make the best wives and mothers. Mental discipline and intelligent responsibility add strength to the conjugal and parental sentiment alike in men and women....

> But fortunately this is no longer a question of theory. We appeal to the experience of the four States which have extended equal suffrage to women. Wyoming has had complete woman suffrage since 1869. For twenty-nine years, as a Territory and a State, women have voted there in larger ratio than men. Supreme Judge J. W. Kingman many years ago testified that the actual proportion of men voting had increased to 80 per cent., but that 90 per cent. of the women went to the polls. And now, after a generation of continuous voting, the percentage of divorces in Wyoming is smaller than in the surrounding States where women do not vote, and while the percentage in the latter is rapidly increasing, in Wyoming it is steadily diminishing. Where women have once voted the right has never been taken away by the people. In Utah women voted for seventeen years while it was a Territory, until Congress abolished it for political reasons. But when Utah was about to be admitted to statehood the men in framing their constitution restored the suffrage to women. Would they have done so if it had proved injurious to their homes? Impossible! You have eight Senators and seven Representatives in Congress from the four States where[Pg 316] women have the full franchise. Ask them if it has demoralized their homes or the homes of their fellow-citizens, and your fears, if you have any, will be forever set at rest....

> Believe me, gentlemen, it is not patriotism, it is not a passion for justice, it is not loyalty to sister women, it is not a desire to better her country, which will make a woman neglect her husband. Society women, superficial, selfish, silly women, the butterflies of the ballroom, the seekers for every new sensation, the worldly-minded aspirants for social position, these are the women who neglect their homes; and not the brave, earnest, serious-minded, generous, unselfish women who ask for the ballot in order by its use to make the world better. In the twentieth century, already dawning, we shall have a republican family in a republican nation, a true democracy, a government of the people, by the people and for the people, men and women co-operating harmoniously on terms of absolute equality in the home and in the State.

The Senate Hearing closed with the paper of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton on the Significance and History of the Ballot, which was in part as follows:

> The recent bills on Immigration, by Senators Lodge of Massachusetts and Kyle of South Dakota, indirectly affect the interests of woman. Their proposition to demand a reading and writing qualification on landing strikes me as arbitrary and equally detrimental to our mutual interests. The danger is not in their landing and living in this country, but in their speedy appearance at the ballot-box and there becoming an impoverished and ignorant balance of power in the hands of wily politicians. While we should not allow our country to be a dumping ground for the refuse population of the Old World, still we should welcome all hardy, common-sense laborers here, as we have plenty of room and work for them. Here they can improve their own condition and our surroundings, developing our immense resources and the commerce of the country. The one demand I would make in regard to this class is that they should not become a part of our ruling power until they can read and write the English language intelligently and understand the principles of republican government. This is the only restrictive legislation we need to protect ourselves against foreign domination. To this end the Congress should enact a law for "educated suffrage" for our native-born as well as foreign rulers.

> With free schools and compulsory education, no one has an excuse for not understanding the language of the country. As women are governed by a "male aristocracy," they are doubly interested in having their rulers able at least to read and write. See with what care in the Old World the prospective heirs to the throne are educated. There was a time when the members of the British Parliament could neither read nor write, but these accomplishments are now required of the Lords and Commons, and even of the King and Queen, while we have rulers, native and foreign, who do not[Pg 317] understand the letters of the alphabet; and this in a republic supposed to be based on intelligence of the people!

> Much as we need this measure for the stability of our Government, we need it still more for the best interests of women. This ignorant vote is solid against woman's emancipation. In States where amendments to their constitutions are proposed for the enfranchisement of women, this vote has been in every case against them. We should ask for national protection against this hostile force playing football with the most sacred rights of one-half of the people.... In all national conflicts it is ever deemed the most grievous accident of war for the conquered people to find themselves under a foreign yoke, yet this is the position of the women of this republic to-day. Foreigners are our judges and jurors, our legislators and municipal officials, and decide all questions of interest to us, even to the discipline in our schools, charitable institutions and prisons. Woman has no voice as to the education of her children or the environments of the unhappy wards of the State. The love and sympathy of the mother-soul have but an evanescent influence in all departments of human interest until coined into law by the hand that holds the ballot. Then only do they become a direct and effective power in the Government....

> The popular objection to woman suffrage is that it would "double the ignorant vote." The patent answer to this is, "Abolish the ignorant vote." Our legislators have this power in their own hands. There have been serious restrictions in the past for men. We are willing to abide by the same for women, provided the insurmountable qualification of sex be forever removed. Some of the opponents talk as if educated suffrage would be invidious to the best interests of the laboring masses, whereas it would be most beneficial in its ultimate influence.... Surely when we compel all classes to learn to read and write and thus open to themselves the door to knowledge, not by force, but by the promise of a privilege which all intelligent citizens enjoy, we are benefactors and not tyrants. To stimulate them to climb the first rounds of the ladder that they may reach the divine heights where they shall be as gods, knowing good and evil, by withholding the citizen's right to vote for a few years is a blessing to them as well as to the State.

> We must inspire our people with a new sense of their sacred duties as citizens of a republic, and place new guards around our ballot-box. Walking in Paris one day I was greatly impressed with an emblematic statue in the square Chateau d'Eau, placed there in 1883 in honor of the republic. On one side is a magnificent bronze lion with his fore paw on the electoral urn, which answers to our ballot-box, as if to guard it from all unholy uses.... As I turned away I thought of the American republic and our ballot-box with no guardian or sacred reverence for its contents. Ignorance, poverty and vice have full access; thousands from every incoming steamer go practically from the steerage to the polls, while educated women, representing the virtue and intelligence of the nation, are driven away. I would like to see a monument to "educated suffrage"[Pg 318] in front of our national Capitol, guarded by the goddess Minerva, her right hand resting on the ballot-box, her left hand on the spelling book, the Declaration of Rights and the Federal Constitution. It would be well for us to ponder the Frenchman's idea, but instead of the royal lion, representing force to guard the sacred urn, let us substitute wisdom and virtue in the form of Woman.

The Washington Star said of the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee:

> The members paid a tribute to the devotion of the woman suffragists, and at the same time showed appreciation of it by nearly all being in attendance at the hearing this morning. It is seldom that more than a quorum of any committee can be induced to attend a hearing of any sort. To-day fifteen out of seventeen members were present and manifested a deep interest in the remarks submitted by the women. The character of the assemblage was one to inspire respect, and the force and intelligence of what was said warranted the attention and interest shown. The people who not many years ago thought that every woman suffragist was a masculine creature who "wanted to wear the pants" would have been greatly embarrassed in their theories had they been present at the hearing to-day. There was not a mannish-appearing woman among the number. It was such an assemblage as may be seen at a popular church on Sunday, or at a fashionable afternoon reception. In fact there was not anywhere such an affectation of masculinity as is common among the society women of the period. Each year there have appeared more young women at these hearings, and the average of youth seemed greater to-day than ever before. Fashionably attired and in good taste, representative of the highest grade of American womanhood, the fifty or sixty women present inspired respect for their opinions without destroying the sentiment of gallantry which men generally feel that they must extend towards women.

The speakers before this committee[115] presented The Practical Working of Woman Suffrage. Miss Anthony introduced them. Limited Suffrage in the United States was discussed by Prof. Ellen H. E. Price of Swarthmore College, Penn., whose address was rendered especially valuable by a carefully compiled table of statistics showing the amount of suffrage possessed by women in every State and Territory. Municipal Suffrage in Kansas was described by J. W. Gleed; Woman Suffrage in Wyoming by ex-U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey; Woman Suffrage in Colorado by[Pg 319] the Hon. Martha A. B. Conine, member of its State Legislature; Woman Suffrage in Idaho by Wm. Balderston, editor of the Boisé Statesman; Woman Suffrage in Foreign Countries by Miss Helen Blackburn, editor The Englishwomen's Review.[116] Woman Suffrage in Utah was depicted by State Senator Martha Hughes Cannon:

> ....The history of the struggle in Utah for equal rights is full of interest and could be recounted with advantage. But, after all, the results which have been attained speak with such unerring logic, and vindicate so thoroughly the argument that woman should take part in the affairs of government which so vitally affect her, that I point to the actual conditions now existing as a complete vindication of the efforts of equal suffragists, and as the most cogent of all reasons why woman should have the right to aid in nominating and electing our public officers.

> I can say, in all sincerity, that there is a strong and cumulative evidence that even those who opposed equal suffrage with the greatest ability and vehemence would not now vote for the repeal of the measure. The practical working of the law demonstrates its wisdom and verifies the claims which were advanced by its ardent advocates. It has proved to the world that woman is not only a helpmeet by the fireside, but when allowed to do so she can become a most powerful factor in the affairs of the Government.

> None of the unpleasant results which were predicted have occurred. The contentions in families, the tarnishment of woman's charm, the destruction of ideals, have all been proved to be but the ghosts of unfounded prejudices. "The divinity which doth hedge woman about like subtle perfume" has not been displaced. Women have quietly assumed the added power which always was theirs by right, and with the grace and ready adaptation to circumstances peculiar to the women of America, they have so conducted themselves that they have gained admiration and respect while losing none of their old-time prestige.

> Before suffrage was granted to women they had ideas upon public questions. Suffrage has given them opportunity for practical expression of these views. They pay more attention to political affairs. They studied political economy more earnestly. They familiarize themselves with public questions, and their mistakes, if they have made any, have not thus far been brought to light.

> Women have acted as delegates to county and State conventions, and represented Utah in the national convention of one of the great political parties, held in Chicago in 1896. They have acted upon political committees and have taken part in political management, and, instead of being dragged down, as was most feared, their enfranchisement has tended to elevate them. Under our system of[Pg 320] the Australian ballot, they have found that the contaminating influence of which they had been told was but a bugbear, born of fright, produced by shadows. They learned that to deposit their vote did not subject them to anything like the annoyance which they often experienced from crowds on "bargain days," while their presence drove from the polls the ward workers who had been so obnoxious in the past.

> Through the courtesy of the Governor and the approval of the Senate they have been given places upon various State boards, and in the last Legislature, in both the Senate and the House, they represented the two most populous and wealthy counties of Utah. The bills introduced by women received due consideration, and a majority were enacted into laws. Whatever they have been required to do they have done to the full satisfaction of their constituents, and they have proved most careful and painstaking public officers.

> No one in Utah will dispute the statements I have made. To the people of that young commonwealth, destined by its manifold resources and the intelligence of its men and women to become the Empire State of the Rocky Mountains, I refer you, in the fullest confidence that, with scarcely a dissenting voice, they will say that woman suffrage is no longer an experiment, but is a practical reality, tending to the well-being of the State.

Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, national recording secretary, took for a subject The Indifference of Women:

> It is often said that the chief obstacle to equal suffrage is the indifference and opposition of women, and that whenever the majority ask for the ballot they will get it. But it is a simple historical fact that every improvement thus far made in their condition has been secured, not by a general demand from the majority, but by the arguments, entreaties and "continual coming" of a persistent few. In each case the advocates of progress have had to contend not merely with the conservatism of men, but with the indifference of women, and often with active opposition from some of them.

> When a man in Saco, Me., first employed a saleswoman the men boycotted his store, and the women remonstrated with him on the sin of which he was guilty in placing a young woman in a position of such publicity. When Lucy Stone tried to secure for married women the right to their own property, they asked with scorn, "Do you think I would give myself where I would not give my property?" When Elizabeth Blackwell began to study medicine, the women at her boarding house refused to speak to her, and those passing her on the streets would hold their skirts aside so as not to touch her. It is a matter of history with what ridicule and opposition Mary Lyon's first efforts for the education of women were received, not only by the mass of men, but by the mass of women as well. In England when the Oxford examinations were thrown open to women, the Dean of Chichester preached a sermon against it, in which he said: "By the sex at large, certainly, the new curriculum[Pg 321] is not asked for. I have ascertained, by extended inquiry among gentlewomen, that, with true feminine instinct, they either entirely distrust or else look with downright disfavor on so wild an innovation and interference with the best traditions of their sex." Pundita Ramabai tells us that the idea of education for girls is so unpopular with the majority of Hindoo women that when a progressive Hindoo proposes to educate his little daughter it is not uncommon for the women of his family to threaten to drown themselves.

> All this merely shows that human nature is conservative, and that it is fully as conservative in women as in men. The persons who take a strong interest in any reform are always comparatively few, whether among men or women, and they are habitually regarded with disfavor, even by those whom the proposed reform is to benefit. Thomas Hughes says, in School Days at Rugby: "So it is, and must be always, my dear boys. If the Angel Gabriel were to come down from heaven and head a successful rise against the most abominable and unrighteous vested interest which this poor old world groans under, he would most certainly lose his character for many years, probably for centuries, not only with the upholders of the said vested interest, but with the respectable mass of the people whom he had delivered."

> Many changes for the better have been made during the last half century in the laws, written and unwritten, relating to women. Everybody approves of these changes now, because they have become accomplished facts. But not one of them would have been made to this day if it had been necessary to wait until the majority of women asked for it. The change now under discussion is to be judged on its merits. In the light of history the indifference of most women and the opposition of a few must be taken as a matter of course. It has no more rational significance than it has had in regard to each previous step of woman's progress.

Miss Anthony closed with an impassioned argument which profoundly moved both the committee and the audience. The chairman said that in all the years there had never been so dignified, logical and perfectly managed a hearing before the Judiciary, and several of its members corroborated this statement and assured the ladies present of a full belief in the justice of their cause. Yet neither the Senate nor the House Committee made any report or paid the slightest heed to these earnest and eloquent appeals.

### FOOTNOTES:

[112] The Sunday afternoon preceding the convention religious services were held in the theatre, which was crowded. The sermon was given by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, from the text, "One shall chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight."

[113] A most interesting account of that historic occasion may be found in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.

[114] Federal Suffrage is considered in Chapter I.

[115] David B. Henderson, Ia.; George W. Ray, N. Y.; Case Broderick, Kan.; Thomas Updegraff, Ia.; James A. Connolly, Ill.; Samuel W. McCall, Mass.; John J. Jenkins, Wis.; Riehard Wayne Parker, N. J.; Jesse R. Overstreet, Ind.; DeAlva S. Alexander, N. Y.; Warren Miller, W. Va.; William L. Terry, Ark.; David A. DeArmond, Mo.; Samuel W. T. Lanham, Tex.; William Elliott, S. C.; Oscar W. Underwood, Ala.; David H. Smith, Ky.

[116] The main facts brought out in all these addresses are fully included in the various State chapters in this volume.

[Pg 322]

## CHAPTER XIX.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1899.

A departure was made by the suffrage association in 1899 in having its convention in the late spring instead of the winter, the Thirty-first annual meeting being held in Grand Rapids, Mich., April 27-May 3. It was thought by many that this was an unfavorable season, as the audiences were not so large as usual, but in all other respects it was one of the most delightful of these many gatherings. The meetings were held in the handsome St. Cecilia Club House, whose auditorium seats 1,200, and the official report, usually confined to bare details, contains the following account:

> The music arranged by Mrs. Rathbone Carpenter and her efficient committee was throughout of the finest character and fully justified the reputation of Grand Rapids as a musical community. Mrs. W. D. Giddings, chairman of decorations, worked daily with different members of her committee in arranging the cut flowers and decorative plants generously furnished by different florists, so that the platform was beautiful and fragrant from beginning to end of the meetings. At the evening sessions the audience was seated by the help of young lady ushers under the management of Mrs. Marie Wilson Beasley.

> The Bureau of Information, under the charge of Mrs. H. Margaret Downs; the Courtesies, chairman, Mrs. Delos A. Blodgett, and the opening reception on the first evening of the convention, chairman, Mrs. William Alden Smith, were ably managed. But, with the exception of the work devolving upon Mrs. Ketcham, the most constant and trying labor fell to the chairman of entertainment, Mrs. Allen C. Adsit, who cared for the housing of all the delegates and also of the Michigan friends in attendance.

> Of the efforts bf Mrs. Emily B. Ketcham the entire convention bore witness; it went to Grand Rapids upon her invitation, and upon her work for many months before its opening depended its success, which was unquestioned. At one of the evening sessions she was surprised by the presentation of a handsome souvenir of the occasion containing the signatures of the officers of the association, the speakers and many of the local workers. At the close of the first evening the National officers, assisted by Mrs. Ketcham, Mrs. William Alden Smith, Mrs. Julius Burrows and several of the[Pg 323] speakers, received in the beautiful parlor of the St. Cecilia, thus giving delegates and visitors an opportunity to meet the people of the city and to exchange social greetings with each other.

> The Ladies' Literary Club, which also owns its home, kept open house several afternoons from four to six, the officers receiving the guests and serving light refreshments. This club also tendered the freedom of its house for any and all hours of the day to the delegates. Saturday afternoon the Federation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Unions of Grand Rapids received the convention at the Young Woman's Building, where a substantial supper was served. The Bissell carpet-sweeper factory, president, Mrs. M. R. Bissell, presented to the delegates one hundred and fifty specially made small carpet-sweepers, each marked in gilt, National American Woman Suffrage Association.

> But to the Board of Trade belongs the honor of having outrivaled all the other kind hosts in the extent of their hospitality. They presented to the convention its programs, beautifully printed on extra fine paper and bearing a picture of the St. Cecilia Club House. The Board also sent carriages to take the entire working convention for a drive through the city, a visit to one of the largest furniture warehouses and to the carpet-sweeper factory, where Mrs. Bissell received the delegates and all were shown through the works. A handsome souvenir containing many views of the city was given by the Board to every delegate.

> The ladies of the St. Cecilia were kindness itself, and it was delightful to hold the meetings in so friendly an atmosphere, as well as in so well appointed a building. The president, Mrs. Kelsey, presented to the badge committee St. Cecilia pins having a reproduction of Carlo Dolci's head of the musical saint after whom this club is named, the only musical society of women in the United States which owns a club-house.

> Cordial addresses of welcome were made by Emily B. Ketcham, president of Susan B. Anthony Club; Mary Atwater Kelsey, president of St. Cecilia; Josephine Ahnafeldt Goss, president of Ladies' Literary Club; May Stocking Knaggs, president of State Equal Suffrage Association; Martha A. Keating, president of State Federation of Women's Clubs; Mrs. A. S. Benjamin, president of State Women's Christian Temperance Union; Mary A. McConnelly, department president of State Woman's Relief Corps; Lucy A. Leggett, president of State Woman's Press Association, and Frances E. Burns, Great Commander Ladies of the Maccabees.

Mrs. Ketcham expressed their pleasure in having Grand Rapids selected in preference to several larger cities which had extended invitations; referred to the long distances many of the delegates had come and assured the convention of a royal welcome, not only from the city but from the State. Brief extracts must give an idea of the scope and cordiality of these addresses:[Pg 324]

> Mrs. Goss: This has been called the woman's century. The past centuries might have been called man's, because of the great progress he has made in them; and it is now conceded that God made women to match the men. The next will be the children's century, when they will make real their parents' ideals. After humanity has been sufficiently educated, people will understand that no class has a right to special privileges, or can appropriate them without injury to the body politic. Then a woman will not demand any special privilege because she is a woman, nor be denied it because she is not a man. As a result of this movement, old lessons have been better learned and old burdens more easily carried. We advocate equal suffrage not alone because it is just to the mothers, but because it will be good for the children, good for man, good for all humanity. We are glad to be a part of this movement for a higher civilization. Grand Rapids is noted for its furniture factories, and after equal suffrage is granted it will supply plenty of material for the President's cabinet.

> Mrs. Knaggs: I welcome you in behalf of the Michigan E. S. A., representing the women of this State who are especially interested in woman's enfranchisement. We have looked forward to the day when you would bring us the inspiration of one of these great meetings; we needed it. We are told that women are indifferent. Many are so; and nothing can better arouse us than to meet those engaged in this work from so many different places.

> An alderman this spring boasted that he had been elected by the votes of eight nationalities. He enumerated seven of them but for some time was unable to think of the eighth. At last he remembered; it was the American. The ballot in the hands of our present voters might be improved by the intelligence that the great body of Michigan women would bring to it. We are beginning to appreciate the solidarity of women. When one State wins suffrage, all the others are gainers by it. The good of this meeting will go abroad over the country.

> Mrs. Keating: ....In the happy tone of welcome that you may hear rising from all parts of our State the club women join, with voices 9,000 strong. We have never been happier than now, even during the annual club elections, amid the joy and intelligence of the club ballot. Your fame has preceded you.

> Mrs. Benjamin: The W. C. T. U. of Michigan numbers about 9,000 active members, and I bring you the greeting of your white-ribbon sisters. We welcome not only you but your principles, and your avowed determination to conquer before you die. A good mother works in the home, but she would not wish to be forbidden to cross the threshold. For the good of her child, she needs sometimes to cross it. A mother should guard her child outside the home as well as in it. Every mother worthy of the name wishes to protect her own child from vice, and her duty extends to her neighbor's child also. Equal suffrage is coming, friends, and coming soon.

> Mrs. Burns: I bring you the welcome of the 45,000 Ladies of the Maccabees. Times have greatly changed in Michigan since[Pg 325] seventy years ago, when the Indian squaws did all the manual labor, and the braves limited themselves to the noble task of hunting. There has been a corresponding change in the condition of women all along the line.

In the response of Miss Susan B. Anthony, the national president, she said:

> Since our last convention the area of disfranchisement in the possessions of the United States has been greatly enlarged. Our nation has undertaken to furnish provisional governments for Hawaii and the Philippine Islands, Cuba and Porto Rico. Hitherto the settlers of new Territories have been permitted to frame their own provisional governments, which were ratified by Congress, but to-day Congress itself assumes the prerogative of making the laws for the newly-acquired Territories. When the governments for those in the West were organized there had been no practical example of universal suffrage in any one of the older States, hence it might be pardonable for their settlers to ignore the right of the women associated with them to a voice in their governments.

> But to-day, after fifty years' continuous agitation of the right of women to vote, and after the demand has been conceded in one-half the States in the management of the public schools; after one State has added to that of the schools the management of its cities; and after four States have granted women the full vote—the universal reports show that the exercise of the suffrage by women has added to their influence, increased the respect of men, and elevated the moral, social and political conditions of their respective commonwealths. With those object-lessons before Congress, it would seem that no member could be so blind as not to see it the duty of that body to have the provisional governments of our new possessions founded on the principle of equal rights, privileges and immunities for all the people, women included. I hope this convention will devise some plan for securing a strong expression of public sentiment on this question, to be presented to the Fifty-sixth Congress, which is to convene on the first Monday of December next....

> During the reconstruction period and the discussion of the negro's right to vote Senator Blaine and others opposed the counting of all the negroes in the basis of representation, instead of the old-time three-fifths, because they saw that to do so would greatly increase the power of the white men of the South on the floor of Congress. Therefore the Republican leaders insisted upon the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to secure the ballot to the negro men. Only one generation has passed and yet nearly all of the Southern States have by one device or another succeeded in excluding from the ballot-box very nearly the entire negro vote, openly and defiantly declaring their intention to secure the absolute supremacy of the white race, but there is not a suggestion on their part of allowing the citizens to whom they deny the right of suffrage to be counted out from the basis of representation. Some of the Northern newspapers[Pg 326] have been growing indignant upon the subject, declaring that a vote in South Carolina counts more than two votes in New York, in the election of the President and the House of Representatives. It seems to me that a still greater violation of the principle of "the consent of the governed" is practiced in all the States of the Union where women, though disfranchised, are yet counted in the basis of representation, and I think the time has come when this association should make a most strenuous demand for an amendment to the Constitution of the United States forbidding any State thus to count disfranchised citizens....

> The increased discussion of the enfranchisement of women in the newspapers throughout the country evidences the larger demand of the public for information on this line, and a vast amount of educational work is being done in this way.... The presentation of the woman question in the New York Sunday Sun each week by Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, with the articles it has elicited from the opposition, is of incalculable value; and when we add to the number of people who read the Sun the vast numbers who read the copies of these articles made by the many newspapers between the two oceans, we see what an immense reading audience is gained by getting our question into that one of the best New York dailies. We must remember that these papers never would have copied Mrs. Harper's or any other literary woman's productions had they been first published in one of our special organs; therefore one very important branch of press work is to gain access to the metropolitan dailies. Then there is the immense work done by Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock for the State of New York, and by the chairmen of the different State press committees, as well as that done by our national organizer from the headquarters. Never has the press of the entire nation been kept so alive with discussions upon the woman suffrage question as during the past year, and my hope is that we may yet have upon every one of the great city papers a strong, educated suffrage woman, as editor of a woman's page or, better still, as writer of suffrage articles to be inserted without a special heading which would advertise to the general reader that they were about women.

> Though we have not obtained the suffrage in any of the States where we had hoped to do so during the past year, the failures have been by very small majorities. In South Dakota, where eight years ago a woman suffrage amendment was lost by a majority of over 23,000, at the election of 1898 the opposing majority was reduced to 3,000; while in Washington, where the question was submitted for the second time, it was lost by a majority less than one-half as large as that of nine years ago. In California both Houses of the Legislature passed the School Suffrage Bill, which the Governor refused to sign, repeating the action of 1894. The suffrage bills in the Territorial Legislatures of Oklahoma and Arizona were carried by very fine majorities through both lower Houses, but were lost in both upper Houses (as will be stated by our national organizer, who led our suffrage hosts in each case) through a shameful[Pg 327] surrender to the temptation of bribery from the open and avowed enemies of woman's enfranchisement, the liquor organizations.

> None of these so-called defeats ought to discourage us in the slightest degree. Our enemies, the women remonstrants, may comfort themselves with the thought that the liquor interest has joined in their efforts, but we surely can solace ourselves with the fact that the very best men voted in favor of allowing women to exercise their right to a voice in the conditions of home and State. So we have nothing to fear but everything to gain by going forward with renewed faith to agitate and educate the public, until the vast majority of men and women are thoroughly grounded in the great principle of political equality....

> I thank you, friends, for your cordial words of welcome. We are glad to come here. I always feel a certain kinship to Michigan since the constitutional amendment campaign of 1874, in which I assisted. I remember that I went across one city on a dray, the only vehicle I could secure, in order to catch a train. A newspaper said next day: "That ancient daughter of Methuselah, Susan B. Anthony, passed through our city last night, with a bonnet looking as if she had just descended from Noah's Ark." Now if Susan B. Anthony had represented votes, that young political editor would not have cared if she were the oldest or youngest daughter of Methuselah, or whether her bonnet came from the Ark or from the most fashionable man milliner's.

> There are women's clubs all over the country; did you ever hear of one organized for other than an uplifting purpose? (Several voices: "Yes, the Anti-Suffrage Associations!") Well, even the "antis" wish to keep the world just as it is; they do not aim to make it worse. Some persons have tried to belittle the resolution passed by the Colorado Legislature recently, testifying to the good results of equal suffrage, by declaring that the members were afraid of the women. I never heard before of a Legislature that voted solidly in a certain way for fear of women. We have with us to-day Mrs. Welch, the president of the Colorado Equal Suffrage Association, of whom it is said that the Legislature was so afraid. [Miss Anthony led forward Mrs. Welch, a pretty little woman in a very feminine bonnet, who shrank away slightly from the compelling hand, and showed shyness in every line of her figure, as she felt the eyes of the audience' concentrated upon her.] At the time of the first recognition of women in the early Granger days, when the farmers used to harness up their horses to their big wagons and take all their women folks to the meetings, I used to say that I could tell a Grange woman as far off as I could see her, because of her air of feeling herself as good as a man. Now look at this woman from Colorado!

> Mrs. Welch: When I came before the Executive Committee this morning, and they said they were proud of me as a free woman, I felt almost ashamed to be a free woman. I thought of all the tears and sorrows and struggles of Miss Anthony and wondered if she ever would possess the ballot for which she had done so much, and I so little.[Pg 328]

> Miss Anthony: I am glad you have it. We are not working for ourselves alone; that is one reason why our society does not grow as fast as some others.

The paper of the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer (R. I.) was a strong, philosophical presentation of our Duty to the Women of Our New Possessions:

> ....Prof. Otis T. Mason, author of that important book, "Woman's Share in Primitive Culture," tells us that "the longer one studies the subject the more he will be convinced that savage tribes can now be elevated chiefly through their women." Why is this true? For the reason that the savage is in the stage of social order through which all civilized nations have passed at some period—the stage of the mother-rule more or less modified by partial masculine domination. It is a well-known fact of human history and prehistoric record that the Matriarchate, or the mother-rule, preceded the Patriarchate, or the father-rule. "All the social fabrics of the world are built around women. The first stable society was a mother and her child." The reason why the primitive descent of name and property, and the first fixed stake of home life, was the expression of this maternal relationship is obvious. Motherhood was demonstrated by nature before fatherhood was definitely known. Inheritance of name by the female line was alone possible; and that, as well as the female holding and transmitting of property, was a family or tribal or clan relationship, women always retaining rule and wealth not so much as individuals as custodians of communal life and possessions. Not only was the mother with the child the first founder of human society, but the woman in savage life was the first inventor and originator of all life-sustaining industries....

> When man also began to "settle down"—whether from personal choice or from social pressure—when he, too, began to learn and practice the industrial arts heretofore solely in the hands of women, he began to press his more personal and individualistic claims of recognition and of property-owning against the family wealth of which the woman was the custodian.

> As man more and more assumed the burden of the world's industries outside the home (which before had been woman's care alone), and as woman became more and more absorbed in purely domestic concerns, man's individualism assumed greater and greater power within the family life, and he gradually acquired the despotic family headship which marked the ancient patriarchal order of Rome. This was not a social descent, but an immense social uplift, in the age in which it was natural. Professor Mason says, and with profound truth, "Matrimony in all ages is an effort to secure to the child the authenticity of the father." It was necessary for social growth that offspring should have two parents instead of one; that the division of labor should be more equal, and man be fastened to domestic needs by bonds he could not break, and[Pg 329] through labors which were peaceful as well as arduous. For that process his individualism, developed through ages of free wandering and purely militant life, must be not only tamed somewhat, but harnessed to the home life.

> To accomplish that mighty social uplift by which offspring secured two parents instead of one, woman's subjection to man was paid as the price of the higher form of family unity. Nor was her subjection to man in the ruder ages of the world wholly an evil to herself. It has been said that "woman was first the wife of any, second the wife of many, and third one of many wives." Each of these steps was an advance in her sexual relationship. All were stepping-stones to the monogamic union which is the standard of our civilization, and the realized ideal of all our best and wisest men and women....

> Bebel says, "Woman was the first human being to taste of bondage." True, and her bondage has been long and bitter; but the subjection of woman to man in the family bond was a vast step upward from the preceding condition. It gave woman release from the terrible labor-burdens of savage life; it gave her time and strength to develop beauty of person and refinement of taste and manners. It gave her the teaching capacity, for it put all the younger child-life into her exclusive care, with some leisure at command to devote to its mental and moral, as well as physical, well-being. It led to a closer relationship between man and woman than the world had known before, and thus gave each the advantage of the other's qualities. And always and everywhere the subjection of woman to man has had a mitigation and softening of hardships unknown to other forms of slavery, by reason of the power of human affection as it has worked through sex-attraction. As soon, however, as the slavery of woman to man was outgrown and obsolete it became (as was African slavery in a professedly democratic country like our own) "the sum of all villainies." And to-day there is no inconsistency so great, and therefore no condition so hurtful and outrageous, as the subjection of women to men in a civilization which like ours assumes to rest upon foundations of justice and equality of human rights....

> To-day these considerations (especially the failure fully to apply the doctrine of equality of human rights to women, even in the most advanced centers of modern civilization) have an especial and most fateful significance in relation to the women of the more backward races as they are brought into contact with our modern civilization. I said the peoples with whom we are now being brought as a nation into vital relationship may be still in the matriarchate. If they are not, most of them are certainly in some transition stage from that to the father-rule. Not all peoples have had to pass through the entire subjection of women to men which marked our ancestral advance. The more persistent tribal relationship and collective family life have sometimes softened the process of social growth which was so harsh for women under the old Roman law and the later English common law. It may be[Pg 330] that the dusky races of Africa and of the islands of the sea, as well as our Aryan cousins of India, may pass more easily through the stages of attachment of man's responsibility to the family life than we, with our tough fiber of character, were able to do. If so, in the name of justice they should have the chance!

> But if we, who have not yet "writ large" in law and political rights that respect for woman which all our education, industry, religion, art, home life and social culture express; if we, who are still inconsistent and not yet out of the transition stage from the father-rule to the equal reign of both sexes; if we lay violent hands upon these backward peoples and give them only our law and our political rights as they relate to women, we shall do horrible injustice to the savage women, and through them to the whole process of social growth for their people. When we tried to divide "in severalty" the lands of the American Indian, we did violence to all his own sense of justice and co-operative feeling when we failed to recognize the women of the tribes in the distribution. We then and there gave the Indian the worst of the white man's relationship to his wife, and failed utterly, as in the nature of the case we must have done, to give him the best of the white man's relation to his wife.

> When in India, as Mrs. Garrett Fawcett has so finely shown, we introduce the technicalities of the English law of marriage to bind an unwilling wife to her husband, we give the Hindoo the slavery of the Anglo-Saxon wife, but we do not give him that spirit of Anglo-Saxon marriage and home-life which has made that slavery often scarcely felt, and never an unmixed evil. If, to-day, in the Hawaiian Islands or in Cuba we fail to recognize the native women, who still hold something of the primitive prestige of womanhood, fail to recognize them as entitled to a translation, under new laws and conditions, of the old dignity of position, we shall not only do them an injustice, but we shall forcibly give the Hawaiian and Cuban men lessons in the wrong side and not the right side of our domestic relations. Above all, if in the Philippines we abruptly and with force of arms establish the authority of the husband over the wife, by recognizing men only as property-owners, as signers of treaties, as industrial rulers and as domestic law-givers, we shall introduce every outrage and injustice of women's subjection to men, without giving these people one iota of the sense of family responsibility, of protection of and respect for woman, and of deep and self-sacrificing devotion to childhood's needs, which mark the Anglo-Saxon man.

> In a word, if we introduce one particle of our belated and illogical political and legal subjection of women to men into any savage or half-civilized community, we shall spoil the domestic virtues that community already possesses, and we shall not (because we can not so abruptly and violently) inoculate them with the virtues of civilized domestic life. Nature will not be cheated. We can not escape, nor can we roughly and swiftly help others to escape, the discipline of ages of natural growth.[Pg 331]

> This all means that we need another Commission to go to all the lands in which our flag now claims a new power of oversight and control—a Commission other than that so recently sent to the Philippines—to see what may be done to bring order to that distracted group of islands. We need a Commission which shall study domestic rather than political conditions, and which shall look for the undercurrents of social growth rather than the more showy political movements. We should have on that Commission two archæologists, a man and a woman, and I can name them—Otis T. Mason and Alice C. Fletcher....

An earnest discussion followed this paper, in which Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.), Mrs. Helen Philleo Jenkins (Mich.), Henry B. Blackwell (Mass.), Miss Octavia W. Bates (Mich.), Miss Martha Scott Anderson (Minn.), and Miss Anthony took part:

> Mrs. Jenkins: ....Whatever power in government may be given to the men of our new possessions in selecting their rulers, let the same privilege be accorded the women. It may be said that the women are ignorant, and need yet to be held in subjection—that they are unfit to have a voice in the new order of things. Let us not be deceived. Probably the women are no more ignorant and stupid than the masses of men in these newly acquired regions—excepting always the few men whom circumstances have developed. The ignorant mother can guide her child quite as safely as its ignorant father. Men and women in all nations and tribes are pretty nearly on a level as to common sense and forethought for the future good of the family. Indeed, the interests of the home, protection of the children, and the morals and behavior of the community make the standard of even unlettered women one notch higher than that of their ignorant husbands. Let us of this nation hesitate before we establish a sex supremacy that it may take long centuries to overcome....

> Thousands of dollars are expended on a military commission; it is sent to investigate the commercial possibilities, the financial opportunities, in remote lands; but the army, the commerce, the finance are not all there is of a nation. There are more vital interests—there is something which lies at the very base of the nation, without which it could not exist—the homes, the women and the children. It is the social conditions that need special consideration in our country's dealings with these new lands.

> Miss Bates: ....In the presence of the events which have transpired during the past year, and in all the discussions pertaining to the new peoples who have suddenly become our protégés, seldom if ever does one hear a word about the women, who, all will admit, are a most important factor in the civilization—or the lack of it—which we have taken under our control.

> We women are here at this time to do our best to awaken the[Pg 332] public conscience to a realizing sense of the state of affairs. We are the result of what the religion, the education of the nineteenth century and the liberty which it has granted to women have made us. We are ready and willing and competent to befriend our less favored sisters beyond the seas, and to extend to them the benefits we enjoy, so far as they are able to receive them; but—the tragedy of it—in a certain sense we are utterly helpless to reach them and to give them what they, unconsciously to themselves, so grievously need. There is no place for the thought of the women of this land in the plans of the nation for the study of these questions.

> No matter how much our speaker may think and write and publish on this subject—aye, and women like her—no matter how wise the conclusions they reach, is it at all likely that their voices will be listened to in the din and blare and clash of warring political parties, or respected in legislative halls? Or is it probable that the advocates of territorial expansion will pause a moment to ponder on the woman side of that question? We, to-day, are discussing this subject without even the shadow of a hope of putting our convictions into practice. Is it any wonder that women at large are dead to the importance of this matter?...

> I am in favor of pushing the question to the utmost—not that I have any hope that such a Commission will be appointed, but because it furnishes a most valuable argument for extending the suffrage to women: first, in order that, by its possession, they may have an uncontested, legally-defined right of serving on such commissions; and, second, because of the opportunity it offers for proving to the world the necessity of commissions like this for settling questions and conditions of which women form a central and integral part. Of course if we possessed the suffrage, we should have no necessity for a discussion like the present. Everything we are saying would seem like truisms then, instead of being contested point by point, as it is to-day....

> Mr. Blackwell: ....In those islands are peoples ranging from absolute savagery to mediæval civilization, from fighters with blow-guns and bows and arrows to fighters with Mauser rifles and modern artillery. Laws and institutions suited to the needs of one tribe are unsuited to those of another. Side by side are Catholicism, Mohammedanism and heathenism. Their amusements vary from cannibalism to cock-fighting. Their social status ranges from barbarous promiscuity to Moslem polygamy and thence to Hindoo monogamy. But everywhere exist masculine domination and feminine subjection, under varied forms of political despotism, tempered with Protestant liberalism in the case of Hawaii. To establish over all these diverse social conditions the rigid principles of the English common law, which prevail largely in our jurisprudence, will perpetuate and intensify the tyranny of husband over wife, of father over offspring.

> We see the consequences already in the British West Indies, where negro women generally prefer to live outside of legal marriage because as wives they find themselves subjected to practical[Pg 333] serfdom. In Jamaica 75 per cent. of the births are illegitimate for this reason. When I visited Haiti, I was told to my great surprise that the homes and small farms were usually owned by the women. Expressing my admiration of this chivalrous recognition of women's right to the homestead, I was informed that there was no such sentiment. It was solely because the men were so lazy and unreliable that the perpetuity of the race was endangered. The fathers of the children were here to-day and away to-morrow. They spent their time in loafing, drinking, gambling and plotting "revolutions." The women, anchored by the love for their children, lived in the little huts on their small plantations, raising yams and bananas, and if the men became too drunken and abusive the women ordered them to leave. Among those people, in a tropical climate, with land to squat upon, most of the work is done by the women. Let no one imagine that the so-called "matriarchate" of early ages was an ideal condition of society. It was based primarily upon the industrial and moral irresponsibility of men.

> In our new possessions, side by side with these primitive conditions, we have great bodies of Chinese and Hindoo coolies, who represent ancient and fossilized types of civilized society, patient, economical, industrious, monogamous and exclusive in their family relations. The trouble is that where Western civilization interferes with Oriental abuses it does not go far enough. When in India the British government prohibited the custom of burning widows on the funeral pyre of their deceased husbands, widows became the slaves of their husband's relatives, and were actually believed to be responsible for his death and were ill treated accordingly. When infanticide was forbidden and peace maintained, population multiplied until famine became chronic. The only salvation for the women of our new possessions lies in a legal recognition of their personal, industrial, social and political equality. If, as seems too probable, their rights shall be simply ignored in the reconstruction, women will suffer all the disabilities of the law, without the practical alleviations afforded by an enlightened public opinion. Such women, even more than those of our own States, will need the ballot as a means of self-protection....

> Miss Anthony: I have been overflowing with wrath ever since the proposal was made to engraft our half-barbaric form of government on Hawaii and our other new possessions. I have been studying how to save, not them, but ourselves from the disgrace. This is the first time the United States has ever tried to foist upon a new people the exclusively masculine form of government. Our business should be to give this people the highest form which has been attained by us. When our State governments were originally formed, there was no example of woman suffrage anywhere, but now we have a great deal of it, and everywhere it has done good. The principle is constantly spreading....

> We are told it will be of no use for us to ask this measure of justice—that the ballot be given to the women of our new possessions upon the same terms as to the men—because we shall not get it.[Pg 334] It is not our business whether we are going to get it; our business is to make the demand. Suppose during these fifty years we had asked only for what we thought we could secure, where should we be now? Ask for the whole loaf and take what you can get.

Mrs. Mary L. Doe (Mich.), brought greetings from the American Federation of Labor. "Woman suffrage would find its most hopeful and fertile field among the labor organizations," she said; "the workingmen stood for weak and defenseless women even before they did for their own rights." From Samuel Gompers, president of the Federation, she read the following letter:

> The American Federation of Labor, at every convention where the subject has been brought up and discussed, has unfalteringly declared for equal legal, political and economic rights for women. At the convention held in Detroit, some thirteen years ago, a resolution to that effect was unanimously adopted. A petition to Congress for the submission of a constitutional amendment enfranchising women was circulated among our various unions, and within two months it received nearly 300,000 signatures and indorsements.

> At the Kansas City convention last December, the question of woman's work was discussed, and the following declaration was unanimously adopted: "In view of the awful conditions under which woman is compelled to toil, this, the eighteenth annual convention of the American Federation of Labor, strongly urges the more general formation of trade unions of wage-working women, to the end that they may scientifically and permanently abolish the terrible evils accompanying their weakened, because unorganized state; and we emphatically reiterate the trade-union demand that women receive equal compensation for equal service performed."

> You will see that there ought to be no question as to the attitude of the organized labor movement on this subject, notwithstanding the designing misrepresentations of enemies of our cause, who seek to place our movement in a false light. Let me say, too, that the declaration just quoted is not for compliment merely, for members of many of our organizations have been involved in long and sacrificing contests in order to secure to women equal pay for equal work. Please convey fraternal greetings to our friends who will meet at Grand Rapids.

When Mrs. Loraine Immen came forward with a greeting from the Michigan Elocutionists' Association, Miss Anthony spoke of the great change which had taken place in women's voices in the last twenty-five years. At an early Woman's Rights Convention, when she insisted that they should speak louder, one of them answered, "We are not here to screech; we are here to be ladies."[Pg 335]

Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) spoke entertainingly on The Hope of the Future:

> The lessons of the past year have brought home to many of us more forcibly than any other recent events the injustice and cruelty of denying to women their proper share in deciding questions for the public good. We have seen the republic plunged into war in which women have borne a heavy share of the burdens. It should be the rule of all nations that no contest of arms should be entered into without the consent of the women....

> Another significant object lesson grew out of the war. When the time of election approached, the governmental authorities became much exercised over the means of providing for the voting of the soldiers. It is astonishing how much men think of their own right to vote. Extra sessions of the Legislatures were called to provide means of meeting this emergency. In this dilemma I ventured to write to the Governor of my State and suggest that he recommend the passing of a law empowering each soldier and sailor to send to some woman at home a proxy permitting her to vote for him. You can see how simple a plan this would be. Every man would have a beloved mother, a dear sister or some adored damsel whom he would be proud to have represent him at the polls, and the amount of money which this scheme would have saved to the State is enormous. The counting of the soldiers' votes when at last they were sent to New York cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In one instance, in a certain county where the board of supervisors had to be called together in two special sessions and the county officials summoned as if at a regular election, to count six votes, the amount reached $100 per vote!

Miss Frances A. Griffin (Ala.), a new speaker on the national platform, captured the audience with her rich voice and southern intonation as she discussed The Effects of Our Teaching:

> The thanksgiving of the old Jew, "Lord, I thank Thee that Thou didst not make me a woman," doubtless came from a careful review of the situation. Like all of us, he had fortitude enough to bear his neighbors' afflictions....

> Miss Anthony deals recklessly with years, apportioning them to her friends as liberally as Napoleon dealt out kingdoms and duchies to his brothers and other relations. Her example has strengthened me; you never would have had this next remark but for Miss Anthony: Thirty-five years ago I read a graduating essay. I knew I was doing an unwomanly thing, and in order to preserve what little womanliness I might have left, when I got up to read it I whispered the whole essay. I've quit that. Since I made up my mind to be heard, I have been heard.... A great progress of women has gone on and is going on. Men for the most part are manageable; women are the converts needed. When women[Pg 336] have their minds made up to vote, it will be with them as it was with me about being heard....

> This is a new era for woman. If the larger sphere now open to her is not a new discovery, it is at least a new testament. The day will come that people will look back with shame on the time when brains and virtue were shut away from the ballot-box, if they belonged to a woman....

Miss Anna Caulfield (Mich.) pointed out The Achievements of Woman in Art. Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) spoke eloquently on The True Civilization of the World, saying in part:

> In the new civilization the sense of personal responsibility is strong; it respects the child's individuality and also recognizes the unity of all educational agencies—kindergarten, school, college and university.

> There is also a new theology, in which individual conscience is substituted for the dictates of authority, and which distinguishes between metaphysical doctrine and practical principle. It seeks the higher unity, all embracing.

> The new political economy recognizes the right of the individual, and the body politic as composed of units, each one of which must be respected. Its whole effort is to preserve the rights of employers and to give equal recognition to the employed; to unify all those classes that have heretofore been kept divided.

> The new civilization results from all these. The difficulties in realizing this perfect unit arise from selfishness. We have long recognized that individual selfishness is a defect, but national selfishness has been for a long time extolled under the name of patriotism, and has gone on cleaving great chasms between different peoples. In the new civilization the individual will recognize himself at his best in his relation to the whole. The different professions will recognize that what each contributes bears but a small ratio to what each receives from the rest. The different nationalities will recognize their respective dignities in just the proportion in which the whole must transcend any part. Then humanity will exceed national feeling and the unity of the race will exalt the dignity of the individual.

The resolution presented by Mrs. Sewall, member for the United States of the International Peace Union, rejoicing over the approaching Peace Conference at The Hague and assuring the commissioners from the United States of the sympathy of the women of this country, was unanimously adopted.

The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president, whose childhood and early girlhood had been spent in Michigan, closed the Saturday evening meeting with a tender address on Working Partners, a graphic description of the pioneer days of this State[Pg 337] and the hardships of its women, during which she said: "Women have been faithful partners and have done their full share of the work. A gentleman opposed to their enfranchisement once said to me, 'Women have never produced anything of any value to the world.' I told him the chief product of the women had been the men, and left it to him to decide whether the product was of any value. Is it said that women must not vote because they can not bear arms? Why, women's arms have borne all the arm-bearers of the world. We have no antique art in America, but we have antique laws. We do not look back to the antiquity of the world, but to the babyhood of the world. Who would think of calling a new-born infant antique? Yet laws made in the babyhood of the world are in this day of its manhood quoted for our guidance. Much has been said lately about 'the white man's burden', but the white man will never have a heavier burden to take up than himself."

Twelve churches offered their pulpits, which were filled by the women speakers Sunday morning.[117] The regular convention services were held Sunday afternoon in the St. Cecilia building, a large audience being present. The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell led the devotional exercises, and the Rev. Florence Kollock Crooker gave the sermon from the text: "Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it." Afterwards Mrs. Sewall spoke on the coming Peace Congress at The Hague and, on motion of Melvin A. Root, a resolution was adopted that on May 15, the opening day of the congress, the women of our country assemble in public and send to it the voice of women in favor of peace.

A touching letter from Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was read by Miss Anthony during the convention, in which she said: "We[Pg 338] seem to be pariahs alike in the visible and the invisible world, with no foothold anywhere, though by every principle of government and religion we should have an equal place on this planet. We do not hold the ignorant class of men responsible for these outrages against women, but rather the published opinions of men in high positions, judges, bishops, presidents of colleges, editors, novelists and poets—all taught by the common and civil law. It is a sad reflection that the chains of woman's bondage have been forged by her own sires and sons. Every man who is not for us in this prolonged struggle for liberty is responsible for the present degradation of the mothers of the race. It is pitiful to see how few men ever have made our cause their own, but while leaving us to fight our battle alone, they have been unsparing in their criticism of every failure. Of all the battles for liberty in the long past, woman only has been left to fight her own, without help and with all the powers of earth and heaven, human and divine, arrayed against her."

Monday evening Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, national treasurer, told of An Ohio Woman's Experience as Member of a School Board. She gave a lively account of her own nomination and election in Warren, and said in concluding: "It was not a war of women against men, but of liberalism against conservatism, of principle against prejudice, of the new against the old. It does not take any more time to clean up a schoolhouse and keep out scarlet fever than it does to nurse the children through the scarlet fever."

Mrs. Flora Beadle Renkes, School Commissioner of Barry County, Mich., described Some Phases of Public School Work. She advocated industrial and moral as well as intellectual training and all of this equally for both sexes.

Mrs. Minerva Welch, in considering Woman's Possibilities, said: "To my mind it is given to woman to develop the greatest possibilities in all the world. She can direct the character of generations. If woman ever gains the place God intended her to have it must be through the mother element. In Denver we have organized women's clubs for the study of art, literature and political science. We have learned to fraternize. Men have found that women bring their moral influence into politics, and the men also[Pg 339] know that they must look to their own morals if they want office. Many questions have been sent to our State asking about the new conditions. Woman suffrage has proved a success, and the women can stand with heads erect, shoulder to shoulder with any one, knowing that they are full, free citizens of the State of Colorado and of the United States."

Miss Anthony then, by special request, gave a recital of all the facts connected with her arrest, trial and conviction for voting in 1872. Miss Shaw introduced her as a criminal, and Miss Anthony retorted, "Yes, a criminal out of jail, just like a good many of the brethren." With marvelous power she recalled all the details of that dramatic episode.

Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway (Ore.) gave an address on How to Win the Ballot, containing much sound sense. It was published in full by the Grand Rapids Democrat. Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden, president of the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association, spoke on Women and War, saying:

> Did you ever have to live with heroes—with men who have survived the hardships and dangers of war? One of the reasons for my mildness in public is that I have to be mild at home. I live with the heroes of two wars. The elder put down the rebellion—so he tells me. The younger, for whom I am responsible, has accomplished an even more perilous feat; he met in mortal combat every day for six months the product of the commissary department of our late war. He is still alive, but "kicking"—and so is his mother!

> Note that there were no women on the War Investigating Commission. Brutal officers, incompetent quartermasters and ignorant doctors were tried before a jury of their peers. Every department which was conducted without the help of women has been for months writhing under the probe of an official investigation, and is still writhing under the lash of public opinion.

> When the war broke out, the women of Iowa, with the suffragists at their head, cheerfully consecrated themselves to the service of a State which does not recognize them as the equals of their own boys. I have one old trunk that made six trips to Chickamauga Park, filled with delicacies for the soldiers. About August I made up my mind to go and see things for myself. My husband was told it was no place for a woman there among 60,000 men and 1,500 animals; but he had business at home which he did not think I could attend to, and he thought I could go to Chickamauga just as well as he....

> If there had been women on the commission, would they have pitched the camp five miles from water? Or provided only one horse and one mule to bring the water for two companies? Or ordered[Pg 340] the soldiers to filter and boil their drinking water, without furnishing any filters or any vessels to boil it in? It is said that suffragists do not know how to keep house. If so, the men who managed the war must all be suffragists.

> But Clara Barton and the women nurses have won golden opinions from every one. If any man had given a tithe of what Helen Gould did, he could have had any office in the gift of the administration. So could she, if she had been a voter. She might even have been Secretary of War.

> We raise our sons to die not for their country—no woman grudges her sons to her country—but to die unnecessarily of disease and neglect, because of red tape....

> History furnishes no parallel to the women of America during the last year's war. They were fully alive to its issues, intelligently conversant with its causes, its purposes and possibilities; they studied camp locations, conditions and military rules; and through the hand the heart found constant expression, as many a company of grateful boys can testify. The experience of this war ought to have effectually destroyed the last trace of mediæval sentiment concerning the propriety of women mixing in the affairs of government, and also the last shadow of doubt as to the expediency of recognizing them as voters.

Mrs. Josephine K. Henry (Ky.) made an address sparkling with the epigrams for which she was noted, entitled A Plea for the Ballot:

> ....The light and the eager interest in the faces of American women show that they are going somewhere; and when women have started for somewhere, they are harder to head off than a comet.... All roads for women lead to suffrage, even if they do not know it. We are Daughters of Evolution, and who can stop old Dame Evolution?... We must live up to our principles, or, as a nation, we are not going to live at all. Then it will be time for Liberty to throw down her torch, and go out of the enlightening business.... "Woman's sphere"—these are the two hardest-worked words in the dictionary.... They call in the mental and moral wreckage of foreign nations to help rule us. A man was asked, "How are you going to vote on the constitution?" He answered: "My constitution's mighty poorly; my mother was feeble before me." There is deep tragedy in giving such men control of the lives and property of American women.... There is not so much the matter with the U. S. Constitution as with the constitutions of some of our statesmen.... It is not an expansion of territory that we need so much as an expansion of justice to our own women.... American men have had a hard struggle for their own liberty, and some of them are afraid there will not be liberty enough to go around.... What relation is woman to the State? She is a very poor relation, yet her tax-money is demanded promptly.

[Pg 341]

Dr. Mary H. Barker Bates, of the Denver School Board, discussed Our Gains and Our Losses, and said in closing: "We have learned that in politics we must have a machine, only it should be used for good government, not for corruption. Make your machine as perfect as you can, without a flaw in it anywhere, and then use it for good ends." Mrs. Mary B. Clay (Ky.) gave a careful survey of conditions resulting from The Removal of Industries from the Home, which had forced woman to follow them and made her an industrial factor in the outside world. Miss Griffin being again called on told these anecdotes:

> In my home in Alabama there are four educated women. My father has passed away. My sisters are widows and I am an old maid. We have as our gardener a negro boy twenty-three years old. When he came to us he said that he had been in the Second Reader for ten years, but on election day he goes over and votes to represent our family. If we complain of having no vote on the expenditure of our tax-money, we are told we must "influence" men; in other words, we must influence that gardener. But when we start to do so, and ask him how he means to vote, he says he doesn't know yet, because he hasn't seen "Uncle Peter," the colored minister.

> In my section men are chivalric and say, "Don't you know that you shall have everything you ask as ladies? Don't you know that we are your natural protectors?" But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.

> On the islands off our coast there was a large population that could not read or write. A missionary-spirited woman went there to help educate them. After awhile she was made a member of the school board, which consisted of a few white men and more negroes. The president of the board, a colored man, was disgusted at the elevation of a woman to that dignity, and when she was sworn in he resigned, saying, "Now you've swore her in, you've got to swear me out; I'm not going to sit on no board with no woman."

During the convention Miss Anthony made an earnest appeal for co-operation in the equal suffrage work, saying: "Why is it the duty of the little handful on this platform to be talking and working for the enfranchisement of women any more than that of all of you who sit here to-night? Every woman can do something for the cause. She who is true to it at her own fireside, who speaks the right word to her guests, to her children and her neighbors' children, does an educational work as valuable as that of the woman who speaks from the platform." She also[Pg 342] urged a wider reading of the equal rights papers, the Woman's Journal, Tribune, Standard, Wisconsin Citizen, etc., and suffrage pamphlets and leaflets. She defended herself against the accusation of abusing the men, saying, "We have not been fighting the 'male' citizen anywhere but in the statute books."

Eighty-seven delegates representing twenty-two States were present at this convention. The treasurer reported the receipts of the past year to be $14,020. Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman of the Organization Committee, related the work done by the suffrage organizations in behalf of the Spanish-American War. She described also the efforts made to obtain suffrage for women in the new constitution of Louisiana the preceding year, which resulted in securing the franchise for taxpaying women on all matters submitted to taxpayers. The work in different States and Territories, especially in Arizona and Oklahoma, was sketched in detail, and will be found in their respective chapters.

In concluding her report as chairman of the Legislative Committee, Mrs. Blake called attention to the more hopeful character of this record as compared to that of last year, and urged upon all State presidents the importance of having some one to represent the interests of women constantly at their capitals during the legislative sessions, not only to secure favorable legislation but to prevent that inimical to their interests, citing the case of New Mexico, where a law which infringes on the right of dower was recently passed without the knowledge of women.

Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock (N. Y.) was made chairman of National Press Work, with power to appoint a chairman in each State. The customary telegram of congratulation and appreciation was sent to the honorary president, Mrs. Stanton. Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne (N. Y.) was appointed fraternal delegate to the International Council of Women to meet in London in June. Greetings were received through fraternal delegates, Mrs. Jessie R. Denney, from the Ancient Order of United Workingmen, and Mrs. Emma A. Wheeler from the Canadian W. C. T. U. The letter to Miss Anthony from its president, Mrs. Annie O. Rutherford, said: "A vigorous campaign is being carried on in every Province in favor of equal suffrage, with fair hope of success in most of them. We wish for your convention a most[Pg 343] successful issue, and that your life, whose grand pioneer work has made it easy for those who follow after, may be spared many years yet to help broaden the path and uplift the cause of humanity." Many letters and telegrams were received from State suffrage associations and from individuals. Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood (D. C.) wrote: "As a delegate to the ninth annual convention of the International League of Press Clubs just held in Baltimore, I succeeded in gaining recognition on equal terms for women journalists in the space to be allotted to men journalists in the Exposition at Paris in 1900."

A lively discussion was caused by a resolution offered by Mrs. Lottie Wilson Jackson, a delegate from Michigan, so light-complexioned as hardly to suggest a tincture of African blood, that "colored women ought not be compelled to ride in smoking cars, and that suitable accommodations should be provided for them." It was finally tabled as being outside the province of the convention.[118][Pg 344]

The memorial resolutions were presented by the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, who said: "These tributes are largely to older men and women with whom I was associated long ago and it is a pleasure to recall their noble services to humanity in times when they and their work were far more unpopular than to-day. There are twenty-five on my list, yet I think there was only one of the entire number who was not more than fifty years old, and most of them reached on toward the eighties and nineties. All were earnest advocates of equal suffrage, but there were kindred causes to which most of them were also devoted.... Laura P. Haviland spent seventy years of her life in Michigan, the last five here in Grand Rapids. At one time she assumed the care of nine orphan children; at another, during the Civil War she was the active agent who freed from prison a large number of Union soldiers held upon false charges. She labored for every good cause and was a simple Quaker in religion and life....

"Parker Pillsbury of New Hampshire, who died last year, aged 88, known as a life-long worker for the oppressed before the Civil War, gave much of his energy to the cause of anti-slavery. When that noble philanthropy was split in two throughout its whole length because one-half would not let women serve on committees with men or raise their voices publicly for those who were dumb and helpless, Parker Pillsbury stood by the side of Abby Kelly and the Grimké sisters. His terse, characteristic, uncompromising language, his cheerful braving of prejudice, his sympathetic claim for justice to womanhood, made him one of the noblest of men....[Pg 345]

"In the long and many-sided history of the woman's cause, Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage made a deep and lasting mark. I recall her as she came first upon our platform at the Syracuse Woman's Rights Convention in 1852, a young mother of two children, yet with a heart also for a wider cause. Wendell Phillips said of her then, 'She came to us an unknown woman. She leaves us a co-worker whose reputation is established.' ...

"The Hon. Nelson W. Dingley was able officially to help our movement with efficient good-will. His vote was recorded for the admission of States with a woman suffrage constitution."

Mrs. Blackwell paid personal tribute to most of those who had passed away, and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby continued the memorial, speaking at length of the splendid work of Mrs. Gage; of Mrs. Flora M. Kimball and Mrs. Abigail Bush, of California—but early Eastern pioneers; Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball of Utah; Mrs. Frances Bagley and Dr. Charlotte Levanway of Michigan; and a long list of men and women in various States who had done their part in aiding the cause of equal suffrage. She concluded with eloquent words of appreciation of the services of Robert Purvis of Philadelphia, and presented the following resolutions sent by Mrs. Stanton:

> During the period of reconstruction, the popular cry was, "This is the negro's hour," and Republicans and Abolitionists alike insisted that woman's claim to the suffrage must be held in abeyance until the negro was safe beyond peradventure. Distinguished politicians, lawyers and congressmen declared that woman as well as the negro was enfranchised by the Fourteenth Amendment, yet reformers and politicians denounced those women who would not keep silent, while the Republican and anti-slavery press ignored their demands altogether. In this dark hour of woman's struggle, forsaken by all those who once recognized her civil and political rights, two noble men steadfastly maintained that it was not only woman's right but her duty to push her claims while the constitutional door was open and the rights of citizens in a republic were under discussion; therefore,

> Resolved, That women owe a debt of gratitude to Robert Purvis and Parker Pillsbury for their fearless advocacy of our cause, when to do so was considered to be treason to a great party measure, involving life and liberty for the colored race.

> Resolved, That in the death of men of such exalted virtue, true to principle under the most trying circumstances, sacrificing the ties of friendship and the respect of their compeers, they are conspicuous as the moral heroes of the nineteenth century.

[Pg 346]

The memorial service was closed with prayer by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, who voiced the gratitude for the inspiration of such lives as these and the hope that this generation might carry the work on to its full fruition.

The keynote to the speeches and action of this convention was the status of women in our new possessions. At a preliminary meeting of the Business Committee, held in the home of Mrs. Chapman Catt at Bensonhurst-by-the-Sea, N. Y., Jan. 2, 1899, the following "open letter" had been prepared and sent to every member of Congress:

> To the Senate and House of Representatives: We respectfully request that in the qualifications for voters in the proposed Constitution for the new Territory of Hawaii the word "male" be omitted.

> The declared intention of the United States in annexing the Hawaiian Islands is to give them the benefits of the most advanced civilization, and it is a truism that the progress of civilization in every country is measured by the approach of women toward the ideal of equal rights with men.

> Under barbarism the struggle for existence is entirely on the physical plane. The woman freely enters the arena and her failure or success depends wholly upon her own strength. When life rises to the intellectual plane public opinion is expressed in law. Justice demands that we shall not offer to women emerging from barbarism the ball and chain of a sex disqualification while we hold out to men the crown of self-government.

> The trend of civilization is closely in the direction of equal rights for women. [Then followed a list of the gains for woman suffrage.]

> The Hon. John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy, calls the opposition to woman suffrage a "slowly melting glacier of bourbonism and prejudice". The melting is going on steadily all over our country, and it would be most inopportune to impose upon our new possessions abroad the antiquated restrictions which we are fast discarding at home.

> We, therefore, petition your Honorable Body that, upon whatever conditions and qualifications the right of suffrage is granted to Hawaiian men, it shall be granted to Hawaiian women.[119]

Notwithstanding this appeal, and special petitions also from the Suffrage Associations of the forty-five States, our Congress provided a constitution in which the word "male" was introduced more frequently than in the Constitution of the United States or[Pg 347] of any State, in the determination to bar out Hawaiian women from voting and holding office. It was declared that only "male" citizens should fill any office or vote for any officer, a sweeping restriction which is not made in a single State of our Union. Not satisfied with this infamous abuse of power, our Congress refused to this new Territory a privilege enjoyed by every other Territory in the United States—that of having the power vested in its Legislature to grant woman suffrage—and provided that this Territorial Legislature must submit the question to the voters. It took care, however, to enfranchise every male being in the Islands—Kanaka, Japanese and Portuguese—and it will be only by their permission that even the American and English women residing there ever can possess the suffrage.

The members of the commission who drafted this constitution were President Sanford B. Dole and Associate Justice W. F. Frear of Hawaii; Senators John T. Morgan, Ala.; Shelby M. Cullom, Ills.; Representative Robert R. Hitt, Ills. Justice Frear said over his own signature, Feb. 11, 1899: "I proposed at a meeting of the Hawaiian Commission that the Legislature be permitted to authorize woman suffrage, and President Dole supported me, but the other members of the commission took a different view." In other words, the Hawaiian members favored the enfranchisement of their women but were overruled by the American members. If but one of the latter had stood by those from Hawaii its women would not have been placed, as they now are, under greater subjection even than those of the United States, and far greater than they were before the annexation of the Islands. Yet after the consummation of this shameful act the world was asked to rejoice over the creation of a new republic!

There is not the slightest reason to hope that the appeals for justice to the women of the Philippines will meet with any greater success, as it is the policy of our Government to give to men every incentive to study its institutions and fit themselves for an intelligent voice in their control, but to discourage all interest on the part of women and to prevent them absolutely from any participation. Having held American women in subjection for a century and a quarter, it now shows a determination[Pg 348] to place the same handicap upon the women of our newly-acquired possessions.

During the spring of 1902, just before this volume goes to the publishers, the U. S. Senate Philippine Commission has been summoning before it a number of persons competent to give expert testimony as to existing conditions in those Islands. Among these were Judge W. H. Taft, who for the past year has been Governor of the Philippines and speaks with high authority; and Archbishop Nozaleda, who has been connected with the Catholic church in the Islands for twenty-six years, and Archbishop since 1889, and who has the fullest understanding of the natives. Governor Taft said in answer to the committee:

> The fact is that, not only among the Tagalogs but also among the Christian Filipinos, the woman is the active manager of the family, so if you expect to confer political power on the Filipinos it ought to be given to the women.

Archbishop Nozaleda testified as follows: (Senate Document 190, p. 109.)

> The woman is better than the man in every way—in intelligence, in virtue and in labor—and a great deal more economical. She is very much given to trade and trafficking. If any rights and privileges are to be granted to the natives, do not give them to the men but to the women.

> Q. Then you think it would be much better to give the women the right to vote than the men?

> A. O, much better. Why, even in the fields it is the women who do the work; the men who go to the cock fights and gamble. The woman is the one who supports the man there; so every law of justice demands that even in political life they should have the privilege over the men.

The action which our Government will eventually take in conferring the suffrage on the Filipinos can not be recorded in this volume, but the prophecy is here made that, in spite of the above testimony, and much more of the same nature which has been given by correspondents in the Philippines and by many who have returned from there, the Government of the United States will enfranchise the inferior male inhabitants and hold as political subjects the superior women of these Islands. And again the world will be called upon to greet another republic!

### FOOTNOTES:

[117] Miss Anthony spoke to a crowded house in the Fountain Street Baptist Church on The Moral Influence of Women, and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw to another great audience in the Park Congregational Church from the text, "Only be thou strong and very courageous." Calvary Baptist Church was filled to overflowing to hear Miss Laura Clay on The Bible for Equal Rights. Interested congregations listened to the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, who preached at the Division Street Methodist Church from the text, "Knowledge shall increase"; Miss Laura Gregg, who spoke at the Second Baptist Church on My Country, 'Tis of Thee; Mrs. Colby, at the Plainfield Avenue Methodist Church, on The Legend of Lilith; Miss Lena Morrow at Memorial Church, Miss Lucy E. Textor at All Souls, and Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton and various members of the convention in other pulpits.

[118] The following resolutions were adopted:

That we reaffirm our devotion to the immortal principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and we call for its application in the case of women citizens.

We protest against the introduction of the word "male" in the suffrage clause of the proposed Constitution of Hawaii, and declare that upon whatever terms the franchise may be granted to men, it should be granted also to women.

In all the great questions of war and peace, currency, tariff and taxation, annexation of foreign territory and alien races, women are vitally interested and should have an equal expression at the ballot box, and we recommend to the President of the United States the appointment of a committee of women to investigate the condition of women in our new island territories.

We congratulate the women of Ireland who have just voted for the first time for municipal and county officers, and we call attention to the fact that 75 per cent. of the qualified women voted, and that the dispatches say they discharged their duty in a serious and businesslike spirit, with a keen eye to the personal merits of candidates.

We congratulate the women of Colorado, whose Legislature lately passed a resolution testifying to the good effects of equal suffrage by a vote of 45 to 3 in the House, and 30 to 1 in the Senate.

We congratulate the women of New Orleans, who are about to vote for the first time, on a tax levy for sewerage and drainage, and we commend their patriotic activity in collecting the signatures of 2,000 taxpaying women of that city in behalf of clean streets and a pure water supply.

We congratulate the women of France, who have just voted for the first time for judges of tribunals of commerce, and we call attention to the fact that in Paris, of the qualified voters, men and women taken together, only 14 per cent. voted, but of the women 30 per cent. voted.

We congratulate the women of Kansas on the increased municipal vote of April, 1899, over the entire State, Kansas City alone registering 4,800 women and casting over 3,000 women's votes at the municipal election.

We thank the House of Representatives of Oklahoma for its vote of 14 to 9, and of Arizona for its vote of 19 to 5, for woman suffrage, and regret that the question did not reach the Councils of these Territories.

We thank the Legislature of California for its enactment, with only one dissenting vote in the House and six in the Senate, of a school suffrage law (which failed to receive the approval of the Governor), also we thank the Legislatures of Connecticut and Ohio, which have defeated bills to repeal the existing school suffrage laws of those States.

We thank the legislators of Oregon who have just submitted an amendment granting suffrage to women by a vote of 48 to 6 in the House and 25 to 1 in the Senate, and we hope that Oregon will add a fifth star to our equal suffrage flag.

This association is non sectarian and non partisan, and asks for the ballot not for the sake of advancing any specific measure, but as a matter of justice to the whole human family. In all the States where equal suffrage campaigns are pending we advise women and men to base their plea on the ground of clear and obvious justice, and not to indulge in predictions as to what women will do with the ballot before it is secured.

We protest against women being counted in the basis of representation of State and nation so long as they are not permitted to vote for their representatives.

We appreciate the friendly attitude of the American Federation of Labor, the National Grange and other public bodies of voters, as shown by their resolutions indorsing the legal, political and economic equality of women.

We rejoice in the Peace Congress about to meet at The Hague, and hope it may be preliminary to the establishment of international arbitration.

[119] See also Chap. XXIII for further efforts to protect the women of Hawaii.

[Pg 349]

## CHAPTER XX.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1900.

The Thirty-second annual convention of the suffrage association, held in Washington, D. C., Feb. 8-14, 1900, possessed two features of unusual interest—it closed the century and it marked the end of Miss Susan B. Anthony's presidency of the organization. The latter event attracted wide attention. Sketches of her career and of the movement whose history was almost synonymous with her own, appeared in most of the leading newspapers and magazines of the country; special reporters were sent to Washington, and the celebration of her eightieth birthday at the close of the convention was in the nature of a national event. On the opening morning the Post said in a leading editorial:

> Washington entertains the National Woman Suffrage Association from year to year with entire complacency, apart from any political prejudice, without any sense of partisanship and in a spirit of keen interest in the great propaganda which is being thus conducted. There was a time, not so very long ago, when the plea for suffrage was ridiculed far and wide; but the women have worked ahead undaunted by the scoffings of the world, until they have actually won the battle in such a marked degree as to give them unbounded assurance for the future....

> The world is beginning to take a new view of this suffrage question. The advent of women into the professions and even the trades, their appearance as wage-earners in virtually every branch of modern activity, and their success in these various enterprises which they have entered, have worked a reform even more significant than the absolute and universal grant of the suffrage would have been. It can not be denied by men to-day that the women have become economic factors of marked importance, and this appreciation has had a great influence in softening the sentiments of the male population toward the suffragists.

> One of the foremost arguments formerly urged against the extension of the suffrage to women was that it would be harmful to woman's moral nature to thrust her into contact with the rough conditions of campaigning. The women answered that their entrance would perhaps redeem the immoral character of the politics of many communities. In the minds of impartial observers the[Pg 350] argument was a stand-off. But this economic, professional tendency of the women has done much to destroy the force of the men's plea to preserve the women from contaminating contact with harsh conditions. The security of the average woman worker in the various lines of honest activity which the sex has fearlessly entered has worked a revelation. The close of the century is witnessing a great change in public sentiment in this regard. The demand of the suffragists can not but be strengthened by the demonstrated fact that women can become workers in competition with men without becoming demoralized.

> Just where this new tendency will lead in an economic direction is a serious question, to be answered by facts rather than by theories. Some students of the science believe that it is working a revolution and is affecting the whole business fabric. There may be a reaction against it, affecting in turn the now moderate attitude of most men toward the suffrage question; but in any event it is clear that this great agitation, carried on by the association now in session, has been of serious importance and not without palpable fruits.

The advocates of woman's enfranchisement never were brighter, happier or more hopeful and courageous. All of the States but four were represented by the 173 delegates in attendance. Some of them were white-haired and wrinkled and had been coming to Washington for the whole thirty-two years. Others were in the prime and vigor of life and had entered the movement after the heaviest blows had been struck and the hardest battles had been won, but now they had enlisted until the end of the war. And now there were a large number of beautiful and highly-educated young women, graduates of the best colleges, filled with the zeal of new converts, bringing to the work well-trained and thoroughly-equipped minds and giving to the old members the comforting assurance that the vital cause would still be carried forward when their own labors were ended.

The Woman's Journal in recounting the gains for suffrage concluded: "In this year, 1900, the woman suffragists, after a half-century of unbroken national organization, can go before Congress and claim the support of members from four States who were elected in part by the votes of women. They can enforce their pleas before presidential nominating conventions with the concrete fact that thirteen members of the electoral college have a constituency of women voters."

Miss Anthony presided at three public sessions daily and at[Pg 351] all the executive and business meetings, went to Baltimore and held a one-day's conference and made a big speech, addressed a parlor meeting, attended several dinners and receptions, participated in her own great birthday festivities, afternoon and evening, and remained for nearly a week of Executive Committee meetings after the convention had closed.

As she rose to open the convention, clad as usual in soft black satin, with duchesse lace in the neck and sleeves and the lovely red crépe shawl falling gracefully from her shoulders, there were many a moist eye and tightened throat at the thought that this was the last time. Her fine voice with its rich alto vibrations was as strong and resonant as fifty years ago, and her practical, matter-of-fact speech, followed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw's lively stories, soon dispelled the sadness and put the audience in a cheerful mood. Miss Anthony commenced by saying:

> I have been attending conventions in Washington for over thirty years. It is good for us to come to this Mecca, the heart of our nation. Here the members of Congress from all parts of the country meet together to deliberate for the best interests of the whole government and of their respective States. So our delegates assemble here to plan for the best interests of our cause in the nation and in their respective States. We come here to study how we may do more and more for the spread of the doctrine of equality, but chiefly to study how to get the States to concentrate their efforts on Congress. Our final aim is an amendment to the Federal Constitution providing that no citizen over whom the Stars and Stripes wave shall be debarred from suffrage except for cause. I am always glad when we come to Washington, and in our little peregrinations over the country I have been more and more impressed with the conviction that, while we should do all the good work we can in our own States, we ought to hold our annual meeting in the national capital.

In beginning her vice-president's address, which as usual defied reporting, Miss Shaw said:

> Before giving my report I want to tell a story against Miss Anthony. We suffragists have been called everything under the sun, and when there was nothing else quite bad enough for us we have been called infidels, which includes everything. Once we went to hold a convention in a particularly orthodox city in New York, and Miss Anthony, wishing to impress upon the audience that we were not atheists, introduced me as "a regularly-ordained orthodox minister, the Rev. Anna H. Shaw, my right bower!" That orthodox audience all seemed to know what a "right bower" is, for they[Pg 352] laughed even louder than you do. After the meeting Miss Anthony said to me, "Anna, what did I say to make the people laugh so?" I answered, "You called me your right bower." She said, "Well, you are my right-hand man. That is what right bower means, isn't it?" And this orthodox minister had to explain to her Quaker friend what a right bower is.

> The chief event of last summer was the quinquennial meeting of the International Council of Women in London. The Woman's National Council of the United States is made up of about twenty societies with an aggregate membership of over a million women. It was only allowed two delegates besides its president, and it is not a suffrage association, yet it honored two women who have been known for some years as suffragists, Miss Anthony and myself, by making us its delegates to London. They said they did this because they wanted women who did not represent anything too radical!

> That Congress was the greatest assemblage of women from all parts of the world that ever had taken place, and therefore the biggest suffrage convention ever held. Suffrage seemed to take possession of the whole meeting, as it does at every great gathering of women. From this point of view it was a decided and emphatic success. The largest meeting of all was the one held by the Suffrage Association and every suffrage heart would have swollen so large it could hardly have been kept within the bounds of the body if it had heard the applause with which Miss Anthony was greeted. She could not speak for ten minutes....

> In England I entered upon a role I had never filled before, or had any ambition for—I "entered society," and for ten days I was in it from before breakfast till after midnight; and I prayed the prayer of the Pharisee—I thanked the Lord that I was not as other women are who have to go into society all the time. I had thought that traveling up and down the country with gripsack in hand was hard enough; but it is child's play to hand-shaking and hob-nobbing with duchesses and countesses. However, the experience was good for us, and it was especially good for those American women who had thought that they knew more than other women till they met them and found that they didn't.

> I came home, spent three days there, and then took my grip in hand and started out again lecturing—mostly for the Redpath bureau, and for people who did not want to hear about suffrage; so I spoke on "The Fate of Republics," "The American Home," "The New Man," etc. Under these titles I gave them stronger doses of suffrage than I ever do to you here, and they received it with great enthusiasm, because it was not called suffrage. I spoke the other day in Cincinnati to about 3,000 people and they were delighted, and did not suspect that I was talking suffrage. They don't know what woman suffrage is. They think it only means to berate the men. In this way I have perhaps done the best suffrage work I possibly could.

Later in the session Miss Anthony made her report as delegate[Pg 353] from the National Council of Women of the United States to this International Congress in London, in which she said:

> During the last seventeen years there has been a perfect revolution in England. When Mrs. Stanton and I went there for the first time, in 1883, just a few families were not afraid of us—the Brights, Peter Taylor's household, and some of the old abolitionists who knew all about us. When it was proposed to get up a testimonial meeting for us, even the officers of the suffrage societies did not dare to sign the invitation. They thought we Americans were too radical....

> This time when we reached London we were the recipients of testimonials not only from the real, radical suffrage people, but also from the conservatives. At that magnificent Queen's Hall meeting of the Suffrage Association, with Mrs. Fawcett presiding, three or four thousand people packed the hall. It was a representative gathering. Australia and New Zealand were there to speak for themselves, and they had me to speak for the United States. I tried to have them call on Miss Shaw instead, but they would not do it....

> Every young woman who is to-day enjoying the advantages of free schools and opportunities to earn a living and the other enlarged rights for women, is a child of the woman suffrage movement. This larger freedom has broadened and strengthened women wonderfully. At the end of the Council, Lady Aberdeen, who had been its president for six years, in a published interview summing up the work of the women who had been present, said there was no denying that the English-speaking women stood head and shoulders above all the others in their knowledge of Parliamentary law, and that at the very top were those of the United States and Canada—the two freest parts of the world. I said: "If the women of the United States, with their free schools and all their enlarged liberties, are not superior to women brought up under monarchical forms of government, then there is no good in liberty." It is because of this freedom that Europeans are always struck with the greater self-poise, self-control and independence of American women. These characteristics will be still more marked when we have mingled more with men in their various meetings. It is only by the friction of intellect with intellect that these desirable qualities can be gained.

> The public sessions of the Council were all that heart could wish. I was present at only a few of them because the business meetings came at the same hour, and were held miles away. But every day people would say to me, "Miss Anthony, you yourself could not have made a stronger suffrage speech than So-and-So made to-day in such-and-such a section"—industrial, professional, etc. In the educational section, one of the best speeches was made by Miss Brownell, dean of Sage College, Cornell University, on co-education.

> It was a great occasion. Here were the advocates of this movement for absolutely equal rights received and entertained by the[Pg 354] nobility of England—American women at the head. Among many others a reception was given by the Lord Bishop of London at his home, Fulham Palace. In talking with Lady Battersea, daughter of a Rothschild, I caught myself repeatedly addressing her as "Mrs. Battersea," and I said, "I suppose I shock you very much by forgetting your title." She answered emphatically: "Not at all. I like an American to be an American. It is much pleasanter than when they come cringing and crawling and trying to conform to our customs." When all sorts of notables were giving us receptions, I said to Lady Aberdeen: "If this great Council of Women of ten nations were meeting in Washington, we would be invited to the White House. Can't you contrive an interview with the Queen?"

Miss Anthony then described the reception of the Congress by the Queen at Windsor Castle, the serving of tea in the great Hall of St. George, and all the incidents of that interesting occasion, and concluded: "What I want most to impress upon you is this: If we had represented nothing but ourselves we should have been nowhere. Wendell Phillips said: 'When I speak as an individual, I represent only myself, but when I speak for the American Anti-Slavery Society, I represent every one in the country who believes in liberty.' It was because Miss Shaw and I represented you and all which makes for liberty that we were so well received; and I want you to feel that all the honors paid to us were paid to you."

A paper to be remembered was that of Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows (Mass.) on Woman's Work in Philanthropy. After tracing the various lines of philanthropic effort in which women had been distinguished, she said in conclusion that no woman who ever had lived had done more in the line of philanthropy than Susan B. Anthony.

Miss Harriet May Mills (N. Y.) gave a fine address on The Winning of Educational Freedom, saying in part:

> Abigail Adams said of the conditions in the early part of the nineteenth century: "Female education in the best families went no farther than reading, writing and arithmetic and, in some rare instances, music and dancing." A lady living in the first quarter of the century relates that she returned from a school in Charleston, where she had been sent to be "finished off," with little besides a knowledge of sixty different lace stitches....

> The majority of women were content, they asked no change; they took no part in the movement for higher education except to ridicule it. This, like every other battle for freedom which the world has seen, was led by the few brave, strong souls who saw the truth and[Pg 355] dared proclaim it. In 1820 the world looked aghast upon "bluestockings." Because a young woman was publicly examined in geometry at one of Mrs. Emma Willard's school exhibitions, a storm of ridicule broke forth at so scandalous a proceeding. It was ten years after Holyoke was founded before Mary Lyon dared to have Latin appear in the regular course, because the views of the community would not allow it. Boston had a high school for girls in 1825, which was maintained but eighteen months, Mayor Quincy declaring that "no funds of any city could stand the expense." The difficulty was that "too many girls attended." ...

> In 1877 President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard protested against the opening of the Boston Latin School to girls, saying: "I resist the proposition for the sake of the boys, the girls, the schools and the general interest of education." Nearly twenty years later, he said to the Radcliffe graduates: "It is a quarter of a century since the college doors were open to women. From that time, where boys and girls have been educated together, it has become a historical fact that women have taken a greater number of honors, in proportion to their numbers, than men." It is to be hoped that the next twenty years may work further conversion in the mind of this learned president, and lead him to see that equality in citizenship is as desirable as equality in education.

> One learned man prophesied that all educated women would become somnambulists. Another declared that the perilous track to higher education would be strewn with wrecks. There are now over thirty thousand of these college-educated wrecks, the majority of them engaged in the active work of the world. It was found in 1874, when Dr. E. H. Clarke's evil prophecies as to higher education were attracting attention, that at Antioch, opened to women in 1853, thirteen and one-half per cent. of the men graduates had died, nine and three-fourths per cent. of the women. This did not include war mortality or accidental death. Three of the men then living were confirmed invalids; not one of the women was in such a condition. The Association of Collegiate Alumnae has compiled later and fuller statistics. The results show an increase during the college course of from three to six per cent. in good health, and the health after graduation to be twenty-two per cent. higher among graduates than among women who have not been in college....

> Elizabeth Blackwell applied to twelve colleges before she gained admittance to the Geneva (N. Y.) Medical School in 1846, and secured the first M. D. ever given to a woman in this country. To-day 1,583 women are studying medicine. Not so full a measure of freedom has been won in law or theology. In 1897, 131 women were in the law schools, 193 in the theological schools, but women are still handicapped in these professions....

> Unfortunately, educational freedom has not been followed by industrial freedom. Of the leading colleges for women but four have women presidents; but one offers a free field to women on its professional staff. In the majority of co-educational colleges which[Pg 356] give women any place as teachers, they appear in small numbers as assistant professors and, more often, as instructors....

> With educational freedom partially won has come general interest among collegiate and non-collegiate women in furthering the movement. Large gifts have been bestowed for scholarships and for colleges, both co-educational and separate. Within the last year thirty-four women have given $4,446,400 to the cause of education. Mrs. Stanford's munificent benefactions, and other lesser ones, swell the amount to more than fifty millions from women alone. As a result of the struggle for educational freedom, we have 35,782 women in the colleges of the country.[120]

> Educational freedom without political freedom is but partial. Minerva sprang fully armed from the head of Jove; not only had she wisdom, but she had the spear and the helmet in her hands—every weapon of offense and defense to equip her for the world's conquest. Standing on the threshold of the new century, we behold the woman of the future thus armed; we see the fully educated woman possessed of a truer knowledge of the fundamental principles of government; we see her conscious of her responsibilities as a citizen, and doing her part in the making of laws and in the fulfilment of the ideal of democracy. Educational freedom must lead to political freedom.

Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, a leader among Colorado women, spoke eloquently on The Social Transformation, following the stages in evolution expressed in the words, "I dare, I will, I am." Describing the effects of woman suffrage, she said:

> I wish I could make you all understand that the home is not touched. Equal suffrage does not mean destruction or disintegration but the radiation of the home—carrying it out into the wider life of the community. The ideal of the family must pervade society; and that is what equal suffrage is gradually bringing about. I know you hear all sorts of things about woman suffrage in Colorado. Not very long ago certain Eastern papers gave great prominence to an interview with a "distinguished citizen of Colorado," who gave a highly unfavorable account of the workings of woman suffrage there. The "distinguished citizen" in question was a prize-fighter who had killed three men—a gambler driven out by woman suffrage; and he naturally said that woman suffrage was a failure.... The great Woman's Club of Denver is a power for good in the city; it is carrying on schools in "the bottoms," night schools, kitchen gardens, traveling libraries; it secured the establishment of the State Home for Dependent Children, the removal of the emblems from the Australian ballot, and other good things....

> I would that you could all go out to Colorado and see how subtly,[Pg 357] yes, and how swiftly, the social transformation is going on. It is the home transforming the State, not the State destroying the home. A Denver paper lately said the men had found out that in determining all questions of morality, sanitation, etc., if the women were consulted, better results were obtained. We have more intelligent homes because of equal suffrage. Where children see their father and mother go to the polls together, and hear them talk over public questions, and occasionally express different views, they learn tolerance. A party slave will not come out from such a home. The children will grow up seeing that it is un-American to say that everybody in the opposite party is either a fool or a knave. The two best features of equal suffrage are the improvement of the individual woman and the prospective abolition of the political "boss."

Introducing Henry B. Blackwell (Mass.) to report on Presidential Suffrage, Miss Anthony said: "Here is a man who has the virtue of having stood by the woman's cause for nearly fifty years. I can remember him when his hair was not white, and when he was following up our conventions assiduously because a bright, little, red-cheeked woman attracted him. She attracted him so strongly that he still works for woman suffrage, and will do so as long as he lives, not only because of her who was always so true and faithful to the cause—Lucy Stone—but also because he has a daughter, a worthy representative of the twain who were made one."

On Friday evening Mrs. Ida Husted Harper gave a portion of her paper, The Training of the Woman Journalist, which she had presented at the International Congress in London. Miss Anna Barrows (Mass.), literary editor of The American Kitchen Magazine, spoke on New Professions for Women Centering in the Home:

> The main objection made by conservative people to definite occupations or professions for women has been that such callings would inevitably tend to destroy the home. Once let women prove that they can follow a trade or profession and yet make a home for themselves and others, and such objectors have no ground left.... The fear is sometimes expressed that the club movement is drawing women away from home interests; but the general attention now given to household economics by all the women's clubs proves that women are realizing that knowledge of history, art and science is needed to give the broad culture necessary for the proper conduct of the home life. Although as yet few women's colleges offer adequate courses in home economics, nevertheless after marriage the college women begin to study household problems with all the energy brought out by the college training.[Pg 358]

> A very general comment on woman's desire for a share in municipal and national government is that the servant question is yet unsolved; that, since she has not succeeded in governing her own domain, she has no rights outside of it. By going outside of her home as an employee herself she is learning to deal with this problem. It has been necessary for women to have thorough business training in other directions before they could discover how unbusinesslike were the methods pursued in the average household. The more women have gone out of their homes into new occupations, the more they have realized that the home is dependent upon the same principles as the business world. The business woman understands human nature, and therefore can deal successfully with the butcher, the baker and other tradespeople. She has a power of adapting herself to new conditions which is impossible to her sister accustomed only to the narrow treadmill of housework.

> Specialization is the tendency of the age, and by wise attention to this in the household, as elsewhere, enough time should be saved to each community for the world's work to be done in fewer hours, and for men and women to have time besides to be homemakers and good citizens. Little by little one art and craft after another has been evolved into the dignity of a profession, while housework as a whole has been left to untrained workers. Needle work, cookery and cleaning are dependent on the fundamental principles of all the natural sciences.... There is need also of trained women to lead public sentiment to recognize the dignity of manual labor.

The statesmanlike paper of Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker (Conn.) on the Duty of Woman Citizens of the United States in the Present Political Crisis, was read by Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.), who enforced its sentiments by earnest and stirring remarks of her own. Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, A. M. of Oberlin College, president of the National Association of Colored Women and a member of the Washington School Board, considered the Justice of Woman Suffrage:

> ....To assign reasons in this day and time why it is unjust to deprive one-half of the human race of rights and privileges freely accorded to the other, which is neither more deserving nor more capable of exercising them, seems like a reflection upon the intelligence of the audience. As a nation we professed long ago to have abandoned the principle that might makes right. Before the world we pose to-day as a government whose citizens have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And yet, in spite of these lofty professions and noble sentiments, the present policy of this government is to hold one-half of its citizens in legal subjection to the other, without being able to assign good and sufficient reasons for such a flagrant violation of the very principles upon which it was founded.[Pg 359]

> When one observes how all the most honorable and lucrative positions in Church and State have been reserved for men, according to laws which they themselves have made so as to debar women; how, until recently, a married woman's property was under the exclusive control of her husband; how, in all transactions where husband and wife are considered one, the law makes the husband that one—man's boasted chivalry to the disfranchised sex is punctured beyond repair.

> These unjust discriminations will ever remain, until the source from which they spring—the political disfranchisement of woman—shall be removed. The injustice involved in denying woman the suffrage is not confined to the disfranchised sex alone, but extends to the nation as well, in that it is deprived of the excellent service which woman might render....

> The argument that it is unnatural for woman to vote is as old as the rock-ribbed and ancient hills. Whatever is unusual is called unnatural, the world over. Whenever humanity takes a step forward in progress, some old custom falls dead at our feet. Nothing could be more unnatural than that a good woman should shirk her duty to the State.

> If you marvel that so few women work vigorously for political enfranchisement, let me remind you that woman's success in almost everything depends upon what men think of her. Why the majority of men oppose woman suffrage is clear even to the dullest understanding. In all great reforms it is only the few brave souls who have the courage of their convictions and who are willing to fight until victory is wrested from the very jaws of fate.

In treating of Women in the Ministry, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin (Mass.) considered what is known as "the woman movement" from a broad and philosophical standpoint, which carried conviction and disarmed opposition.

At the opening of the Saturday evening meeting a telegram was read from the Executive Committee of the National Anti-Trust Conference, in session at Chicago: "Hearty congratulations to the distinguished president of the Woman Suffrage Association, and hopes that Miss Anthony may enjoy many years of added happiness and honor. This cordial salutation includes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and all of the noble souls who have wrought so great a work in the liberation and advancement of the women of this country." A letter was read also from Frank Morrison, secretary of the American Federation of Labor, with the following resolution, which was passed by the convention held in Detroit, Mich., the previous December:

> Whereas, Disfranchised labor, like that of the enslaved, degrades all free and enfranchised labor; therefore,[Pg 360]

> Resolved, That the American Federation of Labor earnestly appeals to Congress to pass a resolution submitting to the Legislatures of the several States a proposition for a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution that shall prohibit the States from disfranchising United States citizens on account of sex.

Miss Anthony expressed her satisfaction that equal suffrage was endorsed by "the hard-working, wage-earning men of the country, each of them with a good solid ballot in his hand."

Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) gave a historical sketch of Our Great Leaders, replete with beauty and pathos. Miss Kate M. Gordon spoke entertainingly on the possibilities of A Scrap of Suffrage.[121] In presenting her Miss Anthony said: "The right of taxpaying women in Louisiana to vote upon questions of taxation is practically the first shred of suffrage which those of any Southern State have secured, and they have used it well. They deserve another scrap, and I think they will get it before some of us do who have been asking for half a century."

Miss Gail Laughlin, a graduate of Wellesley and of the Law Department of Cornell University, discussed Conditions of the Wage-Earning Women of Our Country, saying in part:

> "Wage-earner" among women is used in a broad sense. All women receiving money payment for work are proud to be called wage-earners, because wage-earning means economic independence. The census of 1890 reports nearly 400 occupations open to women, and nearly 4,000,000 women engaged in them. But government reports show the average wages of women in large cities to be from $3.83 to $6.91 per week, and the general average to be from $5.00 to $6.68. In all lines women are paid less than men for the same grade of work, and they are often compelled to toil under needlessly dangerous and unsanitary conditions. If the people of this country want to advance civilization, they have no need to go to the islands of the Pacific to do it.

> How are these evils to be remedied? By organization, suffrage, co-operation among women, and above all, the inculcation of the principle that a woman is an individual, with a right to choose her work, and with other rights equal with man. Our law-makers control the sanitary conditions and pay of teachers. Here is work for the women who have "all the rights they want." When one of these comfortably situated women was told of the need of the ballot for working women, she held up her finger, showing the wedding ring on it, and said, "I have all the rights I want." The next time that I read the parable of the man who fell among thieves and was succored by the good Samaritan, methought I could see that woman with the wedding ring on her finger, passing by on the other side.[Pg 361]

> It is said that every woman who earns her living crowds a man out. That argument is as old as the trade guilds of the thirteenth century, which tried to exclude women. The Rev. Samuel G. Smith of St. Paul, who has recently declared against women in wage-earning occupations, stands to-day just where they did seven hundred years ago....[122]

Mrs. Helen Adelaide Shaw (Mass.), in A Review of the Remonstrants, was enthusiastically received. Young, handsome and a fine elocutionist, her imitation of the "remonstrants" and their objections to woman suffrage convulsed the audience and was quite as effective as the most impassioned argument.

The speakers of the convention were invited to fill a number of pulpits in Washington Sunday morning and evening. In the Unitarian Church, where the Rev. Ida C. Hultin preached, there was not standing room. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw gave the sermon at the Universalist Church, of which the Post said:

> Never in the history of the church had such a crowd been in attendance. The lecture rooms on either side of the auditorium had been thrown open, and these, as well as the galleries, were crowded almost to suffocation. Women stood about the edges of the room, and seats on window sills were at a premium. Outside in the vestibules of the church women elbowed one another for points of vantage on the gallery stairs, where an occasional glimpse might be caught of the handsome, dark-eyed, gray-haired woman who looked singularly appropriate at the pulpit desk. The congregation hung upon every word, and her remarks, sometimes bitter and caustic, were met with a hum of approval from the crowded auditorium.

> Perhaps eight-tenths of the congregation were women. Miss Shaw's pulpit manner is easy, but her words are emphasized by gestures which impress her hearers with a sense of the speaker's earnestness. Her voice, while sweet and musical, is strong, and carries a tone of conviction. Her subject last night was "Strength of Character." The text was chosen from Joshua, 1:9: "Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

> In the opening remarks the speaker said it was now time that women asserted their rights. "Men have no right to define for us our limitations. Who shall interpret to a woman the divine element in her being? It is for me to say that I shall be free. No human soul shall determine my life for me unless that soul will stand[Pg 362] before the bar of God and take my sentence. Men who denounce us do so because they are ignorant of what they do. Woman has broken the silence of the century. Her question to God is, 'Who shall interpret Thee to me?' The churches of this day have not begun to conceive of what Christianity means.

> "It is not true that all women should be married and the managers of homes. There is not more than one woman in five capable of motherhood in its highest possible state, and I may say that not one man in ten is fitted for fatherhood. We strongly advocate that no woman and man should marry until they are instructed in the science of home duties. Instead of woman suffrage breaking up families, it has just the opposite effect. In the State of Wyoming where it has existed thirty years, there is a larger per cent. of marriages and a less of divorces than in any other State in the Union. Because a woman is a suffragist is no reason that she may not be a good housekeeper. The two most perfect housekeepers I ever knew in my life were members of my congregation in New England—one was a suffragist and the other had no thought of the rights of women." ...

> After the services almost every woman in the congregation crowded forward to shake the hand of the speaker.

On Monday evening the national character of the convention was conspicuously demonstrated, as the speakers represented the East, the South, the Middle West and the Pacific Slope. Mrs. Florence Howe Hall (N. J.), the highly educated daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, read a charming farce entitled The Judgment of Minerva, the suffragists and the antis, as goddesses, bringing their cause before Jupiter, with a decision, of course, in favor of the former. Miss Diana Hirschler, a young lawyer of Boston, presented Woman's Position in the Law in a paper which was in itself an illustration of the benefit of a legal training. Mrs. Virginia D. Young (S. C.) told the Story of Woman Suffrage in the South, and sketched the history of the progressive Southern woman, beginning as follows:

> The woman suffragists of the South have suffered in the pillory of public derision. It has been as deadly a setting up in the stocks as ever New England practiced on her martyrs to freedom. The women who have led in this revolt against old ideals have had to be as heroic as the men who stormed San Juan heights in the contest for Santiago de Cuba....

> It is out of date to be carried in a sedan chair when one can fly around on a bicycle, and though in our conservative South, we have still some preachers with Florida moss on their chins, who storm at the woman on her wheel as riding straight to hell, we[Pg 363] believe, with Julian Ralph, that the women bicyclists "out-pace their staider sisters in their progress to woman's emancipation."

> Clark Howell, the brilliant Georgian, in his recent address before the Independent Club, set people to talking about him, from Niagara Falls in the East to the Garden of the Gods in the West, by his elucidations of "The Man with his Hat in his Hand;" but I propose to show you to-night a greater—the Woman With Her Bonnet Off, who speaks from the platform in a Southern city. You know how the women of the stagnant Orient stick to their veils, coverings for head and face, outward signs of real slavery. The bonnet is the civilized substitute for the Oriental veil, and to take it off is the first manifestation of a woman's resolve to have equal rights, even if all the world laugh and oppose.

> In South Carolina the first newspaper article in favor of woman suffrage written by a woman over her own name, was met by the taunt that she had imbibed her views from the women of the North. But this was merely ignorance of history, for the story of woman suffrage in the South really antedates that in New England. The new woman of the new South, who asks for equal rights with her brother man, is in the direct line of succession to that magnificent "colonial dame," Mistress Margaret Brent of Maryland, who asked for a vote in the Colonial Assembly after the death of her kinsman, Lord Baltimore, who had endowed her with powers of attorney. Margaret Brent antedated Abigail Adams by over a century.

Mrs. Annie L. Diggs, State librarian, depicted Municipal Suffrage in Kansas, with the knowledge of one who had been a keen observer and an active participant.[123] Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway described the work which had been and would be done in the interest of the approaching suffrage amendment campaign in Oregon.

On Tuesday evening Mrs. Mabel Loomis Todd (Mass.), under the head of The Village Beautiful, told what might be accomplished toward the beautifying of towns and cities if the authority and the means were allowed to women. This was followed by a strong, clear business talk from Mrs. A. Emmagene Paul, superintendent of the Street-Cleaning Department of the First Ward, Chicago, who told how "crooked contractors and wily politicians" at first began to cultivate her. They found, however, that they could not shake her determination to make them live up to their contracts; they had agreed to clean the streets, they were receiving pay for that purpose, and she, as an inspector, was there to see that the contracts were lived up to.[Pg 364] Mrs. Paul was appointed when the municipal government adopted a civil service system, and holds her position by virtue of its examination. She has checkmated the contractor and politician, and has accomplished a long-needed reform in the street-cleaning department of Chicago.[124]

An interesting description of The Russian Woman was given by Madame Sofja Levovna Friedland, who said that there is little suffrage for either men or women in Russia, but such as there is both alike possess. Mrs. Amy K. Cornwall, president of the Colorado Equal Suffrage Association, related the work accomplished by the women of her State since they had been enfranchised; "only six years," she said, "and yet we are expected to have cleaned up all Colorado, including Denver." Grace Greenwood (Mrs. Sara J. Lippincott) was introduced by Miss Anthony as a suffragist of thirty years' standing. The audience was greatly amused by her recital of the answers which she had made to the "remonstrants" more than a quarter of a century ago, showing that they were using then exactly the same objections which are doing service to-day. Several of the speakers having failed to appear, a very unusual occurrence, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, president of the International Council of Women, was pressed into service by Miss Anthony. She introduced her address gracefully by saying: "We women think we believe in freedom, but we are often told that we love best the tyrant who can make us obey, and I can testify to the truth of it," motioning toward Miss Anthony. She then made an eloquent and convincing plea for the enfranchisement of women.

The mornings were devoted to committee reports and to ten-minute reports from each of the States, often the most interesting features of the convention. The afternoons were given to Work Conferences, when all the various details of the work were discussed under the leadership of those who had proved most competent—methods of organization, of holding conventions, etc. The treasurer, Mrs. Upton, stated that the receipts for the past year were $10,345; that the association had an indebtedness[Pg 365] of about $1,400, and Miss Anthony, desiring to leave it entirely free from debt, had raised almost all of this amount herself; that the books now showed every bill to be paid. Before the close of the convention almost $10,000 were subscribed toward the work of the coming year. It was decided to hold a National Suffrage Bazar in New York City before the holidays in order to add to this fund.[125]

Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman of the Organization Committee, reported that with the secretary of the committee, Miss Mary G. Hay, she had visited twenty States, lecturing and attending State conventions, giving fifty-one lectures and traveling 13,000 miles. Ten thousand letters had been sent out from the office.

The comprehensive report of Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock (N. Y.), chairman of the Press Committee, showing the remarkable success achieved in securing the publication of articles on suffrage, seemed to offer the best possible proof of an increasing favorable public sentiment. Articles had been furnished regularly to 1,360 newspapers; 3,675 had been prepared on the present convention and birthday celebration; altogether 31,800 weekly articles had been sent out and, so far as could be ascertained, all had been published. The number of papers which would use plate matter on suffrage was limited only by the money which could be commanded to supply it.

Miss Anthony, in reporting for the Congressional Committee, made a good point when she said:

> One reason why so little has been done by Congress is because none of us has remained here to watch our employes up at the Capitol. Nobody ever gets anything done by Congress or by a State Legislature except by having some one on hand to look out for it. We need a Watching Committee. The women can not expect to get as much done as the railroads, the trusts, the corporations and all the great moneyed concerns. They keep hundreds of agents at the national Capital to further their interests. We have no one here, and yet we expect to get something done, although we labor under the additional disadvantage of having no ballots to use as a reward or punishment. Whatever takes place in Washington is felt to the circumference of the country. I have had nearly all the States send petitions to Congress asking that upon whatever terms suffrage is extended to the men of Hawaii and our other new possessions, it may be extended to the women, and it is this which has[Pg 366] stirred up the anti-suffragists in Massachusetts, New York and Illinois to their recent demonstrations.... Mrs. Harper has culled extracts from all the favorable congressional reports we have had during the past thirty years, and we have made a pamphlet of them, which will be laid on the desk of every member of Congress.[126]

Mary F. Gist, Anna S. Hamilton and Emma Southwick Brinton were introduced as fraternal delegates from the Woman's National Press Association; Mrs. William Scott, from the Universal Peace Union; Dr. Agnes Kemp, from the Peace Society of Philadelphia; Elizabeth B. Passmore from the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends. Letters of greeting were received from Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren of Scotland, Mrs. Mary Foote Henderson, of Washington, D. C., and many others.

Among the memorial resolutions were the following:

> In reviewing the gains and losses of the past year, we recall with profound regret the loss of those tried and true workers for woman's enfranchisement, George W. and Mrs. Henrietta M. Banker of New York, who died within a few days of each other. "Lovely in life, in death they were not divided." Although we shall sorely miss their genial and inspiring presence, they will continue by the munificent provisions of their wills to aid the cause.

> We are also saddened by the news just received of the decease of Dr. Elizabeth C. Sargent of San Francisco, our valued co-worker in the recent California Suffrage Campaign, and daughter of our lifelong friends, U. S. Senator Aaron A. and Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent. All advocates of equal suffrage unite in offering to the bereaved mother their heartfelt sympathy in her loss.

A vote of thanks was passed to Bishop Spaulding of Peoria, Ills., Bishop McQuaid of Rochester, N. Y. (Catholics), and the Rev. Frank M. Bristol of the M. E. Metropolitan Church, Washington (the one attended by President McKinley), for their recent sermons referring favorably to woman suffrage. These were the more noticeable as during this convention Cardinal[Pg 367] Gibbons of Baltimore devoted his Sunday discourse to a terrific arraignment of society women and those asking for the suffrage, denouncing them alike as destroyers of the home, etc.

The National Association requested the appointment by President McKinley of Mrs. Bertha Honoré Palmer as National Commissioner from the United States to the Paris Exposition, and of Mrs. May Wright Sewall as delegate to represent the organized work of women in the United States. Both of these appointments were afterwards made.

The corresponding secretary read invitations for the next annual convention from the Citizens' Business League of Milwaukee; the Business Men's League and the Mayor of Cincinnati; the Chamber of Commerce of Detroit; the Business Men's League of San Antonio; the Cleveland Business Men's Convention League; the Suffrage Society of Buffalo and the following: "The Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association takes great pride in being able to invite you most cordially to hold your annual meeting for 1901 in the city of Minneapolis. We guarantee $600 towards expenses and more if necessary. Enclosed are invitations from the Board of Trade, the Mayor and our three daily newspapers, all assuring us of financial backing." This was signed by Mrs. Martha J. Thompson, president, and Dr. Ethel E. Hurd, corresponding secretary. The invitation was accepted.

The usual hearings were held Tuesday morning, February 13, in the Marble Room of the Senate and the committee room of the House Judiciary, both of which were crowded to the doors, the seats being filled with women while members of Congress stood about the sides of the room. That before the Senate Committee—John W. Daniel (Va.), chairman; James H. Berry (Tenn.); George P. Wetmore (R. I.); Addison G. Foster (Wash.)—was confined to a historical résumé of the movement for woman suffrage, the speakers being presented by Miss Anthony. The Work with Congress was carefully delineated by Mrs. Colby, who concluded: "Everything that a disfranchised class could do has been done by women, and never in the long ages in which the love of freedom has been evolving in the human heart has there been such an effort by any other class of people. Surely it ought to win the respect and support of every man in[Pg 368] this republic who has a brain to understand the blessings of liberty and a heart to beat in sympathy with a struggle to obtain it."[127]

Municipal Suffrage in Kansas was described by Mrs. Laura M. Johns. Woman Suffrage in Colorado was presented by Mrs. Bradford. Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch told of Woman Suffrage in England, closing as follows:

> We have heard about the suffrage in the Western States of America, and the reply always is: "Oh, that is all very well for thinly populated countries." Now I am going to tell you a little of the suffrage question in England, not a thinly populated country, with its 20,000,000 of people crowded in that small space.

> Gentlemen of the committee, I would like to draw your attention to one thing, which is true in America as well as in England—that nothing has been given to women gratuitously. They have had at each step to prove their ability before you gave them anything else. In 1870 England passed the Education Act, which gave women the right to sit on the school boards and to vote for them. It was the first time they had had elective school boards in England; before that all the education had been controlled by church organizations, who had appointed boards of managers. Women had been appointed to those boards and so admirable had been their work that when the law was passed in 1870 many women stood for election and were elected, and in three cases they came in at the head of the polls. Five years after that a verdict was passed upon the work of those women as school officials, for in 1875, women were allowed to go on the poor-law boards. In 1894 the law was further modified so that it contemplated the possibility of a larger circle of poor-law guardians. Before that there had been a high qualification—occupation of a house of a certain rental, etc., but now that was all pushed aside. What was the result? Nearly 1,000 women are now sitting on the poor-law boards of England; 94 on the great board of London itself.

> These local boards deal with the great asylums, with the great pauper schools, with the immense poorhouses and, more than that, they deal with one of the largest funds in England, the outdoor and indoor relief. What has been the verdict upon the work of those women on the poor-law board? In 1896 there was the question, when this law was extended to Ireland, whether women should be put on those boards. The vote in Parliament was 272 in favor of the women and only 8 against. Eight men only, so unwise, so foolish, left in the great English Parliament, who said it was not for women to deal with those immense bodies of pauper children, not for women to deal with this outdoor relief fund, not for women to deal with the unfortunate mothers of illegitimate children....

> Women in England, qualified women, have every local vote, everything[Pg 369] which would correspond with your State and municipal vote here, they have all except the Parliamentary vote.

> In England we have opponents, just as you have here. I do not know whether they are more illogical or less so, but they certainly do one extraordinary thing—they are in favor of everything that has been won and take advantage of it. A large number of the 2,000 women who are sitting on the various local bodies in England are opposed to the Parliamentary vote for their sex, and yet they are really in political life. Now, gentlemen, if you want to have the women stop coming here, give us the vote and then we won't come; give the "antis" the vote, and then they will have the political life that they are really longing for.

> Almost always, if you analyze the anti-suffrage idea in either a man or a woman you find it is anti-democratic. I have begun to think that I am the only good democrat left in America. I believe in the very widest possible suffrage. Why do I believe it? Because I have lived and seen the other thing in England, and I have seen that as democracy broadened politics was purified. That has been the history from the beginning. No politics in the world was more corrupt than the English at the beginning of this century, but as democracy has come farther and farther into the field, England has become politically one of the purest nations in the world.

The paper on Woman Suffrage in the British Isles and Colonies was prepared by Miss Helen Blackburn, editor of the Englishwoman's Review; and Woman Suffrage in Foreign Countries was described by Mrs. Jessie Cassidy Saunders. The last address was given by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt (N. Y.), Why We Ask for the Submission of an Amendment:

> A survey of the changes which have been wrought within the past hundred years in the status of women—educational, social, financial and political—fills the observing man or woman with a feeling akin to awe. No great war has been fought in behalf of their emancipation; no great political party has espoused their cause; no heroes have bled and died for their liberty; yet words fail utterly to measure the distance between the "sphere" of the woman of 1800 and that of the woman of 1900. How has the transformation come? What mysterious power has brought it?

> On the whole, men and women of the present rejoice at every right gained and every privilege conceded. Not one jot or tittle would they abate the advantage won; yet when the plea is made that the free, self-respecting, self-reliant, independent, thinking women of this generation be given the suffrage, the answer almost invariably comes back, "When women as a whole demand it, men will consider it." This answer carries with it the apparent supposition that all the changes have come because the majority of women wanted them, and that further enlargement of liberty must cease because the[Pg 370] majority do not want it. Alas, it is a sad comment upon the conservatism of the average human being that not one change of consequence has been desired by women as a whole, or even by a considerable part. It would be nearer the truth to say women as a whole have opposed every advance.

> The progress has come because women of a larger mold, loftier ambitions and nobler self-respect than the average have been willing to face the opposition of the world for the sake of liberty. More than one such as these deserve the rank of martyr. The sacrifice of suffering, of doubt, of obloquy, which has been endured by the pioneers in the woman movement will never be fully known or understood....

> With the bold demand for perfect equality of rights in every walk of life the public have compromised. Not willing to grant all, they have conceded something; and by repeated compromises and concessions to the main demand the progress of woman's rights has been accomplished.

> There are two kinds of restrictions upon human liberty—the restraint of law and that of custom. No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion. At the beginning of our century both law and custom restricted the liberty of women.

> It was the edict of custom which prohibited women from receiving an education, engaging in occupations, speaking in public, organizing societies, or in other ways conducting themselves like free, rational human beings. It was law which forbade married women to control their own property or to collect their own wages, and which forbade all women to vote. The changes have not come because women wished for them or men welcomed them. A liberal board of trustees, a faculty willing to grant a trial, an employer willing to experiment, a broad-minded church willing to hear a woman preach, a few liberal souls in a community willing to hear a woman speak—these have been the influences which have brought the changes.

> There is no more elaborate argument or determined opposition to woman suffrage than there has been to each step of progress.... Had a vote been taken, co-education itself would have been overwhelmingly defeated. In 1840, before women had studied or practiced medicine, had it been necessary to obtain permission to do so by a vote of men or women, 8,000 graduated women physicians would not now be engaged in the healing art in our country. In 1850, when vindictive epithets were hurled from press, pulpit and public in united condemnation of the few women who were attempting to be heard on the platform as speakers, had it been necessary to secure the right of free public speech through Legislatures or popular approval, the voices of women would still be silent.... The rights of women have come in direct opposition to the popular consensus of opinion. Yet when they have once become established, they have been wanted by women and welcomed by men.[Pg 371]

> There are a few fanatics who, if they could, would force the women of this generation back into the spheres of their grandmothers. There are some pessimists who imagine they see all natural order coming to a speedy end because of the enlarged liberties and opportunities of women. There are sentimentalists who believe that the American home, that most sacred unit of society, is seriously imperiled by the tendencies of women to adopt new duties and interests. But this is not the thought of the average American. There are few intelligent men who would be willing to provide their daughters no more education than was deemed proper for their grandmothers, or who would care to restrict them to the old-time limited sphere of action. Thinking men and women realize that the American home was never more firmly established than at the present time, and that it has grown nobler and happier as women have grown more self-reliant. The average man and woman recognize that the changes which have come have been in the interest of better womanhood and better manhood, bringing greater happiness to women and greater blessings to men. They recognize that each step gained has rendered women fitter companions for men, wiser mothers and far abler units of society.

> The public acknowledges the wisdom, the common sense, the practical judgment of the woman movement until it asks for the suffrage. In other words, it approves every right gained because it is here, and condemns the one right not yet gained because it is not here.

> Had it been either custom or statutory law which forbade women to vote, the suffrage would have been won by the same processes which have gained every other privilege. A few women would have voted, a few men and women would have upheld them, and, little by little, year after year, the number of women electors would have increased until it became as general for women to vote as it is for men. Had this been possible the women would be voting to-day in every State in the Union; and undoubtedly their appearance at the polls would now be as generally accepted as a matter of fact as the college education. But, alas, when this step of advancement was proposed, women found themselves face to face with the stone wall of Constitutional Law, and they could not vote until a majority of men should first give their consent. Indeed the experiment was made to gain this sacred privilege by easier means. The history of the voting of Susan B. Anthony and others is familiar to all, but the Supreme Court decided that the National Constitution must first be amended. It therefore becomes a necessity to convert to this reform a majority of the men of the whole United States.

> When we recall the vast amount of illiteracy, ignorance, selfishness and degradation which exists among certain classes of our people the task imposed upon us is appalling. There are whole precincts of voters in this country whose united intelligence does not equal that of one representative American woman. Yet to such classes as these we are asked to take our cause as the court of final resort. We are compelled to petition men who have never heard of[Pg 372] the Declaration of Independence, and who have never read the Constitution, for the sacred right of self-government; we are forced to appeal for justice to men who do not know the meaning of the word; we are driven to argue our claim with men who never had two thoughts in logical sequence. We ask men to consider the rights of a citizen in a republic and we get the answer in reply, given in all seriousness, "Women have more rights now than they ought to have;" and that, too, without the faintest notion of the inanity of the remark or the emptiness of the brain behind it.

> When we present our cause to men of higher standing and more liberal opinion, we find that the interest of party and the personal ambition for place are obstacles which prevent them from approving a question concerning whose popularity there is the slightest doubt.

> The way before us is difficult at best, not because our demand is not based upon unquestioned justice, not because it is not destined to win in the end, but because of the nature of the processes through which it must be won. In fact the position of this question might well be used to demonstrate that observation of Aristotle that "a democracy has many striking points of resemblance with tyranny...."

> It is for these reasons, gentlemen, that we appeal to your committee to aid in the submission of a Sixteenth Amendment. Such an amendment would go before the Legislatures of our country where the grade of intelligence is at least higher than we should find in the popular vote.

> Though you yourselves may doubt the expediency of woman suffrage, though you may question the soundness of our claim, yet, in the name of democracy, which permits the people to make and amend their constitutions, and in the name of American womanhood, prepared by a century of unmeasured advance for political duties, we beg your aid in the speedy submission of this question. We ask this boon in the direct interest of the thousands of women who do want to vote, who suffer pangs of humiliation and degradation because of their political servitude. We ask it equally in the indirect interest of the thousands of women who do not want to vote, as we believe their indifference or opposition is the same natural conservatism which led other women to oppose the college education, the control of property, the freedom of public speech and the right of organization.

> Years ago George William Curtis pleaded for fair play for women. It is the same plea we are repeating. We only petition for fair play, and this means the submission of our question to the most intelligent constituency which has power to act upon it. If we shall fail, we will abide by the decision. That is, we will wait till courage has grown stronger, reason more logical, justice purer, in the positive knowledge that our cause will eventually triumph. As the daughters of Zelophehad appealed to Moses and his great court for justice, so do the daughters of America appeal to you.

Miss Anthony closed the hearing in a speech whose vigor, logic[Pg 373] and eloquence were accentuated in the minds of the hearers by the thought that for more than thirty years she had made these pleas before congressional committees, only to be received with stolid indifference or open hostility. She began by saying: "In closing I would like to give a little object lesson of the two methods of gaining the suffrage. By one it is insisted that we shall carry our question to what is termed a popular vote of each State—that is, that its Legislature shall submit to the electors the proposition to strike the little adjective "male" from the suffrage clause. We have already made that experiment in fifteen different elections in ten different States. Five States have voted on it twice." She then summarized briefly the causes of the defeats in the various States, and continued:

> Now here is all we ask of you, gentlemen, to save us women from any more tramps over the States, such as we have made now fifteen times. In nine of those campaigns I myself, made a canvass from county to county. In my own State of New York at the time of the constitutional convention in 1894, I visited every county of the sixty—I was not then 80 years of age, but 74....

> There is an enemy of the homes of this nation and that enemy is drunkenness. Every one connected with the gambling house, the brothel and the saloon works and votes solidly against the enfranchisement of women, and, I say, if you believe in chastity, if you believe in honesty and integrity, then do what the enemy wants you not to do, which is to take the necessary steps to put the ballot in the hands of women....

> I pray you to think of this question as you would if the one-half of the people who are disfranchised were men, if we women had absolute power to control every condition in this country and you were obliged to obey the laws and submit to whatever arrangements we made. I want you to report on this question exactly as if the masculine half of the people were the ones who were deprived of this right to a vote in governmental affairs. You would not be long in bringing in a favorable report if you were the ones who were disfranchised and denied a voice in your Government. If it were not women—if it were the farmers of this country, the manufacturers, or any class of men who were robbed of their inalienable rights, then we would see that class rising in rebellion, and the Government shaken to its very foundation; but being women, being only the mothers, daughters, wives and sisters of men who constitute the aristocracy, we have to submit.

The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw (Penn.) presided over the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.[128] The Constitutional[Pg 374] Argument was made by Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), who said in the course of a long and logical address:

> We find that it is declared in Article IV, Section 4, that "the United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of Government." What is a republican form of Government? In a monarchy, the theory is that all power flows directly from the monarch; even in constitutional monarchies each concession has been obtained "by consent of our gracious sovereign." When the laws are based on the idea that the caprices of the ruler regulate the privileges granted to the people, it is at least logical, even if it is cruel, to refuse the right of suffrage to any class of the community. You will agree that this is not a monarchy, where power flows from the sovereign to the people, but a republic, where the sovereign people give to the Executive they have chosen the power to carry out their will. Can you really claim that we live under a republican form of government when one-half the adult inhabitants are denied all voice in the affairs of the nation? It may be better described as an oligarchy, where certain privileged men choose the rulers who make laws for their own benefit, too often to the detriment of the unrepresented portion of our people, who are denied recognition as completely as was ever an oppressed class in the most odious form of oligarchy which usurped a government.

> Article XIV, Section 2, provides that "Representation shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians, not taxed." What sort of justice is there in excluding from the basis of representation Indians who are not taxed and including in this basis women who are taxed? The framers of this amendment were evidently impressed with the tenet that taxation and representation should be associated, and that as the Indian paid no taxes, and was not, therefore, forced to carry the burdens of citizenship, he might, with justice, be denied the privileges of citizenship. But by what specious reasoning can any one maintain that it is honest to tax the great body of women citizens, to count them in the basis of representation, and yet deny to them the right of personal representation at the ballot box? What excuse can be made for this monstrous perversion of liberty? Each one of you, gentlemen, sits here as the representative of thousands of women who, by their money, have helped to build this Capitol in which you assemble and to pay for the seats in which you sit; nay, more, they pay a part of the salary of every man here, and yet what real representation have they? How often do you think of the women of your States and of their interests in the laws you pass? How much do you reflect on the injustice which is daily and hourly[Pg 375] done them by denying to them all voice in this body, wherein you claim to "represent the people" of your respective States....

> Some years ago, when the bill regulating affairs in Utah was under discussion Senator Edmunds said, "Disfranchisement is a cruel and degrading penalty, that ought not to be inflicted except for crime." Yet this cruel and degrading penalty is inflicted upon practically all the women of the United States. Of what crime have we been guilty? Or is our mere sex a fault for which we must be punished? Would not any body of men look upon disfranchisement as "a cruel and degrading penalty?" Suppose the news were to be flashed across our country to-morrow that the farmers of the nation were to be disfranchised, what indignation there would be! How they would leave their homes to assemble and protest against this wrong! They would declare that disfranchisement was a burden too heavy to be borne; that if they were unrepresented laws would be passed inimical to their best interests; that only personal representation at the ballot box could give them proper protection; and they would hasten here, even as we are doing, to entreat you to remove from them the burden of "the cruel and degrading penalty of disfranchisement."

> And now, I desire to call your attention to a series of declarations in the Constitution which prove beyond all possibility of contravention that the Government has solemnly pledged itself to secure to the women of the nation the right of suffrage.

> Article XIV, Section 1, declares that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The women of this country are, then, citizens thereof and entitled to all the rights of citizens.

> Article XV speaks of "the right of a citizen to vote," as if that were one of the most precious privileges of citizenship, so precious that its protection is embodied in a separate amendment.

> If we now turn to Article IV, Section 2, we find it declares that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States."

> What do these assertions mean? Is there one of you who can explain away these noble guarantees of the right of individual representation at the ballot box as mere one-sided phrases, having no significance for one-half the people? No. These grand pledges are abiding guarantees of human freedom, honest promises of protection to all the people of the republic.

> You, gentlemen, have sworn to carry out all the provisions of the Constitution. Does not this oath lay upon you the duty of seeing that this great pledge is kept and that the Fifty-sixth Congress sets its mark in history by fulfilling these guarantees and securing the ballot to the millions of women citizens, possessing every qualification for the intelligent use of this mighty weapon of liberty?

> The Dome of this Capitol is surmounted by a magnificent statue representing the genius of American freedom. How is this mighty power embodied? As a majestic woman, full-armed and panoplied[Pg 376] to protect the liberty of the republic. Is not this symbol a mockery while the women of the country are held in political slavery? We ask you to insist that the pledges of the republic shall be redeemed, that its promises shall be fulfilled, and that American womanhood shall be enfranchised.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (N. Y.), as had been her custom during all the years since she had ceased to appear in person before these committees, sent a strong appeal for justice, beginning as follows:

> In adjusting the rights of citizens in our newly-acquired possessions, the whole question of suffrage is again fairly open for discussion in the House of Representatives; and as some of the States are depriving the colored men of the exercise of this right and all of the States, except four, deny it to all women, I ask Congress to submit an amendment to the National Constitution declaring that citizens not allowed a voice in the Government shall not be taxed or counted in the basis of representation.

> To every fair mind, such an amendment would appear pre-eminently just, since to count disfranchised classes in the basis of representation compels citizens to aid in swelling the number of Congressmen who may legislate against their most sacred interests. If the Southern States that deny suffrage to negro men should find that it limited their power in Congress by counting in the basis of representation only those citizens who vote, they would see that the interests of the races lay in the same direction. A constitutional amendment to this effect would also rouse the Northern States to their danger, for the same rule applied there in excluding all women from the basis of representation would reduce the number of their members of Congress one-half. And if the South should continue her suicidal policy toward women as well as colored men, her States would be at a still greater disadvantage....

> By every principle of our republic, logically considered, woman's emancipation is a foregone conclusion. The great "declarations," by the fathers, regarding individual rights and the true foundations of government, should not be glittering generalities for demagogues to quote and ridicule, but eternal laws of justice, as fixed in the world of morals as are the laws of attraction and gravitation in the material universe.

> In regard to the injustice of taxing unrepresented classes, Lord Coke says: "The supreme power can not take from any man his property without his consent in person or by representation. The very act of taxing those who are not represented appears to me to deprive them of one of their most sacred rights as free men, and if continued, seems to be in effect an entire disfranchisement of every civil right; for what one civil right is worth a rush when a man's property is subject to be taken from him without his consent?

> Woman's right to life, liberty and happiness, to education, property[Pg 377] and representation, can not be denied, for if we go back to first principles, where did the few get the right, through all time, to rule the many? They never had it, any more than pirates had the right to scour the high seas, and take whatever they could lay hands upon.

Miss Elizabeth Sheldon Tillinghast (Conn.) considered The Economic Basis of Woman Suffrage:

> ....However we may explain it, and whether we like it or not, woman has become an economic factor in our country and one that is constantly assuming larger proportions. The question is now what treatment will make her an element of economic strength instead of weakness as at present. The presence of women in business now demoralizes the rate of wages even more than the increase in the supply of labor. Why? Principally because she can be bullied with greater impunity than voters—because she has no adequate means of self-defense. This seems a hard accusation, but I believe it to be true.

> Trade is a fight—an antagonism of interests which are compromised in contracts in which the economically stronger always wins the advantage. There are many things that contribute to economic strength besides ability, and among them the most potent is coming more and more to be the power which arises from organization expressing itself in political action. Without political expression woman's economic value is at the bottom of the scale. She is the last to be considered, and the consideration is usually about exhausted before she is reached.

> She must do better work than men for equal pay or equal work for less pay. In spite of this she may be supplanted at any time by a political adherent, or her place may be used as a bribe to an opposing faction. Women are weak in the business world because they are new in it; because they are only just beginning to learn their economic value; because their inherent tendencies are passive instead of aggressive, which makes them as a class less efficient fighters than men.

> For these reasons women are and must be for years, if not for generations, economically weaker than men. Does it appeal to any one's sense of fairness to give the stronger party in a struggle additional advantages and deny them to the weaker one? Would that be considered honorable—would it be considered tolerable—even among prize-fighters? What would be thought of a contest between a heavy-weight and a feather-weight in which the heavy-weight was allowed to hit below the belt and the feather-weight was confined to the Marquis of Queensberry's rules? And yet these are practically the conditions under which women do business in forty-one of our States.

> While the State does not owe any able-bodied, sound-minded man or woman a living, it does owe them all a fair—yes, even a generous opportunity to earn their own living, and one that shall not be prolonged[Pg 378] dying. I do not claim that woman suffrage would be a panacea for all our economic woes. But I do claim that it would remove one handicap which women workers have to bear in addition to all those they share in common with men. I do claim that the men of the future will be healthier, wiser and more efficient wealth-producers if their mothers are stimulated by a practical interest in public affairs. I do claim that that nation will be the strongest in which the economic conditions are the most nearly just to all, and in which co-operation and altruism are the most completely incorporated in the lives of the people.

Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt (Miss.) discussed The Changed Intellectual Qualifications of the Women of this Century, with the intense eloquence of Southern women, and closed as follows:

> There are mighty forces striving within our souls—a latent strength is astir that is lifting us out of our passive sleep. Defenseless, still are we subject to restrictions, bonds as illogical in theory as unjust in practice. Helpless, we may formulate as we will; but demonstrate we may not. The query persists in thrusting itself upon my mind, why should I be amenable to a law that does not accord me recognition? Why, indeed, should I owe loyalty and allegiance to a Government that stamps my brow with the badge of servility and inferiority?

> Our human interests are identical—yours and mine; our paths not far apart; we have the same loves, the same hates, the same hopes, the same desires; a common origin, a common need, a common destiny. Our moral responsibilities are equal, our civil liabilities not less than yours, our social and industrial exactions equally as stringent as yours, and yet—O, crowning shame of the nineteenth century!—we are denied the garb of citizenship. Gentlemen, is this justice?

Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, auditor of the National Suffrage Association and a member of the Chicago bar, demonstrated The Protective Power of the Ballot:

> The spirit of struggle against oppression and dependence is in the air, and all have breathed it in—women as well as men. They, too, feel the desire for freedom, opportunity, progress; the wish for liberty, a share in the government, emancipation. The practical method by which these aspirations can be realized is through the ballot. It is the insignia of power. The Outlander wants it; so does the Filipino, the Slav, the Cuban; so do women. Women need the ballot not only for the honor of being esteemed peers among freemen, but they want it for the practical value it will be in protecting them in the exercise of a citizen's prerogatives....

> But, it is asked, "Have not women had some sort of protection without the ballot?" Yes, but it has been only such protection as[Pg 379] the caprice or affection of the voting class has given, gratuities revocable at will. The man of wealth or power defends his wife, daughter or sweetheart because she is his, just as he would defend his property. His own opinions, not her views, decide him concerning the things from which she should be protected. Should she ever need protection against "her protector," there is no one to give it....

> Entrance into remunerative employments in many instances has been denied women. In many of the States the professions of law, medicine, dentistry and all the elective offices are closed by statute. Appointive positions, also, which women might legally hold are practically withheld from them because of their lack of the ballot. The appointing power—president, governor, mayor, judge or commissioner—all owe their own positions to voters who expect some minor appointment in acknowledgment of service.

> Even large private corporations not supposed to be influenced by politics have occasionally desired and received governmental help and protection. In return, the employes of these enterprises have been advised to vote for the party which has protected their employers' business. At a caucus, a street parade and on election day, the 500 or 10,000 or 100,000 persons employed in a certain industry make a considerable political showing if they are all voters. On such occasions women employes are of no value. Women refused employment in various enterprises not alone are injured in their feelings, but they are not protected in their right to earn food, shelter and clothes.

> There are many different kinds of employment which do not debar women, but even in these they need protection in securing a fair return for their labor. In an investigation conducted by the U. S. Department of Labor concerning the wages received by men and women it appeared that in 75 per cent. of the 782 instances investigated, men received 50 per cent. higher wages than did women laboring with the same degree of efficiency on the same kind of work.

> Women also need protection of their property. A man who knows the inside truth says, "Widows and minors are always assessed higher than men." If the assessor desires re-election, one of the easiest methods of securing it is to lower the assessments of the politicians who control most voters....

> Women also want protection for the one sphere which even the most conservative loudly proclaim should be theirs—the home. That the water supply is good and abundant, that the sewage is carried away properly and speedily, that contagious cases are isolated, that food is pure in quality and reasonable in price, that inspection of food is honest and scientific, that weights and measures are true, that gas and electricity are inexpensive, that buildings are strongly constructed—these are all matters under the control of certain officials elected by voters....

> Women, too, want protection for the children, proper regulations in regard to the schools, the trains at crossings, seducers, tramps and child abductors. They want strict laws against obscene literature[Pg 380] and the unhealthy cigarette; and what is equally important, honest enforcement of such laws and ordinances....

> One class can not, will not, legislate better for all classes than they can do for themselves. So men alone can not legislate better for women and men than can the two for both. Women need the ballot to protect themselves and all that they hold dear.

The hearing was closed by Miss Shaw, who said in ending her remarks:

> Dire results have been predicted at every step of radical progress. When women first enjoyed higher education the cry went out that the home would be destroyed. It was said that if all the women were educated, all would become bluestockings, and if all women became bluestockings all would write books, and if all women wrote books what would become of the homes, who would rear the children? But the schools were opened and women entered them, and it has been discovered that the intelligent woman makes a wiser mother, a better homemaker and a much more desirable companion, friend and wife than a woman who is illiterate, whose intellectual horizon is narrowed.

> In many of the States where the statutes were based on the old English common law, the husband absorbed the wife's property as he absorbed her personal rights. Then came the demand for property rights for wives, but the cry went up they will desert their homes. Then it was found there were thousands of women who could have no home if they were not permitted to pursue avocations in the outside world. And then it was said that the moral life of women would be degraded by public contact. Yet the statistics show that in those occupations in which women are able to earn a livelihood in an honorable and respectable manner they have raised the standard of morality rather than lowered it.

> The results have not been those which were predicted. The homes have not been broken up; for human hearts are and always will be the same, and so long as God has established in this world a greater force than all other forces combined—which we call the divine gravity of love—just so long human hearts will continue to be drawn together, homes will be founded, families will be reared; and never so good a home, never so good a family, as those founded in justice and educated upon right principles. Consequently the industrial emancipation of women has been of benefit to the home, to women and to men.

> The claim is made that we are building a barrier between men and women; that we are antagonistic because men are men and we are women. This is not true. We believe there never was a time when men and women were such good friends as now, when they esteemed each other as they do now. We have coeducation in our schools; boys and girls work side by side and study and recite together. When coeducation was first tried men thought they would easily carry off the honors; but soon they learned their mistake.[Pg 381] That experience gave to men a better opinion of woman's intellectual ability.

> There is nothing in liberty which can harm either man or woman. There is nothing in justice which can work against the highest good of humanity; and when on the ground of expediency this measure is opposed, in the words of Wendell Phillips, "Whatever is just, God will see that it is expedient." There is no greater inexpediency than injustice....

> We do not ask the ballot because we do not believe in men or because we think men unjust or unfair. We do not ask to speak for ourselves because we believe men unwilling to speak for us; but because men by their very nature never can speak for women. It would be as impossible for all men to understand the needs of women and care for their interests as it would be for all women to understand the needs and care for the interests of men. So long as laws affect both men and women, both should make the laws.

> Gentlemen, we leave our case with you. I wish those who oppose this measure could know the great need of the power of the ballot in the hands of those who struggle in the world's affairs. I thank you in the name of our association for your kindness in listening to us. There will never be laid before you a claim more just—one more in accord with the fundamental principles of our national life.

No one can read the arguments for the enfranchisement of women as presented before these two committees without a profound conviction of the justice of their cause and the imperative duty of those before whom they pleaded it to report in favor of submitting the desired amendment. This report would simply have placed the matter before the respective Houses of Congress. But neither committee took any action whatever and as far as practical results were concerned these eloquent pleas fell upon deaf ears and hardened hearts.

A unique feature was added to the hearings this year because, for the first time, the advocates of woman suffrage were opposed before the committees by a class of women calling themselves "remonstrants." The Woman's Journal said:

> About a dozen women from New York and Massachusetts, with one from Delaware, came to Washington and made public speeches before Congressional Committees to prove that a woman's place is at home. They said they were led to take this action by their alarm at the activity of the National-American W. S. A.

> The party of "antis" who came to the Senate hearing in the Marble Room would not have been able to get in but for Miss Anthony. As this room accommodates only about sixty persons, admission was by tickets, and these had been issued to delegates only. The "antis," having no tickets, were turned away; but Miss Anthony,[Pg 382] learning who they were, persuaded the doorkeeper to admit them, introduced them herself to the chairman of the committee, and placed them in good seats near the front, where they certainly heard more about the facts of equal suffrage than they ever did before.[129]

> Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge and Miss Bissell addressed the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage, and Mr. Thomas Russell, Mrs. A. J. George, Miss Emily Bissell and Mrs. Rossiter Johnson addressed the House Judiciary Committee. In each case they secured the last word, to which they were not entitled either by equity or custom, by asking to speak at the conclusion of the suffrage hearing. It was trying to have to listen to egregious misstatements of fact, and to hear the Woman's Journal audaciously cited as authority for them, without a chance to reply.

The time for these hearings belonged exclusively to the suffrage delegates, the chairmen of the two congressional committees stating that they would appoint some other day for the "remonstrants." The delegates, however, declaring that they had no objections, the "antis" were permitted to read their papers at the close of the suffrage hearing, thus having the benefit of the large audiences, but furnishing a vast amount of amusement to the suffragists.[130]

The Woman's Journal said in its perfectly fair description:

> The chairman of the House Committee asked Mrs. A. J. George of Massachusetts, who conducted the hearing for the "antis," a number of questions that she could not answer, and Thomas Russell of that State had to prompt her repeatedly. The chairman would ask a question; Mrs. George would look nonplussed; Mr. Russell would lean over and whisper, "Say yes," and she would answer aloud "Yes." The chairman would ask another question; Mr. Russell would whisper, "Say no," and Mrs. George would answer "No." This happened so often that both the audience and the committee were visibly amused, and several persons said it was Mr. Russell who was really conducting the hearing. He is a Boston lawyer who has conducted the legislative hearings for the "antis" in Massachusetts for some years.

[Pg 383]

Mrs. Dodge, in her speech, begged the committee not to allow the "purely sentimental reasons of the petitioners" to have any weight, and said: "The mere fact that this amendment is asked as a compliment to the leading advocate of woman suffrage on the attainment of her eightieth birthday, is evidence of the emotional frame of mind which influences the advocates of the measure, and which is scarcely favorable to the calm consideration that should be given to fundamental political principles." Miss Anthony's birthday had not been mentioned by any speaker before either committee, and the suffragists under her leadership had been making their pleas and arguments for a Sixteenth Amendment for over thirty years.

As the suffrage speakers were not permitted to answer the misstatements and prevarications of the "remonstrants" at the time of the hearings and these were widely circulated through the press, the convention passed the following resolutions on motion of Miss Alice Stone Blackwell:

> Whereas, At this morning's Congressional hearing letters were read by the anti-suffragists from two men and one woman in Colorado, asserting equal suffrage in that State to be a failure; therefore,

> Resolved, That we call attention to a published statement declaring that the results are wholesome and that none of the predicted evils have followed. This statement is signed by the Governor and three ex-Governors of Colorado, the Chief Justice, all the Judges of the State Supreme Court, the Denver District Court and the Court of Appeals; all the Colorado Senators and Representatives in Congress; President Slocum of Colorado College, the president of the State University, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Attorney-General, the mayor of Denver, prominent clergymen of different denominations, and the presidents of thirteen of the principal women's associations of Denver. The social science department of the Denver Woman's Club has just voted unanimously to the same effect, and the Colorado Legislature lately passed a similar resolution by a vote of 45 to 3 in the House and 30 to 1 in the Senate. On the other hand, during the six years that equal suffrage has prevailed in Colorado the opponents have not yet found six respectable men who assert over their own names and addresses that it has had any bad results.

> Whereas, At the Congressional hearing it was asserted that equal suffrage had led to no improvements in the laws of Colorado; therefore,

> Resolved, That we call attention to the fact that Colorado owes to equal suffrage the laws raising the age of protection for girls to eighteen years; establishing a State Home for Dependent Children[Pg 384] and a State Industrial School for Girls; making fathers and mothers joint guardians of their children; removing the emblems from the Australian ballot; prohibiting child labor; also city ordinances in Denver providing drinking fountains in the streets; forbidding expectoration in public places, and requiring the use of smoke-consuming chimneys on all public and business buildings.

This anecdote was related the next day: "Miss Anthony's love of the beautiful leads her always to clothe herself in good style and fine materials, and she has an eye for the fitness of things as well as for the funny side. 'Girls,' she said yesterday, after returning from the Capitol, 'those statesmen eyed us very closely, but I will wager that it was impossible after we got mixed together to tell an anti from a suffragist by her clothes. There might have been a difference, though, in the expression of the faces and the shape of the heads,' she added drily."

On Tuesday afternoon about two hundred members of the convention were received by President McKinley in the East Room of the White House. Miss Anthony stood at his right hand and, after the President had greeted the last guest, he invited her to accompany him upstairs to meet Mrs. McKinley, who was not well enough to receive all of the ladies. Giving her his arm he led her up the old historic staircase, "as tenderly as if he had been my own son," she said afterward. When she was leaving, after a pleasant call, Mrs. McKinley expressed a wish to send some message to the convention and she and the President together filled Miss Anthony's arms with white lilies, which graced the platform during the remainder of the meetings.

### FOOTNOTES:

[120] The statistics used in this paper were taken from the report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education for 1899.

[121] See chapter on Louisiana.

[122] The address of Miss Laughlin created a sensation. A member of the United States Labor Commission was in the audience, and was so much impressed with the power of this young woman that shortly afterwards she was made a member of this commission to investigate the condition of the working women of the United States. Her valuable report was published in pamphlet form.

[123] See chapter on Kansas.

[124] Immediately after the convention, the New York Times published an alleged interview with Mrs. Paul, in which she was made to say that she was not a believer in suffrage for women. She at once denied this emphatically over her own signature, saying that the interview was a fabrication and that she was an advocate of the enfranchisement of women especially because of the need of their ballot in city government.

[125] This was held the first week in December, 1901, and netted about $8,000 for the association.

[126] It will be noticed in this pamphlet that all but one of the favorable reports from congressional committees were made during the years when Miss Anthony had a winter home at the Riggs House, through the courtesy of its proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Spofford, and was able to secure them through personal attention and influence. There were always some members of these committees who were favorable to woman suffrage, but with the great pressure on every side from other matters, this one was apt to be neglected unless somebody made a business of seeing that it did not go by default. This Miss Anthony did for many years, and during this time secured the excellent reports of 1879, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886 and 1890. The great speech of Senator T. W. Palmer, made February 6, 1885, was in response to her insistence that he should keep his promise to speak in favor of the question. In 1888-90 Mrs. Upton, who was residing in Washington with her father, Ezra B. Taylor, M. C., did not permit the Judiciary Committee to forget the report for that year, which was the first and only favorable House Report.

[127] For account of the work of the association before Congress see Chap. I.

[128] George W. Ray, N. Y., chairman; John J. Jenkins, Wis.; Richard Wayne Parker, N. J.; Jesse Overstreet, Ind.; De Alva S. Alexander, N. Y.; Vespasian Warner, Ill.; Winfield S. Kerr, O.; Charles E. Littlefield, Me.; Romeo H. Freer, W. Va.; Julius Kahn, Calif.; William L. Terry, Ark.; David A. De Armond, Mo.; Samuel W. T. Lanham, Tex.; William Elliott, S. C.; Oscar W. Underwood, Ala.; David H. Smith, Ky.; William H. Fleming, Ga.

[129] That this was a mistaken courtesy was proved by subsequent events, as afterwards Mrs. Dodge came out with a card in the New York Sun denying that they were admitted through the intervention of Miss Anthony.

[130] In the official Senate report of the hearing the arguments of the suffragists filled forty pages; those of the "antis" five pages. They consisted of brief papers by Mrs. Dodge and Miss Bissell. The former took the ground that the Congress should leave this matter to be decided by the States; that women are not physically qualified to use the ballot; and that its use by them would render "domestic tranquillity" a byword among the people. Miss Bissell began by saying, "It is not the tyranny but the chivalry of men that we have to fear," and opposed the suffrage principally because the majority of women do not want it, saying, "I have never yet been so situated that I could see where a vote could help me. If I felt that it would, I might become a suffragist perhaps."

[Pg 385]

## CHAPTER XXI.

### THE NATIONAL-AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1900 CONTINUED.

It had been known for some time before the suffrage convention of Feb. 8-14, 1900, that Miss Anthony intended to resign the presidency of the national association at that time, when she would be eighty years old, but her devoted adherents could not resist urging that she would reconsider her decision. When they assembled, however, they found it impossible to persuade her to continue longer in the office. The Washington Post of February 8 said:

> Miss Susan B. Anthony has resigned. The woman who for the greater part of her life has been the star that guided the National Woman Suffrage Association through all of its vicissitudes until it stands to-day a living monument to her wonderful mental and physical ability has turned over the leadership to younger minds and hands, not because this great woman feels that she is no longer capable of exercising it, but because she has a still larger work to accomplish before her life's labors are at an end. In a speech which was characteristic of one who has done so much toward the uplifting of her sex, Miss Anthony tendered her resignation during the preliminary meeting of the executive committee, held last night at the headquarters in the parlors of the Riggs House.

> Although Miss Anthony had positively stated that she would resign in 1900, there were many of those present who were visibly shocked when she announced that she was about to relinquish her position as president of the association. In the instant hush which followed this statement a sorrow settled over the countenances of the fifty women seated about the room, who love and venerate Miss Anthony so much, and probably some of them would have broken down had it not been that they knew well her antipathy to public emotion. In a happy vein, which soon drove the clouds of disappointment from the faces of those present, she explained why she no longer desired to continue as an officer of the association after having done so since its beginning.

> "I have fully determined," she began, "to retire from the active presidency of the association. I was elected assistant secretary of a woman suffrage society in 1852, and from that day to this have always held an office. I am not retiring now because I feel unable,[Pg 386] mentally or physically, to do the necessary work, but because I wish to see the organization in the hands of those who are to have its management in the future." Then jestingly she continued: "I want to see you all at work, while I am alive, so I can scold if you do not do it well. Give the matter of selecting your officers serious thought. Consider who will do the best work for the political enfranchisement of women, and let no personal feelings enter into the question."

While Miss Anthony seemed at the height of her physical and mental vigor, those who loved her best felt it to be right that she should be relieved of the burdens of the office which were growing heavier each year as the demands upon the association became more numerous, and should be free to devote her time to certain lines of work which could be done only by herself. They tried to imitate her own cheerfulness and philosophy in this matter, but found it more difficult than it ever before had been to follow where she led.

The last of the resolutions, presented to the convention a few days later by the chairman of the committee, Henry B. Blackwell, read as follows: "In view of the announced determination of Miss Susan B. Anthony to withdraw from the presidency of this association, we tender her our heartfelt expression of appreciation and regard. We congratulate her upon her eightieth birthday, and trust that she will add to her past illustrious services her aid and support to the younger workers for woman's enfranchisement. We shall continue to look to her for advice and counsel in the years to come. May the new century witness the fruition of our labors."

This was unanimously adopted by a rising vote. Observing that many of the delegates were on the point of yielding to their feelings, Miss Anthony arose and in clear, even tones, with a touch of quaint humor, said:

> I wish you could realize with what joy and relief I retire from the presidency. I want to say this to you while I am still alive—and I am good yet for another decade—don't be afraid. As long as my name stands at the head, I am Yankee enough to feel that I must watch every potato which goes into the dinner-pot and supervise every detail of the work. For the four years since I fixed my date to retire, I have constantly been saying to myself, "Let go, let go, let go!" I am now going to let go of the machinery but not of the spiritual part. I expect to do more work for woman suffrage[Pg 387] in the next decade than ever before. I have not been for nearly fifty years in this movement without gaining a certain "notoriety," at least, and this enables me to get a hearing before the annual conventions of many great national bodies, and to urge on them the passage of resolutions asking Congress to submit to the State Legislatures a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution forbidding disfranchisement on account of sex. This is a part of the work to which I mean to devote myself henceforward. Then you all know about the big fund which I am going to raise so that you young workers may have an assured income and not have to spend the most of your time begging money, as I have had to do.

The convention proceeded to the election of officers. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.), who was a candidate for president, asked permission to make a personal explanation and said: "I have received from many parts of the United States expressions of regard and esteem that have deeply touched me. But in the interests of harmony I desire to withdraw my name from any consideration you may have wished to give me." Of the 278 votes cast for president Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt (N. Y.) received 254; eleven of the remaining twenty-four were cast for Miss Anthony and ten for Mrs. Blake. The other members of the old board were re-elected almost unanimously.[131]

The Washington Post said: "There was a touching scene when the vote for Mrs. Chapman Catt was announced. First there was an outburst of applause, and then as though all at once every one realized that she was witnessing the passing of Susan[Pg 388] B. Anthony, their beloved president, the deepest silence prevailed for several seconds. Lifelong members of the association, who had toiled and struggled by the side of Miss Anthony, could not restrain their emotions and wept in spite of their efforts at control." The Washington Star thus described the occasion:

> Mrs. Blake not being in the hall, Miss Anthony was made a committee of one to present Mrs. Catt to the convention. The women went wild as, erect and alert, she walked to the front of the platform, holding the hand of her young co-worker, of whom she is extremely fond and of whom she expects great things. Miss Anthony's eyes were tear-dimmed, and her tones were uneven, as she presented to the convention its choice of a leader in words freighted with love and tender solicitude, rich with reminiscences of the past, and full of hope for the future of the new president and her work.

> "Suffrage is no longer a theory, but an actual condition," she said, "and new occasions bring new duties. These new duties, these changed conditions, demand stronger hands, younger heads and fresher hearts. In Mrs. Catt you have my ideal leader. I present to you my successor."

> By this time half the women were using their handkerchiefs on their eyes and the other half were waving them in the air.

The object of all this praise stood with downcast eyes and evidently was deeply moved. At length she said in response:

> Good friends, I should hardly be human if I did not feel gratitude and appreciation for the confidence you have shown me; but I feel the honor of the position much less than its responsibility. I never was an aspirant for it. I consented only six weeks ago to stand. I was not willing to be the next president after Miss Anthony. I have known that there was a general loyalty to her which could not be given to any younger worker. Since Miss Anthony announced her intention to retire, there have been editorials in many leading papers expressing approval of her—but not of the cause. She has been much larger than our association. The papers have spoken of the new president as Miss Anthony's successor. Miss Anthony never will have a successor.

> A president chosen from the younger generation is on a level with the association, and it might suffer in consequence of Miss Anthony's retirement if we did not still have her to counsel and advise us. I pledge you whatever ability God has given me, but I can not do this work alone. The cause has got beyond where one woman can do the whole. I shall not be its leader as Miss Anthony has been; I shall be only an officer of this association. I will do all I can, but I can not do it without the co-operation of each of you. The responsibility much overbalances the honor, and I hope you will all help me bear the burden.

MRS. CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT.
Successor of Miss Susan B. Anthony as President of National-American Woman Suffrage Association.

[Pg 389]

It was voted on motion of Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery to make Miss Anthony honorary president, which was done with applause and she observed informally: "You have moved me up higher. I always did stand by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and my name always was after hers, and I am glad to be there again."

The press notices said of the new officer:

> Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the newly-elected president of the National Suffrage Association, is a young and handsome woman with a charming personality, and is one of the most eloquent and logical speakers upon the public platform. For the past five years she has been lecturer and organizer for the association, where she has shown rare executive ability and earnestness of purpose.

> She has traveled from east to west and from north to south many times, lectured in nearly every city in the Union and has been associated with every important victory that equal suffrage has won of late years. She was in Colorado during the amendment campaign, and the women attribute their success to her more than to any other person from outside the State. She was in Idaho, where all four political parties put suffrage planks into their platforms and the amendment carried. She went before the Louisiana constitutional convention, by the earnest invitation of New Orleans women, and it gave tax-paying women the right to vote upon all questions submitted to the tax-payers.

It had been known for several years that Mrs. Chapman Catt was Miss Anthony's choice as her successor; she was considered the best-equipped woman in the association for the position, and the vote of the delegates showed how nearly unanimous was her election. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, who for a number of years had been vice-president-at-large, could have had Miss Anthony's sanction and the unanimous vote of the convention if she would have consented to accept the office.

Mrs. Chapman Catt opened the next day's meeting by saying:

> A surprise was promised as part of this afternoon's program and a pleasant duty now falls to me. It is to present Miss Anthony with the spirit of a gift, for the gift itself is not here. Suffrage people from all over the world go to see Miss Anthony at her home in Rochester, N. Y., and consequently the carpets of the parlor and sitting-room are getting a little worn. When she goes home she will find two beautiful Smyrna rugs fitting the floors of those two rooms—the gift of her suffrage friends. I am also commissioned to present her with an album. Some of our naughty officers have been making fun of it and saying that albums are all out of date; but this one contains the photographs of all the presidents of the[Pg 390] State Suffrage Associations, and the chairmen of standing committees. No collection of "antis" could be found that would present in their faces as much intelligence and strength of character.

Miss Anthony expressed her thanks, and said: "These girls have disproved the old saying that a secret can not be kept by a woman, for I have not heard a word of a rug or a picture."

From the Utah Silk Commission composed of women came a handsome black brocaded dress pattern, the work of women, from the tending of the cocoons to the weaving of the silk. A beautiful solid silver vase was presented from "the free women of Idaho." There was also from this State an album of two hundred pages of pen drawings, water colors and pressed flowers, with a sentiment on each page, the contributions of as many individuals. California sent more than one hundred dollars. From every State came gifts of money, silver-plate, fine china, sofa cushions, books, pictures, exquisite jewelry, lace, chatelaine bags and every token which loving hearts could devise. To each Miss Anthony responded with a terse sentence or two, half tender, half humorous; the audience entered fully into the spirit of it all, and the convention was like a big family enjoying the birthday of one of its members.

Of the last session on February 14, the Washington Post said:

> A vast audience consisting of both men and women witnessed at the Church of Our Father, last evening, the passing of Susan B. Anthony as president of the National Suffrage Association. It was the final evening session of the Thirty-second annual convention, which, Miss Anthony announced at its close, had been the most successful from every point of view of any ever held.

> Long before the opening hour arrived the church was completely filled, and people stood eight and ten deep in the aisles, sat around the edge of the speakers' platform and filled the approaches to the church. Miss Anthony and many of the other speakers, who arrived at eight o'clock, had great difficulty in reaching the platform.

John C. Bell, member of Congress from Colorado, made the opening address in which he said: "The greatest obstruction to human progress is human prejudice. As long as men are controlled more by their prejudices than by their reason, they will be slaves to habit. If women had voted from the foundation of the Government it would now be as difficult to deprive them of this privilege as it would be to repeal the Bill of Rights, but as the[Pg 391] men have done the voting from the beginning, the force of habit is successfully battling with both reason and justice." He refuted the charge that woman suffrage made dissension in families, saying: "You must bear in mind that the extending of the elective franchise to women not only elevates and broadens them but the men as well."

The address of Mrs. Blatch on Woman and War was among the most notable of the convention. She declared that one of the good effects of war was that "it made women work." The Post said: "Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, a daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whose present home is in England, laid the blame of all the British reverses in the Transvaal at the door of what she termed 'the evils of an idle aristocracy.' In a most dramatic manner she denounced the course of the British Empire. After summing up the war situation she said: 'The English armies now on the battle-fields in the Transvaal have at their heads as officers sons of this idle aristocracy, who through their incompetency are not fit to be leaders. They are beneath contempt, but to the English soldier all honor is due. He is all right.'"

The speech of the pioneer Quaker suffragist, Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.), delighted the audience, and her comparison of Abraham Lincoln and Susan B. Anthony, "both having devoted their lives to freedom," was enthusiastically received. Then occurred one of the pleasant diversions so characteristic of these suffrage conventions. During the interval while the collection was being taken, Mrs. Helen Mosher James, niece of Miss Anthony, stepping to the front of the platform, said: "This is the Rev. Anna Shaw's birthday. Her friends wish to present her with an easy chair to await her when she comes back wearied from going up and down the land, satchel in hand, on her many lecture tours. Here are fifty-three gold dollars, one for each year of her life, and we wish her to buy such a chair as suits her best."

In response the little minister said in part: "I am not like Miss Anthony, so used to having gifts poured in upon me that I know just what to say. I shall buy the chair when I have been told what is the correct thing to buy by another niece of Miss Anthony's, who for twelve years has made a home for me. If you[Pg 392] want to see a pretty little spot, come to our home, and every one of you shall sit in our chair."[132]

Then Miss Anthony, clasping the hand of Mrs. Chapman Catt, led her forward and introduced her to the audience as "president of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association." The Woman's Journal thus described the occasion:

> She was received with immense applause, the great audience rising and waving handkerchiefs. She spoke on The Three I's, showing how every effort of women for improvement was called, first, indelicate, then immodest, and finally impracticable, but how all the old objections had been proved to be, in legal phrase, "incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial."

> The woman's rights agitation began in the early days of the republic, and a moral warfare along that line has been waged for more than a hundred years. Each step has been fiercely contested. The advocates of every claim have been lovers of justice and the opponents have been adherents of conservatism. The warfare has been waged in three distinct battles, the weapon of the opponents always being ridicule, that of the defenders, appeals to reason.

> In the early days, when colleges and public schools were closed to women and the education of girls was confined to the three R's, an agitation was begun to permit them to take more advanced studies. Society received it with the cry "indelicate." At that time delicacy was the choicest charm of woman and indelicacy was a crushing criticism. But the battle was won.

> The second great battle occurred between 1850 and 1860. Upon every hand incorrigible woman, with a big W, arose to irritate and torment the conservatives of the world. She appeared in the pulpit, on the platform, in conventions, in new occupations and in innumerable untried fields. Everywhere the finger of scorn was pointed at her, and the world with merciless derision pronounced her immodest. But that battle was won.

> We are now in the heat of the greatest of all battles. Woman asks for the suffrage. The world answers, "impractical." We are told that this movement is quite different from all others because there is an organized opposition of women themselves against it, but the "remonstrant" is not new. This century has witnessed ten generations of remonstrants. In 1800 the remonstrant was horrified at the study of geography. In 1810 she accepted geography but protested against physiology. In 1820 she accepted physiology but protested against geometry. In 1830 she accepted geometry but protested against the college education. In 1840 she accepted the college but remonstrated against the property laws for married women. In 1850 she accepted the property laws but remonstrated against public speaking. In 1860 she protested against[Pg 393] the freedom of organization. In 1870 she remonstrated against the professions for women. In 1880 she protested against school suffrage. In 1890 she protested against women in office. In 1900 she accepts everything that every former generation of remonstrants has protested against and, availing herself of the privilege of free public speech secured by this women's rights movement, pleads publicly that she may be saved from the burden of voting.

> The remonstrant of 1800 said "indelicate," of 1850 "immodest," of 1900 "impractical." That the forces of conservatism will surrender as unconditionally to the forces of justice in the great battle of the impractical as they did in the battle of the indelicate and of the immodest is as inevitable as that the sun will rise tomorrow.

At the close of her fine address, of which this is the barest synopsis, Miss Anthony came forward and asked triumphantly, "Do you think the three hundred delegates made a mistake in choosing that woman for president?"—a question which brought out renewed applause. She then introduced to the audience the other officers, all of whom except Mrs. McCulloch had served in their present capacity from eight to ten years, Mrs. Avery having been corresponding secretary twenty years. They were enthusiastically greeted. Afterwards she presented Miss Clara Barton, the president of the Red Cross Association, an earnest advocate of suffrage, and as the cheers for her rang out, Miss Anthony observed, "Politically her opinion is worth no more than an idiot's."

Miss Anthony came forward at the close of the program and, the audience realizing that she was about to say good-bye, there was the most profound stillness, with every eye and ear strained to the utmost tension. A woman who loved the theatrical and posed for effect would have taken advantage of this opportunity to create a dramatic scene and make her exit in the midst of tears and lamentations, but nothing could be further from Miss Anthony's nature. Her voice rang out as strong and true as if making an old-time speech on the rights of women, with only one little break in it, and she covered this up by saying quickly, "Not one of our national officers ever has had a dollar of salary. I retire on full pay!"

The Washington Post said of this occasion:

> The convention closed its labors with the farewell address of Miss Anthony. The retiring president paid a magnificent tribute to the faithful women whose aid and loyal companionship she had enjoyed for so many years. Emphatically she declared that she[Pg 394] was not going to give up her efforts in behalf of that for which she had struggled so long, and concluded: "I am grateful to this association; I am grateful to you all, and to the world, for the great kindness which has been mine. To-morrow I will have finished fourscore years. I have lived to rise from the most despised and hated woman in all the world of fifty years ago, until now it seems as if I am loved by you all. If this is true, then I am indeed satisfied."

> Miss Anthony lost control of her voice for a moment. She soon regained her composure, however, and, calling the officers of the association to her side, she told of what each individual had done for the organization. It was a pretty picture. The audience caught the spirit of determination from Miss Anthony and a thunderous applause and waving of handkerchiefs followed.

The great crowd sang the doxology and even then seemed unwilling to disperse, hundreds of people staying for a hand-shake and a few personal words with the officers and delegates.

The day following the close of the convention was the eightieth anniversary of Miss Anthony's birth, and many suffrage advocates from different parts of the country had come to the national capital to assist in celebrating it. The following program was handsomely prepared for distribution and was carried out, except that Mrs. Birney and Dr. Smith were unavoidably absent.

Celebration of the Eightieth Birthday
of
SUSAN B. ANTHONY,
at the
Lafayette Opera House, Washington, D. C., Feb'y 15, 1900.

Song | John W. Hutchinson
Greetings from
National Congress of Mothers, | Mrs. Theodore Weld Birney, President
National Council of Women, | Fannie Humphreys Gaffney, President
International Council of Women, | May Wright Sewall, President
Greetings from the Professions:
Ministry | Rev. Ida C. Hultin
Law | Diana Hirschler
Medicine | Dr. Julia Holmes Smith
Violin Solo—Hungarian Rhapsodie (Hansen), | Joseph H. Douglass
Greetings from[Pg 395]
Business Women | Lillian M. Hollister
Colored Women | Coralie Franklin Cook
District Equal Suffrage Association | Ellen Powell Thompson
Greetings from the Enfranchised States:
Wyoming | Helen M. Warren
Colorado | Virginia Morrison Shafroth
Utah | Emily S. Richards
Idaho | Mell C. Woods
"Love's Rosary" (poem) | Lydia Avery Coonley-Ward
Greeting from Elizabeth Cady Stanton | Harriot Stanton Blatch
Greeting from the National American Suffrage Association | Rev. Anna Howard Shaw
Response | Susan B. Anthony

To Susan B. Anthony.

The gibe and ridicule and social frown,
That through long years her faithful life assailed,
Are dead and vanished; as a queen now hailed,
Upon her reverend brow rests Honor's crown,
A faith that faced all adverse fortune down,
A courage that in trial never failed,
A scorn of self that grievous weight entailed,
Have blossomed into laurels of renown.
As, after days of bitter storm and blast,
The chilling wind becomes a breeze of balm,
Billows subside, and sea-tossed vessels cast
Their anchors in the restful harbor calm,
So this brave life has gained its haven blest,
Bathed in the sunset glories of the west.
Wm. Lloyd Garrison.

Birthday Celebration Committee:

Carrie Chapman Catt, Chairman, New York.
Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Pennsylvania.
Harriet Taylor Upton, Ohio.
Emily M. Gross, Illinois.
Frances P. Burrows, Michigan.
Helen M. Warren, Wyoming.
Lucy E. Anthony, Pennsylvania.
Harriot Stanton Blatch, England.
May Wright Sewall, Indiana.
Mary B. Clay, Kentucky.
Rachel Foster Avery, Pennsylvania.

Every large newspaper in the country had a description of what might be properly considered an event of national interest. The Washington Post said: "The program, though a long one,[Pg 396] was replete throughout with stirring tributes to Miss Anthony's great career. Eloquent women who ascribed the opportunities which they had been allowed to enjoy to the tremendous effort to which their beloved leader had devoted her whole life, stood before the audience and voiced their sentiments. Tears and applause mingled swiftly as the voices of the speakers rang through the theater, recounting the hardships, the struggles, and at last the crowning achievements of the woman whose eightieth birthday was being celebrated."

The Woman's Tribune thus began its report:

> There never has been before and, in the nature of things, there can never be again, a personal celebration having the significant relation to the woman suffrage movement which marked that of Miss Anthony's eightieth birthday. When Mrs. Stanton's eightieth birthday was celebrated five years ago she had already retired from the active leadership of the organization; the program was in charge of the National Council of Women and was largely in the nature of a jubilee for the whole woman movement, although rallying around Mrs. Stanton as a center. Lucretia Mott's eightieth birthday came before the movement had gained the impetus necessary for such a celebration. Lucy Stone passed on in 1893 before reaching this ripe age, and now there is no one left in the lead who represents the earliest stage of the work but Miss Anthony.

> It was the fairest and sunniest day of all the good convention weather, and Lafayette Opera House was full to the remotest part of its fourth gallery with invited guests when Mrs. Chapman Catt opened the program at 3 o'clock. On the stage were the Birthday Committee, a large number of persons who had been thirty years or more in the work, relatives of Miss Anthony and the national officers. Miss Anthony's entrance while the Ladies' Mandolin Club were playing was greeted with long-continued applause.

> John W. Hutchinson was first introduced. After stating that he had known Miss Anthony for fifty-five years, had attended in Ohio in 1850 the second suffrage convention ever held, and had always sympathized with the cause, he sang with a clear, far-reaching voice a song composed by himself.

> The presiding officer stated that the gains of the last half-century in all lines relating to women were largely due to the guest of the occasion and her fellow-workers, and said: "When Miss Anthony began her labors there were practically no organizations of women; now they are numbered by thousands. The crown of the whole is the union of all organizations, the National Council of Women. Its president will now address us."

Mrs. Gaffney said in her tribute:

[Pg 397]

> ....The Christian world reckoned by centuries is just coming of age. Therefore women are beginning to put away childish things and to realize the greatness of womanhood. They have had to let ideals wait. They submitted to conditions because they were afraid that if they did not man would take to the woods and become again a wild barbarian. They were flattered by the fact that men liked them as they were, and they failed to realize that their power to civilize was God-given.

> They needed a leader to rally them, to give them the courage of their convictions; and such a leader Miss Anthony has been. She spoke to the world in tones which rang out so clear and true that they will echo down the centuries. Some who had been protected and petted were slow to rally; others who had broader views accepted sooner the doctrine of rights—not privileges—of rights for all women. Miss Anthony taught us the sisterhood of woman, and that the privileges of one class could not offset the wrongs of another....

Mrs. Sewall, president of the International Council of Women, composed of the Councils of thirteen nations, and the largest organization of women in the world, said in part:

> It is proper that the International Council should remember today "to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's," and to pay tribute to the organization which it may not regard as other than its direct progenitor. There are certain incidents, simple in themselves, in which probably the actors are always at the time quite unconscious of their perennial significance, and yet which become landmarks in the evolution of the human spirit. Such are Thermopylæ and Marathon and Bunker Hill. Such was that first convention at Seneca Falls.... The light from that meeting, springing from a vital source, has vitalized every point it has touched. Other torches lit by that have become beacon lights, and every one has stood for the illumination of women....

> In the name and in the blended tongues of the women of the different nationalities who belong to the International Council, I salute and congratulate you.... I beg the proud honor of placing your name, Miss Anthony, among the list of Patrons of the Council as a birthday gift, where it shall one day be pronounced in every language....

The Rev. Ida C. Hultin brought the gratitude of the ministers, saying:

> ....Women have failed to see that the work of every woman has touched that of every other. The woman who works with the hand helps her who works with the brain. To-day we know there could be no choice of work until there was freedom of choice to work. O, beloved leader, we of the ministry, as they of all ministries of service, bring our greetings and benediction. I hear the voices which shall tell of the new gospel and among them[Pg 398] are the glad tones of women and the intonations of this one who spake in tears, who dared to speak before other tongues were loosed. Years will never silence that voice. Woman in her highest moods will catch the cadence of its melody and in the future there shall be that which will work back and forth to the enlightenment of the world because you have lived and ever shall live....

Miss Hirschler thus closed the tribute of her profession: "In the generations to come when courts of law shall have become courts of justice, women lawyers will think of Susan B. Anthony as one who paved the way and made this possible."

Mrs. Hollister said in part: "Miss Anthony has opened the portals of activities; has dignified labor; has made it possible for women to manage their own affairs—four millions to-day earning independent incomes. Women have given their lives for philanthropies and reforms, but the one we honor to-day gave hers for woman. Olive Schreiner tells of an artist who painted a wonderful picture and none could learn what pigments he used. When he died a wound was found over his heart; he had painted his masterpiece with his own blood. Such women as Miss Anthony are painting their masterpieces with their life's blood."

Mrs. Cook, with a dignity and simplicity which won the audience, said:

> ....It is fitting on this occasion, when the hearts of women the world over are turned to this day and hour, that the colored women of the United States should join in the expressions of love and praise offered to Miss Anthony upon her eightieth birthday. ....She is to us not only the high priestess of woman's cause, but the courageous defender of rights wherever assailed.

> We hold in high esteem her strong and noble womanhood, for in her untiring zeal, her uncompromising stand for justice to women, her unfailing friendship for all good work, she herself is a stronger and better argument in favor of woman's rights than the most gifted orator could put into words. When she first championed woman's cause, humiliation followed her footsteps and injustice barred the door of her progress among even the most favored classes of society; while among less enlightened and enslaved classes the wrongs which woman suffered were too terrible to mention. Carlyle has said, "Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker upon this earth." When Susan B. Anthony was born, a thinker was "let loose." Her voice and her pen have lighted a torch whose sacred fire, like that of some old Roman temples, dies not, but whose penetrating ray shall brighten the path of women down the long line of ages yet to come. Our children and our children's children will be taught to honor her memory, for they[Pg 399] shall be told that she has been always in the vanguard of the immortal few who have stood for the great principles of human rights. Grander than any achievement that has crowned the work of woman in this woman's century has been that which has led her away from the narrow valley of custom and prejudice up to the lofty height where she can accept the Divine teaching that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men."

> Not until the suffrage movement had awakened woman to her responsibility and power, did she come to appreciate the true significance of Christ's pity for Magdalene as well as of His love for Mary; not till then was the work of Pundita Ramabai in far away India as sacred as that of Frances Willard at home in America; not till she had suffered under the burden of her own wrongs and abuses did she realize the all-important truth that no woman and no class of women can be degraded and all womankind not suffer thereby.

> And so, Miss Anthony, in behalf of the hundreds of colored women who wait and hope with you for the day when the ballot shall be in the hands of every intelligent woman; and also in behalf of the thousands who sit in darkness and whose condition we shall expect those ballots to better, whether they be in the hands of white women or black, I offer you my warmest gratitude and congratulations.

Mrs. Thompson presented $200 from the District of Columbia, with the following affectionate tribute:

> ....In behalf of the Suffragists of the District of Columbia, both men and women, I am happy to say I am deputized to present to you a gift which expresses their regard and love for you as well as their appreciation of the almost superhuman efforts you have made for the past fifty years to secure justice and civil and political equality for women.

> The gift is in the form of what is often called "the sinews of war"—money. Not coarse, dead cash, such as passes from hand to hand in everyday transactions, but money every penny of which is alive with sincere thanks and earnest, loving wishes for happiness and continued success in all your endeavors....

> We do not hail you, love you, as one who has made woman's life easier, strewn it with more rose leaves of idleness, shielded it from more stress and storm, but as one who has taken the grander, truer view, that by equally sharing stress and storm, by equal effort and work, by equality in rights, privileges, powers and opportunities with her other self—man—woman will evolve and will reach her loftiest, loveliest development. Not as an apostle of ease, parasitism and shrinking fear do we regard you, but as the apostle, the incarnation, of work, of high courage and deathless endeavor.

> We wish our gift were myriad-fold greater, but it would never express more appreciation of what you stand for and what you are—a Liberator of Woman.

[Pg 400]

Mrs. Helen M. Warren, wife of the Senator from Wyoming, speaking in a fine, resonant voice which would do credit to any legislative hall, read the poem written by Miss Phoebe Cary for the celebration of Miss Anthony's fiftieth birthday, presented her with a brooch, a little American flag, made of gold and jewels, and said: "I feel honored on this, your eightieth birthday, to represent the State of Wyoming which has espoused your cause for more than thirty years. I have in my hand a flag, which bears on its field forty-one common stars and four diamonds, representing the four progressive or suffrage States—Wyoming, the banner State; Colorado, Utah and Idaho. The back of the flag bears this inscription: 'Miss Anthony. From the ladies of Wyoming, who love and revere you. Many happy returns of the day. 1820-1900.' We hope you may live to see all the common stars turn into diamonds. With kindly greetings from Wyoming I present you this expression of her esteem."

Mrs. Shafroth, wife of the Representative from Colorado, presented a gift designed and made by the women of her State, saying: "It is with great pleasure that I bring you the greeting from the sun-kissed land of the West, where the flag which we all love, and of which we all sing, really waves over the land of the free and the home of the brave. Our men are brave and generous and our women are free. You and your noble co-workers stormed the heights of ridicule and prejudice to win this freedom for woman. In behalf of our Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association, I beg you to accept this 'loving cup' of Colorado silver."

Mrs. Emily S. Richards brought the affectionate greetings of the women of Utah, and Mrs. Chapman Catt referred to the loving testimonials which had been sent by the Idaho women.[133] Then after an exquisite violin solo by Mr. Douglass, she said: "The liberties of the citizens of the future will be still more an outgrowth of this movement than those of the present," and to the delighted surprise of the audience the following scene occurred, as described by the Post:

> The most beautiful and touching part of the program was when eighty little children, boys and girls, passed in single file across the stage, each bearing a rose. Slowly they marched, keeping time to[Pg 401] music, and, as they reached the spot where Miss Anthony sat, each child deposited a blossom in her lap, a rose for every year. It was a surprise so complete, so wonderfully beautiful, that for a few moments she could do nothing more than grasp the hand of each child. Then she began kissing the little people, and the applause which greeted this act was deafening. The roses were distributed among the pioneers at the close of the exercises by her request.

Mrs. Coonley-Ward of Chicago gave an eloquent poem, entitled Love's Rosary, which closed as follows:

Behold our Queen! Surely with heart elate
At homage given to her love and power,
World-famed associate of the wise and great,
She is herself the woman of the hour.
How kindly have the years all dealt with her!
She proves that Bible promises are true;
She waited on the Lord without demur,
And He failed not her courage to renew.
Oft on the wings of eagles she uprose;
On mercy's errands have her glad feet run;
And yet no sign of weariness she shows;
She does not faint, but works from sun to sun.
Deep in her eyes burn fires of purpose strong;
Her hand upholds the sceptre of God's truth;
Her lips send forth brave words against the wrong;
Glows in her heart the joy of deathless youth.
Kindly and gentle, learned too, and wise;
Lover of home and all the ties of kin;
Gay comrade of the laughing lips and eyes;
Give us new words to sing your praises in.
Yet let us rather now forget to praise,
Remembering only this true friend to greet,
As drawing near by straight and devious ways,
We lay our hearts—love's guerdon—at her feet.
Blow, O ye winds across the oceans, blow!
Go to the hills and prairies of the West!
Haste to the tropics, search the fields of snow,
Let the world's gift to her become your quest.
Shine, sun, through prism of the waterfall,
And build us here a rainbow arch to span
The years, and hold the citadel
Of her abiding work for God and man.[Pg 402]
What is the gift, O winds, that ye have brought?
O, sun, what legend shines your arch above?
Ah, they are one, and all things else are naught,
Take them, beloved—they are love, love, love!

Mrs. Blatch spoke eloquently for her mother, saying in part:

> I bring to you, Susan B. Anthony, the greetings of your friend and co-worker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, greetings full of gracious memories. When the cause for which you have worked shall be victorious, then as is the way of the world, will it be forgotten that it ever meant effort or struggle for pioneers; but the friendship of you two women will remain a precious memory in the world's history, unforgotten and unforgettable. Your lives have proved not only that women can work strenuously together without jealousy, but that they can be friends in times of sunshine and peace, of stress and storm. No mere fair-weather friends have you been to each other.

> Does not Emerson say that friendship is the slowest fruit in the garden of God? The fruit of friendship between you two has grown through half a hundred years, each year making it more beautiful, more mellow, more sweet. But you have not been weak echoes of each other; nay, often for the good of each you were thorns in the side. Yet disagreement only quickened loyalty. Supplementing each other, companionship drew out the best in each. You have both been urged to untiring efforts through the sympathy, the help of each other. You have attained the highest achievement in demonstrating a lofty, an ideal friendship. This friendship of you two women is the benediction for our century.

The last and tenderest tribute was offered by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw who said, in rich, musical accents and with a manner which seemed almost to be inspired, what can only be most inadequately reported:

> A little over a hundred years ago there came men who told us what freedom is and what freemen may become. Later women with the same love of it in their hearts said, "There is no sex in freedom. Whatever it makes possible for men it will make possible for women." A few of these daring souls went forth to blaze the path. Gradually the sunlight of freedom shone in their faces and they encouraged others to follow. They went slowly for the way was hard. They must make the path and it was a weary task. Sometimes darkness settled over them and they must grope their way. Mott, Stanton, Stone, Anthony—not one retraced her footsteps. The two who are left still stand on the summit, great, glorious figures. We ask, "Is the way difficult?" They answer, "Yes, but the sun shines on us and in the valley they know nothing of its glory. Their cry we hear and are calling back to those who are still in the valley."[Pg 403]

> Leader, comrade, friend, no name can express what you are to us. You might have led us as commander, and we might have followed and obeyed, but there still might have been wanting the divine force of unchanging love. We look up to the sunlight where you stand and say, "We are coming." When we shall be fourscore we shall still be calling to you, "We are coming," for you will still be beckoning us on as you climb still loftier heights. Souls like yours can never rest in all the eternities of God.

Then a hush fell on the people and all waited for Miss Anthony. During the afternoon she had been sitting in a large armchair that was almost covered by her cloak of royal purple velvet which she had thrown over it, the white satin lining forming a lovely background for her finely-shaped head with its halo of silver hair. No one ever had seen her so moved as on this occasion when her memory must have carried her back to the days of bare halls, hostile audiences, ridicule, abuse, loneliness and ostracism by all but a very few staunch friends. "Would she be able to speak?" many in the audience asked themselves, but the nearest friends waited calmly and without anxiety. They never had known her to fail. The result was thus described:

> For a moment after gaining her feet, Miss Anthony stood battling with her emotions, but her indomitable courage conquered, and she smiled at the audience as it rose to greet her. She wore a gown of black duchesse satin with vest and revers of fine white lace in which were a few modest pinks, while she carried a large bouquet of violets. The moment she began talking the shadow passed from her face and she stood erect, with head uplifted, full of her old-time vigor.

> "How can you expect me to say a word?" she said. "And yet I must. I have reason to feel grateful, for I have received letters and telegrams from all over the world.[134] But the one that has touched me the most is a simple note which came from an old home of slavery, from a woman off of whose hands and feet the shackles fell nearly forty years ago. That letter, my friends, contained eighty cents—one penny for every year. It was all that this aged person had....

> I am grateful for the many expressions which I have listened to this afternoon. I have heard the grandson of the great Frederick Douglass speak to me through his violin. I mention this because I remember so well Frederick Douglass when he rose at the convention where the first resolution ever presented for woman suffrage had his eloquence to help it....

> Among the addresses from my younger co-workers, none has[Pg 404] touched me so deeply as that from the one of darker hue.... Nothing speaks so strongly of freedom as the fact that the descendants of those who went through that great agony—which, thank Heaven, has passed away—have now full opportunities and can help to celebrate my fifty years' work for liberty. I am glad of the gains the half-century has brought to the women of Anglo-Saxon birth. And I am glad above all else that the time is coming when all women alike shall have the fullest rights of citizenship.

> I thank you all. If I have had one regret this afternoon, it is that some whom I have longed to have with me can not be here, especially Mrs. Stanton. I want to impress the fact that my work could have accomplished nothing if I had not been surrounded with earnest and capable co-workers. Then, good friends, I have had a home in which my father and mother, brothers and sisters, one and all, stood at my back and helped me to success. I always have had this co-operation and I have yet one sister left, who makes a home for me and aids my work in every possible way....

> I have shed no tears on arriving at a birthday ten years beyond the age set for humanity. I have shed none over resigning the presidency of the association. I am glad to give it up. I do it cheerfully. And even so, when my time comes, I shall pass on further, and accept my new place and vocation just as cheerfully as I have touched this landmark.

> I have passed as the leader of the association of which I have been a member for so long, but I am not through working, for I shall work to the end of my time, and when I am called home, if there exist an immortal spirit, mine will still be with you, watching and inspiring you.

Miss Anthony's words and manner thrilled every heart and left the audience in a state of exaltation.

In the evening, the Corcoran Art Gallery, one of the world's beautiful buildings, was thrown open for the birthday reception. A colored orchestra, under the leadership of Mr. Douglass, rendered a musical program. President Kauffman, of the Board of Trustees, presented the visitors to the guest of honor, and the birthday committee assisted in receiving. Although Miss Anthony had attended a business meeting in the morning, and been the central figure in the celebration of the afternoon lasting until 6 o'clock, she was so alert, happy and vivacious during the entire evening as to challenge the admiration of all. There was no picture in all that famous collection more attractive than this white-haired woman, robed in garnet velvet, relieved by antique fichu, collar and cuffs of old point lace. The city press said:

[Pg 405]

> For two hours, without a moment's intermission, Miss Anthony clasped hands with those who were presented to her and listened to congratulatory expressions. A number of local organizations of women, and also the entire membership of the Washington College of Law, for women, attended the reception in a body.

> On the second floor hung her fine portrait which was presented to the Corcoran Gallery of Art last night by Mrs. John B. Henderson, wife of the former Senator from Missouri. The portrait is in oil and represents Miss Anthony in full profile, attired in black with lace at the throat, and about her shoulders the red shawl which has come to be regarded as the emblem of her office as president of the National Association.

> During the two hours it seemed as if every one who greeted Miss Anthony had met her at some time or at some place long ago. Everybody wanted to stop and converse with her, and in the brief minute they stood before her they plied her with countless questions. In speaking of the event after she had returned to the Riggs House, she said: "Wasn't it wonderful? It seemed as if every other person in that vast throng had met me before, or that I had during my long life been a visitor at the home of some of their relatives. It was grand. It was beautiful. It is good to be loved by so many people. It is worth all the toil and the heartaches."

From a little band apparently leading a forlorn hope, almost universally ridiculed and condemned, Miss Anthony had increased her forces to a mighty host marching forward to an assured victory. From a condition of social ostracism she had brought them to a position where they commanded respect and admiration for their courageous advocacy of a just cause. The small, curious, unsympathetic audiences of early days had been transformed into this great gathering, which represented the highest official life of the nation's capital and the intellectual aristocracy of all the States in the Union. It was a wonderful change to have been effected in the lifetime of one woman, and all posterity will rejoice that the leader of this greatest of progressive movements received the full measure of recognition from the people of her own time and generation.

### FOOTNOTES:

[131] From the founding of the National Association in 1869 the presidency was usually held by Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, while Miss Susan B Anthony was either vice president, corresponding secretary or chairman of the executive committee, although she sometimes filled the presidential chair. Mrs. Stanton continued as president until 1892, when she resigned at the age of seventy six. Miss Anthony was elected that year and held the office until 1900, when she resigned at the age of eighty.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery served as corresponding secretary for twenty one years, from 1880 to 1901. Her resignation was reluctantly accepted and a gift of $1,000 was presented to her, the contribution of friends in all parts of the country.

The other officers since 1884 have been as follows: Vice presidents at large, Miss Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Phoebe W. Couzins, Abigail Scott Duniway and, from 1892, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, treasurers, Jane H. Spofford from 1880 to 1892, and since then Harriet Taylor Upton, recording secretaries, Ellen H. Sheldon, Julia T. Foster, Pearl Adams, Julia A. Wilbur, Caroline A. Sherman, Sara Winthrop Smith, Hannah B. Sperry and, since 1890, Alice Stone Blackwell, auditors, Ruth C. Denison, Julia A. Wilbur, Eliza T. Ward, Ellen M. O'Connor, the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Harriet Taylor Upton, the Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, May Wright Sewall, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Josephine K. Henry, H. Augusta Howard, Annie L. Diggs, Sarah B. Cooper, Laura Clay, Catharine Waugh McCulloch. Mrs. Sewall was chairman of the executive committee from 1882 until she resigned in 1890 and Lucy Stone was elected; in 1892 she begged to be relieved as she was seventy four years old. The committee was then abolished, its duties being transferred to the business committee.

[132] Miss Shaw referred to Miss Lucy E. Anthony, who for twelve years had been her secretary and companion.

[133] The most of the numerous gifts were presented during the convention, as related earlier in the chapter.

[134] Miss Anthony received on this occasion 1,100 letters and telegrams, every one of which she acknowledged later with a personal message.

[Pg 406]

## CHAPTER XXII.

### THE AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.[135]

1884.—The American Woman Suffrage Association which was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, in November, 1869, held its sixteenth annual meeting, November 19, 20, at Hershey Hall, Chicago. Lucy Stone in the Woman's Journal said:

> Beginning with a good-sized audience, it went on increasing in numbers until the gallery, the stairs and the side aisles were literally packed with people.

> Reports of the work done by auxiliary and other societies came in from Maine to Oregon and all the way between, showing in some cases very little and in others a great deal of good work. But each one was helpful in its measure to the final success, just as streams of all sizes flow to make great rivers and the seas. There were present some of the oldest workers—Dr. Mary F. Thomas of Indiana and Mrs. Hannah M. Tracy Cutler of Illinois—who, having put their hands to the plow in the beginning of the movement, have never looked back. To supplement and continue the work there were noble and earnest younger women, who came down from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan and up from Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana and Illinois, women who can speak well for the cause and whose reports show that they know how to work well for it, too. It was a joy and a comfort to meet them....

> Not the least pleasant feature was the cordial friendliness that seemed all-pervasive. Troops of women we had never seen came to shake hands.... A bevy of bright girls stood below the platform on the last evening and, looking up, they said: "We are school-girls now, but we are bound to help." The collections more than paid the expenses, and two hundred memberships were taken.

All the local arrangements had been admirably made by a committee of influential Chicago women.[136] The city papers gave friendly reports, those of the Inter-Ocean being especially full.

The convention was not expected to open till Wednesday evening,[Pg 407] but so large a number of delegates and friends met in the hall in the afternoon that an informal meeting was held in advance. Mrs. Cutler called the assembly to order, and the Rev. Florence Kollock offered prayer. A telegram was read from Chief-Justice Roger S. Greene, of Washington Territory, saying: "Be assured that woman suffrage has worked well, done good, and been generally exercised by women at our State election."

Brief addresses were made by Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore and Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert. Dr. Mary F. Thomas, in the name of the Indiana W. S. A., the oldest State association in the country, organized in 1851, presented the association with a bouquet of never fading chrysanthemums.

On Wednesday evening Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett gave the address of welcome. In referring to the influence of the woman suffrage movement upon the legal status of women, she said that Kansas entered the Union as a State with women's personal and property rights legally recognized as never before. This was largely because a delegate to the Kansas constitutional convention which met in Leavenworth, (Mr. Sam Wood), wrote to Lucy Stone at her home in Orange, N. J., asking her to draft a legal form, which she did, with her baby on her knee, and its suggestions were afterwards incorporated in the organic law of that State.[137] As one result of School Suffrage in the hands of women, Kansas had the best schools in the United States while the people still lived in cabins.

Mrs. Mary B. Clay, of Kentucky, president of the association, made a special plea for work in the South, saying in part:

> Alabama has given married women equal property rights with their husbands. This monied equality I regard as one of the most essential steps to our freedom, for as long as women are dependent upon men for bread their whole moral nature is necessarily warped. There never was a truer thought than that of Alexander Hamilton, when he said, "He who controls my means of daily subsistence controls my whole moral being." I therefore recommend to the Southern women particularly the petitioning for property rights, because[Pg 408] pecuniary independence is one of the most potent weapons for freedom, and because that claim has less prejudice to overcome....

> Mississippi also has made equal property laws for women; and Arkansas allows married women to hold their own property, and all women to vote on the licensing of saloons within three miles of a church or school-house. A lady writing from there says: "The welcome accorded the law by the women of the State refutes all adverse theories, and establishes the fact that woman's nature possesses an inherent strength and courage which no surroundings can extinguish, and which only need the light of hope and the voice of duty to call them into action." I would recommend that whenever it is possible, we hold our conventions and send our speakers through the South....

Henry B. Blackwell said: "This is not an anti-man society. Suffrage is demanded as much for the sake of men as for the sake of women. What is good for one is good for both;" and Mrs. Livermore said, "Women should have a share in the government because the whole is better than the half."

In the annual report of Mrs. Lucy Stone, chairman of the executive committee, she said in part: "During the past year, the chief effort of the society has been directed to aid the work in Oregon, where a constitutional amendment had been submitted to the voters. One thousand dollars were raised for this purpose by our auxiliary societies, and forwarded to the Oregon Woman Suffrage Association.[138] The society has also printed and circulated at cost more than 100,000 tracts and leaflets."

Officers for the next year were elected, as follows: President, the Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke, State Senator of Indiana; vice-presidents-at-large, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, the Hon. George William Curtis, N. Y.; the Hon. George F. Hoar, Mass.; Mrs. Mary B. Willard, Mrs. H. M. T. Cutler, Ill.; Mrs. D. G. King, Neb.; Mrs. R. A. S. Janney, O.; Mrs. J. P. Fuller, Mrs. Rebecca N. Hazard, Mo.; Mrs. Martha A. Dorsett, Minn.; Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall, Ia.; Mrs. Mary B. Clay, Ky.; foreign corresponding secretary, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe; corresponding secretary, Henry B. Blackwell; recording secretary, Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell; treasurer, Mrs. Abbie T. Codman; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone.[139][Pg 409]

Mr. Blackwell, chairman of the committee, reported resolutions which were adopted with a few changes as follows:

> Resolved, In the words of Abraham Lincoln, That "we go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens, by no means excluding women;" that a government of the people, by the people, for the people, must be a government of men and women, by men and women, for men and women; and that any other form of government is unreasonable, unjust and inconsistent with American principles.

> Resolved, That we rejoice in the triumph of woman suffrage in Washington Territory; in the continued success of woman suffrage in Wyoming; in the exercise of School Suffrage by the women of twelve States; in the establishment of Municipal Woman Suffrage by Nova Scotia and Ontario, and in the steady growth of woman suffrage during the past year as shown by more than 21,000 petitioners for it in Massachusetts, by increased activity in Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Minnesota and Oregon, by the recent formation of an active State association in Vermont, and by the presence with us to-day of sixty-six delegates from organized societies in fifteen States.

> Resolved, That the American Association is non-partisan; that success will be promoted by refusing to connect woman suffrage with any political party, or to take sides as suffragists in any party conflict; but that we will question candidates of all parties for State Legislatures, and use every honorable effort to secure the election of suffragists as legislators irrespective of party lines, provided they be men of integrity.

> Resolved, That this association expresses its appreciation of the services rendered by the co-workers who since our last meeting have been gathered with the honored dead: Mrs. Frances D. Gage, who from the beginning of our movement until the last week of her life never ceased to do what she could for its success; Wendell[Pg 410] Phillips, who as early as 1850 attended a woman's rights convention at Worcester, Mass., and made an argument which covered the whole ground of statement and defense, and with serene faith advised: "Take your part with the perfect and abstract right and trust God to see that it shall prove the expedient." Besides these we record the names of Kate Newell Doggett, Laura Giddings Julian, Bishop Matthew Simpson, Mrs. L. B. Barrett, Emily J. Leonard and Jane Gray Swisshelm.

Speaking to the memorial resolution Mrs. Cutler said: "Some years ago I paid a visit to an old and valued friend who had long been an invalid, though never so absorbed in her own suffering as to forget the great needs of her human brothers and sisters. Said she, 'If you outlive me, I hope you will say for me that I tried honestly and earnestly to do my duty.' The promise then given I now attempt to fulfil in behalf of Mrs. Frances Dana Gage, our beloved 'Aunt Fanny,' who entered upon her rest Nov. 10, 1884." Mrs. Cutler gave a full and appreciative review of Mrs. Gage's life. Dr. Mary F. Thomas spoke feelingly of her, of Mrs. Julian and Mr. Phillips; and Mrs. Livermore paid a warm tribute to Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Doggett.

The plan of work adopted was in part as follows:

> 1. That the officers of this association memorialize Congress in behalf of a sixteenth constitutional amendment prohibiting all political distinctions on account of sex.

> 2. That while we do not undervalue any form of agitation, State or national, we hold that practical woman suffrage can at present be best promoted by urging legislative as well as constitutional changes, and by appealing to State as well as national authority; therefore we urge the establishment of active State societies, with their working centers in the State capitals and their corresponding committees in every representative district.

> 3. That in every State, at each session of its Legislature, petitions should be presented by its own citizens asking for woman suffrage by statute in all elections and for all officers not expressly limited by the word "male" in the State constitution.

> 4. That School Suffrage having been secured for women by statute in twelve States, our next demand should be for Municipal Suffrage by statute; also for Presidential Suffrage by statute, under Article 2, Section 1, par. 2, of the United States Constitution.

> 5. And, whereas, in three Territories, viz., Wyoming, Utah and Washington, our cause is already won by statutes, therefore a special effort should be made to secure similar statutory action in the remaining Territories, viz.: Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Arizona and New Mexico.

[Pg 411]

Addresses were made by the Rev. S. S. Hunting, Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell of Iowa and Dr. Thomas. Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart of Indiana, Mrs. Livermore and Lucy Stone addressed the evening meeting, and the singing of the Doxology closed a memorable convention.

1885.—The Seventeenth annual meeting was held in Minneapolis, October 13-15, in the Church of the Redeemer (Universalist), the finest in the city, which was given without charge. Here, as the daily papers said, "the most brilliant audiences that ever assembled in Minneapolis" gathered evening after evening until the last when crowds of people went away unable to find even standing room. The pulpit steps were occupied, extra seats were brought in, the aisles were crowded, and as far as one could see over the throng that filled the doorway, was another assembly eager to hear what it could. The earnest, interested, assenting faces of the vast audience and their hearty applause attested their sympathy with the ideas and principles expressed.

Every evening several of the speakers addressed large audiences in St. Paul, thus carrying on two series of meetings contemporaneously. The Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke occupied the chair. Mayor George A. Pillsbury, of Minneapolis, gave the address of welcome, which he closed by saying: "Our citizens may not all agree with you, yet we recognize the fact that some of the greatest and best minds in the country are engaged in this work. I have never identified myself with your organization but wish you Godspeed, and hope to see the time when the women shall stand with the men at the polls."

Mrs. Julia Ward Howe in responding said: "We are glad to be welcomed for ourselves; we are still more gratified by the welcome extended to our cause. We do not live altogether in our magnificent cities and houses; we all live in houses not made with hands. We have with us some who have devoted their lives to this noble work. They have been building up, stone by stone, a mighty structure, and it is to lay a few more stones that we have gathered here."

It had been persistently asserted that Mrs. Howe and Louisa M. Alcott had renounced their belief in equal suffrage. Mrs. Howe was present to speak for herself. Miss Alcott wrote from Concord, Mass.:[Pg 412]

> I should think it was hardly necessary for me to say that it is impossible for me ever to "go back" on woman suffrage. I earnestly desire to go forward on that line as far and as fast as the prejudices, selfishness and blindness of the world will let us, and it is a great cross to me that ill-health and home duties prevent my devoting heart, pen and time to this most vital question of the age. After a fifty years' acquaintance with the noble men and women of the anti-slavery cause and the sight of the glorious end to their faithful work, I should be a traitor to all I most love, honor and desire to imitate if I did not covet a place among those who are giving their lives to the emancipation of the white slaves of America.

> If I can do no more, let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.

> Most heartily yours for woman suffrage and all other reforms.

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps wrote: "With all my head and with all my heart I believe in womanhood suffrage; can I say more for your convention?" and from the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, of Boston, "Every word spoken for or against our cause helps it forward. I feel that there is a current of conviction sweeping us on toward the day when there shall be neither male nor female, in Church or State, but equal rights for all, and the tools to those who can use them."

Chief-Justice Greene, of Washington Territory, sent a careful statistical computation in regard to the women's votes, and said: "My sober judgment, from the best light I have succeeded in getting, is that at our last general election the women cast as full or a fuller vote than the men in proportion to their numbers." Mrs. Livermore wrote:

> Whatever may be the apparent direction of the ripples on the surface, facts which accumulate daily show us that the cause of woman's enfranchisement progresses with a deep and steady undercurrent. The long, weary, faithful work of the past, covering almost half a century, has resulted in a radical change of public opinion. It has opened to woman the doors of colleges, universities and professional schools; it has increased her opportunities for self-support till the United States census enumerates nearly 300 employments in which women are working and earning livelihoods; it has repealed many of the unjust laws which discriminate against woman; it has given her partial suffrage in twelve States and full suffrage in three Territories.

> Courage, then, for the end draws near! A few more years of persistent, faithful work and the women of the United States will be recognized as the legal equals of men; for the goal towards[Pg 413] which we toil is the enfranchisement of women, since the ballot is the only symbol of legal equality that is known in a republic.

Chancellor Wm. G. Eliot, of Washington University, St. Louis, wrote:

> Considered as a right, suffrage belongs equally to man and woman. They are equally citizens and taxpayers. They share equally in the advantages of good government and suffer equally from bad legislation. They equally need the right of self-protection which the ballot alone can give. In average good, practical sense, wherever fair opportunity is permitted women are equal to men. In moral perception and practice women are at least equal—generally the superiors, if such comparison must be made. There is, therefore, no justification in saying that the right of suffrage, on whatever founded, belongs to man rather than to woman.

> Considered as a privilege, little needs to be said on either side.... Every citizen is under moral obligation to take part in the social interests and welfare of the community, whether national or municipal. Woman equally with man is under that moral law. In a republic she can not rightly be deprived of the opportunity to do her full share as a citizen in all that concerns good government.

> This seems to be the whole story. I have read with astonishment the arguments (so called) of Francis Parkman, the Rev. Brooke Herford and Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells. They scarcely touch the real merits of the case.

Dr. Mary F. Thomas, of Indiana, wrote:

> As I see pictured before me all of you gathered from different parts of this great sisterhood of States to discuss the grand principle of human freedom, I can but compare this assembly with one convened in Philadelphia over a hundred years ago with this difference—they declared for the civil and political freedom of all men; you ask to-day that all human beings of sound mind shall enjoy the civil and political rights which they are entitled to by virtue of their humanity. As the judicious management of the family circle requires the combined wisdom and judgment of father and mother, so this great political family, whose interests are identical, can only be consistently managed by the complete representation and concurrence of each individual governed by its laws.

> It is not necessary for me to show argument for this statement, as your meeting to-day, composed of men and women thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the great truth contained in the Declaration of Independence, will supply words glowing with fervor that can not be written, that comes with a full conviction of the magnitude of this great question, involving even the perpetuity of our government.... But without other reasons than that it is right, let the united voice of your meeting demand full recognition of the political rights of the women of the nation, so that it may[Pg 414] stand before the world exemplifying the meaning of a true republic. After near half a century of earnest, continued pleading we see light breaking in different parts of the political horizon. If it takes half a century more, nay, even longer than that, to establish this truth let us never falter. For we know our cause is just and, as God is just, the eternal principles of right must succeed.

Among the speakers were Mr. Foulke, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Alice Pickler of Dakota, Mrs. Cutler, Miss Bessie Isaacs of Washington Territory, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles of Massachusetts, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway, editor of the New Northwest, Oregon, and from Minneapolis Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, C. H. Du Bois, editor of the Spectator, Dr. Martha G. Ripley, the Rev. Dr. J. H. Tuttle, pastor of the Church of the Redeemer, the Rev. Kristofer Jansen, of the Swedish Unitarian Church, the Rev. Mr. Williams of the City Mission, the Rev. Mr. Tabor of the Friends' Church, the Rev. Mr. Harrington, a visiting Universalist minister, and Mrs. Charlotte O. Van Cleve, of the Bethany Home, who spoke of herself and her associates as "the ambulance corps, to pick up and care for the fallen and wounded of their sex."

Judge Norton H. Hemiup of Minneapolis, read a humorous play in several acts, dramatically representing the venerable widows of ex-presidents and wives of living ones going to the polls in their respective precincts and offering their votes in vain, while those of the late slaves and of men half-drunk and wholly ignorant were received without a question.

Major J. A. Pickler, the chivalrous legislator of Dakota, who championed the suffrage bill which passed both Houses and was defeated by the veto of Gov. Gilbert F. Pierce, was invited to tell the history of the bill and did so in a vigorous speech. He said its passage was materially aided by the efforts of Eastern remonstrants to defeat it, and added: "There are peculiar reasons why our women should have their rights, as they own fully one-fourth of the land and are veritable heroines." During the convention the men and women present from Dakota organized an association to carry on the battle for equal rights in that Territory.

Mrs. Howe said in her address:

> While a great deal needs to be said to both men and women on the subject of woman suffrage, I am one who thinks that most needs[Pg 415] to be said to women. This is quite natural both because of their timidity in putting themselves forward and because of their frequent ignorance of the principles upon which reform is based. No one could be more opposed to woman suffrage than I was twenty years ago. Everything I had read and heard seemed to point in exactly the opposite direction. But at the first meeting I attended I heard Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other pioneers of the cause, found nothing but reasonableness in their speech and their arguments and so was speedily converted.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic was then sung by Prof. James G. Clark, the well-known singer of anti-slavery days, the audience rising and joining in the chorus.

Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell of Iowa, who was introduced by Lucy Stone with a history of her many years of devoted work for the cause, said in part: "Good men who mean well often say that women are as fit to vote as the ignorant foreigners just landed at Castle Garden or the freedmen who can not read or write. Don't say that any more; you don't know how it hurts. Say instead, 'You are as fit to vote as we are.' The names of those who emancipated the slave will be written in letters of gold, but the names of those who have helped to emancipate the women of this nation will be written in letters of living light."

The closing address was made by Mrs. Stone. "Her feeling and womanly appeals," said the Minneapolis papers, "were such as to move any masculine heart not thoroughly indurated." She said in part:

> If the question of the right of women to a voice in making the laws they are to obey could be treated in the same common-sense way that other practical questions are treated it would have been settled long ago. If the question were to be asked in any community about to establish a government, "Shall the whole people who are of mature age and sound mind have a right to help make the laws they are required to obey?" the natural answer would be that they should have that right. But the fact is that only the men exercise it. If the question were asked, "Shall the whole people who are of mature age and sound mind and not convicted of crime have a right to elect the men who will have the spending of the money they pay for taxes?" the common-sense answer would be that they should have that right. But the fact is that only men are allowed to exercise it. So of the special interests of women, their right to settle the laws which regulate their relation to their children, their right to earn and own, to buy and sell, to will and deed, the application of the simple principles of fair play, would have given women equal voice with men in these questions of personal and[Pg 416] common interest. But as it is men control it all, whether it is the child we bear, the dollar we earn or the will we wish to make.

> One would suppose that under a government whose fundamental principle affirms that "the consent of the governed" is the just basis, the consent of the governed women would have been asked for. The only form of consent is a vote and that is denied to women. As a result they are at a disadvantage everywhere. The stigma of disfranchisement cheapens the respect due to their opinions, diminishes their earnings and makes them subjects in the home as they are in the State. The woman suffrage movement means equal rights for women. It proposes to secure fair play and justice.

At this convention valuable reports were presented from twenty-six States. Of especial interest was that from Texas, where Mrs. Mariana T. Folsom had done seven months' work under the auspices of the American W. S. A., giving nearly 200 public addresses in advocacy of equal rights. Texas was virgin soil on this subject, and Mrs. Folsom's description of the conditions she found there was both entertaining and instructive.

The old officers were re-elected with but few changes. Among the resolutions adopted were the following:

> The American Woman Suffrage Association, at its seventeenth annual meeting, in this beautiful city of the new Northwest, reaffirms the American principle of free representative government, and demands its application to women. "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and women are governed; "taxation without representation is tyranny," and women are taxed; "all political power inheres in the people," and one-half of the people are women.

> Resolved, That women, as sisters, wives and mothers of men, have special rights to protect and special wrongs to remedy; that their votes will represent in a special sense the interests of the home; that equal co-operation of the sexes is essential alike to a happy home, a refined society, a Christian church and a republican State.

> Whereas, Under the Federal Constitution, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens thereof, and of the States in which they reside;" and, by the decision of the United States courts, "Women are citizens, and may be made voters by appropriate State legislation;" therefore,

> Resolved, That this association regards with satisfaction the acceptance of the claim of Anna Ella Carroll by the United States Court of Claims, by which the remarkable services of Miss Carroll in urging the campaign of Tennessee, which broke the force of the rebellion and gave success to our armies, will have at last, after more than a score of years, their late reward.[140][Pg 417]

> Resolved, That the association send a deputation to Washington in behalf of its memorial to Congress to frame a statute prohibiting the disfranchisement of women in the Territories, and to co-operate with the National Woman Suffrage Association (at its January meeting) for a Sixteenth Amendment forbidding political distinctions on account of sex.

The great success of this convention was due in large measure to the excellent arrangements made by the friends in Minneapolis, especially Dr. Ripley and Mrs. Martha A. Dorsett.

The association sent two delegates, Henry B. Blackwell and the Rev. Anna H. Shaw, to Washington, to urge upon the House Committee the duty of Congress to establish equal suffrage in the Territories. They were given a respectful hearing.

1886.—The Eighteenth annual meeting was held in Topeka, Kan., October 26-28. The morning and afternoon sessions were held in Music Hall. Above the platform hung the beautiful banner of the Minnesota W. S. A., sent by Dr. Martha G. Ripley, and at its side was a package of 7,000 leaflets for distribution contributed by Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey of New Jersey, which were gladly taken for use in different States. The evening meetings assembled in the Hall of the House of Representatives, seating 1,200 persons; the floor and both galleries were crowded with the best citizens of Topeka; all the desks were taken out, making room for more chairs, and even then hundreds of people were turned away. Both halls were given free.

All the preparations had been admirably made by Mrs. Juliet N. Martin, Miss Olive P. Bray, Mrs. S. A. Thurston and other Topeka women, who had a collation spread in Music Hall for the delegates on their arrival. The press gave full and cordial reports. Lucy Stone wrote in the Woman's Journal:

> We found the editors of the four daily papers all suffragists. Among these was Major J. K. Hudson, who took his first lessons in equal rights on the Anti-Slavery Bugle in Ohio and, reared among "Friends," was ready to continue the good service he has all along rendered. Here, too, we found our old co-worker, William P. Tomlinson, who at one time published the Anti-Slavery Standard for Wendell Phillips and the American Anti-Slavery Society, and who a little later, in his young prime, devoted his time, his money and his strength to the publication of the Woman's Advocate in New York, of which he was proprietor and editor. He is now editor of the Topeka Daily Democrat. Mr. B. P. Baker, now editor[Pg 418] and proprietor of the Commonwealth, did good service to the woman suffrage cause in 1867 in the Topeka Record. Mr. McLennan, of the Journal, is also with us.

The whole convention was interspersed with ringing reminiscences of the heroic early history of Kansas. Mrs. S. N. Wood, who in the Border Ruffian days went through the enemy's lines and at great personal peril brought into beleaguered Lawrence the ammunition which enabled it to defend itself, came to the platform to add her good word for equal suffrage. It was a great pleasure to the officers of the association to meet her and the other early Kansas workers, many of whom, like Mrs. J. H. Slocum, of Emporia, were old personal friends.

Mrs. Anna C. Wait, president of the Kansas W. S. A. and editor of the Lincoln Beacon, gave the address of welcome in behalf of the suffragists. Referring to the first campaign for a woman suffrage amendment in 1867, when Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell spoke in forty-two counties of Kansas, Mrs. Wait said: "Nineteen years ago when you came to Kansas you found no suffrage societies and even seven years ago you would have found none. To-day, in behalf of the State W. S. A. and its many flourishing auxiliaries, I welcome these dear friends who come to us from the rock-ribbed shores of the Atlantic, from the coast of the Pacific, from the lakes of the North and from the sunny South, a veritable gathering of the clans of freedom."

Major Hudson, in his address of welcome in behalf of the city, reviewed the history of woman suffrage in Kansas, paid a tribute to the work of the pioneer suffragists, and said:

> We welcome you to Kansas, because it has been good battle-ground for the right.... We place the ballot in the hands of the foreigner who can not read or speak our language, and who knows nothing of our government; we enfranchised a slave race, most of whom can not read; and yet we deny to the women of America the ballot, which in their hands would be the strongest protection of this republic against the ignorance and vice of the great centers of our population. Give to woman the ballot, and you give her equal pay with men for the same work; you break down prejudice and open to her every vocation in which she is competent to engage; you do more—you give her an individuality, and equal right in life.

The president, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, in his response[Pg 419] to the welcome of the suffrage association said: "It gives us great pleasure to visit your beautiful city and fertile State. It gives us pleasure not because your State is fertile and your city beautiful but because it is in these Western States that there is most hope of the growth of the woman suffrage movement. The older States are what old age is in the human frame, something that is difficult to change; but where there is young blood there is hope and the progress of a new idea is more rapid."

Mrs. Howe, responding to the welcome of the citizens, said some one had spoken of woman suffrage as a hobby; she questioned whether the opposition to suffrage was not the hobby and suffrage the horse. The discussion of these great questions was doing much to make the women of the country one in feeling, and to do away with sectional prejudices. A most cordial hearing was given to the Woman's Congress lately held at Louisville, Ky., and especially to the woman suffrage symposium which occupied one evening. Mrs. Howe spoke of the wonderful, providential history of Kansas, and the way in which a new and unexpected chapter of the country's history opened out from the experience of the young Territory. She remembered when the name of Kansas was the word which set men's blood at the East tingling. She continued:

> You men of Kansas, you who have been bought with a price, noble men have worked and suffered and died that you might be free. For you Charles Sumner fell in the Senate of the United States. He fell to rise again, but others fell for whom there was no rising. Having received this great gift of freedom, pray you go on to make it perfect. You may think that you have a free State, well founded and stable, and that it will stand; but remember that the State, like the Church, is not a structure to be built and set up but a living organism to grow and move. Its life is progress and freedom. Do not think that you can stay this great tide of progress by saying, "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." No such limitation is possible. That tide will oversweep every obstacle set in its way.

> Why, men of Kansas, having been so nobly endowed at the beginning, have you let the younger children in the nursery of our dear mother country learn lessons that you have not learned? Are the women of Wyoming and Washington better than your women, and do the men of those Territories love their women better than you love yours? You will say "no," with indignation; but remember that love is shown in deeds far more than in words. Until you make your women free I must hold that you do not love them as well as those do who have given their mothers and sisters the gift of[Pg 420] political enfranchisement. This place is the temple of your liberties; here, if anywhere, should be spoken the words of wisdom and be enacted just and equal laws. However grand the words may be which have been spoken here, may they become grander and better and deeper, until to all your other glories shall be added that of having set the crown of freedom upon the heads of the women of your State!

Only a few gleanings from the many speeches can be given. Professor W. H. Carruth, of the Kansas State University, said in part:

> We are likely to meet some good-natured person who will say: "Why, yes, I am in favor of woman suffrage, but I don't see that there is any need of it here in Kansas. If I were in Rhode Island or Connecticut, where there are so many laws unjust to women, I would petition and work for it; but I don't see that it is worth while to make a fuss about it here." Now, what can be said to such a person? Weapons are both defensive and aggressive. The ballot has both uses. What would a herdsman say if you told him his sheepfold was all that was needed, and refused to give him a gun? What would the farmer say if you gave him a cultivator but no plough? What would Christianity be if it had only the Ten Commandments and not the Golden Rule?

> He who thinks the ballot is given simply as a means of protection—protection in a limited sense, against fraud and violence—has but a limited conception of the duties of American citizenship. The old let-alone theory of government has been found a failure, and instead of it people are coming to think that government is good to do anything that it can do best—just as they have already learned that it is proper for woman to do anything that she can do well. In a word, as Mrs. Howe said the other evening, the ballot is a means of getting things done which we want done.

> When your good friend with a kind and prosperous husband, a pleasant home and nothing lacking which better laws could secure for her, says she thinks women are already pretty well treated and she doesn't know that she would care for the ballot, ask her how she would feel if she were a teacher and were expected to work beside a man, equal work and equal time, he to get $60 and she $40 a month? Ask her whether she would not want to have a vote then? Isn't this a case, kind mistress of a home, where you should remember those in bonds as bound with them? I very much fear there never will be a time when all the good people in this world can dispense with any effective weapon against wrong.

> And, beyond this, there are all the offensive, aggressive uses of the ballot. We want a sewer here, a bridge there, a lamp-post or a hydrant yonder. A woman's nose will scent a defective drain where ten men pass it by, but votes get these things looked after. We want a new schoolhouse, or more brains or more fresh air in an old[Pg 421] one. Don't you know that women will attend to such needs sooner than men?

Mr. Foulke said in part:

> It is said that woman suffragists are dreamers. There was a time within our memory when human flesh in this our free America was sold at auction. In those days a few earnest men dreamed of a time when our flag should no longer unfurl itself over a slave. Inspired by this great vision they bore the persecution and contumely of their fellows. In season and out of season they preached their glorious gospel of immediate and unconditional emancipation. Wild visionaries they, incendiaries whose very writings, like the heresies of old, must be consigned to the flames; impracticable enthusiasts, seditious citizens. But lo! the flame of war passed over us and their dream is true; and in the clearer light which shines upon us to-day, we can hardly realize that this great blot upon our civilization could have existed, the time seems so far away.

> And we of America, we who have reached the summit of the prophecies of centuries past, we dream of new and loftier mountains in the distance. We who have realized in our political institutions a universal equality of men before the law, find that we have only reached the foothills of the greater range beyond. There are men in our midst who are dreaming to-day of a time when mere political equality shall be based upon that broader social and economic equality which is so necessary to maintain it. They dream of a time when each man's reward shall be proportioned to his own exertions and his own desert, and nothing at all shall be due to the accident of birth; dream of a time when bitter, grinding poverty, save as a punishment for idleness, shall no longer exist in a world so full of the bounty of heaven. Is it wilder than the dream of him who, under the despotism of the Bourbons, could dream of a great people whose birth should be heralded by the cry that all men are created equal? Is it wilder than the dream of him who, oppressed by the tyranny of Alva, could dream of a day of perfect religious toleration? Men talk with contemptuous pity of the dreamer. But he rather is the object of pity who bars the windows and draws the curtains of his soul to shut out the light of heaven that would smile in upon him. Let us rather pity the man who fears to utter the divine thought which fills him. Let us pity rather that man or that nation which lives in the complacent consciousness of its own virtue and blessedness, and dreams of no higher good than it possesses. He that has a dream of something better than he sees around him, let him tell it though the world smile. He that has a prophecy to utter, let him speak, though men account it his folly as much as they will. God bless the dreamers of all just and perfect dreams! The great wheel of the ages with ever-increasing motion is sure to roll out their accomplishment.

The Rev. Louis A. Banks, lately of Washington Territory, spoke of woman suffrage there. He said:[Pg 422]

> The first fact proved by experience is that women do vote. Before the law was enacted, the old objection used to meet us on every hand, "The women do not want to vote"—as though that, if true, were a valid reason. They ought to want to. It is my business to urge men to repent, and I have never supposed it a reason to cease preaching to them because they did not want to repent; they ought to want to. But our experience has proved that women do want to vote. It was universally conceded that in our first general Territorial election fully as many women voted in proportion to their numbers as men....

> Woman's influence as a citizen has been of equal value in the jury-box. Experience shows that she is peculiarly fitted for that duty. Woe to the gambler who enriches himself by the folly or innocence of the ignorant, and the rum-seller who lures boys into his backroom! Woe to the human vultures who prey upon young lives, when they fall into the hands of a jury of mothers!...

> You who have not hitherto been woman suffragists, why not espouse this cause now, when it is in the full flush of its heroic struggle? When John Adams went courting Abigail Smith, her proud father said to her: "Who is this young Adams? Where did he come from?" Abigail answered: "I do not know where he came from and I do not care, but I know where he is going and I am going with him." Ladies and gentlemen, you know where we are going; we invite your company for the journey.

State Senator R. W. Blue said: "One of the greatest questions of the day is how to counteract the influence of the vicious vote cast every year in the large cities. I believe the only way to do that is to enfranchise the women." He added that he had worked for the Municipal Suffrage Bill in the preceding Legislature, and should do so in the next. President Foulke complimented him on his bold and outspoken remarks, and said he thought a man in politics never lost anything by telling the people exactly where he stood on vital issues.[141]

James G. Clark, associate editor of the Minneapolis Spectator, was a delegate, and delighted the audience with his equal rights songs. A letter was received from Dr. Mary F. Thomas and, by a rising vote of the convention, it was decided to send her a telegram of greeting and congratulations on her seventieth birthday.

Letters were read from Chief-Justice Greene of Washington[Pg 423] Territory, and from Mrs. Margaret Bright Lucas of England, sister of John and Jacob Bright; also telegrams from the Minnesota W. S. A., from Major and Mrs. Pickler of South Dakota, and from others, and reports from the different State societies.

Chancellor J. A. Lippincott, of the State University, invited the association to visit that institution, and Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Stone to address the students. Mrs. Stone wrote in the Woman's Journal: "It was worth the journey to receive the warm welcome which greeted us on every hand, and still more to see the progress the cause has made in the nineteen years that have passed since the first suffrage campaign in Kansas. It would not be surprising if Municipal Suffrage should be secured in this State at the next session of the Legislature.[142] The very air was full of suffrage, even in the midst of the political contest."

1887.—The Nineteenth annual meeting was held in Association Hall, Philadelphia, October 31, November 1, 2. The platform had been beautifully decorated with tropical plants and foliage by Miss Elizabeth B. Justice and other Pennsylvania friends. The weather was fine, the audience sympathetic and the speaking excellent.

State Senator A. D. Harlan gave the address of welcome in behalf of the Pennsylvania W. S. A. President Wm. Dudley Foulke in responding paid a tribute to the Senator's good service in the Legislature in behalf of a constitutional amendment for equal suffrage. A letter of welcome was read from the venerable and beloved president of the association, Miss Mary Grew, who was kept away by illness. Col. T. W. Higginson said:

> I have the sensations of a Revolutionary veteran, almost, in coming back to Philadelphia and remembering our early suffrage meetings here in that time of storm, in contrasting the audiences of to-day with the audiences of that day, and in thinking what are the difficulties that come before us now as compared with those of our youth. The audiences have changed, the atmosphere of the community has changed; nothing but the cause remains the same, and that remains because it is a part of the necessary evolution of democratic society and is an immortal thing.

> I recall those early audiences; the rows of quiet faces in Quaker bonnets in the foreground; the rows of exceedingly unquiet figures of Southern medical students, with their hats on, in the background. I recall the visible purpose of those energetic young gentlemen to[Pg 424] hear nobody but the women, and the calm determination with which their bootheels contributed to put the male speakers down. I recall also their too-assiduous attentions in the streets outside when the meeting broke up....

> Woman suffrage should be urged, in my opinion, not from any predictions of what women will do with their votes after they get them, but on the ground that by all the traditions of our government, by all the precepts of its early founders, by all the axioms which lie at the foundation of our political principles, woman needs the ballot for self-respect and self-protection.

> The woman of old times who did not read books of political economy or attend public meetings, could retain her self-respect; but the woman of modern times, with every step she takes in the higher education, finds it harder to retain that self-respect while she is in a republican government and yet not a member of it. She can study all the books that I saw collected this morning in the political economy alcove of the Bryn Mawr College; she can master them all; she can know more about them perhaps than any man of her acquaintance; and yet to put one thing she has learned there in practice by the simple process of dropping a piece of paper into a ballot-box—she can no more do that than she could put out her slender finger and stop the planet in its course. That is what I mean by woman's needing the suffrage for self-respect.

> Then as to self-protection. We know there have been great improvements in the laws in regard to women. What brought about those improvements? The steady labor of women like these on this platform, going before Legislatures year by year and asking for something they were not willing to give, the ballot; but, as a result of it, to keep the poor creatures quiet, some law was passed removing a restriction. The old English writer Pepys, according to his diary, after spending a good deal of money for himself finds a little left and buys his wife a new gown, because, he says, "It is fit that the poor wretch should have something to content her." I have seen many laws passed for the advantage of women and they were generally passed on that principle.

> I remember going before the Rhode Island Legislature once with Lucy Stone and she unrolled with her peculiar persuasive power the wrong laws which existed in that commonwealth in regard to women. After the hearing was over the chairman of that committee, a judge who had served on it for years, said to her: "Mrs. Stone, all that you have stated this morning is true, and I am ashamed to think that I, who have been chairman for years of this judiciary committee, should have known in my secret heart that it was all true and should have done nothing to set these wrongs right until I was reminded of them by a woman." Again and again I have seen that experience. Women with bleeding feet, women with exhausted voices, women with wornout lives, have lavished their strength to secure ordinary justice in the form of laws which a single woman inside the State House, armed with the position of member of the Legislature and representing a sex who had votes,[Pg 425] could have had righted within two years. Every man knows the weakness of a disfranchised class of men. The whole race of women is disfranchised, and they suffer in the same way.

Among the other speakers were the Rev. Charles G. Ames, Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Dr. Thomas, Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Mrs. Frances E. W. Harper, the Rev. S. S. Hunting, Miss Cora Scott Pond, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles and Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin.

The chairman of the executive committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone, in her annual report, reviewed the year's activities and continued:

> But the chief work of the American Woman Suffrage Association during the past year has been to obtain wide access to the public through the newspapers. Early in the year correspondence was opened with most of the papers in the United States. The editors were asked whether they would publish suffrage literature if it were sent them every week without charge. More than a thousand answered that they would use what we sent, in whole or in part. Accepting this the association has, for the last eight months, furnished 1,000 weekly papers with a suffrage column. The cost of it consumes nearly the whole interest of the Eddy Fund, besides much time and strength gratuitously given. But as these papers come to us week by week containing the suffrage items and articles which through their columns reach millions of readers, we feel that no better use could be made of money or time.

The Revs. Anna H. Shaw and Ada C. Bowles were chosen national lecturers. Among the resolutions were the following:

> We congratulate the Legislature of Kansas upon its honorable record in extending Municipal Suffrage last February to the women of that State, and the 26,000 women of Kansas by whose aid, last April, reformed city governments were elected in every municipality; we hail the National W. C. T. U. as an efficient ally of the woman suffrage movement; we recognize the woman suffrage resolutions of the Knights of Labor, the Land and Labor organizations, the Third Party Prohibitionists and other political parties, as evidence of a growing public sentiment in favor of the equal rights of women; we rejoice that two-thirds of the Northern Senators in the Congress of the United States voted last winter for a Sixteenth Constitutional Amendment prohibiting political distinctions on account of sex; we observe an increasing friendliness in the attitude of press and pulpit and the fact that 1,000 newspapers now publish a weekly column in the interests of woman suffrage; we are encouraged by more general discussions and more favorable votes of State Legislatures than ever before—all indicating a sure and steady progress toward the complete enfranchisement of women.[Pg 426]

> Whereas, The woman suffragists of the United States were all united until 1868 in the American Equal Rights Association; and

> Whereas, The causes of the subsequent separation into the National and the American Woman Suffrage Societies have since been largely removed by the adoption of common principles and methods, therefore,

> Resolved, That Mrs. Lucy Stone be appointed a committee of one from the American W. S. A. to confer with Miss Susan B. Anthony, of the National W. S. A., and if on conference it seems desirable, that she be authorized and empowered to appoint a committee of this association to meet a similar committee appointed by the National W. S. A., to consider a satisfactory basis of union, and refer it back to the executive committees of both associations for final action.

A pleasant incident of the convention was the presentation to the audience of Mrs. E. R. Hunter, of Wichita, Kan., a real voter. Letters of greeting were read from Miss Matilda Hindman of Pennsylvania, Senator M. B. Castle of Illinois, Mrs. Mary B. Clay of Kentucky, and Judge Stanton J. Peelle of Indiana. Mrs. Stone, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell and Mrs. Mary A. Livermore were elected delegates to the International Council of Women to be held in Washington, D. C., in 1888, with Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Miss Mary Grew and Mrs. Hannah M. Tracy Cutler as alternates.

After Mrs. Howe's address on the last evening, The Battle Hymn of the Republic was sung standing, the great assembly joining in the chorus. The officers had the pleasure of visiting Bryn Mawr College, by invitation of Dean M. Carey Thomas, during the convention.

In December of this year, a Suffrage Bazar was held in Boston for the joint benefit of the American W. S. A. and of the State suffrage associations that participated,[143] which was a success both socially and financially. The Woman's Journal of December 17 said:

> Music Hall is a wonderful sight; the green and gold banner of Kansas occupies the place of honor in the middle of the platform, flanked on the left by the great crimson banner of Michigan with its motto "Neither delay nor rest," and on the right by the blue flag of Maine, decorated with a pine branch and cones. The bronze statue of Beethoven which has looked calmly down upon so many different assemblages in Music Hall, gazes meditatively at the Kansas table,[Pg 427] with a large yellow sunflower which surmounts the Kansas banner blazing like a great star at his very feet. Next comes the banner of Vermont, rich and beautiful, though smaller than the rest, in two shades of blue, with the seal of the State in the center surrounded by wild roses and bearing the motto "Freedom and Unity." At the extreme right of the platform hangs the banner of Pennsylvania, yellow, with heavy crimson fringe and the motto "Taxation with Representation." On the other side of Michigan is a large portrait of Wendell Phillips, sent by friends in Minnesota. At the left are the Woman's Journal exhibit, press headquarters and a display of exquisite blankets made at the Lamoille mills and contributed to the Vermont exhibit by the manufacturer, Mrs. M. G. Minot.

> All down the hall on both sides and across the middle hang the many banners of the Massachusetts local leagues, of all sizes and colors and with every variety of motto and device. At the extreme end hangs the white banner of the State Association.

This handsome banner, bearing the motto, "Male and female created He them, and gave them dominion," was presented to the association by Miss Cora Scott Pond and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, to whose energetic work the success of the bazar was largely due.

Mrs. Livermore, the president of the bazar, made the opening address on the first evening. Floor and gallery were filled and scores of yellow-ribboned delegates threaded their way through the smiling crowd. Mrs. Howe followed, saying in part:

> Addresses this evening are something like grace before meat; they are expected to be short and sweet. The grace is a good thing because it reminds us that we do not live by bread alone but by all the divine words with which the Creator has filled the universe. The most divine word of all is justice, and in that sacred name we are met to-night. In her name we set up our tents and spread our banners....

> In the suspense in which we have so long waited for suffrage, I sometimes feel as if we were in a dim twilight through which at last a single star sheds its way to show us there is light yet, and then another and another star follow. Wyoming was the first, the evening star—we may call her our Venus; then came Washington Territory, and then Kansas. What sort of a star shall we call Boston? She might aptly be compared to sleepy old Saturn, surrounded by a triple ring of prejudice. Dr. Channing was asked once if he did not despair of Harvard College. He replied: "No, I never quite despair of anything." Therefore, following his good example, I never quite despair of Boston. We want our flag to be full of such stars as those I have mentioned.

Mrs. Lucy Stone closed a brief address by saying: "To-morrow[Pg 428] will be election day and the papers urge all citizens to go and vote; but there are 60,000 women in Boston who have the same interest in the city government that men have, and yet can have no voice in the matter. Make this bazar a success and so enable us to take Massachusetts by its four corners and shake it till it gives suffrage to women."

1888.—The twentieth annual meeting was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 20-22, with large crowds in attendance and much interest shown. The Enquirer said: "The audiences may be said to have chestnutized the time-honored assertion that advocates of the ballot for the fair sex are unable to win even womankind to their way of thinking. New faces of ladies of the highest standing in society are seen at every succeeding session. The Scottish Rite Cathedral has rarely or never held as large a number of ladies, and equally rarely has there been present at a meeting of woman suffragists so large a proportion of men." And the Commercial Gazette: "The Scottish Rite Cathedral never held a finer-looking company, composed as it was of a large number of the oldest and best citizens."

The Hon. Wm. Dudley Foulke presided.[144] Addresses of welcome were made by the Hon. Alphonso Taft and Mrs. McClellan Brown, president of the Wesleyan Woman's College. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe responded.

In a letter the Hon. George William Curtis said: "Every change in the restrictive laws regarding women is an acknowledgment of the justice of the demand for equal suffrage. The case was conceded when women became property holders and taxpayers in their own right. In every way their interest in society is the same as that of men, and the reason for their voting in school meetings is conclusive for their voting upon the appropriation of other taxes which they pay."

U. S. Senator George F. Hoar wrote: "My belief in the wisdom and justice of the demand that women shall be admitted to[Pg 429] the ballot grows stronger every year." In a letter to Lucy Stone, Clara Barton wrote:

> It gives me pain to be compelled to decline your generous invitation to attend your annual meeting, but there is a deep pleasure in the thought that you remembered and desired me to be with you. Nowhere would I so gladly speak my little word for woman, her rights, her needs, her privileges delayed and debarred—yet blessed with the grand advance of the last thirty years, the budding and blossoming of the seed sown in darkness, doubt and humiliation, scattered by the winds of conscious superiority and power and the whirlwinds of opposing wrath—as on the green, native soil, the home of the early labors of its sainted citizen, Frances D. Gage. Dear, noble, precious Aunt Fanny, with the soul so pure and white, the heart so warm, the sympathies so quick and ready, the sensitive, shrinking modesty of self, the courage that scoffed at fear when the needs of others were plead; the friend of the bondman and oppressed, who knew no sect, sex, race or color, but toiled on for freedom and humanity till the glorious summons came! If only five minutes of her clarion voice could ring out in that meeting—McGregor on his native heath—"'twere worth a thousand men." I pray you, dear friend, whose voice will reach and be heard, try to point out to the younger and later workers of the grand, old State the broad stubble swath of the scythe and the deep blazing of the sturdy axe of this glorious pioneer of theirs—the grandest of them all—whose sleeping dust is an honor to Ohio.

> It is nothing that I am not there; it is much that you will be, who carry back the memories of your girlhood, your school-life, your earliest labors, to lay them on this freely-proffered altar, in a spot where then there was no room for the tired foot, nor scarce safety for the head. The occasion points with unerring finger to the hands on the dial of thirty years in the future. We need not to see it then, for it is given us to foresee it now. God's blessing on this work and on the meeting, and on all who may compose it![145]

Henry B. Blackwell said in his address:

> In equal suffrage lies our only hope of a representative government. Women are one-half of our citizens with rights to protect and wrongs to remedy. They are a distinct class in society, differing from men in character, position and interest. Every class that votes makes itself felt in the government. Women will change the quality of government when they vote. They are more peaceable, temperate, chaste, economical and law-abiding than men; less controlled by physical appetite and passion; more influenced by humane[Pg 430] and religious considerations. They will superadd to the more harsh and aggressive masculine qualities those feminine qualities in which they are superior to men. And these qualities are precisely what our government lacks. Women will always be wives and mothers. They will represent the home as men represent the business interests, and both are needed. This is a reform higher, broader, deeper than any and all others. Let good men and women of all sects, parties and opinions unite in establishing a government of and by and for the people—men and women.

Lucy Stone, describing the convention in the Woman's Journal of December 1, wrote:

> The local arrangements had been carefully made by Dr. Juliet M. Thorpe, Mrs. Ellen B. Dietrick and Miss Annie McLean Marsh. The spirit and temper of the meeting were of the best. Telegrams of greeting were received from various States, and from far and near came letters from those who were already friends of the cause, and others who wished to learn. One old lady with snow-white locks had come alone forty miles. She was not a delegate and she had no speech to make, but her heart was in the work and she found opportunity to speak words of cheer to those who were in the thick of the fight. One young woman, a busy teacher, came from Knoxville, Tenn. She wanted to know how to work for suffrage in that State, and said she thought it "the best way to come where the suffrage was." A large supply of leaflets, copies of the Woman's Journal and of the Woman's Column, were given her, with such advice and instruction as the time permitted. Two ladies were there from Virginia. This was their first suffrage meeting, but they listened eagerly, subscribed for our periodicals and gladly accepted leaflets. It was a comfort to see by these new recruits how widely the idea of equal rights for women is taking root. At these annual meetings the workers who come from far distant States and Territories strengthen each other. The sight of their faces and the warm grasp of their hands serve to renew the strength of those who never have flinched, and who never will flinch till women are secure in possession of equal rights.

> A number of ladies who came over from Kentucky took the opportunity to organize a Kentucky Equal Suffrage Association.

> It is always a matter of regret that the excellent speeches made at these meetings can not be phonographically reported, but it must suffice to say that they covered all the ground, from the principles on which representative government rests, to the teaching of the Bible, which Miss Laura Clay, in an able speech, warmly claimed was on the side of equal rights for women. Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, that noble mother in Israel, agreed with her, though from a different point of view, while Frederick Douglass claimed that the "Eternal Right exists independent of all books."

> The Cincinnati press gave noticeably friendly and fair reports. Hospitality to delegates was abundant. The sunny side of many of[Pg 431] the best people of the Queen City was evidently turned toward this meeting. A distinguished member of the Hamilton County bar, who had not been thoroughly converted before, said: "When you come again, let me make the address of welcome!"

The annual report of the chairman of the executive committee stated that the association had continued to supply with suffrage matter all editors who would use it; and that to save postage this weekly bulletin had been put into the form of a small newspaper, the Woman's Column:

> Its woman suffrage arguments come back to us in papers scattered from Maine to California, and reach hundreds of thousands of readers who would not take a paper devoted specifically to this reform.... Twenty thousand suffrage leaflets were given to the Rev. Anna H. Shaw, national lecturer for the American W. S. A., whose position as national superintendent of franchise for the W. C. T. U. enables her to use them with great effect; 7,700 were made a gift to the Ohio Centennial Exposition at Cincinnati with hundreds of copies of the Woman's Journal and Woman's Column; also many to the exposition at Columbus; 1,000 leaflets were sent to the meeting of the Wisconsin W. S. A. at Milwaukee, and 500 to its recent meeting at Stevens Point; many were sent to the fair at Ottumwa, Ia.; a large number were distributed at the annual meeting of the National W. C. T. U. in New York, and smaller quantities have been supplied for local use in almost all the States and Territories. Several friends have made donations of money for this purpose, and there is no way in which money goes further or does more good. In August, the association began the publication of a series of tracts under the title of the Woman Suffrage Leaflet. The association has given $50 for work in Montana, $50 in Vermont, $25 in Wisconsin and $15 in New York.

Memorial resolutions were adopted for Louisa M. Alcott, Dr. Mary F. Thomas and James Freeman Clarke, D. D.

The following committee was chosen to continue the negotiations for union with the National Woman Suffrage Association, which had been entered upon in pursuance of the resolution adopted at Philadelphia: the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Indiana; the Rev. Anna H. Shaw, Michigan; Miss Laura Clay, Kentucky; Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell, Iowa; Prof. W. H. Carruth, Kansas; Miss Mary Grew, Pennsylvania; the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, New Jersey; Mrs. Sarah C. Schrader, Ohio; Mrs. Catherine V. Waite, Illinois; Mrs. May S. Knaggs, Michigan; Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Massachusetts.

1889.—In January these delegates met with those from the[Pg 432] National Association at the convention of the latter in Washington, D. C., and arrangements for the union of the two societies for the following year were practically completed.[146]

In the summer an appeal was addressed by Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe and Mary A. Livermore to the constitutional conventions which were preparing for Statehood in Dakota, Washington, Montana and Idaho. It said in part:

> The undersigned, officers of the American Woman Suffrage Association, though not properly entitled to address your convention, nevertheless ask its courtesy on account of the great interest they feel in the question of the status you will give to women.

> You, gentlemen, felt keenly the disadvantage you were under when you had only Territorial rights. If you will consider how much greater are the disadvantages of a class that is wholly without political rights, you will, we feel sure, pardon our entreaty that in building your new constitution you will secure for women equal political rights with men.

> The men of the older States inherited their constitutions, with the odious features which the common law imposes upon women. But you are making constitutions. You have the golden opportunity to save your women from all these evils by securing their right to vote in the organic law of the new State. By doing this, over and above the satisfaction which comes from having done a just deed, you will win the gratitude of women for all time, as our fathers won the gratitude of the race when they announced the principle which we ask you to apply. You will also secure the[Pg 433] historic credit of being the first men to take the next great step in civilization—a step sure to be taken at no distant day....

> Edward Everett once said, illustrating the effect of small things on character: "The Mississippi and the St. Lawrence Rivers have their rise near each other. A very small difference in the elevation of the land sends one to the ocean amid tropical heat, while the other empties into the frozen waters of the north." So, it may seem a small matter whether you admit or shut out women from an equal share in the government. But if you exclude them you shut out a class of citizens pre-eminently orderly, law-abiding and peaceful, and especially interested in the welfare of the home and the safety of society. If, at the same time, you admit all classes of men, however worthless, provided they are out of prison, and if you make them free to stamp their impress upon the government, in the long run you will find the moral tone of the community lowered and cheapened, and your most sacred institutions imperiled by the dangerous classes to whom you entrusted the power which you denied to orderly and good women.

Henry B. Blackwell, secretary of the association, visited North Dakota, Montana and Washington, and personally labored with the members of the three constitutional conventions. He carried with him letters written expressly for these conventions by Governor Francis E. Warren and U. S. Delegate Joseph M. Carey of Wyoming; Governor Lyman U. Humphrey, Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg, Chief Justice Albert H. Horton and all the Judges of the Supreme Court of Kansas; U. S. Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado, U. S. Senator Cushman K. Davis of Minnesota, Governor Oliver Ames, U. S. Senator George F. Hoar, William Lloyd Garrison and others of Massachusetts, commending his mission and expressing the hope that the new States would incorporate equal suffrage in their constitutions. Copies of these letters were placed in the hands of every delegate. Mr. Blackwell devoted over a month to the journey and the work in these Territories, paying his own expenses and giving them and his services to the American Suffrage Association. [Detailed accounts of these efforts will be found in chapters on these three States.]

1890.—In February the American and the National Societies held a convention in Washington under the name of the National-American Association and this body has continued its annual meetings as one organization.

### FOOTNOTES:

[135] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, editor of The Woman's Journal, Boston, Mass. For early accounts of this organization see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, Chap. XXVI. [Editors of History.

[136] Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett, principal of Highland Park Academy; Miss Ada C. Sweet, head of the Pension Office in Illinois; Mrs. Mary B. Willard, of the Union Signal; Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, of the Inter-Ocean; Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Helen K. Pierce, Mrs. W. O. Carpenter, Mrs. H. W. Fuller, Mrs. George Harding, Mrs. Catherine V. Waite, Mrs. Elizabeth Loomis and the Rev. Florence Kollock composed the entertainment committee.

[137] Mr. Wood, in many public addresses made during the first Kansas amendment campaign in 1867, attributed this action of the Kansas Constitutional Convention to Mrs. Stone; but it is certain that other influences contributed to it. [For a further account of these, see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 185. Eds.]

[138] Massachusetts gave to this fund $472; Pennsylvania, $201.50; Indiana, $146; New Jersey, $80; Connecticut, $50; New Hampshire, $25; Ohio, $10; Delaware, $5; New Brunswick, Canada, $10.

[139] Vice-presidents, ex-officio: Mrs. E. N. Bacon, Me.; Mrs. Armenia S. White, N. H.; Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden, Vt.; William I. Bowditch, Mass.; Mrs. Elizabeth B. Chace, R. I.; Mrs. Emily P. Collins, Conn.; Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, N. Y.; Kate A. Browning, N. J.; Miss Mary Grew, Penn.; Mrs. Mary A. Heald, Del.; Mrs. Frances M. Casement, O.; Mary F. Thomas, M. D., Ind.; Miss Ada C. Sweet, Ill.; Lucy C. Stansell, Mich.; Sylvia Goddard, Ky.; Mrs. A. E. Dickinson, Mo.; Lizzie D. Fyler, Ark.; Jennie Beauchamp, Tex.; Emma C. Bascom, Wis.; Narcissa T. Bennis, Ia.; Gertrude M. McDowell, Neb.; the Hon. Charles Robinson, Kan.; Gen. Theodore F. Brown, Col.; Jennie Carr, Cal.; Abigail Scott Duniway, Ore.; Martha G. Ripley, M. D., Minn.; the Hon. J. W. Hoyt, Wy. Ty.; Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Tenn.; Mrs. Cadwallader White, Ga.; the Hon. Roger S. Greene, Wash. Ty.; Mary J. Ireland, Md.; Caroline E. Merrick, La.

Executive Committee: Lucy Stone, chairman; Mrs. C. A. Quinby, Me.; Dr. J. H. Gallinger, N. H.; Laura Moore, Vt.; Mrs. Judith W. Smith, Mass.; Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle, R. I.; the Hon. John Sheldon, Conn.; Anna C. Field, N. Y.; Cornelia C. Hussey, N. J.; John K. Wildman, Penn.; Dr. John Cameron, Del.; Jennie F. Holmes, Neb.; Prof. W. H. Carruth, Kan.; Mary F. Shields, Col.; Sarah Knox Goodrich, Cal.; Mrs. N. Coe Stewart, O.; Mary E. Haggart, Ind.; Helen E. Starrett, Ill.; Mrs. Geary, Va.; Jennie A. Crane, W. Va.; Mrs. L. S. Ellis, Mich.; Laura Clay, Ky.; Charlotte A. Cleveland, Mo.; Rhoda Munger, Ark.; Mrs. H. Buckner, Tex.; Helen R. Olin, Wis.; Mary A. Work, Ia.; Laura Howe Carpenter, Minn.; Mrs. A. S. Duniway, Ore.; the Hon. J. W. Kingman, Wy. Ty.; Mrs. Smith of Seattle, Wash. Ty.

[140] Congress never could be persuaded to take any action and Miss Carroll died in poverty and need. [Eds.

[141] Among the other speakers were Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, of Massachusetts; Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell and the Rev. S. S. Hunting, of Iowa; Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, of Indiana; the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, of Michigan; Mrs. Laura M. Johns, Mrs. Hammer, Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Annie L. Diggs, Miss Sarah A. Brown, Mrs. Brown of Abilene, William P. Tomlinson, of the Topeka Democrat; the Revs. C. H. Lovejoy, H. W. George and Dr. McCabe, Dr. Fisher, Judge W. A. Peffer, Mrs. M. E. De Geer Call, Mrs. Martia L. Berry, Col. A. B. Jetmore, J. C. Hebbard and Hon. C. S. Gleed.

[142] This was done.

[143] The American W. S. A. afterwards voted to give to each State the entire amount of its gross sales.

[144] Mr. Foulke served as president from 1884 to 1890. During this time but few changes were made in the official board. In 1885 Mrs. Mary E. Haggart (Ind.) was added to the vice-presidents-at-large; in 1886 Dr. Mary F. Thomas (Ind.), J. K. Hudson (Kas.), the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw (Mass.); 1887, Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs (Mich.); 1888, Miss Clara Barton (D. C.), Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace (Ind.), Mrs. Phebe C. McKell (Ohio). In 1887 Mrs. Martha C. Callanan (Iowa) was elected recording secretary. The various State auxiliaries made numerous changes in vice-presidents ex-officio and members of the executive committee.

[145] Among speakers not elsewhere mentioned were the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs. Sarah C. Schrader, Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell, Mrs. Martha C. Callahan, Dr. Caroline M. Dodson, Madame Calliope Kachiya (a Greek friend of Mrs. Howe's), and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell. Mrs. Wessendorf read a poem, and there were songs by the Blaine Glee Club and by Miss Annie McLean Marsh and her little niece, and violin music by Miss Lucille du Pre.

[146] The American Woman Suffrage Association was indebted for State reports during the past years to the following: Arkansas, Lizzie Dorman Fyler; California, Sarah Knox Goodrich, Elizabeth A. Kingsbury, Sarah M. Severance, Fannie Wood; Connecticut, Emily P. Collins, Abby B. Sheldon; Dakota, Major J. A. Pickler, Alice M. Pickler; Delaware, Dr. John Cameron; Illinois, Mary E. Holmes, Catherine G. Waugh (McCulloch); Indiana, Florence M. Adkinson, Mary S. Armstrong, Sarah E. Franklin, Adelia R. Hornbrook, Mary D. Naylor; Iowa, Mary J. Coggeshall, Eliza H. Hunter, Mary A. Work, Narcissa T. Bemis; Kansas, Prof. W. H. Carruth, Mrs. M. E. De Geer, Bertha H. Ellsworth; Kentucky, Mary B. Clay, Laura Clay; Maine, the Rev. Henry Blanchard, Mrs. C. S. Quinby; Massachusetts, Henry B. Blackwell, Lucy Stone; Missouri, Rebecca N. Hazard, Amanda E. Dickenson; Minnesota, Martha Angle Dorsett, Ella M. S. Marble, Dr. Martha G. Ripley; Michigan, Mrs. E. L. Briggs, Mary L. Doe, Emily B. Ketcham, Mrs. H. L. Udell, Mrs. Ellis; New Hampshire, Armenia S. White, Mrs. M. H. Ela; New Jersey, Cornelia C. Hussey, Therese M. Seabrook; New York, Lillie Devereaux Blake, Mariana W. Chapman, Mrs. E. O. Putnam Heaton, Anna Holyoke Howard, Hamilton Willcox; Nebraska, Erasmus M. Correll, Deborah G. King, Lucinda Russell, Clara Albertson Young; Ohio, Lou J. Bates, Frances M. Casement, Orpha D. Baldwin, S. S. Bissell, Mary J. Cravens, Mrs. (Dr.) Henderson, Mrs. M. B. Haven, Martha M. Paine, Mary P. Spargo, Rosa L. Segur, Cornelia C. Swezey; Oregon, Abigail Scott Duniway, W. S. Duniway; Pennsylvania, Florence A. Burleigh, Mary Grew, Matilda Hindman; Rhode Island, Elizabeth B. Chace, Marilla M. Brewster, Sarah W. Ladd, Mary C. Peckham, Louise M. Tyler; Tennessee, Lida A. Meriwether, Elizabeth Lyle Saxon; Texas, Mariana T. Folsom; Vermont, Laura Moore; Virginia, Orra Langhorne; Washington Territory, Bessie J. Isaacs; Wisconsin, Mary W. Bentley, Alura Collins; Wyoming, Dr. Kate Kelsey.

[Pg 434]

## CHAPTER XXIII.

### SUFFRAGE WORK IN POLITICAL AND OTHER CONVENTIONS.

The chapters thus far have given some idea of the endeavor to secure the ballot for women through national suffrage conventions, which bring together delegates from all parts of the country and send them back to their respective localities strengthened and fortified for the work; and which, through strong and logical arguments covering all phases of the question, given before large audiences, gradually have created a wide-spread sentiment in favor of the enfranchisement of women. There have been described also the hearings before committees of Congress, at which the advocates of this measure have made pleas for the submission to the State Legislatures of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution which should prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex, as the Fifteenth Amendment does on account of color—pleas which a distinguished Senator, who reported against granting them, said "surpassed anything he ever had heard, and whose logic if used in favor of any other measure could not fail to carry it" (p. 201); and of which another, who had the courage to report in favor, declared, "The suffragists have logic, argument, everything on their side" (p. 162).

In addition to this national work the following chapters will show that the State work has been continued on similar lines—State and local conventions and appeals to Legislatures to submit an amendment to the electors to strike the word "male" from the suffrage clause of their own State constitution. These appeals, in many instances, have been supported by larger petitions than ever presented for any other object.

Further efforts have been made on a still different line, viz.: through attempts to secure from outside conventions an indorsement of woman suffrage, not only from those of a political but also from those of a religious, educational, professional or industrial nature. This has been desired in order that the bills may go before Congress and Legislatures with the all-important sanction[Pg 435] of voters, and also because of its favorable effect on those composing these conventions and on public sentiment.

The idea of asking for recognition from a national political convention was first suggested to Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony in 1868. By their protests against the use of the word "male" in the Fourteenth Amendment, as described in Chap. I of this volume, they had angered the Republican leaders, some of whom, even those who favored woman suffrage, sarcastically advised them to ask the Democrats for indorsement in their national convention of this year and see what would be the response. These two women, therefore, did appear before that body, which dedicated the new Tammany Hall in New York City, on July 4. An account of their insulting reception may be found in the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 340, and in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, p. 304. They, with Abby Hopper Gibbons, daughter of Isaac T. Hopper, and Elizabeth Smith Miller, daughter of Gerrit Smith, previously had sent an earnest letter to the National Republican Convention which had met in Chicago in June, asking in the name of the women who had rendered the party such faithful service during the Civil War, that it would recognize in its platform their right to the suffrage, but the letter received no notice whatever.

From that year until the present a committee of women has attended every national convention of all the parties, asking for an indorsement or at least a commendation of their appeal for the franchise. Sometimes they have been received with respect, sometimes with discourtesy, and occasionally they have been granted a few minutes to make their plea before the Committee on Resolutions. In but a single instance has any one of these women, the most eminent in the nation, been permitted to address a Republican convention—at Cincinnati in 1876. Twice this privilege has been extended by a Democratic—at St. Louis in 1876 and at Cincinnati in 1880. A far-off approach to a recognition of woman's claim was made by the National Republican Convention at Philadelphia in 1872, in this resolution:

> The Republican party, mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of America, expresses gratification that wider avenues of employment have been opened to woman, and it further declares[Pg 436] that her demands for additional rights should be treated with respectful consideration.

Again in 1876 the national convention, held in Cincinnati, adopted the following:

> The Republican party recognizes with approval the substantial advance recently made toward the establishment of equal rights for women by the many important amendments effected by the Republican (!) Legislatures, in the laws which concern the personal and property relations of wives, mothers and widows, and by the election and appointment of women to the superintendence of education, charities and other public trusts. The honest demands of this class of citizens for additional rights, privileges and immunities should be treated with respectful consideration.

In 1880, '84, '88 and '92 the women were wholly disregarded. The national platform of 1888, however, contained this plank:

> We recognize the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful citizen to cast one free ballot in all public elections and to have that ballot duly counted.

The leaders of the woman suffrage movement at once telegraphed to Chicago to the chairman of the convention, the Hon. Morris M. Estee, asking if this statement was intended to include "lawful women citizens," and he answered, "I do not think the platform is so construed here." A letter was addressed to the presidential candidate, Gen. Benjamin Harrison, begging that in his acceptance of the nomination, he would interpret this declaration as including women, but it was politely ignored.

In 1892 Miss Anthony appeared before the Resolutions Committee of the national convention in Minneapolis and in an address of thirty minutes pleaded that women might have recognition in its platform. At the close many of the members assured her of their thorough belief in the justice of woman suffrage, but said frankly that "the party could not carry the load."[147] The following was the suffrage plank in its platform that year:

> We demand that every citizen of the United States shall be allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot in all public elections, and that such ballot shall be counted as cast; that such laws shall be enacted and enforced as will secure to every citizen, be he rich or poor, native or foreign, white or black, this sovereign right guaranteed by the constitution. The free and honest popular ballot, the[Pg 437] just and equal representation of all the people, as well as their just and equal protection under the laws, are the foundation of our republican institutions, and the party will never relax its efforts until the integrity of the ballot and the purity of elections shall be guaranteed and protected in every State.

But not once during the campaign did the party speakers or newspapers apply this declaration to the women citizens of the United States.

In 1896, when the prospects of success seemed certain enough to justify the party in assuming some additional "load," the women made the most impassioned appeal to the committee at the St. Louis convention, with the following remarkable result:

> The Republican party is mindful of the rights and interests of women. Protection of American industries includes equal opportunities, equal pay for equal work, and protection to the home. We favor the admission of women to wider spheres of usefulness, and welcome their co-operation in rescuing the country from Democratic mismanagement and Populist misrule.

A whole plank to exploit Republicanism and a small splinter to cajole the women, who had not asked for the suffrage to "rescue" or to defeat any political party!

No Democratic national platform ever has recognized so much as the existence of women, in all its grandiloquent declarations of the "rights of the masses," the "equality of the people," the "sovereignty of the individual" and the "powers inherent in a democracy."

The Populists at the beginning of their career sounded the slogan, "Equal rights to all, special privileges to none," and many believed that at length the great party had arisen which was to secure to women the equal right in the suffrage which thus far had been the special privilege of men. Full of joy and hope there went to the first national convention of this party, held in Omaha, July 4, 1892, Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the National Suffrage Association. To their amazement they were refused permission even to appear before the Committee on Resolutions, a courtesy which by this time was usually extended at all political conventions. The platform contained no woman suffrage plank and no reference to the question except that in the long preamble occurred this sentence:[Pg 438]

> We believe that the forces of reform this day organized will never cease to move forward until every wrong is righted, and equal rights and equal privileges securely established for all the men and women of this country.

In 1896 the Populist National Convention in St. Louis effected its great fusion with the Democrats, and the political rights of women were hopelessly lost in the shuffle. By 1900 the organization was thoroughly under Democratic control, and the expectations of women to secure their enfranchisement through this "party of the people," created to reform all abuses and abolish all unjust discriminations, vanished forever. It must be said to its credit, however, that during its brief existence women received more recognition in general than they ever had had from the old parties. They sat as delegates in its national and State conventions and served on National and State Committees; they were employed as political speakers and organizers; and they were elected and appointed to official positions. Various State and county conventions declared in favor of enfranchising women, the majority of the legislators advocated it, and there is reason to believe that in those States where an amendment to secure it was submitted, individual Populists very largely voted for it.

The Prohibition National Conventions many times have put a woman suffrage plank in their platforms, and women have served as delegates and on committees. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union forms the bulwark of this party, and, like its distinguished president, Miss Frances E. Willard, her successor, Mrs. Lillian M. N. Stevens, is an earnest advocate of the enfranchisement of women, which is also true of the vast majority of its members, so it has not been necessary for the Woman Suffrage Association to send delegates to the national conventions, although it has occasionally done so. These have frequently failed, however, to adopt a plank declaring for woman suffrage, the refusal to do so at Pittsburg in 1896 being a principal cause of the division in the ranks which took place at that time.

The Greenback party, the Labor party, the various Socialist parties, and other reform organizations of a political character have made unequivocal declarations for woman suffrage and welcomed women as delegates. Whether they would do so if[Pg 439] strong enough to have any hope of electing their candidates must remain an open question until practically demonstrated.[148]

Women have served a number of times as delegates in the national conventions of most of the so-called Third parties. In 1892 they appeared for the first time at a Republican National Convention, serving as alternates from Wyoming. In 1896 women alternates were sent from Utah to the Democratic National Convention. In 1900 Mrs. W. H. Jones went as delegate from that State to the Republican, and Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen to the Democratic National Convention, and both discharged the duties of the position in a satisfactory manner. Mrs. Cohen seconded the nomination of William J. Bryan. A newspaper correspondent published a sensational story in regard to her bold and noisy behavior, but afterwards he was compelled to retract publicly every word of it and admit that it had no foundation.

Doubtless Miss Anthony has attended more political conventions to secure recognition of the cause which she represents than any other woman, and also has presented the subject to more national conventions of various associations. In early days this was because she was one of the few who had the courage to take this new and radical step, and also because she was the only one who made the suffrage the sole object of her life and was ready and willing to work for it at all times and under all circumstances. In later days her name has carried so much weight and she is so universally respected that she has been able to obtain a hearing and often a resolution where this would be difficult if not impossible for other women. However, in national and State work of this kind she has had the valuable co-operation of the ablest women of two generations. In no way can the scope and extent of these efforts be better understood than by reviewing Miss Anthony's report to the National Suffrage Convention of 1901, as[Pg 440] chairman of the Committee on Convention Resolutions. It is especially interesting as a fair illustration of the vast amount of work which women have been doing in this direction for the past thirty years.

After stating that the names and home addresses of most of the delegates to all the national political conventions of 1900 were obtained, Miss Anthony submitted copies of four letters of which 4,000 were sent in June from the national suffrage headquarters in New York, signed by herself and the other members of the committee—Carrie Chapman Catt, Anna Howard Shaw, Ida Husted Harper and Rachel Foster Avery.

> (To the Republican delegates.)

> The undersigned Committee, appointed by the National-American Woman Suffrage Association, beg leave to submit to you, as delegate to the approaching Republican Convention, the enclosed Memorial.

> The Republican party was organized in response to the demand for human freedom. Its platform for the last forty years has been an unswerving declaration for liberty and equality. Animated by the spirit of progress, it has continued to enlarge the voting constituency from time to time, thus acknowledging the right of the individual to self-representation. This principle was embodied in the plank adopted at the Chicago convention of 1888, and has been often reaffirmed: "We recognize the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful citizen to cast one free ballot in all public elections and have that ballot duly counted." We appeal to the Republican party to sustain its record by applying this declaration to the lawful women citizens of the United States.

> You will observe that this petition does not ask you to endorse the enfranchisement of women, but simply to recommend that Congress submit this question to the decision of the various State Legislatures. In the name of American womanhood we ask you to use every means within your power to bring this matter to a discussion and affirmative vote in your convention.

> (To the Democratic delegates.)

> Since its inception the Democratic party has had for its rallying cry the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, "No taxation without representation," "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." Under this banner wage-earning men, native and foreign, were endowed with the franchise, by which means alone an individual can represent himself or consent to his government, and by this act the party was kept in power for nearly sixty years.

> At the close of the eighteenth century this was a broad view for even so great a leader to take. In this closing year of the nineteenth[Pg 441] century it would show an equally progressive spirit if his loyal followers would carry these splendid declarations to their logical conclusion and enfranchise women.

> (To the Populist delegates.)

> At the very first National Convention of the People's Party, held at Omaha in 1892, the preamble of their platform declared that "equal rights and privileges must be securely established for all the men and women of the country." In the majority of State conventions held since that time there has been specific recognition of equal political rights for women. By admitting women as delegates in their representative assemblies and by appointing them to State and local offices, the Populists have put into practice this fundamental principle of their organization. Therefore, in asking you to give your influence and vote in favor of this petition, we are proposing only that you shall reaffirm your previous declarations.

> (To the Prohibition delegates.)

> Judging from the honorable record made by your party upon this subject, we have every reason to hope that you will give your influence and your vote in favor of the petition contained herein.

In the Democratic letter was enclosed an Open Letter from Gov. Charles S. Thomas (Dem.) of Colorado, setting forth in the strongest manner the advantages of woman suffrage, and in all was placed favorable testimony from prominent men of the respective States, accompanied by the following Memorial. The latter was mailed also to every member of the Resolutions Committees, and 10,000 copies were sent to editors and otherwise circulated throughout the country.

> MEMORIAL
> To the National Presidential Convention of 1900.

> Gentlemen: You are respectfully requested by the National-American Woman Suffrage Association to place the following plank in your platform:

> Resolved, That we favor the submission by Congress, to the various State Legislatures, of an Amendment to the Federal Constitution forbidding disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex.

> The chief contribution to human liberty made by the United States is the establishment of the right of personal representation in government. In other countries suffrage often has been called "the vested right of property," and as such has been extended to women the same as to men. Our country at length has come to recognize the principle that the elective franchise is inherent in the individual and not in his property, and this principle has become the corner-stone[Pg 442] of our republic. Up to the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the application of this great truth has been made to but one-half the citizens.

> The women of the United States are now the only disfranchised class, and sex is the one remaining disqualification. A man may be idle, corrupt, vicious, utterly without a single quality necessary for purity and stability of government, but through the exercise of the suffrage he is a vital factor. A woman may be educated, industrious, moral and law-abiding, possessed of every quality needed in a pure and stable government, but, deprived of that influence which is exerted through the ballot, she is not a factor in affairs of State. Who will claim that our government is purer, wiser, stronger and more lasting by the rigid exclusion of what men themselves term "the better half" of the people?

> Every argument which enfranchises a man, enfranchises a woman. There is no escape from this logic except to declare sex the just basis of suffrage. But this position can not be maintained in view of the fact that women already have full suffrage in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, municipal suffrage in Kansas, school suffrage in twenty-five States, a vote on tax levies in Louisiana, on bond issues in Iowa, and on minor questions in various other States. They have every franchise except the Parliamentary in England, Scotland and Ireland, the full ballot in New Zealand and South and West Australia, and some form of suffrage in every English colony. In a large number of the monarchical countries certain classes of women vote. On this fundamental question of individual sovereignty surely the United States should be a leader and not a follower. The trend of the times is clearly toward equal suffrage. It will add to the credit and future strength of any party to put itself in line with the best modern and progressive thought on this question.

> In the division of the world's labor an equal share falls to woman. As property holder and wage-earner her material stake in the government is equal to that of man. As wife, as mother, as individual, her moral stake is certainly as great as his. The perpetuity of the republic depends upon the careful performance of the duties of both. One is just as necessary as the other to the growth and prosperity of the country. All of these propositions are self-evident, but they are wholly foreign to the question at issue. The right of the individual to a vote is not founded upon the value of his stake in government, upon his moral character, his business ability or his physical strength, but simply and solely upon that guarantee of personal representation which is the essence of a true republic, a true democracy.

> The literal definition of these two terms is, "a State in which the sovereign power resides in the whole body of the people and is exercised by representatives elected by them." By the Declaration of Independence, by the rules of equity, by the laws of justice, women equally with men are entitled to exercise this sovereign power, through the franchise, the only legal means provided. But whatever[Pg 443] may be regarded as the correct basis of suffrage—character, education, property, or the inherent right of the person who is subject to law and taxation—women possess all the qualifications required of men.

> At this dawn of a new century are not the sons of the Revolutionary Fathers sufficiently progressive to remove the barriers which for more than a hundred years have prevented women from exercising this citizen's right? We appeal to this great national delegate body, representing the men of every State, gathered to outline the policy and select the head of the Government for the next four years, to adopt in your platform a declaration approving the submission by Congress of an amendment enfranchising women. We urge this action in order that the question shall be carried to the various Legislatures, where women may present their arguments before the representative men, instead of being compelled to plead their cause before each individual voter of the forty-one States where they are still disfranchised.

> We make this earnest appeal on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of women who, from year to year, have petitioned Congress to take the action necessary for their enfranchisement; and of those millions who are so engrossed in the struggle for daily bread, or in the manifold duties of the home, that they are compelled to leave this task to others. We make it also on behalf of the generations yet to come, for there will be no cessation of this demand until this highest privilege of citizenship has been accorded to women.

> Elizabeth Cady Stanton, | } | Honorary Presidents.
> Susan B. Anthony,
> Carrie Chapman Catt, President.
> Harriet Taylor Upton, Treasurer. |  | Anna Howard Shaw, Vice-President-at-Large.
> Laura Clay, First Auditor. |  | Rachel Foster Avery, Corresponding Secretary.
> Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Second Auditor. |  | Alice Stone Blackwell, Recording Secretary.
> Headquarters, National-American Woman Suffrage Association,
> 2008 American Tract Society Building,
> New York City.

Four women were permitted to appear before a sub-committee of the Committee on Platform at the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia, in 1900. They met with a polite but chilly reception and were informed that they could have ten minutes to present their case. This time was occupied by the president and the vice-president-at-large in concise but forcible arguments on the duty of the party to recognize their claim[Pg 444] for enfranchisement. The platform eventually contained the following plank:

> We congratulate the women of America upon their splendid record of public service in the Volunteer Aid Association, and as nurses in camp and hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies in the Eastern and Western Indies, and we appreciate their faithful co-operation in all works of education and industry.

In other words, being asked to recognize women as political factors, the committee responded by commending them as nurses!

This plank was written by Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, who as president of the Woman's National Republican League and a campaign speaker, has done far more for the party than any other woman, and originally it ended with this clause: "We regard with satisfaction their unselfish interest in public affairs in the four States where they have already been enfranchised, and their growing interest in good government and Republican principles." But even so small a recognition as this of women in political life was ruthlessly struck out by the committee.

Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay attended the Democratic National Convention at Kansas City and were not allowed to address any committee, but the platform contained the Declaration of Independence as its preamble!

The Populist national platform adopted at Sioux City did not contain even a reference to women or their rights and privileges.

The Prohibition convention followed its action of 1896 and put no woman suffrage plank in its platform. A separate resolution was passed expressing a favorable regard but carrying no official weight.

The only national political convention in 1900 which adopted a plank declaring for the enfranchisement of women was that of the Social-Democratic party at Indianapolis.

In not one of the four largest parties were the delegates in convention given so much as an opportunity to discuss and vote on a resolution to enfranchise women. All these heroic efforts, all these noble appeals, had not the slightest effect because made by a class utterly without influence by reason of this very disfranchisement which it was struggling to have removed. At every political convention all matters of right, of justice, of the eternal verities themselves, are swallowed up in the one all-important[Pg 445] question, "Will it bring party success?" And to this a voteless constituency can not contribute in the smallest degree, even though it represent the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Golden Rule, the Magna Charta and the Declaration of Independence.

Paradoxical as it may seem, notwithstanding the refusal of the Resolutions Committees of all these national bodies to grant even an indirect recognition of woman suffrage in their platforms, its advocates never before found such a general sentiment in its favor among the individual delegates. In a number of instances they were told that a poll of delegations had shown a majority of the members to be ready to vote for it. It was demonstrated beyond doubt that the rank and file of the delegates, if freed from hostile influences among their constituents and granted the sanction of the political leaders, could be won to a support of the measure, but that at present it must wait on party expediency. As every campaign brings with it national issues on which each party makes a fight for its life, and which it fears to hamper by any extraneous questions; as the elements most strongly opposed to the enfranchisement of women not only are fully armed with ballots themselves but are in complete control of an immense force similarly equipped; and as the vote of women is so problematical that none of the parties can claim it in advance, it is impossible to foresee when and how they are to obtain political freedom. The one self-evident fact is, however, that in order to win it they must be supported by a stronger public sentiment than exists at present, and that this can be secured only through a constant agitation of the subject.

A return to Miss Anthony's report will illustrate other methods adopted to bring this question to the attention of the public. "During the year I have also sent petitions and letters to more than one hundred national conventions of different sorts—industrial, educational, charitable, philanthropic, religious and political.[149] Below are the forms of petition:"

> To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Fifty-sixth Congress of the United States:

> The undersigned on behalf of (naming the association) in annual[Pg 446] convention assembled at ......, ......, 1900, and representing fully ...... members, respectfully ask for the prompt passage by your Honorable Body of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, to be submitted to the Legislatures of the several States for ratification, prohibiting the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex.

> ................, President.
> ................, Secretary.

> To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Fifty-sixth Congress of the United States:

> Whereas, The trend of civilization is plainly in the direction of equal rights for women, and

> Whereas, Woman suffrage is no longer an experiment, but has been clearly demonstrated to be beneficial to society; therefore,

> Resolved, That we, on behalf of [as above], do respectfully petition your Honorable Body not to insert the word "male" in the suffrage clause of whatever form of government you shall recommend to Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico or any other newly-acquired possessions. We ask this in the name of justice and equality for all citizens of a republic founded on the consent of the governed.[150]

"A number of large associations adopted these and returned them to me duly engrossed on their official paper, signed by the president and secretary and with their seal affixed; and I forwarded all to the Senators and Representatives whom I thought most likely to present them to Congress in a way to make an impression.

"The General Federation of Labor at Detroit was the first to respond. I was invited to address its annual convention and, after I had spoken, the four hundred delegates passed a resolution of thanks to me, adopted the above petition for the Sixteenth Amendment by a rising vote, and ordered their officers to sign it in the name of their one million constituents.

"The National Building Trades Council at Milwaukee had an able discussion in its annual meeting, based on my letter, and adopted both petitions. This body has half a million members.

"The Bricklayers' and Masons' International Union of America was held in Rochester, and invited me to address the delegates. They received me with enthusiasm, passed strong woman suffrage resolutions and signed both petitions. Afterwards a stenographic report of my speech, covering two full pages of their official organ, The Bricklayer and Mason, was[Pg 447] published with an excellent portrait of myself, thus sending me and my argument to each one of their more than sixty thousand members, all of whom subscribe to this paper as part of their dues to the union.

"The National Grange, which has indorsed woman suffrage for so many years, adopted the resolutions and petitions.

"At the Federation of Commercial Schools of the United States and Canada, which met in Chicago, my letter was read, the question was thoroughly discussed and the suffrage petitions were adopted almost unanimously.

"The Columbia Catholic Summer School, held at Detroit, gave a hearing to our national president, Mrs. Chapman Catt, at which she is said to have made many converts. A strong suffrage speech was made by the Rev. Father W. J. Dalton, and other prominent members expressed themselves in favor.

"The contents of my letters to religious and educational bodies can readily be imagined, and one which was sent to the United States Brewers' Association, in convention at Atlantic City, N. J., may be cited as an example of the subject-matter of those to other organizations:

> Gentlemen: As chairman of the committee appointed by our National Suffrage Association to address letters to the large conventions held this year, allow me to bring before you the great need of the recognition of women in all of the rights, privileges and immunities of United States citizenship.

> Though your association has for its principal object the management of the great brewing interests of this country, yet I have noted that you have adopted resolutions declaring against woman suffrage. I therefore appeal to you, since the question seems to come within the scope of your deliberations, to reverse your action this closing year of the century, and declare yourselves in favor of the practical application of the fundamental principles of our Government to all the people—women as well as men. Whatever your nationality, whatever your religious creed, whatever your political party, you are either born or naturalized citizens of the United States, and because of that are voters of the State in which you reside. Will you not, gentlemen, accord to the women of this nation, having the same citizenship as yourselves, precisely the same privileges and powers which you possess because of that one fact?

> The only true principle—the only safe policy—of a democratic-republican government is that every class of people shall be protected in the exercise of the right of individual representation. I pray you, therefore, to pass a resolution in favor of woman suffrage, and order your officers, on behalf of the association, to sign a petition[Pg 448] to Congress for this purpose, and thereby put the weight of your influence on the side of making this Government a genuine republic.

> Should you desire to have one of our best woman suffrage speakers address your convention, if you will let me know as soon as possible, I will take pleasure in arranging for one to do so.

"This was read to the convention, and the secretary, Gallus Thomann, thus reported its action to me:

> Mr. Obermann [ex-president of the association and one of the trustees] voicing the sentiments of the delegates, spoke as follows: "Miss Susan B. Anthony is entitled to the respect of every man and woman in this country, whether agreeing with her theories or not. I think it but fair and courteous to her that the secretary be instructed to answer that letter, and to inform Miss Anthony that this is a body of business men; that we meet for business purposes and not for politics. Furthermore, that she is mistaken and misinformed so far as her statement is concerned that we have passed resolutions opposing woman suffrage. We have never taken such action at any of our conventions or on any other occasion. I submit this as a motion."

> The motion was unanimously adopted, and that part of Mr. Obermann's remarks which related to the respect due Miss Anthony was loudly and enthusiastically applauded.

> To the sentiment thus expressed, permit me, dear Miss Anthony, to add personally the assurance of my highest esteem.

"Among the results of the work with State conventions it may be mentioned that the Georgia Federation of Labor, the Minnesota Federation of Labor, the State Teachers' Association of Washington and the New York State Grange signed the petitions and passed the resolutions.

"As another branch of the work, copies of these two petitions were sent to each of the forty-five States and three Territories, with letters asking the suffrage presidents, where associations existed, and prominent individuals in the few States where they did not, to make two copies of each petition on their own official paper, sign them on behalf of the suffragists of the State, and return them to me to be sent to the members of Congress from the respective districts. This was done almost without exception and these petitions were presented by various members, one copy in the Senate and one in the House. Of all the State petitions, the most interesting was that of Wyoming, which, in default of a suffrage association (none being needed) was signed by every State officer, from the Governor down, by several[Pg 449] United States officials, and by many of the most influential men and women. With it came a letter from the wife of ex-U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey, who collected these names, saying the number was limited only by the brief space of time allowed.

"In all, more than two hundred petitions for woman suffrage from various associations were thus sent to Congress in 1900, representing millions of individuals. Many cordial responses were received from members, and promises of assistance should the question come before Congress, but there is no record of the slightest attempt by any member to bring it before that body.

"In doing this work I wrote fully a thousand letters to associations and individuals, in all of which I placed some of our best printed literature. There was a thorough stirring up of public sentiment which must have definite results in time, for it should not be forgotten that in addressing conventions we appeal to the chosen leaders of thought and work from many cities and States, and so set in motion an ever-widening circle of agitation in countless localities."

A most valuable means of educating public sentiment is the securing of a Woman's Day at Chautauqua Assemblies and State and county fairs, when good speakers present the "woman question" in its various phases, including always the need for enfranchisement. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt, the leading orators of the country, have addressed Chautauquas in all parts of the United States, as well as countless other large gatherings which have no connection with suffrage, being thus enabled to propagate the principle over a vast area. It can be seen from the above résumé that the ground of effort is widely extended and that the harvest is ripening, but alas, there is a constant repetition of the old, old cry, "The laborers are few." One can only repeat what has often been said, that never before were such results as can be seen on every hand in the improved conditions for women and the advanced public sentiment in favor of a full equality of rights, accomplished by so small a number of workers and under such adverse conditions. Perhaps this will continue to be said even unto the end, but their labors will know neither faltering nor cessation until the original object, as announced over fifty years ago, has been attained, viz.: the full enfranchisement of women.

### FOOTNOTES:

[147] See Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, p. 723.

[148] For the names of the women who have addressed the National Conventions and Resolutions Committees of the various parties in the effort to obtain an indorsement of woman suffrage, and for a full account of their reception, of the memorials presented and the results which followed, the reader is referred to the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, pp. 340 and 517; Vol. III, pp. 22 and 177; and for many personal incidents, to the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony in the chapters devoted to the years of the various presidential nominating conventions, beginning with 1868.

Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, from the National Suffrage Association, and Henry B. Blackwell and Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, as Republicans, presented the question to the Resolutions Committee of the National Republican Convention of 1896 in St. Louis, above referred to; Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, accompanied by a committee of ladies, to that of the National Democratic Convention in Chicago that year.

[149] Miss Anthony sent a special letter to each of these bodies worded to appeal particularly to the interests it represented.

[150] For the answer to this petition see Chap. XIX.

[Pg 450]

## CHAPTER XXIV.

### THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN THE STATES.

The preceding chapters have been devoted principally to efforts made in behalf of women by the National-American Suffrage Association through its conventions, committees, officers, speakers, organizers and members. Contemporaneous with this line of action there has been for a number of years a similar movement in the respective States carried forward through their associations auxiliary to the National, their committees, officers, speakers, organizers and individual membership. Each of the two divisions has been largely dependent upon the other, the States forming the strength of the national body, the latter extending assistance to the States whenever a special campaign has been at hand or help has been needed in organizing, convention or legislative work. The following chapters are confined wholly to the situation in the various States and are subdivided into Organization, Legislative Action, Laws, Suffrage, Office-Holding, Occupations and Education. Their object is to give a general idea of the status of woman at the close of the nineteenth century and the manifold changes of which it is the result. It is desired also to put on record the part which women themselves have had in the steady advance which will be observed.

The account of only the past seventeen years is given, as the three preceding volumes of this History relate in detail the pioneer work and the gains made previous to 1884. Unfortunately it is inevitable in a recital of this kind that many names should be omitted which are quite as worthy of mention as those that find place, for in some instances the records are imperfectly kept and in others the list is so long as to forbid reproduction.[151] It[Pg 451] has been necessary to bar compliments in order to avoid unjust discrimination and to meet the demands of limited space. To posterity the work is of more importance than the workers, and those who have engaged in the efforts to improve the condition of women necessarily have had to possess a spirit of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice which neither expected nor desired personal rewards.

The subject of Organization in most of the States is treated in the briefest possible manner, the intention being merely to show that in every State and Territory there has been some attempt to gather into a working force the scattered individuals who believe in the justice of woman suffrage and wish to obtain it. More extended mention of course is due to the older States, where there has been continuous organized work for many years, and where the societies have remained intact and held their regular meetings in spite of such defeats and discouragements as never have had to be faced by any other cause. It is most difficult to form and maintain an association which has not a concrete object to labor for, and when a campaign for an amendment is not actually in progress, the suffrage in the distant future appears largely as an abstraction. The early days of the movement necessarily had to be given to creating the sentiment which would later be organized, and it is only within the past decade that the time has seemed ripe for systematic effort in this direction. The lack of effective organization has been a serious but unavoidable weakness which henceforth will be remedied as speedily and thoroughly as possible.

It is a favorite argument of the opponents of woman suffrage that the many gains of various kinds have not been due to the efforts of women themselves. Under the head of Legislative Action will be found the dates and figures to prove that, year after year, in almost every State, women have gone to the Legislatures with appeals for every concession which has been granted and many more which have been refused. The bills presented by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union have not been specifically included because they are fully recorded in the publications of that body, and because this volume is confined almost exclusively to the one subject of enfranchisement. While the[Pg 452] Suffrage Associations have directed their legislative efforts principally to secure action for this purpose, individual members have joined the W. C. T. U. innumerable times in its attempts to obtain other bills of advantage to women and children, and in some instances this has been done officially by the associations.

Among various measures in which the two organizations have united may be mentioned the raising of the "age of protection" for girls; the securing of women physicians in all institutions where women and children are confined, and women on the boards of all such; women city physicians; matrons at jails and station houses; better conditions for working women; the abolition of child-labor; industrial schools for girls. Measures which have been especially championed by the W. S. A., but which the W. C. T. U. has aided officially or individually, have been those asking for every form of suffrage; equal property laws for wives; the opening of all educational institutions to women; their admission to all professions and occupations; the repeal of laws barring them from office; the enactment of laws giving father and mother equal guardianship of children.[152]

The W. C. T. U. alone has secured temperance measures of many kinds, including a law in every State requiring scientific temperance instruction in the public schools; in many States curfew laws, and statutes prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and of liquor on or near fair grounds, Soldiers' Homes and school-houses, and preventing gambling devices, immoral exhibits, etc. The Federation of Women's Clubs has obtained laws for free traveling libraries and has united with other organizations in various States in efforts for equal guardianship of children, school suffrage, women on school and library boards and the abolishing of child labor. Other associations have joined in one or more of the above lines of work and have had independent measures of their own, such as prison reform, social purity, the assistance of different races—as the negro and the Indian—village improvement, kindergartens, public playgrounds, etc.

It would not be possible to draw a distinct line dividing the[Pg 453] legislative work of one association from the others, except that it may be said the suffrage societies have made the franchise their chief point, believing it to be the power with which the rest could be gained, and the temperance unions have made their principal attack upon the liquor traffic, considering it the greatest evil. The objects of the various bodies are indicated in the last chapter of this volume on Organizations of Women, but whatever these may be, if they include any direct, practical work their promoters usually find themselves at the door of the Legislature asking for help. Here they get their first lesson in the imperative necessity of possessing a vote, and seeing their measures fail because asked for by a disfranchised class, to whom the legislators are in no way indebted, they frequently become ardent advocates of suffrage for women.

As it would be wholly impossible in the small space which can be allowed to include an account of all the legislative work done by women, mention is made principally of that for the franchise. While the successes have been few compared to the number of bills presented, the record is valuable as indicating that determined and persistent effort will not be relaxed until it is granted in every State.

Under the head of Legislation is related also the attempts to get from Constitutional Conventions an amendment striking out the word "male" as a qualification for suffrage. It includes, besides, graphic accounts of the campaigns made in behalf of such amendments when submitted to the voters by the Legislatures. Those who have not closely followed these events doubtless will be surprised to learn the amount of effort which has been expended by women to obtain the franchise. It is infinitely greater than has been put forth for this purpose by all other classes combined, since the Revolutionary War was fought to secure to every citizen the right of individual representation.

The Laws regarding women as here given are in no sense of the word a "brief," but merely present the facts in the language of a layman and in the simplest and most concise form. Those relating to property are in the nature of a curiosity. An attorney in San Francisco who was asked for information as to the laws in general for women in California, answered that to give[Pg 454] in full those of property alone would require as much space as could be granted in the History for the entire chapter. It is not possible to make in these introductory paragraphs an adequate digest of these laws in various States. They are not precisely the same in any two of the forty-nine States and Territories, and they offer a striking illustration of the attempts of law-makers, during the last few decades, to rectify in a measure the legal outrages of the past, and of their inability in the present state of their development to grant absolute justice. That must await the lawmakers of the future, and probably the time when women shall have a part in selecting them.

All that can be claimed for the statutes quoted herein is that they are as nearly correct as it has been possible to make them. With but one or two exceptions, the Attorney-Generals in every State have been most courteous and obliging when appealed to for assistance. The laws for women, however, have been so taken from and added to, so torn to pieces and patched up, that the best lawyers in many States say frankly that they do not know just what they are at the present time. Legislatures and code revision committees are continually tinkering at them and every year witnesses some changes in most of the States.[153] A very thorough abstract of the laws, made in 1886 by Miss Lelia J. Robinson, LL. B., a member of the bar in Massachusetts, was of almost no use in the compilation for this volume because of the endless alterations since that time. The Legal Status of Women, a condensed résumé issued in 1897 by the National Suffrage Association, has been covered thickly with pencil marks during the preparation of this summary, as the reports received from different States have shown the changes effected in the few years which have since elapsed. A new book, Woman and the Law, prepared by a lecturer on political science in one of our largest universities and published in 1901, was hailed with joy, but was found to include a number of laws which had been repealed within the past four or five years and to omit some very important ones[Pg 455] which had been enacted during this time, as well as to contain frequent mistakes in regard to others.

These instances show the impossibility of an absolutely authentic presentation of the laws for women in their constantly changing condition. Although it was the intention to close this History with 1900, in several States, notably Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Illinois and Wisconsin, laws have been passed since that date of sufficient importance to demand a place. During the two years of its preparation the entire codes of property laws for women in Massachusetts and Virginia have been revolutionized.

An amusing part of a difficult task has been the reluctance of men to admit the existence of laws which are conspicuously unjust to women, the admission being frequently accompanied by the statement that it is the intention to change them at an early date, or that it would only be necessary to call the attention of the Legislature to them in order to secure their repeal. Even women themselves in States where the statutes especially discriminate against them, have written that these must not be published unless those from all the others are given. Whether this is due to State pride or personal humiliation is not clearly evident.

The one encouraging feature is that in almost every State decided progress is shown since 1848, when in New York and Pennsylvania the first change was made in the English Common Law which then everywhere prevailed, and which did not permit a married woman to hold property, to buy or sell, to sue or be sued, to make a contract or a will, to carry on business in her own name, to possess the wages she earned, or to have her children in case of divorce. An examination of the laws in the following chapters will show that the wife now may own and control her separate property in three-fourths of the States, and in the other fourth only one Northern State is included. In every State a married woman may make a will, but can dispose only of her separate property. In about two-thirds of the States she possesses her earnings. In the great majority she may make contracts and bring suit. The property rights of unmarried women always have been nearly the same as those of unmarried men, but the Common Law declared that "by marriage husband[Pg 456] and wife are one person in law and the legal existence of the wife is merged in that of the husband. He is her baron or lord, bound to supply her with shelter, food, clothing and medicine, and is entitled to her earnings and the use and custody of her person, which he may seize wherever he may find it." (Blackstone, I, 442.)[154]

In his Commentaries, after enumerating some of the disabilities of woman under these laws, Blackstone calmly argues that the most of them were really intended for her benefit, "so great a favorite is the female sex with the law of England." He strikes here the keynote of even the special statutes which have superseded the Common Law in the various States, all have been "intended for her benefit," man alone being the judge of what she needed and careful while providing it to retain within himself the exclusive power of law-making. It has been gradually dawning upon him, however, that, as a human being like himself, her needs are very similar to his own, and where he has failed to see it she has reminded him of it as she has slowly learned this fact herself. The laws show an awakening conscience on the part of men and a tardy but continuous advance toward justice to women, although there is yet very much to be desired. For instance, in reading the laws regarding the inheritance of separate property, which in a number of States is now made the same for widow and widower, the first thought will be, "These are absolutely just." But a little investigation will show that the separate property of either is what he or she possesses at marriage or receives afterwards by gift or inheritance, while all that is acquired during marriage by the joint earnings of the two belongs to the husband. In many States the law now provides that if the wife engages in business as a sole trader or goes outside the home to work, her earnings belong to her, but all the proceeds of her labor within the household are still the sole and separate property of the husband. The Common Law on this point, which never has been changed in a single State,[155] makes the services of the wife belong to the husband, and in return she is legally[Pg 457] entitled only to food, shelter and clothes, and these of such quality and quantity as the husband dictates. She can not dispose by will of any of the property acquired during marriage, nor has she any control of it during the husband's lifetime.

These facts should be borne in mind when reading the laws which declare that husband and wife have the same power to dispose of separate property. Comparatively few women in this country have property when married, especially if young at the time, and the same is true of the majority of men, but afterwards the woman may never hope to accumulate any, as the joint earnings of the marriage partnership belong exclusively to the husband, and the duties of the average household prevent the wife from engaging in outside work. However, in order that she might not be left absolutely penniless after years of labor, the Common Law provided that she should be entitled to "dower," i. e., the possession, for her lifetime, of one-third of all the real estate of which her husband was possessed in fee simple during the marriage. That is, she should receive the life-use of one-third of any realty she might have brought into the marriage and one-third of all they had earned together. But if the husband had converted these into cash, bonds, stocks or other personal property, she could legally claim nothing. He had "curtesy," i. e., the life-use of all her real estate, (sometimes dependent on the birth of children, sometimes not), and usually the whole of her personal estate absolutely.

Curtesy has now been abolished in over one-half the States. The law of dower still exists in more than one-half, but special statutes in regard to personal property and the wife's separate estate have been made so liberal that in comparatively few States is she left in the helpless condition of olden times. In about one-half of them she takes from one-third to the whole (if there are no children) of both real and personal estate absolutely; but in all of them it is only at the death of the husband that she has any share or control of the joint accumulations except such as he chooses to allow. At the death of the wife all of these belong legally to the husband and she can not secure to her children or her parents any part of the property which she has helped to earn. Space forbids going into a discussion of the general upheaval[Pg 458] which follows the death of the husband, the inventories which must be taken, the divisions which must be made, generally resulting in the breaking up of the home; while at the death of the wife all passes peacefully into the possession of the husband and there is no scattering of the family unless he wishes it. A general but necessarily superficial statement of the property laws will be found in connection with each State in the following chapters, and they represent a complete legal revolution during the past half century.

Fathers and mothers are given equal guardianship of children in the District of Columbia and nine States—Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York and Washington. (See Pennsylvania.) In all others the father has the sole custody and control of the persons, education, earnings and estates of minor children. Where this right is abused the mother can obtain custody only by applying for separation or divorce or proving in court the unfitness of the father. In a number of States the father may by will appoint a guardian even of a child unborn, to the exclusion of the mother. In others the widow is legally entitled to the guardianship but forfeits it by marrying again. Others do not permit a widow to appoint by will a guardian for her children. Tennessee and Louisiana offer examples of the English and French codes in this respect.

Although the father is the sole guardian and entitled to the services of the children, and although the joint earnings of the marriage belong exclusively to him, and in a number of States he is declared in the statutes to be the "head of the family," in many of them the mother is held to be equally liable for its support. Her separate property may be taken for this purpose and she is also required to contribute by her labor. In such cases the husband decides what constitutes "necessities" and the wife must pay for what he orders. A recent decision of the Illinois courts compelled a wife to pay for the clothes of an able-bodied husband. In most but not all of the States the husband, if competent, is punished for failure to support his family. The punishment consists in a fine, the State thus taking from the family what money he may possess; or confinement in prison, where he is boarded and lodged while the family is in nowise relieved.[Pg 459]

It has not been deemed necessary to consider at length the subject of divorce, except to mention the laws of the few States which discriminate against women. South Carolina is the only one which does not grant divorce; New York the only one which makes adultery the sole cause. In the remainder the causes have a wider range, but in all the records show that the vast majority of divorces are granted to wives. The following list is taken from the New York Sun (1902) and corresponds with information gathered from other sources:

> Habitual drunkenness, in all except eight States.
> Wilful desertion, generally.
> Felony, in all except three.
> Cruelty, and intolerable cruelty, in all except five.
> Failure by the husband to provide, in twenty.
> Fraud and fraudulent contract, in nine.
> Absence without being heard from, for different periods, in six.
> Ungovernable temper, in two.
> Insupportably cruel treatment, outrages and excesses, in six.
> Indignities rendering life burdensome, in six.
> Attempt to murder other party, in three.
> Insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, in six. Insanity lasting
> ten years, in Washington; incurable insanity, in North Dakota,
> Florida and Idaho.
> Husband notoriously immoral before marriage, unknown to wife,
> in West Virginia. [Pregnancy of wife before marriage, unknown
> to husband, in many States].
> Fugitive from justice, in Virginia.
> Gross misbehavior or wickedness, in Rhode Island.
> Any gross neglect of duty, in Kansas and Ohio.
> Refusal of wife to remove into the State, in Tennessee.
> Mental incapacity at time of marriage, in Georgia.
> Three years with any religious society that believes the marriage
> relation unlawful, in Massachusetts; and joining any such sect, in
> New Hampshire.
> When parties can not live in peace and union, in Utah.
> Vagrancy of the husband, in Missouri and Wyoming.
> Excesses, in Texas.
> Where wife by cruel and barbarous treatment renders condition
> of husband intolerable, in Pennsylvania.

By reference to the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, pp. 482, 717, 745 and following, it will be seen that the resolutions favoring divorce for habitual drunkenness offered in the first women's conventions, during the early '50's, almost disrupted the meetings, and caused press and pulpit throughout the country[Pg 460] to thunder denunciations, but half a century later such laws exist in thirty-seven of the forty-five States and meet with general approval. It is frequently charged that the granting of woman suffrage has been followed by laws for free divorce, but an examination of the statutes will show that exactly the same causes obtain in the States where women do not vote as in those where they do; that there has not been the slightest change in the latter since the franchise was given them; and that in Wyoming, where it has been exercised since 1869, there is the smallest percentage of divorce in proportion to the population of any State in the Union. The three places which are so largely utilized by outsiders who wish a speedy divorce, because only a ninety days' residence is required, are North and South Dakota and Oklahoma, in neither of which have women any suffrage except for school trustees.

The "age of consent or protection" for girls, i. e., the age when they are declared to have sufficient understanding to consent to intercourse, and above which they can claim no legal protection, was fixed at ten years by the Common Law. No action was taken by any State to advance the age up to which they might be protected until 1864, when Oregon raised it to fourteen years. No other State followed this example until 1882, when Wyoming made it fourteen. In 1885 Nebraska added two years making it twelve. At this date women commenced to besiege the Legislatures in all parts of the country, and there was a general movement from that time forward to have the age of protection increased, but in almost every instance where this has been accomplished, the penalty for violation of the law has been reduced, and now in thirteen States no minimum penalty is named. The age still remains at ten years in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North and South Carolina. In Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and West Virginia the age is twelve years, but in Tennessee it is only a "misdemeanor" between twelve and sixteen. (For the recent efforts of women in Georgia and Florida to have the age advanced, and their failure, see the chapters on those States.) In Delaware the Common Law age of ten years was reduced to seven by the Legislature in 1871, and no protection was afforded to infants over seven until 1889 when the age was raised to fifteen, but the crime was declared to be only a "misdemeanor."[Pg 461]

Women who have "all the rights they want," and men who insist that "the laws are framed for the best interests of women," are recommended to make a study of those presented herewith.

Under the head of Suffrage it is stated whether women possess any form of it and, if so, in what it consists. The story of the four States where they have the complete franchise—Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho—naturally is most interesting, as it describes just how this was obtained and gives considerable information on points which are not fully understood by the general public. The chapter on Kansas doubtless will come next in interest, as there women have had the Municipal ballot since 1887. It is frequently said in criticism that women have School Suffrage in twenty-six States and Territories, including the five mentioned above, but they do not make use of it in large numbers. What this fragmentary suffrage includes, the restrictions thrown around it and the obstacles placed in its way, are described in the chapters of those States and Territories where it prevails—Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin.

It will be seen that in New York women tax-payers in villages, and in Louisiana and Montana all tax-paying women, may vote on questions submitted for taxation, and an account is given of the first use which women made of this privilege in Louisiana in 1899. In Iowa all women may vote on the issuing of bonds. In Mississippi they have the merest form of a franchise on a few matters connected with country schools and the running at large of stock. In Arkansas they may sign a petition against liquor selling within certain limits and their names count for as much as men's. After a careful study of the situation the wonder will not be that women do not exercise more largely these grudgingly-given and closely-restricted privileges, but that in many States they think it worth while to exercise them at all. In the four, however, where they have the Full Suffrage, and in Kansas where they have the Municipal, the official figures which have been carefully tabulated will demonstrate beyond further controversy that where they possess exactly the same electoral rights as[Pg 462] men they use them in even a larger proportion. These statistics answer conclusively the question, "Do women want to vote?"

The information as to Office-Holding is necessarily somewhat desultory as there is no record in any State of the women in office. This is true even of those pertaining to the schools, and in very few cases does the State Superintendent of Public Instruction know how many women are serving as county superintendents and members of school boards. The information on these points contained in the State chapters was secured principally through personal investigation and by an extended correspondence, and while it is believed to be entirely correct so far as it goes, it does not by any means include the total number of offices filled by women. Imperfect as is the list it will be a surprise to those who look upon office-holding as the natural prerogative of man. A stock objection to woman suffrage is that women will be wanting the offices. An examination of the reports here submitted will disclose the surprising fact that in a number of States where women do not vote they are filling as many offices as in those where they have the full franchise. Probably the majority of State constitutions declare that the offices must be held by electors, but where this proviso is not made, women have been elected and appointed to various offices and so far as can be learned have given general satisfaction.[156]

The necessity for matrons at police stations and jails, and for women physicians in all institutions where women and children are confined, is too evident to need any argument in its favor, and yet it is only within the past ten years that they have been thus employed to any extent and even now they are found in only a small fraction of such institutions. The objection to these matrons on the part of the police force has been strenuous, and yet, almost without exception, after they have gained a foothold, the police officers testify that they do not understand how the department got on without them. It ought to be equally evident that there should be women on the boards of all institutions which care for women and children, but, although in most instances these positions have no salary, there is the most violent opposition to giving women a place, and the concession has had to be wrung[Pg 463] from Legislatures in the few States where it has been obtained. The right of women and their value to school offices is now partly conceded in about half the States. Women librarians also have met with some favor. As to offices in general, most of which carry either salary or patronage or both, they will continue to be regarded as belonging entirely to voters and as perquisites of party managers with which to reward political service, although all of them are proportionately supported by women tax-payers.

As regards Occupations, the census of 1900 shows 3,230,642 women engaged in wage-earning employments, exclusive of domestic service, and the question of their admittance to practically all such may be regarded as settled, but it has not been gained without a contest. Women, however, are still barred from the best-paying positions and are usually compelled to accept unequal wages for equal work. This is partly due to disfranchisement and partly to economic causes and can be remedied only by time. In many of the States of which it is said, "No profession is forbidden to women," the test has not been made, and until some woman attempts to be a minister, physician, lawyer or notary public it can not be known whether she will encounter a statutory prohibition.

The department of Education presents the most satisfactory condition. The battle for co-education, which means simply a chance for women to have the best advantages which exist, has been bitterly fought. A guerilla warfare is still maintained against it, but the contest is so nearly finished as to warrant no fears as to the future. Every State University but those of Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Virginia, is open to women on exactly the same terms as to men (with the exception of some departments of Pennsylvania). They have full admission to Chicago and Leland Stanford Universities, two of the largest in the United States. They may enter the post-graduate department of Yale and receive its degrees. Harvard and Princeton are still entirely closed to them, as are a number of the smaller of the old, established Eastern universities, but this is largely compensated by the great Woman's Colleges of the East—Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Smith and Vassar—which accommodate nearly 4,000 students. The Medical Department of Johns Hopkins, and[Pg 464] Medical, Theological, Law and Dental Colleges in all parts of the country, admit women to their full courses. This is true also of Agricultural Colleges and of Technical Institutes such as Drexel and Pratt. There is now no lack of opportunity for them to obtain the highest education, either along the line of general culture or specialized work.[157]

The details of the following chapters will show that the civil, legal, industrial and educational rights of women are so far secured as to give full assurance that they will be absolute in the near future. The political rights are further off, for reasons which are presented in the introduction to this volume, but the yielding of all the others is proof sufficient that the spirit of our institutions will eventually find its fullest expression in perfect equality of rights for all the people.

### FOOTNOTES:

[151] The names of newspapers which have supported this cause are not given, partly for these reasons and partly because on this question they reflect simply the personal views of the editors, and a change of management may cause a complete reversal of their attitude toward woman suffrage.

[152] A reading of these chapters will show that the suffrage societies have started many progressive movements and then turned them over to other organizations of women, believing they would thrive better if freed from the effects of the prejudice against woman suffrage and everything connected with it.

[153] Notwithstanding these efforts, the very statutes which are intended to be fair to women are continually found to be defective, and whenever any doubt arises as to their construction the Common Law must prevail, which in all cases is unjust to women. An example of this kind will be found in the chapter on New York, showing that it was held in 1901 that a wife's wages belonged to her husband, although it was supposed that these had been secured to her beyond all question by a special statute of 1860.

[154] For abstract of the Common Law in regard to women see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 961.

[155] A few of the States were formed under the Spanish or French code instead of the English Common Law, but neither was more favorable to women.

[156] No mention is made of women postmasters as these are found in all States. The first were appointed by President Grant during his first term of office, 1868-1872.

[157] In the various States under the head of Education, Roman Catholic colleges and universities are not considered, as they are nowhere co-educational.

The public school statistics are taken from the reports for 1898-9 of the U. S. Commissioner of Education.

[Pg 465]

## CHAPTER XXV.

### ALABAMA.[158]

Actual work for woman suffrage in Alabama began in 1890, at the time the constitutional convention of Mississippi was in session. The editor of the New Decatur Advertiser opened his columns to all matter on the question and thus aroused local interest, which in 1892 culminated in the formation in that town of the first suffrage club in the State, with seven charter members. The women who thus faced a most conservative public sentiment were Mesdames Harvey Lewis, F. E. Jenkins, E. G. Robb, A. R. Rose, B. E. Moore, Lucy A. Gould and Ellen Stephens Hildreth.

Before the close of the year a second club was formed in Verbena by Miss Frances A. Griffin, who has since become noted as a public speaker for this cause. Others were soon established through the efforts of Mesdames Minnie Hardy Gist, Bessie Vaughn, M. C. Arter, W. J. Sibert and Miss B. M. Haley.

In 1892 and 1893 the Woman's Column, published in Boston, was sent by the National Association to 1,500 teachers, ministers, school superintendents, editors, legislators and other prominent people, the names being furnished by Mrs. Hildreth. A State organization was effected in 1893, with Mrs. Hildreth, president, and Miss Griffin, secretary.

In 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee, who were making a southern tour, were asked by the New Decatur Club to include that city in their itinerary. They were also invited by Mrs. Alberta Taylor to address her society at Huntsville. These visits of the great leader and her eloquent assistant aroused much interest, but the financial depression prevented active work.[Pg 466]

Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton was elected State president in 1896; Mrs. Annie D. Shelby, Mrs. Milton Hume and Mrs. Taylor were made vice-presidents; Mrs. Laura McCullough and Mrs. Amelia Dilliard, recording secretaries; Mrs. Hildreth, corresponding secretary; and Mrs. E. E. Greenleaf, treasurer. Mrs. Clopton represented the association at the Tennessee Centennial in 1898. Opposition is so great that it has been deemed wise to do nothing more than distribute literature and present the arguments in the press.

A State convention was held at Huntsville, Oct. 1, 1900, Mrs. Taylor presiding. Mrs. Clopton being obliged to resign, Miss Griffin was made president. Mrs. Hume and Mrs. Robert Cunningham were chosen vice-presidents; Mrs. Greenleaf, treasurer; Miss Julia Tutweiler, State organizer.

Legislative Action and Laws: In January, 1893, through the influence of the suffrage association, Senator J. W. Inzer presented a bill to amend the State constitution so as to permit women to vote on municipal questions and prohibitory liquor enactments. It never was reported from the Judiciary Committee.

In 1895, at the desire of the New Decatur Club, Representative Osceola Kyle introduced a bill raising the "age of protection" for girls from ten to fourteen years, and a similar one was offered for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Although these efforts were not successful then, public attention was drawn to the subject, and at the next session, in 1897, the age was raised to fourteen years with a penalty of death or imprisonment for not less than ten years in the penitentiary.

Previous to 1886 legislation and public sentiment in Alabama were of the most conservative kind, but at the Constitutional Convention held that year changes in the statutes were made which gave to women many rights and privileges not before possessed. Dower but not curtesy obtains. If there are no lineal descendants, and the estate is solvent, the widow takes one-half of the real estate for life, but if the estate is insolvent, one-third only. If there are lineal descendants, then the dower right is one-third, whether the estate is solvent or not. If a husband die without a will, his widow, if there are no children, is entitled to all of his[Pg 467] personal property; if there is but one child, she is entitled to one-half; if there are more than one and not more than four children, then she is entitled to one child's portion. A homestead to the value of $2,000 is exempt to her from all creditors and no will can deprive her of it, unless she has signed a mortgage on it. If a wife die without a will, her husband is entitled to one-half of her personal property, whether there are children or not, and to the life use of all her real estate.

A wife may will her property to whom she pleases, excluding her husband from all share. He can do this with his property, but can not impair her dower rights. She can not sell her real estate without his written consent, but can sell her personal property without it. He can mortgage or sell his real estate, except the homestead, and can dispose of his personal property, without her consent.

A married woman may be agent, guardian or administrator. She may acquire and hold separate property not liable for the debts of her husband, though necessaries for the family can be a liability. Her bank deposit is her own, and her earnings can not be taken by her husband or his creditors. A wife can not become surety for her husband. Property purchased with her money will be returned to her upon application to the court.

A wife may engage in business with her husband's written consent. If she does so without it she incurs no penalty, but it is necessary in order that her creditors may recover their money. She must sue and be sued and make contracts jointly with the husband.

If a woman commit a crime in partnership with her husband (except murder or treason) she can not be punished; nor, if she commit a crime in his presence, can he testify against her.

Common law marriage is valid and the legal age for a girl is fourteen years.

The father is the guardian of the minor children, and at his death may appoint a guardian to the exclusion of the mother. If this is not done she becomes the legal guardian of the girls till they are eighteen, of the boys till fourteen.

Alabama is one of the few States which do not by law require the husband to support the family.[Pg 468]

The convicted father of an illegitimate child must pay to the Probate Court for its support not exceeding $50 yearly for ten years, and must give $1,000 bond for this purpose. Failing to do this, judgment is rendered for not more than $625 and he is sentenced to hard labor for the county for one year.

It is a criminal offense to use foul language to or in the hearing of a woman, or by rude behavior to annoy her in any public place; or to take a woman of notorious character to any public place of resort for respectable women and men. Slander against a woman's character is heavily punished; a seducer is sent to the penitentiary if his victim previously has been chaste. Procurers may be sentenced to the penitentiary.

The "age of protection for girls" is 14 years, and the penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary from ten years to life.

Suffrage: Women have no form of suffrage.[159]

Office Holding: Women are not eligible to any elective office. They act as enrolling clerks in the Legislature. Two women, whose fathers died while holding the position, were made registrars in chancery. Women can not serve as notaries public.

There are no women trustees on the board of any State institution, although the charitable and benevolent work is almost entirely in the hands of women. A man is superintendent of the Girls' Industrial School and the entire board is composed of men. Limited State aid is extended to a number of institutions founded and controlled by women, including the Boys' Industrial Farm.

Occupations: Women are legally prohibited from acting as lawyers, physicians or ministers. They are not allowed to engage in mining.

Education: All educational institutions admit women. The State Polytechnic at Auburn was the pioneer, offering to women in 1892 every course, technical, scientific and agricultural. The State University at Tuscaloosa opened its doors to them in 1896. Two scholarships for girls are maintained here, one by the ladies of Montgomery and one by those of Birmingham. In[Pg 469] 1900, out of a class of 178 boys and 23 girls, two boys and four girls took the highest honors.

The State Industrial School for Girls, at Montevallo, was established in 1896. There are two co-educational Normal Schools at Florence and Troy.

The colored men and women have excellent advantages in several Normal Schools and Colleges. The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, under the presidency of Booker T. Washington, has a national reputation. Colored children have also their full share of public schools.

There are in the public schools 2,262 men and 5,041 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $32; of the women, $25.35.

The most progressive movement in the State is that of the Federation of Women's Clubs, formed in 1895, and including at present fifty-eight clubs. Its work has been extremely practical in the line of education and philanthropy. The most important achievement is the Boys' Industrial Farm, located at East Lake near Birmingham. This is managed by a board of women and has a charter which secures its control to women, even if it become entirely a State institution. The club women have for three years sustained five scholarships for girls, two at Tuscaloosa and three at Montevallo. They have organized also a free traveling library, and in four cities free kindergartens.

In conclusion it may be noted that the strength of the woman movement in the State has been wonderfully developed in all directions during the last five years.

### FOOTNOTES:

[158] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Ellen Stephens Hildreth of New Decatur, the first president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[159] In the Constitutional Convention of 1901, an amendment providing that any woman paying taxes on $500 worth of property might vote on all bond propositions was adopted with great enthusiasm, but the next day, under the influence of the argument that "it would be an entering wedge for full suffrage," it was reconsidered and voted down. U. S. Senator John T. Morgan urged this amendment. The new constitution did contain a clause, however, providing that if a wife paid taxes on $500 worth of property her husband should be entitled to this vote.

[Pg 470]

## CHAPTER XXVI.

### ARIZONA.[160]

The Territory having elected delegates to a convention to be held in Phoenix in August and September, 1891, to prepare a constitution for Statehood, Henry B. Blackwell and Lucy Stone of Massachusetts sent Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas to Arizona in August to endeavor to secure a clause in this constitution granting suffrage to women. She was received in Tucson by Mr. and Mrs. Hughes, editors and proprietors of an influential daily paper, who gave every possible assistance.

Mrs. Johns soon went to Phoenix, where the convention was in session, and followed up a previous correspondence with the delegates by personal interviews. She found a powerful champion in ex-Attorney-General William Herring, chairman of the committee which had the question of woman suffrage in charge. When she asked permission to address this committee it set an early date and suggested that it might be pleasanter for the ladies if the hearing should be held in a private residence. Accordingly Mrs. E. D. Garlick, formerly of Winfield, Kansas, opened her parlor, invited a number of ladies who were interested and the committee met with them and listened courteously to their plea for the ballot. A favorable report was presented to the convention and General Herring, Mrs. Johns, Mrs. Hughes and others spoke eloquently in favor of its acceptance. The measure was lost by three votes.

So much interest had been manifested that a Territorial Suffrage Association was formed, with Mrs. Hughes as president and Mrs. Garlick as corresponding secretary. Mrs. Johns intended to organize the Territory but was suddenly called home by a death in her family.[Pg 471]

Four years later, in 1895, while she was working in New Mexico for the National Association, she was requested by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee, to speak at the annual convention in Phoenix; and on the way she held preliminary meetings at Tucson, Tempe and other places.

In January, 1896, Mrs. Hughes, whose husband was now Governor, went to the convention of the National Association in Washington to interest that body in Arizona, which it was then expected would soon enter Statehood. She made a strong appeal, assuring the delegates that the pioneer men of the Territory were willing to confer the suffrage on the women who had braved the early hardships with them, and saying:

> It is of the most vital importance that our women be enfranchised before the election of delegates to the approaching constitutional convention, as the Congressional enabling act provides that all persons qualified as voters under the Territorial law shall be qualified to vote for delegates to this convention and for the ratification or rejection of the same.

> If our women are enfranchised before the enabling act is passed, then Arizona is safe and no power can prevent them from being accorded their rights in the constitution, and if their rights are not conceded they will see to it that the constitution fails of ratification.

In March the National Association sent Mrs. Johns again into the Territory and she remained until May. In company with Mrs. Hughes she made a successful tour through the Salt River Valley, receiving generous hospitality, addressing large audiences and forming local clubs. The two ladies then crossed the Territory to Yuma, speaking at various points on the way, and went from there to Prescott. Governor Hughes himself spoke at the meetings held in Clifton. Mrs. Johns then went to the Northern counties. Altogether most of the towns were visited, and while the distances were great and the difficulties numerous, the meetings were well attended and earnest advocates were found even in small mining camps among the mountains.

Mrs. Johns returned in the winter of 1897 and addressed the Legislature in behalf of a bill for woman suffrage but no action was taken. Among the friends and workers not elsewhere mentioned were the Hon. and Mrs. George P. Blair, ex-Mayor Gustavus Hoff, C. R. Drake, John T. Hughes; the other officers of the suffrage association were Mrs. C. T. Hayden, vice-president;[Pg 472] Mrs. R. G. Phillips, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Lillian Collins, recording secretary; Mrs. Mary E. Hall, treasurer.

In the winter of 1899 the time seemed propitious for a vigorous movement, and Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay spent a month at Phoenix during the legislative session. Every possible effort was made, there seemed to be a remarkable sentiment in favor of woman suffrage among the better classes and it looked as if it would be granted. The final result is thus described in Mrs. Chapman Catt's report to the national convention the following April:

> Our bill went through the House by an unprecedented majority, 10 yeas, 5 nays, and then, as in Oklahoma, the remonstrants concentrated their opposition upon the Council. Here, as there, the working opponents were the saloon-keepers, with the difference that in Arizona they are often the proprietors of a gambling den and house of prostitution in connection with the saloons, and thus the opposition was more bitter and intolerant because it was believed greater damage would result from the votes of women. Every member of the Council received letters or telegrams from the leading proprietors of such resorts, threatening political ruin if he failed to vote against the measure. It was well known that money was contributed from these same sources. Here, as in Oklahoma, a majority were pledged to support the bill, but here, too, they played a filibustering game which prevented its coming to final vote. Pledges made to women are not usually counted as binding, but these pledges, as in Oklahoma, were made to men who were political co-workers. They did not deem it prudent to break these pledges by an open vote against the bill, but they held that they were not violated when they kept the matter from coming to a vote. The opposition was led by the proprietor of the largest and richest saloon in the Territory.

> I have never found anywhere, however, so many strong, determined, able men, anxious to espouse our cause as in Arizona. The general sentiment is overwhelmingly in our favor. At one time three prominent men were in Phœnix to do what they could for the suffrage bill, each of whom had traveled four hundred miles for this express purpose. Governor N. O. Murphy recommended woman suffrage in his message and did all that was possible to assist its passage. The press is favorable, the intelligent and moral citizens are eager for it, but the vicious elements, as everywhere, are opposed. For a month the question was bitterly contested, but its foes prevented a vote. So again a campaign, which was sure of victory had each man voted his conviction, ended in crime and bribery won the day. The pay of legislators in the Territories is very small, and the most desirable men can not afford to serve. In consequence there drifts into every Legislature enough men of unprincipled[Pg 473] character to make a balance of power. It may interest you to know that in both Territories we were told that all such legislation is controlled by bribery, and that our measure could be put through in a twinkling by "a little money judiciously distributed," but to such suggestions we replied that what the suffragists had won they had won honestly and we would postpone further advances till they could come in the same way. In the future years of strife over this question there will be many hands stained with guilt, but they will be those of the remonstrants and not ours. Though crime prevented the victory, yet we were abundantly assured of the lasting results of the campaign.

Laws: Curtesy and dower were abolished by Territorial legislation, but in 1887 Congress passed an act granting a widow dower in all the Territories. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving descendants, out of the separate property of either the survivor has one-third of the personal and a life use of one-third of the real estate. If there are no descendants, the survivor has all of the personal and a life use of one-half the real estate; if there are neither descendants nor father nor mother of the decedent, the survivor has the whole estate. The community property goes entirely to the survivor if there are no descendants, otherwise one-half goes to the survivor, in either case charged with the community debts. If the widow has a maintenance derived from her own property equal to $2,000, the whole property so set apart, other than her half of the homestead, must go to the minor children. If the homestead was selected from the community property it vests absolutely in the survivor. If selected from the separate property of either, it vests in that one or his heirs. It can not exceed $5,000 in value.

Married women have the exclusive control of their separate property; it is not liable for the debts or obligations of the husband; it may be mortgaged, sold or disposed of by will without his consent. The same privileges are extended to husbands.

A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name as regards her separate property, but she must sue jointly with her husband for personal injuries, and damages recovered are community property and in his control.

If a married woman desire to become a sole trader she must file a certificate in the registry of deeds setting forth the nature and place of business. She can not become a sole trader if the[Pg 474] original capital invested exceeds $10,000 unless she takes oath that the surplus did not come from any funds of the husband. If the wife is not a sole trader her wages are community property and belong to the husband while she is living with him.

The father is the legal guardian of the minor children. At his death the mother becomes guardian so long as she remains unmarried, provided she is a suitable person.

If the husband fails to support his wife, she may contract debts for necessaries on his credit, and for such debts she and her husband must be sued jointly and if he is not financially responsible her separate property may be taken.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in 1887, and to 18 in 1895. The penalty is confinement in the penitentiary for life or for not less than five years.

Suffrage: Since 1887 every person, male or female, twenty-one years old, who is the parent or guardian of a child of school age residing in the district, or has paid Territorial or county school tax, exclusive of poll-tax, during the preceding year, is eligible to the office of school trustee and entitled to vote for this officer at any School District election. This includes all cities and towns in the Territory.

Office Holding: Women may legally serve as school trustees, court commissioners, clerks of court, official stenographers, deputies and clerks in Territorial, county and municipal offices, and notaries public. Very few, however, are filling any of these offices.

Governor L. C. Hughes held that women were qualified to sit on any State Board and appointed one on the board of the State Normal School and one assistant superintendent of the Insane Asylum. None have since been appointed. There are no women physicians in any public institutions, and no police matrons at any jail or station-house.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: The State University is co-educational. In the public schools there are 122 men and 257 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $73.23; of the women, $63.17.

### FOOTNOTES:

[160] The History is indebted to Mrs. L. C. Hughes of Tucson, former president of the Territorial Woman Suffrage Association, and to Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas for material used in this chapter.

[Pg 475]

## CHAPTER XXVII.

### ARKANSAS.[161]

In 1885 the first woman suffrage association in Arkansas was formed at Eureka Springs by Miss Phoebe W. Couzins and Mrs. Lizzie D. Fyler, who was made president. Miss Susan B. Anthony lectured in February, 1889, in Helena, Fort Smith and Little Rock, at the last place introduced by Gov. James B. Eagle. On Sunday afternoon she spoke at a temperance meeting in this city, to a large audience that manifested every evidence of approval although she advocated woman suffrage. These were the first addresses on woman's enfranchisement given in the State.

No regularly constituted State suffrage convention ever has been held, but at the close of the annual Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention it is customary for the members of this body who favor the ballot for woman to meet and elect the usual officers for that branch of the work.

For fifteen years before her death in 1899, Mrs. Clara A. McDiarmid was a leader, was president of the association and represented the State at the national conventions. Dr. Ida J. Brooks is an earnest worker, and valuable assistance has been given by Mrs. Fannie L. Chunn and Mrs. Bernie Babcock.

In 1896 Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether of Tennessee gave twelve lectures under the auspices of the National Association. Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama also spoke here on this subject.

Not even this brief history of the suffrage movement would be complete without a mention of the Woman's Chronicle, established in 1888 by Catherine Campbell Cunningham, Mary Burt Brooks and Haryot Holt Cahoon. Mrs. Brooks was principal of the Forest Grove School, and Miss Cunningham a teacher in the public schools of Little Rock, but every week for five years this bright, newsy paper appeared on time. It was devoted to the general interests of women, with a strong advocacy of their enfranchisement. During the General Assembly it was laid each[Pg 476] Saturday morning on the desk of every legislator. Charles E. Cunningham encouraged and sustained his daughter in her work.

Legislative Action and Laws: The only bill for woman suffrage was that championed in the Senate by J. P. H. Russ, in 1891, "An act to give white women the right to vote and hold office, and all other rights the same as are accorded to male citizens." This unconstitutional measure passed third reading, but it is not surprising that it received only four affirmative votes; fourteen voted against it and fourteen refrained from voting.

In 1895 the law recognizing insanity after marriage as a ground for divorce was repealed.

This year a law was passed requiring the councils of all first-class cities to elect a police matron to look after woman prisoners.

Dower exists but not curtesy, unless the wife dies intestate and there has been issue born alive. If there are children the wife is entitled to one-third of the real property for her life and one-third of the personal property absolutely. If there are no children living she takes in fee simple one-half of the real estate where it is a new acquisition and not an inheritance, and one-half of the personal estate absolutely as against the collateral heirs; but as against creditors she takes one-third of the real estate in fee simple and one-third of the personal property absolutely. If either the husband or the wife die without a will and there are neither father, mother, nor their descendants, nor any paternal or maternal kindred capable of inheriting, the whole estate, both real and personal, goes to the surviving wife or husband.

The wife may sell or transfer her separate real estate without the consent of the husband. He can do the same with his real estate but can not impair her dower. A transfer of the homestead requires the joint signature.

A married woman as sole trader may engage in business on her own account and have the profits free from the interference of her husband, but if she is simply working for wages he may sue for her earnings and his receipt will bind her.

The father is the legal guardian of the children, having custody of their persons and property, but "no man shall bind his child to apprenticeship or service, or part with the control of such child, or create any testamentary guardianship therefor, unless[Pg 477] the mother shall in writing signify her consent thereto." At the father's death the mother may be guardian of the persons of the children but not of their property unless derived from her.

There is no law requiring the husband to support his family.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 16 years in 1893, with a penalty of imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five years nor more than twenty-one. In 1899 the minimum penalty was reduced to one year.

Suffrage: Women have no form of suffrage except under the Three-Mile Law. This provides that, on petition of a majority of the inhabitants living within three miles of any church or school, the court shall make it illegal for liquor to be sold within this limit for two years. The law never has been utilized in the larger cities, but has been tried in numerous small towns and hundreds of outlying districts, where it has borne the test bravely, ruling out completely the public drink-houses. Wherever it has been put into force, women have been a strong factor, giving their own signatures in its favor and in many instances making house to house canvasses to obtain signers.

Office Holding: Women are not eligible for any elective office. For twenty-five years, however, they have held clerkships in both branches of the General Assembly. In 1899 a bill to disqualify them from holding these was defeated in the Lower House by a considerable majority. But this same Legislature did not hesitate to declare women not qualified to serve as notaries public, which they had been doing for several years.

There are police matrons in Little Rock and Hot Springs.

For one year the "visiting committee" appointed by the School Board was composed of three men and two women. The latter made a written report, but the innovation was not repeated.

Occupations: Women are not permitted to practice law. No other profession or occupation is legally forbidden.

Education: All of the universities and colleges are coeducational, even the Law and Medical Departments of the State University being open to women.

In the public schools there are 4,515 men and 2,558 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $49.22, of the women, $35.52.

### FOOTNOTES:

[161] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Miss Catherine Campbell Cunningham of Little Rock, one of the earliest suffrage workers in the State.

[Pg 478]

## CHAPTER XXVIII.

### CALIFORNIA.[162]

The first woman suffrage meeting on the Pacific Coast was held in San Francisco in May, 1869, and a State association was formed in January, 1870. From that date meetings were held regularly and a committee of women did faithful work at the Legislature every session, securing many changes in the laws to the advantage of women.[163]

At the annual meeting of the association in San Francisco in December, 1884, Mrs. Laura De Force Gordon succeeded Mrs. Clara S. Foltz as president and held the office for the next ten years. During this time she attended a number of national suffrage conventions in Washington and delivered addresses in many parts of the United States.

In the political campaign of 1888 Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Foltz were employed as speakers by the Democratic Central Committee, and Miss Addie L. Ballou by the Republican. The Populist and the Labor parties selected women as delegates to their State conventions and placed them on their tickets for various offices. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York and Mrs. Marilla M. Ricker of New Hampshire visited the Pacific Coast and gave very acceptable lectures to the suffrage societies.

In 1889 Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent and Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich each subscribed $100 to send Mrs. Gordon to Washington Territory to aid the women there in securing the adoption of a suffrage amendment to the State constitution. She canvassed the State, contributing her services. The next year, through the efforts of these two ladies and their own contributions, over $1,000 were sent to South Dakota to assist the women in a similar attempt.

Suffrage meetings for various purposes were held in 1890, the largest being a grand rally at Metropolitan Temple, July 4,[Pg 479] to celebrate the admission of Wyoming as a State with full suffrage for women, at which there were addresses by the Hon. T. V. Cator, the Rev. C. W. Wendte, James K. Barry, the Hon. P. Reddy, the Hon. Charles Summer, Mrs. Gordon and others. This year the State Grange and the Farmers' Alliance cordially indorsed woman suffrage at their conventions. The annual suffrage meeting was held in Washington Hall, San Francisco, September 26. Mrs. Gordon was appointed a committee to select her own assistants and have full charge of the legislative work during the winter.

In 1891 practically every organization of either men or women seemed to be permeated with the agitation for woman suffrage. Among the most effective speakers and writers were Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson, Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, Miss Agnes Manning, Miss Ina D. Coolbrith, Mme. A. L. Sorbier, Mrs. E. O. Smith and Mrs. Sara A. T. Lemmon.[164]

Many informal business meetings were held during the next two years in Mrs. Gordon's law office. The adoption of equal suffrage by Colorado in 1893 inspired the California women to renewed effort. An Equal Rights League was formed of experienced suffrage workers. This was followed by the Young Woman's Suffrage Club, Miss Fannie Lemme, president, which became very popular. The Political Equality Club of Alameda County was organized in April. The Portia Law Club, Mrs. Foltz, dean, occupied a prominent place. The Woman's Federation also was an active society.

In 1893 the Trans-Mississippi Congress met in San Francisco with five regularly accredited women delegates in attendance. A woman suffrage resolution was presented for their indorsement and eloquently advocated by Mrs. Mary Lynde Craig. It was bitterly contested but finally passed by 251 yeas, 211 nays, amidst cheers and the waving of hats.

In 1894 was held the great Midwinter Fair, and the Woman's Congress Auxiliary became an intellectual focus for gifted women. It culminated in the brilliant convocation which was in session in Golden Gate Hall, San Francisco, for a week in[Pg 480] May. Its promoters were Mrs. John Vance Cheney, Mrs. Horace Davis, Mrs. Cooper, Miss Hattie Cooper, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry, Mrs. Lovell White, Mrs. William A. Keith, Mrs. Tupper Wilkes, Mrs. Alice Moore McComas, Mrs. Gordon and others. Mrs. Irving M. Scott, president of Sorosis, received the Congress socially in her elegant home. A large reception was given also at the magnificent country residence of Mrs. Frank M. Smith in East Oakland.

The Congress was followed by a mass meeting under the auspices of the suffrage societies. The hall would scarcely hold the audiences, which were especially distinguished by the large number of men, and noted men were also among the speakers. The venerable Alfred Cridge of the Single Tax League created much interest by a practical illustration of proportional representation, the candidates for president and vice-president being Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, the women doing the voting. Letters of regret at inability to be present but expressing sympathy with the object of the meeting were received from Gov. James H. Budd, President David Starr Jordan of Leland Stanford University, U. S. Senator Perkins, Supreme Judge McFarland, Judge James G. Maguire and others.

This year the State Association elected as its president Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn, who had been an ardent worker in the cause for a number of years and a prominent speaker for the Republican party. Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell was made vice-president; Mrs. Hester A. Harland, recording secretary; Mrs. Emily Pitt Stevens, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Emma Gregory, treasurer. Meetings were held every fortnight in St. George's Hall. In a short time General Warfield, proprietor of the California Hotel, offered the society the use of its parlors, which was gladly accepted.

In August a reception was given in honor of the National Press Association, then holding a convention in San Francisco, at which addresses were made by Mayor Adolph Sutro, the Hon. Samuel Shortridge and others. During the autumn a number of large and enthusiastic meetings were held.

In May, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president and vice-president of the National[Pg 481] Association, arrived in San Francisco in response to a cordial invitation to assist in the Woman's Congress which opened on the 20th. No meetings ever held were more beautiful and inspiring than these, presided over by Mrs. Cooper.[165] The best speakers in the State, men and women, participated and every possible honor, public and social, was conferred upon the two Eastern guests.

After the congress they accepted invitations to speak in San Jose, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Riverside, Pomona and San Diego. The audiences everywhere were large and cordial and their pathway was literally strewn with flowers. They returned to San Francisco and again addressed great audiences in that city and Oakland. Miss Shaw accepted the invitation of the executive committee to be one of the orators at the Fourth of July celebration in Woodward's Pavilion.

On July 2, 3, these ladies met with the State Suffrage Convention in Golden Gate Hall. Under their wise counsel a board of officers was elected which proved acceptable to all the members of the association,[166] and a constitution was adopted which eliminated the causes of past contentions.

The State was now thoroughly aroused over the submission by the Legislature the preceding winter of an amendment conferring Full Suffrage on women, which was to be voted on the next year. Auxiliary societies were reported from Oakland, San Jose, Stockton, Los Angeles, Fresno and other places and 300 new members were enrolled. The big hall was crowded at the evening meetings and addresses were made by Mrs. Sargent, the new president, Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Cooper, Mrs. Craig, Mrs. Blinn and others.

The officers elected at this time continued through all the long and trying campaign of 1896, which is described further on. The amendment was defeated at the election of November 3. The State convention was called for November 5, 6, in order that the Eastern women might be present, as they were to leave[Pg 482] on the 7th. A magnificent farewell meeting was held on the first evening in Metropolitan Temple, which was crowded from pit to dome. The Call declared, "It was more like the ratification of a victory than a rally after defeat;" and at the close of the convention said: "It furnished during its entire sessions an example of pluck and patience such as should forever quiet the calumny that women do not know how to govern themselves—that they become hysterical in the face of defeat."

The committee[167] reported a set of strong, courageous resolutions which were adopted with cheers. The last one declared: "While we accept the verdict of the election we do not regard it as final, but believing that our cause is just and must prevail, we will enter at once on a vigorous campaign which will end only when the ballot is placed in the hands of California women."

A systematic plan of work was adopted and, as Mrs. Sargent was about to leave for a year abroad, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift was elected president. Mrs. Goodrich and Mrs. Sargent were made honorary presidents. Twelve hundred dollars were raised to pay all outstanding campaign debts, and the convention closed with a good-bye reception to Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and the other ladies from the East.

The annual State meeting of 1897 was held in San Francisco, October 5, 6, with able addresses by the Rev. E. S. Chapman, Albert H. Elliott, a San Francisco attorney, Doctors Beecher and Bushnell, representing the women in their profession, Mrs. E. O. Smith and many others. Mrs. Swift was re-elected president and continued to serve until 1900.

The convention of 1898 also was held in San Francisco, October 4-6, and was made a jubilee meeting to celebrate the calling of the First Woman's Rights Convention in 1848.

In 1899 the annual State meeting, held in San Francisco November 7, 8, was greatly stimulated by the presence of Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, its secretary. Active societies were reported in many counties and a large amount of work done by the press committee of fourteen members, Mrs. Mary L. Wakeman Curtis, chairman. It was announced that the Susan[Pg 483] B. Anthony Club would hold a public meeting in the audience room of the Century Club, February 15, to celebrate that lady's eightieth birthday, at which President Jordan and Albert H. Elliott would be the orators. Addresses were given by Miss Sarah Severance, Mrs. Julia S. Sanborn, Mrs. Mary McHenry (Wm. A.) Keith, Mrs. Smith, Miss Selina Solomons and Miss Clara M. Schlingheyde.

On the evening of November 9 the convention was transferred to Oakland and every seat in the large Unitarian church was filled. Mrs. Chapman Catt was the speaker, introduced by the Rev. J. K. McLean. Mrs. Baldwin, president of the Alameda County society, Mrs. Swift and other prominent women occupied the beautifully decorated platform. During the afternoon a reception had been given in the artistic home of Mrs. Emma Shafter Howard.

The convention for 1900 was held in San Francisco as usual, December 14, 15. Mrs. Annie R. Wood was elected president.[168]

One of the largest auxiliary societies is that of Alameda County with a dozen branches. The presidents have been the Rev. J. K. McLean, Mrs. M. S. Haight, Mrs. Alice M. Stocker, Mrs. Isabel A. Baldwin, Mrs. H. J. D. Chapman and Mrs. Frances A. Williamson.[169]

The San Jose Club was formed for campaign work, Nov. 14, 1895, with fifty-four charter members. It has continued to hold weekly meetings under the presidency of Dr. Alida C. Avery.[170] There are a number of other efficient clubs in Northern California.[Pg 484]

Legislative Action: As early as 1868, and for many years afterwards, Mrs. Laura De Force Gordon addressed the Legislature in behalf of political rights for women, and from then until the present time there have been few sessions which have not had the question brought before them. A large number of legislators, lawyers and leading women have contended that the constitution of the State is so worded that it is within the power of the Legislature to confer the full franchise by statute, but bills for this purpose always have been defeated by a majority who hold that this can be done legally only by an amendment to the constitution adopted by the electors. Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn has spent many winters at Sacramento in the interest of suffrage bills, and Mrs. Clara S. Foltz has frequently made legal arguments before joint committees. Beginning with 1891 Mrs. Sturtevant Peet, president of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, has remained through every legislative session representing that organization, with bills for temperance measures, suffrage and other matters of especial interest to women. During all of these years the suffrage bills before the Legislature have been reinforced by great petitions and hundreds of personal letters from the women of Southern California.

In 1889 Miss Sarah M. Severance, State Superintendent of Franchise for the W. C. T. U., went to Sacramento with a large petition asking for School Suffrage. Mrs. Gordon, a practicing lawyer, already had prepared three bills asking for Municipal and School Suffrage including the right to hold every educational office. All were reported favorably from the Senate committee. The first was passed, reconsidered and although again receiving a majority vote, had not the constitutional two-thirds. The School Suffrage Bill passed by 24 ayes, 7 noes. In the Assembly it received 36 ayes, 22 noes, not the required majority.

In 1891 a bill was presented to enfranchise women by statute. It was championed by Senators McGowan, Dargie and Simpson of the northern, and Carpenter and McComas of the southern part of the State. On February 7 a hearing was granted by the Judiciary Committee, and Mrs. Gordon gave a strong legal argument which was presented to the members as a "brief;" and[Pg 485] addresses were made by Miss Severance, Mrs. Addie L. Ballou and Mrs. Emily Pitt Stevens. Before the vote was taken in the Legislature Mrs. Sturtevant Peet presented the great petition of the W. C. T. U. containing 15,000 names, and many were offered by senators from various counties. Individual appeals were sent by Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent, Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich, Dr. Alida C. Avery, Mrs. E. O. Smith and many other well-known women. The bill passed the Senate by 21 ayes, 17 noes. It had been delayed so long, however, that it was too late to reach the Assembly.

In 1894 the State Republican Convention adopted a plank as follows: "Believing that taxation without representation is against the principles of the Government we favor the extension of the right of suffrage to all citizens of the United States, both men and women."

The Legislature of 1895 was strongly Republican and the time seemed to be highly propitious for securing woman suffrage. To this end a number of influential women visited Sacramento. The first bill presented called for enfranchisement by special statute and was introduced and championed in the Assembly by Judge E. V. Spencer. On the afternoon of January 24 Mrs. Blinn and Mrs. Foltz addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee, and in the evening a mass meeting took place in the Court House, which the Judiciary and Elections Committees of the Senate and House attended in a body, as did also a large number of the members. Mrs. Gordon made the leading address and Mrs. Foltz the closing speech. Another meeting, held in the Assembly Chamber February 8, was addressed by Mrs. E. V. Spencer, Mrs. Blinn, Miss Laura Tilden, a lawyer, Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Peet. Great assistance also was rendered by Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell, Mme. A. L. Sorbier, Dr. Lillian Lomax and Mrs. Jennie Phelps Purvis.

The bill came to a vote in the Assembly February 11 and passed. A defect was then discovered in the title and it was voted on again February 19, receiving 46 ayes, 29 noes. In the Senate it met with many vicissitudes which need not be recounted, as it eventually failed to pass. This was largely because the members did not believe it would be constitutional.[Pg 486]

This question being settled, Senators McGowan of Eureka, and Bulla of Los Angeles, Assemblyman Spencer of Lassen, and others championed a resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause. This was adopted in March, 1895, by a two-thirds majority of both Houses, and signed by Gov. James H. Budd. The story of the campaign which was made to secure the adoption of this amendment is related hereafter. It was defeated by the voters.

Although the experienced national officers told the California women that it would be many years before they would be able to secure another bill they did not believe it, but went to the Legislature of 1897 full of hope that an amendment would be submitted again and they could make another campaign while their organizations were intact and public sentiment aroused. Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry and Mme. A. L. Sorbier spent much of the winter in Sacramento, and enough members were pledged to pass the bill. When it was acted upon, however, while it received a majority in both Houses, it lacked seven votes in the Assembly and one in the Senate of the necessary two-thirds.[171]

In 1899 Representative W. S. Mellick of Los Angeles introduced a bill giving women the right to vote for school trustees, and at elections for school bonds or tax levy. It passed the Assembly with only one dissenting vote, and the Senate by a majority of six. Gov. Henry T. Gage refused to sign it on the old ground of unconstitutionality.

Constitutional Amendment Campaign: The action of the Legislature of 1895 in submitting an amendment to the voters, instead of conferring the franchise by statute, was somewhat of a disappointment to the women as it precipitated a campaign which would come at the same time as that for President of the United States, and for which there was not sufficient organization. They were very much at sea for a while but in the spring of 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president and vice-president of the National Association, came to California to the Woman's Congress,[Pg 487] and while here, having had much experience, helped them plan their work and gave every possible encouragement. In the autumn Miss Shaw returned and held meetings throughout the State, managed by Miss Harriet Cooper. The next year, at the urgent request of the State Association, Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw came back and remained from the first of March until after the election in November, rendering all the assistance within their power in the longest and hardest campaign ever made for a woman suffrage amendment. An amendment committee had been appointed at the last annual convention and out of this and the State officers a Campaign Committee[172] was formed and, in addition, a State Central Committee was organized.

Mrs. Sargent opened her handsome home for headquarters the first three months, and for eight months she and her daughter, Dr. Elizabeth C. Sargent, gave every hour to this work, entertaining as guests Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and other workers and contributing large sums of money. In February, Dr. Sargent and Miss Shaw's secretary, Lucy E. Anthony, arranged a series of two days' conventions in every county in the State. Miss Harriet May Mills and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, experienced organizers, were invited to California to manage these conventions and remained throughout the campaign.[173] The Rev. Miss Shaw and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine were the speakers. The audiences were large and cordial, clubs were formed and the meetings more than paid expenses.

On Sunday, May 3, the San Francisco Call, the leading Republican paper, under the management of Charles M. Shortridge, came out with flaming headlines declaring for woman suffrage, and several hundred copies were sent to the State Republican convention which met in Sacramento the following Tuesday. A number of prominent women went to this convention, as it was considered very important that it should repeat its indorsement of the previous year. The delegation consisted of Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Sargent, State president, Mrs. Mary[Pg 488] Wood Swift, Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper and Miss Mary G. Hay, members of the campaign committee. Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw addressed the Committee on Resolutions, and the next day a plank declaring for the amendment was adopted by the big convention with only one dissenting voice.

On May 12 most of these ladies attended the Populist Convention in Sacramento. They were received with cheers, escorted to front seats, invited to address the convention and the plank was unanimously adopted. From here a part of them went to the Prohibition Convention in Stockton, meeting a most cordial reception and a similar result. The Socialist Labor and the National parties also indorsed the amendment.

There was little hope for the indorsement of the Democratic Convention, but the ladies, reinforced by Mrs. Sarah B. and Miss Harriet Cooper, Mrs. Henry Krebs, Jr., Mrs. Alice M. Stocker and Mrs. E. O. Smith attended it on June 16. They were permitted to address the Resolutions Committee and present a petition signed by about 40,000 men and women of the State asking for the amendment, but it was laid on the table almost before they had left the room.[174]

A minority report was at once prepared by Charles Wesley Reed and signed by himself, William H. Alford, chairman of the committee, and two other members, but it was prevented from coming before the convention by order of its chairman, Frank Gould of San Joaquin County. After the platform had been adopted Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw were invited to address the convention, which they did to such effect that when they had finished the minority report was demanded. It was too late for this but, in spite of the efforts of John P. Irish and W. W. Foote of Alameda County,[175] and others, the original resolution declaring for an amendment was brought to a vote, receiving 149 ayes, 420 noes, more than one-fourth the whole number.[Pg 489]

The women opened their campaign a few days later with an immense ratification meeting in Metropolitan Temple. All of the political parties were represented by prominent men who made strong suffrage speeches, Congressman James G. Maguire speaking for the fraction of the Democratic party. Most of the ladies who had attended the conventions made addresses and there was the greatest enthusiasm. Miss Anthony was invited to speak at the ratification meeting of each of the political parties and was most cordially received. No suffrage campaign ever commenced so full of promise.

Headquarters were opened on Main Street in the fine new Parrott Building, five rooms being donated for the purpose by the manager of the Emporium, William Harper. The furnishings were contributed by different firms and individuals, and a handsome banner was swung across the street. Here a force of women worked day and night for five months, most of them donating their services.[176]

The State Board and all the committees were composed of women of good position and especial ability. The counties formed their own organizations and all the important towns had active local clubs. The report from Southern California appears in another part of this chapter. In San Francisco Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper gave generously of her valuable time and powerful influence. Mrs. Mary Wood Swift and Mrs. Mary S. Sperry responded many times when the finances were at the lowest ebb. It would be impossible to name even a small fraction of those who freely and continuously gave labor and money.

Each of the eighteen assembly districts of San Francisco was organized by precincts, regular meetings were held, a personal canvass was made and an immense amount of literature was distributed. It is wholly impracticable in a limited space to mention the work done by the various counties, as in each where the amendment was carried it was due largely to the wise, faithful and unwearying efforts of its own women, and any distinction would be invidious.[Pg 490]

The work of the W. C. T. U. deserves a prominent place in the history of the struggle, as all the powers of its excellent organization and experienced workers were devoted to the success of the amendment, and the majority in several counties at least was due to its efforts.

For the usual necessary and legitimate campaign purposes a fund of about $19,000 was raised and sent to headquarters, almost wholly the contributions of women.

Miss Anthony remained in San Francisco addressing meetings in that city and making many short trips to neighboring towns, speaking once or more every day for eight months. During this time she made a tour of Central and Southern California, lecturing in halls, churches, wigwams, parlors, schoolhouses and the open air. In some places the train was stopped and she spoke from the rear platform which was then banked with flowers.

The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw spoke every night for seven months; Miss Yates made about one hundred speeches; Mrs. Chapman Catt spent the last two months in the State giving several addresses every day. Miss Sarah M. Severance spoke under the auspices of the W. C. T. U. throughout the campaign. Mrs. Naomi Anderson represented the colored people. Every California woman who could make a speech was pressed into service for clubs, ward meetings, etc. Many handsome homes were opened for parlor lectures. Miss Anthony herself addressed great political rallies of thousands of people; church conventions of every denomination; Spiritualist and Freethinkers' gatherings; Salvation Army meetings; African societies; Socialists; all kinds of labor organizations; granges; Army and Navy Leagues; Soldiers' Homes and military encampments; women's clubs and men's clubs; Y. M. C. A.'s and W. C. T. U.'s. She spoke at farmers' picnics on the mountain tops, and Bethel missions in the cellars of San Francisco; at parlor meetings in the most elegant homes; and in pool-rooms where there was printed on the blackboard, "Welcome to Susan B. Anthony." Her services during the entire time were a personal contribution.

The attitude of the press was one of the remarkable features. Mrs. Ida Husted Harper was made Chairman of the Press Committee which had local members in every community. In company[Pg 491] with Miss Anthony every editor in San Francisco was visited and assurances received that the amendment would have respectful treatment. The Call, the Record and the Post gave strong editorial indorsement, the latter maintaining a daily department, the responsibility being largely taken by Dr. Sargent. Mrs. Harper had a long article each week in the Sunday Call and many weeks one in the Chronicle also. The Examiner placed a column on the editorial page of its Sunday edition at the disposal of Miss Anthony and she filled it for seven months, but the paper gave no official approval. The Report had a double column every Saturday edited by Miss Winnifred Harper. The Bulletin had one conducted by Miss Eliza D. Keith, but editorially it was not friendly. Mrs. Mary L. Wakeman Curtis rendered especially valuable service. The Populist press was universally favorable, as were the Star and other labor papers, the temperance, Socialist and A. P. A. organs, the leading Jewish papers, those of the colored people, several published in foreign languages and many in the interest of agriculture, insurance, etc.

Before the close of the campaign the press chairman was in communication with 250 papers in the State which declared editorially for woman suffrage. Only 27 spoke openly against it, prominent among these being the San Francisco Chronicle, Argonaut, Sacramento Record-Union and Los Angeles Times. From California papers alone 9,000 clippings were received on this subject.

Had it not been the year of a presidential election it is probable that the amendment might have carried, but the bitter competition of politics soon produced many complications and, although the suffrage question was kept absolutely non-partisan, it could not escape their serious effects. The demand for free silver had made such inroads on the Republican party that it was threatened with the loss of the State, and it was soon made to understand by the liquor element that its continued advocacy of the suffrage amendment would mean a great loss of money and votes. It was found that the chairman of the State Central Committee, Major Frank M'Laughlin, was notifying the county chairmen not to permit the women to speak at the Republican meetings, and it became very difficult to persuade the speakers[Pg 492] of that party to refer to the amendment, although an indorsement of it was the first plank in their platform.

The Populists and Democrats found themselves in accord on financial questions and in most localities a fusion was effected. While the former, for the most part, were loyal to the amendment they could not fully control the speakers or platforms at the rallies and it was kept out of sight as much as possible. The A. P. A. was strongly organized in California and was waging a bitter war against the Catholic Church, and both feared the effect of the enfranchisement of women, although at the beginning the former seemed wholly in favor.

The women made a brave fight but these political conditions, added to insufficient organization, too small a number of workers, lack of necessary funds, the immense amount of territory to be covered, the large foreign population in San Francisco and the strong prejudices in general against the movement, which must be overcome everywhere, made defeat inevitable. The final blow was struck when, ten days before election, the wholesale Liquor Dealers' League, which had been making its influence felt all during the campaign, met in San Francisco and resolved "to take such steps as are necessary to protect our interests." One of these steps was to send to the saloonkeepers, hotel proprietors, druggists and grocers throughout the State the following:

> At the election to be held on November 3, Constitutional Amendment No. Six, which gives the right to vote to women, will be voted on.

> It is to your interest and ours to vote against this amendment. We request and urge you to vote and work against it and do all you can to defeat it.

> See your neighbor in the same line of business as yourself, and have him be with you in this matter.

Although the women had the written promise of the Secretary of State saying, "The amendment shall be third in order on the ballot, as certified to me by the various county clerks," it was placed last, which made it the easy target for the mass of voters who could not read. Hundreds of tickets were cast in San Francisco on which the only cross was against this amendment, not even the presidential electors voted for.

There were 247,454 votes cast on the suffrage amendment;[Pg 493] 110,355 for; 137,099 against; defeated by 26,744. The majority against in San Francisco County was 23,772; in Alameda County, comprising Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley, 3,627; total 27,399—665 votes more than the whole majority cast against the amendment. Berkeley gave a majority in favor, so in reality it was defeated by the vote of San Francisco, Oakland and Alameda.[177] Alameda is the banner Republican County and gave a good majority for the Republican ticket. There never had been a hope of carrying San Francisco for the amendment, but the result in Alameda County was a most unpleasant surprise, as the voters were principally Republicans and Populists, both of whom were pledged in the strongest possible manner in their county conventions to support the amendment, and every newspaper in the county had declared in favor of it. The fact remains, however, that a change of 13,400 votes in the entire State would have carried the amendment; and proves beyond question that, if sufficient organization work had been done, this might have been accomplished in spite of the combined efforts of the liquor dealers and the political "bosses."[178]

As it is almost universally insisted that woman suffrage amendments are defeated by the ballots of the ignorant, the vicious and the foreign born, an analysis of the vote of San Francisco, which contains more of these elements than all the rest of California, is of interest. Not one of the eighteen Assembly Districts was carried for the amendment and but one precinct in the whole city. It is not practicable to draw an exact dividing line between the best and the worst localities in any city, but possibly the 28th, or water front, district in San Francisco may come under the latter head and the 40th under the former. The vote on the amendment in the 28th was 355 ayes, 1,188 noes; in the 40th, 890 ayes, 2,681 noes, a larger percentage of opposition in the district containing the so-called best people. Districts 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 would probably be designated the most aristocratic of the city. Their vote on the amendment was 5,189 ayes, 13,615 noes, an opposing majority of 8,426, or about 1,400 to the district. This left the remainder to be distributed[Pg 494] among the other eighteen districts, including the ignorant, the vicious and the foreign born, with an average of less than 1,300 adverse votes in each district.

The proportion of this vote was duplicated in Oakland, the most aristocratic ward giving as large a negative majority as the one commonly designated "the slums."

#### SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.[179]

In the spring of 1885 the first woman suffrage association of Southern California was organized in Los Angeles at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth A. Kingsbury, a lecturer and writer of ability and a co-worker with the Eastern suffragists in pioneer days. This small band of men and women held weekly meetings from this time until the opening of the Amendment Campaign in 1896, when it adjourned—subject to the call of its president—and its members became a part of the Los Angeles Campaign Committee.

The principal work of this early suffrage society was educational. Once a month meetings were held to which the public was invited, addresses were given by able men and women, good music was furnished and suffrage literature distributed. For five years Mrs. Kingsbury continued its efficient president and then returned to her Eastern home. She was succeeded by Mrs. Margaret V. Longley, another pioneer worker from the East, who served acceptably for the same length of time, when Mrs. Alice Moore McComas was elected. Under her regime was called the first county suffrage convention ever held in the State.

All other organizations of women wholly ignored the suffrage association during these years. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union had its franchise department, but it was by no means so popular as the other thirty-nine. Discouragement was met on every hand, but the faithful few, adhering to the principles of political liberty, saw year by year a slow but certain growth of sentiment in favor of the ballot for women.

In the winter of 1887, an effort was made to secure a bill from the Legislature conferring Municipal Suffrage upon women.[Pg 495] Hundreds of letters were written and a large petition was sent but no action was taken.[180] Every year afterward a bill asking for some form of suffrage was presented to the Legislature, accompanied by great petitions signed by representative people, and an unremitting agitation was kept up throughout Southern California, until a strong sentiment was created in favor of the enfranchisement of women. Among those who championed the cause in the Legislature in those days were R. N. Bulla, R. B. Carpenter, Edward Denio and W. S. Mellick. U. S. Senators George C. Perkins and Stephen M. White also gave their influence in its favor.

In the autumn of 1892 the Southern California Woman's Parliament was organized. While the fact was emphasized that it was "not a woman's rights society;" the suffragists saw here an opportunity for good work. The whole membership of their various organizations went into this parliament and were active promoters of all the enterprises taken up, fully realizing that, sooner or later, in a body where all phases of woman's work—in the home, the church, the school and society—were discussed, woman's political limitations could not fail to receive attention. They were not mistaken for in a short time its sessions might properly have been called "woman's rights meetings," but none were more careful not to mention this fact than the "strong-minded" members. The women who were afraid to be seen at suffrage meetings were being so quietly converted that they had no idea of it. The sentiment grew and grew—and so did the suffrage association—until, after consultation with various members of the Legislature, it was decided to ask for an amendment to the State constitution which would enfranchise women.

Meanwhile the Los Angeles Suffrage Association called a convention of delegates from the southern counties in April, 1894, and a central committee was organized consisting of one representative woman from each voting precinct. This was productive of systematic work, and when the Legislature the following winter submitted an amendment, workers in every city, town, hamlet and school district were ready for the campaign.

County campaign committees were organized of which that[Pg 496] of Los Angeles was the leader, and from its headquarters the main work was carried on. These, consisting of four large rooms on the second floor of the Muskegon block, a fine stone building in the business center of Los Angeles, were donated by T. D. Stimson. They were handsomely furnished by friends with every requirement for office work and semi-public meetings. Leo Alexander and William D. Hayward contributed the typewriters. Their arrangement was in the hands of Mesdames J. H. Braly, A. M. Davidson, R. L. Craig and Laura B. Fay. All through that ever-to-be-remembered hot summer of 1896 these dainty, artistic rooms, constantly supplied with fresh flowers, afforded a cool retreat for the busy suffragists, as well as a resting place for their less active sisters who were invited to visit them, even if not in sympathy, and none left without some of the literature and a gentle hint as to their obvious duty.

In San Diego the work was led by the president, Mrs. Flora M. Kimball. Mrs. Kimball was the first woman ever elected Master of a Grange, and was for eight years a member of the San Diego school board. She was a most efficient manager and the beautiful grounds around her home were the scene of many gatherings. A gifted writer also, her satires during this campaign, over the signature "Betty Snow, an anti-suffragist," made many converts.

Prominent among the workers were Mrs. Annie Bristol Sloan, president of the San Diego County W. S. A., the Rev. Amanda Deyo, Dr. Lelia Latta and Mrs. Laura Riddell; Mrs. Helen Joslin Le Boeuf (Tustin), organizer of Orange County; Mrs. Lizzie H. Mills, secretary of the Southern California W. C. T. U., and its president, Mrs. N. P. J. Button, who kept the question prominently before the people of Riverside County. Mrs. Ida K. Spears led the work in Ventura County with pen and voice. Kern County though less densely settled had in its little clusters of humanity staunch friends of the cause under the leadership of Mrs. McLeod, and gave also its majority for the amendment. San Bernardino was ably marshaled by Mrs. Ella Wilson Merchant, the county president. In Santa Barbara County Mrs. Emily Wright had stood sponsor for the cause for many years, and Mrs. S. E. A. Higgins assisted with her facile pen. This[Pg 497] county in its favorable vote ranked next to Los Angeles. The work was tremendous but the result was compensating.

The key-note of the campaign was to reach every voter without regard to race or rank. Therefore, women of all castes and conditions were set to work where their direct influence would be most effective. Hundreds of precinct meetings were held during the whole summer. Each precinct had its own organization officered by its own people—men and women—a vice-president being appointed from each of its churches, and this was called Campaign Committee Precinct No. ——, pledged to work only until election. The meetings numbered from five to eighteen a day, and one day in August twenty-two were held in a single county. In the city of Los Angeles the highest number in any one day was nine precinct meetings and one public rally in the evening, near the close of the campaign. Mrs. McComas addressed four of these meetings and spoke at the rally—which was not unusual work for the speakers in the field. From the afternoon meetings, held generally in the largest homes in the precinct, hundreds of leaflets were sent out and every effort was made to increase the interest among women, for it was believed that if these did their duty the votes could be secured. The evening meetings were held principally in halls or churches, though frequently the larger homes and hotel parlors were thrown open for a reception where men were the honored guests.

The churches of all Protestant denominations were offered for debates and entertainments. In several the Rev. Mila Tupper Maynard—the salaried campaign speaker—preached Sunday evenings on texts pertinent to the subject, and many pastors delivered special sermons on equal rights. Leading hotels gave their parlors for precinct meetings and many of the halls used for public gatherings were donated by the owners. Noontide meetings were held in workshops, factories and railroad stations, and while the men ate their lunch a short suffrage talk was given or some good leaflet read aloud. The wives of these men were invited to take part, or to have full charge, and many earnest, competent workers were found among them who influenced these voters as no one else could do. The large proportion of foreign citizens were thus reached in a quiet, educational manner.[Pg 498]

Another most effective method of work was carried on by the public meeting committee. Every political organization had in its ranks some father, husband, son or brother who was pledged to watch the suffrage interests and report to this committee—composed of men from these organizations and women from the campaign committees—when and where a wedge could be put in for the amendment. Its main duty was to present at political meetings, through the most distinguished speaker on the program, a resolution favoring the amendment. In this way it was treated as one of the general issues and, being brought before the voters by one of their own speakers, did not give the annoyance that is sometimes felt when a lady is introduced for this purpose. In every instance, the speaker would call upon the voters to "honor themselves in honoring the women." This method became very popular and won many votes where, otherwise, a hearing could not have been secured.

Another popular plan was that of utilizing the young people, who proved effective helpers. Every boy and girl who could sing, play, declaim, write an essay or in any other way entertain was enlisted for oratorical debates, prize essays and public meetings.[181] Through their work many a young man cast his first vote for his mother.

Hearings were secured before clubs and organizations, when short addresses were made and resolutions adopted.[182]

The W. C. T. U. was throughout the campaign, active, efficient and helpful, while its members were found on all the suffrage committees. Valued assistance was given also by the Woman's Parliament, the church auxiliaries, labor unions, Christian Endeavor Societies, Epworth Leagues, theosophical societies and the[Pg 499] Southern California Federation of Woman's Clubs—which devoted a whole session of its annual meeting to the question.

The Afro-American Congress, convening in Los Angeles, gave up an afternoon session to listen to Mrs. Naomi Anderson, the salaried organizer. This was followed up with faithful work by the Colored Woman's Club, its president, Dr. Mary T. Longley, assisted by Mesdames Washington, White, Jackson, Knott, Campbell, Clarkson and others, being instrumental in converting many of the colored men to a belief in suffrage for women. A number of them indeed became active workers, the most prominent being the Rev. John Albright. Mrs. McComas addressed the Los Angeles County Republican Convention, which put in its platform a resolution in favor of the amendment.

Literature in small, concise leaflets was hung up in the street cars, railroad offices, hotels, theaters and post-offices; wrapped in dry-goods and grocery parcels and placed in profusion in the public libraries, many of these being compiled especially to suit certain localities. This required unceasing labor and watchfulness on the part of the press committee. Much original matter was used to show the people that the women of their community were fully capable of expressing their ideas and giving their reasons for desiring the ballot.

Fourteen of the papers published in Los Angeles were friendly to the amendment and gave it more or less editorial support, while three used their influence against it. The Los Angeles Times was unyielding in its opposition throughout the campaign, although it published fair reports of the meetings. The Sunday World kept pace with the Liquor Dealer in its coarse hostility, while the Pasadena Town Talk was a good second to both. The majority of the newspapers in Southern California were favorable to the proposed measure and were largely responsible for its success in this section of the State.[183]

The most harmonious spirit existed at headquarters and among all the workers. Enough money was raised to pay salaries to county presidents, organizers, corresponding secretary and one speaker. All others donated their services. Among the series of county conventions called by the State board, Los[Pg 500] Angeles not only paid its own expenses but contributed $67 to the general State fund. This money was freely given by friends and workers, no special assessments being levied and no collections taken at public meetings. Those who could not give largely worked the harder to secure contributions from those who could. Great credit is due to the excellent management of the financial secretary, Mrs. Almeda B. Gray, who labored constantly at headquarters from May to November, besides contributing a monthly instalment to the county fund. Much of it was also due to the wise and conservative policy of the president of the campaign committee, Mrs. Elizabeth H. Meserve.

It would be impossible to give even the names of all who assisted in this long and arduous campaign. The work was far-reaching, and many were modest home-keepers who gave effective service in their own immediate neighborhood.[184]

The amendment was defeated—for many reasons. Among the most conspicuous were ignorance of the real merits of the issue; indifference—for thousands of voters failed to vote either way; a secret but systematic opposition to woman's voice in legislative affairs from the only organization against it—the Liquor Dealers' Association; and, most potent of all, a political combination which would not have occurred except at the time of a presidential election. Every county in Southern California gave a majority for the amendment, Los Angeles County leading with 4,600. Miss Anthony, who spent the summer in California aiding and encouraging the women with her wisdom, cheerfulness and hope, said on leaving: "The campaign was a magnificent[Pg 501] one, and it has developed many splendid workers who will be ready for the next which is sure to come."

After the disappointing result the Campaign Committee held a meeting, passed resolutions of fealty to the cause and adjourned sine die. But in order to perpetuate the work already done and be ready for "new business" at any time, the Los Angeles County Woman Suffrage League was organized the following week, Mrs. Elmira T. Stephens, president; Mrs. Gray, chairman of advisory board; Mrs. Craig, secretary. The natural reaction after defeat followed and no work was done for several years.

In November, 1900, the State president, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, came to Los Angeles and gave a parlor talk at the home of her hostess, Mrs. I. G. Chandler, and later an address at a public meeting in the Woman's Club House, of which Mrs. Caroline M. Severance was chairman. Practically all were in favor of reviving the old Woman Suffrage League and an executive committee was appointed, Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns (formerly of Minnesota), chairman.

At its call a meeting was held December 1, and the league reorganized: President, Mrs. Severance; vice-president, Mrs. Shelley Tolhurst; secretary, Mrs. Carl Schutz; treasurer, Mrs. Amelia Griffith; chairman of executive committee, Mrs. Stearns. A leaflet announcing the formation of the league, its plan of work, etc., was largely circulated. A committee was appointed who went before the Legislative Conference, which was held later in the Chamber of Commerce, and expressed the thanks of the league for the efforts of the Southern California members who had worked and voted for the School Suffrage Bill at the previous session of 1899.

The executive committee meets once a month and special sessions are called whenever necessary. The plan of work, as outlined by Mrs. Stearns, was sent to the State convention at San Francisco and cordially approved.

In February half of a show window on Broadway was secured, with ample floor space back of it. With the donation of $100 by a Los Angeles woman both were made attractive with flags, engravings and furnishings. Above a handsome desk the suffrage flag with its four stars is draped and photographs of prominent[Pg 502] women adorn the walls. The suffrage papers are kept on file and quantities of fresh literature are ready for distribution. Stationery, photographs, medallions, etc., are for sale, a register is open for the enrollment of friends and a member of the league is always in attendance. When another amendment campaign is to be made Southern California will be found ready for work and will declare in its favor by a largely increased majority.

Laws: The original property law of California is an inheritance from the Mexicans, which it incorporated in its own code, and it is quite as unjust as those which still exist on the statute-books of some States as a remnant of the barbarous old English Common Law. Community property includes all which is accumulated by the joint labors of husband and wife after marriage. This is in the absolute control of the husband. Previous to 1891 he could dispose of all of it as if he had no wife, could will, sell, mortgage, pledge or give it away. That year the Legislature enacted that he could not make a gift of it or convey it without a valuable consideration, unless the wife consented in writing, although he could still dispose of it in ordinary business transactions without her knowledge or consent. The decision in the Spreckles case apparently nullified this law, as the gift was made in 1893 and the Supreme Court in 1897 declared it legal.[185]

In 1895 it was provided that at the husband's death the wife is entitled to one-half of what remains, subject to one-half of the debts. At the death of the wife the whole belongs absolutely to the husband without administration. If some portion of it may have been set apart for her support by judicial decree, this[Pg 503] is subject to her testamentary disposition, or, if she makes none, it passes to her heirs.

A homestead to the value of $5,000, which must continuously be occupied by the family, may be selected from the community property, or from the husband's separate estate, or from the wife's with her consent. If from the first-named it belongs to the survivor, if from the separate property it descends to his or her heirs, subject to the power of the court to assign it to the family for a limited period. During marriage it can not be mortgaged or conveyed without the signature of both. In case of divorce, if it has been selected from community property, it may be assigned to the innocent party absolutely or for a limited time, or it may be sold and the proceeds divided, according to decree. If selected from separate property it shall be returned to the former owner, but the court may assign it for a limited time to the innocent party.

In 1897 a law was passed that if the estate is less than $1,500 it shall be assigned to the widow, subject to incumbrances, funeral charges and expenses of settlement.

Separate property consists in what was possessed before marriage or is received by gift or inheritance afterwards. If the deceased leave wife or husband and only one child, or the lawful issue of one, the separate estate is divided in equal shares. If there be more than one child or the issue of one, the widow or widower is entitled to one-third. If there is no issue the survivor takes one-half and the other half goes to the father, mother, brothers and sisters of the deceased. If none exists, the survivor is entitled to the whole estate.

Either husband or wife may dispose of separate property without the consent of the other. Until 1894 it rested upon the wife to prove that property was her separate possession, but now the proof rests upon the contestants. Until 1897 she was compelled to prove that it was not paid for with community earnings. Neither of these recent laws applies to property acquired previous to May 19, 1889.

A married woman may be administrator or executor. (1891.)

The wife may engage in business as sole trader and her husband is not liable for her contracts, but her earnings, and also[Pg 504] any wages she may make by her labor, are community property and belong absolutely to him, and suit for them must be brought by him. By becoming a sole trader she makes herself liable for the support of the family.

A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in regard to her separate property, but in torts of a personal nature she must be sued jointly with her husband, although the wife may defend in her own right.

Until 1899 common law marriage was legal, and this consisted merely in a promise and the mutual assumption of marital rights, duties and obligations. That year a law was passed requiring a license and a civil or religious ceremony. The law declares specifically that "the husband is the head of the family and the wife is subject to him."

The wife may sue for separate maintenance without divorce.

The father is the guardian of the minor children and entitled to their custody, services and earnings. At his death, or if he has abandoned his family, the guardianship belongs to the mother, if suitable.

The husband is expected to give his family proper maintenance. There is no penalty for not supporting a wife but he can be arrested for failure to support the children. If he have no property or is disabled from any cause, then the wife must support him and the family out of her property or her earnings. The husband decides what are necessaries and may take even her personal belongings to pay for them.

In 1887 the W. C. T. U. asked to have the "age of protection" for girls raised from 10 to 18 years, but secured only 14. In 1895 they succeeded in having a bill passed for 18 years but it was vetoed by Gov. James H. Budd. In 1897 they obtained one for 16 years which he signed and it is now the law. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than five years.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

In 1900, to make a test case, Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent brought suit before Judge M. C. Sloss, of the Supreme Court of San Francisco, to recover her taxes for that year, about $500. The city through its attorney filed a demurrer which was argued March 29 by George C. Sargent, son of the plaintiff and a member[Pg 505] of the bar. He based his masterly argument on the ground that a constitution which declares that "all political power is inherent in the people" has no right to exclude one-half of the people from the exercise of this inherent power. He quoted the most eminent authorities to prove that taxation and representation are inseparable; that the people of the United States would have been slaves if they had not enjoyed the constitutional right of granting or withholding their own money; that it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people that no taxes can be imposed upon them except with their consent given personally or by their representatives. He said in closing:

> If Article I of the State constitution defines inalienable rights and Article II abrogates them, it is monarchy. The Code of Civil Procedure says that where one of two constructions is in favor of natural right and the other against it, the former shall be accepted. The question is whether the Court shall grant this right, or whether by toil and struggle it shall be wrung from the consciences of the electors.

The court decided that the case required a mandamus before the Registrar. Application was then made for a writ of mandate against the Registrar of Elections to compel him to place Mrs. Sargent's name upon the list of voters. Should this be denied she asked to have her taxes returned. Both demands were refused by Judge Sloss in the Superior Court. He took the ground that if Mr. Sargent's argument should be carried to its logical conclusion it would enfranchise idiots, lunatics and criminals; that if there is a conflict between the two sections of the constitution cited it should be settled in favor of limiting the suffrage to males, as where a general and a particular provision are inconsistent the latter is paramount to the former. He quoted various State Supreme Court decisions and declared that he decided the case according to the law.[186]

As Mrs. Sargent had every assurance that this judgment would be sustained by the Supreme Court she did not carry the case further. It attracted attention and comment in all parts of the country and she received encouragement and wishes for her success from all classes of society.[Pg 506]

Office Holding: The Legislature of 1873 made women eligible to all School offices. None ever has been elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction but there is scarcely a county where women have not served as superintendents. At present seventeen are acting in this capacity. They have frequently been elected School Trustees and a woman is now president of the San Francisco school board at a salary of $3,000 per annum.

The constitution is interpreted to prohibit women from holding any other office. It is claimed by some that this does not include the boards of State institutions, but out of twenty-six such boards and commissions only one ever has had a woman member—Mrs. Phœbe A. Hearst, who is on the Board of Regents of the State University.

There are women on local library boards. A woman has been assistant State Librarian, and there have been women deputies and clerks in county and city offices. At present in the offices of the Attorney-General, Board of Examiners, State Department of Highways and Debris Committee women hold positions as clerks at salaries of from $1,200 to $1,800. They may serve as notaries public.

In the autumn of 1899 the California Woman's Club resurrected an old law which never had been enforced, providing for the appointment of assistant women physicians at the hospitals for the insane "provided there are already three assistant male physicians." They petitioned the proper authorities and the matter was presented to the State Lunacy Commission by Gov. Henry T. Gage with his earnest indorsement. From highly qualified candidates, whom the club had in readiness, two were appointed, and the promise was made that others should be at an early date. In a short time the superintendent of one hospital wrote that he did not see how they ever had managed without a woman physician.

A woman physician is on the Board of Health in Oakland.

In 1891 a law was passed providing for jail matrons in cities of 100,000 and over. This included only San Francisco and was not mandatory. In 1901 a law was secured requiring all cities of over 15,000 to have a matron at jails and city prisons, to be[Pg 507] appointed for two years at a salary of $50, $65 or $75 a month, according to the size of the city.

Occupations: After the hard struggle to obtain a law admitting women to the bar in 1877, a long contest followed to secure their admission to the Hastings College of Law, a branch of the State University, which ended in a favorable decision of the Supreme Court.[187] As a result of these efforts the constitutional convention of 1879 incorporated a provision that "No person shall, on account of sex, be disqualified from entering upon or pursuing any lawful business, vocation or profession." This does not, however, include appointive or elective offices.

Education: This same constitution of 1879 provided also that "No person shall be debarred admission to any of the collegiate departments of the State University on account of sex." Most of the smaller colleges are co-educational.

The assertion will hardly be questioned that the gifts of women for educational purposes in all parts of the Union, in all time, do not equal those made by the women of California within the last decade. As a memorial to their son, U. S. Senator and Mrs. Leland Stanford erected the Leland Stanford, Jr., University at Palo Alto in 1890 and endowed it with many millions of dollars. Mr. Stanford's death before it was fully completed threw the estate into litigation for a number of years, the legality of even some portion of the university endowment being in doubt. He left the bulk of his great fortune to his wife, and, after the estate was settled and free from all encumbrances, she reaffirmed the titles of all previous gifts and added the largest part of her own property. The endowment is now about $30,000,000, all but $4,000,000 of this having been given by Mrs. Jane Lathrop Stanford. This is the largest endowment ever made by any one person for one institution, and places Stanford at the head of the endowed universities of the world. It has been co-educational in all departments from the beginning and the tuition is practically free.

In 1894 Mrs. Miranda Lux of San Francisco left a bequest of $750,000 for a school of manual training for both sexes. In 1898 Miss Cora Jane Flood of San Francisco conveyed to the University[Pg 508] of California her magnificent estate at Menlo Park and 4,000 shares of stocks, valued at not far from $1,000,000. The request was made that the income should be devoted to some branch of commercial education. Mrs. Jane Krom Sather of Oakland has given about $200,000 to the University. The donations of Mrs. Phœbe A. Hearst have been thus far about $300,000, but this is merely preliminary to the great endowment of millions for which she has arranged. It is exclusive also of $30,000 a year for several archæological expeditions. Liberal gifts have been made by other women.

In the public schools there are 1,722 men and 6,425 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $81.08; of the women $64.76. As a law of 1873 requires equal pay of teachers for equal work, these figures show that the highly salaried positions are largely occupied by men.

Women's clubs play a very prominent part in the social life. Of these, 111 with a membership of over 7,000 belong to the State Federation. The oldest in the State is the Ebell of Oakland, organized over twenty-five years ago, and having now a handsome club house and a membership of 500. It raised $20,000 to purchase a site for the new Carnegie Library. The Century Club of San Francisco with 275 members is one of the oldest and most influential; the California Club has an active membership of 400; and there are a number of other flourishing clubs in that city, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and Sacramento, of from 175 to 250 members. The Friday Morning Club of Los Angeles, with a membership of 500, owns a beautiful club house. The Ebell of that city has 300 members, and clubs of from 150 to 200 are found in various places in Southern California.

### FOOTNOTES:

[162] The History is indebted for most of the material in this chapter to Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent of San Francisco, honorary president, and Miss Carrie A. Whelan of Oakland, corresponding secretary, of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[163] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, Chap. LIII

[164] Other names which appear in the scant records are Dr. Cora Morse, Mesdames William A. Keith, A. W. Manning, Helen Moore, Emily Pitt Stevens, Julia Schlessinger, Gertrude Smythe—of San Francisco and the towns around the bay; E. L. Collins of the Stockton Daily Mail, Mrs. D. P. Burr and Mrs. James Gillis of Stockton.

[165] For full description see Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLV.

[166] President, Mrs. Ellen Clark (Aaron A.) Sargent; first vice-president, Mrs. Annie K. (General John) Bidwell; second vice-president, Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn; third vice-president, Mrs. John Spalding; corresponding secretary, Mrs. George Oulton; recording secretary, Mrs. Hester A. Harland; treasurer, Mrs. Sarah Knox Goodrich; auditors, Mrs. Mary Wood (John F.) Swift and Mrs. Isabel A. Baldwin.

[167] Ida Husted Harper, the Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Mary Wood Swift, Dr. Ida V. Stambach, Harriet E. Cotton, Ada H. Van Pelt.

[168] The others who have held office in the State association since 1896 are—first vice-presidents, Mesdames Frank M. Smith, C. R. Randolph, H. J. D. Chapman, Mary Wood Swift, second vice presidents, Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell, Mrs. E. O. Smith, third vice-presidents, Mrs. Elmira T. Stevens, Mrs. R. H. Pratt, Mrs. A. K. Bidwell, corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Harriet E. Cotton, Miss Mary E. Donnelly, Dr. Amy G. Bowen, Miss Carrie A. Whelan, recording secretaries, Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn, Miss Mary G. Gorham, Mrs. Henry Krebs, Jr., Mrs. Dorothy Harnden, treasurers, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry (six years), Miss Clara M. Schlingheyde; auditors, Mrs. Lovell White, Mrs. George Oulton, Miss Mary S. Keene, Dr. Alida C. Avery, Mrs. Mary Mc. H. Keith, Mrs. Anna K. Spero.

[169] Among those who have been officially connected with the work are Col. P. T. Dickinson, Col. George and Mrs. Olive E. Babcock, Drs. Alice Bush, Susan J. Fenton, Kellogg Lane, Carra B. Schofield, Rev. C. W. Wendte, Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Howard, Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Woodhams, Mesdames A. E. S. Banks, S. C. Borland, J. C. Campbell, Ella E. Greenman, L. G. Judd, Mary McHenry Keith, A. A. Moore, M. B. Pelton, Emily M. Vrooman, C. L. Wood, J. A. Waymire, John Yule; Misses Mollie E. Connors, Mary S. Keene, Mary Snell, Winifred Warner, Carrie A. Whelan.

[170] Among the most active members are Mesdames M. B. Braley, Fred L. Foster, Sarah Knox Goodrich, J. H. Henry, H. Jennie James, A. K. de Jarnette (Spero), E. O. Smith, Laura J. Watkins, Alice B. Wilson.

[171] Immediately afterwards the ladies said to one of the members, "Why did you break your pledge to us and vote against the bill?" Without a moment's hesitation he answered, "Because I had a telegram this morning from the Liquor Dealers' Association telling me to do so."

[172] Chairman, Ellen Clark Sargent; vice-chairman, Sarah B. Cooper; corresponding secretary, Ida Husted Harper; recording secretary, Harriet Cooper; treasurer, Mary S. Sperry; auditors, Mary Wood Swift and Sarah Knox Goodrich.

State Central Committee: Mrs. Sargent, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Swift, Mrs. Sperry, Mrs. Blinn, with Mary G. Hay, chairman.

[173] Later Mrs. Ida Crouch Hazlitt of Colorado, Mrs. Laura M. Riddell of San Diego and other State women were added to the organizing force.

[174] Dr. Elizabeth Sargent was chairman of the Committee on Petitions for Northern and Mrs. Alice Moore McComas for Southern California. As the names had to be collected in the winter months preceding the spring campaign, the distances to be covered were long and the labor was the free offering of busy women, it is surprising that the list was so large. It by no means represented the suffrage sentiment in the State.

[175] Alameda had sent in the largest petition for woman suffrage of any county in the State, and San Joaquin afterwards gave a big majority vote for the amendment.

[176] A number of young women who were engaged the greater part of every day in teaching, stenography, bookkeeping, etc., gave every hour that could be spared to the work at headquarters, a free will offering. Among those who deserve special mention are Misses Mary, Louise and Sarah Donnelly, Mary Gorham, Clara Schlingheyde, Effie Scott Vance, Evelyn Grove, Mrs. N. W. Palmer, Winifred and Marguerite Warner and Carrie A. Whelan. Mrs. Lelia S. Martin also contributed five months' time.

[177] Los Angeles County gave a majority of 4,600 in favor of the amendment.

[178] Many personal incidents and anecdotes of this campaign will be found in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLVII.

[179] This portion of the chapter was prepared by Mrs. Alice Moore McComas, former president of the Los Angeles Woman Suffrage Association and chairman of the Southern California press committee during the amendment campaign of 1896. A considerable amount of space is given because it presents so admirable an example of the manner in which the work in such a campaign should be done.

[180] The first paper to establish a Suffrage Column was the Los Angeles Express, in 1887, H. Z. Osborne, editor. This was conducted by Mrs. McComas for three years.

[181] Among the many were Gertrude Foster, the young California actress, who added attraction to many programs with her brilliant readings, and Jessie, daughter of Superior Judge Waldo York, who won the prize of $75 offered by Dr. Ella Whipple Marsh, superintendent of franchise of the Southern California W. C. T. U., for the best essay on woman suffrage, one hundred young people of both sexes competing. An oratorical contest for young college men—original orations on woman suffrage—resulted in a $20 prize to Edwin Hahn of Pomona College, five young men participating. Clare, daughter of Judge C. C. McComas, gave highly-appreciated recitations on the woman question, and Miss Nina Cuthbert, the young teacher of elocution, delighted many audiences with her readings and wonderful imitations.

[182] Prominent among these were the Single Tax Club, Royal Arcanum, Foresters, Native Daughters of the Golden West, Socialist League, Y. M. C. A., Carpenters' Union, Woman's Relief Corps, Y. W. C. A., Friday Morning Woman's Club and the Fraternal Brotherhood.

[183] It is regretted that the carefully compiled list of these papers, sent by Mrs. McComas, is too long to be used. [Eds.

[184] In addition to men and women already mentioned the following is a partial list of those who aided in various ways: Annie B. Andrews, Alice Armor, Prof. W. C. and Sarah A. Bowman, Mary M. Bowman, Mrs. (Dr.) B. W. Beacher, Mary E. Benson, Mary E. Bucknell, Alice E. Broadwell, Rollo K. Bryan, James G. Clark, Mary L. Crawford, Lucy E. Cook, Mary Lynde Craig, Pauline Curram, Gen. A. B. Campbell, Edith Cross, Adelaide Comstock, Prof. G. A. Dobinson, the Hon. C. H. Dillon, Florence Dunham, Virginia W. Davis, Sallie Markham Davis, Ella H. Enderline, Katheryne Phillips Edson, Dr. and Mrs. Eli Fay, Ada C. Ferriss, Mary E. Fisher, Miss M. M. Fette, Kate Tupper Galpin, Mary E. Garbutt, Prof. Burt Estees Howard, Emma Hardacre, Mary I. Hutchinson, Rachel Handby, Mrs. C. E. Haines, Georgia Hodgeman, Judge and Mrs. Ivan, Mrs. Mary E. and Miss Kinney, Mrs. E. A. and Miss Lawrence, Alice Beach McComas, Ben S. May, Susie Munn, Mattie Day Murphy, Dr. Mary Nixon, Mrs. C. W. Parker, Delia C. Percival, Ursula M. Poats, Mary Rankin, Rachel Reid, Aglea Rothery, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. B. Randolph, Caroline M. Severance, Mrs. Fred Smith, Dora G. Smith, Drusilla E. Steele, Annie B. Smith, Gabrella Stickney, Mrs. A. Tichenor, Mrs. R. H. F. Variel, Dr. Theoda Wilkins, Mrs. (Dr.) Wills, Fanny Wills, Attorney Sarah Wild, Judge Waldo York, Jessie York.

[185] Claus Spreckles gave his son Rudolph a large amount of sugar stock which was community property, and Mrs. Spreckles did not join. Afterwards he sued to recover and the Supreme Court, all the Judges concurring, decided the gift was legal. Justice Temple rendered the decision as follows:

"All these differences point to the fact that the husband is absolute owner of the community property. The marital community was not acquired for the purpose of accumulating property, and the husband owes no duty to the community or to the wife, either to labor or accumulate money, or to save or to practice economy to that end. He owes his wife and children suitable maintenance, and if he has sufficient income from his separate estate he need not engage in business, or so live that there can be community property. If he earns more than is sufficient for such maintenance, he violates no legal obligation if he spends the surplus in extravagance or gives it away. The community property may be lost in visionary schemes or in mere whims. Within the law he may live his life, although the community property is dissipated. Of course I am not now speaking of moral obligations."

[186] During this trial Mrs. Sargent and her friends in attendance were caricatured in the most shameless manner by the San Francisco Call, which had passed under a new management.

[187] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 757.

[Pg 509]

## CHAPTER XXIX.

### COLORADO.[188]

After the campaign of 1877, when a woman suffrage amendment was defeated in Colorado, the first really important step forward was the organization at Denver, in 1890, of a little club to aid the campaign in South Dakota. In April Miss Matilda Hindman, who was working there, came from that State to ask assistance and formed a committee of six, who pledged themselves to raise $100. They were Miss Georgiana Watson, president; Mrs. Susan Sharman, secretary; Mrs. Mary J. Nichols, treasurer; and Mesdames Amy K. Cornwall, Jennie P. Root and Lavinia C. Dwelle.

Shortly afterward Mrs. Louise M. Tyler removed from Boston to Denver, bearing a letter from Lucy Stone urging Colorado suffragists to unite in an organization auxiliary to the National Woman Suffrage Association. Mrs. Tyler heard of this small band, called with Mrs. Elizabeth P. Ensley, delivered her message, and their names were added to the list of members. The organization was completed and became an auxiliary.

About this time Mrs. Leonora Barry Lake followed her lecture, delivered under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union by an appeal to the women of the audience to join the suffrage association; and among those who responded were two whose ears had longed for such a gospel sound, Mrs. Emily R. Meredith and her daughter Ellis. Temperance women who repeatedly had found their work defeated by the lack of "the right preservative of rights," such women as Mrs. Anna Steele, Mrs. Ella L. Benton, Mrs. Eliza J. Patrick and others, thought truly that a society whose sole aim should be the ballot was a necessity.[Pg 510] At this time the meetings were held in Mrs. Tyler's parlor. Miss Watson was much occupied with school duties, and in the fall of 1890 Mrs. Tyler was chosen president in her stead.

In 1891 a petition for the right of suffrage by constitutional amendment was presented to the Legislature, but the bill not being introduced within the specific time it went by default. Ashamed of their lack of political acumen, the women then persuaded Representative F. F. O'Mahoney, who had a bill prohibiting foreigners from voting on their first naturalization papers, to strike the word "male" from his measure, thus making it an equal suffrage enactment, but bill and rider were defeated. The ladies who worked for suffrage were treated with such scant courtesy by some of the legislators, and the general sentiment was so adverse, that ultimate success looked very distant to the most sanguine friends.

Some of the club even questioned the advisability of giving an afternoon a week, as they had been doing, to the study of a government in which they had no part and might never hope to have. Mrs. Sharman, a small, delicate woman, who already had passed four-score years, was its inspiration. She advised the members to remain united, ready for active effort when opportunity offered, and in the meantime to continue as seed-sowers and students of citizenship in the preparatory department.

The membership slowly increased. Mrs. Tyler served as president until 1892, when Mrs. Olive Hogle was elected. Mrs. Benton (Adams) had given the use of her rooms in the central part of Denver, and the society remained with her until, having outgrown its quarters, it accepted the hospitality of Dr. Minnie C. T. Love early in 1893.

In the spring of 1891 a small majority of its members had put up a woman candidate for the East Denver school board and tried their "prentice hands" at voting. It is a settled fact that a partial suffrage seldom awakens much interest. The school ballot had been given to women by the constitution when Colorado became a State, but here, as elsewhere, they exercised it only when aroused by some especial occasion. Mrs. Scott Saxton was the candidate selected. The wiser of the suffragists thought the work should have been undertaken sooner, if at all,[Pg 511] as there was not then sufficient time for canvassing, and the result proved they were right. More women voted than ever before, but the men opposed to women on the school board came out in still greater numbers. Twelve hundred ballots were cast—by far the largest school vote ever polled in the district. Of these about 300 were for Mrs. Saxton.

Two years later this effort was repeated and other organizations of women aided the suffragists. Mrs. Ione T. Hanna was the candidate. There were four tickets in the field and over 6,000 votes were cast. This time both men and women voted in favor and, in the face of bitter opposition, Mrs. Hanna was elected by 1,900 majority.

A bill providing that the question of full suffrage for women should be submitted to the voters at the next general election was drawn by J. Warner Mills and presented in the House early in 1893 by J. T. Heath. On this, and all other occasions when advice or assistance was needed, Mr. Mills gave his legal services without charge.

This was indeed the golden opportunity, the tide which taken at the flood might lead on to fortune. The Populist party, which was in power, had a suffrage plank in its State platform; in both the other parties there were individuals who favored it; and, if the bill passed, the Governor's signature was a certainty. But there are as many vicissitudes in the life of a bill as in that of an infant. It is thrown in the midst of its fellows to struggle for existence, and the outcome is not a question of the survival of the fittest but of the one that receives the best nursing. If it escapes the death that lurks in the committee room, it still may be gently crowded toward the edge until it falls into the abyss which awaits bills that never reach the third reading.

Mrs. Tyler, chairman of legislative work, gave a large share of her time during the entire session to looking after the bill in the House, and Miss Minnie J. Reynolds was equally untiring in the Senate. Three other suffrage bills were introduced that session but two yielded precedence to the one prepared by the association. The author of the third believed that women could obtain suffrage only through a constitutional amendment, which was what his bill called for. The women received such contradictory[Pg 512] advice on this point as to awaken much anxiety. However, they read in their meetings a copy of the statutes of Colorado, and possessing only plain common sense and not the legal ability which would have qualified them for a place in the Supreme Court, concluded that the referendum to the voters, which their bill provided for, was the proper thing to request.

The opposition came from the usual sources. After the bill was presented, the Remonstrance, the organ of the anti-suffrage society in Boston, soon appeared on the desk of every legislator. The liquor influence also was prominent in the lobby.

The bill was reported from the committee to the House on Jan. 24, 1893, with the recommendation that it should not pass and a minority report in favor. The former was rejected by a vote of 39 to 21. The bill was brought to a final vote on March 8. A number of the members of the suffrage club and some other women who approved their cause were present by request of the friends in the House. Some of the arguments used were peculiar. Ruth didn't vote and she married very well (at least at the second trial) nor did any of the women referred to in the Bible, so why should the women of the United States do so? One Representative said he always attended to affairs out of doors and left those within to his wife. He thought that was the right way and didn't believe his wife would vote if she could. "But she says she would," declared another, who was prompted by Mrs. Tyler, and a ripple of laughter arose at the speaker's expense.

There was the customary talk about neglected homes and implied disbelief in woman's ability to use the ballot rightly, but only one man tried the weapon of insult. Robert W. Bonynge spoke so slightingly of the character of women who upheld equal suffrage that one incensed woman, not a member of the association and presumably ignorant of parliamentary courtesy, gave a low hiss. Immediately he assumed the denunciatory and threatened immediate expulsion of all persons not members from the House. Frank Carney then arose and referred to the fact that the anti-suffrage speakers had received repeated applause from their adherents and no notice had been taken of it, although it[Pg 513] was equally out of place. Mr. Bonynge subsided from his position and continued his speech.[189]

The bill finally passed by 34 ayes, 27 noes; divided politically as follows: Ayes, 22 Populists, 11 Republicans, 1 Democrat; noes, 3 Populists, 21 Republicans, 3 Democrats.

Hamilton Armstrong had introduced the bill into the Senate, where it had been tabled to await the action of the House. It passed on April 3 by 20 ayes, 10 noes: Ayes, 12 Populists, 8 Republicans, no Democrat; noes, one Populist, 4 Republicans, 5 Democrats.

The bill received the signature of the Populist governor, Davis H. Waite, without delay.

A general election was to be held in the fall of 1893, so that the verdict of the voters was soon to follow. At the annual meeting of the State Woman Suffrage Association that spring the officers chosen were: President, Miss Martha Pease; vice-president, Mrs. Ellis Meredith; secretary, Mrs. C. S. Bradley; treasurer, Mrs. Ensley; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Tyler. On motion of Mrs. Meredith, the name of the society was changed to the Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage Association of Colorado, as in the word "equal" there is an appeal to justice which does not seem to exist in the word "woman."

The women realized the conflict before them in the near future, and Mrs. Ellis Meredith volunteered to visit the Woman's Congress, which was to meet at Chicago in May, during the World's Fair, and appeal for aid to the representatives of the National Association who would be there. Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lucy Stone and other notables were present and appointed a meeting to listen to appeals. These asked help for the Constitutional Convention Campaign in New York and the Kansas Amendment Campaign, which were both considered very hopeful compared to what was thought in the East to be the almost hopeless campaign in Colorado. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake presented the claims of New York, Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, and Mrs. Meredith of Colorado. "Why was your campaign precipitated when our hands are so full?" was one of[Pg 514] the discouraging questions. "Are all those Mexicans dead?" asked Miss Anthony, referring to the heavy vote against equal suffrage in the first Colorado campaign of 1877. "No," said Mrs. Meredith, "the Mexicans are all there yet;" but she explained that there were favorable influences now which did not then exist. In the labor unions women members voted, and this fact inclined the men belonging to them to grant the full franchise. The W. C. T. U., now organized throughout the State, had become a firm friend and advocate, and the ruling political party was favorable. Clearly this was the time to strike.

A promise of consideration and such aid as the National Association was able to furnish was given. Later they decided to send Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and guarantee her expenses in case she was not able to raise them in the State. From her past record, they thought it likely she would not only do that but put money in the treasury, and the result justified their expectations. She was a financial help, but, much as money was needed, her eloquence and judgment were worth more, and she always will have a warm place in the hearts of Colorado women who were active in the campaign of 1893.

When that campaign opened, there were just $25 in the treasury. Lucy Stone sent a donation of $100. Iowa and California gave aid, and there were small contributions in money from members of the E. S. A. and from auxiliary clubs formed by Mrs. Chapman Catt in different parts of the State.

Besides these, others already had been organized. In Longmont a club was formed in the spring of 1893 by Mesdames Mary L. Carr, Orpha Bacon, Rosetta Webb and Jane Lincoln. They took up the study of laws relating to the property rights of women and endeavored to awaken interest in the question to be settled the following November. The majority which Longmont gave for suffrage is a testimony to the value of their work. In Colorado Springs Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford was president of a large local society which afterward became auxiliary to the State association, with Mrs. Ella L. C. Dwinnell as president, and did excellent work in El Paso County. In Greeley many of the workers of 1877 were still active. Mrs. Lillian Hartman Johnson organized a club in Durango and spoke for the cause. Mrs.[Pg 515] A. Guthrie Brown formed one in Breckinridge of which Mesdames H. R. Steele, C. L. Westermann and E. G. Brown were active members.

All these clubs, large and small, scattered throughout the State, assisted in arousing public sentiment, but the situation in Denver was the one of most anxious interest. It is always in cities that reforms meet defeat, for there the opposing interests are better organized and more watchful. In no other State is the metropolis so much the center of its life as is Denver of Colorado. Through this modern Palmyra, which stands in the center of the continent and of the tide of commerce from East and West, flow all the veins and arteries of the State life. Arapahoe County, in which it is situated, contains more than one-fourth of the population of the entire State. Upon the women of Denver, therefore, was imposed a triple share of responsibility. Besides the importance of the large vote, there rested particularly upon the members of its suffrage club the burden of having invited this contest and made it a campaign issue.

In the early fall, the City League of Denver was organized with 100 members and Mrs. John L. Routt, wife of the ex-governor, as president. Mrs. Thomas M. Patterson and Mrs. N. P. Hill were prominent workers in this club. A Young Woman's League was formed by Misses Mary and Margaret Patterson and Miss Isabel Hill, and there were other leagues in various parts of the city. In all this work Mrs. Tyler was indefatigable.

Miss Minnie J. Reynolds, chairman of press work, enlisted the help of seventy-five per cent. of the newspapers. In some cases editorial approval and assistance were given, in others space was allowed for suffrage matter. In August Mrs. Elizabeth Tabor donated the use of two rooms in the opera house block, one large enough to seat several hundred persons, the other a suitable office for the corresponding secretary. Dr. Minnie C. T. Love had acted gratuitously in that capacity and opened communication with suffragists throughout the State, but it was now deemed necessary to employ some one who could devote her entire time to the work. Miss Helen M. Reynolds was chosen and added to unusual capability the most earnest zeal. The rooms were furnished through loans of rugs, desks, chairs, etc.[Pg 516]

Equal suffrage was indorsed by the county conventions of the Republican, Prohibition and Populist parties, and also at a called meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee. Many ministers and lawyers spoke in its favor. Among the latter were Charles S. Thomas, since governor of the State, J. Warner Mills, Judge L. C. Rockwell, Charles Hartzell, Eugene Engley and Attorney-General I. N. Stevens, who was one of the most trusted advisers.

There were also women speakers of experience: Mrs. Therese Jenkins of Wyoming, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts; Mrs. Dora Phelps Buell, Mrs. Mary Jewett Telford, president of the Woman's Relief Corps in the Department of Colorado and Wyoming and also president for several terms of the State W. C. T. U., who made a five-months' speaking tour; Mrs. Leonora Barry Lake of St. Louis, who spoke efficiently under the auspices of the Knights of Labor. Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant of England delivered an address on her way westward.

Some women made speeches who never had been on the platform before but have since developed much oratorical ability. When needed, women who did not dare risk an unwritten address read papers. Meetings were held all over the city and State. "I should think," said a banker, "from the campaign the women are running that they had a barrel of money;" but he was a contributor to the fund and knew it was very limited. In all about $2,000 were raised, over $300 of which were spent for literature. Some of the most efficient leaflets were written by members of the association and printed in Denver. Nearly 150,000 of these were issued.

In the city press Mrs. Patience Mapleton represented the cause in the Republican; Mrs. Ellis Meredith in the Rocky Mountain News. There were house to house canvassers, distributors of literature and others who rendered most valuable assistance and yet whose names must necessarily remain unrecorded. The most of this service was given freely, but some of the women who devoted all their time received moderate salaries, for most of the workers belonged to the wage-earning class. The speakers asked no compensation but their expenses were frequently borne. Halls and churches had to be paid for and on several occasions[Pg 517] opera houses were rented. When in the final report the expenses of election day were given as $17 a murmur of amusement ran through the audience.

The women who "had all the rights they wanted" appeared late in the campaign. Some of them sent communications to the papers, complaining of the effort to thrust the ballot upon them and add to the already onerous duties of life. When told that they would not be compelled to vote and that if silent influence was in their opinion more potent than the ballot, it would not be necessary to cast it aside for the weaker weapon, they responded indignantly that if they had the franchise of course it would be their duty to use it. Let it be noted that many of them have voted regularly ever since they were enfranchised, though some have reconsidered and returned to their silent influence.

The liquor element slept in fancied security until almost the eve of election, as they did not believe the amendment would receive popular sanction. When they awoke to the danger they immediately proceeded to assess all saloon keepers and as many as possible of their prominent patrons. They got out a large number of dodgers, which were put into the hands of passers-by. These were an attack upon equal suffrage and the women who advocated it, and at the bottom of the first issue was a brewer's advertisement. This dodger stated that "only some old maids like Lucy Stone, Susan Anthony, Frances Willard, Elizabeth Stanton and Mary Livermore wanted to vote." They also employed an attorney to juggle the ballots so that they might be thrown out on a technicality. There was consternation among the suffragists when the ballot was finally produced bearing the words "For the Amendment," "Against the Amendment," for it was well known that the measure was not an "amendment." The best legal talent in Denver was consulted and an opinion rendered that the ruse would prove of no avail, as the intention was still clear. The women, however, issued a leaflet instructing the voters just where to put the cross on the ticket if they wished to vote for equal suffrage.

The suffragists were divided in opinion as to the presence of women at the polls on the election day which was to decide their fate. Some thought it might be prejudicial, but the friends[Pg 518] among the men strongly approved their presence in order to influence voters. What future election could be of more importance to women than this, and why should they hesitate to show their interest? Under directions from suffrage headquarters workers at the polls distributed the leaflets, often supplementing them by their own eloquence. No woman received any discourtesy.

The night of November 7 was an anxious one. Women went home and lay awake wondering whether they had done everything possible to insure success, or whether failure might be the result of some omission. When the returns published the next morning, although incomplete, showed that success really had crowned their efforts it seemed almost too good to be true. All day long and in the evening people were coming and going at suffrage headquarters with greetings and congratulations. Women of all classes seemed drawn together by the new tie of citizenship.

The full returns gave the result as follows: For suffrage, 35,798; against. 29,451; an affirmative majority of 6,347.

What were the causes of this unique success? First, it may be claimed that Western men have more than others of that spirit of chivalry of which the world has heard so much and seen so little. The human mind inclines to justice, except when turned aside by prejudice, and there is less prejudice against and a stronger belief in equal rights in the newer communities. The pressure of hard times, culminating in the panic of 1893, undoubtedly contributed to the success of the Populist party, and to its influence the suffrage cause owes much. A new party boldly accepts new principles while the old parties are struggling to conform to precedents. This is shown clearly in both the legislative and the popular vote. It was in the counties giving Populist pluralities that the majority of 6,818 in favor of equal suffrage was found. The counties which went Republican and Democratic gave a majority of 471 against the measure. The fact, however, that in all parties there were friends who were willing to work and speak for it, and also the number of suffrage bills which had been introduced at this time, showed that the State was ready for it.

LAURA A. GREGG. |  | MARY WOOD SWIFT.
Omaha, Neb. |  | San Francisco, Cal.
ELLIS MEREDITH.
Denver, Colo.
EMMA SHAFTER HOWARD. |  | DR. CORA SMITH EATON.
Oakland, Cal. |  | Minneapolis, Minn.

[Pg 519]

The favorable influence of the W. C. T. U. and the labor organizations has been referred to. There was but little active opposition from women and, as the campaign progressed, indifference often turned into sympathy. Women who had kept silent even at home for fear of ridicule were surprised and delighted to hear their husbands express approval. Those of all classes of society worked unitedly and well. They could not have done this if they had not been used to organized effort in other directions. How many doors stand open now through which women freely pass, unmindful of the fact that they were unlocked by the earlier workers in the suffrage cause!

The first feeling was the one common in all victories, that of joy and exultation, but the weight of responsibility was soon felt. At the first meeting of the executive board of the equal suffrage association after the election, Mrs. Routt, a woman of queenly presence, said as she took the hand of another member, "I never felt so weak in all my life." Mrs. Routt was the first woman in the State to register.

It was natural that other women should look to the suffragists for direction, and as long as headquarters were kept open there were frequent calls for advice and instruction. Foreign women came to ask concerning the measures which would make them naturalized citizens; there were inquiries about registration, and the question often came from those in humble life: "Now that I have received this new right, what books shall I get to teach me how to exercise it?" Surely such an awakening of conscience ought to have a purifying effect! One firm in Denver stated that they sold more books on political economy in the first eight months after the suffrage victory than in twenty years before. The suffrage club took up the study of Fiske's Civil Government and of parliamentary law, and as long as it existed in the old form was actively devoted to political subjects.

The day after the election a German woman came out of her house and accosted one of the members of the club with the exclamation, "Ach, Yon he feel so bad; he not vote any more; me, I vote now!" When assured that John had not been deprived of any of his rights, with more generosity than can be attributed[Pg 520] to many of the Johns, she called her husband, exclaiming delightedly: "Yon, Yon, you vote too; we bofe vote!"

After the Battle Was Won: Colorado had always gone Republican in national elections until 1892, when the People's Party scored an overwhelming majority. In 1894, while still partially a unit on national issues, the parties were widely separated on State affairs and each put a ticket in the field.

The reign of the Populists was of short duration. The eccentricities of Gov. Davis H. Waite brought upon his party an unmerited degree of censure. The Republicans raised a cry of "Redeem the State!" and under that motto called to their aid women of former Republican affiliations. At no subsequent election have women given such close allegiance to party lines. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, who was sent by the National Republican Committee to canvass the State, probably won many straight Republican votes by arousing in the minds of the women the fear that by attempting to scratch a ticket they might lose their vote entirely. They have learned since that the Australian ballot is not so intricate that any one who can read and write need stand in awe of it.

The Populist women had formed clubs to assist that party before the suffrage was granted. In February, 1894, they opened headquarters in Denver and began organizing throughout the State. Miss Phœbe W. Couzins of St. Louis assisted them in this campaign. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana worked for the Prohibitionists. When the annual convention of the National Republican League Clubs was held at Denver, in June, the Republican women were as yet unorganized. At this time Mrs. Frank Hall was persuaded to take charge of that department under the direction of the State Central Committee. Women's Republican leagues were established throughout the State, and in the larger towns and cities complete precinct organizations were effected. In Denver women's Republican clubs were formed in every district and, with their committees subject to the county central committee, worked separately from the men. That known as the East Capitol Hill Women's Republican League, founded by Mrs. H. B. Stevens, acquired a membership of 1,000. The East Denver Women's Republican Club, president, Mrs. Alma[Pg 521] Lafferty, was equally successful. These were very active in managing the large mass meetings which contributed so much to the success of their party.

The Democratic women had a peculiar task. Their party was in the minority and it was divided into Silver Democrats and White Wings (Cleveland Democrats). The women refused to acknowledge either faction. Mrs. Anna Marshall Cochrane and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford called a meeting of the Democratic women of Denver at the home of the latter in May, 1894, and organized the Colorado Women's Democratic Club with a membership of nine: President, Mrs. Mary V. Macon; secretary, Mrs. Cochrane; treasurer, Mrs. Mary Holland Kincaid. The National Committee recognized this as the only straight Democratic association in Colorado, and appointed Mrs. Bradford as organizer. She canvassed the State and being a pleasant and convincing speaker and bringing letters from the chairmen of the two State committees, both factions attended her meetings. She formed twelve large women's clubs and set them to work. When the two State conventions met in Denver, they were both quite willing to acknowledge delegates from these clubs, but the delegates refused to act except with a united convention. Mrs. Bradford was nominated as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, being the first woman named in Colorado for a State office. Mrs. Macon was nominated for regent of the State University. Since there was no chance of electing their ticket, the principal work of the Democratic women in this campaign was the unifying of the party.

The Republicans elected Mrs. Antoinette J. Peavy Superintendent of Public Instruction and three women members of the Legislature—Mrs. Clara Cressingham, Mrs. Frances S. Klock and Mrs. Carrie C. Holly.

During this campaign women gained a good deal of insight into political machinery and learned much which dampened their ardor as party politicians. The idea began to prevail that at least in municipal government the best results could be attained by non-partisan methods.

In the spring of 1895 Mrs. Hall, as vice-chairman of the Republican State Central, Committee, being in charge of the[Pg 522] woman's department, called a conference of the several presidents of the women's Republican clubs of Denver. Their object was to purify the ballot and to overcome corrupt gang rule and present worthy candidates. A meeting of all the clubs was called in the Broadway Theater and the house was crowded. Mrs. E. M. Ashley read an announcement of the objects to be accomplished "in the party if they could, out of it if they must." At this election, for the first time, the demi-monde were compelled to register. Desiring to avoid it they sent a petition to this woman's organization, imploring its interference in their behalf. A committee of three women of high standing was appointed and appeared before the Fire and Police Board to request that these unfortunates should not be forced to vote against their will. The board promised compliance but disregarded their pledge and those women were compelled to vote.

It is no wonder that other organizations sprang up in rebellion against such corrupt methods. The Tax-Payers' Party and the Independent Citizens' Movement were examples of these attempts, defeated at first but succeeding later. The Civic Federation of Denver, an outcome of these efforts, is an organization composed of women from all parties, which has endeavored to enforce the selection of suitable candidates.

The Silver Issue of 1896 created a division in the ranks of the Republican party which dissolved many of its women's clubs. The larger wing, under the name of Silver Republican, fused with the other silver parties and elected their State ticket. Miss Grace Espy Patton, who had been prominent in Democratic politics, was chosen State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Three women were elected to the Lower House: Mrs. Olive C. Butler, National Silver Party; Mrs. Martha A. B. Conine, Non-Partisan; Mrs. Evangeline Heartz, Populist, all of Denver.

In the campaign of 1898 voters were divided between the National Republican party under U. S. Senator Edward O. Wolcott and a fusion of the Silver Republicans, Democrats and Populists under the leadership of U. S. Senator Henry M. Teller, Thomas M. Patterson and Charles S. Thomas. In Arapahoe County, owing to various conflicting interests in the municipal government of Denver, fifteen tickets were filed. Each of the[Pg 523] principal parties appointed a woman as vice-chairman of the State Central Committee: National Republican, Mrs. Ione T. Hanna; Silver Republican, Mrs. Arras Bissel; Democratic, Mrs. S. E. Shields; Populist, Mrs. Heartz. A woman's executive committee was formed in each party.

The Fusion party elected Mrs. Helen M. Grenfell, Silver Republican, as State Superintendent of Public Instruction; and Mrs. Frances S. Lee, Democrat, Mrs. Harriet G. R. Wright, Populist, and Dr. Mary F. Barry, Silver Republican, as members of the House of Representatives.

Conditions in the State changed materially between the Presidential elections of 1896 and 1900. The depression in the price of silver, which closed many mines and reduced the working force in others, set countless men adrift and led to much prospecting and the discovery of new gold fields. The mines of Cripple Creek gave Colorado the foremost place among gold-producing States, California taking second. Consequently, although interest in the silver question did not cease, its pressure was less felt. In 1896 the McKinley Republicans had no hope of carrying the State, while the Silver Republicans, Populists and Democrats had united and were confident of the success which always had attended a complete fusion of those parties. Thus in both cases the incentive to the utmost exertion was wanting.

In 1900 the situation was different. The Republicans thought there was a chance to win and the Fusionists were not over-confident, hence both parties were stimulated to greater efforts. In 1896 the straight Republicans had only one daily and not more than five weekly papers. In 1900 they had fifteen daily and 103 weekly papers supporting their ticket. They were thoroughly organized throughout the State. In Denver a Woman's Republican League was formed which vied in size with the organization of 1894. Mrs. Stanley M. Casper, a most efficient member of the Equal Suffrage Club in the campaign of 1893, was president; Mrs. A. L. Welch, vice-president and Miss Mary H. Thorn, secretary. They organized every district in the city of Denver, appointing women to look after the registration, secure speakers and get out the vote. It was through this league that U. S. Senator[Pg 524] Henry Cabot Lodge came to the State. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster and U. S. Senator J. B. Foraker also spoke under their auspices, as well as other distinguished orators, and from their own ranks Mrs. Hanna, Mrs. Lucy R. Scott, Mrs. Peavey and Mrs. Thalia M. Rhoads.

The Colorado Woman's Bryan League were not less active, under the following officers: Chairman, Mrs. Salena V. Ernest; vice-chairmen, Mesdames Sarah Platt Decker, Katherine A. G. (Thomas M.) Patterson and Mary L. Fletcher; secretary, Mrs. Helen Thomas Belford; treasurer, Mrs. Harriet G. R. Wright.

Both organizations kept open headquarters, and the daily papers contained long lists of parlor meetings held throughout the city, addressed by men and women of prominence. The Bryan League was fortunate in having among its own members many excellent speakers, including Mrs. Decker, Mrs. Patton Cowles, formerly State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Rose Kidd Beare, Mrs. Bradford, Mrs. Dora Phelps Buell and Mrs. Wright. Mrs. Grenfell, present State Superintendent, and Mrs. Heartz, now Representative, both candidates for re-election, made many speeches.[190]

The committees of men and women worked together. On October 27 the Woman's Bryan League held a rally of the Silver Parties and a reception to U. S. Senator Teller at the Coliseum. The same evening the Woman's Republican League gave a reception to their candidates at Windsor Hall. Women seem to have an unsuspected gift for managing large meetings. The Denver Times (Republican) said: "The women have shown an ability to handle campaigns for which they never were given credit in the past."

In the election of 1900 the Republicans not only lost their electoral ticket but carried fewer counties than they had done for years, yet their vote of 26,000 for McKinley in 1896 was increased to 93,000; and the Bryan vote was reduced from 161,000 to 122,700. John F. Shafroth and John C. Bell, Fusionists, both strong advocates of woman suffrage, were elected by large[Pg 525] majorities. The Legislature was overwhelmingly Democratic, which defeated the re-election to the U. S. Senate of Edward O. Wolcott, that the women had especially determined upon. Thomas M. Patterson was elected.

I. N. Stevens, of the Colorado Springs Gazette, Republican, in closing an article on the State campaign says:

> The women have demonstrated their effectiveness in political campaigns, and wherever party candidates and party politics are up to the high standard which they have a right to demand they can be counted upon for loyal support. The Republican party in Colorado can only hope to triumph in one way and that is by appealing to the judgment of the honest and intelligent people of the State with clean candidates for commendable policies and under worthy leadership.

This testimony certainly implies two things, viz.: That the women of Colorado are a power in politics which must be reckoned with, and that their loyal support can be fully counted upon only when the character of the candidates as well as the political methods and aims of the party receive due consideration.

The vote at the second presidential election after the suffrage was conferred on women was as follows:

Percentage of population in the State: Males, 55; females, 45 (in round numbers).

Percentage of vote cast: Males, (nearly) 58½; females, (over) 41½.

Percentage of vote cast in Denver: Males, 57½; females, 42½.

This vote shows that from all causes an average of only three per cent. of the women in the entire State failed to exercise the suffrage.

Legislative Action: The legislation of most importance which is directly due to woman suffrage may be summed up as follows: Equal guardianship of children; raising the "age of protection" for girls from 16 to 18 years; establishment of a State Home for Dependent Children; a State Industrial School for Girls; indeterminate sentence for criminals; a State Arbitration Board; open meetings of school boards; the removal of emblems from ballots; placing drinking fountains on the corners of most of the down-town streets of Denver.

Indirectly, the results have been infinitely greater. The change[Pg 526] in the conduct of Denver stores alone, in regard to women employes, is worthy a chapter. Probably no other city of the same size has more stores standing upon the so-called White List, and laws which prior to 1893 were dead letters are enforced to-day.

The bills introduced by women in the Legislature have been chiefly such as were designed to improve social conditions. The law raising the "age of protection" for girls, the law giving the mother an equal right in her children, and the law creating a State Home for Dependent Children were secured by women in 1895. In the next session they secured the Curfew Law and an appropriation for the State Home for Incorrigible Girls. By obtaining the removal of the emblems from the ballot, they enforced a measure of educational qualification. They have entirely answered the objection that the immature voter would be sure so to exaggerate the power of legislation that she would try to do everything at once.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton said that when she viewed the exhibit of woman's work at the Centennial, her heart sank within her; but when she bethought her to examine into the part women had had in the work accredited to men, she took new courage. In like manner much of the legislative work women already have done in Colorado is unchronicled. When a woman finds that there are several other bills besides her own advocating the same measure of reform, she wisely tries to concentrate this effort, even if it is necessary to let the desired bill appear in the name of another. Many excellent bills for which they receive no credit have run the gauntlet of legislative perils piloted by women.

A notable instance of this is what was called the Frog-Blocking Bill, for the protection of railroad employes, which was introduced by a man but so ably engineered by Mrs. Evangeline Heartz that upon its passage she received a huge box of candy, with "The thanks of 5,000 railroad men." While she introduced a number of bills herself, only two of them finally passed—one compelling school boards to hold open meetings instead of Star Chamber sessions, and the present law providing for a State Board of Arbitration. In order to make the latter effective it should have a compulsory clause, which she will strive for in the Legislature of 1901.[Pg 527]

Laws: While the laws of Colorado always have been liberal to women in many respects, there are a few notable exceptions.

The first Legislature of the Territory, in 1861, passed a bill to the effect that either party to the marriage contract might dispose of property without the signature or consent of the other. The men of this new mining country often had left their wives thousands of miles away in the Eastern States; there was no railroad or telegraph; mining claims, being real estate, had to be transferred by deed, often in a hurry, and this law was largely a necessity. It now works great injustice to women, however, through the fact that all the property accumulated after marriage belongs to the husband and he may legally dispose of it without the wife's knowledge, leaving her penniless. Even the household goods may be thus disposed of.[191]

A law of recent years exempts from execution a homestead to the value of $2,000 for "the head of the family," but even this can be sold by the husband without the wife's signature, although he can not mortgage it. This property must be designated as a "homestead" on the margin of the recorded title, and it must be occupied by the owner. "A woman occupying her own property as the home of the family has the right to designate it as a homestead. The husband has the legal right to live with her and enjoy the homestead he has settled upon her."(!) He has, however, the sole right to determine the residence of the family, as in every other State, and by removing from a property the homestead right is destroyed. If the husband abandon the wife and acquire a homestead elsewhere, she has a right only in that.

Neither curtesy nor dower obtains. The surviving husband or wife, if there are children or the descendants of children living, receives, subject to the payment of debts, one-half of the entire estate, real and personal. If there is no living child nor a descendant of any child, the entire estate goes to the survivor.

Husband and wife have the same rights in making wills. Each can will away from the other half of his or her separate property.

In buying and selling, making contracts, suing and being sued, the married woman has the same rights as the unmarried.[Pg 528]

In 1895 fathers and mothers were made joint guardians of the children with equal powers.

The expenses of the family and the education of the children are chargeable upon the property of both husband and wife, or either of them, and in relation thereto they may be sued jointly or separately.

In case a man fails to support his family, he can be compelled to do so on the complaint of the wife, the chairman of the board of county commissioners, or the agent of the humane society. Unless he show physical incapacity, or some other good reason for this failure, he may be committed to jail for sixty days.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years in 1891; from 16 to 18 in 1895. The penalty is confinement in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than twenty years.

Suffrage: School Suffrage was granted to women by the constitution in 1876, the year Colorado became a State.

The amendment to the constitution adopted by 6,347 majority, Nov. 7, 1893, is as follows:

> Every female person shall be entitled to vote at all elections, in the same manner in all respects as male persons are or shall be entitled to vote by the constitution and laws of this State, and the same qualifications as to age, citizenship and time of residence in the State, county, city, ward and precinct, and all other qualifications required by law to entitle male persons to vote, shall be required to entitle female persons to vote.

Office Holding: Possessing the Full Suffrage, women of course are eligible to all offices, but naturally the men will not surrender them unless compelled to do so. That of State Superintendent of Public Instruction is generally conceded by all parties as belonging to a woman, and no man has been a candidate for this office since 1893. It can best be spared, as it does not encourage idleness or enable its holder to amass wealth.

Beginning with 1895 ten women have been elected to the Lower House of the Legislature but none to the Senate. Not more than three have been members during any one term.

Only two women were elected to State offices in 1900. The others holding office at present are as follows: County school superintendents, 29; school directors, 508; county clerk, one;[Pg 529] county treasurer, one; assessor, one; clerk of County Court, one; clerk of District Court, one. Of the county superintendents, three were elected by a fusion of Democrats and Prohibitionists, three by Democrats, Prohibitionists and Silver Republicans; ten by Democrats and thirteen by Republicans.

The State Board of Charities and Corrections, which has general supervision over all the charitable and penal institutions, has had Mrs. Sarah Platt Decker for its president through this and previous administrations. Dr. Eleanor Lawney also is on this board. On the board of control of the State Industrial School for Girls, three out of five members are women; State Home for Dependent Children, four out of five; State School for Deaf and Blind, one out of five; State Normal School, two out of seven; State Board of Horticulture, one out of six. There have been women on the State Board of Pardons.

There are women physicians in the State Insane Asylum and connected with all institutions containing women and children.

The law for jurors is construed by the judges to apply equally to men and women, but thus far it has been so manipulated that no women have been drawn for service.

In 1897-98 two counties had women coroners.

There are eight women clerks in the Senate and seven in the House of the present Legislature. A number are employed in the court-house and in the county offices.

This partition of offices does not appear very liberal, considering that women have cast as high as 52 per cent. of the total vote; but there are in the State 30,000 more men than women, who could vote if they chose, and they are much more accustomed to holding offices and much more anxious to get them. The less the probabilities of election, the more liberal the parties have been in granting nominations to women.

Occupations: The only occupation legally forbidden to women is that of working in mines. Children under fourteen can not be employed, legally, in mines, factories, stores, etc.

Education: All the institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes. There are five women on the faculty of the State University, one on that of the School of Agriculture, nine in the[Pg 530] State Normal School, and in the State Institute for Deaf Mutes seventeen of the thirty-three teachers are women. The Medical Department of the University of Denver has three women professors.

In the public schools there are 727 men and 2,557 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $67; of the women, $48.42. Colorado spends a larger amount per capita for public school education than any other State.

On June 29, 30, 1894, a general meeting of Colorado suffragists was held in Denver and a reorganization of the State association effected. The reason for its continuance was the desire to help other States in their efforts to win the franchise, and a feeling of loyalty to the National Association, to which in common with all other women those of Colorado owed so much.

In May 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president at large, on their way to California, addressed a large and delighted audience in the Broadway Theater, and a reception was given them by the Woman's Club.

In 1896 the Colorado E. S. A. raised the funds to send Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford to aid in the Idaho amendment campaign.

During the Biennial of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, held in Denver in June, 1898, the E. S. A. celebrated the Jubilee Anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, N. Y., by a meeting in the Auditorium and a reception in the parlors of the Central Christian Church, with addresses by eminent local and visiting speakers. In these rooms, for the entire week, this organization and the Civic Federation kept open house, and in a flag-draped booth gave an illustration of the Australian system of voting.[192]

In January, 1899, Denver entertained Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, secretary, as they were passing through the State. Mrs. A. L. Welch gave a reception in their honor, at which ex-Gov.[Pg 531] Charles S. Thomas and Gov. Alva Adams spoke enthusiastically of the results of equal suffrage, followed by Mrs. Chapman Catt in an interesting address. The occasion was especially happy because that day the Legislature had almost unanimously passed a joint resolution as follows:

> Whereas, Equal suffrage has been in operation in Colorado for five years, during which time women have exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that better candidates have been selected for office, methods of election have been purified, the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence increased and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by political responsibility; therefore,

> Resolved, by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, That in view of these results the enfranchisement of women in every State and Territory of the American Union is hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better social order.

> That an authenticated copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the Governor of the State to the Legislature of every State and Territory, and the press be requested to call public attention to them.[193]

This year Mrs. Katherine A. G. Patterson, who had been president of the State E. S. A. for three years, retired and was succeeded by Mrs. Welch, who was followed in 1900 by Mrs. Amy K. Cornwall, and in 1901 by Prof. Theodosia G. Ammons.

One of the uncongenial tasks of the officers of the association has been the answering of the many attacks made in Eastern papers on the position of women in Colorado, though this becomes far less trying when it is remembered that in most States public opinion on the question of woman suffrage is still in its formative stage. So soon do we become accustomed to a new thing, if it is in the order of nature, that the women of Colorado have almost ceased to realize that they possess an uncommon privilege. It seems as much a matter of course that women should vote as that they should enjoy the right of free speech or the protection of the habeas corpus act. It is seldom defended, for the same reason that it is no longer thought necessary to defend the Copernican vs. the Ptolemaic theory. One aim of the association is to arouse a more altruistic spirit, and another so to unite women that they will stand together for a good cause irrespective of party. There is at present a strong legislative committee which has been[Pg 532] studying the statutes from a non-partisan standpoint, with a view to influencing needful legislation.[194]

Before the autumn of 1893 there were many clubs in Denver, mostly of a literary nature, each formed of women of a certain rank in life, with similar tastes and pursuits. Some had a membership so limited as to render them very difficult of access, but in their way all were good. Perhaps the only truly democratic association, if those of the churches were excepted, where the rich and the poor met together on a plane so perfectly level that only mental or moral height in the individual produced any difference, was the equal suffrage club. Whether related to it or not, this new ideal of club life followed closely after the gaining of political equality.

The Woman's Club of Denver was organized April 21, 1894, with 225 charter members, and now has nearly 1,000. It contains many women of wealth and high social standing, many quiet housekeepers without the slightest aspirations toward fashionable life, and many women who earn their daily bread by some trade or profession. What the public school is supposed to do for our youth in helping us to become a homogeneous nation, the modern woman's club is doing for those of maturer years. The North Side Woman's Club of Denver is second to the Woman's Club only in size and time of organization. The Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs was formed April 5, 1895, with a charter membership of thirty-seven. It now is composed of over 100 clubs, containing about 4,000 individuals.

This is merely a plain tale from the hills. Colorado women feel that they have done well but have made only a beginning. The fact that women are factors in politics underlies and overrules many things not directly connected with the results of election[Pg 533] day. Many of the dire effects predicted of equal suffrage have proved their prophets false. In some cases the women themselves have been surprised to find they had entertained groundless fears. This is particularly true concerning the fierce partisanship which is supposed to run riot in the female nature. There is a strong tendency on the part of women to stand by each other, though not always to the extent evinced by one lady who was and still is a pronounced "anti." At the first election she voted for every woman placed in nomination for the Legislature, Populist, Democrat, Republican and Prohibitionist, until she had filled out her ticket. Women frequently scratch their ballots when by so doing they can elect a better man. In legislative work there are absolutely no party lines. The Republican and the Democratic women both want the same measures, and they look upon themselves as constituents whether the member belongs to their party or not.

The vote of the demi-monde always has been a stumbling-block to certain particularly good people. These women never register, never vote and never attend primaries except when compelled to do so. Their identity is often a secret even to their closest associates. It is almost impossible to learn their true names. All they ask is to be let alone. Unfortunately the city of Denver is under what is known as the Metropolitan Fire and Police System. The firemen and police are controlled by boards appointed by the Governor. If he is a politically scrupulous man and his appointments are good ones, this class is not molested. Gov. Davis H. Waite did not compel these women to vote for him in 1894, though he had the power. Under the administration of Governor Adams, when the Hon. Ralph Talbot was president of the board, they took no part whatever.

Possibly those who have been most disappointed at the workings of equal suffrage are the Prohibitionists, yet they really have reason for congratulation. Weld County, which gave the largest vote for equal suffrage of any in the State, has excluded liquor from its borders except in one small town, a coal mining camp with a heavy foreign vote. In many sections the liquor traffic has been abolished, always by the votes of women, but there are many more men than women in the State and without their co-operation[Pg 534] no general reform can be enacted or enforced. Every political party has banished liquor and tobacco from its headquarters, as desiring to win the women's support they are careful not to give offense. On election days Denver has a holiday appearance. The vote is cast early and the members of a family usually go together to the polls.

The most noteworthy result is the improved character of the candidates, as one of the most important points to be considered is whether they can get the votes of women. The addition of a large number of independent and conscientious voters to the electorate; the wider outlook given to woman herself through the exercise of civic rights; and the higher degree of comradeship made possible by the removal of political inequality between man and woman; these are the greatest benefits which equal suffrage has brought to Colorado.

### FOOTNOTES:

[188] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Emily R. Meredith and her daughter, Ellis Meredith of Denver, both strong factors in securing suffrage for the women of their State; the latter is on the staff of the Rocky Mountain News and editor of the Western Clubwoman.

[189] In 1900 Mr. Bonynge was a candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket and was overwhelmingly defeated by the votes of women.

[190] Mrs. Grenfell was re-elected on the Fusion ticket, having been indorsed by the heads of all the State institutions, most of the county superintendents and all the prominent educators. The Republicans had a woman candidate for this office. Mrs. Heartz was re-elected on the Fusion ticket. There was a Republican woman candidate for the Legislature also.

[191] A bill was introduced in the Legislature of 1901 to give the wife a half-interest in all the earnings after marriage, but it failed to pass either House, perhaps owing to the time consumed by the important revenue bill.

[192] Governor Adams did a splendid work for equal suffrage in his welcome to this great body of women. Quite unaware that it was a tabooed subject, he made a most eloquent address openly glorying in it and advocating its wholesale extension. Probably no one act of his administration made him so many friends among women, and it is said that scores of those from other States went home thoroughly converted.

[193] See Appendix—Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.

[194] The Legislature of 1901 passed 116 bills, a number being of special interest to women. Among these was one establishing truancy schools; another for the care of the feeble-minded; several humane society bills; a measure permitting the State Board of Charities and Corrections to investigate private charitable institutions; a bill for an eight-hour day; one for the preservation of forest trees; one for a bi-weekly pay-day, and an Insurance Bill providing that in cases where a company has to be sued for the amount of a policy it must pay the costs of said suit. This last was indorsed by nearly every woman's organization in the State. The Eight Hour Law requires a constitutional amendment, and will be voted on in the fall of 1902. This is also true of a bill consolidating and reducing the number of elections, and of one providing for full citizenship and an educational qualification as requisites for suffrage.

[Pg 535]

## CHAPTER XXX.

### CONNECTICUT.[195]

The Connecticut Woman Suffrage Association was organized in September, 1869, after a memorable two days' convention in Hartford, under the call and management of Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker,[196] The Rev. Nathaniel J. Burton, D. D., was elected its first president and in 1871 he was succeeded by Mrs. Hooker, who has now held the office thirty years with unswerving loyalty and devotion to the cause. During the first fifteen years eight conventions were held, addressed by the most prominent speakers in the country.

In 1884 a State convention took place in Hartford, attended by Miss Susan B. Anthony and a large delegation of men and women from various parts of the State. But one other (1888) intervened between this and that which met in Meriden in 1892, when the society was reorganized under a broader constitution, with the name of Connecticut Woman Suffrage Society for the Study of Political Science. Mrs. Hooker was made president and Mrs. Elizabeth D. Bacon vice-president-at-large.[197]

Since then annual conventions have been held in Hartford (four), Meriden, Willimantic and Southington. Several executive meetings have been called yearly and the business of the association has been systematically arranged. Public meetings have been addressed by Miss Anthony, president of the National Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization[Pg 536] committee, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine and many others.[198]

The Hartford Equal Rights Club was organized in 1885 through the efforts of Mrs. Emily P. Collins and Miss Frances Ellen Burr, both pioneers in the work. Located in the capital, it is the center of the effort for the enfranchisement of women.

The Meriden Political Equality Club was formed in 1889. The late Hon. Isaac C. Lewis, one of its charter members and a lover of justice and equality, in 1893 gave $10,000 in invested funds to aid its work. The Equal Rights Club of Willimantic, founded in 1894, is an active body.

A series of public meetings was held in 1892 at Seymour, Willimantic, Winsted and Ansonia, arranged and financially supported by the Meriden Club and addressed by Mrs. Howell.

In 1895, under the auspices of the State society, a course of twenty lectures was arranged by Mrs. Bacon for Miss Yates.

The local clubs have kept the question before the people through addresses, the circulation of literature and other methods of propaganda. For several years a suffrage tent was supported at the State Fair held in Meriden, and one day set apart as Woman's Day, with good speakers to present the subject. The press department has been an important feature of the work, most efficiently conducted by Mrs. Ella B. Kendrick, its superintendent for the past three years.

Legislative Action and Laws: Women have been instrumental in securing the passage of laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco in any form to boys under sixteen years of age; compelling merchants to provide women and girls in their employment with seats when not engaged in their duties; securing scientific temperance instruction in the public schools; and requiring a police matron in all cities of 20,000 or more inhabitants.

In 1884 a bill giving women the right to vote in school district meetings was rejected in the House by 83 ayes, 95 noes, and in the Senate by a majority vote.[Pg 537]

In 1885 a bill for School Suffrage was rejected by both Houses.

In 1886 a bill for Full Suffrage was defeated in both Houses.

In 1887 two bills were introduced, one asking Full Suffrage and the other that unmarried women be exempt from taxation. In both cases the committee reported "Ought not to pass," and the petitioners were given leave to withdraw. At this session women were made eligible to serve as School Trustees.

This year the annual sessions were changed to biennial.

In 1889 the petitions for Full Suffrage of Mrs. Elizabeth D. Bacon and others were indefinitely postponed. During the same session women were made eligible to hold the office of assistant town clerk, and to become members of ecclesiastical societies.

In 1891 a legal dispute as to the result of a gubernatorial election caused the former Governor to hold over, and all legislative business to be postponed for two years.

In 1893 the committee, after giving several hearings upon a bill asking Full Suffrage, substituted, with the consent of the State association, one for School Suffrage. Upon the third reading this passed the House, but the Senate referred it back to the committee as imperfect. There it would have remained but for the efforts of the Hartford Equal Rights Club. It finally passed the Senate and the House, was signed by Gov. Luzon B. Morris and became law. Several attempts have been made to repeal it but unsuccessfully.

In 1895 a bill providing for the right of women to vote for Presidential electors was reported unfavorably by the committee, the report being accepted. The same year a Municipal Suffrage Bill went to a third reading and was passed by the House, but failed in the Senate by unanimous vote.

In 1897 a bill conferring upon women the right to vote for Presidential electors was rejected after a third reading both in the House and Senate. Another was presented for the exemption of women from taxation, the committee reported, "Ought not to pass," and the report was accepted. A bill for Municipal Suffrage met the same fate. This year a bill was introduced at the request of the Hartford club, creating the office of woman factory inspector, with the same salary as the male inspector. The Judiciary Committee reported unanimously in favor. Great opposition[Pg 538] developed in the House, but after some amendments it passed, but failed in the Senate.

In 1899 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was again introduced and reported upon favorably, but on the third reading it was rejected in the House, and defeated by 9 ayes, 12 noes in the Senate. A bill also was presented providing that any woman who pays taxes on real estate wherein she resides may vote at any meeting upon questions of taxation or appropriation of money. This passed the House, but was rejected in the Senate. The House refused to concur, and the Senate adhered to its former action.

There have been hearings before the Judiciary Committees of several Legislatures for the purpose of securing a Reformatory for Women. Members of the Woman's Aid Society of Hartford and others equally interested have appeared in its behalf.

The law regarding the property rights of women upon the statute books of to-day, except one amendment, was passed in April, 1877, and reads as follows:

> In case of marriage on or after April 20, 1877, neither husband nor wife shall acquire, by force of marriage, any right to or interest in any property held by the other before, or acquired after such marriage, except as to the share of the survivor in the property as provided by law. The separate earnings of the wife shall be her sole property. She shall have power to make contracts with third persons and to convey to them her real estate, as if unmarried. Her property shall be liable to be taken for her debts except when exempt from execution, but in no case shall be liable to be taken for the debts of her husband. And the husband shall not be liable for her debts contracted before her marriage, nor upon contracts made after her marriage, except as provided by the succeeding sections.

> The dower rights of women married before this date are: A life estate in one-third the husband's realty and one-half his personalty absolutely, unless they shall have made together with their husbands a written contract and recorded the same in the Probate Records, in which they mutually agree to abandon their respective common-law rights in the property of each other, and to claim in place thereof certain other rights as provided by statute made in 1877 as below. The husband before that date took the whole of the wife's personal estate absolutely and the use for life of all her real estate.

> Women married on or after April 20, 1877, and those married earlier, who have made and recorded contracts with their husbands as above stated, have no dower rights, and their husbands have no rights by curtesy, but both have, in place of these, rights more valuable.

> Where there are children, the survivor is entitled to one-third of[Pg 539] decedent's real and personal estate absolutely, and in the absence of children, takes all of the decedent's estate absolutely to the extent of $2,000, and one-half of the remainder absolutely after the decedent's debts have been paid.

The father always has been entitled to the custody and control of the minor children with power to appoint a guardian by will; but a law was passed the present year (1901) which gives the father and mother equal rights of guardianship, and on the death of the father makes the mother the legal guardian.

If a husband neglect to support his wife he may be committed to the workhouse or county jail and sentenced to hard labor not more than sixty days, unless he can show good cause why he is unable to furnish such support, or unless he can give a bond. If he neglect to comply with his bond the selectmen of the town shall immediately furnish support to the extent provided for in such bond. (1895.)

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years, and in 1895 this was increased to 16. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three years.

Suffrage: The School Suffrage Law of 1893 allows all women citizens who have arrived at the age of majority, and have resided one year in the State and six months in the town, to vote at any meeting held for election of school trustees or for any educational purpose.

At the first election after the passage of this Act, 4,471 women voted in the State. Since then the number has gradually decreased for several reasons. Women soon learned that their vote amounted to but little because of the fact that Connecticut has a minority representation upon its school boards. This practically eliminates contest in the election of school officers, for it often occurs that only the exact number of candidates to be elected are placed in nomination. In cities men are frequently placed on school boards to pay political debts or as an opening for further advancement, therefore it has been found almost impossible to secure the nomination of women. This, of course, decreases their interest in the election. In several marked instances, however, where some question of importance has arisen, women have registered and voted in large numbers.[Pg 540]

Willimantic offers a good illustration. All the schools in the town of Windham, of which Willimantic is a borough, were under the district system. For some time the largest school district had been unwisely managed through the influence of one man, who controlled enough votes to insure his retention as chairman year after year. In June, 1895, when he had entirely forfeited confidence, Mrs. Ella L. Bennett, president, and other wide awake members of the Equal Rights Club, determined he should no longer hold this office. The best citizens assured the women that their fears of his re-election were groundless, but they kept on in their efforts and secured the attendance of fifty women at the district meeting, where he was defeated by about twenty votes.

The level-headed ones saw that consolidation of all the school districts was absolutely necessary. Before the election in October the women did valiant work in agitating this question. Previous to this not more than 200 women ever had voted; but now the number registered reached 1,129, and on election day, although the rain fell in torrents and rivers of water ran down the streets, 975 cast their ballots. The Equal Rights Club conducted the election so far as the women were concerned, assisted in preparing ballots, kept a check-list and sent carriages where it seemed necessary. Every little while, all day long, could be heard from the hall where the voting was going on, "Fall back, ladies, fall back and give the men a chance." At the noon hour a crowd of male voters saw a line of women coming down the street and, seizing a ladder, they set it against a window over the stairway, scrambled up and thus got into the hall and headed off the women until the men had voted. The measure for consolidation was carried.

In Hartford the question of consolidation of districts has twice come before the people since women voted, and in both instances they cast a large number of ballots. In several districts in this city women have shown much interest in the annual meetings. One woman has served three years upon a district committee very acceptably, and it is due to the efforts and votes of women that wise management has been sustained and a good principal kept in office.

In his report of 1896, Secretary Charles D. Hine of the State Board of Education, after speaking in unmeasured terms of the[Pg 541] efficient service rendered by women as school visitors, on boards of education and on town and district committees, says:

> The returns indicate that women are not anxious to vote upon educational matters alone. If men were reluctantly permitted as a great favor to vote for agent of the town-deposit fund, they would not swarm to the polls. The exciting interests of State elections are important and varied enough to allure 85 per cent. of the male voters to the polls, but in many districts it is difficult to obtain enough of them to transact the business of the annual meeting. In the largest district in the State, school meetings have been held and considerable sums of money voted, with less than a dozen men present. Woman can not be adjudged peculiarly lacking in interest because they are not found voting in large numbers on one question and one set of officers.[199]

In 1897 the Legislature amended the School Suffrage Law. The women believed that this change was effected to make the process of becoming a voter more disagreeable. Heretofore they had been permitted to go at any time before the town clerk, answer the necessary questions and be registered. The amendment required them to observe the same regulations as the men who have the full franchise. They must make application to the registrar at one fixed time, fill out a blank and have their names published in the newspapers in the list of those who wish to be made voters. Then at another fixed time they must go before the selectmen, await their turn, take the necessary oath, etc. In many towns and cities it was ruled that all who had been made voters under the old law must re-register. Feeling the injustice of this, many women refused. In Hartford they rebelled absolutely, and after much discussion in the papers and otherwise the city attorney decided that the law was not retroactive.

Office Holding: Since 1887 women have been eligible as school trustees, and at present 45 are serving, of whom 29 are school visitors. The latter prescribe rules for the management, classification, studies and discipline of the public schools. The old school district system prevails in many cities and towns and there are a dozen or more women on district committees.

Women are filling other offices, elective and appointive, as follows: Public librarians, 27; police matrons, 5; matron of the[Pg 542] State Hospital for the Insane, one; matrons of Reform School for Boys, six, and one assistant; visiting committee of State Industrial School for Girls, 12, two acting each month; assistant superintendent for same, one; in each of the eight Homes connected with this school are to be found a matron and an assistant.

Two of the five members of the State Board of Charities must be women.

Women may serve as notaries public and forty-two are now doing so. They are eligible as assistant town clerks.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is forbidden to women by law.

Education: Wesleyan University, in Middletown, admitted women to equal privileges with men in 1872. By a vote of the trustees in 1900 the number of women was limited to 20 per cent. of the total number of students.

In 1889 the Theological Seminary (Cong'l) of Hartford admitted women upon the same terms as men.

In 1892 Yale University opened the courses of the post-graduate department, with the degree of Ph. D. to women.

In 1893, by an Act of the Legislature, the State Agricultural School, at Storrs, admitted women to its full course.

In the public schools there are 387 men and 3,692 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $89.87; of the women, $43.61.

The State Federation of Women's Clubs was organized in 1897 and under its auspices traveling libraries have been formed for rural schools, free kindergartens supported, etc.

The Society of Colonial Dames has loaned to the library committee twenty libraries which have been placed in public schools.

The Civic Club of Hartford, organized in 1895 with a membership of 150 women, has been instrumental in securing greater cleanliness of streets and public places. It has raised $3,000 for the support of vacation schools, for three years, and has instituted plans for public playgrounds.

In 1898 the Home for Incurable Children was founded by the Children's Aid Society, entirely the work of women.

### FOOTNOTES:

[195] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Elizabeth D. Bacon of Hartford, vice-president-at-large of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[196] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 321.

[197] County vice-presidents, Mesdames Ella B. Kendrick, J. H. Hale, Rose I. Blakeslee, Mary L. Hemstead, George Sanger, Mary C. Hickox, the Hon. Edwin O. Dimock, Miss Elizabeth Sheldon; recording secretary, Miss Frances Ellen Burr; corresponding secretary, Mrs. G. W. Fuller; treasurer, Mrs. Mary J. Rogers; auditors, Joseph Sheldon, Mrs. S. E. Browne; member national executive committee, Miss Sara Winthrop Smith.

Among others who have served as State officers are Miss Hannah J. Babcock, Mesdames Jane S. Koons, Emma Hurd Chaffee, Annie C. S. Fenner, Ella S. Bennett, Ella G. Brooks, B. M. Parsons, Mary J. Warren.

[198] Among those who have advocated and worked for equal suffrage are the Hon. John Hooker, Judge Joseph Sheldon, Judge George A. Hickox, the Hon. Radcliffe Hicks, the Rev. John C. Kimball, the Hon. Henry Lewis, Judge M. H. Holcomb, ex-Speaker John H. Light, ex-Gov. Charles B. Andrews, the Hon. George M. Gunn, Miss Emily J. Leon and Mrs. Susan J. Cheney. Honorable mention might be made of many others who have spent time and money without stint in efforts to advance this cause.

[199] In 1902 a revised State constitution was submitted and only 15 per cent. of the electors voted on it.

[Pg 543]

## CHAPTER XXXI.

### DAKOTA.

The Territory of Dakota was created in 1861, but in 1889 it entered the Union divided into two separate States, North and South Dakota. As early as 1872 the Territorial Legislature lacked only one vote of conferring the full suffrage on women. The sparsely settled country and the long distances made any organized work an impossibility, although a number of individuals were strong advocates of equal suffrage.

In 1879 it gave women the right to vote at school meetings. In 1883 a school township law was passed requiring regular polls and a private ballot instead of special meetings, which took away the suffrage from women in all but a few counties.

At the convening of the Territorial Legislature in January, 1885, Major J. A. Pickler (afterward member of Congress), without solicitation early in the session introduced a bill in the House granting Full Suffrage to women, as under the organic act the legislative body had the power to describe the qualifications for the franchise. The bill passed the House, February 11, by 29 ayes, 19 noes. Soon afterward it passed the Council by 14 ayes, 10 noes, and its friends counted the victory won. But Gov. Gilbert A. Pierce, appointed by President Arthur and only a few months in the Territory, failed to recognize the grand opportunity to enfranchise 50,000 American citizens by one stroke of his pen and vetoed the bill. Not only did it express the sentiment of the representatives elected by the voters, but it had been generally discussed by the press of the Territory, and all the newspapers but one were outspoken for it. An effort was made to carry it over the Governor's veto, but it failed.

In 1887 a law was passed enlarging the School Suffrage possessed by women and giving them the right to vote at all school elections and for all school officers, and also making them eligible[Pg 544] to any elective school office. At this time, under the liberal provisions of the United States Land Laws, more than one-third of the land in the Territory was held by women.

In this same Legislature of 1887 another effort was made to pass an Equal Suffrage Bill, and a committee from the franchise department of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, consisting of Mesdames Helen M. Barker, S. V. Wilson and Alice M. A. Pickler, appeared before the committee and presented hundreds of petitions from the men and women of the Territory. The committees of both Houses reported favorably, but the bill failed by 13 votes in the House and 6 in the Council.

It was mainly through women's instrumentality that a local option bill was carried through this Legislature, and largely through their exertions that it was adopted by sixty-five out of the eighty-seven organized counties at the next general election.

In October, 1885, the American Woman Suffrage Association held a national convention in Minneapolis, Minn., which was attended by a number of people from Dakota, who were greatly interested. The next month the first suffrage club was formed, in Webster. Several local societies were afterwards started in the southern part of the Territory, but for five years no attempt was made at bringing these together in a convention.[200]

The long contention as to whether the Territory should come into the Union as one State or two was not decided until 1889, when Congress admitted two States. Thenceforth there were two distinct movements for woman suffrage, one in North and one in South Dakota.

#### NORTH DAKOTA.[201]

On July 4, 1889, a convention met at Bismarck to prepare a constitution for the admission of North Dakota as a State. As[Pg 545] similar conventions were to be held in several other Territories, Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the Woman's Journal, came from Boston in the interest of woman suffrage. His object was to have it embodied in the constitution if possible, but failing in this he endeavored to have the matter left as it had been under the Territorial government, viz.: in the hands of the Legislature. To this end, H. F. Miller introduced the following clause:

> The Legislature shall be empowered to make further extensions of suffrage hereafter at its discretion to all citizens of mature age and sound mind, not convicted of crime, without regard to sex, but it shall not restrict suffrage without a vote of the people.

Toward the adoption of this all efforts were directed. Two public meetings were addressed by Mr. Blackwell, and on July 8 the Constitutional Convention itself invited him to speak to its members.

After remaining in Bismarck two weeks he went to Helena to attend the Montana convention, but before leaving he succeeded in obtaining the promise of 30 votes out of the 38 necessary for the adoption of the clause. During his absence Dr. Cora Smith (Eaton), secretary of the Grand Forks Suffrage Club, was called to Bismarck to carry on the work. The secretary of the Territory, L. B. Richardson, placed at her service a room on the same floor as Convention Hall, and to this the friends of woman suffrage brought members who had not yet declared themselves in favor. Some ladies were always there to receive them and present the arguments in the case, among these Mrs. Mary Wilson, Mrs. George Watson, Dr. Kate Perkins and Mrs. Benjamin of Bismarck. Everything was managed with scrupulous formality and courtesy.

Mr. Miller's proposition was championed by R. M. Pollock and Judge John E. Carland in Committee of the Whole, and after a second reading was referred to the Committee on Elective Franchise, but on July 25 it reported the substitute of S. H. Moer, confining the suffrage to males. A minority report was offered, directing the Legislature at its first session to submit an amendment to the voters to enfranchise women. After a heated discussion the minority report was defeated, and the constitution provided as follows:[Pg 546]

> No law extending or restricting the right of suffrage shall be enforced until adopted by a majority of the electors of the State voting at a general election.

By requiring not merely a majority of those voting on the question but of the largest number voting at the election, no amendment for any purpose ever has been carried.

On the question of School Suffrage women received greater consideration, the constitution providing that all women properly qualified should vote for all school officers, including State Superintendent, also upon any question pertaining solely to school matters, and should be eligible to any school office.

Organization: The suffragists were widely scattered over this immense Territory and there had been little opportunity for organized work. In the spring of 1888 a call had been issued in Grand Forks, signed by seventy-five representative men and women, for a meeting to form an association, and on April 12 this was held in the court-house, which was crowded to the doors. The extension of the franchise to women was strongly advocated by Judge J. M. Cochrane, Prof. H. B. Wentworth, Mrs. Sara E. B. Smith, Mrs. Sue R. Caswell and others; and encouraging letters were read from the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe of the American Suffrage Association. A public meeting on July 25 at the same place was addressed by Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble of Minnesota. On September 9 Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York gave a strong lecture.

Other local clubs were formed during the following years, and the first State convention was held in Grand Forks, Nov. 14, 15, 1895. It was called to order by Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, president of the local society. Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, a national organizer who had just made a successful lecturing tour of the State, was elected chairman and Mrs. Edwinna Sturman was made secretary. Cordial letters of greeting were read from Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Suffrage Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, U. S. Senator Henry C. Hansbrough,[202][Pg 547] Miss Elizabeth Preston, president of the State W. C. T. U., and others. In Miss Anthony's letter was outlined the plan of work that she never failed to recommend to State organizations, which said in part:

> First, your local clubs should cover the respective townships, and the officers should not only hold meetings of their own to discuss questions pertaining to their work, but should have the men, when they go into their town meetings for any and every purpose pertaining to local affairs—especially into the meetings which nominate delegates to county conventions—pledged to present a resolution in favor of the enfranchisement of women. By this means you will secure the discussion of the question by the men who compose the different political parties in each township—an educational work that can not be done through any distinctively woman suffrage meeting, because so few of the rank and file of voters ever attend these.

> Then, when the time comes for the county convention to elect delegates to the State nominating convention, let every town meeting see to it that they are instructed to vote for a resolution favoring the submission and indorsement of a proposition to strike the word "male" from your constitution. If the State conventions of the several parties are to put indorsement planks in their platforms, the demand for these must come from the townships composing the counties sending delegates thereto. Women going before a committee and asking a resolution indorsing equal suffrage, are sure to be met with the statement that they have heard nothing of any such demand among their constituents. This has been the response on the many different occasions when this request has been made of State conventions. From this repeated and sad experience we have learned that we must begin with the constituents in each township and have the demand start there.

Dr. Eaton was elected president of the association.

The second convention took place at Fargo, Nov. 30, 1897. An extra meeting was held this year at the Devil's Lake Chautauqua Assembly on Woman's Day, with Mrs. Julia B. Nelson, president of the Minnesota, and Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, of the Montana W. S. A., among the speakers. Dr. Eaton having removed from the State, Miss Mary Allen Whedon was made president.

The third convention met in Larimore, Sept. 27, 28, 1898, with delegates from eleven counties. Mrs. Chapman Catt was present and contributed much to the success of the meetings. These were held in the M. E. Church with the active co-operation of the pastor, the Rev. H. C. Cooper. Mrs. Flora Blackman Naylor was chosen president.[Pg 548]

The fourth convention was held in Hillsboro, Sept. 26, 27, 1899, at which Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts gave valuable assistance. A page to be devoted to suffrage matter was secured in the White Ribbon Bulletin, a paper published monthly under the auspices of the State W. C. T. U.

The annual meeting of 1900 convened in Lakota, September 25, 26, in the M. E. Church, its pastor, the Rev. Stephen Whitford, making the address of welcome. A Matron's Silver Medal Oratorical Contest was given under the direction of Mrs. Cora Ross Clark.[203]

Legislative Action and Laws: In the Legislature of 1893 a bill was introduced granting women taxpayers the right of suffrage. This was voted down by the House: 18 ayes; 22 noes. A motion was offered that all woman suffrage bills hereafter presented at this session should be rejected, but it was tabled.

A bill to submit to the voters an amendment conferring Full Suffrage on women in the manner provided by the constitution was introduced in the Senate by J. W. Stevens and passed by 16 ayes, 15 noes. It was called up in the House on the last day of the session. Miss Elizabeth Preston was invited to address that body, and the Senate took a recess and came in. The bill received 33 ayes, a constitutional majority, and was returned to the Senate. The House then took a recess, and during this brief time the enemies of the measure secured enough votes to recall it from the Senate. This body by vote refused to send it back, thus endorsing it a second time. The Speaker of the House, George H. Walsh, refused to sign it. Then began a long fight between the House and the Senate. A motion was made by Judson La Moure instructing the President of the Senate to sign no more House[Pg 549] bills until the Speaker signed the Woman Suffrage Bill. This armed neutrality lasted until 10 o'clock that night when some of the senators, who had important measures yet to pass, weakened and voted to send the bill back to the House. When it reached there a motion prevailed to expunge all the records relating to it.

In the Legislature of 1895 a bill for a suffrage amendment was introduced in the House by A. W. Edwards, editor of the Fargo Forum. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe was sent by the National Association to assist in the work for the passage of this and other bills of interest to women. The courtesy of the floor was extended to her in the House and she was invited to address the members, the Senate again taking a recess and coming in to listen. Col. W. C. Plummer spoke against the bill, which received 28 ayes but not a constitutional majority. No suffrage bill has been introduced since.[204]

Dower and curtesy have been abolished. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one child, the survivor is entitled to one-half of the real and personal estate. If there is more than one child living, or one child and the lawful issue of one or more children, the widow or widower receives one-third of the estate. If there is no issue living, he or she receives one-half of the estate; and if there is neither father, mother, brother nor sister, the whole of it. The survivor may retain a homestead to the value of $5,000, which on his or her death the minor children are entitled to occupy.

A married woman may contract, sue and be sued and proceed in all actions as if unmarried. She may dispose of all her separate property by deed or will, without the consent of her husband. He can not do this.

The father is the legal guardian of the persons, estates and earnings of the minor children. If he abandon them the mother is entitled thereto. At his death she is the guardian, if suitable. Should she marry again she loses the guardianship but, by agreement, the court may re-appoint her.[Pg 550]

If the husband is not able to support the family the wife must maintain him and the children to the best of her ability, and her separate estate may be held liable. If he wilfully neglect to provide for them his separate property shall be held liable, and he may be imprisoned in the county jail not less than sixty days nor more than six months.

In case either husband or wife abandons the family and leaves the State for a year or more, or is sent to prison for a year or more, the court may authorize the one remaining to sell or encumber the property of the other for the maintenance of the family or the debts which were left unpaid after due notice has been given to the absent one.

The causes for divorce do not differ from those in a number of other States, but by requiring a residence of only six months a great inducement is offered to persons from outside to come here for the express purpose of securing a divorce.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in 1887. The women attempted in 1895 to have it raised to 18 but succeeded only in getting 16 years. The reduction of the penalty, however, made this of small avail. For the first degree it is imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than ten years; second degree, imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five years. "But no conviction can be had in case the female is over the age of 10 years and the man under the age of 20 years, and it appears to the satisfaction of the jury that the female was sufficiently matured and informed to understand the nature of the act and consent thereto."

Suffrage: The Territorial Legislature of 1879 gave women a vote on questions pertaining to the schools, which were then decided at school meetings. This was partially repealed by a law of 1883 which required regular polls and a private ballot, but this Act did not include fifteen counties which had school districts fully established, and women still continued to vote at these district school meetings. In 1887 a law was enacted giving all women the right to vote at all school elections for all officers, and making them eligible for all school offices. By the State constitution adopted in 1889 all women properly qualified may[Pg 551] vote for all public school officers, including State Superintendent, and on all questions pertaining solely to school matters.

At the special school election held in Grand Forks, Aug. 4, 1890, Mrs. Sara E. B. Smith and Dr. Cora Smith (Eaton) voted. Objections were raised, but with the law and the constitution back of them they carried the day. On September 5, in response to a request from the Grand Forks W. S. A., Attorney-General J. M. Cochrane gave a written opinion that the provision of the constitution relating to woman suffrage was not self-executing, and that until supplementary legislation was enacted providing the requisite machinery for recording school ballots cast by women, they could not vote. As the authorities in a number of places refused to provide separate boxes, the Legislature of 1893 passed an act requiring them.

Office Holding: Women are eligible for all school offices, but for no other elective office.

In 1892 Mrs. Laura J. Eisenhuth was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction on the Democratic ticket. In 1894 she was again nominated but was defeated by Miss Emma Bates on the Republican ticket.

Eleven women are now serving as county superintendents, and many on local school boards. They do not sit on any State boards. All of the directors of the Woman's Reformatory, under control of the W. C. T. U., are women.

In the Legislature they serve as librarians, journal, enrolling and engrossing clerks and stenographers. They act also as deputies in State, county and city offices. By special statute of 1893 they may be notaries public.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: All of the educational institutions are open to both sexes alike and women are on the faculties. Dr. Janette Hill Knox was vice-president of Red River Valley University (Meth. Epis.) for five years.

There are in the public schools 1,115 men and 2,522 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $39.92; of the women, $35.57.[Pg 552]

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was the first and still continues to be the largest of the organizations. It works for the franchise through public lectures, petitions, legislative bills and various educational measures. The Woman's Relief Corps and a large number of church, lodge and literary societies enlist women's activities in a marked degree. They sit on the official boards of many churches and some of these are composed entirely of women.

#### SOUTH DAKOTA.[205]

In June, 1883, a convention was held at Huron to discuss the question of dividing the Territory and forming two States, and a convention was called to meet at Sioux Falls, September 4, and prepare a constitution for those in the southern portion. The suffrage leaders in the East were anxious that this should include the franchise for women. Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage of New York, vice-president-at-large of the National Suffrage Association, lectured at various points in the Territory during the summer to awaken public sentiment on this question. On September 6 a petition signed by 1,000 Dakota men and women, praying that the word "male" should not be incorporated in the constitution, was presented to the convention, accompanied by personal appeals. There was some disposition to grant this request but the opponents prevailed and only the school ballot was given to women, which they already possessed by Act of the Legislature of 1879. However, this constitution never was acted upon.

The desire for division and Statehood became very urgent throughout the great Territory, and this, with the growing sentiment in Congress in favor of the same, induced the Legislature of 1885 to provide for a convention at Sioux Falls, composed of members elected by the voters of the Territory, to form a constitution for the proposed new State of South Dakota and submit the same to the electors for adoption, which was done in November, 1885. Many of the women had become landholders and were interested in the location of schoolhouses, county seats, State capital and matters of taxation. As their only organization was the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, a committee[Pg 553] was appointed from that body, consisting of Alice M. A. Pickler, Superintendent of the Franchise Department, Helen M. Barker and Julia Welch, to appear before the Committee on Suffrage and ask that the word "male" be left out of the qualifications of electors. They were helped by letters to members of the convention from Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Susan B. Anthony, Lillie Devereux Blake and others of national reputation.

Seven of the eleven members of the committee were willing to grant this request but there was so much opposition from the convention, lest the chances for Statehood might be imperiled, that they compelled a compromise and it was directed that the first Legislature should submit the question to the voters. They did incorporate a clause, however, that women properly qualified should be eligible to any school office and should vote at any election held solely for school purposes. This applied merely to school trustees, as State and county superintendents are elected at general and not special elections.

The constitution was ratified by the voters in 1885, with a provision that "the Legislature should at its first session after the admission of the State into the Union, submit to a vote of the electors at the next general election, the question whether the word 'male' should be stricken from the article of the constitution relating to elections and the right of suffrage."

Congress at that time refused to divide the Territory and thus the question remained in abeyance awaiting Statehood.

In 1889, an enabling act having been passed by Congress, delegates were elected from the different counties to meet in convention at Sioux Falls to prepare for the entrance of South Dakota into Statehood. This convention reaffirmed the constitution adopted in 1885, and again submitted it to the voters who again passed upon it favorably, and the Territory became a State, Nov. 2, 1889.

The first Legislature met at once in Pierre, and although they were required by the constitution to submit an amendment for woman suffrage a vote was taken as to whether this should be done. It stood in the Senate 40 yeas, one nay; absent or not voting, 4; in the House 84 yeas, 9 nays; 21 absent.

On Nov. 11, 1889, Miss Anthony, in response to urgent requests[Pg 554] from the State, made a lecture tour of twelve cities and towns and addressed the Farmers' Alliance at their convention in Aberdeen, when they officially indorsed the suffrage amendment. On her return home she sent 50,000 copies of Senator T. W. Palmer's great woman suffrage speech to individual voters in Dakota under his frank.

A State Suffrage Association had been formed with S. A. Ramsey, president, Alonzo Wardall, vice-president, the Rev. M. Barker, secretary, and Mrs. Helen M. Barker, treasurer and State organizer; but the beginning of this campaign found the women with no funds and very little local organization. Mr. Wardall, who was also secretary of the Farmers' Alliance, went to Washington and, with Representative and Mrs. J. A. Pickler, presented a strong appeal for assistance to the national suffrage convention in February, 1890. It was heartily responded to and a South Dakota campaign committee was formed with Miss Anthony chairman. The officers and friends made vigorous efforts to raise a fund and eventually $5,500 were secured. Of this amount California sent $1,000; Senator Stanford personally gave $300; Rachel Foster Avery of Philadelphia, the same amount; Mrs. Clara L. McAdow of Montana, $250; a number gave $100, among them U. S. Senator R. F. Pettigrew of South Dakota, and different States sent various sums.[206]

The first of May Miss Anthony returned to South Dakota and established campaign headquarters in Huron. A mass convention of men and women was held and an active State organization formed with Mrs. Philena Everett Johnson, president, Mr. Wardall, vice-president, which co-operated with the national committee and inaugurated an active campaign. The new State had adopted as its motto, "Under God the People Rule," and the suffragists wrote upon their banners, "Under God the People Rule. Women Are People." A large number of national speakers came in the summer. Local workers would organize suffrage clubs in the schoolhouses and these efforts would culminate in large rallies at the county seats where some noted speakers would make addresses and perfect the organization.

Those from the outside who canvassed the State were Henry[Pg 555] B. Blackwell, editor Woman's Journal, Boston, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national lecturer, Mary Seymour Howell (N. Y.), the Rev. Olympia Brown (Wis.), Matilda Hindman (Penn.), Carrie Chapman Catt (Wash.), Laura M. Johns (Kan.), Clara Bewick Colby (Neb.), the Rev. Helen G. Putnam (N. D.), Julia B. Nelson (Minn.) Miss Anthony was always and everywhere the moving spirit and contributed her services the entire six months without pay. When $300 were lacking to settle the final expenses she paid them out of her own pocket. Mr. Blackwell also donated his services. Most effective State work was done by Mrs. Emma Smith De Voe, and the home of Mr. and Mrs. De Voe was a haven of rest for the toilers during the campaign. Among the other valuable State workers were Dr. Nettie C. Hall, Mrs. Helen M. Barker, and Mrs. Elizabeth M. Wardall, superintendent of press. A large number of ministers indorsed the amendment. Two grand rallies of all the speakers were held, one in Mitchell, August 26, 27, during which time Miss Anthony, Mr. Blackwell, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Pickler addressed the Republican State Convention; the other during the State Fair in September. The 17th was "Woman's Day" and the Fair Association invited the ladies to speak. Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. De Voe complied. The summing up of the superintendent of press was as follows: Total number of addresses by national speakers, 789; State speakers, 707; under the auspices of the W. C. T. U., 104; total, 1,600; local clubs of women organized, 400; literature sent to every voter.

It would be difficult to put into words the hardships of this campaign of 1890 in a new State through the hottest and dryest summer on record. Frequently the speakers had to drive twenty miles between the afternoon and evening meetings and the audiences would come thirty miles. All of the political State conventions declined to indorse the amendment. The Republicans refused seats to the ladies on the floor of their convention although Indians in blankets were welcomed. The Democrats invited the ladies to seats where they listened to a speech against woman suffrage by E. W. Miller, land receiver of the Huron district, too indecent to print, which was received with cheers and applause by the convention. The minority committee report asking[Pg 556] for an indorsement, presented by Judge Bangs of Rapid City, was overwhelmingly voted down. A big delegation of Russians came to this convention wearing huge yellow badges lettered, Against Woman Suffrage and Susan B. Anthony.

The greatest disappointment of the campaign was the forming of an Independent party by the Farmers' Alliance and the Knights of Labor. The Alliance at its convention the previous year, 478 delegates present, at the close of Miss Anthony's address, had declared that they would do all in their power to carry the suffrage amendment, and it was principally on account of their assurances of support and on the invitation of their leaders, that she undertook the work in South Dakota. The Knights of Labor at their convention in January of the present year had adopted a resolution which said: "We will support with all our strength the amendment to be voted on at the next general election giving women the ballot ... believing this to be the first step toward securing those reforms for which all true Knights of Labor are striving."

But the following June these two organizations formed a new party and absolutely refused to put a woman suffrage plank in their platform, although Miss Anthony addressed their convention and implored them to keep their promise, assuring them that their failure to support the amendment would be its death blow. The previous summer H. L. Loucks, president of the Farmers' Alliance, had made a special journey to the State suffrage convention at Minneapolis to invite her to come to South Dakota to conduct this canvass. He was a candidate for Governor on this new party ticket and in his speech of acceptance did not mention the pending amendment. Before adjourning the convention adopted a long resolution containing seven or eight declarations, among them one that "no citizen should be disfranchised on account of sex," but so far as any party advocacy was concerned the question was a dead issue.

A bitter contest was being made between Huron and Pierre for the location of the State capital, and the woman suffrage amendment was freely used as an article of barter. There were 30,000 Russians, Poles, Scandinavians and other foreigners in the State, most of whom opposed woman suffrage. The liquor dealers and[Pg 557] gamblers worked vigorously against it, and they were reinforced by the women "remonstrants" of Massachusetts, who sent their literature into every corner of the State.

At the election, Nov. 4, 1890, the amendment received 22,072 ayes, 45,862 noes, majority opposed 23,790. The Republicans carried the State by 16,000 majority.

At this same election an amendment was submitted as to whether male Indians should be enfranchised. It received an affirmative vote of 45 per cent.; that for woman suffrage received 35 per cent. Of the two classes of voters it seemed the men preferred the Indians. It was claimed by many, however, that they did not understand the wording of the Indian amendment and thought they were voting against it.[207]

As the School Suffrage possessed by women applied only to trustees and did not include the important offices of State and county superintendents, and as it was held that the franchise for this purpose could be secured only by a constitutional amendment, it was decided to ask for this. Through the efforts of Mrs. Anna R. Simmons and Mrs. Emma A. Cranmer, officers of the State Association, a bill for this purpose was secured from the Legislature of 1893. As there seemed to be no objection to women's voting for school trustees it was not supposed that there would be any to extending the privilege for the other school officers. It was submitted at the regular election in November, 1894, and defeated by 17,010 ayes, 22,682 noes, an opposing majority of 5,672.

In 1897 the above ladies made one more effort and secured from the Legislature the submission again of an amendment conferring the Full Suffrage on women. The campaign was managed almost entirely by Mrs. Simmons and Mrs. Cranmer. The National Association assisted to the extent of sending a lecturer, Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas, who remained for two months preceding the election; and $100 worth of literature also was furnished for distribution. The Dakota women raised about $1,500, and every possible influence was exerted upon the voters. The returns of the election in November, 1898, gave for the amendment 19,698; against, 22,983; adverse majority, 3,285.[Pg 558]

In 1890 the amendment had received 35 per cent. of the whole vote cast upon it; in 1898 it received 77 per cent. The figures show unmistakably that the falling off in the size of the vote was almost wholly among the opponents.[208]

Organization: After the defeat of the suffrage amendment in 1890 a more thorough State organization was effected and a convention has been held every year since. That of 1891 met in Huron and Mrs. Irene G. Adams was elected president. Soon afterwards she compiled a leaflet showing the unjust laws for women which disgraced the statute books.

In 1892 a successful annual meeting took place at Hastings and Mrs. Mary A. Groesbeck was made president. In September, 1893, the convention was held in Aberdeen during the Grain Palace Exposition. The State president and the president elect, Mrs. Emma A. Cranmer, had charge of the program for Woman's Day, and Mrs. Clara Hoffman (Mo.) gave addresses in the afternoon and evening.

In 1894 Mrs. Anna R. Simmons was elected president and continued in office for six years. This year $100 was sent to aid the Kansas campaign. During 1894 and '95 she made twenty public addresses and held ten parlor meetings. At the convention in Pierre in September, 1895, she was able to report fifty clubs organized with 700 members. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, was present at this convention.

Active work was continued throughout 1896 and 1897, when the submission of a suffrage amendment was secured. The year of 1898 was given up to efforts for its success. Mrs. C. C. King established and carried on almost entirely at her own expense the South Dakota Messenger, a campaign paper which was of the greatest service. The State convention met in Mitchell September 28-30. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.) came as representative of the National Association and gave two addresses to large audiences. The following October a conference of National and State workers was held at Sioux Falls, the former represented by Mrs. Chapman Catt, the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore[Pg 559] (O.) and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizers. Several public sessions were held.

The annual meeting of 1899 took place in Madison, September 5, 6. The tenth convention met in Brookings, Sept. 5, 1900. Mrs. Simmons having removed from the State, Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler was elected president. Mrs. Philena Everett Johnson was made vice-president.[209]

Among the prominent friends of woman suffrage may be mentioned the Hon. Arthur C. Mellette, first State Governor; U. S. Senators Richard F. Pettigrew, James H. Kyle and Robert J. Gamble; Lieutenant-Governor D. T. Hindman; members of Congress J. A. Pickler, W. B. Lucas and E. W. Martin; the Hons. S. A. Ramsey and Coe I. Crawford; Attorney-General John L. Pyle, Judge D. C. Thomas, General W. H. Beadle, Professor McClennen, of the Madison Normal School, and ministers of many churches. The Hon. J. H. Patton and the Hon. W. C. Bowers paid the expenses of the legislative committee of the suffrage association while they were in Pierre during the winter of 1897 to secure the submission of an amendment. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court A. J. Edgerton, was a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage and appointed a woman official stenographer of his judicial district, the best salaried office within his gift. Associate Justice Seward Smith appointed a woman clerk of the Faulk County district court.[210]

Laws: Neither dower nor curtesy obtains. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one, the survivor is entitled to one-half of the separate estate of the other; or one-third if there are more than one child or the issue of more than one. If there are no children nor the issue of any, the survivor is entitled to one-half of the estate and the other half goes to the kindred of the deceased. If there are none the survivor takes all. A homestead of 160 acres, or[Pg 560] one-quarter of an acre in town, may be reserved for the widow or widower.

Either husband or wife may dispose of separate property, real or personal, by deed or will, without the consent of the other. Joint real estate, including the homestead, can be conveyed only by signature of both, but the husband may dispose of joint personal property without the consent of the wife.

In order to control her separate property the wife must keep it recorded in the office of the county register.

On the death of an unmarried child the father inherits all of its property. If he is dead and there are no other children, the mother inherits it. If there are brothers and sisters she inherits a child's share.

A married woman can not act as administrator. Of several persons claiming and equally entitled to act as executors, males must be preferred to females.

A married woman can control her earnings outside the home only when living separate from her husband.

The father is the legal guardian and has custody of the persons and services of minor children. If he refuse to take the custody or has abandoned his family or has been legally declared a drunkard, the mother is entitled to the custody.

The law declares the husband the head of the family and he must support the wife by his separate property or labor, but if he has not deserted her, and has no separate property, and is too infirm to support her by his labor, the wife must support him and their children out of her separate property or in other ways to the extent of her ability. An act of Feb. 21, 1896, makes the wife liable for necessaries for the family purchased on her own account to the same extent that her husband would be liable under a similar purchase, but with no control over the joint earnings.

The causes for divorce are the same as in most States but only six months' residence is required. The disposition of the children is left entirely with the court.

In 1887, through the efforts of the W.C.T.U., the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years. In 1893 they tried to have it made 18 but the Legislature compromised on 16 years. Rape in the first degree is punishable by imprisonment[Pg 561] in the penitentiary not less than ten years; in the second degree, not less than five years.

The penalty for seduction and for enticing away for purposes of prostitution is prescribed by the same words "is punishable," which in reality leaves it to the judgment of the court, but the statutes fix the penalty for all other crimes by the words "shall be punished." In addition to this latitude the penalty for seduction or enticing for purposes of prostitution is, if the girl is under 15, imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than five years, or in the county jail not more than one year, or by fine not exceeding $1,000, or both; with no minimum penalty.

Suffrage: The Territorial Legislature of 1879 gave women a vote on questions pertaining to the schools, which were then decided at school meetings. This was partially repealed by a law of 1883 which required regular polls and a private ballot, but this act did not include fifteen counties which had school districts fully established, and women still continued to vote at these district school meetings. In 1887 a law was enacted giving all women the right to vote at all school elections for all officers, and making them eligible for all school offices. The constitution which was adopted when South Dakota entered the Union (1889) provided that "any woman having the required qualifications as to age, residence and citizenship may vote at any election held solely for school purposes." As State and county superintendents are elected at general and not special elections, women can vote only for school trustees. They have no vote on bonds or appropriations.

Office Holding: The State constitution provides that all persons, either male or female, being twenty-one years of age and having the necessary qualifications, shall be eligible to the office of school director, treasurer, judge or clerk of school elections, county superintendent of public schools and State Superintendent of Public Instruction. All other civil offices must be filled by male electors.

There are at present eleven women serving as county superintendents. They sit on the school boards in many places and have been treasurers. A woman was nominated for State Superintendent of Public Instruction by the Independent party.[Pg 562]

Efforts to secure a law requiring women on the boards of State institutions have failed. The Governor is required to appoint three women inspectors of penal and charitable institutions, who are paid by the State and make their report directly to him. They inspect the penitentiary, reform school, insane hospitals, deaf and dumb institute and school for the blind. There is one assistant woman physician in the State Hospital for the Insane. Women in subordinate official positions are found in all State institutions.

They act as clerks in all city, county and State offices and in the Legislature, and have served as court stenographers and clerk of the Circuit Court.

There are eight women notaries public at the present time.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. Ten hours is made a legal working day for them. Four women are editing county papers.

Education: All institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes and there are women on the faculties. In the public schools there are 1,225 men and 3,581 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $36.45; of the women $30.82.

The W.C.T.U. was the first organization of women in the State and through its franchise department has worked earnestly and collected numerous petitions for suffrage. The Woman's Relief Corps is the largest body, having 1,800 members. The Eastern Star, Daughters of Rebekah, Ladies of the Maccabees, and other lodge societies are well organized. The Federation of Clubs, the youngest association, represents 200 members. A number of churches have women on their official boards.

### FOOTNOTES:

[200] At the New Orleans Exposition in 1885 the displays of Kansas, Dakota and Nebraska taught the world the artistic value of grains and grasses for decoration, but it was exemplified most strikingly in the Dakota's Woman's Department, arranged by Mrs. J. M. Melton of Fargo. Among the industrial exhibits was a carriage robe sent from a leading furrier to represent the skilled work of women in his employ. There were also bird fans, a curtain of duck skins and cases of taxidermy, all prepared and cured by women, and a case of work from women employed in the printing office of the Fargo Argus. Four thousand bouquets of grasses were distributed on Dakota Day and carried away as curious and beautiful memorials. All were made by women in the Territory.

[201] The History is indebted for this part of the chapter to Dr. Janette Hill Knox, of Wahpeton, corresponding secretary of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[202] U. S. Senator W. N. Roach also wrote and voted in favor of woman suffrage. Martin N. Johnson, M. C., was a strong advocate.

[203] Officers elected: Honorary presidents, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton and Miss Mary Allen Whedon; president, Mrs. Flora Blackman Naylor; vice-president, Mrs. G. S. Roberts; corresponding secretary, Dr. Janette Hill Knox; recording secretary, Mrs. Henrietta Paulson Haagenson; treasurer, Mrs. Anna Carmody; auditors, Mrs. J. S. Kemp, Mrs. Addie L. Carr; member national executive committee, Mrs. Lois L. Muir; organizer and lecturer, Mrs. Mary E. Slater; press superintendent, Mrs. Flora P. Gates.

In addition to these, the following have served as State officers: Vice-presidents, Mesdames Mary Wilson, Florence Dixon and G. S. Roberts; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Sara E. B. Smith, Mrs. Delia Lee Hyde; recording secretary, Mrs. Helen de Lendrecie; treasurer, Mrs. Katherine V. King; auditors, Dr. Helena G. Wink and Mesdames M. B. Goodrich, L. C. McKinney and L. C. Campbell.

Among other efficient workers may be mentioned Gov. Eli Shortridge, Gov. Roger Allen, Dr. M. V. B. Knox, Miss Bena Halerow, and Mesdames Ida S. Clark, Mazie Stevens, Nellie Mott, Frances M. Dixon, R. C. Cooper and S. M. Woodhull.

[204] In the Legislature of 1901 a bill was introduced in the House by H. E. Lavayea of Grand Forks County, to take away School Suffrage from women. The bill was unconstitutional and was never reported from the committee, but its introduction stirred up indignant protests from all parts of the State.

[205] The History is indebted to Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler of Faulkton, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association, for the material contained in this part of the chapter.

[206] The speakers raised about $1,400 which went toward paying their expenses. Over $1,000 were secured by other means. Most of the State workers donated their expenses.

[207] A graphic account of this campaign, with many anecdotes and personal reminiscences, will be found in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XXXVIII.

[208] Petitions have been presented to several Legislatures to grant Municipal Suffrage by statute but a bill for this purpose has been brought to a vote only once, in 1893, when it was passed by the Senate, 27 ayes, 11 noes; and defeated in the House by only one vote.

[209] Others who have served in official position are vice-president, Mrs. Emma A. Cranmer; corresponding secretaries, Mesdames Kate Uline Folger, F. C. Bidwell, Hannah V. Best; treasurers, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Wardall, Mrs. Marion L. Bennett, Mrs. Clara M. Williams; auditor, Mrs. John Davis; superintendents of literature, Mrs. Jane Rooker Breeden, Mrs. Delia Robinson King.

[210] The list of men and women who are not so widely known but who have stood faithfully for woman suffrage would be a long one. Among them are S. H. Cranmer, Rev. and Mrs. C. E. Hagar, Mrs. Alice Gossage, Mrs. C. E. Thorpe, Mrs. Luella A. Ramsey, Mrs. Ruby Smart, Kara Smart and Floy Cochrane.

[Pg 563]

## CHAPTER XXXII.

### DELAWARE.[211]

In the campaign of 1884 the Republicans had a Ship of State called the New Constitution, with an eagle on the top, which was mounted on wheels and taken from place to place where they held public meetings. When they came to Greenwood, the home of Mrs. Mary A. Stuart, she put a "blue hen" upon it, saying they should not have an eagle to represent freedom for men and nothing to represent women. So the hen went from one end of Delaware to the other, sitting in state in a glass coop. Some of the Republican speakers announced from the platform this year that they favored enfranchisement of women.

In 1888 the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union adopted the franchise department with Mrs. Patience Kent as superintendent, and held several public meetings. In 1889 Mrs. Martha S. Cranston was elected her successor, and still occupies the position.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, corresponding secretary of the National Association, organized the Wilmington Equal Suffrage Club, the first in the State, on Nov. 18, 1895, with twenty-five members. The membership soon increased to fifty-three.

The following winter Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, sent into the State the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, the latter to arrange meetings and the former to address them and organize clubs. On Jan. 17, 18, 1896, they assisted in a convention at Wilmington, where a State Association was formed.

As Delaware was to hold a Constitutional Convention in 1897, the National Association was especially interested in pushing the suffrage work there. Mrs. Chapman Catt met with the executive[Pg 564] committee in Wilmington to arrange plans, and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas were sent during March and April to further organization. Three county associations were formed, and Mrs. Hortense Davenport held parlor meetings in various towns throughout May.

On Nov. 27, 1896, the second annual convention was held in the New Century Club parlors in Wilmington. Judge William N. Ashman of Philadelphia and Mrs. Mary Heald Way of Oxford, Penn., addressed the audience in the evening.

Petitions were circulated throughout the State, and Mrs. Cranston and Miss Hay went to Dover to present the Constitutional Convention with a memorial, which was referred to the Committee on Elections. It contained the signatures of 1,592 men and 1,228 women. A hearing was granted Jan. 13, 1897. Mrs. Emalea P. Warner, Mrs. Margaret W. Houston and Miss Emma Worrell made addresses. Mrs. Chapman Catt was the chief speaker. Only two members of the committee were absent. A vote was taken February 16 on omitting the word "male" from the new constitution, and the proposition was defeated by 7 yeas, 17 nays, with 6 not present.

A national conference was held in Wilmington April 22, 23. Mrs. Chapman Catt and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president-at-large, were the principal speakers, and Mrs. Elizabeth G. Robinson, Mrs. Elizabeth Walling and Mrs. Houston assisted in making the meetings a success. On Sunday Miss Shaw preached in the Union M. E. Church in the morning and the Delaware Avenue Baptist Church in the evening.

The third State meeting took place at Wilmington, Dec. 2, 1897, with addresses by Miss Diana Hirschler of Boston and Mrs. C. O. H. Craigie of Brooklyn.

There was no convention in 1898, but the State association held a meeting in the Unitarian Church, in Wilmington, Dec. 15, 1899, which was addressed by Mrs. Chapman Catt.

After the national convention in February, 1900, Mrs. Bradford made a few addresses in the State. The annual meeting took place in Newcastle, Nov. 15, 1900. Among the speakers were Mrs. Ellen H. E. Price of Pennsylvania and Professors William H. Purnell and Wesley Webb.[Pg 565]

Mrs. Martha S. Cranston has been president of the State association, and Mrs. Margaret W. Houston vice-president, since its beginning. Others who have served in official capacity are Mrs. Margaret H. Kent, Edward Mullen, Miss Emma Lore, Mrs. Mary R. De Vou and Mrs. May Price Phillips. Among those not previously mentioned who have given valuable assistance are Chief Justice Charles B. Lore and Mrs. Gertrude Nields.

Legislative Action and Laws: No bill for woman suffrage has been presented to the Legislature since 1881.

On the petition of women a law was passed in 1887 requiring employers to provide seats for female employes when not on duty.

In 1889 a police matron was appointed for Wilmington.

In 1893 the Bastardy Law, which compelled the father of an illegitimate child to pay fifty cents a week for its support during seven years, was repealed; $3 a week for ten years were asked, but the law made it $1 a week for ten years.

Until 1889 the "age of protection" for girls was only seven years. That year, on petition of many women, it was raised to fifteen, but the violation of the law was declared to be only a "misdemeanor," punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than seven years, or both, at the discretion of the court, with no minimum penalty named. In 1895 the Legislature, on the insistence of women, raised the "age of protection" to eighteen years, but continued to extend the "protection" to boys as well as girls. It has been found very difficult to secure the conviction of men for this crime, and those convicted have been repeatedly pardoned by the Governor.

On May 10, 1897, the Legislature passed a bill requiring the proprietors of mills, factories and stores in the city of Wilmington to provide comfortable toilet-rooms for their female employes, and one giving power for the appointment of women as factory inspectors. One was appointed by Chief Justice Lore the same year.

If there is a child or the lawful issue of a child living, the widow has a life-interest in one-third of the real estate and one-third absolutely of the personal property. If there is no child nor the descendant of any child living, the widow has a life-interest in one-half of the real estate and one-half absolutely of the[Pg 566] personal estate. If there are neither descendants nor kin—brothers, sisters, their descendants, father nor mother—the widow has the entire real estate for her life, and all the personal estate absolutely. If a child of the marriage was born alive, whether living or dead at the death of the wife, the widower has her entire real estate during his life, and the whole of her personal estate absolutely, subject to all legal claims. If there has not been a child born alive, the widower has a life-interest in one-half of her real estate, but the whole of her personal estate absolutely.

The father is the legal guardian of the children, and he alone may appoint a guardian at his death.

For failure to support his wife and minor children, a man may be fined from $10 to $100; and, by Act of 1887, arrested and required to give bail not exceeding $500. The court may order him to pay reasonable support not exceeding $100 per month and give security to the State. If he fail to comply, he may be committed to jail. The wife is competent as a witness.

Suffrage: The women in Milford, Townsend, Wyoming and Newark who pay a property tax are privileged to vote for Town Commissioners in person or by proxy. All such women in the State may vote for School Trustees.

Office Holding: In January, 1900, the Supreme Court denied the application of a woman to practice at the bar, on the ground that a lawyer is a State officer and all State officers must be voters.

In the one city of Wilmington women are eligible as school directors, but none ever has been elected.

A woman factory inspector was appointed by the Chief Justice in 1897, and reappointed in 1900.

Women never have served as notaries public.

Occupations: Only the practice of law is legally forbidden.

Education: Delaware has one college, at Newark, which receives State funds. Women were admitted in 1872, and during the next thirteen years eighty availed themselves of its advantages. It was then closed to them. The only High School in the State, at Wilmington, is open to girls.

There are in the public schools 211 men and 643 women teachers. It is impossible to obtain their average salaries.

### FOOTNOTES:

[211] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Martha S. Cranston of Newport, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[Pg 567]

## CHAPTER XXXIII.

### DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.[212]

The women of the District of Columbia who desire the suffrage have a unique place among those of other localities. As the franchise for men even is not included in the privileges of citizenship, all are compelled to work circuitously through Congress in order to gain that which in the States is secured directly by the ballot. The suffrage societies stand in especially close relation to the National Association, as every year from 1869 until 1895, and each alternate year since, they have served as its hosts and arranged the many details of its delegate conventions. Being near, also, to the great legislative body of the nation they often serve as messengers and mediators between congressional committees and various State organizations of women.

The District, however, has its own vital problems to solve, and in these the suffrage association takes a prominent part. Since 1883, through its organized and persistent efforts, alone or in co-operation with other societies, many local reforms and improvements have been secured. These have been unusually difficult to obtain because subject to the dual authority of Congress and of the District Commissioners. Nevertheless, so systematically and harmoniously have the women worked that the entire personnel of the association's committees has often been changed during the long delays in the introduction of a bill, the lobbying for it and its final passage, without in the least imperiling its success.

The District society never has languished since its organization in 1868. Dr. Clara W. MacNaughton is now president and there are over one hundred active members.[213][Pg 568]

The Equal Suffrage Association of the District of Columbia is a separate body, corresponding to a State association, and is composed of delegates elected from the District society and the Junior Equal Suffrage Club. It was organized Dec. 2, 1898, and holds regular meetings. Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall is the president.[214]

The association made every possible effort to secure a bill to recompense Anna Ella Carroll for her services during the war. It has used its influence in favor of industrial schools and kindergartens in the public schools and has urged Congress to appropriate money for vacation schools. In 1895 it petitioned the national convention of the Knights of Labor, meeting in Washington, to adopt a resolution asking Congress to restore suffrage to the citizens of the District of Columbia with no distinction of sex. This was unanimously adopted without even the formality of referring to a committee. Delegates were sent to the International Congress of Women in Brussels in 1897.

In 1900, for the first time, the suffrage women of the District gave free entertainment to delegates to the national convention. Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson was chairman of the committee and contributed largely to the success of that memorable convention, which ended with the celebration of Miss Susan B. Anthony's eightieth birthday and her retirement from the presidency of the National Association. Mrs. Thompson was especially active in securing the handsome gift of a purse of over $200, which was presented to her by the District society. Mrs. Julius C. Burrows assisted in many ways and through her influence the Corcoran Gallery of Art was opened to the brilliant reception given in honor of Miss Anthony.[Pg 569]

Among many who openly espouse woman suffrage are ex-Gov. and Mrs. John W. Hoyt of Wyoming, now living in Washington, Mrs. John B. Henderson, Mrs. A. L. Barber, Mrs. Judith Ellen Foster, president of the Woman's Republican Association of the United States, and Miss Clara Barton, founder and president of the National Red Cross Society; to whom might be added hosts of others.

Legislative Action and Laws: The suffrage association has been largely instrumental in securing most of the District legislation in favor of women, as the records of the past twenty years will show. What is regarded as the most important achievement of this nature since 1884 is the passage by Congress, in 1896, of the Married Woman's Property Rights Bill.

The removal of the disabilities of wives had been agitated for a number of years by the association. In 1893 a bill for this purpose, drafted by one of its members, Miss Emma M. Gillett, attorney-at-law, was passed by the Senate. When it reached the House it went through the usual stages, was tossed about from one committee to another and deferred and delayed in the most exasperating manner. It was championed by Miss Gillett, however, with an unswerving courage and fidelity which never allowed it to be forgotten or neglected, and she was treated always with the utmost courtesy when appearing before congressional committees.

In 1894 Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, always an ardent suffragist, as chairman of the committee on legislation for the District Federation of Women's Clubs, began a vigorous prosecution of this bill before Congress. Miss Gillett and Mrs. Mussey were ably assisted by Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs. Lucia B. Blount, Mrs. M. E. Coues and Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood.

At this time married women had no legal right to hold property, and in most respects the District laws remained about as arbitrary as they were in the reign of King Charles II. A mother had no right by law to her own child, the father having legal sanction to dispose of the offspring even before it was born. At the time this committee was urging Congress to pass the bill, the public was horrified by a notorious case in the courts of the District in which a profligate father, who had never done[Pg 570] anything to benefit his children, had disposed of them by will, debarring the mother from their custody and control. This cruelty and injustice was an object-lesson which especially evoked the sympathy of Congress.

The bill finally passed both Houses, was approved by President William McKinley, and became a law June 1, 1896. At a special meeting, held June 11, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood presented the association with an engrossed copy of the new law, and the women held a jubilee to celebrate their victory.

The law provides that the real, personal or mixed property which shall come to a woman by descent, purchase, gift, etc., shall be and remain her sole and separate property, notwithstanding her marriage, and shall not be subject to the disposal of her husband or be liable for his debts.

A married woman may bargain, sell and convey her real and personal property, enter into any contract, sue and be sued the same as a married man.

A married woman may carry on any business or enter any profession, by herself or with others, and the proceeds shall be her separate property and may be invested in her own name.

The law also provides that the father and mother shall be equal guardians of their children, and that the survivor may by last will and testament appoint a guardian.

The husband, if he have property, is required by a recent decision to furnish his family with reasonable support; otherwise there is no penalty for failure to do so.

Dower and curtesy obtain. The widow's dower is one-third for life of the real estate, and one-third of the personal estate absolutely if there is a child or descendant of any living. If there is no issue or descendant of any, but father, mother, brother, sister or descendants of these, the widow has one-half the personal estate. If none of these, the widow may have all of the personal estate, and all of the real estate if there is no kindred whatever. A widower, if his wife has borne a living child, is entitled to the use of one-third of her real estate for life, and one-third of her personal property. If there are no heirs, lineal or collateral, he takes the whole estate absolutely.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised in 1889 from 12[Pg 571] to 16 years. The penalty is, for the first offense imprisonment at hard labor in the penitentiary not more than fifteen years, and for each subsequent offense not more than thirty years. No minimum penalty is fixed.

Suffrage: Since the Territorial government was abolished and male citizens disfranchised, in 1874, there have been numerous petitions to Congress for the ballot by both men and women, but no action has been taken by that body.

Office Holding: Through the early '80's Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs. Jane H. Spofford and others worked unceasingly for the placing of matrons at the jail and police stations. One was appointed in 1884, and, during the sixteen years since, a matron has been secured for the jail and three for the ten police stations, largely through the efforts of the suffragists and especially of Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson, president of the District Association. The women have had the hearty support of Major Richard Sylvester, Chief of Police.

In 1892 an act was passed for a Board of Guardians for Dependent Children, of which at least three of the nine members must be women.

Principally to the efforts of Mrs. Sara A. Spencer, with the help of other members of the association, is due the bill providing for a Girl's Reform School, in 1892. The board of managers has always been composed of men, but there are a woman superintendent and a woman physician.

Mrs. Lockwood and Mrs. Elizabeth A. Russell worked long and arduously to secure a House of Detention and also a special carriage and a special court for the women and children arrested. To Major Sylvester above all others, however, belongs the credit of securing this House of Detention. Senator James McMillan of Michigan, chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, framed the bill and it was finally transformed into law. This house was opened in the summer of 1900. A Lieutenant of Police and three matrons have charge, under supervision of the Chief.

Mrs. Marilla M. Ricker was made notary public and master in chancery in 1885, and Miss Emma M. Gillett soon afterward. They secured the legislation necessary for women to hold the latter[Pg 572] office. There are at present four or five women masters in chancery and twenty women notaries in the District.

It required six years of agitation and effort on the part of the suffrage association before women were allowed to serve as members on the Board of Public School Education. The principal movers in this work were Dr. Clara W. MacNaughton, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall, Mrs. Lockwood and Mrs. Caroline E. Kent. During this time the bill passed through many vicissitudes and its friends became discouraged, but in 1894 Dr. MacNaughton went to work with a strong determination to secure its passage. Great assistance was rendered by Senator McMillan and the Hon. Edwin F. Uhl, at that time Assistant Secretary of State. The bill was finally passed just before Congress adjourned for that year. The school board, which has charge of both white and colored schools, consists of five members, each with a salary of $500 a year. Mrs. Mary C. Terrill (colored) served five years and resigned. She was succeeded by Mrs. Betty G. Francis (colored). Mrs. Mary Hope West (white) is the other woman member. A woman is serving as assistant superintendent of the public schools, receiving $2,500 per annum; and a woman is employed as assistant secretary of the Board of Education.

Women sit on the Hospital Boards and those of Public Charities. It never has been possible to secure the appointment of women physicians at any of the hospitals or asylums.

As women are admitted to the various Government Departments there naturally would be more of them holding office in the District of Columbia than in all the States combined. The relative number of men and women employed is as follows:

LEGISLATIVE.
| Male. | Female.
Senate, officers and employes | 382 | 3
House of Representatives, officers and employes | 272 | ...
Capitol Police | 65 | ...
Library of Congress | 216 | 151
United States Botanic Garden | 28 | ...
| 963 | 154
EXECUTIVE.
Executive Office | 28 | ...
State Department | 92 | 17
Treasury Department | 3,234 | 2,313
War Department[215] | 2,411 | 300
Navy Department[216] | 2,992 | 85
Postoffice Department | 812 | 237
Interior Department | 4,810 | 2,862
Department of Justice | 191 | 21
Department of Agriculture | 650 | 332
Government Printing Office | 2,623 | 1,068
Department of Labor | 74 | 10
Fish Commission | 55 | 12
Interstate Commerce Commission | 133 | ...
Civil Service Commission | 55 | 6
Industrial Commission | 10 | 7
Smithsonian Institution | 320 | 39
Bureau of American Republics | 13 | 9
Local Postoffices in District | 606 | 22
| 19,109 | 7,340
JUDICIAL.
Supreme Court of the United States | 12 | ...
Court of Claims | 25 | 2
| 37 | 2
SUMMARY.
| 20,109 | 7,496

Whether the number of women is increasing or decreasing is a disputed question. The Civil Service alone enables them to hold their places or to secure new ones against the tremendous pressure for the offices which is brought upon the appointing powers by the men who form the voting constituency of the country. Chiefs of the Divisions rarely call for a woman on the Civil Service list of eligibles.

Few women fill the highly salaried positions. One woman receives $2,500 as Portuguese translator; one, working in the U. S. Land Office at Lander, Wyoming, receives the same. One secured a $2,250 position in the Federal Postoffice Department but was soon reduced to an $1,800 place and her own given to[Pg 574] a man. The salaries of women in general range from $900 to $1,600, not more than fifty receiving the latter sum, while many hundreds of men clerks receive $1,800. Clerkships under Civil Service rules are supposed to pay the same to men and women, but the latter rarely secure the better-paid ones. There are a large number of positions graded above clerkships and paying from $2,000 to $3,000 a year to which women are practically never appointed.

Occupations: No professions or occupations are forbidden to women. Two of the pioneer women physicians in the United States made name and fame in Washington—Dr. Caroline B. Winslow and Dr. Susan A. Edson—the latter the attending physician during the last illness of President James A. Garfield.

Education: Howard University, for white and colored students, is the only one which graduates women in medicine. In all of its ten departments, including law, it is co-educational. Columbian University (Baptist) opens its literary departments to women but excludes them from those of law and medicine, which are its strongest departments.[217] They were admitted to the Medical School in 1884, but excluded in 1892 on the ground that the university could not afford to have professors for separate classes and that the buildings were too small for the increased number of students.

Mrs. Ellen S. Mussey and Miss Emma M. Gillett, in 1896, established the Washington College of Law for the legal education of women. Mrs. Mussey has been the dean since its organization and is the only woman dean of a law school in the country. The Hon. Edward F. Bingham, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District, is president of the board of trustees, and leading members of the bar have used their influence to make the college a success. The curriculum is the same as obtains in the leading institutions. There are several men among the students. Mrs. Mussey is counsel for the Red Cross Society.

The American University (Methodist Episcopal), now being organized for post-graduate work, is to be co-educational.

The great Catholic Universities, here, as everywhere, are[Pg 575] closed to women. Trinity College for Women (Roman Catholic) was dedicated Nov. 22, 1900. The necessity for this college became apparent from their many applications to enter the universities for men. It is the first institution founded by this church for the higher education of women such as is provided by the largest of the women's colleges in the United States.

There are in the public schools 155 men and 1,004 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $94.48; of the women, $64.31.

The introduction of Kindergartens into the public schools received the assistance of all the women's societies in the District. In 1898 a bill passed Congress appropriating $15,000 with which to make the experiment. This proving successful an annual appropriation of $25,000 was made.[218]

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Mrs. Clinton Smith, president, has secured the suppression of liquor selling in the café of the new Library of Congress, and a large number of most beneficent measures. In December, 1900, the national convention of the W. C. T. U. was held in Washington and among the strongest resolutions adopted were those declaring for woman suffrage and the abolishment of the army canteen. A bill for the latter purpose passed the House while the convention was in session, and soon afterwards passed the Senate.

The District Federation of Women's Clubs includes eleven affiliated organizations comprising nearly four thousand women.

Mrs. Julius C. Burrows (Mich.) is among the most prominent of the many women engaged in philanthropic work. Largely under her direction the Training School for Nurses connected with the Garfield Memorial Hospital has become one of the best in the country.

Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby has long owned and published the Woman's Tribune. Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood for a number of years has edited the American Magazine, the official organ of the[Pg 576] National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood is associate editor of The Peacemaker.

Dr. Anita Newcombe McGee was the first woman in the United States commissioned as surgeon, with the rank of lieutenant and the privilege of wearing shoulder straps. She examined most of the women nurses who volunteered their services in Cuba and the Philippines.

All of the women mentioned above are members of the suffrage association, and those engaged in public work of all kinds are, almost without exception, advocates of woman suffrage.

During the Spanish-American War the women of the District, including the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the District Federation of Women's Clubs, united in their services. Pleasant headquarters were opened in different localities. Mrs. Judith Ellen Foster, Mrs. James B. Tanner and many other loyal Red Cross women answered the call of Clara Barton, and assisted daily through the long, hot summer of 1898 in contributing to the comfort of the soldiers when passing through Washington or while stationed at Camp Alger; and also in sending supplies for the comfort of those at the front. There were no castes, creeds or factions in this great work of patriotism.

### FOOTNOTES:

[212] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Florence Adele Chase, for a number of years on the editorial staff of a daily paper at Grand Rapids, Mich., now on the editorial force in the Division of Publications of the Agricultural Department at Washington, the only woman who has held the position.

[213] The presidents since 1884 have been Mrs. Ruth G. Denison, Dr. Susan A. Edson, Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble, Mrs. Mary L. Bennett, Mrs. Mary Powell Davis, Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson, Miss Cora La Matyr Thomas and Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall.

On March 18, 1901, the association was incorporated by Clara W. MacNaughton, Mary L. Talbott, Ellen Powell Thompson, Helen Rand Tindall, Clara Bewick Colby, Kate W. Burt, Sara A. Haslett, Caroline E. Kent and Belva A. Lockwood, "to secure for women citizens of the United States the full rights of citizenship; to build a clubhouse for women; and to collect funds for appropriate memorials to the memory of women who have performed meritorious work for the enfranchisement of women and the good of humanity."

[214] The Junior Equal Suffrage Club is probably the first organization of young people to become affiliated with the National Association. It was founded Jan. 24, 1895, by three girls in the Central High School, Anna Kemball, Alice Stearns and Edith Maddren. Young men comprise about one-third of its membership and join in its proceedings and discussions.

[215] Not including 71 officers of the U. S. Army on duty at the War Department.

[216] Not including 37 officers U. S. Navy and 4 officers U. S. Marine Corps on duty at Navy Department.

[217] In 1901 women graduates were admitted as special students to lecture courses in the graduate department, known as the National School of Jurisprudence and Diplomacy, by a special vote of the trustees in each case, but no general rule has been made.

[218] The Senate committee included Senators Allison, Cullom, Gorman, Quay and Cockrell. When Mrs. Mussey appeared before them to ask for a new appropriation, after the trial had proved a success, she stated that she was about to ask something for that which is the most precious to every woman's heart—a little child. The Senators at once declared that a little child was also the dearest thing on earth to a man's heart, and unanimously recommended the appropriation.

[Pg 577]

## CHAPTER XXXIV.

### FLORIDA.[219]

The brief history of work in Florida for the enfranchisement of women gathers about the name of Mrs. Ella C. Chamberlain. She returned to her home in Tampa from attendance on the Woman's Inter-State Conference at Des Moines in the autumn of 1892, and secured space for a suffrage department in the principal paper of that city. In January, 1893, she presented the question so forcibly at a social gathering, as a woman taxpayer, that a gentleman suggested forming a society and twenty members were secured, eight of them men. Mrs. Chamberlain was made president; O. G. Sexton, secretary; Miss Stowell, treasurer.

In 1894 the president addressed the Carpenters' Union twice, and considerable literature was distributed. In December the suffragists of Tampa, aided by those of Melrose, held a bazar which netted $125.

In January, 1895, a State convention was held in Tampa and the following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Chamberlain; vice-presidents, Mesdames E. W. King, Emma Tebbitts, Jessie M. Bartlett; secretary, Miss Nellie Glenn; treasurer, J. L. Cae. During the year Mrs. Chamberlain gave addresses at the De Funiak Springs Assembly, the Adventists' Campmeeting and in various towns. The society paid dues to the National Association until 1897, when the president removed from the State, no one came forward to take the leadership and the movement has since languished.

Legislative Action and Laws: Until 1901 the women never had a bill before the Legislature, although the W. C. T. U. aided greatly in securing the State Reform School. Its influence also was strongly used against a Dispensary Bill.[Pg 578]

Some men and many women had long felt that the law placing the "age of consent" for girls at 10 years was a disgrace to the State. In 1887 W. B. Lamar (now Attorney-General) presented a bill raising it to 17 years, but this was defeated.

Florida makes a distinction between "age of consent" and "age of protection." Up to 10 years the crime is rape and the penalty is death or imprisonment for life. The law "protects" girls until 16 to the extent of a penalty of imprisonment not more than one year or a fine not exceeding $500, with no minimum fixed. Several attempts were made by the W. C. T. U. to have both ages changed to 18 years, but bills for this purpose always were laid on the table.

In 1901 this organization, under the leadership of Mrs. C. S. Burnett-Haney, its superintendent of purity, began a thorough and systematic canvass of the State to secure such a petition for raising the age as it would be impossible for the Legislature to ignore. For this 15,000 signatures of representative men and women were obtained, besides the official indorsement of U. S. Senators Stephen R. Mallory and James P. Taliaferro, Congressmen S. M. Sparkman and Robert W. Davis, four Judges of the Circuit Court, with many other Judges, attorneys and city officers; also those of Presidents W. F. Yocum of the State Agricultural College, G. M. Ward of Rollins College, John F. Forbes of Stetson University, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and over 100 other leading educators. The petition received also the unanimous indorsement of the State Press Association and the State Medical Association, and the signatures of 100 physicians, including every member of the State Medical Board.

In the hope of at least a measure of success two bills were introduced, one raising the "age of consent" from 10 to 14 years, and, as it had been found practically impossible to secure a conviction under the existing penalty, to reduce this to a term of imprisonment. This bill was presented and championed in the House by R. H. Burr, the age was raised to 16 years and the bill passed unanimously, May 17. In the Senate it was indefinitely postponed.

The second bill asked that the "age of protection" be raised from 16 to 18 years, and that the penalty be increased to imprisonment[Pg 579] from one to twenty years or a fine of from $500 to $2,000. This bill also was advocated by Mr. Burr and passed the House May 17, but with no minimum penalty. The vote stood 26 ayes, 20 noes.

In the Senate every possible means was adopted to prevent this bill from reaching a vote, and it was only by the determined efforts of E. N. Dimick, and all the influence which the W. C. T. U. could bring to bear, that it finally was passed the last day of the session, May 31, with but two dissenting votes, although a number of senators absented themselves. It was signed the same day by Gov. William S. Jennings.

Thus as the result of all this great canvass, the expenditure of much time and money and the assistance of the best elements in the community, a child of 10 years may still consent to her own ruin in Florida, and the age at which the law will give any protection whatever was raised only two years. The penalty which may be inflicted was increased, but by the refusal to fix a minimum of fine or imprisonment there is but a slight improvement over the original status.

If over 16 each of the parties may be punished by imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding $30.

All property of the wife, real or personal, owned by her before marriage or lawfully acquired afterward, by gift, bequest or purchase, is her separate estate and is not liable for the debts of the husband without her written consent in legal form. It remains, however, under his care and management, but he can not charge for these, nor can she compel him to account for its rents, proceeds or profits.

The wife can not transfer her real or personal property without the husband's joinder. If he has been insane one year she can convey or transfer without his signature. Any married woman who may wish to take charge of her estate, and become a free dealer in every respect, must apply to the court for a license. Since 1891 a married woman's earnings acquired by any employment aside from the household are her separate property.

Dower but not curtesy prevails. The widow has the life use of one-third of the real estate and, if there are no children or but one child, she has one-half the personal estate absolutely; if more than[Pg 580] one, she has one-third. If there are no children and no will she takes the whole estate, real and personal. If the wife die without a will, and the husband but no descendants survive her, the whole of her estate goes to him; but if there are children or their descendants, the estate, both real and personal, descends in distribution to them. The homestead, to the extent of 160 acres of land in the country or a half-acre in town, is exempt from seizure for debt.

A married woman may dispose of her property, both real and personal, by last will and testament in the same manner as if she were unmarried.

The father has legal control of the persons, education and property of the children, and he alone may appoint a guardian by will, during any part of infancy.

The husband is required by law to support his family and, on his failure to do so, the court may make such orders as are necessary. If living separate from him, the wife may sue for alimony without divorce if legal cause exist.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: Women are not eligible to any office, elective or appointive, except that they may serve as notaries public.

Occupations: Women have been admitted to the practice of law in a few judicial circuits, but none have been admitted into the medical profession. No other occupation is legally forbidden.

Education: All of the institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes.

In the public schools there are 1,121 men and 1,671 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $35; of the women, $32.40.

### FOOTNOTES:

[219] The History is indebted to Mrs. C. S. Burnett-Haney of Stuart, superintendent of purity for the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, for much of the information in this chapter.

[Pg 581]

## CHAPTER XXXV.

### GEORGIA.[220]

The first woman suffrage association of Georgia was organized in July, 1890, by Miss H. Augusta Howard and her sister, Miss Claudia Hope Howard (Maxwell). For some time the membership was composed only of these two, their mother, Mrs. Anne Jane Lindsay Howard, and other relatives, all residents of Columbus. Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Allen of Douglasville were the first outside the Howard family to encourage and support the infant organization. In 1892 Mrs. Kate Mallette Hardwick and Mrs. Mary L. McLendon became members, and served for several years as auditor and vice-president.

The Atlanta association was organized in the Marietta Street M. E. Church, March 21, 1894, by Mrs. McLendon and Mrs. Margaret Chandler; perfected in the Unitarian Church on March 28, and begun with a membership of forty men and women.

In the latter part of 1895, Miss Howard and Mrs. Maxwell, who had served continuously as president, secretary and treasurer of the State association, resigned their offices; and Mrs. Frances Cater Swift was elected president; Mrs. U. O. Robertson, secretary; Miss Adelaide Wilson, treasurer.

In 1896 Mrs. McLendon was made president; Mrs. S. L. Ober Allen and Mrs. Ala Holmes Cheney, vice-presidents; Dr. L. D. Morse, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Gertrude C. Thomas, recording secretary; Miss Sarah A. Gresham, treasurer.

The annual convention of the National Association, which was held in the opera house in Atlanta the first week of February, 1895, gave a new impetus to the movement in Georgia.[221] Men and women throughout the State felt its widespreading influence.[Pg 582] Many ancient Southern prejudices received a death-blow when those who harbored them saw what manner of women had espoused this hitherto unpopular cause.[222]

All the Atlanta papers extended a cordial greeting to the convention and devoted columns of space to biographical sketches, reports of meetings, etc., but the Sunny South, edited by Col. Henry Clay Fairman, was the only one which editorially indorsed the suffrage movement. The business manager of the Atlanta Constitution, William A. Hemphill, and his wife, tendered a large reception to the members of the convention.

F. H. Richardson, editor of the Atlanta Journal, the largest evening paper in the State, was converted to a belief in woman suffrage at this time, and is now an honorary member of the organization. As a part of his work, he has made an earnest and long-continued effort to have women placed on the school board.[223]

The Woman's Board of the Cotton States and International Exposition, soon to be held in Atlanta, were so impressed by the personnel of this convention that an official invitation was extended for them to hold a Suffrage Day on Oct. 17, 1895, in the Woman's Congress Assembly Hall. This was accepted by Miss Anthony on behalf of the National Association, and under the guiding hand of Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, its corresponding secretary, Suffrage Day was one of the very best of the many days celebrated during the Woman's Congress. The State association also fitted up a booth in the Liberal Arts Building and[Pg 583] large quantities of literature were distributed by Mrs. H. M. Tripp, who kindly took charge.

The first State convention was held in Atlanta, Nov. 28, 29, 1899. The following resolution, offered in the Legislature by Representative Martin V. Calvin, was adopted: "The use of the Hall of the House of Representatives is hereby granted to Mrs. Virginia D. Young of South Carolina, Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama, and Mrs. Isabella Webb Parks of Georgia, on the 28th inst., for the purpose of delivering lectures on the scope of the elective franchise."[224]

The first evening session was held in the State capitol. Mrs. McLendon, the president, called the meeting to order. The address of welcome for Georgia was made by Mrs. Thomas; for Atlanta, by its president, Mrs. Swift; Miss Gresham responded to both. Mrs. Young, Miss Griffin, Mrs. Maxwell and Mrs. Parks delivered addresses to a large and interested audience.[225]

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1888 the Hon. Augustus Dupont applied to the Legislature for a city charter for the town of Dupont, and sought to secure suffrage to all persons, male or female, owning property in the corporation, but failed.

In 1895 the Atlanta association presented two bills to the Legislature—one to raise the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to 18 years; the other, drawn by Charles A. Reid, a member of the society and an able lawyer, to take the necessary measures for granting equal legal and political rights to women. Neither was reported from the committees.

In 1897 Representative Martin V. Calvin introduced a bill to make a woman eligible to serve on the staff of physicians at the State insane asylum, but it failed to pass.[Pg 584]

In 1898 an effort was made to secure a bill providing police matrons in every city of 10,000 or more inhabitants, and one to exempt the property of women from taxation until they should be permitted to vote. Both failed.

Miss Frances A. Griffin appeared for the Georgia W. S. A. at the convention of the State Federation of Labor, held in Augusta in April, 1900, and in response to her address it called on its members to demand a change in the United States Constitution which should secure the legal and political equality of women. A strong suffrage plank was added to the platform of the federation, and Miss Griffin was invited by it to address the Legislature in the interest of the Child Labor Bill, which it had championed so unsuccessfully for a number of years.

One result of the State suffrage convention held in Atlanta in 1899, was that the following petitions were ordered to be circulated and returned for presentation to the legislative committees in the fall of 1900:

> 1. That the University of Georgia be opened to women.

> 2. That women be members of the boards of education.

> 3. That women physicians be placed on the staff of the State insane asylum.

> 4. That women be made eligible to the office of president of the State Normal and Industrial College for Girls.

> 5. That the "age of protection" for girls be raised from 10 to 18 years.

> 6. That girls of eighteen be permitted to enter the textile department of the State Technological School.

Four bills were considered by the Legislature of 1900 in which the women of the State were deeply interested. All failed, and many of them now see that Legislatures, like juries, should be composed of an equal number of men and women to secure exact justice for both.

The Child Labor Bills, introduced by Representative Seaborn Wright and C. C. Houston, to prevent the employment in factories of children under ten and under twelve years of age were defeated by a vote of more than three to one.

The Textile Bill was read twice in the House but failed to secure a third reading. Lyman Hall, president of the school, was in favor of the bill.[Pg 585]

The Age of Protection Bill, introduced by Representative C. S. Reid, was very quietly handled. Only one paper (the Atlanta Daily News) informed the public that it would be made the special order for November 15. It was defeated by 71 ayes, 77 noes. At the request of women Mr. Reid moved that it be reconsidered November 16, which resulted in its being voted down by a larger majority than the day before. Mr. Reid thought it well that his bill was defeated, since it only asked that the "age of protection" be raised from 10 to 12 years.

The suffragists asked that it be raised from 10 to 18, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union from 10 to 21. Many petitions had been sent to previous Legislatures by both these organizations, but this was the first time a bill had been presented and carried to a vote.

The bill to admit women to the State University was not considered by the Legislature of 1900.[226]

The State W. C. T. U. has been laboring to secure the passage of a law for scientific temperance instruction in the public schools since 1890, when Mrs. Mary H. Hunt of Massachusetts, who was the first woman to speak in the capitol building, addressed the Legislature. The bill passed both Houses in 1894, but was vetoed by Gov. William J. Northen because no provision had been made to require teachers to stand an examination on the subject.[227]

Since 1857, when the law which gave a husband the right to whip his wife was amended, there have been some favorable changes. In 1866 a law was enacted allowing a married woman to own property, but not including any wages she might earn.

In 1891, when a married woman was suing for personal injury in a railroad accident, Chief Justice Logan E. Bleckley decided that the amount of a wife's recovery for physical damages "is not to be measured by pecuniary earnings, for such earnings[Pg 586] as a general rule belong to the husband and the right of action for this loss is in him." In 1892 Judge Thomas J. Simmons rendered practically the same decision, and in 1893 ruled again: "Inasmuch as the earnings of the wife belong to her husband, her individual and personal damages can be measured only by the consciences of an impartial jury."

In November, 1895, when William H. Flemming (now a member of Congress) was Speaker of the House of Representatives, he offered a bill which, as he said, "was to complete the good work begun with the Married Woman's Property Act of 1866, by making a wife's labor as well as her acquired property her own." It passed the House by 98 ayes, 29 noes, but was killed in the Senate.

As the law now stands a married woman in Georgia can control her earnings only if a sole trader with her husband's consent by notice published in the papers for one month, or if living separate from him.

Dower obtains but not curtesy. If a husband die intestate, leaving a wife and issue, the wife may elect to take dower—a life interest in one-third of the real estate—or she may take a child's share of the whole estate absolutely, unless the shares exceed five in number, when she may have one-fifth.

The father is legally entitled to the custody and control of the children, and at his death may appoint a guardian to the exclusion of the mother. The husband must furnish necessities for the family suitable to their station in life.

The "age of protection" for girls still remains 10 years, with a penalty of death, or if recommended to mercy by the jury, imprisonment in the penitentiary at hard labor not less than one nor more than twenty years.

Suffrage: Women have no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: In December, 1884, Representative Martin V. Calvin introduced and carried through the Legislature, under most unfavorable pressure, a bill to render women eligible to employment in the State House. Besides the large number engaged in manual labor, a woman is now postmaster of the House of Representatives, and many others are employed as stenographers,[Pg 587] typewriters and engrossing clerks, the Governor himself having a woman stenographer.

In 1896 Representative J. E. Mosley succeeded in having an ancient law amended, by which women were made eligible to the position of State librarian; but none has been appointed, although one is now assistant.

In the opinion of State School Commissioner G. R. Glenn, women are eligible to sit on School Boards, but none ever has done so. Within the past two years the Board of Education in Atlanta has appointed a Board of Women Visitors to the public schools, but they can exercise no authority. Lately they have been permitted to be present at the meetings of the board as listeners but they can have no voice.

In July, 1895, a committee, Mrs. F. S. Whiteside, chairman, appeared before the city council of Atlanta with a petition asking for a police matron, signed by more than 1,000 well-known citizens. On the same day a committee of the W. C. T. U., Mrs. McLendon, chairman, presented a similar petition from temperance people.[228] The matter was referred to the police committee, who "laid it on the table" and it never was heard from afterward.

In 1897 a woman was employed by the Ladies' Society of the First M. E. Church South to stay at police barracks and serve as matron. In May, 1898, she was engaged by the city at a salary of $20 per month, but was dismissed without warning in June of the same year. The different organizations of women protested so vigorously that the position of police matron was created by the city council with a salary of $40 per month, but no matron has been appointed up to date.[229]

Women can not serve as notaries public.

Occupations: Women may practice medicine, but are forbidden by statute to practice law.

Education: The Legislature of 1889 established the State Normal and Industrial College for Girls (white) at Athens, largely through the efforts of women. The Hon. W. Y. Atkinson,[Pg 588] afterward Governor, championed the bill. No woman is eligible to serve as president of this college. A board of Women Visitors was appointed by Governor Atkinson.

Considerable effort has been made by the Georgia Federation of Woman's Clubs to have the doors of the State University opened to women. At present they are permitted to enter certain departments of the branch colleges in different parts of the State, but not to enter the University itself upon any terms, being thus deprived of the highest educational facilities.

The State Normal School and the North Georgia Agricultural College (both white), the Georgia State Industrial College (colored) and the Atlanta University (white and colored) are co-educational.

In the public schools there are 4,168 men and 4,811 women teachers. It is impossible to obtain the average monthly salaries, but those of women are estimated to be two-thirds of those paid to men.

### FOOTNOTES:

[220] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Mrs. Mary L. McLendon, of Atlanta, honorary president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[221] See Chap. XV.

[222] The State association never should cease to be grateful to "the Howard girls," (Augusta, Claudia and Mrs. Miriam Howard Du Bose), as the national officers called them, who brought this grand object lesson to Georgia to give Southern women the advantages which they themselves had enjoyed the previous year in Washington, D. C. They refused all proffered aid and themselves paid the expenses, which amounted to $600, declaring that it was only right for them to do so, since they had consulted no one when they gave the invitation at Washington but had taken the full responsibility.

[223] William C. Sibley, Will N. Harben, G. Gunby Jordan, Walter H. Johnson, J. Colton Lynes, Charles Hubner, Lucian Knight, editor of the Constitution, and Walter B. Hill, chancellor of the State University, all have declared in favor of woman suffrage. Mrs. Julia I. Patten, editor of the Saturday Review, is a member of the Atlanta association and her paper is its official organ.

Among others who have stood by a cause which it requires courage to advocate in this State are J. H. and Mrs. Addie D. Hale, W. T. Cheney, S. M. White and William Forsyth; Mesdames Harriet Winchell, A. H. Ames, Mary Brent Reid, Harry Dewar, Nettie C. Hall, Francis Bellamy, A. G. Helmer, Sara Strahan, M. T. Wynne, Sarah McDonald Sheridan, Patrick H. Moore, E. A. Latimer, E. A. Corrigan, Charles Behre and Dr. Schuman; Misses Mary Lamar Jackson, editor of the woman's department in the Atlanta Journal, E. Williams, Willette Allen and Sarah Freeman Clarke, sister of James Freeman Clarke, of Boston.

[224] This certainly proved that woman suffrage had gained at least in respectful consideration among politicians since February, 1895. At that time Gov. W. Y. Atkinson refused the use of the same hall for the great National Association to hold a mass meeting on the last day of its visit to Atlanta. He declared it would be unconstitutional to allow women to use it, although white and negro men had been permitted to do so for many and varied purposes. The Hon. Charles A. Collier, a county commissioner, granted the basement of the courthouse for this meeting, which was a marked success, though held underground. Speeches were made by Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and others.

[225] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Gertrude C. Thomas; vice-presidents, Mrs. S. L. Ober Allen, Miss Sarah A. Gresham; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice Daniel; recording secretary, Mrs. Claudia Howard Maxwell; treasurer, Mrs. E. O. Archer; auditor, D. M. Allen. Mrs. McLendon, who had been in office since 1892, refused to serve longer and was made honorary president.

[226] A bill presented by Thomas J. Chappelle in 1901 to make the University co-educational was defeated in the Senate and not considered in the House. Virginia and Louisiana are the only other States which exclude women, although North Carolina admits them only to its post-graduate department.

[227] A bill providing for the teaching of the effects of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics upon the system, requiring all teachers to stand an examination on this subject, and affixing a penalty for the failure of any board of education to enforce the law, passed the Legislature of 1901—Senate, 23 ayes, 7 nays; House, 106 ayes, 28 nays. It was signed by Gov. Allan C. Candler, December 17.

This law is now in effect in every State, Georgia being the last to adopt it.

[228] The Atlanta South Side W. C. T. U. is the only one in the State to adopt the franchise department. Mrs. Isabella Webb Parks, one of the editors of the Union Signal and also a member of the city suffrage association, is its superintendent of franchise.

[229] In August, 1901, a police matron was at last appointed at a salary of $30 per month. In December one of the police commissioners stated that she was invaluable and he did not see how they ever had managed to get on without a matron.

[Pg 589]

## CHAPTER XXXVI.

### IDAHO.[230]

Idaho was admitted into the Union as a State in 1890. Previous to this time there had been practically no work done for woman suffrage in the Territory except that of Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon. Between 1876 and 1895 she gave 140 public lectures, at the same time securing subscribers to her paper, the New Northwest, devoted to the interests of women, and distributing literature. She traveled 12,000 miles by river, rail, stage and buckboard and canvassed many a mile on foot.

In 1887 Mrs. Duniway addressed the Territorial Legislature in behalf of a bill to enfranchise women. In 1889 she appealed to the constitutional convention at Boise to adopt a woman suffrage clause. Judge William H. Claggett, the president, and a majority of the members favored it, but yielded to the fears of the minority that it would endanger the acceptance of the constitution by the voters.

Judge Milton Kelly, founder and for many years editor of the Boise Daily Statesman, was one of the early advocates of the rights of women, as also was his wife, who was, indeed, the pioneer suffragist of Idaho. Mrs. Rebecca Mitchell, president of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, was another early laborer. At her request Louis E. Workman introduced a bill into the House of the Legislature of 1893, asking for a constitutional amendment conferring suffrage on women, and it was defeated by only two votes.

In a little country schoolhouse, May 16, 1893, at Hagerman, Lincoln County, the first suffrage society was formed. The teacher, Mrs. Elizabeth Ingram, was president and prime mover, and its members were scattered over a territory of ten miles.[Pg 590]

Up to this time, there had not been any organized effort in the State to secure the ballot for women, although there was a pronounced sentiment in its favor. The real campaign began at the time of the assembling of the Republican State Convention in 1894. At a conference of a few friends of the measure a resolution was prepared for presentation, pledging the party to submit the question of equal suffrage to a vote. The plank was introduced and championed by the Hon. W. E. Borah. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster of Washington, D. C., addressed the convention, and the Hon. Edgar Wilson urged the adoption of the resolution, which was done with little or no opposition.

The Populist State Convention passed a similar resolution, but it was not adopted by the Democratic.

As a result of the election the Republicans were placed in overwhelming control of the Legislature, and the desired joint resolution submitting the question to a vote was passed unanimously in the Senate on January 11, and by 33 yeas, 2 nays in the House on Jan. 17, 1895.

The campaign for woman suffrage was spirited and effective. In the early part of the year Mrs. Duniway came to Boise and held a meeting. A temporary organization was formed at that time, but for sufficient reasons nothing was done to start the work until some months later.

In the summer the National Association sent Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois to assist in organizing the State. She lectured through June and July and formed many clubs, often making her own appointments and overcoming the most discouraging obstacles.

A State convention was held in Boise Nov. 20, 1895, at which officers were elected as follows: President, Mrs. J. H. Richards; vice-president, Mrs. W. W. Woods; secretary, Mrs. Eunice Pond Athey; treasurer, Mrs. Leah Burnside; advisory board, Mrs. Kate E. N. Feltham, Mrs. M. J. Whitman, Miss Annette Bowman. A telegram was received from Miss Susan B. Anthony, saying: "Educate the rank and file of voters through political party newspapers and meetings."

To the advisory board were added William Balderston,[231] D. L.[Pg 591] Badley and James A. McGee. The last having been made chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee was able to be of much assistance to the suffragists.

Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas came into the State in May, 1896, in time to attend a meeting of the advisory board at Nampa and to render invaluable help. By order of the board a convention was called in Boise, July 1-3, at which Mrs. Johns was present. The officers elected were: President, Mrs. Whitman; vice-presidents, Mrs. Feltham, Mrs. Helen Young, Idaho's only woman attorney, Mrs. D. L. Badley; secretary, Mrs. Athey; treasurer, Mrs. I. Herron; press committee, Mrs. Kate Green, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Minnie Priest Dunton. Thus organized, the association conducted the final campaign.

The president authorized the secretary to send a circular letter to all clubs urging them to commence in the precinct primaries the work of securing suffrage planks in the platforms of the several political parties. Wherever possible delegates were elected pledged to support the amendment.

Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organizing committee, came to Boise August 14. On the 18th and 25th she lectured to crowded houses there and captured her audiences. She addressed the committees on resolutions of the different party State conventions, and, with the aid of Mrs. Johns, Major and Mrs. W. W. Woods and other effective workers, secured a plank favoring the amendment in each of the four platforms—Republican, Democratic, Populist and Silver Republican. Her coming was opportune and her work most valuable. The indorsement by the Democratic convention was a great achievement, and the fact that the planks had been inserted in all the political platforms was a strong point later on in the case before the Supreme Court.[232][Pg 592]

After the conventions Mrs. Johns returned home, and Mrs. Chapman Catt went to aid the California campaign, speaking several times in Idaho en route.

Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado came in September. For six weeks she traveled over sandhills, mountains, valleys and sage plains, visiting points not reached by other workers. She organized fourteen new clubs and made many converts. Mrs. Helen D. Harford of Oregon lectured at several places on her way to the St. Louis W. C. T. U. convention. Many campaign speakers of all political parties called the attention of the voters to the amendment, and some gave a large portion of their time to the cause. This proved of great benefit, reaching voters who would not attend a suffrage meeting.

Headquarters were opened at Boise August 1. As three of the counties had no organizations whatever, it was found necessary to reach the precincts in these, as well as in some others, by correspondence; but by November 3 there were few without at least one active worker. Mrs. Whitman came to Boise October 1, and labored zealously until the election. Previous to her coming Miss Frances Wood had ably assisted the secretary at headquarters.

The press was carefully looked after during the last three months of the campaign, and out of sixty-five papers only three were openly opposed. Seven thousand copies of the resolutions passed at the suffrage convention in July were sent out; also literature presented by the Utah association, 100 copies of the Woman's Tribune and 3,000 leaflets from Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, and 9,000 tracts purchased of the National Association.[233]

A strong factor in the campaign was the large colony in the Southern part of the State who were residents of Utah when[Pg 593] women voted there and who believed in their enfranchisement. Mrs. Emily S. Richards of Utah did effective work among them.

The amendment was voted upon at the general election of November, 1896. The association had had 50,000 dodgers printed, "Vote for the woman suffrage amendment." These were sent to every precinct in the State and given to voters on election day as a reminder. On that day the local clubs did heroic work. It would be impossible to describe in detail the final effort made by the women. Mrs. R. H. Leonard, Sr., of Silver City, and her co-workers stood all day, ankle-deep in snow, distributing the slips and urging the voters to cast their ballots in favor of the amendment. At many points refreshments were served as near the polls as permissible under the law.

When the results of the election were officially announced it was found that there were 12,126 votes in favor of the amendment and 6,282 against it—a majority of 5,844.

A question arose, however, whether this was such a majority as is contemplated by the constitution, the number of electors voting on the amendment not being as great as the largest number voting on the candidates. The constitution provides that "if a majority of the electors shall ratify the same, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of this constitution." It was held by the opponents that it would require a majority of all the electors to ratify it, and the matter was taken at once to the Supreme Court. Attorneys J. H. Hawley, W. E. Borah and M. W. Tate gave their services gratuitously to prosecute the case. Judge J. H. Richards also rendered valuable assistance.

After a few weeks of anxious waiting, this tribunal, consisting of Judges Isaac N. Sullivan, Joseph W. Huston and John T. Morgan, rendered a unanimous decision that a majority of those voting on the question was sufficient to carry it. And thus the women of Idaho were enfranchised!

The total expenses of this campaign were less than $2,500.

The city election of Boise, in July, 1897, was the first after the adoption of equal suffrage, and the woman vote was a most important factor. The issue was that of public improvements. On this the majority of women took sides in favor of progress, although the personnel of the tickets was such that it was thought[Pg 594] they would generally vote the other way; and to them belongs the credit of the victory.

The first State election under equal suffrage was in 1898, and there was very general participation by women. In all the counties their clubs did effective work and exercised a good influence. The election was noticeable for its order and the absence of anything like the scenes at the polls so common in former times. About 40 per cent. of the vote was cast by women. One of them, Mrs. B. T. Jeffers, rode sixty miles on horseback to her old home in order to vote.

Three women were elected members of the Legislature, Mrs. Clara Campbell, Republican; Mrs. Hattie Noble, Democrat; Mrs. Mary Allen Wright, Populist. Mrs. Wright was chairman of the House Committee of the Whole during one entire afternoon, and ruled with a firm but impartial hand.

Four women were elected county treasurers, and these have given entire satisfaction. One of them has been renominated by her party. Miss Permeal French was elected State superintendent of public instruction and re-elected in 1900.[234] Fifteen women were chosen county superintendents.

In nearly all the counties women are found holding responsible appointments. Three have been made deputy sheriffs. Since equal suffrage was adopted women have been placed on the Board of Regents of the State University for the first time.

Gov. Frank Steunenberg said in 1900:

> In a general sense there can be no doubt that the participation of women in our public affairs has had a most elevating influence. All parties see the necessity of nominating the best individuals. The natural aim of women is toward the highest good of the community, and the best social conditions. Instead of seeking extremes of reform, as had been predicted, they are interested in stable and conservative administration, for the benefit of the homes and the children, and they avoid radical and excessive reforms. In short, the objections which in theory have been urged against woman's participation in public affairs have been overcome by the actual application of the system in Idaho.

> The suggestion may be made that this activity of women in public[Pg 595] affairs has operated to draw them away from their homes and from the usual domestic avocations, a suggestion which our experience amply disproves. In Idaho women are to-day the same loving wives, kind mothers and capable home-managers that they always have been. Nor has there been the least belittling of the sex in the eyes of the men, nor any falling off in that tenderness and respect which men universally accord to women. There is not the slightest interruption of family ties. Whether husband and wife vote together or oppositely excites no interest and no animosity, although naturally families are apt to have the same party affiliations. The system has not operated to take women from their homes, nor has it tended to make them in any way masculine.[235]

In the presidential election of 1900 women showed the liveliest interest. The universal testimony was that never in the history of the State had there been such order about the polling-places. Four-fifths of the ballots were cast by 1 o'clock. The women did as effective work as the men in getting out the voters.

The total population of Idaho is 161,762, and is composed, in round numbers, of 58 per cent. of males and 42 per cent. of females. The total vote of the men was 55,096; of the women, 19,660. In the counties representing the agricultural, manufacturing and general business of the State the women's vote averaged 41 per cent. of the total ballot. In the counties devoted exclusively to mining, where there are very few women, they cast only 24 per cent. This brought the average of the women's vote in the entire State down to 35½ per cent. of the total.

In Boise 1,982 men and 1,561 women registered; total, 3,543. The vote cast was 3,281. Allowing for the usual failures on the part of the men, these figures show that over 40 per cent. of the vote of this city must have been cast by women.[236]

Legislative Action and Laws: The placing of the ballot in the hands of women has had the effect of bringing about two changes of the highest importance. The session of the Legislature[Pg 596] held immediately after the adoption of the suffrage amendment passed an act prohibiting gambling. Prior to that time it had been licensed in the State, and its establishments were openly conducted in practically all communities. Against this evil the sentiment of the women was solidly arrayed, and it could not be ignored. Before they voted, a bill altering the law would have been ignominiously pigeon-holed, but the ballot in their hands wrought a change under which a measure abolishing gambling was enacted. This was found defective, and gambling continued until the next legislative session. The gambling interests organized a lobby to prevent the enactment of a valid law against their business, but they failed, the law was passed, and gambling has since been suppressed in nearly all communities. The sentiment which obtained the law secures its enforcement—men do not dare run counter to the wishes of women, when the latter have in their hands the power to make or unmake politicians.

The present session of the Legislature (1900) passed a bill exempting women from jury service. Gov. Frank W. Hunt returned it with his veto, in which he said that this was in response to the protests of the women themselves, who objected to being deprived of this right. There was some talk in the Legislature of passing it over his veto, but this was finally abandoned. The women took the ground that while the ostensible object was to relieve them of an onerous duty, the real one was to protect the gamblers and other law-breakers to whom women jurors show no favor.

It is to be regretted that Governor Hunt could not have been influenced by the protests of women on another point. The law of Idaho provides that while a wife may hold property in her own name, the husband shall have control of it. The present Legislature passed an act giving married women control of their separate property. This was vetoed by the Governor, who said:

> Our statutes as they now exist provide complete adjustment of the property relations between man and wife, placing them upon equal terms, excepting that the husband has the management and control of his wife's property during marriage, unless it should be taken from him on complaint of the wife for causes set forth in Sec. 2,499.

As the law stands the wife can secure control over her own[Pg 597] property only by going into court, showing that her husband is mismanaging it, and obtaining a decree taking it away from him.

The law regarding the inheritance of the separate estates is the same for husband and wife, but not so of the community. Upon the death of the wife the entire community property belongs to the husband without administration. Upon the death of the husband one-half the community property belongs to the wife; the other half is subject to his testamentary disposition, or in the absence of that goes to his descendants in equal shares. If he leave neither will nor descendants, it goes to the wife.

The earnings of the wife belong to the husband unless she is living separate from him.

No provision is made compelling the husband to support the wife, but if he is infirm she must support him.

If the wife desire to engage in business she must apply to the court for permission, showing the necessity for it; and every time she wishes to remove to another place she must repeat this process.

The father is the legal guardian of the children. At his death the mother, if suitable, is guardian while she remains unmarried.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in 1893, and from 14 to 18 in 1895. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than five years, and this may be extended for life.

Suffrage: Women have complete suffrage.

Office Holding: Women are eligible to all offices. (See previous pages.)

Occupations: Naturally none are forbidden to women.

Education: The State University and all other educational institutions are open to both sexes.

In the public schools there are 344 men and 558 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $56.11; of the women, $44.83.

### FOOTNOTES:

[230] The History is indebted for this chapter to William Balderston, editor of the Boise Daily Statesman, and Mrs. Eunice Pond Athey, secretary of the State Suffrage Association during the amendment campaign of 1896, when women became enfranchised.

[231] It was through the influence of Mr. Balderston more than that of any other one man that the suffrage amendment was passed by the Legislature. His power politically was felt during all the campaign. It was only his personal influence which secured for the measure the help of the Daily Statesman of Boise, which it was so necessary to have. Through his persuasion the co-operation of the National Woman Suffrage Association was invited. He was our principal adviser throughout, and with money, voice and pen aided the cause in every possible way. [Eunice Pond Athey.

[232] Republican: We favor the amendments to the constitution of this State proposed by the late Republican Legislature, including equal suffrage for men and women, and recommend their adoption.

Silver Republican: We favor the adoption of the proposed amendment to the constitution of the State providing for the extension of the right of suffrage to women.

People's Party: Believing in equal rights to all and special privileges to none, we favor the adoption of the pending woman's suffrage amendment to the constitution.

Democratic: We recommend to the favorable consideration of the voters of the State the proposed constitutional amendment granting equal suffrage, believing that the great question should receive the earnest attention of every person as an important factor in the future welfare of the State.

[233] Among those who aided this movement were Judge J. H. Richards, the Hon. Fremont Wood, Ex-Secretary of State George J. Lewis, Judge C. O. Stockslager, J. H. Hawley, U. S. Marshal Joseph Pinkham, Judge J. H. Beatty, the Hon. J. A. McGee, the Hon. Joseph Perrault, the Hon. Edgar Wilson, and their wives; also the wives of the Justices of the Supreme Court; Mesdames Martha B. Keller, M. A. Wright and Mina J. Mathew, and Miss Annette Bowman of the faculty of the State University.

[234] Gov. Frank Steunenberg thus testified: "It is conceded by all that Miss French is the best officer in that capacity the State ever has had. The place she occupies is one of unusual importance with us.... Of the three women in the Legislature it may also be said that they made most acceptable public officers, serving with ability and success."

[235] See Appendix—Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.

[236] Prof. L. F. Henderson of the State University says that equal suffrage, even in the few years it has been in operation in Idaho, has proved itself a thing so simple, so natural, so entirely free from any objectionable features, that it is now generally accepted and looked upon as a matter of course. It has already converted the majority of the men who were opposed and, which is still more remarkable, has converted also the majority of the women.

Mrs. Henderson says the intelligent women take more interest in suffrage than the ignorant ones; that women have suffered no loss of consideration or social influence, but are treated, if anything, with more respect. The possession of the ballot has made them much more intelligent about public questions, as it has stimulated the study of these.

[Pg 598]

## CHAPTER XXXVII.

### ILLINOIS.[237]

The Illinois Equal Suffrage Association has had only four presidents in the past sixteen years. Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert retired from this office at the annual meeting of Sept. 25, 1884, and was succeeded by Mrs. Mary E. Holmes, who served until the autumn of 1889, when Mrs. Harbert again filled the presidency for one year. At the convention of 1890 Mrs. Holmes was re-elected, and held office until her resignation in 1897. In May of this year, Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn was elected. In 1899 Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch was made president, and in 1900 Mrs. Harbert resumed the position for one year. The other officers elected were: Vice-president, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Mary Munn; recording secretary, Miss S. Grace Nicholas; treasurer, the Rev. Kate Hughes; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Elmina E. Springer.

As the work is divided into districts and counties, and as there are twenty-two districts and 102 counties partially organized, it will not be possible to name in this chapter the hundreds of quiet but very efficient workers, men and women, or to tell of their unselfish devotion, shown often in the face of fierce opposition.

The association has held a State convention each year, except 1893, the year of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, when it was decided instead to attend the World's Congress of Representative Women, which met in May.[238] At many of these meetings national officers were present, among them Susan B. Anthony[Pg 599] and Lucy Stone, and the halls were seldom large enough to accommodate the crowds in attendance. There have been also district and county conventions every year, while Fourth of July celebrations, county fairs and Chautauqua assemblies have been utilized to disseminate suffrage sentiment.

In 1888 Senator Miles B. Castle, Judge C. B. Waite, Mrs. Dunn and Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, the last-named from Indiana, held suffrage conferences in various cities. Later in this and the following year, similar meetings were held in a number of other places by the Illinois workers, with the assistance of Mrs. Gougar and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw.

In 1891 occurred a series of conventions which extended over six weeks and was conducted by Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana and Mrs. McCulloch. In November Mrs. Holmes made a two-weeks' lecturing trip.

In 1892 and '93 Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe canvassed the State, speaking in nearly fifty towns and cities, and raising enough money to defray all expenses and put a handsome amount in the treasury for legislative work.

In March, 1893, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, made a lecture tour of the central and southern part of Illinois.

In 1897 the National Association held a series of meetings in Illinois with Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, Mrs. Jennie Hutchins, Mrs. Leonora Beck, as managers, and Mrs. Dunn and the Rev. Ida C. Hultin as speakers. During the summer Mrs. Dunn, with Mrs. Martha A. B. Conine of Colorado lectured in numerous cities; and in November the national officers held a conference in Chicago, in which Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw, president and vice-president of the National Association, Mrs. Chapman Catt and also many local workers participated.

In 1898 Miss Lena Morrow made speeches for the State association and spent a month lecturing before labor organizations. She secured suffrage resolutions from unions representing a membership of 25,000.

Mrs. McCulloch gave the month of June, 1890, to canvassing South Dakota in the interest of the suffrage amendment there; and in the fall of 1898 Mrs. Dunn and Miss Morrow were sent[Pg 600] to that State to assist in its second campaign for one month, at the expense of the Illinois association. Miss Morrow worked also in the amendment campaign of 1900 in Oregon for two-and-one-half months, a portion of her expenses being contributed by Illinois suffragists.

The Chicago Political Equality League was organized by Miss Ellen A. Martin, who was at its head for many years.

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1891, at the request of the State E. S. A., a joint resolution was presented to the Legislature for an amendment to the constitution enfranchising women. This was championed in the House by George W. Curtis and brought to a vote. It received 54 votes, a majority of those cast but not a constitutional majority, which is one over one-half of the whole membership. Charles Bogardus managed the bill in the Senate, but was not able to secure a vote upon it. The hard work for this Amendment Bill, however, paved the way for the passage of the School Suffrage Bill later in the session.

This bill had been prepared by the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and was introduced into the Senate by T. C. MacMillan. Although there were many more petitions asking for the amendment than for School Suffrage, their combined influence, with Senator MacMillan's earnest work, was sufficient to pass this bill through the Senate by 29 ayes, 4 noes. At the closing hour of the last session in the House, Dr. H. M. Moore, one of the members of a third party that finally had assisted the Democrats to elect John M. Palmer as United States Senator, made an urgent plea that something should be done for the women; and because of his eloquence, or the gratitude of the Democrats, or the keen sense of justice among all the members, the Senate School Suffrage Bill was passed by 83 ayes, 43 noes.

As it was the general impression that women had received the full School Franchise by this bill, they proceeded to vote on bonds, location of buildings and various other matters pertaining to the schools, and also for county superintendents. The bill was obscurely worded, and it has taken four decisions of the Supreme Court of Illinois to decide just the points which it covered and the limits to which it might be constitutionally extended. As it now stands, under this law women can vote only[Pg 601] for candidates for such school offices as have been created by the Legislature. (See Suffrage.)

However, this bill was useful in securing from the Supreme Court the ruling that the Legislature had power to regulate the suffrage concerning all positions created by itself. Heretofore the weight of judicial opinion had been the other way; that no change whatever could be made in the suffrage except by constitutional amendment.[239]

During the session of 1893 R. W. Coon secured the passage in the Senate of a Township Suffrage Bill prepared by the State association. Its members argued that if school offices not named in the constitution are creations of the Legislature, so are most of the township offices and therefore it has power to grant women the suffrage for these. This bill was accompanied by a petition of 12,000 names. Senator Bogardus made a spirited report on these, extolling the character of the signers, whose standing he had ascertained from the senators of their districts. It passed the Senate by 26 votes, a constitutional majority. In the House the committee reported it favorably, many members pledged themselves to its support, and it went through the second reading safely; but just when expectation ran highest, it was referred back to the committee and smothered.

In this same Legislature a bill to repeal the School Suffrage Law was defeated in the House, less than 40 of the 153 members voting aye. It was not brought to a vote in the Senate.

In 1895 Senator Coon introduced the Township Bill again, but owing to absentees it received only 23 votes, 26 being necessary to pass it. Fearing that a majority of the members of the House were pledged to vote for it, the chairman of the committee to which it was referred made a sub-committee of three notorious opponents who took care that it never was reported.

In 1897 Senator G. W. Monroe took charge of the State association's measures. Bills for Township and Bond Suffrage, and[Pg 602] for suffrage for certain city, county and township officers and for Presidential electors, were introduced by him but failed to pass.

In the special session of 1898 only such matters could be considered as were named by Gov. John R. Tanner in calling it. The State association petitioned him to include woman suffrage in the list, but he did not grant the request. One of the subjects named was taxation. The association prepared a bill to exempt the property of women from taxation until they were allowed to vote. All the metropolitan papers were interested in or amused by this bill, and gave it considerable publicity, but it was not acted upon.

In 1899 the three bills championed by Senator Monroe in 1897 were managed by Senator Isaac H. Hamilton. He forced two of them to a vote, but neither received a majority.

During all this time Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, a practicing lawyer of Chicago, auditor of the National Association and former president of the State E. S. A., was the very efficient legislative superintendent. She pressed the bills with a force which almost brought success by its own momentum, and yet by her good judgment and fair methods kept the respect of legislators who were bitterly opposed to her measures.[240]

Sometimes the hearings on these bills occurred in the Senate Chamber or the House of Representatives. One of the most noteworthy was in 1895, when about twenty women, representing many different localities, societies and nationalities, made clever five-minute speeches.

The State association has sent the Woman's Journal, the Woman's Column and other suffrage literature to members of the Legislature for months at a time. Petitions always have accompanied the bills. Added to those presented in 1899 were resolutions adopted by various Chicago labor organizations of men, representing a membership of 25,000. The petitions of the State association generally have exceeded all those presented for all other measures.[241][Pg 603]

There has been no distinction between husband and wife in the laws of inheritance since 1873. The surviving wife or husband is endowed of a third part of all the real estate of which the other dies possessed. If either die without a will, leaving a surviving child or children, or descendants of such, the survivor receives, in addition, one-third of the personal estate absolutely. If, however, there are no lineal descendants, the widow or widower receives absolutely one-half of the real estate and the whole of the personal estate. If there are no descendants and no kindred, the whole estate goes to the surviving widow or widower.

A married woman has held her property in her own name since 1861. She has been entitled to engage in business, control her earnings, sue and be sued and make contracts since 1869.

Until 1901 the father was entitled to the care of the persons and education of the minor children. In 1898 Mrs. McCulloch published, in the form of a story called Mr. Lex, a résumé of the terrible injustice and cruelty possible under this law; and also pointed out the same possibilities in the administration of other laws which seem entirely fair to the casual observer. It was widely reviewed by the Chicago press and aroused much interest. In the winter of 1901 a bill was passed by the Legislature giving fathers and mothers equal guardianship and custody of their minor children. Mrs. McCulloch, representing the State E. S. A., had charge of this bill. A copy of her book, Mr. Lex, was sent to every member, as well as the full facts from every State which had such a law as the one proposed. She also obtained the indorsement of numerous organizations and influential persons, and had many individual letters written to members. All this simply to give mothers equal guardianship with fathers of their own children!

Mrs. McCulloch was ably assisted by the Rev. Kate Hughes. The bill passed by the large vote of 34 ayes, 8 noes, in the Senate; 119 ayes, one no, in the House. It was signed by Gov. Richard Yates on May 18.

The wife is entitled to support suited to her condition in life. The husband is entitled to the same support out of her individual property. They are jointly liable for family expenses. Failure[Pg 604] to support the wife and children under twelve years of age is a misdemeanor, and may be punished by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500, or imprisonment in the county jail, house of correction or workhouse not less than one month nor more than twelve months, or both such fine and imprisonment. The wife may sue for separate maintenance without divorce.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in 1887, but it never has been possible to have this age extended. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for from one year to life.

In 1893 Mrs. Florence Kelley and Miss Mary Kenney, aided by the women's and men's labor organizations of Chicago and by many women's clubs, secured a Factory Inspection Law. It contained a prohibition against the employment of a woman over eight hours daily in any factory or workshop, but this section was declared unconstitutional because it was a restriction upon the right to contract.

Suffrage: The Legislature which adjourned in 1891 left the School Suffrage Law obscure, incomplete and with no provisions to carry out its intentions. In many cases the women had to provide their own ballots and ballot-boxes. To the credit of the large majority of the judges of election it can be said that they accepted the votes of the women with no certainty that they were acting legally or would be sustained by future decisions. In a number of instances, however, in the more ignorant parts of the State, the votes were insolently refused.

In the country and unincorporated towns, in villages and small cities, where the school boards are elected by the people, there are a number of officers for whom women may vote;[242] but in places like Chicago, where the board is appointed by the mayor, the only vote they have is for three trustees of the State University every two years.

In the summer and fall of 1893 the officers of the State association agitated the question of asking for the nomination of a woman as one of these trustees, and in March, 1894, the convention[Pg 605] in Danville approved this suggestion. The auxiliary societies were urged to use all their influence to have delegates from their counties to the State political conventions instructed to vote for a woman candidate. Later in the spring several of the suffrage officers and prominent women of Chicago appeared before the Republican State Central Committee, and the same day visited the Republican State Editorial Association, asking their influence to secure the nomination of a woman for trustee. Letters were sent to 200 leading politicians of different parties giving reasons why such action should be taken and asking for their co-operation. Personal appeals were made to the editors of the Chicago dailies for their influence.

Then came the most important work of all—securing the indorsement of the Cook County conventions. Previous to that of the Republicans Mrs. McCulloch interviewed leading members of the county committee and received an invitation to present the matter to the convention, which she did, representing both the State E. S. A. and the Woman's Club of Chicago. Mrs. Elmina D. Springer also made an address. They were invited to meet the resolutions committee, were treated with great courtesy, and the resolution asking that delegates to the State convention be instructed to vote as a unit for the nomination of a woman for University trustee, was adopted.

The Chicago Woman's Club sent fifty women to the Cook County Democratic Convention and secured the same pledge.

Committees were then appointed to manage this question in the State conventions of the parties. Just a few days before the first (Democratic), the attorney-general, who was a Democrat, gave the opinion that women could not legally vote for trustees or be trustees, and published it widely in the Chicago press. Mrs. McCulloch followed him with a carefully prepared brief which also was given to the press. This new difficulty made it imperative for her to attend the Democratic State Convention to present her view of the disputed legal point, and this she did with marked success. Whenever any of the delegates said, "Why, haven't you read Maloney's opinion that a woman can not hold the office or vote for trustee?" she would answer, "Yes, but haven't you read my opinion that she can?" She addressed the[Pg 606] entire convention, and the nomination of Dr. Julia Holmes Smith was made unanimously. The other political parties then had to follow with the nomination of a woman or fall behind the Democrats in chivalry.

As the Chicago Woman's Club sent a strong representation to the Republican convention, and as pledges already had been secured from the delegates, the committee appointed by the suffrage association did not deem it necessary to attend. Mrs. Lucy L. Flower was nominated by this body.

The Prohibitionists nominated two women, one of them the secretary of the Illinois E. S. A., Prof. Rena Michaels Atchison.

This recognition from the different parties so encouraged the women that in 1894 they voted enthusiastically throughout the State, especially in Chicago where the candidates were well known. Before the election, however, a difficulty arose from an unexpected quarter. The men composing the Board of University Trustees became alarmed, and employed an attorney who gave an opinion that women neither could vote for trustees nor be elected to the office. He rushed into print; Mrs. McCulloch, who might have been worn to shreds by this time, patiently answered the young man, and "the women went right on voting."

Professor Atchison had the compliment of receiving about 3,000 votes more than the men on the same ticket as herself, and Dr. Smith likewise ran ahead of her ticket.[243] Mrs. Flower was the successful candidate, also leading the nominees of her party.

The Republican women organized by appointing a State Central Committee, and placed upon it a woman from each congressional district.[244] The Democratic women formed a Cornelia Club which worked for the interest of their party's nominee.

Office Holding: A statute of Illinois (1873) provides that no person shall be debarred from any occupation, profession or employment (except the military), on account of sex, and that[Pg 607] this shall not be construed to affect the eligibility of any person to an elective office.[245]

The following have served as trustees of the State University: Mrs. Lucy L. Flower, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Mrs. Mary Turner Carriel, Mrs. Alice Asbury Abbott, Mrs. Carrie Thomas Alexander. The term of office is six years.

Women are eligible to all school offices (1873) and large numbers have served as county superintendents, members of city boards of education and directors of district schools. All the principal cities now have women on their school boards. In Chicago there are two at the present time. Ten counties have women for superintendents.

Miss Cora B. Hirtzell was appointed as assistant by C. S. Thornton, corporation counsel of Chicago, and served during his whole term of office.

Miss Mary M. Bartelme was appointed by Gov. John R. Tanner Public Guardian of Cook County, and is the only woman in the United States to fill such a position. Her duties are to look after the persons of minors and their small estates, when no one else will take the guardianship, and she has over 200 children under her care. She received the highest commendation from Judge Christian C. Kohlsaat, formerly of the Probate Court, and continues to hold office under his successor.

A decision of the Supreme Court permits a woman to be Master in Chancery, but only one ever was appointed.

Women may be official court reporters, but only two have been appointed. The office of a Judge being elective he naturally feels obliged to give these places to voters.

Women have been notaries public for over twenty years.

Miss Kate O'Connor was deputy clerk of Winnebago County for ten years, and Miss Rose Beatson was deputy county treasurer. Mrs. A. T. Ames was deputy sheriff of Boone County.

Frequently the position of State Librarian has been filled by a woman, and of late years that of postmaster in the House and the Senate. The librarian of the Southern Normal University at[Pg 608] Carbondale is a woman. Women have served as presidents of library boards in various places.

Women sit on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Farmers' Institute. One of the State Commissioners of Public Charities was a woman; but she resigned because of the introduction of politics into the board. A woman has served on the State Board of Health.

The Home for Juvenile Female Offenders was established in 1893. It is under the control of five trustees, two of whom are women. The superintendent also is a woman.

The Soldiers' Widows' Home was established by a law of 1895, which provided that of the five trustees three should be women and members of the State Woman's Relief Corps. The entire board is now composed of women.

Chicago has three women deputy factory inspectors, and formerly had a chief inspector, Mrs. Florence Kelley, who served four years with great ability.

Miss Jane Addams of Hull House was appointed garbage inspector of the nineteenth ward of Chicago by Mayor George B. Swift. She served one year and was succeeded by Miss Amanda Johnson, also a resident of Hull House. Under their care this ward, which had been one of the most neglected in the city, became famous for cleanliness and order.

Volunteer associations of women in Chicago did so much in this direction that some of their members finally took the civil service examinations for garbage inspectors or contractors and several received official positions. Among the most prominent of these is Mrs. A. Emmagene Paul, who superintends a large force of men in the first ward of Chicago. As this is a down-town ward it is one of the hardest in the city to keep clean, but she performs the work to the satisfaction of all except "gang" politicians, who have made every possible effort to have Mayor Carter Harrison remove her.

Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer of Chicago was appointed United States Commissioner at the Paris Exposition of 1900 by President McKinley, the only woman distinguished by any government with so important a position. Miss Addams was appointed a member of the Jury of International Awards, Department of[Pg 609] Social Economics, for the same exposition. Her election as vice-president of this jury made her eligible to membership in the Group Jury, on which she also served. This was a distinction conferred upon no other woman.

Occupations: All occupations were opened to women by a statute of 1873, which declared also that they should not be required to work on streets or roads or serve upon juries.

They were not allowed to practice law until 1872, Mrs. Myra W. Bradwell having been the first to make application in 1869.[246] Since that time ninety women have been admitted to the bar. Among those who have done noteworthy work is the daughter of Judge and Mrs. Bradwell, Mrs. Bessie Bradwell Helmer, who was chief editor of twenty volumes of the Appellate Court Reports and, since the death of her mother, has been president of the Chicago Legal News Company, which issues the principal law publications of the State.

Mrs. Catharine V. Waite published the Chicago Law Times for two years; Mrs. Marietta B. R. Shay wrote The Student's Guide to Common Law Pleading; and Miss Ellen A. Martin organized the National Woman Lawyer's League, and is its secretary. Women are members of the State and the Chicago Bar Associations and of the Chicago Law Institute.

The World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, opened large fields of usefulness and power to women. Those of Illinois were especially conspicuous in the wonderful work done by their sex during this World's Fair. Its Board of Lady Managers was appointed under an Act of Congress to represent the special interests of women at the exposition, and Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer was elected president. Mrs. Ellen M. Henrotin of Chicago was vice-president and active superintendent of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress Auxiliary.

A complete official report of nearly 1,000 pages of the Congress of Representative Women, the greatest assemblage of women which ever had been held up to this date, was prepared by the Chairman of the Organization Committee, Mrs. May Wright Sewall of Indianapolis, who made several trips abroad in the interest of the Congress. To her great executive capacity and untiring[Pg 610] efforts for three years, with those added of its secretary, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery of Philadelphia, and the splendid co-operation of the committee of Chicago women—Miss Frances E. Willard. Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Mrs. Lydia Avery Coonley, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert and Mrs. William Thayer Brown—is due the fact that this Congress was the most conspicuous success of any held during the Exposition, with the exception of the Parliament of Religions. It convened May 15, 1893, and continued one week, during which eighty-one meetings were held in the different rooms of the Art Palace. Twenty-seven countries and 126 organizations were represented by 528 delegates. According to official estimate the total attendance exceeded 150,000.[247]

Education: The law colleges never have been closed to women. Union College of Law was the first in the United States to graduate a woman, Mrs. Ada H. Kepley, in 1870.

Some of the medical schools are still bitterly opposed to admitting women. All the homeopathic colleges are open to them with the exception of the Chicago Homeopathic. At Harvey Medical College about half the students are women, and several of the full professorships are filled by them. Hahnemann College admits them but has no woman professor or instructor. In 1899 Dr. Julia Holmes Smith was elected dean of the National Medical College (Homeopathic) with no dissenting vote, and in 1900 she was re-elected. She is the only woman dean of a medical institution composed of both sexes. Women are received in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which is the medical department of the State University. Rush College, one of the largest of the allopathic institutions, has just been opened to them. All of the colleges named above are in Chicago. Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson was the first woman admitted to the American Medical Association.

The theological schools generally are closed to women. They are admitted to the full courses of the Garrett Biblical Institute of the Northwestern University. Lombard University gives them the full privileges of its Divinity School (Universalist).[Pg 611] In 1898 the Chicago Union Theological Seminary (Congregationalist) opened its doors to them. They may also enter the theological department of Chicago University, but its circular of information says: "Women students receive no encouragement to become ministers."

The State University and all of the other large universities and colleges in Illinois are open to women, although some of the minor institutions are still closed.

There are in the public schools 6,973 men and 18,974 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $60.42; of the women, $53.27. In the Chicago schools women receive the same pay as men for the same work, but the highly salaried positions are largely monopolized by men.

An incident which has no parallel deserves a place on these pages. In Chicago it was long the custom, whenever retrenchment of taxes became necessary, to cut down the salaries of the school teachers. In 1899 they could not get even what was legally due to them, and in 1900 the same condition prevailed.

Various reasons were given for the shortage of funds, but two of the teachers. Miss Margaret Haley and Miss Catharine Goggin, obtained information that the reason of the deficit was that some of the largest corporations in the State were not assessed for taxes. Without any backing they began an investigation. When proof positive was secured, through a long search of official records, they laid the case before the Teachers' Federation of 4,000 members, who authorized them to prosecute it to the end and supplied the necessary funds.

They went before the Board of Equalization with proofs that hundreds of millions of dollars of corporation property was not assessed for taxation; but the board refused absolutely to act. Then they filed a mandamus to compel it to do so, and brought the matter into the courts. Every legal, political and financial influence that could be secured in the State was used to fight these courageous women. They carried the case through the lower courts and into the Supreme Court, which confirmed their contention that these corporations should be taxed (Oct 24. 1901.)

The Union Traction Company and the Chicago Consolidated Traction Company, two of the greatest corporations which for[Pg 612] years had been avoiding their legal taxes, applied to the United States Circuit Court for an injunction to restrain the State Board of Equalization from assessing them. They invoked the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, which says that private property shall not be taken without due process of law. The injunction was refused.

This decision will increase the revenues of Chicago not less than $5,000,000 a year, unless some scheme is evolved for circumventing the law, which has not been enforced up to this time. (July, 1902.)

During the campaign of 1900 both Republican and Democratic clubs of women were formed. The Democratic Club of Chicago announced that it would be permanent, and at all times would oppose every legislative and congressional candidate who should be unfavorable to woman suffrage.

The Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs has been a great educator. It was organized in 1894, and is composed of 225 clubs with a membership of 20,000. The Chicago Woman's Club is one of the largest in the United States and does a vast amount of practical work.

Miss Frances E. Willard belonged to Illinois as well as to the world, and it was through her powerful influence that the great organization of the W. C. T. U. was first swung into line for the enfranchisement of women. By voice and pen she aided this cause for over twenty years.

Among other staunch supporters are Mrs. Lydia Avery Coonley-Ward, whose home and purse and pen are used for the benefit of woman suffrage; and her mother, Mrs. Susan Look Avery, who speaks and writes with the vigor of youth, although eighty-three years of age. Mrs. Emily M. Gross is one of the large contributors.

Senator Miles B. Castle was chairman of the Illinois E. S. A. executive committee for over twenty years, and edited and published the State organ, the Suffragist, for five years, supplying the deficit from his own pocket. The Rev. C. C. Harrah, now of Iowa, did valiant service for many years as chairman of the State advisory committee. He sent his leaflet, Jesus Christ the[Pg 613] Emancipator of Woman, at his own expense to hundreds of ministers throughout the country, and it is still in use by the National Association.

Mrs. Eva Munson Smith, vice-president of the State association, published a volume entitled Woman in Sacred Song, which contains poems written by 830, and 150 musical compositions by 50 different women. Mrs. Carrie Ashton Johnson, secretary, compiled a popular Suffrage Dime Speaker. Miss Mary H. Krout, for ten years connected with the Inter-Ocean, never has failed to use her influence in favor of woman suffrage. Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall gave her services as editor-in-chief of the Woman's Forum for several years.

Sixteen years ago but one paper in Illinois had a woman's department; now this is a feature of all, and 161 are regularly publishing suffrage matter furnished by the State press bureau.

### FOOTNOTES:

[237] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary E. Holmes of Chicago, who has been officially connected with the State Equal Suffrage Association since 1884.

[238] State conventions have been held as follows: Watseka, 1884; Geneseo, 1885; Sandwich, 1886; Galva, 1887; Rockford, 1888; Joliet, 1889; Moline, 1890; Kewanee, 1891; Aurora, 1892; Chicago (World's Fair), 1893; Danville, 1894; Decatur, 1895; Harvey, 1896; Waukegan, 1897; Springfield, 1898; Barry, 1899. The twenty-seventh annual meeting took place in Edgewater, Oct. 11, 12, 1900.

[239] Among the officers for whom the Legislature has the power to allow women to vote are Presidential electors, members of the State Board of Equalization, clerk of the Appellate Court, county collector, county surveyor, members of the Board of Assessors, sanitary district trustees, members of the Board of Review, all officers of cities, villages and towns (except police magistrates), supervisor, town clerk, assessor, collector and highway commissioner.

The Legislature has power also to permit women to vote on general questions submitted to the electors, besides voting in all annual and special town meetings.

[240] During these years various suffrage bills were introduced by other organizations. The school board of Winnetka had one to give women a right to vote on all matters relating to schools; the W. C. T. U. one for a constitutional amendment; and members of the Legislature occasionally on their own responsibility introduced bills.

[241] In 1891 an anti-suffrage petition, signed by twelve persons, aroused some interest on account of its novelty. In later Legislatures their petitions do not seem to have appeared, but some of those twelve signers can be found composing the Chicago Anti Suffrage Society of the present day.

[242] In April, 1891, fifteen women of Lombard voted at the municipal election under a special charter which gave the franchise to citizens over twenty-one years of age. The judges were about to refuse the votes, but Miss Ellen A. Martin, of the law firm of Perry & Martin in Chicago, argued the legal points so conclusively that they were accepted. No one has contested that election, and the women have established their right to vote.

[243] Although Dr. Smith was defeated she was really the first woman who served as trustee of the State University, for Gov. John P. Altgeld appointed her to fill a member's unexpired term and she took her seat one month before Mrs. Flower, serving eighteen months. At the next election her name was again placed on the Democratic ticket, which was again defeated.

[244] They continued to hold delegate conventions every two years to nominate a woman for trustee, until the Primary Election Law, recently passed, provided that delegates to nominating conventions must be elected at the polls.

[245] During the Legislature of 1873 a Joint Special Committee was appointed to revise the laws. Through the heroic efforts of Miles B. Castle in the Senate and Judge James B. Bradwell in the House, with the assistance of the veteran law professor and reviser of statutes, the Hon. Harvey B. Hurd, a most liberal legislation for women, in all directions possible at that time, was secured.

[246] See History Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 601.

[247] Mrs. Sewall's report will be found in most public libraries. A graphic account of this Congress is contained in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLI. See also present volume of this History, Chap XIV.

[Pg 614]

## CHAPTER XXXVIII.

### INDIANA.[248]

The earliest woman suffrage society in Indiana was formed in Dublin only three years after that first memorable convention at Seneca Falls, N. Y., in 1848, and annual meetings were held until the beginning of the Civil War, and resumed after its close.

That of 1884 took place December 9, 10, in the Methodist Church at Kokomo with delegates present from a number of cities. The resolutions included one of sorrow over the deaths of Frances Dana Gage, a pioneer suffragist, and Laura Giddings Julian, daughter of Joshua R. Giddings and wife of George W. Julian, M. C., both staunch advocates of the enfranchisement of women, as she herself had been. Dr. Mary F. Thomas, who had joined in the call for the first meeting in 1851, was re-elected president and the Hon. William Dudley Foulke made vice-president-at-large. Among the speakers were the Reverends Frazier, Hudson and McCune, Dr. Gifford and Judge Pollard.

The annual meeting of 1885 was held at Warsaw, October 22, 23, and welcomed by Mayor Royse. On account of the advanced age of Dr. Thomas her resignation was accepted and Mrs. Mary S. Armstrong elected president. Henry B. Blackwell and Lucy Stone were present throughout the sessions.

The State convention of 1886 met in Richmond, November 8, 9, in the Eighth Street Friends' Meeting House and was welcomed by the Mayor. Addresses were made by Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, Dr. Thomas, Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Mrs. Armstrong, Mrs. Mattie Stewart Charles, Sylvester Johnson and others.

In 1887 the convention took place at La Porte, December 1, 2, and was addressed by Mr. Foulke, Professor Hailman and Mrs. Eudora F. Hailman, the Rev. Mr. Grant, General Packard, Mrs.[Pg 615] J. W. Ridgway, Mrs. Rhenton, Sylvanus Grover and others. Mr. Foulke was elected president and Mrs. Haggart vice-president-at-large.[249]

Up to this time these annual meetings had been convened under the auspices of the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1878 a strong society had been organized in Indianapolis with Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, president, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, secretary, and 175 members. It had held numerous meetings and done a large amount of legislative and political work, but had made no State or national alliances. In May, 1887, however, it called a convention, which met in Plymouth Congregational Church, and with the assistance of Miss Susan B. Anthony a State organization was effected, auxiliary to the National Woman Suffrage Association. The officers elected were: President, Mrs. Helen M. Gougar; vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Wallace; secretary, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper; treasurer, Mrs. Juliette K. Wood; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Sewall; superintendent of press, Miss Mary E. Cardwill.

In November, under the management of this board, two days' conventions were held in each of the congressional districts of the State, at Evansville, Vincennes, Bloomington, Kokomo, Logansport, Wabash, Lafayette, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Muncie, Madison, New Albany and Terre Haute. The speakers were Miss Anthony, Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. Sewall and Mrs. Gougar, the meetings being arranged by Mrs. Harper. They were well attended, a great deal of suffrage sentiment was aroused and a balance was left in the treasury.

The annual convention took place at Indianapolis in the Grand Opera House, May 15, 16, 1888, with delegates present from every congressional district. Among the speakers were Mr. Foulke, Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller and Miss Anthony. The board of officers was re-elected.

The third convention met at Rushville, Oct. 10, 11, 1889. Miss Anthony was in attendance. By previous arrangement[Pg 616] delegates from the American branch were present and, with unanimous consent, a union of two bodies into one State organization was effected. Although receiving a majority vote, Mrs. Sewall, Miss Cardwill and Mrs. Harper, for personal reasons, refused longer to serve. The election finally resulted: President, Mrs. Gougar; vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Wallace; secretary, Mrs. Caroline C. Hodgin; treasurer, Mrs. Hattie E. Merrill; chairman executive committee, Mrs. E. M. Seward; superintendent of press, Mrs. Georgia Wright. A resolution was adopted mourning the death of Dr. Mary F. Thomas.

State meetings were held for several years afterward, but the records of them are not available.

In 1899, the State association having been apparently defunct for a long time, a conference of the officers of the National Association was called to meet in Indianapolis, at the earnest request of Mrs. Sewall and a committee. There were present on December 7, 8, Miss Anthony, president, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, treasurer, Miss Laura Clay and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, auditors, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee. Mrs. Sewall gave two receptions to enable the people of the city to greet them; a large one was given by Mrs. Lucy McDowell Milburn, wife of the Rev. Joseph A. Milburn, of the Second Presbyterian Church; and a luncheon at the handsome residence of Mrs. Alice Wheeler Peirce by the committee.

Business meetings were held at the Denison Hotel. The evening meetings, in Plymouth Church, were large and enthusiastic. A new State association was formed and also a new local club for Indianapolis, while the staunch and steadfast old societies of Kokomo and Tipton were aroused to new activity.[250]

At the State meeting in Indianapolis in November, 1900, the old board of officers was re-elected, except that Mrs. Mary Shank was made vice-president and Mrs. Ethel B. McMullen, treasurer.[Pg 617]

A very considerable sentiment in favor of woman suffrage exists throughout the State and many well-known individuals advocate it, among them U. S. Senator Albert J. Beveridge and most of the Congressional delegation, State officials, judges, clergymen and prominent members of the women's clubs, but there is so slight an organization that little opportunity is afforded for public expression or action.

From 1884 down to the present women have appeared many times in person and by petition before county and State conventions of the different political parties, asking for a recognition in their platforms of the right of women to the suffrage. Although these efforts have met with no response from the Democratic party, and none from the Republican in State meetings, a few county conventions have adopted planks to this effect. In 1889 the Greenback and the United Labor State Conventions unequivocally indorsed the franchise for women. In 1892 the Populist and the Prohibition State platforms contained declarations for woman suffrage. In 1894 the Populists again adopted the plank. Similar action was taken by the Social Democratic Party in 1900. Among those appearing before these bodies are found the names of Mrs. Sewall, Mrs. Gougar, Mrs. Haggart, Mrs. Pauline T. Merritt, Miss Flora Hardin, Mrs. Florence M. Adkinson, Mrs. Augusta Cooper Bristol and Mrs. Harper.

During the past sixteen years a number of women have sat as delegates in the State conventions of the Greenback, Prohibition, Populist, Socialist and Labor parties. Women have shown great interest in politics for many years, crowding the galleries at the State conventions and forming at least one-half of the audiences at the campaign rallies. Among those who have canvassed the State in national campaigns are the noted orators, Miss Anna E. Dickinson, and Mrs. Nellie Holbrook Blinn of California, for the Republican party; Mrs. Mary E. Lease and Mrs. Annie L. Diggs, both of Kansas, for the Populist; Miss Cynthia Cleveland for the Democratic, and Mrs. Helen M. Gougar for the Republican, Prohibition and Populist.

Legislative Action and Laws: It is most difficult to look up the history of legislation on any subject in Indiana. The original bills are not printed but are presented in writing, stowed[Pg 618] away in pigeon-holes and thenceforth referred to only by number, with perhaps a fragment of their titles. After several women, deeply interested in the question, had attempted to make a list of the suffrage bills during the last sixteen years and had given up in despair, they appealed to one of the best lawyers in the State, who is a firm believer in the enfranchisement of women. He responded that no accurate report could be made without first going through all the pigeon-holes and over all the journals of the two Houses during that period, which would require weeks of time and great expense. As very few of these bills ever were reported from the committees, it seemed unnecessary to undertake their resurrection for the purposes of this History.

The Indiana Legislature meets biennially and there is seldom a session in which bills are not presented for municipal or full suffrage. In 1893 bills were before this body asking for the Municipal ballot, and newspaper accounts speak of Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, Mrs. Mary S. Armstrong and Mrs. Laura G. Schofield as working industriously for their passage.

In 1895 Judge George B. Cardwill introduced two bills without request, one for an amendment to the constitution striking out the word "male;" the other to amend the law so as to make it obligatory to have one woman on the school board of every city. The women made no effort to secure consideration of these bills, and they lay dormant in committee.

It never has been thought worth while to make the struggle for School Suffrage, as Indianapolis is the only city which elects its school board. In the others this is appointed by the Common Council.

On Feb. 5, 1897, Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was visiting Mrs. Sewall, addressed the Legislature in joint session asking it to recommend to Congress the passage of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution enfranchising women.

In 1898, under the auspices of Mrs. M. A. Tompkins, State superintendent of franchise for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, an active and systematic canvass was begun to secure from the Legislature the submission of an amendment to the State constitution to strike out the word "male." She was assisted by members of her organization in every county; short,[Pg 619] convincing articles were prepared for the newspapers, petitions circulated and 30,000 names of men and women obtained.

Accompanied by these a joint resolution was presented to the Legislature of 1899—in the Senate by O. Z. Hubbell, in the House by Quincy A. Blankinship, and both labored strenuously for its passage. The Senate Bill was referred to the Committee on Revision of Laws, Frederick A. Joss, chairman, and the House Bill to the Judiciary Committee, Silas A. Canada, chairman. They granted hearings, were addressed by Miss Marie Brehm of Chicago, national superintendent of franchise for the W. C. T. U., and reported the bill favorably. It passed the Senate by unanimous vote, January 25. The members of the House had been personally interviewed by Mrs. Tompkins and Miss Brehm, and two-thirds of them were pledged to vote for the measure.

The law provides that not more than two bills for amending the State constitution can be before the Legislature at one time, and, as two preceded this one, Speaker Littleton, who was opposed to it, ruled it out of order and would not permit it to be considered. The same condition existed in the Senate but that body deemed its action perfectly legal, as all which could be done was to submit the bill to the next Legislature. Thus all the work of nearly two years was lost.[251]

In 1899 a number of Factory Inspection Laws were passed, some of them especially intended to protect women. While these serve their purpose in one way they may defeat it in another, as those, for instance, limiting the work of women to ten hours a day and prohibiting their employment at night in any manufacturing concern, when no such restrictions are imposed on men, which often is to their advantage with employers. Seats for women employes, suitable toilet-rooms and a full hour for the noonday meal are commendable features of these new laws.

Through the efforts of Robert Dale Owen and a few other broad-minded men, when the constitution of Indiana was revised in 1851 the laws for women were made more liberal than those[Pg 620] of most other States at that period, although conservative compared to present standards. Unjust discriminations have been abolished from time to time since then, until now, in a very large degree, the laws bear equally upon husband and wife. Some distinctions, however, still exist, as is shown by the introduction of bills in almost every Legislature "to remove the existing disabilities of married women."

Dower and curtesy are abolished. If a husband die, with or without a will, one-third of his real estate descends to the widow in fee simple, free from all demands of creditors; provided, however, that where the real estate exceeds in value $10,000, the widow shall have one-fourth only, and where it exceeds $20,000, one-fifth only as against creditors. If a husband die without a will and leave a widow and one child, the real estate is divided equally between them; the personal estate is divided equally if there are not more than two children; if there are more than two the widow still has one-third. If a man has children living by a former marriage and none by a subsequent marriage, the widow can have only a life interest in her share of his estate. If a wife die, with or without a will, one-third of her real and personal estate descends to the widower, regardless of its value, but subject to its proportion of her debts contracted before marriage. If a husband or wife die without a will, leaving no child, but father or mother, one or both, three-fourths of the entire estate goes to the widow or widower, unless it does not exceed $1,000, in which case it all goes to the widow or widower. If there are neither children, father nor mother, the entire estate goes to the widow or widower.

The husband is liable for the wife's debts incurred before marriage to the extent of any property received by him through her. He is not liable for his wife's contracts with respect to her separate property, business or labor, or for torts committed by her.

She may sue in her own name for injury to her person, property or character. The husband may maintain action for the loss of her society and services.

A wife can not convey or encumber her separate real estate without the joinder of her husband, nor can he do this with his separate real estate unless she joins. Husband and wife each[Pg 621] may dispose of two-thirds of their real and personal estate by will without the consent of the other.

A married woman may without any legal formalities carry on business or trade or perform any labor or services on her sole and separate account and her earnings shall be her sole and separate property, provided she keeps her business distinct from her husband's, as all their joint earnings are his property.

A wife can act as executor or administrator of an estate only with her husband's consent.

No married woman can become surety for any person.

The father has the custody of the persons and the control of the education of the minor children, even though there may be a guardian appointed for their property. (1896.)

A wife may sue for support: (1) If deserted by her husband and left without means of support; (2) if he has been convicted of a felony and put in State prison; (3) if he is a habitual drunkard; (4) if he join a religious society prohibiting marriage. The court may award necessary support according to circumstances, may sell lands of the husband, or allow the wife to sell her lands without his joining. (1896.)

The "age of protection" for girls is 14 years. No bills presented by women to have it raised ever have been allowed to get beyond a legislative committee. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to twenty-one years.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage. A decision of the Supreme Court, Feb. 1, 1901, that an amendment to be adopted must receive a majority of the highest number of votes cast at the election, has made it practically impossible to secure the franchise for women by changing the State constitution. It is held, however, by lawyers whose opinion is of value, that this even now may be legally construed so as to permit them to vote.

Sustained in her own belief by these views and by a Supreme Court decision of 1893, which interpreted this constitution to permit women to practice law (see Occupations), Mrs. Helen M. Gougar decided to make a test case, and offered her vote in the State election, Nov. 6, 1894, at her home in Lafayette. It was refused and she brought suit against the election board in the Superior Court of Tippecanoe County. Sayler & Sayler and[Pg 622] John D. Gougar, husband of the plaintiff, were her attorneys, but she was herself admitted to the bar and argued her own case before Judge F. B. Everett, Jan. 10, 1895. She based her masterly argument on the rights guaranteed to all citizens by the Federal Constitution, and on the first article of the constitution of Indiana, which declares that "the General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens;" and she used with deadly effect the parallel between the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Antoinette D. Leach, by which she was enabled to practice law, and the claims which were now being made as to the right of women to vote.[252]

The long, adverse decision of Judge Everett was based upon his declaration that "suffrage is not a natural right or one necessarily incident to such freedom and preservation of rights as are upheld by the National and State constitutions;" that "the intention of their framers to limit the suffrage to males is so strong that it can not be disregarded;" and that "the legal and well understood rule of construction is that the express mention of certain things excludes all others."

Mrs. Gougar then carried her case to the Supreme Court of Indiana, and was herself the first woman admitted to practice before that body. Her brief was filed by her attorneys and she made her own argument before the full bench, the court-room being crowded with lawyers and members of the Legislature. It was said by one of the judges to be the clearest and ablest oral argument presented since he had been a member.

Nevertheless the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. The decision, in which the five judges concurred, was founded almost exclusively upon the affirmation that "that which is expressed makes that which is silent cease." This decision reversed absolutely the one rendered in the case of Leach for the right to practice law, which had declared that "although the statute says voters may practice, it says nothing about women, and therefore there is no denial of this right to them;" or in other words "that which is expressed does not make that which is silent cease."[Pg 623] Yet both of these opinions were written by the same Chief Justice—Leonard J. Hackney!

The decision closed by saying: "Whatever the personal views of the Justices upon the advisability of extending the franchise to women, all are agreed that under the present constitution it can not be extended to them."

As it is practically impossible to amend the State constitution, the outlook for woman suffrage in Indiana appears hopeless except through an amendment to the National Constitution.

Office Holding: Women are not eligible for election to any offices within the gift of the voters, except those pertaining to the public schools.

In 1873 the Legislature enacted that women should be eligible to any office the appointment or election to which is or shall be vested in the Governor or General Assembly.

In 1881 it was enacted that women should be eligible to any office under the general or special school laws of the State.

Notwithstanding these liberal provisions there is scarcely one of the Northern States where so few women have served in office. There never has been even a woman candidate for that of State Superintendent. Many years ago there were a few county superintendents but none now fill that office and not half a dozen women ever have sat on local school boards. These are appointed by the Common Council in all the towns and cities except Indianapolis. On one occasion its Local Council of Women nominated two of its members for school trustees, but both were defeated. Women themselves were not allowed to vote, but their interest brought out an unusually large number of men.[253] At present not one woman is known to be filling any school office.

The law of 1873 includes the boards of all penal and benevolent institutions, State Librarian, custodians of public buildings, and many minor offices, but women have found it practically impossible to secure any of these. The explanation for this probably lies in the fact that Indiana is a pivotal State in politics and the parties are so evenly divided that the elections are equally apt to be carried by either party. It thus becomes vitally necessary to utilize every office for political purposes and none can be[Pg 624] spared to persons without votes. For a number of years the two parties elected women as State Librarian, and they gave much satisfaction, although several times the political pressure has been so great that the office has had to be given to men.[254]

A number of times bills have been presented to require the Governor to put a representation of women on the boards of all State institutions where women and children are confined, but they never have been carried.

In 1873 the first State prison in the United States exclusively for women was opened in Indianapolis, but the management was vested in a board of men with a visiting board of women and a woman superintendent. In 1877 a bill was passed placing the entire management of this Woman's Reformatory in the hands of women. An Industrial School for Girls is now under the same supervision.[255]

In 1889 an act of the Legislature established the State Board of Charities and Corrections and provided that two of its six trustees should be women. It exercises supervision over the State penal and benevolent institutions. In 1899 a legislative act required that on petition of fifteen citizens of any county the Circuit Judge must appoint a board to exercise the same supervision over its institutions, to consist of four men and two women.

The only other women serving on State boards are one for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home at Knightstown and one for the Home for Feeble-minded Youth at Ft. Wayne.[256]

The State Board of Charities and Corrections has made great effort to secure women physicians at all State Institutions and, though there is no law authorizing it, there is now one at each of the four Hospitals for the Insane, and at the Woman's Prison and Girls' Industrial School. One was appointed for the Home for Feeble-minded but a man now holds the position.

Almost every State, county and city office has women deputies,[Pg 625] assistants or stenographers. It is said that one-third of the employes in the State House are women. Many serve as notaries public, and a number as court stenographers.

The need of a Police Matron in Indianapolis was so obvious and it had been so impossible to persuade the authorities of this fact, that in November, 1890, the Meridian W. C. T. U. obtained permission from the Mayor and Commissioners to place one on duty at the central station house at their own expense. This was continued until March, 1891, when a change in the city charter vested the authority in a Board of Safety. The matron, Mrs. Annie M. Buchanan, had given such satisfaction that on petition of the Woman's Local Council she was regularly employed by the city, with full police powers, at a salary of $60 per month and two furnished rooms for her occupancy. The first year 852 women and children came into her charge, 24 of the latter being under five years of age.

The State W. C. T. U. appointed Mrs. Buchanan as the head of a movement to secure Police Matrons in all cities of 7,000 inhabitants. A bill for this purpose was presented in 1893 but failed to pass. In 1895 the Local Council of Women also made this a special line of work, and to Mrs. Buchanan's petition, signed by one hundred of the leading men and women of the State and the entire Common Council, were added the names of the presidents of the forty-nine societies composing the Council of Women, representing 8,000 members. It asked for a law compelling the appointment of Police Matrons in all cities of 10,000 inhabitants. This time the bill passed both Houses but so altered as to merely permit the Mayor and Commissioners to appoint such Matrons, a power they already possessed.

Mrs. Buchanan remained in office seven years, until her marriage. The experiment in Indianapolis has been so successful that matrons are now employed in Evansville, Terre Haute, Richmond and Lafayette, but these by no means include all of the cities of over 10,000 inhabitants.

Occupations: The only occupations forbidden to women are those of working in mines and selling liquor. Women have served as bank cashiers and directors for twenty years.

In 1875 Miss Elizabeth Eaglesfield was admitted to practice[Pg 626] law at the Vigo County bar, through the efforts of Judge William Mack, and had a number of cases in the courts of Indianapolis. Eighteen years later Mrs. Antoinette D. Leach, although properly qualified, was refused a license to practice in Greene County. The lower court based its refusal on a clause in the State Constitution which says: "Every person of good moral character, being a voter, shall be entitled to practice law in all the courts of the State." She carried the case to the Supreme Court which reversed this judgment. Its decision, June 14, 1893, says that "while voters are granted admission to practice there is no denial of such right to women, and it must be held to exist as long as not forbidden by law. That which is expressed does not make that which is silent cease." (See Suffrage on previous page.) The decision continued:

> The right to practice law is not a political question, but belongs to that class of rights inherent in every citizen, and pertains to the fundamental duty of every inhabitant to gain a livelihood. Judge Cooley says: "To forbid to an individual or a class the right to the acquisition or enjoyment of property in such manner as should be permitted to the community at large, would be to deprive them of liberty in particulars of primary importance." In Story on the Constitution it is said that the right to acquire, possess and enjoy property and to choose from those which are lawful the profession or occupation of life, are among the privileges which the States are forbidden by the Constitution to abridge.[257]

Basing her claims on this decision, a woman the next year, 1894, applied for license to sell liquor. This was refused on the ground that the statute reads: "Any male inhabitant having certain other specified qualifications may obtain a license." The Supreme Court decided that "by the use of the word 'male' women are inhibited from obtaining license to vend intoxicating liquor at retail."

Thus within three years—1893, '94, '95—the same Supreme Court rendered three decisions each absolutely reversing the others.

Education: The State University was opened to women in[Pg 627] 1867. They are admitted on equal terms with men to all State institutions of learning, including Purdue University (agricultural). The only colleges closed to them are Wabash at Crawfordsville, and the Rose Polytechnic at Terre Haute. There are women on the faculties of most of the co-educational universities. A number of women have been graduated from the various Law and Medical Schools.

In the public schools there are 7,252 men and 8,236 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $48.80; of the women $43.55.

The Women's Clubs number considerably over one hundred, and there are also many which are composed of both men and women. The State Press Association had both as charter members. The Union of Literary Clubs, a strong organization of 104 branches, includes many of these and also those composed of women alone and of men alone.

The Woman's Club of Indianapolis, founded in 1875, is the oldest in the city. Under its auspices and through the inspiration of Mrs. May Wright Sewall, the Propylæum, a handsome club house, was built at a cost of over $30,000. It was dedicated in 1891 with imposing ceremonies, in which the Governor, the Mayor and many distinguished guests assisted the board of directors. All of the stock is held by women and the construction was entirely superintended by women. It is one of the important institutions of the city, and is used by a number of men's and of women's clubs and for many public and private functions.

In numerous forms of organized work, sanitary inspection, free kindergartens, flower missions, training schools for nurses, collegiate alumnæ, art associations, musical clubs, industrial unions, patriotic societies, church missionary boards, lodge auxiliaries and countless others—women render conspicuous and inestimable service. The State Monograph for the World's Fair, previously referred to, gives detailed information of the associated work of Indiana women in nearly fifty distinct departments.

### FOOTNOTES:

[248] The History is indebted to Mrs. Alice Judah Clarke of Vincennes for much of the information contained in this chapter.

[249] The other names which appear most frequently during these years as officers and workers are the Rev. A. Marine, Doctors Isabel Stafford and Anna B. Campbell, Miss Mary D. Naylor and Mesdames Laura C. Schofield, Georgia Wright, Sarah E. Franklin, Laura Sandefur, Laura C. Arnold, C. A. P. Smith, S. S. McCain, H. R. Ridpath, Mary B. Williams, Laura Kregelo, H. R. Vickery, Emma E. Dixon, Pauline T. Merritt, Eliza J. Hamilton, L. May Wheeler and Florence M. Adkinson.

[250] State officers: President, Mrs. Bertha G. Wade; vice-president, Mrs. Mary S. Armstrong; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice Wheeler Peirce; recording secretary, Mrs. Hester Moore Hart; treasurer, Mrs. Alice E. Waugh; auditors, Mrs. Grace Julian Clarke and Mrs. Albertina A. Forrest.

Among the strong members of the Tipton club are Judge and Mrs. Dan Waugh, State Senator and Mrs. G. W. Gifford, Representative and Mrs. W. R. Ogleboy, Postmaster and Mrs. M. W. Pershing, Dr. and Mrs. M. V. B. Newcomer and W. H. Barnhart, editor of the Advocate.

[251] In 1901 the suffrage societies had a similar bill before the Legislature, supported by a large petition. It was passed by the House on March 5 by 52 ayes, 35 noes. Enough votes to carry it had been pledged in the Senate, but the night following its success in the House hurried consultations were held and the element which fights woman suffrage to the death issued its edict. The next morning the vote was reconsidered and the measure defeated. It was therefore unnecessary to bring it before the Senate.

[252] Mrs. Gougar's argument in full, with authorities cited, was published in a pamphlet of sixty pages.

[253] In 1901 the Political Equality Club of Indianapolis put up a woman candidate who polled over 4,000 votes but was not elected.

[254] The women who have filled this office are Sarah A. Oren, 1873-75; Margaret F. Peelle, 1879-1881; Elizabeth O. Callis, 1881-1889; Mary A. Ahern, 1893-1895; Mrs. E. L. Davidson, 1895-1897. At present the first and second assistants are women.

[255] For particulars of this unique institution see Vol. III, p. 970.

[256] A Monograph on the Associated Work of Indiana Women, prepared in 1893 by Mrs. Ida Husted Harper for the Columbian Exposition, showed about twenty county and city orphans' home entirely controlled by women, and also a number of Homes for the Friendless, Old Ladies' Homes, Children's Aid Societies, etc.

[257] Some of the highest legal authorities in the State declare that this is not the law and that it will be so decided whenever the question is presented to another Supreme Court. If this should happen then women could practice law only by an amendment of the constitution. What then would be the status of the cases in which Mrs. Leach and other women had acted as attorney?

[Pg 628]

## CHAPTER XXXIX.

### IOWA.[258]

For thirty years the women of Iowa have been petitioning its legislative body for the elective franchise. Any proposed amendment to the State constitution must pass two successive Legislatures before being submitted to the voters, which makes it exceedingly difficult to secure one. Throughout the State, however, there has been a steady, healthy growth of favorable sentiment and the cause now numbers its friends by thousands.

The Iowa Equal Suffrage Association was formed in 1870 and ever since has held annual conventions. That of 1884 took place in Des Moines, November 27, 28, Mrs. Narcissa T. Bemis presiding. The report of the vice-president, Mrs. Jane Amy McKinney, stated that Miss Matilda Hindman of Pennsylvania had been employed two months of the year, besides working several weeks upon her own responsibility. She had delivered seventy-two lectures, formed about forty organizations and obtained many hundreds of names to pledges of help. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana had given fifteen addresses, distributed 3,000 tracts and secured 500 subscribers for her paper, Our Herald. Mrs. Mariana T. Folsome, financial secretary, had gone from town to town, arranging her own meetings and visiting many places where no suffrage work ever before had been done. Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell, State organizer, had addressed 139 meetings and assisted in organizing ten counties. Letters urging a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution had been written to all the Iowa members of Congress.

The convention met Oct. 21, 22, 1885, in Cedar Rapids, and elected Mrs. Campbell president. Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell delivered evening addresses, while among the delegates[Pg 629] was Mrs. Carrie Lane Chapman (Catt). Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall, chairman of the executive committee, reported that each of the eleven congressional districts had been given in charge of a vice-president of the State association, local societies had been formed, numerous public meetings held and seventeen counties organized. Petitions were in circulation asking the Legislature to amend the constitution of the State so as to enfranchise women, and others that women be excused from paying taxes until they had representation. About forty weekly papers had columns edited by the press committee. At the State Agricultural Fair this committee had, as usual, a large amount of literature in a handsomely decorated booth, which was crowded with visitors from all parts of the State.

In the autumn of 1886 the annual meeting convened in Ottumwa. During that year funds had been raised and a permanent cottage erected on the State Fair grounds to be used as suffrage headquarters. There was also established in Des Moines a State paper, the Woman's Standard, with Mrs. Coggeshall as editor and Mrs. Martha C. Callanan as business manager. This paper, an eight-page monthly, issued its first number in September.[259]

The State Convention of 1887 was held in Des Moines, and that of 1888 in Ames. At the latter Miss Susan B. Anthony gave an inspiring address. The State Agricultural College is located at Ames, and Capt. James Rush Lincoln of the military department tendered the delegates an exhibition drill on the campus of Company G, which was composed entirely of girls.

The annual convention took place in Oskaloosa, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 1889. A letter of approval was received from George A. Gates, president of Iowa College. Mr. Blackwell and Lucy Stone were present and added much to the interest of the meetings. Mrs. Campbell was for the third time elected president.

On Dec. 4, 5, 1890, the association again assembled in Des Moines, with Miss Anthony in attendance. The resolutions recommended that the suffragists make an effort to place women[Pg 630] on all the school boards, and that they work for the election of legislators favoring Municipal and School Suffrage for women.

The society was incorporated under the State laws Nov. 7, 1891, as the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association. The twentieth convention was held at Ames, December 3, 4. Three departments of work were arranged—fair, press and oratorical contest—and a superintendent of each was appointed. Reports were received from all parts of the State which indicated an increasing growth of sentiment and it was decided to place another organizer in the field. The delegates were invited by President William Beardshear to visit the State Agricultural College. Upon their return they passed a resolution declaring that "the Legislature ought to provide a suitable hall for women students." Margaret Hall has since been erected, a commodious building designed for their exclusive use.

The twenty-first annual meeting was called at Des Moines, Sept. 22, 1892, in connection with the Mississippi Valley Suffrage Conference. There were present Miss Anthony, president of the National Association, Mr. Blackwell, Senator M. B. Castle and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Illinois, Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns of Minnesota and many others from different States. The report of Mrs. Eliza H. Hunter, chairman of the executive committee, said:

> In no previous year has the demand upon our workers been so great, and never has the response been so quick and hearty. Mrs. Chapman Catt, Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois, the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin, and Mrs. Belle Mitchell of Iowa, have been our lecturers and organizers. The association was invited to send a speaker to the Chautauqua Assembly at Colfax and the Rev. C. C. Harrah was secured. A plan of work prepared by Mrs. Chapman Catt was issued as a supplement to the Woman's Standard, and sent to every county president and local club. Mrs. Callanan published at the same time the Iowa Collection of Readings and Recitations for suffrage societies. The study topics arranged for clubs two years ago had been in such demand that a new supply was necessary. We also have had printed 6,000 copies of a tract, A Woman Suffrage Catechism, by Mrs. C. Holt Flint. The State Agricultural Society by request set apart one day of the fair as Woman's Day, and five women's organizations took part in the exercises. At the hour devoted especially to suffrage Mrs. DeVoe made the address, Mrs. Coggeshall presiding. It was hard to tell where this hour began and ended, for to the listener all seemed suffrage hours.

[Pg 631]

This report told also of a series of questions sent out which ascertained that, in the territory covered by twenty-eight clubs, seventy-eight ministers were in favor of suffrage and eighteen opposed; and in the same territory forty editors were in favor and nineteen opposed. There were at that time fifty-seven clubs in the State.

The year 1893 marked a period of unusual activity. The executive committee held monthly meetings. Four organizers were kept in the field. A large amount of money was raised and $100 donated to the campaign in Colorado. A request was sent to the clubs that each contribute to the campaign in Kansas, which in many instances was done. The annual meeting took place in Webster City, November 9, 10.

The convention of 1894 was held in Marshalltown, November 8, 9. That of 1895 met in Des Moines, October 18, 19. Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas was secured for a month of organization work and the suffrage enrollment ordered to be continued.

In 1896 Mrs. Adelaide Ballard was elected State organizer. At the State Fair Mrs. Pauline Swalm delivered an address on The Woman Citizen. The suffrage cottage was kept open and a long list of names was placed upon the enrollment books. The annual meeting convened in Independence, November 17-19. Mrs. Ballard reported thirty-seven new clubs organized. Mrs. Anna H. Satterly announced that forty-two newspapers were publishing articles furnished by the National Association, which also sent Mrs. DeVoe for a month's work in the State.

In January, 1897, the National Association held its convention in Des Moines, with many noted women in attendance.[260] This gave a great impetus to the work and had a decided effect upon sentiment in the State, particularly on that of the daily papers in Des Moines, most of which since this time have treated the cause with marked courtesy. At the close of the convention fifty members were added to the city club. The National Association heartily approved the plan of an active campaign with a view to securing the submission of a suffrage amendment from the Legislature. Under the directions of Mrs. Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee, workers were sent into the field to[Pg 632] hold a series of conventions for the purpose of perfecting the organization of the State. These resulted in county societies in ninety-four of the ninety-nine counties and one hundred new clubs. The speakers were the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president-at-large, and the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio; the managers, Miss Mary G. Hay of New York and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas. Mrs. Ballard and Mrs. Clara M. Richey each gave a month to conducting meetings, and other Iowa women rendered valuable assistance.

The annual meeting of 1897 took place in Des Moines, October 13-15. Mrs. Chapman Catt, Miss Hay, Miss Moore and Mrs. Addie M. Johnson of Missouri were present. Much enthusiasm was manifested and $1,400 were raised to carry on the next year's work. It was decided to open headquarters in Des Moines the first of January, 1898, with Mrs. Ina Light Taylor as office secretary.

Beginning in April, 1898, the State association conducted a series of conferences throughout the northern part of Iowa, employing as speakers Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Ballard; and as managers Miss Ella Harrison of Missouri and Mrs. Richey. At the same time the National Association sent into the southern part Miss Moore and Mrs. Martha A. B. Conine of Colorado, as speakers, and Miss Gregg and Mrs. Jennie L. Wilson as managers. The annual meeting was held in Council Bluffs, October 19-21. Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden was made president.

During 1899 a large amount of work was done by correspondence. The office of press superintendent was transferred to headquarters, from which 200 newspapers were supplied each week with suffrage matter. Two hundred and fifty clubs were in active existence. The convention met in Mason City, October 10-12. Mrs. Belden was unanimously re-elected and $1,500 were raised.

The convention of 1900 was held in Des Moines, October 16-18, with Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance. During the year Mrs. Nellie Welsh Nelson had done organization work in northwestern Iowa, and Miss Hay and Dr. Frances Woods lately had held a number of meetings and formed several clubs. One thousand dollars were pledged to continue the State headquarters.[Pg 633] Mrs. Belden was again elected to the presidency, and the association entered upon the new century bearing the banner it had followed for thirty years, with the inscription, "Never give up."[261]

Year after year the executive committee have visited the State conventions of all the political parties asking for a plank in their platforms indorsing equal suffrage, but without success. Many of the prominent officials and political leaders, however, have openly declared in favor of the enfranchisement of women.[262]

Legislative Action and Laws: From its organization in 1870 the State association has had a bill before every Legislature asking some form of suffrage for women. This usually has passed one House but never both at the same session. The petitions accompanying these bills have varied from 8,000 signatures in 1884 to 100,000 in 1900. In 1884 the measure was carried in the Senate but lost in the House.

In 1886 a bill for Municipal Suffrage was introduced by Representative J. A. Lyons, amended to include School Suffrage and recommended for passage, but it never came to a vote.

In 1888 a bill for Municipal and School Suffrage was lost in the House by 11 ayes, 80 noes. This was presented in the Senate also but never voted upon.

In 1890 a bill for School Suffrage was recommended for passage in the House but did not reach a vote. A bill for Municipal Suffrage at the same session was not reported. Both were killed in the Senate committee.

In 1892 a bill allowing women to vote for Presidential Electors was introduced in the House but was unfavorably reported and[Pg 634] indefinitely postponed. In the Senate it was referred to the Committee on Suffrage and never reported.

In 1894 a bill for Municipal and School Suffrage was favorably reported in the House. It was made a special order and, after being amended so as to give women the right to vote only when bonds were to be issued, it was returned to the Judiciary Committee. They reported it without recommendation for the reason that they were not agreed as to its constitutionality. It was passed by 51 ayes, 39 noes. In the Senate the amended bill passed by 27 ayes, 20 noes.

The greatest difficulty in the way of securing Municipal or School Suffrage was the opinion prevalent among legislators that it would be unconstitutional. In view of this fact the State association decided to drop all partial suffrage measures and ask only for the Full Franchise by constitutional amendment.

In 1898 a legislative committee was appointed with Mrs. Belden, State president, as chairman. Assisted by Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, she spent some time at the capital trying to secure a joint resolution for the submission of an amendment. The resolution was lost in the House by 50 ayes, 47 noes—just one short of a constitutional majority, which is one over a half of the whole number of members. It did not come to a vote in the Senate.

In 1900 Mrs. Belden established headquarters at the Savery House in Des Moines, and with other members of the legislative committee conducted a vigorous campaign for submission. The bill was reported favorably by unanimous vote of both House and Senate committees, but was lost in the House by 44 ayes, 55 noes. Subsequently it passed the "sifting committee," for the first time in the history of suffrage legislation in the State. It was then acted upon by the Senate and lost by 24 ayes, 23 noes—lacking two votes of a constitutional majority. The absence on account of illness of some of the friends of the measure contributed to this result. In the meantime work had been done in the House by Mrs. Belden and the Hon. G. W. Hinkle which had made it certain that if the bill was carried in the Senate the House would reconsider and pass it. The bill was treated with courtesy[Pg 635] and fairness and instead of ignoring its claims men came voluntarily to talk about it and showed a genuine interest.

The laws of inheritance are the same for husband and wife. Dower and curtesy are abolished. The surviving husband or wife is entitled to one-third in fee simple of both real and personal estate of the other at his or her death. If either die intestate, leaving no issue, one-half of the estate goes to the survivor, the rest to his or her parents, one or both; or if they are both dead, to their descendants. If there are none such, the whole estate goes to the surviving husband or wife. If there should have been more than one wife or husband, the half portion is equally divided between the husband or wife living and the heirs of those who are dead, or the heirs of all, if all are dead.

A married woman may contract, sue and be sued and carry on business in her own name as if unmarried and her earnings are her sole and separate property.

In 1896 an act was passed making it illegal for the husband to mortgage household goods without the wife's signature. The same year it was made a misdemeanor and punishable as such for a man to desert a woman whom he married to escape prosecution for seduction.

The law declares the father and mother natural guardians and legally entitled to the custody of the minor children, but in practice the father has prior claim.

The support and education of the family are chargeable equally on the husband's and the wife's property.

In 1886 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13 years; and in 1896, on petition of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, from 13 to 15 years. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for life or for any term of years not less than twenty. An amendment was made in 1894 that "a man can not be convicted upon the testimony of the person injured unless she be corroborated by other evidence."

The same year this organization secured a law compelling the separation of men and women prisoners in county jails.

Suffrage: Since 1894 the right of any citizen to vote at any city, town or school election, on the question of issuing any bonds for municipal or school purposes, and for the purpose of borrowing[Pg 636] money, or on the question of increasing the tax levy, shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.

At all elections where women may vote, no registration of women shall be required, separate ballots shall be furnished for the question on which they are entitled to vote, a separate ballot-box shall be provided in which all ballots cast by them shall be deposited, and a separate canvass thereof made by the judges of the election, and the returns thereof shall show such vote.

Office Holding: Women are not forbidden by law to hold any office except that of legislator.

In 1884 thirteen women were serving as county superintendents and ten as superintendents of city schools; six were presidents, thirty-five secretaries and fifty treasurers of school boards. In 1885 the school board of Des Moines elected a woman city superintendent at a salary of $1,800, with charge of eighty teachers, including two male principals. In 1900 twenty-one women were elected county superintendents. A large number are acting as school trustees but it is impossible to get the exact figures.

The office of State librarian always was filled by a woman until 1898, when Gov. Leslie M. Shaw placed a man in charge. The librarian of the State University always has been a woman. There are two women on the Library Board of Des Moines.

Clerkships in the Legislature and in the executive offices are frequently given to women.

For six years Mrs. Anna Hepburn was recorder of Polk County, and this office has been held by women in other counties.

A law of 1892 requires cities of over 25,000 inhabitants to employ police matrons. They wear uniform and star and have the same authority as men on the force, with this difference in their appointment: The law makes it permanent and they can not be dismissed unless serious charges are proved against them.

A woman has been appointed a member of the Board of Examiners for the Law Department of the State University. For a number of years women have been sitting on the State boards of Charities and Reforms. They have served on the Board of Trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home. A woman is on the State Board of Education, and another on the State Library Commission.[Pg 637]

The law provides that women physicians may be employed in the State hospitals for the insane, but only two or three have been appointed. The Board of Control may appoint a woman on the visiting committee for these asylums but this has not yet been done. A few women have served on this board.

The law also provides for women physicians in all State institutions where women are placed, but does not require them.

The Legislature of 1900 passed a bill to establish a Woman's Industrial Reformatory of which the superintendent must be a woman. The salary is $1,000 a year.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. In 1884 Iowa furnished, at Marion, what is believed to be the first instance of the election of a woman as president of a United States national bank.

Education: The universities and colleges, including the State Agricultural College, always have been co-educational.

In the public schools there are 5,855 men and 22,839 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $37.10; of the women, $31.45.

The women of Iowa have thrown themselves eagerly into the great club movement, and clubs literary, philanthropic, scientific and political abound. The State Federation numbers 300 of these with a membership of 12,000. This, however, does not include nearly all the women's organizations.

By all the means at their command women are striving to fit themselves for whatever duties the future may have in store for them. With an unfaltering trust in the manhood of Iowa men, those who advocate suffrage are waiting—and working while they wait—for the time when men and women shall stand side by side in governmental as in all other vital matters.

### FOOTNOTES:

[258] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Clara M. Richey of Des Moines, recording secretary of the State Equal Suffrage Association.

[259] The Woman's Standard has continued to be a source of pride to Iowa women up to the present time, and is now edited by J. O. Stevenson and published by Mrs. Sarah Ware Whitney.

[260] See Chapter XVII.

[261] The following have served as presidents, beginning with 1884: Mrs. Narcissa T. Bemis, Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell (four terms), Mrs. Mary B. Welch, Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall (two terms), Mrs. Estelle T. Smith (two terms), Mrs. Rowena Stevens, Mrs. M. Lloyd Kennedy, Mrs. Adelaide Ballard (two terms), Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden (three terms).

The officers at present are: Vice-president, Mrs. Dollie Romans Bradley; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Nellie Welsh Nelson; recording secretary, Mrs. Clara M. Richey; treasurer, Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall; executive committee, Mrs. Anna H. Ankeny, Mrs. Emma C. Ladd, Miss Alice Priest; auditors, Mrs. Martha C. Callanan, Mrs. Ina Light Taylor; member national executive committee, Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell; State organizer, Dr. Frances Woods.

[262] It is plainly impossible to mention the names of all or even a large part of the workers in a State where so much has been done. A few of the most prominent not already named are George W. Bemis; Mesdames Irene Adams, Virginia Branner, S. J. Cole, S. J. Cottrell, Mary E. Emsley, Clara F. Harkness, Julia Clark Hallam, Helen M. Harriman, Etta S. Kirk, Alice S. Longley, Hannah Lecompte, Florence Maskrey, Emily Phillips, Martha A. Peck, Mettie Laub Romans, C. A. Reynolds, Cordelia Sloughton, Roma W. Woods; Misses Daisy Deighton, Ella Moffatt, Katharine Pierce.

[Pg 638]

## CHAPTER XL.

### KANSAS.[263]

The first Woman's Rights Association was organized in Kansas in the spring of 1859, by a little coterie of twenty-five men and women, with the object of securing suffrage for women from the convention which was to meet in July to form a constitution for Statehood. They did not succeed in this but to them is largely due its remarkably liberal provisions regarding women.[264]

Afterwards local suffrage societies were formed but there was no attempt to have a State association until 1884. In the winter of that year Mrs. Bertha H. Ellsworth was sent to the National Convention at Washington by the society of Lincoln, and she returned enthusiastic for organization. After some correspondence the first convention was called by Mrs. Hetta P. Mansfield, who had been appointed vice-president of Kansas by the National Association, and it met in the Senate Chamber at Topeka, June 25. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, who was making a lecture tour of the State, was invited to preside, and Mrs. Anna C. Wait, president of the five-year-old society at Lincoln and for many years the strongest force behind the movement, acted as secretary.[265] Telegrams of greeting were received from Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, editors of the Woman's Journal. At the evening meeting Mrs. Ellsworth recited an original poem and Mrs. Gougar delivered a fine address to a large audience. Professor W. H. Carruth, of the University of Kansas, assisted, coming as delegate from a flourishing suffrage society at Lawrence, of which Miss Sarah A. Brown was president and Mrs. Annie L. Diggs secretary. A constitution was adopted and Mrs. Mansfield[Pg 639] was elected president; Mrs. Wait, vice-president; Mrs. Ellsworth, corresponding secretary.

In the fall of 1884 Mrs. Ellsworth and Mrs. Clara B. Colby of Nebraska, made an extended lecture and organizing tour. At Salina they met and enlisted Mrs. Laura M. Johns, and then began the systematic work which rapidly brought Mrs. Johns to the front as the leader of the suffrage forces in Kansas. In addition to her great ability as an organizer, she is an unsurpassed manager of conventions, a forceful writer, an able speaker and a woman of winning personality.

On Jan. 15, 16, 1885, the State association held its annual meeting in Topeka, during the first week of the Legislature. Its chief business was to secure the introduction of a bill granting Municipal Woman Suffrage, in which it succeeded. Mrs. Gougar was an inspiring figure throughout the convention, addressing a large audience in Assembly Hall. A Committee on the Political Rights of Women was secured in the Lower House by a vote of 75 yeas, 45 nays, after a spirited contest. One was refused in the Senate by a tie vote. Much interest and discussion among the members resulted and a favorable sentiment was created. Mrs. Wait was made president, Mrs. Johns, vice-president. A second convention was held this year in Salina, October 28, 29, with "Mother" Bickerdyke and Mrs. Colby as the principal speakers. A large amount of work was planned, all looking to the end of securing Municipal Suffrage from the next Legislature.

During 1886 the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, under the presidency of Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall, zealously co-operated with the suffrage association in the effort for the Municipal Franchise, Miss Amanda Way, Mrs. Sarah A. Thurston, Miss Olive P. Bray and many other able women making common cause with its legislative committee and working for the bill. About 9,000 suffrage documents were distributed.

This autumn eleven conventions in the congressional districts of the State were held under the efficient management of Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Wait, beginning at Leavenworth, October 4, 5, and following at Abilene, Lincoln, Florence, Hutchinson, Wichita, Anthony, Winfield, Independence, Fort Scott and Lawrence.[Pg 640] Miss Susan B. Anthony, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Colby and Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon of New Orleans, were the speakers. They were greeted by crowded houses, Miss Anthony especially receiving an ovation at every place visited.

In October the American W. S. A. held its national convention in Topeka. Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, of Massachusetts, and the Hon. William Dudley Foulke and Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, of Indiana, were present. The meeting was of incalculable benefit at this time. For the next few months Mrs. Gougar, with her strong speeches, was everywhere in demand; Mrs. Saxon was continuously at work; Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana made a number of powerful addresses, and the whole State was aroused in the interest of the bill.

Instead of holding the usual State convention in 1886 it met in Topeka, Jan. 11-13, 1887, when the Legislature was in session, and was largely attended for success seemed near at hand. Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood of Washington, D. C., made an able address. The other speakers were Professor Carruth, the Rev. C. H. Rogers, Mrs. Saxon and Mrs. Colby. Miss Sarah A. Brown, as chairman of the committee, reported a resolution urging the Legislature to confer Municipal Suffrage on women, which was unanimously carried, and the most determined purpose to secure its passage by the Legislature then in session was manifested. Mrs. Johns was elected president, an office which she held eight consecutive years.

The bill passed and became a law February 15. The next annual meeting took place in Newton, Oct. 13-15, 1887, with the usual large attendance.[266] Miss Anthony, Mr. Blackwell, the Rev. Miss Shaw and Rachel G. Foster (Avery) were the speakers from abroad. Two notable events were the appearance of Kansas' first woman mayor, Mrs. M. D. Salter of Argonia, and the reading of a carefully compiled statement relative to the first vote[Pg 641] of women in the towns and cities at the election the preceding April. This paper was the work of Judge Francis G. Adams, for many years secretary of the State Historical Society, and a lifelong friend and helper of woman's enfranchisement. It answered conclusively the question whether women would vote if they had an opportunity.

This convention was followed by a very successful series of meetings in many cities to arouse public sentiment in favor of Full Suffrage, under the management of Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Letitia V. Watkins, State organizer, with Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Miss Foster as speakers. Considerable attention was given to the speech recently made by U. S. Senator John J. Ingalls at Abilene, vigorously opposing woman suffrage.

Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge of the National, and Mrs. Rastall of the Kansas W. C. T. U., also made an active canvass of the State. These organizations united in a strong appeal to women to be equal to their new responsibilities, which was supplemented by one from the national president, Miss Frances E. Willard.

The State convention met at Emporia, Nov. 13-15, 1888, with Miss Anthony as its most inspiring figure. A notable feature was the address of Mrs. Johns, the president, in which she said:

> And this brings me to speak of our attitude toward political parties. Whatever may be the individual preferences of the officers of our State Association, our organization is non-partisan. I have hitherto regarded it as necessary that it should be strictly non-partisan, just as I have believed that it must remain non-sectarian, so that no one of any faith, political or religious, shall be shut out from our work.... I believe that this attitude toward sects will be necessary to the day of our full enfranchisement; but not as it now is will our relations to party remain. The time is not yet ripe perhaps, but the years will not be many to go over our heads before we shall feel the necessity of declaring our allegiance to a party, and it is possible that to this we will be compelled to come before we secure an amendment to the constitution of the State striking out the word "male."

A strong speech was made by Secretary Adams, urging that women should do aggressive political work with a view of securing the franchise. From this time on women were not only welcomed as political allies, but their influence and active participation were sought in party politics. Many women lent their aid[Pg 642] chiefly owing to their belief that they would thus become so valuable as to win party support to their full enfranchisement; others were enlisted by reason of their interest and devotion to the issues. Whether for good or ill as it should affect full suffrage, Kansas women thenceforth entered fully into party affiliations, but as individuals and not as representing the suffrage association.

The State convention of 1889 assembled in Wichita, October 1-3. Miss Anthony was an honored guest and among those who made addresses were Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Mary D. Lowman, mayor of Oskaloosa, and the Hon. Randolph Hatfield.

At the convention of 1890 in Atchison, November 18-20, Miss Anthony was again present accompanied by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and Mrs. Colby.

The annual meeting of 1891 was held in Topeka, November 20, 21. During the past year the great political change from Republicanism to Populism had taken place in Kansas. Women had been among the most potent factors in this revolution, and as woman suffrage was at that time a cardinal principle of the Populist party, and there always had been considerable sentiment in favor of it among Republicans, the prospects of obtaining the Full Franchise seemed very bright.

In February and March of 1892 a series of thirty two-days' conventions was held in the congressional districts and in nearly one-third of the counties of the State, attended by great crowds. Miss Jennie Broderick was chairman of the committee, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery secretary and treasurer, and Mrs. Martha Powell Davis, Mrs. Martia L. Berry, Mrs. Diggs and Mrs. Wait were the other members. Mrs. Avery contributed $1,000 toward this canvass. Outside speakers were Miss Florence Balgarnie of England, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York, Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri, and the Rev. Miss Shaw. The State speakers were Mesdames S. A. Thurston, May Belleville Brown, Elizabeth F. Hopkins, J. Shelly Boyd and Caroline L. Denton. Mrs. Johns arranged all of these conventions, presided one day or more over each and spoke at every one, organizing in person twenty-five of the thirty-one local societies which were formed as a result of these meetings.

The first week in June a two-days' suffrage conference was held[Pg 643] at the Ottawa Chautauqua Assembly, with the assistance of Miss Anthony, president, and Miss Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association. From here Miss Anthony went to the State Republican Convention, in session at Topeka, accompanied by Mrs. Johns, Mrs. Hopkins and Mrs. Brown, officers of the State suffrage society. They were joined by Miss Amanda Way and "Mother" Bickerdyke, and by unanimous vote all of these ladies were given seats upon the floor of the convention. Miss Anthony was invited to address the body, conducted to the platform amid ringing cheers and her remarks were cordially received. Later several of the ladies addressed the resolutions committee, and the final result, by 455 yeas, 267 nays, was a plank in the platform unequivocally declaring for the submission of an amendment to the constitution to enfranchise women. A similar plank already had been adopted by the Populist State Convention at Wichita with great enthusiasm.

During the autumn campaign following, Mrs. Diggs and other women spoke from the Populist platform, and Miss Anthony, Mrs. Johns and Mrs. T. J. Smith from the Republican. Miss Anthony, however, simply called attention to the record of the Republican party in the cause of human freedom, and urged them to complete it by enfranchising women, but did not take up political issues.

The State convention of 1892 was held at Enterprise, December 6-8, and the problem of preserving the non-partisan attitude of the organization so as to appeal with equal force to Republicans and Populists presented itself. With this in view, Mrs. Diggs, a Populist, was made vice-president, as support and counsellor of Mrs. Johns, the president, who was a prominent Republican, and the association, despite the political diversity of its members, was held strictly to a non-partisan basis.

Both Republicans and Populists having declared for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment, the Legislature of 1893 passed a bill for this purpose, championed by Representative E. W. Hoch and Senator Householder. From that time forward, Mrs. Johns, Mrs. Diggs and hundreds of Kansas women of both Republican and Populist faith labored with untiring zeal for its success. Nothing was left undone that human wisdom could plan or human effort carry out.[Pg 644]

On Sept. 1, 2, 1893, a mass meeting was held in Kansas City at which Mrs. Chapman Catt ably presented the question. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois agreed to raise $2,000 in the State. Mrs. Thurston, at the head of the press bureau, announced that hundreds of papers were pledged to support the amendment; the State Teachers' Association passed a strong resolution for it; the Grand Army of the Republic was in favor; Miss Helen L. Kimber related much success in organizing, and from every county came reports of meetings and debates.

Mrs. Johns, State president, went to the National Suffrage Convention in Washington in the winter of 1894 and made a most earnest appeal for assistance in the way of speakers and funds, both of which were promised by the association. She was appointed chairman of the amendment committee with power to name the members,[267] and they opened up with energy the long campaign of agitation, education and organization. They started enrollment books, appointed polling committees and undertook to put people to work in every one of the 2,100 voting precincts. The National Association contributed $2,571 and also a number of speakers. A constitutional amendment campaign was in progress in New York but Miss Anthony made many trips from there to Kansas, and spent months in canvassing the State, donating her services during the entire time.

Work was continued without cessation for the purpose of creating a public sentiment which would be strong enough to compel the delegates to the political State conventions of 1894 to adopt a plank supporting this amendment, just as in 1892 they had adopted one asking for it. But in 1892 the Populists had swept the State, and in 1894 the Republicans were determined to regain possession of it at all hazards. The amazement and grief of the Republican women was beyond expression when they learned early in 1894 that their party was going to refuse indorsement at its convention in June. Every possible influence was brought to bear by the State and the National Associations. Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt went to Kansas to[Pg 645] open the spring canvass for the women, May 4. They spoke to an immense audience in Kansas City and a resolution was adopted urging all parties to put a woman suffrage plank in their platforms. Miss Anthony's speech was published in full in the Leavenworth Times, Col. D. R. Anthony, editor, and circulated throughout the State. This was the beginning of a great series of two-days' suffrage conventions held by two groups of speakers and so "overlapping" that meetings were going on in four county seats every day, until 85 of the 105 counties had been reached in this way. The Rev. Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt represented the National Association, reinforced by a number of able State speakers. All of these meetings were arranged and managed by Mrs. Johns.

Although obliged to return to New York at that time, in three weeks Miss Anthony went back to Kansas, arriving the day before the Republican convention, June 6. Neither she nor Miss Shaw was allowed to address the resolutions committee, which had been carefully fortified against all efforts by the appointment as chairman of ex-Gov. C. V. Eskridge, an active opponent of woman suffrage since the previous campaign of 1867. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Johns, both strong Republican speakers, were, however, permitted to present the claims of the women, but the platform was absolutely silent, not even recognizing the services of Republican women in municipal politics.

The next Saturday night a mass meeting attended by over 1,000 people was held in Topeka, Mrs. Diggs presiding, Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw making the addresses.

Every effort was now put forth to secure a plank from the Populist convention, June 12. There was great opposition, as the party knew the approaching struggle would be one of life or death. Gov. L. D. Lewelling had asserted he would not stand for re-election on a platform which declared for woman suffrage. While the resolutions committee was out, Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt addressed the convention amidst great enthusiasm. The majority of the committee, led by its chairman, P. P. Elder, were bitterly opposed to a suffrage plank. It occupied them most of the night, and was defeated by[Pg 646] 13 yeas, 8 nays. The one woman member, Mrs. Eliza Hudson, brought in a minority report signed by herself and the other seven, and in spite of every parliamentary tactic it was brought to a debate and discussed four hours, Judge Frank Doster[268] leading the affirmative. The debate was closed by Mrs. Diggs,[269] and the resolution was adopted by 337 yeas, 269 nays—with a rider attached to it saying, "but we do not regard this as a test of party fealty."

The Democratic women brought every possible influence to bear on the State convention of that party but it adopted the following resolution: "We oppose woman suffrage as tending to destroy the home and family, the true basis of political safety, and express the hope that the helpmeet and guardian of the family sanctuary may not be dragged from the modest purity of self-imposed seclusion to be thrown unwillingly into the unfeminine places of political strife."

Miss Shaw continued canvassing the State for two months. Then Mrs. Chapman Catt went out and remained until after election, making addresses, conferring with the politicians and counseling with the women. Miss Anthony, who was obliged to give most of the summer to the great campaign in progress in her own State of New York, returned to Kansas October 20, and spoke daily on the Populist platform in the principal towns until election day, November 6, but only on the suffrage plank. A large number of the ablest of the Kansas women made speeches throughout the campaign and an army of them worked for the amendment.[270][Pg 647]

The battle was lost, and the grief and disappointment of the Kansas women were indescribable. The amendment failed by 34,837 votes—95,302 yeas, 130,139 nays. The total vote cast for Governor was 299,231; total vote on suffrage amendment, 225,441; not voting on amendment, 73,790. There was an attempt to keep count of the ballots according to parties, but it was not entirely successful and there was no way of correctly estimating their political complexion. However, the vote for Gov. E. N. Morrill (Rep.) lacked only 1,800 of that for the other three candidates combined, which shows how easily the Republican party might have carried the amendment. Subtracting the 5,000 Prohibition votes, three-fourths of which it was conceded were cast for the amendment, it lacked 27,000 of receiving as many votes as were cast for the Populist candidate for Governor. Since some Republicans must have voted for it, the figures prove that a vast number of Populists did not do so.[271]

The first State convention following the defeat of 1894 was held at Winfield, December 6, 7, of that year. Mrs. Johns was once more elected president, but the profound disappointment over the defeat of the amendment made it impossible to revive organization or interest to any satisfactory degree.

From 1887 until 1895 Mrs. Johns was the efficient and devoted president of the State association. As she declined to serve longer, the convention which met at Eureka, November 21, 22, elected Mrs. Kate R. Addison to this office. Mrs. Addison began her official work with much hopefulness, established a monthly paper, the Suffrage Reveille, and succeeded in enlisting new workers in the cause. Miss Laura A. Gregg, State organizer, added a number of clubs and over 200 members.

In June, 1896, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson was brought into the State for twenty-seven lectures, beginning with the Chautauqua[Pg 648] Assembly at Winfield. The annual meeting took place at Topeka, November 10, ll, and Mrs. Addison was re-elected.

The convention of 1897 was held at Yates Center, December 8-10, and Mrs. Addison was continued in office. Mrs. Stetson had again made a lecturing tour of the State and a general revival of interest was reported.

Miss Anthony and Mrs. Chapman Catt were present at the State convention in Paola, Oct. 21, 22, 1898. Mrs. Abbie A. Welch, a pioneer in the cause, was elected to the presidency. During this year Mrs. Johns and Miss Gregg organized a number of counties, and the press superintendent, Mrs. Alice G. Young, did effective work with the newspapers.

The annual meeting of 1899 was held in Kansas City, October 9-11, and was the most largely attended since the great defeat. Gov. John P. St. John was the orator of the occasion. The Rev. Father Kuhls, a Catholic priest, spoke as a disbeliever in woman's enfranchisement, which furnished inspiration for a reply by Mrs. Diggs. This event created an interest equalling the old-time enthusiasm, and it was believed that the hour for renewed activity had struck. Mrs. Diggs was made president, and it was unanimously resolved to take up again the work for full enfranchisement.

The convention of 1900 was held in Olathe, December 18, 19. The State at the recent Presidential election having gone strongly Republican, Mrs. Diggs thought it not political wisdom to remain at the head of the association and Miss Gregg was elected president. When it was learned that she had taken charge of the Nebraska suffrage headquarters her duties devolved upon Miss Helen L. Kimber, the new vice-president. This convention voted against the proposition to ask the Legislature of 1901 to submit a constitutional amendment, thinking it advisable first to devote two years to the work of organization, after which it is generally believed the full suffrage can be secured.[272][Pg 649]

Legislative Action: The State Association from its beginning in 1884 made Municipal Suffrage its chief object. In 1885 a bill for this purpose was presented in the House by Frank J. Kelly. It was favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee, but although advanced somewhat on the calendar it was too far down to reach a vote.

At a special session in 1886 the bill was reported to the House by the committee on Political Rights of Women, and a large force of competent women went to Topeka to urge its passage. On February 10 it stood eighth from the top on the calendar. On February 11, when the Committee on Revision submitted its report, it stood sixty-first. A strong protest was made by its friends on the floor and by a standing vote it was restored to its original place. The enemies were now thoroughly alarmed. A State election was close at hand and the Prohibitionists were crowding the Republicans. The bill was practically a Republican measure and its opponents in that party hit upon the scheme of getting up a Third Party scare. They were led by ex-Gov. George T. Anthony who declared he would spend his last cent to defeat the bill. It was denounced by press and politicians as a sly Prohibition trick, some of its best friends were thus silenced and it was quietly smothered. The bill was introduced in the Senate by L. B. Kellogg and favorably reported from the Judiciary Committee with an opposing minority report. It was ably championed by himself, Senators H. B. Kelly and R. W. Blue, but was eventually stricken from the calendar by the Committee on Revision and a motion to reinstate was lost by 12 yeas, 25 nays, on February 16.

When the Legislature convened in 1887 the election was over and had resulted favorably for the Republicans. The suffragists had spent the intervening ten months in a campaign of their own. Miss Anthony had come to Kansas and they had held conventions[Pg 650] in all the principal cities. At her request the W. C. T. U. had given up their plan of asking for an amendment to the constitution and joined the attempt to secure Municipal Suffrage under the leadership of their president, Mrs. Fannie H. Rastall. Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, their national superintendent of franchise, gave a series of her eloquent lectures. The strongest suffrage speakers in the country came to the State, under the management of Mrs. Laura M. Johns, and petitions were secured containing 10,000 names, more than ever had been presented for any purpose. This agitation was continued up to the opening of the Legislature, Jan. 11, 1887, when Mrs. Johns was on hand with the bill. It was introduced in the Senate by Judge R. W. Blue and referred to the Judiciary Committee, of which he was chairman. A favorable report, with a minority dissent, was made, but the original bill had been substituted by one which provided merely that "women should vote for all city officers." A vigorous protest was made by the suffrage leaders. They insisted that the right to vote for city bonds should be included, and that the inequalities should be remedied in the present law which prevented women of first and second class cities from voting on school questions as did those of the third class and the country districts. A compromise was finally effected and a bill drafted by which women should vote for all city and school officers and on bonds for school appropriations.

A petition against the bill was sent in signed by nineteen women of Independence, saying in effect that women had all the rights they needed. On the morning when it was to be discussed an enormous bouquet adorned the desk of Senator R. M. Pickler, leader of the opponents, the card inscribed, "From the women of Kansas who do not wish to vote. History honors the man who dares to do what is right." Later investigation disclosed the fact that no woman had any part in sending the flowers, but that, as one member remarked in open session, their chief perfume was that of alcohol.

After hours of debate and an adjournment the bill finally was adopted on January 28, by 25 yeas, all Republicans; 13 nays, 10 Republicans, 3 Democrats. Judge Blue's table was loaded with flowers and every Senator who voted in favor was decorated with a choice buttonhole bouquet sent by the ladies.[Pg 651]

The bill was already far advanced in the House, under the management of Gen. T. T. Taylor. On February 10 the discussion continued the entire day. Scripture was read and Biblical authorities cited from Eve to St. Paul; the pure female angels were dragged through the filthy cesspool of politics, and the changes were rung on the usual hackneyed objections. The measure was splendidly championed, however, by many members, especially by T. A. McNeal (Rep.) who made a telling response to the scurrilous speech of Edward Carrol (Dem.), leader of the opposition. No member of the House rendered more effective service than did A. W. Smith, Speaker. It passed by 91 yeas—88 Rep., 3 Dem.; 22 nays, 5 Rep., 17 Dem. The total vote of both Houses was 116 yeas—113 Rep., 3 Dem.; 35 nays, 15 Rep., 20 Dem. The bill was signed by Gov. John A. Martin (Rep.), February 15, 1887.[273]

Notwithstanding all the efficient work done by the officers of the State association, the local clubs and the platform speakers, this measure would not have become a law but for the vigilant work of the women with the Legislature itself. Mrs. Johns was on hand from the first, tactfully urging the bill. She had very material aid in the constant presence, active pen and careful work of J. B. Johns, her husband. Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana was granted the privilege of addressing the House while in session. Prominent women from all parts of the State were in attendance, using their influence with the members from their districts. On the day of final debate in the House the floor and galleries were crowded, over 300 women being present. A jubilee impossible to describe followed the announcement that the bill had passed.[274] The next day the House was transformed by the women into a bower of blossoms.

In March, the next month after Municipal Suffrage was granted to women, the "age of protection" for girls was raised from ten to eighteen years.

Two years later, in 1889, a bill was presented to amend this[Pg 652] law, which passed the Senate by 26 yeas, 9 nays, and was sent to the House. It was so smothered in words that the general public was not aware of its meaning. By the time it reached the House, however, the alarm had been sounded that it proposed to reduce the age of consent, and there was a storm of protest. This was not alone from women but also from a number of men. The Labor Unions were especially active in opposition and the House was inundated with letters and petitions. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee which reported it with the recommendation that it be not passed. Its author claimed that it was intended simply to afford some protection for boys.[275] In 1891 Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg recommended that, in order to protect young men of immature years from women of immoral life, inquiry as to the character of the woman bringing the charge should be permitted. Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey urged that such an amendment should be adopted, which could be done without lowering the age of protection for girls. No change, however, has been made in the law.

In 1889 the divorce law was so amended as to give the wife all the property owned by her at the time of marriage and all acquired by her afterward, alimony being allowed from the real and personal estate of the husband.

This year a bill was passed creating the Girls' Industrial School. Mrs. S. A. Thurston was one of the prime factors in securing this bill.

As the Legislature was overwhelmingly Republican the greatest effort was put forth to secure a law making it mandatory to place women on the State Boards of Charitable Institutions. Thirty-six large petitions were introduced by as many members in each House but all failed of effect.

In 1891 the Populist party gained control of the House of Representatives, although the Senate was still Republican. Mrs. Annie L. Diggs had been appointed by the Farmers' Alliance on their State legislative committee and she began a vigorous campaign to secure Full Suffrage for Women by Statutory Enactment,[Pg 653] which it was believed could be done under the terms of the constitution. The bill was introduced into the House and urged by J. L. Soupene. Mrs. Diggs had the assistance of Col. Sam Wood and other ardent friends of suffrage. The Committee on Political Rights of Women reported the bill favorably, and said through its chairman, D. M. Watson:

> While the constitution declares in the first section of its suffrage article that "every white male person, etc., shall be deemed a qualified elector," in the second section it names certain persons who shall be excluded from voting. Women are not given the right to vote in the first nor are they excluded in the second, and this indicates that the question of their right to vote was intended to be left to the Legislature. The Supreme Court (Wheeler vs. Brady, 15th Kas., p. 33,) says: "There is nothing in the nature of government which would prevent it. Women are members of society, members of the great body politic, citizens as much as men, with the same natural rights, united with men in the same common destiny, and are capable of receiving and exercising whatever political rights may be conferred upon them."

On February 14 the bill received 60 yeas, 39 nays, not a constitutional majority. The sentiment in favor was so strong among the Populists that a reconsideration was finally secured and the bill passed by 69 yeas—64 Pop., 4 Rep., 1 Dem.; 32 nays—16 Pop., 12 Rep., 4 Dem. Previous to its passage the Speaker, P. P. Elder (Pop.) presented a protest signed by himself, 7 Populists, 4 Republicans and 4 Democrats, declaring it to be unconstitutional and giving eight other objections.[276][Pg 654]

The friends were much elated at its passage over this protest and sent at once for Mrs. Johns to come to Topeka and work for its success in the Senate. She made every possible effort but in vain, the Republicans basing their refusal on its unconstitutionality. There was every reason to believe the Supreme Court would have upheld the statute.

In 1893 an amendment to the constitution was submitted to the electors by votes of both Republican and Populist members of the Legislature and was defeated in 1894, as has been related.

In 1897 two bills were introduced, one providing for a Bond Suffrage which is not included in the Municipal; the other to enable women to vote for Presidential electors. They were not reported from committee.

In 1899 a bill providing that there should be women physicians in penal institutions containing women and at least one woman on the State Board of Charities was favorably reported by, the House committee, but did not reach a vote.

This year an act was secured creating the Traveling Libraries Commission. The work for this was initiated and principally carried forward by Mrs. Lucy B. Johnston, who enlisted the women of the Social Science Federation in 1897. The federated club women had conducted the enterprise three years and now turned over to the State forty libraries of about 5,000 volumes. In 1901 the appropriation was raised from $2,000 to $8,000.

On Jan. 14, 1901, a bill prepared by Auditor Carlisle of Wyandotte county was introduced by its Representative J. A. Butler (Dem.) of Kansas City, to repeal the law giving Municipal Suffrage to women. It was received with jeers and shouts of laughter and referred to the Judiciary Committee, which, on the 17th, reported it with the recommendation that it be not passed. On January 18 he re-introduced the same measure under another title. This time protests were sent in from all parts of the State. Mrs. Diggs went to Mr. Butler's home and secured a large number of these from his own constituents. A hearing was given by the Judiciary Committee to a delegation of prominent women and the bill was never reported.[Pg 655]

As there seemed so much favorable sentiment it was hastily decided to ask this Legislature to give women the right to vote for Presidential electors, which would unquestionably be legal. Mrs. Johns and Miss Helen Kimber looked after its interests with the Republican members; Mrs. Diggs with the Populists. The evening of February 26, when the vote was to be taken in the Senate, floor and galleries were crowded with women of position and influence. Senator Fred Dumont Smith (Rep.) had charge of the bill, and Senator G. A. Noftzger (Rep.) led the opposition. The vote resulted in 22 yeas—16 Rep., 4 Pop., 2 Dem.; 13 nays—12 Rep., 1 Pop. The friends had every reason to believe the House would pass the bill, but in the still small hours of the night following the action of the Senate, its Republican members in caucus decided that this might injure the party at the approaching State election, and the next morning it was reconsidered and defeated by 14 yeas—9 Rep., 4 Pop., 1 Dem.; 23 nays—21 Rep., 1 Pop., 1 Dem.

Laws: The constitution of Kansas, adopted in 1859, contained more liberal provisions for women than had existed in any State up to that time. It made the law of inheritance the same for widow and widower; gave father and mother equal guardianship of children; and directed the Legislature to protect married women in the possession of separate property. This was not done, however, until 1868, the next year after the first campaign to secure an amendment conferring suffrage upon women. At this time a statute provided that all property, real and personal, owned by a woman at marriage, and all acquired thereafter by descent or by the gift of any person except her husband, shall remain her sole and separate property, not subject to the disposal of her husband or liable for his debts.

A married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued as if unmarried; engage in any business or perform any services and her earnings shall be her sole and separate property to be used or invested by her. The wife can convey or mortgage her separate personal property without the husband's signature. He can do the same without her signature except such as is exempt so long as a man is married. Neither can convey or encumber real estate without consent of the other.[Pg 656]

If there are no children the surviving husband or wife takes all the property real and personal; if there are children, one-half. Neither can dispose by will of more than one-half of the separate property without the consent of the other. A homestead of 160 acres of land, or one acre within city limits, is reserved free from creditors for the survivor. If the wife marry again, or when the children have attained their majority, the homestead must be divided, she taking one-half. If she die first the husband has the right of occupancy for life, whether he marry or not, but the homestead must descend to her heirs.

The husband must support the wife according to his means, or she may have alimony decreed by the court without divorce, or in some cases she may sue directly for support. In case of divorce the wife is entitled to all the property owned by her at marriage and all acquired by her afterwards, alimony being allowed from the real and personal estate of the husband.

The "age of protection" for girls is 18, with penalty of imprisonment at hard labor not less than five nor more than twenty-one years.

Suffrage: (See page 659.)

Office Holding: The first State constitution, in 1859, declared women eligible for all School offices. As it does not require that any State officer except member of the Legislature shall be an elector, women are not legally debarred from any other State office. The constitution does prescribe the qualifications for some county officers, and the Legislature for others and for all township officers. Some of these are required to be electors and some are not; some can be voted for only by electors and the law is silent in regard to others. It would perhaps require a Supreme Court decision in almost every case if there were any general disposition to elect women to these offices. Twenty years ago a few were serving as county clerks, registers of deeds, regents of the State University, county superintendents and school trustees.

In 1889 Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg (Rep.) appointed his wife Assistant Attorney-General. She was a practicing attorney and her husband's law partner and filled the office with great[Pg 657] ability. Miss Ella Cameron served out her father's unexpired term as Probate Judge and the Legislature legalized her acts.

There is no law requiring women on the boards of State institutions but a number have been appointed. Gov. L. D. Lewelling (Pop.) in 1893 appointed Mrs. Mary E. Lease member of the State Board of Charities and Mrs. Eva Blackman on the Board of Police Commissioners of Leavenworth. These were the first and last appointments of women to these positions.

In 1894 women physicians were appointed by him in two insane asylums, the Orphans' Home and the Girls' Industrial School.

In 1897 Gov. John W. Leedy (Pop.) appointed Mrs. John P. St. John member Board of Regents of State Agricultural College and Dr. Eva Harding physician at Boys' Reform School.

In 1898 Mrs. Annie L. Diggs was appointed State Librarian by the Supreme Court, Judges Frank Doster, Stephen Allen, Populists; William A. Johnston, Republican. The term is four years. There are two women assistants in the State library.

Miss Zu Adams is first assistant in the State Historical Library. Three other women are employed as assistants in that office.

Each of the three State Hospitals for the Insane has a woman physician, but this is not required. The law provides that the Girls' Industrial School shall have a woman physician and superintendent. Its officers always have been women, except the farmer and engineer. In 1894 a woman was appointed as farmer and was said to be the best the institution ever had.

Mrs. Lucy B. Johnston and Mrs. Mary V. Humphreys are members of the State Traveling Library Commission, Mrs. Diggs, as State Librarian, being president.

Since the very first time that women voted they have been clerks of elections, and in some instances, judges.

Several small towns have put the entire local government into the hands of women. From 1887 to 1894 there had been about fifty women aldermen, five police judges, one city attorney, several city clerks and treasurers, and numerous clerks and treasurers of school boards. In 1896 a report from about half the counties showed twenty women county superintendents of schools,[Pg 658] and 554 serving on school boards. They are frequently made president or secretary of the board.

Women have been candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, but none has been elected.

A number of women within the past few years have been elected county treasurers, recorders, registers and clerks. They serve as notaries public. Probably one-third of the county offices have women deputies.

The record for 1900, as far as it could be obtained, showed the women in office to be one clerk of the district court, two county clerks, seven registrars of deeds and twenty-seven county superintendents of schools. This list is far from complete.

About twenty-five women have been elected to the office of mayor in the smaller towns of Kansas. In several instances the entire board of aldermen have been women. The business record of these women has been invariably good and their industrious efforts to improve sanitation, schools, sidewalks, and to advance the other interests of their town, have been generously seconded and aided by the men of their community. Among the most prominent of the women mayors were Mrs. Mary D. Lowman of Oskaloosa, Mrs. Minnie D. Morgan of Cottonwood Falls, and Mrs. Antoinette Haskell of Gaylord. Mrs. Lowman, the second woman to be elected, conducted a great work in improving the conditions of the municipality, morally and physically. She held her office two terms with entire boards of women aldermen, and refused to serve a third term, saying that she and her boards had accomplished the work they set out to do. They retired with much honor and esteem, having made a creditable amount of street improvements and left the treasury with more money than they found in it. Mrs. Morgan is editor with her husband of a Republican newspaper, an officer in the Woman's State Press Association and holds high official position in the Woman's Relief Corps. Mrs. Haskell is the wife of a prominent lawyer and politician. She held the office of mayor for two terms and the last time her entire board of aldermen were women. Her administration of municipal affairs was so satisfactory that she was besought to accept a third term but declined.[Pg 659]

Occupations: The constitution of the State, framed in 1859, opened every occupation to women.

Education: This first constitution also required the admission of women to all the State educational institutions and gave them a place on the faculties. As early as 1882 one-half of the faculty of the State University was composed of women. This university, the State Agricultural College and the State Normal College average an equal number of men and women graduates. Women hold places on the faculties of all these institutions.

In the public schools there are 5,380 men and 7,133 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $39; of the women, $32.

Suffrage: The constitution for Statehood, framed in 1859, provided that all women over 21 should vote at all School District meetings the same as men, the first one to contain such a provision. This excluded all women in first and second class cities in after years, as their school affairs are not managed through district meetings. When a test case was made it was decided by the Supreme Court that no women could legally vote for State or county superintendents, but only for trustees. (5th Kansas, p. 227.) Both the constitution and the statutes are confused as to the qualifications of those who may vote for various county and township officers but women never have been permitted to do so.

In 1887 the Legislature granted Municipal Suffrage to women. The law is as follows:

> In any election hereafter held in any city of the first, second or third class, for the election of city or school officers, or for the purpose of authorizing the issuance of any bonds for school purposes, the right of any citizen to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex; and women may vote at such elections the same as men, under like restrictions and qualifications; and any women possessing the qualifications of a voter under this act shall also be eligible to any such city or school office.

This law includes women in all of the villages, as these are known as "third class cities." Women in country districts, however, continue to have only a limited School Suffrage. It does not give women a vote on any questions of taxation which are submitted to the electors except for school purposes.[Pg 660]

Nevertheless this was an advanced step which attracted the attention of the entire country. While in Wyoming women had Full Suffrage, it was a sparsely settled Territory, with few newspapers and far removed from centers of political activity. Kansas was a battle-ground for politics, and great interest was felt in the new forces which had been called into action. From the first women very extensively took advantage of their new privilege. It was granted February 15 and the next municipal election took place April 5, so there were only a few weeks in which to accustom them to the new idea, make them acquainted with the issues, settle the disputed points and give them a chance to register. The question was at once raised whether they could vote for justices of the peace and constables, and at a late hour Attorney-General S. B. Bradford gave his opinion that they could not do so, as these are township officers. This made separate ballot-boxes necessary and in many places these were not provided, so there was considerable misunderstanding and confusion. On election day a wind storm of unusual violence, even for that section of the country, raged all day. Through the influence of the Liquor Dealers' Association, which had used every possible effort to defeat the suffrage bill, reporters were sent by a number of large papers in different cities, especially St. Louis, with orders to ridicule the voting of the women and minimize its effects. As a result the Eastern press was soon flooded with sensational and false reports.

An official and carefully prepared report of 112 pages was issued by Judge Francis G. Adams, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Association, and Prof. William H. Carruth of the State University, giving the official returns from 253 cities. The total vote was 105,216; vote of men, 76,629; of women, 28,587. In a few of the very small cities there were no women's votes. In many of the second-class cities more than one-half as many women as men voted. In Leavenworth, 3,967 ballots were cast by men, and 2,467 by women; in Lawrence, 1,437 by men, 1,050 by women. In Kansas City, Topeka and Fort Scott about one-fourth as many women as men voted. In these estimates it must be taken into consideration that there were many more men than[Pg 661] women in the State. In 1890, three years later, the census report showed the excess of males to be about 100,000.

The pamphlet referred to contained 100 pages of extracts from the press of Kansas on the voting of women, and stated that these represented but a fraction of the comment. They varied as much as the individual opinions of men, some welcoming the new voters, some ridiculing and abusing, others referring to the movement as a foolish fad which would soon be dropped. The Republican and Prohibitionist papers almost universally paid the highest tribute to the influence of women on the election and assured them of every possible support in the future. The Democratic papers, with but few exceptions, scoffed at them and condemned woman suffrage. The immense majority of opinion was in favor of the new regime and was an unimpeachable answer to the objections and misrepresentations which found place in the press of all other parts of the country.

The interest of Kansas women in their political rights never has abated. The proportion of their vote varies in about the same ratio as that of men. Upon occasions when the character of candidates or the importance of the issue commands especial attention a great many go to the polls. Their chief interest, however, centers in questions which bear directly upon the education and welfare of their children, the environment of their homes and those of kindred nature. When issues involving these are presented they vote in large numbers.

There is always a larger municipal vote in the uneven years when mayors are to be elected, and therefore a comparison is made in five prominent cities between the vote of 1887 and that of 1901 to show that in the fourteen years the interest of women in the suffrage has increased instead of diminished.

Town. | Year. | Man-Vote. | Woman-Vote.
Kansas City | 1887 | 3,956 | 1,042
Kansas City | 1901 | 8,900 | 4,582
Topeka | 1887 | 4,580 | 1,049
Topeka | 1901 | 7,338 | 5,335
Fort Scott | 1887 | 1,273 | 425
Fort Scott | 1901 | 1,969 | 1,270
Leavenworth | 1887 | 3,967 | 2,467
Leavenworth | 1901 | 5,590 | 3,018
Wichita | 1887 | 3,312 | 2,984
Wichita | 1901 | ..... | .....

[Pg 662]

It was impossible to obtain the vote of Wichita in 1901 but the registration was 6,546 men, 4,040 women, and out of these 10,586, there were 8,960 who voted. One of the most prominent lawyers in Wichita writes of this election: "The women fully maintained the ratio of the registration. The vote was small on account of inclement weather but I am sure that it kept away more men than women."

At one election it is recorded the vote of women exceeded that of men in one second-class and three third-class cities. In one instance all but two of the women of Cimarron cast their ballots. In Lincoln for several years women have polled 46 per cent. of the entire vote. The percentage of males in the State by the census of 1900 was 52.3.

The question frequently is asked why, with the ballot in their hands, women do not compel the enforcement of the prohibitory law, as it is generally supposed that Municipal Suffrage carries with it the right to vote for all city officials. The same year that women were enfranchised, the Legislature, for whom women do not vote, passed a law authorizing the Governor, for whom women do not vote, to appoint a Board of Police Commissioners for each city of the first class, with power to appoint the police judge, city marshal and police, and have absolute control of the organization, government and discipline of the police force and of all station-houses, city prisons, etc. Temperance men and women strongly urged this measure as they believed the Governor would have stamina enough to select commissioners who would enforce the prohibitory law. This board was abolished at the special session of the Legislature in 1897, as it was made a scapegoat for city and county officers who were too cowardly or too unfriendly to enforce the liquor ordinances, and it did not effect the hoped-for reforms.

In 1898 City Courts were established. By uniting the townships with cities and giving these courts jurisdiction over State and county cases, to relieve the congested condition of State courts, women are deprived of a vote for their officers. The exercise of the Municipal Franchise at present is as follows:[Pg 663]

MEN VOTE FOR
Mayor,
Councilmen,
School Board,
City Attorney,
City Treasurer,
City Clerk,
Judge of City Court,
Clerk of City Court,
Marshal of City Court,
Two Justices of the Peace,
Two Constables.
WOMEN VOTE FOR
Mayor,
Councilmen,
School Board,
City Attorney,
City Treasurer,
City Clerk.
APPOINTED BY MAYOR
Police Judge,
City Marshal,
Chief of Police.

In cities of less than 30,000 the Police Judge is elected and women may vote for this officer. In the smallest places the City Marshal is also Chief of Police.

It will be seen that even for the Police Court in the largest cities women have only an indirect vote through the Mayor's appointments. In all the cities and towns liquor sellers when convicted here simply take an appeal to a higher court over which women have no jurisdiction. They have no vote for sheriff, county attorney or any county officer. These facts may in a measure answer the question why women are helpless to enforce the prohibitory law or any other to which they are opposed.

Nevertheless even this small amount of suffrage has been of much benefit to the women and to the cities. As the years go by the general average of the woman-vote is larger. Municipal voting has developed a stronger sense of civic responsibility among women; it has completely demolished the old stock objections and has familiarized men with the presence of women at the polls. Without question a higher level in the conduct of city affairs has resulted. It may, however, well be questioned as to whether Municipal Suffrage has not militated against the full enfranchisement of women. Politicians have been annoyed by interference with their schemes. Men have learned that women command influence in politics, and the party machine has become hostile to further extension of woman's opportunity and power to demand cleaner morals and nobler standards.[277][Pg 664]

Judge S. S. King, Commissioner of Elections at Kansas City, has given the suffrage question much thought, and he has gleaned from the figures of his official records some interesting facts. Alluding to the mooted question of what class of women vote he says:

> The opponents of woman suffrage insist that the lower classes freely exercise the franchise, while the higher classes generally refrain from voting. As women in registering usually give their vocation as "housekeeper" it is impossible to learn from that record what particular ledge of the social strata they stand upon, therefore, in order to locate them as to trades, business, etc., I give them the positions occupied by their husbands and fathers. I take the 17th voting precinct of Kansas City as a typical one. It is about an average in voting population of white and colored men and women and in the diversified industries. The 149 white women who registered in this precinct, as indicated by the vocations of their husbands, fathers, etc., would be classified thus:

> The trades (all classes of skilled labor), 32; the professions, 26; merchants (all manner of dealers), 16; laborers (unskilled), 15; clerks, 10; public officers, 8; bankers and brokers, 7; railroad employes, 7; salesmen, 5; contractors, 2; foremen, 2; paymaster, 1; unclassified, 16. Thus, if the opponents of woman suffrage use the term "lower classes" according to some ill-defined rule of élite society, the example given above would be a complete refutation. If by "lower classes" they mean the immoral and dissolute, the refutation appears to be still more complete, for the woman electorate in the 17th precinct is particularly free from those elements.

It is extremely rare to find a prominent man in Kansas, except certain politicians, who openly opposes woman suffrage. With a very few exceptions the most eminent cordially advocate it, including a large number of ministers, lawyers and editors. It would require a chapter simply to catalogue the names of well-known men and women who are heartily in favor of it. Had Kansas men voted their convictions, Kansas women would long since have been enfranchised, but political partisanship has been stronger than the sense of justice.

### FOOTNOTES:

[263] The History is indebted for this chapter principally to Mrs. Annie L. Diggs of Topeka, State Librarian and former president of the State Woman Suffrage Association. The editors are also under obligations to Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Salina and Mrs. Anna C. Wait of Lincoln, former presidents.

[264] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 191.

[265] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, Chap. L.

[266] At this meeting, on motion of Mrs. Johns, the yellow ribbon was adopted as the suffrage badge, in honor of the sunflower, the State flower of Kansas, the one which follows the wheel track and the plough, as woman's enfranchisement should follow civilization. It was afterwards adopted by the National Association in recognition of Kansas, then the most progressive State in regard to women. Those of a classical bent accepted it because yellow among the ancients signified wisdom.

[267] Secretary, May Belleville Brown; treasurer, Elizabeth F. Hopkins; Mrs. S. A. Thurston, Mrs. L. B. Smith, Alma B. Stryker, Eliza McLallin, Bina A. Otis, Helen L. Kimber, Sallie F. Toler, Annie L. Diggs; from the National Association, Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee, Rachel Foster Avery and Alice Stone Blackwell, corresponding and recording secretaries.

[268] Now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas.

[269] Of Mrs. Diggs' speech Mrs. Johns writes: "It was one of the most masterly arguments I ever heard. At one point she said: 'The great majority of you declare that woman suffrage is right, (a roar of 'yes,' 'yes,' went up), and yet you oppose this plank. Are you afraid to do right?' Her reply to the flimsy objections of the chairman, P. P. Elder, was simply unanswerable. She cut the ground from under his feet, and his confusion and rout were so complete that he stood utterly confounded. That small woman with her truth and eloquence had slain the Goliath of the opposition!"

[270] The following speakers and organizers were placed at fairs, Chautauqua assemblies, picnics, teachers' institutes and in distinctive suffrage meetings: James Clement Ambrose (Ills.), Theresa Jenkins (Wyo.), Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.), Clara C. Hoffman (Mo.); Mrs. Johns, J. B. Johns, the Revs. Eugenia and C. H. St. John, Mary G. Haines, Luella R. Kraybill, Helen L. Kimber, Laura A. Gregg, Lizzie E. Smith, Ella W. Brown, Naomi Anderson, Eva Corning, Ella Bartlett, Alma B. Stryker, Olive I. Royce, Caroline L. Denton, Mrs. Diggs, May Belleville Brown, J. Willis Gleed, Thomas L. Bond, the Rev. Granville Lowther, Prof. W. H. Carruth and Mayor Harrison of Topeka.

During the autumn Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe (Ills.), and Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (Minn.), made addresses for one month; Mrs. Rachel L. Child (Ia.) spoke and organized for two months.

[271] Returns were received from 71 out of the 105 counties, covering 714 of the 2,100 voting precincts. These returns were carefully tabulated by Mrs. Thurston, acting secretary of the amendment campaign committee. The result showed that of Republicans voting on the proposition, 38½ per cent. voted for; of Populists, 54 per cent.; of Democrats, 14 per cent.; of Prohibitionists, 88 per cent.

Of the entire vote of the Republican party for its ticket, 22 per cent. were silent on the amendment; of the entire vote of the People's party, 22 per cent.; of the Democratic, 28 per cent.; of the Prohibition, 24 per cent.

[272] Others who have held official position are vice-presidents, Mesdames J.K. Hudson, Sallie F. Toler, Noble L. Prentis, Abbie A. Welch, Fannie Bobbet and Emma Troudner; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Priscilla Finley, Miss Sarah A. Brown, Dr. Nannie Stephens, Mrs. Elizabeth F. Hopkins, Mrs. Ray Mclntyre, Mrs. B.B. Baird, Mrs. Alice G. Young; recording secretaries, Dr. Addie Kester, Mrs. Alice G. Bond, Prof. William H. Carruth, Mrs. M.M. Bowman, Mrs. Emma S. Albright, Miss Matie Toothaker; treasurers, Mrs. Martia L. Berry, Dr. C.E. Tiffany, Mrs. Lucia O. Case, Mrs. Henrietta Stoddard Turner; auditors, Mrs. Emma S. Marshall, Mrs. S.A. Thurston; parliamentarians, Mesdames Ella W. Brown, Bina A. Otis, Luella R. Kraybill, Antoinette L. Haskell; librarians, Mrs. May Belleville Brown, Dr. Emily Newcomb; State organizer, Miss Jennie Newby; superintendent press work, Mrs. Nannie K. Garrett.

A number of these filled various offices and some of them bore the brunt of the work continuously for years. Other names which appear frequently are J. K. Hudson, editor Topeka Capital, Dr. Sarah C. Hall, Mesdames M. E. De Geer, M. S. Woods, E. D. Garlick, E. A. Elder, L. B. Kellogg, Jennie Robb Maher, Miss Emma Harriman, the Rev. W. A. Simkins, Judge Nathan Cree, Walter S. Wait, Sarah W. Rush, Dr. J. E. Spaulding, Dr. F. M. W. Jackson, Henrietta B. Wall, Mrs. Lucy B. Johnston, Miss Genevieve L. Hawley.

[273] Miss Susan B. Anthony was in the National Convention at Washington and this news was telegraphed her as a birthday greeting.

[274] Among the most influential workers for this bill during the three sessions of the Legislature, in addition to those mentioned, were Thomas L. Bond; Mesdames Bertha H. Ellsworth, Hetta P. Mansfield, Martia L. Berry, S. A. Thurston and Henrietta B. Wall; Misses Jennie Newby, Olive P. Bray and Amanda Way.

[275] Mrs. Johns says of this occasion: "If we had ever had any doubt that even our small moiety of the suffrage would strengthen our influence for righteousness, the effect of our protest at this time and the attitude of the politicians toward us would have dispelled that doubt. We felt our power and it was a new thrill which we experienced."

[276] Among these were the following:

The relations of man and wife "are one and inseparable" as to the good to be derived from or the evil to be suffered by laws imposed, and the addition of woman suffrage will not better their condition, but is fraught with danger and evil to both sexes and the well-being of society.

This privilege conferred will bring to every primary, caucus and election—to our jury rooms, the bench and the Legislature—the ambitious and designing women only, to engage in all the tricks, intrigues and cunning incident to corrupt political campaigns, only to lower the moral standing of their sex; it invites and creates jealousies and scandals and jeopardizes their high moral standing; hurls women out from their central orb fixed by their Creator to an external place in the order of things. Promiscuous mingling with the rude and unscrupulous element around earnest and exciting elections tends to a familiarity that breeds contempt for the fair sex deeply to be deplored.

The demand for female suffrage is largely confined to the ambitious office-seeking class, possessing an insatiable desire for the forum, and when allowed will unfit this class for all the duties of domestic life and transform them into politicians, and dangerous ones at that.

When the laws of nature shall so change the female organization as to make it possible for them to sing "bass" we shall then be quite willing for such a bill to become a law.

It is a grave mistake, an injury to both sexes and the party, to add another "ism" to our political creed.

Republican—A. H. Heber, W. R. Hopkins, F. W. Willard, J. Showalter.
Democrat—J. O. Milner, G. M. Hoover, T. C. Craig, F. M. Gable.
Populist—Robt. B. Leedy, J. L. Andrews, Wellington Doty, B. F. Morris,
Levi Dumbauld, C. W. Dickson, Geo. E. Smith of Neosho.

[277] In 1901, in Topeka, a candidate for the mayoralty, supposed to represent the liquor element, speaking on the afternoon of election day—bleak, dismal and shoe-top deep in snow and mud—said: "I will lose 1,000 votes on account of the weather as the women are out and they are opposed to me. It is impossible to keep them from voting."

[Pg 665]

## CHAPTER XLI.

### KENTUCKY.[278]

In October, 1886, the Association for the Advancement of Women held its annual congress in Louisville, and for the first time woman suffrage was admitted to a place on the program. It was advocated by Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney of Massachusetts and Miss Laura Clay.

The subject was much discussed for the next two years and in February, 1888, Mrs. Mary B. Clay, vice-president of the American and of the National Woman Suffrage Associations, called a convention in Frankfort. Delegates from Lexington and Richmond attended, and Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana was present by invitation. The Hall of Representatives was granted for two evenings, the General Assembly being in session. On the first Mrs. Wallace delivered an able address and the hall was well filled, principally with members of the Legislature. On the second Mrs. Clay spoke upon the harsh laws in regard to women, and Prof. E. B. Walker on the injustice of the property laws and the advantage of giving women the ballot in municipal affairs. He was followed by Mrs. Sarah Clay Bennett, who argued that women already had a right to the ballot under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. At the conclusion of her address she asked all legislators present who were willing to give the ballot to women to stand. Seven arose and were greeted with loud applause.

When the annual meeting of the American W. S. A. convened in Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 20-22, 1888, Miss Laura Clay, member of its executive committee from Kentucky, issued a call to the suffragists of that State to attend this convention for the purpose of organizing a State association. Accordingly delegates[Pg 666] from the Fayette and Kenton county societies met and organized the Kentucky Equal Rights Association. The following officers were elected: President, Miss Clay; vice-presidents, Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Mrs. Mary B. Clay; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer; recording secretary, Miss Anna M. Deane; treasurer, Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard.

The second annual convention was held in the court house at Lexington, Nov. 19-21, 1889, with officers and delegates representing seven counties. The evening speakers were Mrs. Clay, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and Joseph B. Cottrell, D. D. A committee was appointed, Mrs. Henry, chairman, to present the interests of women to the approaching General Assembly and the Constitutional Convention. (See Legislative Action for 1890.)

The next annual meeting took place in Richmond, Dec. 3, 4, 1890. Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer was asked to prepare a tract on co-education, which proved of great assistance in opening the colleges to women. The evening speakers were Mrs. Shepard, Mrs. Henry and the Rev. John G. Fee, the venerable Kentucky Abolitionist.

The fourth convention was held in Louisville, Dec. 8-10, 1891, and was addressed by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev. Dr. C. K. J. Jones.

The fifth annual meeting convened in Richmond, Nov. 9, 10, 1892.[279] Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain's paper, "Why a Democratic Woman Wants the Ballot," was afterwards widely circulated as a leaflet. The evening speakers were Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., and Dr. J. Franklin Browne.

The General Assembly of 1892 was in session most of that year and some months in 1893, as there was a vast amount of business to be done in bringing all departments of legislation into harmony with the new constitution. During all this time the State association was busy urging the rights of women; and at its sixth convention, held in Newport, Oct. 17-19, 1893, was able to report that a law had been secured granting a married woman the power to make a will and control her separate property. Among the speakers was the Rev. G. W. Bradford.[Pg 667]

The annual meeting took place in Lexington, Oct. 24-26, 1894. The most encouraging successes of any year were reported in the extension of School Suffrage and the passage of the Married Woman's Property Rights Bill. In answer to the petition of the Fayette County society to Mayor Henry T. Duncan and the city council of Lexington to place a woman on the school board, Mrs. Wilbur R. Smith had been appointed. She was the first to hold such a position in Kentucky. Mrs. Farmer gave an address on School Suffrage, with illustrations of registration and voting, which women were to have an opportunity to apply in 1895.[280]

In 1895 Richmond was again selected as the place for the State convention, December 10-12, at which legislative work in the General Assembly of 1896 was carefully planned. (See Legislative Action.)

The convention met in Lexington, Dec. 18, 1896. A committee was appointed to work for complete School Suffrage in the extra session of the General Assembly the next year.[281]

Covington entertained the annual meeting Oct. 14, 15, 1897. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois, a national organizer, was present, being then engaged in a tour through the State. This convention was unusually large and full of encouragement.

The eleventh convention was held in Richmond, Dec. 1, 1898, and the twelfth in Lexington, Dec. 11, 12, 1899. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, secretary, assisted, the former giving addresses both evenings. It was decided to ask the General Assembly to make an appropriation for the establishment of a dormitory for the women students of the State College.

Miss Laura Clay has been president of the State Association[Pg 668] since it was organized in 1888. Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick was the first vice-president, but removing to Massachusetts the following year, Mrs. Mary Barr Clay, the second vice-president, was elected and has continued in that office. There have been but two other second vice-presidents, the Hon. William Randall Ramsey and Mrs. Mary C. Cramer, and but two corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer and Mrs. Mary C. Roark. The office of treasurer has been filled continuously by Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard.[282] During all these years H. H. Gratz, editor of the Lexington Gazette, and John W. Sawyer, editor of the Southern Journal, have been among the most faithful and courageous friends of woman suffrage. The Prohibition papers, almost without exception, have been cordial.

Legislative Action and Laws: During the General Assembly of 1890, a committee of eight from the E. R. A. went to Frankfort to ask legislation on the property rights of women, and for women physicians in the State asylums for the insane. A petition for property rights was presented, signed with 9,000 names. Of these 2,240 were collected by Mrs. S. M. Hubbard. On January 10 appeals were made in Representatives' Hall by Miss Laura Clay for the Women Physicians Bill, and by Mrs. Josephine K. Henry for the Property Rights Bill. The latter had carefully prepared a compendium of the married women's property laws in all the States, which was of incalculable value throughout the years of labor necessary to secure this bill.

The press of the State, with few exceptions, espoused the cause of property rights for women. Seven bills were presented to this General Assembly, among them one drawn and introduced into the Senate by Judge William Lindsay, afterward United States Senator. This secured to married women the enjoyment of their property, gave them the power to make a will and equalized curtesy and dower. Although reported adversely by the committee, it was taken up for discussion and was eloquently defended by Judge Lindsay. It passed the Senate, but, was defeated in the[Pg 669] House by the opposing members withdrawing and breaking the quorum.[283] A bill introduced by the Hon. William B. Smith, making it obligatory upon employers to pay wages earned by married women to themselves and not their husbands, became a law at this session.

The Constitutional Convention held in 1890-91 was the field of much labor by the State association. In October a committee consisting of Mrs. Henry, Miss Clay, Mrs. Eugenia B. Farmer, Mrs. Isabella H. Shepard and Mrs. Sarah Clay Bennett went to Frankfort to appeal for clauses in the new constitution empowering the General Assembly to extend Full Suffrage to women; to secure the property rights of wives; and to grant School Suffrage to all women. The importance of their claims was so impressed upon the convention that it appointed a special Committee on Woman's Rights, with one of its most esteemed members, the Hon. Jep. C. Jonson, as chairman, who did all in his power to bring their cause favorably before this body.

On the evening of October 9, in Representatives' Hall, Miss Clay, Mrs. Shepard and Mrs. Bennett addressed an audience composed largely of members, being introduced by Mr. Jonson. Later, Mrs. Henry was given a hearing before the committee. Her tract appealing for property rights was read before the convention by Mr. Jonson and supplied to each of the 100 members. In addition she supplied them several times a week with leaflets, congressional hearings, etc., and wrote 200 articles for the press on property rights and thirty-one on suffrage.

The five ladies, with Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer and Mrs. Margaret A. Watts, met in Frankfort again on December 8, and obtained hearings before the Committees on Revision of the Constitution, Education and Woman's Rights. Mrs. Henry also addressed the Committee on Elections, who asked that her speech be printed and furnished to each member of the convention.

On December 12 the Hon. W. H. Mackoy, at the request of the suffragists, offered this amendment to the section on elections: "The General Assembly may hereafter extend full or partial suffrage to female citizens of the United States of the age of[Pg 670] 21 years, who have resided in this State one year, etc." By his motion the ladies appeared before the convention in Committee of the Whole. They selected Miss Clay as their spokesman and sat in front of the speaker's stand during her address.

The only clause finally obtained in the new constitution was one permitting the General Assembly to extend School Suffrage to women; but the Legislature of 1892 made important concessions.

Among the members of the General Assembly of 1894 especial gratitude is due to Judges S. B. Vance and W. H. Beckner. The former introduced the Bill for Married Women's Property Rights in the House, giving Senator Lindsay credit for being practically its author. Judge Beckner cordially supported this bill, saying he preferred it to one of his own, which he had introduced but would push only if it should be evident that Judge Vance's more liberal bill could not become law. To the leadership of these two is due the vote of 79 ayes to 14 noes with which the bill passed the House. In the Senate it came near to defeat, but was carried through by the strenuous efforts of its friends, especially of Senators W. W. Stephenson, Rozel Weissinger and William Goebel. Senator Weissinger withdrew in favor of the House bill one of his own, not so comprehensive. The bill passed on the very last day of the session possible to finish business. The Senate vote was 21 yeas, 10 nays.[284] It was signed March 15 by Gov. John Young Brown, who always had favored it.

Another signal victory this year was School Suffrage for women of the second-class cities. Since 1838 widows with children of school age had been voters for school trustees in the country districts, and in 1888 this right was extended to allow tax-paying widows and spinsters to vote on school taxes. This general law, however, did not apply to chartered cities. The vigilance[Pg 671] of Mrs. Farmer observed and seized the opportunity offered by the revision of city charters, after the adoption of the new constitution, to put in clauses granting full School Suffrage to all women. At her instigation, in 1892, the equal rights associations of Covington, Newport and Lexington, the only second-class cities, petitioned the committee selected to prepare a charter for such cities to insert a clause in the section on education, making women eligible as members of school boards and qualified to vote at all elections of such boards. This was done, and the charter passed the General Assembly in 1894, and was signed by Governor Brown on March 19. The influence of the State association was not sufficient, however, to have School Suffrage put in the charters of cities of the first, third and fourth classes. The Hons. Charles Jacob Bronston, John O. Hodges, William Goebel and Joel Baker did excellent service for this clause.

The changes wrought by liberal legislation and the part the State association had in securing this will be best understood by quotations from a leaflet issued by the State Association:

> In 1888 the Kentucky E. R. A. was organized for the purpose of obtaining for women equality with men in educational, industrial, legal and political rights.

> We found on the statute books a law which permitted a husband to collect his wife's wages.

> We found Kentucky the only State which did not allow a married woman to make a will.

> We found that marriage gave to the husband all the wife's personal property which could be reduced to possession, and the use of all her real estate owned at the time or acquired by her after marriage, with power to rent the same and receive the rent.

> We found that the common law of curtesy and dower prevailed, whereby on the death of the wife the husband inherited absolutely all her personalty and, when there were children, a life interest in all her real estate; while the wife, when there were children, inherited one-third of her husband's personalty and a life-interest in one-third of his real estate.

> I. In 1890 we secured a law which made the wife's wages payable only to herself.

> II. From the General Assembly of 1892-93 we secured a law giving a married woman the right to make a will and control her real estate.

> III. From the General Assembly of 1894 we secured the present Law for Husband and Wife. The main features of this are:

> 1. Curtesy and dower are equalized. After the death of either husband or wife, the survivor is given a life estate in one-third of[Pg 672] the realty of the deceased and an absolute estate in one-half of the personalty.

> 2. The wife has entire control of her property, real and personal. She owns her personal property absolutely, and can dispose of it as she pleases.[285] The statute gives her the right to make contracts and to sue and be sued as a single woman. This enables a married woman to enter business and hold her stock in trade free from the control of her husband and liability to his creditors.

> 3. The power to make a will is the same in husband and wife, and neither can by will divest the other of dower or interest in his or her estate.

> These splendid property laws are pronounced by leading lawyers to be the greatest legal revolution which has taken place in our history.

A section of the new constitution made it the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law as soon as practicable for Houses of Reform for Juvenile Offenders. The State Woman's Christian Temperance Union decided in 1892 to urge it to act speedily, and the Equal Rights Association co-operated heartily, with a special view to securing provision for girls equal to that for boys, and women on the Board of Managers. A joint committee from the two associations was appointed, with Mrs. Frances E. Beauchamp chairman for the former and Mrs. S. A. Charles for the latter. They compiled a bill with legal advice of Senator Bronston, who had been largely instrumental in securing the section. The unremitting labor of three years was at last crowned with success in 1896, when a bill, essentially that prepared by the women, passed the General Assembly and was signed by Gov. William O. Bradley, March 21.[286] This bill provides for two separate institutions, one for girls and one for boys, on the cottage family plan. The general government is vested in a board of six trustees, three women and three men.

From the General Assembly of 1898 the E. R. A. finally obtained the law making it mandatory to have at least one woman physician in each State insane asylum, for which they had been petitioning ten years. Representative W. C. G. Hobbs introduced[Pg 673] the bill into the House, where it passed by a vote of 77 ayes, 4 noes. Mr. Bronston supported it in the Senate, where it received 26 ayes, one no. It was approved by Governor Bradley March 15.

In the same year the benevolent associations of the women of Louisville secured an act providing for police matrons in that city, the only first-class one in the State, which was approved by the Governor March 10.[287] The first police matron was appointed March 4, before the law required it, at the request of women and through the influence of Mayor Charles P. Weaver, Chief of Police Jacob H. Haager, Jailer John R. Pflanz and Judge Reginald H. Thompson. By the action of the State Board of Prison Commissioners this year, two women were appointed as guards for the women's wards in the penitentiary, their duties being such as usually pertain to a matron.

This year the Women's Club of Central Kentucky set on foot a movement for a free library in Lexington. Senator Bronston secured a change in the city charter to facilitate this object. The act provides that the library shall be under the control of a board of five trustees and was intentionally worded to make women eligible. Mayor Joseph Simrall appointed two of the club women, Mrs. Mary D. Short and Mrs. Ida Withers Harrison. This is the first free library established in Kentucky.

Owing to the turbulent political conditions in the General Assembly of 1900, the State association did not send its usual committee to the capital. However, a committee from the W. C. T. U. did go, and succeeded in securing an appropriation to build the young women's dormitory at the State College, receiving in this effort the encouragement of the E. R. A., as agreed upon at their convention of 1899.

The history of the State association would not be complete without recording its failures. In 1893 an effort to raise the "age of protection" for girls from 12 to 18 was made a part of its work. It was deemed expedient to place this in the hands of a special committee, Mrs. Thomas L. Jones and Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys consenting to assume the arduous task. Mrs.[Pg 674] Henry wrote a strong leaflet on the "age of protection," and Mrs. Humphreys sent many articles to the press. A petition was widely circulated and bore thousands of names when the ladies carried it to the General Assembly in 1894. They succeeded in having a bill introduced, and were given hearings before an appropriate committee; but the Assembly adjourned without acting. In 1895, Mrs. Martha R. Stockwell was added to the committee, which again went to the Assembly with the petition; but without success, and the "age of protection" still remains 12 years. The penalty is death or imprisonment for life.

By special statute the Common Law is retained which makes 12 years the legal age for a girl to marry.

A law to make mothers equal guardians with fathers of minor children is one to which the State association has devoted much attention, but which still waits on the future for success. At present the father is the legal guardian, and at his death may appoint one even for a child unborn. If the court appoints a guardian, the law (1894) requires that it "shall choose the father, or his testamentary appointee; then the mother if [still] unmarried, then next of kin, giving preference to the males."

The husband is expected to furnish the necessaries of life according to his condition, but if he has only his wages there is no law to punish him for non-support.

Suffrage: Kentucky was the first State in the Union to grant any form of suffrage to women by special statute, as its first School Law, passed in 1838, permitted widows in the country districts with children of school age to vote for trustees. In 1888 further extensions of School Suffrage were made and in the country districts, including fifth and sixth class cities, i. e., the smallest villages, any widow having a child of school age, and any widow or spinster having a ward of school age, may now vote for school trustees and district school taxes; also taxpaying widows and spinsters may vote for district school taxes.

In 1894 the General Assembly granted women the right to vote for members of the board of education on the same terms as men in the second-class cities, by a special clause in their charter. There are three of these—Covington, Newport and Lexington.[288][Pg 675]

In the one first-class city, Louisville, the five third-class and the twenty or more fourth-class cities, no woman has any vote.

Office Holding: In 1886 Mrs. Amanda T. Million was appointed to the office of county superintendent of public schools. Her husband had been elected in Madison County, but dying at the commencement of his term, Judge J. C. Chenault, after the eligibility of a woman had been ascertained, appointed the widow to fill out the year. Mrs. Million then became a candidate, and was elected for the remaining three years of the term, being the first woman in the State to fill that office. Her case attracted much attention and at the election in 1889 four women were elected county superintendents; in 1893, eight, and in 1897, eighteen.

In 1895 Mayor Henry T. Duncan appointed two women on the Lexington School Board, Mrs. Ida Withers Harrison and Mrs. Mary E. Lucas, to serve until their successors were elected under the laws of the new charter. In August the women held a mass meeting, conducted by a joint committee from the local E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Club of Central Kentucky, to nominate a woman from each ward. They named Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Ella Williamson, Mrs. Sarah West Marshal and Mrs. Mary C. Roark. This ticket was indorsed the same day by the Citizens' Association (of men). Judge Frank Bullock allowed private houses to be used for women to register, one in each precinct, the registration officers all to be women—clerk, two judges and a sheriff. They were sworn in and did their duty nobly. The Democratic and Republican parties refused to accept the Woman's Ticket. The women therefore selected a man from each ward in addition to the four women nominated, making the required number of eight, known as the Independent Ticket, which was triumphantly elected in November by voters of all parties and both sexes.

In Covington, three women were placed on the Republican ticket, but were defeated. About 5,000 women voted. In Newport two women were placed on the Democratic ticket, but it was defeated. About 2,800 women registered.

The Prohibitionists nominated Mrs. Josephine K. Henry for[Pg 676] clerk of the Court of Appeals in 1890. Though in many places the election clerks refused to enter her name on the polling-books, doubting the eligibility of a woman, she received 4,460 votes. This case is worthy of note because it was the first in Kentucky where a woman was a candidate for election to a State office; and because, as she ran on a platform containing a suffrage plank, practically all the votes for her were cast for woman suffrage.

Women have been State librarians continuously since January, 1876, when the first one was elected.

In 1894 the Senate for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk, and women have held this office ever since.

During the session of 1900, stormy as it was, the House for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk.

Women serve as notaries public. (For other offices see Legislative Action.)

Occupations: Women are engaged in all the professions and no occupation is forbidden to them by law. On Dec. 15, 1886, the Court of Appeals affirmed the right of women to dispense medicines. The case was that of Bessie W. White (Hager), a graduate of the School of Pharmacy of Michigan University. She applied to the State Board of Pharmacy for registration in 1883, complying with all the requirements. They rejected her application, whereupon she applied for a mandamus. The writ was granted but an appeal was taken. Judge William H. Holt delivered the opinion of the Appellate Court, saying in his decision: "It is gratifying to see American women coming to the front in these honorable pursuits. The history of civilization in every country shows that it has merely kept pace with the advancement of its women."

Education: On April 27, 1889, at a called meeting of the Board of Curators of Kentucky University (Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, it was decided to admit women students. This was the result of a petition the preceding June by the Fayette County E. R. A. In response a committee had been appointed, President Charles Louis Loos, chairman, and, upon its favorable report, the resolution was carried by unanimous vote. An immediate appropriation was made for improvements to the college buildings to accommodate the new students, the opening was announced[Pg 677] in the annual calendar and women invited to avail themselves of its advantages. This was the second institution of higher education opened to women, the State Agricultural and Mechanical College and Normal School, also in Lexington, having admitted them in 1880.

In 1892 the work done by Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer resulted in the admission of women to Wesleyan College in Winchester. The Baptist College at Georgetown became co-educational through the influence of Prof. James Jefferson Rucker. The Homeopathic Medical College, opened in Louisville the same year, admitted women from the first and placed a woman upon the faculty. In 1893 the Madison County E. R. A. secured the admission of girls to Central University at Richmond.

Co-education now prevails in all the normal and business schools, and in the majority of the institutions of higher learning; the only notable exceptions being Centre University, Danville; Baptist College, Russellville; Baptist Theological College[289] and Allopathic Medical College, Louisville.

There are in the public schools 4,909 men and 5,057 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $44; of the women, $37.

The Woman's Emergency Association of Louisville, organized during the Spanish-American War, called a non-partisan mass meeting February 6, 1900, "for the special purpose of directing the attention of women to the importance and necessity of using their influence on behalf of good citizenship." The mass meeting was addressed by several prominent gentlemen, who deplored the spirit of lawlessness prevailing in the State and declared that the remedy rested with the women, but the suggestion that these should have the franchise was not once made.

The State E. R. A. sent a memorial to the annual meeting of the Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs in 1900, soliciting their assistance in securing from the General Assembly the extension of School Suffrage to the women of all towns and cities. It was voted to give the co-operation desired.

### FOOTNOTES:

[278] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Laura Clay of Lexington, president of the State Equal Rights Association since its organization, and first auditor of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association since 1895.

[279] The State W. C. T. U. at its convention in 1892 adopted a franchise department, and has proved a faithful and valuable ally in educating public sentiment and obtaining desired legislation.

[280] In the congressional contest of the Seventh District, between W. C. P. Breckinridge and W. C. Owens, in 1894, the women took such a share in defeating the former that their action became an instructive part of political history. Mrs. F. K. Hunt, president of their Owens Club, which did such distinguished service for public morality, afterwards became a member of the Equal Rights Association, this campaign having convinced her, as she said, that "there is a place for women in politics."

[281] In the Presidential campaign of 1896, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and Miss Margaret Ingals spoke for the Silver Democrats, and Mrs. Frances E. Beauchamp for the Prohibitionists, under the auspices of the party committees.

In June, 1898, Mrs. Beauchamp, president of the State W. C. T. U., was elected permanent chairman and presided over the State Prohibition Convention held in Louisville—the first time a woman ever filled such a position in Kentucky. She was also elected a member of the National Central Committee of the Prohibitionists in 1899. This party has retained the woman suffrage plank in its State platform since 1889.

[282] The other State officers have been, recording secretaries, Dr. Sarah M. Siewers; Mesdames Mary Ritchie McKee, Mary Muggeridge, Mary R. Patterson, Sarah Hardin Sawyer, Kate Rose Wiggins; Misses Anna M. Deane, Mary Susan Hamilton, Mary E. Light; third vice-presidents, Mesdames Sallie H. Chenault, S. M. Hubbard, Mary H. Johnson, Thomas L. Jones, N. S. McLaughlin; Miss Belle Harris Bennett; superintendents of press, Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain, Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys; superintendent of legislative work, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry.

[283] This bill, drawn up with legal precision and clearness, was practically the one passed four years later (1894), which raised Kentucky's property laws for wives to a just and honorable plane.

[284] On the night of March 8 Mrs. Josephine K. Henry spoke in Frankfort on the subject of American Citizenship. The Legislative Hall was voted unanimously and the Senate, which was holding night sessions, adjourned to hear her address. The Property Rights Bill was on this night virtually dead. Mrs. Henry in her speech never alluded to this bill, but plainly asked the Legislature to create a power to which she could apply and receive her papers of citizenship, claiming that she had every qualification save that of sex. The speech did not procure for her the right to vote, but the next morning, amid the greatest tumult, the dead Property Rights Bill was resurrected and passed.

Minutes of Kentucky E. R. A., 1894.

[285] The wife can not dispose of real estate without the husband's signature. He can convey real estate without her signature but it is subject to her dower.

[286] This year the E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Club of Central Kentucky petitioned Governor Bradley to appoint a woman physician for the insane asylum at Lexington. He did appoint one, Dr. Kathryn Houser, but placed her in the Hopkinsville asylum.

[287] A notable feature of this act is that none shall be appointed who has not been recommended by a committee composed of one woman selected by each of the following organizations: Home of Friendless Women, Flower Mission, Free Kindergarten Association, Humane Society, Charity Organization Society, City Federation of Women's Clubs, Kentucky Children's Home Society, W. C. T. U. and Women's Christian Association.

[288] This Act was repealed in 1902 because more colored than white women voted in Lexington at the spring election. This is the only instance where the suffrage has been taken from women after being conferred by a Legislature. [Eds.

[289] This college was opened to women in 1902.

[Pg 678]

## CHAPTER XLII.

### LOUISIANA.[290]

The history of woman suffrage in Louisiana must center always about the names of Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick. In 1879, before there had been any general agitation of this question in the State, these ladies appeared before the convention which was preparing a new constitution, and urged that the ballot should be granted to women on the same terms as to men. The only concession to their demands was a clause making women eligible to any office of control or management under the School Laws of the State.

Mrs. Saxon continued to create equal suffrage sentiment until her removal to another State, and Mrs. Merrick remains still a principal figure in the movement. Until his death in 1897 she had the earnest encouragement and assistance of her distinguished husband, Edwin T. Merrick, for ten years Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana prior to the Civil War.

As New Orleans is the only large city and contains one-fourth of the population of a State which is among the most conservative in the Union, organized work naturally would be confined to this locality, but up to 1884 it had no active club or society of women. In this year there was a demand by the press that the women of New Orleans should organize for the promotion of the World's Cotton Centennial, to be held there in the autumn and winter of 1884-85. This was done and the Woman's Department was a conspicuous feature of the centennial. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe of Massachusetts was the commissioner for the Government, different States sent capable representatives and there was cordial co-operation with the women of New Orleans.

SUSAN LOOK AVERY. |  | HELEN PHILLEO JENKINS.
Louisville, Ky., and Chicago, Ill. |  | Detroit, Mich.
LOUISA SOUTHWORTH.
Cleveland, Ohio.
MARY BENTLEY THOMAS. |  | KATE M. GORDON.
Ednor, Md. |  | New Orleans, La.

In March, 1885, Miss Susan B. Anthony visited the city for[Pg 679] two weeks. She was deluged with invitations for addresses, and spoke in Agricultural Hall of the exposition at the request of the Press Club, in Tulane Hall under the auspices of the city teachers, at the Girls' High School and in half-a-dozen other places. Everywhere she was most warmly welcomed and was favorably reported in the papers, although her doctrines were new and unpopular. Mrs. Eliza J. Nicholson, owner and manager of the Picayune, and Mrs. M. A. Field (Catharine Cole), of its editorial staff, gave pleasant manifestations of friendship. One of the addresses delivered by Miss Anthony was before the Woman's Club, which had been an outgrowth of the exposition committees. Mrs. May Wright Sewall of Indiana gave an address on this same occasion. While this club had by no means been formed in the interests of suffrage, it was a decided innovation and the first step out of tradition and conservatism.

The work of the women of Louisiana in the Anti-Lottery campaign of 1891 is entitled to special mention. The lottery, as the great money power, controlled absolutely the politics of the State, and the leading newspapers were a unit in its support. The reform movement to prevent the renewal of its charter was without money, prestige or the influence of the press. The women came nobly to the rescue of this apparently hopeless cause. They formed leagues for the collection of money, they called meetings, they assisted in every possible way to educate the public mind and awaken the public conscience. To them belongs a large share of the credit for the final overthrow at the polls of this octopus corporation, which was so long a reproach to the State.

In 1892 the Portia Club was formed, a strictly suffrage organization, with Mrs. Merrick as president.[291] Under its auspices the Association for the Advancement of Women held its annual congress in New Orleans in 1895, during which Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., gave an address on The Philosophy of Woman Suffrage. At another time Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri lectured for the club.

In January, 1895, Miss Anthony, president of the National Suffrage Association, accompanied by Mrs. Carrie Chapman[Pg 680] Catt, chairman of its organization committee, came again to New Orleans. The Picayune said of their first appearance:

> If any one doubted the interest which Southern women feel in the all-absorbing question of the day, "Woman and her Rights," that idea would have been forever dispelled by a glance at the splendid audience assembled last night. The hall was literally packed to overflowing, not only with women but with men, prominent representatives in every walk of life.

In 1896 the Era[292] Club was organized with Miss Belle Van Horn as president. The successful work of this society has been largely due to the ability and personal influence of Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, a progressive Massachusetts woman, professor of chemistry in Newcomb College, New Orleans, who was its second president. Miss Kate M. Gordon was the third.

In 1896 the Era united with the Portia Club in the beginning of a State suffrage association, of which Mrs. Merrick was made president. Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado gave two lectures before the new association this year. Those who have represented this body at the national conventions are Mrs. Merrick, Miss Katharine Nobles and Miss Gordon.

In 1898 a convention was held in New Orleans to prepare a new State constitution. A committee composed of Mrs. Marie Garner Graham, Miss Nobles, Miss Gordon and Miss Jean Gordon appeared before the Suffrage Committee in support of a petition for Full Suffrage for the educated, taxpaying women of Louisiana, which had been presented to the convention by the Hon. A. W. Faulkner. Mrs. Graham made an eloquent appeal in behalf of using the intelligence and morality embodied in the woman's vote in solving the political problem of the South. The committee further requested that Mrs. Chapman Catt be permitted to address the convention. The request was immediately granted and an official invitation courteously extended.

Mrs. Merrick, who was a delegate to the suffrage convention then in session at Washington, urged that some prominent members of the National Association should accompany this speaker on her important mission, and Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York were duly appointed. On[Pg 681] February 24, in Tulane Hall, before the assembled convention and a large throng of listeners in the galleries, Mrs. Chapman Catt made a strong argument for the enfranchisement of Louisiana women.

For many days woman suffrage was seriously considered as a means to the end of securing white supremacy in the State. The following week the Athenæum, the finest lecture hall in New Orleans, was crowded with men and women from all classes of society anxious to hear more on this daily topic of discussion, as presented by Mrs. Chapman Catt, Miss Clay and Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama. Seats were reserved for the members of the Constitutional Convention, who responded almost unanimously to the invitation to be present.

Dr. Henry Dickson Bruns, a member of the Suffrage Committee, bent every effort to secure Full Suffrage for women as the only means to effect the reform in political conditions so much desired. The majority report of the committee, however, contained only this clause: "All taxpaying women shall have the right to vote in person or by proxy on all questions of taxation."

While the women were greatly disappointed, this was really a signal victory in so conservative a State.

Those who supposed that women would make practically no use of this scrap of suffrage were soon to be undeceived. New Orleans was at this time a city of 300,000 with absolutely no sewerage system; an inadequate water supply, and what there was of this in the hands of a monopoly; an excellent drainage system plodding along for the want of means at a rate which would have required twenty years to complete it. The return of yellow fever, the city's arch-enemy, after a lapse of eighteen years, created consternation. Senseless quarantines prevailed on all sides; business was paralyzed; property values had fallen; commercial rivals to the right and left were pressing. A crisis was at hand, and all depended on the hygienic regeneration of the city.

The lawful limit of taxation had been reached. One of two ways alone remained—either to grant franchises to private corporations, or for the taxpayers to vote to tax themselves for the necessary improvements. Finally a plan was evolved, where, by a combination with the drainage funds, the great public necessities—water,[Pg 682] sewerage and drainage—could be secured to the city by a tax of two mills on the dollar, covering a period of forty-two years. A similar proposition had been voted down two years before, and little hope was entertained that it would carry this time. Here was the women's opportunity. They found that one-third of the taxpayers must sign a petition calling the election to establish its legality. This meant that from 9,000 to 10,000 signatures must be secured. They learned also that to carry the measure there must be a majority of numbers as well as of property values.

Realizing that a campaign of education was on their hands, the Era Club called a mass meeting of women, at which prominent speakers presented the necessities of the situation. At its close a resolution was adopted to form a Woman's League for Sewerage and Drainage, of which Miss Gordon was made president. The papers, which a short time before had been most vehement in their denunciation of suffrage for taxpaying women, were now unanimous in commending their public spirit and predicting ultimate victory through the women.

The first work of the league was to secure a correct list of women taxpayers, the number of whom had been variously estimated from 1,500 to 7,000. Actual count proved that the names of more than 15,000 women appeared on the roll, about one-half the taxpayers of the entire city. Leaving a large margin for possible duplicates, foreign residents and changes by death, a conservative estimate gave at least 10,000 women eligible to vote. Few can realize the magnitude of this undertaking, for the names were without addresses but simply given as owners of such and such pieces of property in such and such boundaries.

The work of location was at last accomplished, and then came the task of securing the names of these women to the petitions. The lists were divided according to wards, with a chairman for each, who appointed lieutenants in the various precincts. Parlor meetings to interest women were held everywhere, in the homes of the rich, the poor and the middle classes. Volunteer canvassers were secured and suffrage sentiment awakened. Occasionally mass meetings of men and women together were called, and good speakers obtained to arouse the people to the necessity[Pg 683] of voting for the tax. It was the number of women's signatures which enabled the mayor to order the election.

The law carried with it the privilege of voting by proxy, and the women who were active in this movement had the great task of gathering up the proxies of all those who had not the courage to go to the polls. These had to be made out in legal form and signed by two witnesses, and they then learned that no woman in Louisiana can legally witness a document, so in all these thousands of cases it was necessary to secure two men as witnesses. It made no difference whether they could read or write, whether they owned property or not, if males it was sufficient.[293]

The election was held June 6, 1899. The Picayune, which, with the other papers, had opposed the extension of even this bit of suffrage to women, came out the next morning with a three-quarter-page picture of a beautiful woman, labeled New Orleans, on a prancing steed named Progress, dashing over a chasm entitled Sanitary Neglect and Commercial Stagnation, to a bluff called A Greater City, while in one corner was a female angel with wings outspread, designated as Victory. The two-page account began as follows:

> The great election for Sewerage and Drainage has come and gone, and with it a notable chapter in the history of woman's work in New Orleans in behalf of municipal improvement. It is unanimously conceded, as incontestably proven by facts, that but for the number of signatures of women sent to the mayor the election never would have been called. It was also conceded late yesterday afternoon that the noble work of the women had won the day in behalf of these much-needed improvements for our beloved city....

> The politician has been crushed, and let the credit go where it belongs. The women of New Orleans did it, under the leadership of those two active, energetic and self-sacrificing young women, the Misses Kate M. and Jean Gordon, and all the glory is theirs. Woman plays a most important part in the politics and affairs of this city. Whenever a crisis approaches, the men on the right side appeal to her and the appeal is never in vain. She jumps into the breach, and invariably victory perches upon her banner. All honor to the fair sex! The women, or rather the few women who were in the Sewerage and Drainage League, probably did as much work for the special tax as all the men in this city put together, and they did it quietly and thoroughly....

> It was the first time in the history of New Orleans that women[Pg 684] were allowed the proud privilege of the suffrage, and it was a novel sight to see them at the polls, producing their certificates of assessment and then retiring to the booths, fixing their ballots and depositing them in the boxes.... Enough of them showed their independence of the sterner sex to prove to the community that they are a deal more competent to wield the ballot than a vast majority of the male suffragans. From what some of the commissioners of election say, the women demonstrated that they had observed the instructions as to voting with a great deal more punctiliousness than the men. They had no difficulty in arranging their ballots, and knew the routine better than many men who had been in the habit of voting, not only early but often.

This paper contained also an interview with Mrs. Merrick, of which the following is a portion:

> "Women are saying everywhere, Mrs. Merrick, that much of the glory of this day is due to you, for you were the first woman in the State to pin your faith to the suffrage cause."

> "Without boasting," she said modestly, "the women of Louisiana, I think, do owe a little to me. For years I stood alone for their enfranchisement, especially where questions of property and taxation were concerned.... I may say I have fought, labored and almost died for suffrage. I do hope to see the women of New Orleans with the School and Municipal Suffrage before I die. I am getting old now," she added sweetly; "I am threescore and ten; I cast my first vote to-day. It was only for sewerage and drainage; but then it was for the protection of the home from the invasion of disease, the better health of our city, the greater prosperity of our commonwealth, and I am satisfied; for it will be discovered that women hold the balance of power in all things good and true, and our votes will soon be wanted in other praiseworthy reforms."

The duties of the women did not end when they had voted for the tax. It was necessary to have a Sewerage and Water Board of seven commissioners, and the voters were to decide whether these should be elected by the people or appointed by the mayor with the ratification of the City Council. The politicians were determined on the former method, while the business interests of the city demanded the latter. The women almost to a unit voted for appointment, and the majority of 1,000 by which it was carried can be placed practically to the credit of the Woman's League for Sewerage and Drainage.[294] It was conceded that of the 6,000[Pg 685] votes cast at this election, at least one-half were those of women.

The tax was immediately levied, the necessary legislative and constitutional authority was obtained, the bonds were all sold and the work is now under way for a complete system of drainage, sewerage and water supply.

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1894 a law was passed permitting women to receive degrees from Law and Medical Schools; also one allowing a married woman to "subscribe for, withdraw or transfer stock of building, homestead or loan associations, and to deposit funds and withdraw the same without the assistance and intervention of her husband." This law was secured by these associations to protect their own interests.

In 1896 the same privilege was extended in regard to depositing money in savings banks and withdrawing it, which a married woman could not do up to this time.

The laws of Louisiana for the most part are a survival of the Napoleonic Code:

> Art. 25. Men are capable of all kinds of engagements and functions, unless disqualified by reasons and causes applying to particular individuals. Women can not be appointed to any public office, nor perform any civil functions, except those which the law specially declares them capable of exercising. Widows and unmarried women of age may bind themselves as sureties or indorsers for other persons, in the same manner and with the same validity as men who are of full age.

> Art. 81. If a father has disappeared, leaving minor children born during his marriage, the mother shall take care of them, and shall exercise all the rights of her husband with respect to their education and the administration of their estate.

> Art. 82. If the mother contracts a second marriage, she can not preserve her superintendence of her children, except with the consent of a family meeting composed of the relations or friends of the father. [Failing to call this family meeting, she forfeits also her right to appoint a guardian at her death.]

> Art. 121. The wife can not appear in court without the authority of her husband, although she may be a public merchant,[295] or possess her property separate from her husband.

> Art. 122. The wife, even when she is separate in estate from the husband, can not alienate, grant, mortgage, acquire, either by gratuitous or encumbered title, unless her husband concurs in the act, or yields his consent in writing.[Pg 686]

> Art. 126. A married woman over the age of twenty-one years, may, by and with the authorization of her husband, and with the sanction of the Judge, borrow money or contract debts for her separate benefit and advantage, and to secure the same, grant mortgages or other securities affecting her separate estate, paraphernal or dotal.

> Art. 135. The wife may make her last will without the authority of her husband.

> Art. 302. The following persons can not be tutors [i. e., guardians]: 1. Minors, except the father and mother. 2. Women, except the mother or grandmother. 3. Idiots and lunatics. 4. Those whose infirmities prevent them from managing their own affairs. 5. Those whom the penal law declares incapable of holding a public office, etc.

> Art. 1316. Married women, even if separated in property, can not institute a suit for partition without the authorization of their husbands or of the Judge.

> Art. 1480. A married woman can not make a donation inter vivos [between living persons] without the concurrence or special consent of her husband, or unless she be authorized by the Judge. But she needs neither the consent of her husband nor any judicial authorization to dispose by donation mortis causa [in prospect of death].

> Art. 1591. The following persons are absolutely incapable of being witnesses to testaments: 1. Women of what age soever. 2. Male children who have not attained the age of sixteen years complete. 3. Persons who are insane, deaf, dumb or blind. 4. Persons whom the criminal laws declare incapable of exercising civil functions.

> Art. 1664. A married woman can not accept a testamentary executorship without the consent of her husband. If there is between them a separation of property, she may accept it with the consent of her husband, or, on his refusal, she may be authorized by the courts.

> Art. 1782. All persons have the capacity to contract, except those whose incapacity is specially declared by law—these are married women, those of insane mind, those who are interdicted, and minors.

> Art. 2335. The separate property of the wife is divided into dotal and extradotal. Dotal property is that which the wife brings to the husband to assist him in bearing the expenses of the marriage establishment. Extradotal property, otherwise called paraphernal property, is that which forms no part of the dowry.

> Art. 2338. Whatever in the marriage contract is declared to belong to the wife, or to be given to her on account of the marriage by other persons than the husband, is part of the dowry, unless there be a stipulation to the contrary.

> Art. 2347. The dowry is given to the husband, for him to enjoy the same as long as the marriage shall last.

> Art. 2349. The income or proceeds of the dowry belong to the husband, and are intended to help him support the charges of the marriage, such as the maintenance of the husband and wife, that of their children, and other expenses which he may deem proper.[Pg 687]

> Art. 2350. The husband alone has the administration of the dowry, and his wife can not deprive him of it; he may act alone in a court of justice for the preservation or recovery of the dowry, against such as either owe or detain the same, but this does not prevent the wife from remaining the owner of the effects which she brought as her dowry.

> Art. 2358. The wife may, with the authorization of her husband, or, on his refusal, with the authorization of the Judge, give her dotal effects for the establishment of the children she may have had by a former marriage.

All accumulations after marriage, except by inheritance, here as in all States, are the property of the husband. Any wages the wife may earn, the very clothes she wears, belong entirely to him.

The laws of inheritance of separate property are practically the same for widow and widower.

The father is the legal guardian of the persons and property of minor children. Until 1888 the custody of children while a divorce suit was pending was given to the father, but now this is granted to the mother. The final guardianship is awarded by the Judge to the one who succeeds in obtaining the divorce.

Before 1896 no "age of protection" for girls was named in the statutes, but the penalty for rape was death. In this year, the Arena Club of New Orleans, a socio-economic society of women, secured a law fixing the age at 16 years. The penalty was changed to imprisonment, with or without labor, for a period not exceeding five years, with no minimum penalty named.

Suffrage: Since 1898 taxpaying women have the right to vote in person or by proxy on all questions of taxation.

Office Holding: The clause in the constitution of 1879 that made women eligible to school offices was inoperative on account of some technicality, which in 1894 Mrs. Helen Behrens, a member of the Portia Club, succeeded in having removed. In 1896 Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, as chairman of a committee from the Era Club, presented a petition to the City Council signed by all of the editors and many other representative men of New Orleans, asking for the appointment of a woman to an existing vacancy on the school board, but this was refused. No women ever were appointed to such positions except in a few country districts.

The office of State librarian had been held by a number of women previous to 1898. The Constitutional Convention of that[Pg 688] year, however, which gave the taxpayer's suffrage to women, swept away every vestige of their right to hold any office by adopting a clause declaring that only qualified voters should be eligible to office. Under this ruling women can not serve as notaries public.

There are no women on the boards of any public institutions in the State and none has a woman physician.

Four police matrons are employed by New Orleans, one for the parish prison, one for the police jail and two for station houses.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: The State University at Baton Rouge is one of three in the United States which do not admit women to any department. Tulane, in New Orleans, the largest university in Louisiana, admits women to post-graduate work and to the Departments of Law and Pharmacy, but the Medical Department is still closed to them. The H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for Girls is a part of Tulane University. It was endowed by Mrs. Josephine Louise Newcomb with $2,500,000 in memory of her daughter. At her death she left to it the remainder of her estate, valued at $1,500,000.

New Orleans University (white) and Leland University (colored) are co-educational. Most of the other colleges in the State are open to women.

In the public schools there are 1,991 men and 2,166 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $37; of the women, $29.70.

### FOOTNOTES:

[290] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Miss Kate M. Gordon, president of the Era Club, Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway and Mrs. Martha Gould, all of New Orleans.

[291] Other presidents: Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, Miss Florence Huberwald, Mrs. Helen Behrens.

[292] The clever reader between the lines will see that E. R. A.—Equal Rights Association—is concealed in this innocent appearing word.

[293] Miss Kate M. Gordon herself obtained and voted 300 proxies. After the election the Business Men's Association of New Orleans presented her with a gold medal. [Eds.

[294] So determined were the politicians to have this board elected, instead of appointed, in order that they might get control of the $42,000,000 fund, that a bill for this purpose was passed by the Legislature of 1902 and signed by Gov. William W. Heard. The matter will be carried to the Supreme Court.

[295] Certain legal processes are necessary before a woman can engage in business on her own account.

[Pg 689]

## CHAPTER XLIII.

### MAINE.[296]

The Maine Woman Suffrage Association entered upon its career in 1873, flourished until 1876 and then ceased active work, which was not resumed until 1885. In September of that year, a convention was called in co-operation with the New England W. S. A., which resulted in the reorganization of the society. The Rev. Henry Blanchard, D. D., pastor of the First Universalist Church at Portland, was elected president, continuing in that capacity until 1891. During these six years of unremitting service, twelve public meetings (with occasional executive sessions) are recorded, all of which were held in Portland and addressed by the best speakers on suffrage, including Mrs. Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and Mrs. Mary A. Livermore.

In 1891 Dr. Blanchard resigned and Mrs. Hannah J. Bailey was elected president, as she said, "because it was thought best to have a woman at the head of the organization in order to confute the argument, then often advanced by the legislators, that women do not want the ballot." Mrs. Bailey's term of office expired in 1897, by her own request. In the six years of her leadership, six public conventions took place, all in Portland. The business of the association having been systematically arranged, a large amount of work was done in the executive meetings which occurred frequently.

In 1892 a local club was organized in Portland, and this, as a live and aggressive force, has been of incalculable benefit to the cause. Other clubs were formed in this administration at Saco, Waterville and Hampden. The last owes its existence to the[Pg 690] efforts of Mrs. Jane H. Spofford, formerly of Washington, D. C., and for many years treasurer of the National Association.

In 1897 the present incumbent, Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day, was chosen State president. During the past three years there have been three annual conventions held respectively at Hampden, Waterville and Portland, with one semi-annual conference at Saco. Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, was present at the first of these and afterwards addressed a public meeting in Portland.

In addition to these conventions, in May, 1900, a series of public meetings in the interest of further organization was held at Old Orchard, Saco, Waterville, Hampden, Winthrop, Monmouth, Cornish and Portland, arranged by the president and addressed by Miss Diana Hirschler, a practicing lawyer of Boston.

The second week of August, 1900, was celebrated in Maine as "Old Home Week," and from the 7th to the 11th the State association kept "open house" in Portland to old and new friends alike. The register shows a record of 232 names, with fourteen States represented, from California to Maine.

On August 24, the association again made a new departure by holding a Suffrage Day at Ocean Park, Old Orchard, this being the first time Maine suffragists had appeared on the regular platform of any summer assembly in the State. The national president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, was in attendance and the day was a memorable one.

Since 1898 the press department has taken on new life under the management of Mrs. Sarah G. Crosby, and has grown from a circulation of six to eighty newspapers containing suffrage matter.

New clubs have been formed at Old Orchard and Skowhegan. A regular system of bi-monthly meetings of the executive committee has been instituted, the business there transacted being reported to the various clubs, thus keeping the mother in touch with her children.[297][Pg 691]

Legislative Action and Laws: There have been several hearings before legislative committees in the interest of a reformatory prison for women, together with repeated petitions for a matron of the State prison, so far with negative results.

In all changes of laws in favor of women much work has been done by themselves. They have been instrumental also in securing the passage of laws against obscene literature, cigarettes and immoral kinetoscope exhibitions. They have opposed and prevented the appointment of a conspicuously immoral man as Judge; have prevented the pardon of notoriously vile women in some marked cases, and have secured police matrons in several of the large cities, also matrons of almshouses.

In 1887 a petition was presented to the Legislature asking for a constitutional amendment in favor of woman suffrage. "The significant vote" was upon the third reading of the bill, when it was ordered to be engrossed by 15 yeas, 13 nays in the Senate, and 67 yeas, 47 nays in the House; but as a two-thirds vote was necessary it failed to pass.

In 1889 the vote on a bill granting Municipal Suffrage to women stood 42 yeas, 91 nays in the House; 18 yeas, 8 nays in the Senate.

In 1891 the Judiciary Committee reported "ought not to pass" on the bill to confer Municipal Suffrage on women, to which the House voted to adhere, the Senate concurring.

In 1893 it was moved in the House to substitute the favorable minority report for the majority report on the Municipal Suffrage Bill. This motion was lost by 54 yeas, 63 nays. The Senate non-concurred with the House and accepted the minority report by 16 yeas, 13 nays.

In the campaign of 1895 an exceedingly active canvass for Municipal Suffrage was made by the use of petitions. These were circulated by the State Association and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, over 9,000 names being sent to the Legislature. At the hearing before the Judiciary Committee every county in the State was represented, and the hall was crowded to its utmost capacity. The committee reported in favor, and their report was accepted in the House by 79 yeas, 54 nays.[Pg 692] The Senate refused to concur in the action of the House by 11 yeas, 15 nays.

In 1897 the petitions for Municipal Suffrage were placed on file, the House and Senate concurring in this action.

In 1899 a bill was presented asking "exemption from taxation for the taxpaying women of Maine," on the ground that "taxation without representation is tyranny." The Committee on Taxation granted a hearing and reported "leave to withdraw," which report was accepted in the House, the Senate concurring.

Dower and curtesy were abolished in 1895. If there is no will the interest of the husband or wife in the real estate of the other is the same; if there is issue of the marriage living, one-third absolutely; if no such issue, then one-half; if there is neither issue nor kindred, then the whole of it. The same provisions of law hold regarding the personal estate of each. Both a wife and a husband have the right to claim their statutory share in the estate of the other in preference to any provision that may have been made by a will, provided that such an election is made within a period of six months. The widow is entitled to occupy the home for ninety days after the husband's death, and to have support for that length of time. He is accorded the same privileges and the presence of a will does not change the case. A more liberal allowance than formerly is granted to the family from an insolvent estate.

In the presence of two witnesses, before marriage, the man and the woman may determine what rights each shall have in the other's estate during marriage and after its dissolution by death, and may bar each other of all rights in their respective estates not then secured to them.

A married woman may acquire and hold real and personal property in her own right, and convey the same without joinder of her husband. He has the same legal privilege. The wife may control her own earnings, and carry on business, and the profits are her sole and separate property.

She can prosecute and defend suits in her own name both in contract and in tort, and the wages of the wife and minor children are exempt from attachment in suits against the husband.

Dower, alimony and other provisions for the wife are made in[Pg 693] case of divorce for the husband's fault, and a law of 1895 compels the husband to support his family or contribute thereto (provided the separation was not the fault of the wife) and the Supreme Judicial Court may enforce obedience.

Maine is one of the few States in the Union where fathers and mothers have equal guardianship of their children. (1895.)

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13 years. In 1889 it was advanced to 14 years, providing unqualified protection, with penalty of imprisonment for life or for a term of years. In 1897 an act was passed providing a "qualified" protection for girls between 14 and 16—that is, protection from men over twenty-one years of age.

Some of the above laws have originated with the legislators themselves. Others have been asked for by the women of the State, through the medium of the W. S. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Council; but in the various organizations it has been those who are suffragists that have carried these measures to a successful issue.[298]

Suffrage: Women have no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: At the present time women are filling offices, elective and appointive, as follows: School superintendents, 69; school supervisor, one; school committee, 112; public librarians, 40; trustee of State insane asylum, one; physician on board of same, one; matron of same, one; supervisor female wards of same, one; police matrons, 2; visiting committee of State Reform School, one; trustees of Westbrook Seminary, 3; Stenographic commissioners, 4; trustees of Girls' State Industrial School, 2; principal of same, one; matrons of same, 3.

There are fifteen women justices of the peace, with authority to administer oaths and solemnize marriages.

Women are eligible also as deputy town clerk and register of probate. They can not serve as notaries public.

Occupations: As early as 1884 Maine had women lawyers, ministers, physicians, authors and farmers. No occupation is[Pg 694] forbidden them by law, and they are found in all departments of work. Since 1887 the working day for women and children is limited to ten hours.

Education: The educational advantages accorded to women are equal to those of men. Bates College, Colby College and the State University, including the Agricultural Department, were opened to them before 1884. Bowdoin College alone does not admit women.

There are in the public schools 1,020 men and 5,427 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $35; of the women, $27.20.

During the past ten years the literary club movement has done an immense amount of educational work, and Maine was the first State to federate. In 1899 the federation instituted a system of traveling libraries, which has become a great power for good in the rural districts, and several clubs circulate libraries of their own. It also has secured minor bills on educational matters.

In 1893 two important institutions were established—the Home for Friendless Girls, in Belfast, and the Home for Friendless Boys, in Portland. There are also other homes for children.

In 1894 the Invalids' Home (now the Mary Brown Home, in honor of its founder) was incorporated. Any woman in Portland of good character may be admitted to it for $3 a week.

All of the above were organized by women, and are managed by them.

This in brief is the history of woman's progress in the Pine Tree State since 1884.

### FOOTNOTES:

[296] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day of Portland, president of the State Suffrage Association, whose work is done under the motto, "In order to establish justice."

[297] State officers for 1900: President, Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day; vice-president-at-large, Mrs. S. J. L. O'Brion; vice-president, Mrs. Sarah Fairfield Hamilton; corresponding secretary, Miss Anne Burgess; recording secretary, Miss Lillia Floyd Donnell; treasurer, Dr. Emily N. Titus; auditor, Miss Eliza C. Tappan; superintendent press work, Miss Vetta Merrill.

Among others who have served are Mesdames Lillian M. N. Stevens, Etta Haley Osgood, Winnifred Fuller Nelson and Helen Coffin Beedy; Miss Louise Titcomb and Dr. Jane Lord Hersom.

[298] Among those who have been instrumental in securing better legislation for the women of the State may be mentioned the Hon. Thomas Brackett Reed, Judge Joseph W. Symonds, Franklin Payson; ex-Governors Joseph Bodwell, Frederick Robie, Henry B. Cleaves and Llewellyn Powers; Mesdames Augusta Merrill Hunt, Margaret T. W. Merrill and Ann Frances Greeley; Dr. Abby Mary Fulton and the Misses Cornelia M. Dow, Charlotte Thomas and Elizabeth Upham Yates.

[Pg 695]

## CHAPTER XLIV.

### MARYLAND.[299]

If but one State in the Union allowed woman to represent herself it should be Maryland, which was named for a woman, whose capital was named for a woman, and where in 1647 Mistress Margaret Brent, the first woman suffragist in America, demanded "place and voyce" in the Assembly as the executor and representative of her kinsman, Lord Baltimore. Her petition was denied but she must have had some gallant supporters, as the archives record that the question of her admission was hotly debated for hours. After the signal defeat of Mistress Brent, there seems to have been no demand for the ballot on the part of Maryland women for about 225 years.[300]

In 1870 and '71 Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lucy Stone and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe lectured in Baltimore and there was some slight agitation of the subject.

Immediately following the national suffrage convention of 1883, in Washington, Miss Phœbe W. Couzins of Missouri addressed a large and enthusiastic audience at Sandy Spring. Soon afterwards Madame Clara Neymann of New York spoke in the same place and was cordially received. She and Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller were invited about this time to make addresses at Rockville. Mrs. Miller also spoke on the rights and wrongs of women at the Sandy Spring Lyceum.[Pg 696]

In 1889 Mrs. Miller invited some of her acquaintances to meet at her home in Sandy Spring to form a suffrage association. Thirteen men and women became members, all but one of whom belonged to the Society of Friends.[301] This year Maryland was represented for the first time at the national suffrage convention by a delegate, Mrs. Sarah T. Miller. She is now superintendent of franchise in the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, this department having been adopted in 1893.

Annual State conventions have been held since 1889 and about 300 different members have been enrolled. The membership includes many men; one public meeting was addressed by a father and daughter, and a mother and son. The officers for 1900 are: President, Mary Bentley Thomas; vice-president, Pauline W. Holme; corresponding secretary, Annie R. Lamb; recording secretary, Margaret Smythe Clarke; treasurer, Mary E. Moore; member national executive committee, Emma J. M. Funck.

The first to organize a suffrage club in Baltimore was Mrs. Sarah H. Tudor. It has now a flourishing society and many open meetings have been held with large and interested audiences.

In 1896 six members of the W. C. T. U. of Baltimore went before the registrars and demanded that their names should be placed on the polling books. Mrs. Thomas J. Boram, whose husband was one of the registrars, was spokeswoman and claimed their right to vote under the Constitution of the United States. She made a strong argument in the name of taxpaying women and of mothers but was told that the State constitution limited the suffrage to males. The other ladies were Dr. Emily G. Peterson, Miss Annie M. V. Davenport, Mrs. Jane H. Rupp, Mrs. C. Rupp and Mrs. Amanda Peterman.

Among the outside speakers who have come into the State at different times are the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio, Mrs. Annie L. Diggs and[Pg 697] Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas, Miss Helen Morris Lewis of North Carolina, Mrs. Ruth B. Havens of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago.

One of the first and most efficient of the workers is Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller, who has represented her State for many years at the national conventions and pleased the audiences with her humorous but strong addresses. Her husband, Francis Miller, a prominent lawyer, was one of the very few men in the State who advocated suffrage for women as early as 1874, when he made an appeal for the enfranchisement of the women of the District of Columbia before the House Judiciary Committee.

Legislative Action and Laws: The constitution of Maryland opens as follows:

> The right of the people to participate in the Legislature is the best security of liberty and the foundation of all free government; for this purpose, elections ought to be free and frequent; and every male (!) citizen having the qualifications prescribed by the constitution ought to have the right of suffrage.

The Legislature has been petitioned to grant full suffrage to women; to raise the "age of protection" for girls, and to refrain from giving State aid to institutions of learning which do not admit women students on equal terms with men.

The Legislature of 1900 took a remarkably progressive step. An act authorizing the city of Annapolis to submit to the voters the question of issuing bonds to the amount of $121,000, to pay off the floating indebtedness and provide a fund for permanent improvements, contained a paragraph entitling women to vote.

This bill was introduced in the Senate January 25, by Elijah Williams and was referred to the Committee on Finance. On January 31, Austin L. Crothers reported it favorably. On February 1, at the motion of Senator Williams, the bill was recommitted and on the 15th Senator Crothers again reported it favorably. On the 19th it was passed by the Senate unanimously.

The Senate Bill was presented to the House of Delegates February 20, and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. On the 28th, Ferdinand C. Latrobe (who had been mayor of Baltimore four or five times) reported the bill favorably. On March 23 it was passed by the House, 69 yeas, one nay, the negative vote being cast by Patrick E. Finzel of Garrett County.[Pg 698]

It is a common practice of the General Assembly to pass laws applicable only to one county or portion of a county, or to one municipality or to one special occasion, as in this instance.

As this law was a decided innovation in a very conservative community, naturally the number of women availing themselves of it for the first time was not large, and it hardly seemed worth a special Act of the Legislature, except as a progressive step. The Baltimore Sun of May 14 said:

> Women voted in Annapolis to-day under the law permitting property owners to say if $121,000 bonds shall be issued for street and other improvements. The novelty of their presence did not disturb the serenity of the polling-room or unnerve the ladies who were exercising their right to vote for the first time. They were calm, direct and as unruffled as though it were the usual order of things. Those who voted are of the highest social standing. They received the utmost courtesy at the polls and voted without any embarrassment whatever.

Numerous changes in the statutes have been made during the past twelve years, modifying the discriminations against married women under the old Common Law.

In 1888 it was enacted that a wife might bring action for slander in her own name and defend her own character.

The last of these improved laws went into effect in 1898, when the inheritance of property was made the same for widow and widower. Absolute control of her own estate was vested in the wife. Power was given her to make contracts and bring suit, and she alone was to be liable for her own actions.

Inequalities still exist, however, in regard to divorce and guardianship of children. The fifth ground for absolute divorce is as follows: "Where the woman before marriage has been guilty of illicit carnal intercourse with another man, the same being unknown to the husband at the time of marriage." A similar act on the part of the husband prior to the marriage does not entitle the wife to a divorce.

The father has complete control of the minor children and may appoint a guardian by will. If he die without doing so the mother becomes their natural guardian, but her control over a daughter terminates at eighteen years of age while the father's continues to twenty-one. This power of appointing a testamentary[Pg 699] guardian was created by an act of Charles II, and adopted as a part of the laws of Maryland. It gives the father power, by deed or will, to dispose of the custody and tuition of his infant children up to the age of twenty-one, or until the marriage of the daughters. It gives him custody of their persons and all their real and personal estate, not only such as comes from his family, but all they may acquire of any person soever, even from the family of the mother. The guardian is placed in loco parentis and his rights are generally regarded as paramount.

For non-support of the family the husband may be fined $100 or imprisoned in the House of Correction not exceeding one year, or both, at discretion of the court. (1896.)

Wife-beaters are punished by flogging or imprisonment.

In 1899 women succeeded in having the "age of protection" for girls raised from 14 to 16 years, with penalty ranging from death to imprisonment in the penitentiary for eighteen months.

Employers are compelled to provide seats for female employes. Children under twelve can not work in factories. Women or girls may not be employed as waiters in any place of amusement.

Suffrage: Women have no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: The State librarian is a woman, who has filled the position most satisfactorily for a number of years and through her care valuable documents relating to colonial times have been saved from destruction and classified. A leading paper of Baltimore said that these had been allowed to remain in the cellar of the State House for years, and would have been ruined but for the new system of public housekeeping inaugurated by the womanly element.

Women physicians have been placed in charge of women patients at one State insane asylum.

Police matrons are employed at all the station houses in Baltimore. During the past two years women have been placed on its jail boards and on the boards of most of its charitable and reformatory institutions. By the recommendation of two mayors they have been put on the school board. They have applied for positions on the street-cleaning board but without success.

Women are doing efficient work on the jail and almshouse boards of Harford County and the school boards of Montgomery.[Pg 700]

Women serve as notaries public.

Occupations: In 1901 Miss Etta Maddox, a graduate of the Baltimore College of Law, was refused admission to the bar and carried her case to the Supreme Court. It was argued before the full bench and the opinion rendered by Justice C. J. McSherry, November 21. Her petition was denied on the ground that the act providing for admission to the bar uses the masculine pronouns. In this decision the general proposition was affirmed that "women are excluded from all occupations which were denied them by the English common law, except when the disability has been removed by express statutory enactment."[302] It is believed that this opinion makes it illegal for women to serve as notaries public, and as a number have been serving for several years, three in Baltimore, the situation promises to be very serious, many deeds, etc., having been acknowledged before them.

Education: Through the leadership of Miss Mary E. Garrett and Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, assisted by Miss Mary Gwinn and Miss Elizabeth King (now Mrs. William Ellicott), committees of prominent women were organized in various States for raising a fund to open a Medical Department in Johns Hopkins University which should be co-educational. The trustees required an endowment of $500,000. The committees raised $200,000 and Miss Garrett herself added the remaining $300,000. In 1893 this Medical College, which is not outranked in the country, was dedicated alike to men and women with absolutely no distinction in their privileges. Women are not admitted to any other department of Johns Hopkins.

Of the nine other colleges and universities two are open to women, and the Woman's College of Baltimore, which receives State aid, is for them alone. They may be graduated from the Baltimore Colleges of Law and of Dentistry. The State Colleges of Agriculture, of Medicine and of Law are closed to them. The State Normal Schools admit both sexes on equal terms.

There are 1,162 men and 3,965 women teachers in the public schools. It is impossible to obtain the average monthly salaries.

### FOOTNOTES:

[299] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Bentley Thomas of Ednor, who for the last nine years has been president of the State Suffrage Association.

[300] Miss Mary Catherine Goddard conducted the Baltimore post-office and also the only newspaper in the city, the Maryland Journal and Commercial Advertiser, through all the trying times of the Revolutionary War. On July 12, 1775, she published a detailed account of the battle of Bunker Hill, which had occurred on June 17, and the Declaration of the Continental Congress giving the causes and necessity for taking up arms. The first official publication of the Declaration of Independence, with the signers' names attached, was entrusted by Congress, at that time sitting in Baltimore, to Miss Goddard.

She remained in control of her paper for ten years. In 1779 she made an appeal through its columns for the destitute families of the American soldiers, and by her efforts $25,000 were raised for their needs.

[301] The charter members were Caroline H., Margaret E., Sarah T., Rebecca T. and George B. Miller, Margaret B. and Mary Magruder, Ellen and Martha T. Farquhar, James P. and Jessie B. Stablu, Hannah B. Brooke and Mary E. Moore. At the second meeting a number of others became members, including the writer of this chapter.

[302] State Senator Jacob M. Moses presented a bill in the Legislature of 1902 to permit women to practice law, which passed, was signed by the Governor and Miss Maddox was admitted to the bar.

[Pg 701]

## CHAPTER XLV.

### MASSACHUSETTS.[303]

The first suffrage convention ever held which assumed a national character by inviting representatives from other States took place in Worcester, Mass., Oct. 23, 24, 1850.[304]

The New England Woman Suffrage Association was formed at Boston in November, 1868, with Mrs. Julia Ward Howe as president; and the Massachusetts Association was organized in the same city Jan. 28, 1870, of which also Mrs. Howe was elected president. In 1871 Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the Woman's Journal, was made corresponding secretary of both associations and has filled the office of the latter continuously, of the former twenty-two years.

From those years until the present each of these bodies has held an annual meeting in Boston and they have almost invariably been addressed by men and women of State, of national and of international reputation. They have met in various churches and halls, but of late years the historic old Faneuil Hall has been selected. The State association meets in the winter and the New England association during Anniversary Week in May, when there are business sessions with reports from the various States, public meetings and a great festival or banquet. The last is attended by hundreds of people, all the tickets are frequently sold weeks in advance, and with its prominent after-dinner speakers it has long been an attractive feature.[305][Pg 702]

The annual meeting of 1884 was held January 22, 23, presided over by William I. Bowditch, who had succeeded the Rev. Dr. James Freeman Clarke as president in 1878. A number of fine addresses were given and the official board was unanimously re-elected.[306] Mr. Bowditch's opening address was afterwards widely circulated as a tract, The Forgotten Woman in Massachusetts.

It was voted that a fund should be raised to organize local suffrage associations or leagues throughout the State, and that, as soon as $2,500 was in hand, an agent should be put in the field. Mr. Bowditch, Miss Louisa M. Alcott, John L. Whiting and Henry H. Faxon each subscribed $100 on the spot; $800 was raised at the meeting and more than $2,500 within four months.

This year, in the death of Wendell Phillips, the cause of equal rights lost one of its earliest and noblest supporters. On February 28 an impressive memorial service was held in Boston. Mrs. Howe presided and the other speakers were William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore D. Weld, Judge Thomas Russell, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, Elizur Wright, the Rev. Samuel May, George W. Lowther, Mrs. Lucy Stone and Mr. Blackwell. John Boyle O'Reilly and William P. Liscomb read memorial poems.

Fifty-seven meetings were held this year in different parts of[Pg 703] the State, arranged by Arthur P. Ford and Miss Cora Scott Pond. The speakers were the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Miss Matilda Hindman, Miss Pond and Miss Ida M. Buxton, and at some of the meetings Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell and Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin. In addition six conventions were held and a large number of local leagues were formed. Suffrage sociables were given monthly in Boston. Leaflets were printed, including Wendell Phillips' great speech at the Worcester Convention in 1850, which were sent out by tens of thousands, and 50,000 special copies of the Woman's Journal were distributed gratuitously. Mrs. H. M. Tracy Cutler was employed for a month in Worcester to enlist interest in the churches, and Miss Pond for two months in Boston. Letters were sent to every town, with postal cards inclosed for reply, to find who were friends of suffrage, and to those so found a letter was sent asking co-operation. This constitutes an average twelve months' work for the past thirty years.

The sixteenth annual meeting of the New England Association took place May 26, 27, Lucy Stone presiding. The Rev. Minot J. Savage and Edward M. Winston of Harvard University were among the speakers. The two associations united as usual in the May Festival. Letters of greeting were read from the Hons. George F. Hoar, John D. Long and John E. Fitzgerald, Postmaster Edward S. Tobey, Col. Albert Clarke and Chancellor William G. Eliot, of Washington University, St. Louis. The Rev. Robert Collyer, Mr. Garrison and the Rev. Miss Shaw made addresses.

At the State convention, Jan. 27, 28, 1885, addresses were made by Mrs. Margaret Moore of Ireland, A. S. Root of Boston University, and the usual brilliant galaxy, while letters expressing sympathy with the cause were read from John G. Whittier, the Rev. Samuel Longfellow, the Rev. Samuel J. Barrows and[Pg 704] many others. An appeal to the Legislature, written by Lucy Stone, was unanimously adopted.

An Anti-Woman Suffrage Association formed in Massachusetts the previous year, had devoted itself chiefly to securing signatures of women to a protest against the franchise. In 1885 Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells and her associates obtained the signatures of about 140 influential men to a remonstrance against "any further extension of suffrage to women," and published it as an advertisement in the Boston Herald of Sunday, February 15. The list included President Eliot of Harvard, a number of college professors, one or two literary men, several ex-members of the Legislature, and a number of clergymen of conservative churches; but it was made up largely of those prominent chiefly on account of their wealth.

An average of ten suffrage meetings and conventions a month were held in various cities throughout the year. The Rev. Miss Shaw and Miss Pond attended nearly all, and Mrs. Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Claflin, Mr. Garrison, Miss Eastman and Mr. Bowditch addressed some of them, besides local speakers. Two thousand persons gathered in Tremont Temple on the opening night of the May anniversary, Lucy Stone presiding. Senator Hoar, Mrs. Livermore and others made short speeches and later responded to toasts at the Festival.

Mr. Blackwell presided over the State convention Jan. 26, 1886. At the New England meeting this year Frederick Douglass delivered an oration and spoke also at the Festival, over which Miss Eastman presided. The association kept Miss Shaw in the field for six months and Miss Pond throughout the year and held summer conventions in Cottage City and Nantucket, besides ten county conventions in the fall. There were 123,014 pages of literature sent out and agents visited seventy-five towns. A suffrage bazar was held in December with Mrs. Livermore as president and Mrs. Howe as editor of the Bazar Journal. The list of vice-presidents included Phillips Brooks and many other distinguished persons. The brunt of the work, however, was borne by Miss Pond and Miss Shaw, and the bazar cleared $6,000.

Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Stone, Mr. Garrison, Mrs. Cheney, State Senator Elijah A. Morse and others addressed the annual convention[Pg 705] of 1887. Petitions were circulated for Municipal and Presidential Suffrage and a constitutional amendment; also for police matrons, the raising of the age of protection for girls, improvements in the property rights of married women, a bill enabling husbands and wives to make legal contracts with each other, and one making women eligible to all offices from which they are not debarred by the constitution. In March the association gave $1,000 to the constitutional amendment campaign in Rhode Island, and a number of the officers contributed their services.

Mrs. Howe presided at the May Festival, and among the speakers were Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana, Mrs. J. Ellen Foster of Iowa, the Revs. Henry Blanchard of Maine and Frederick A. Hinckley of Rhode Island. Mr. Garrison read an original poem rejoicing over the granting of Municipal Suffrage in Kansas. At the New England Convention which followed, these speakers were reinforced by the Rev. Jenkyn Lloyd Jones of Chicago. On October 19 the State Association gave a reception to Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, at the Hotel Brunswick.

In December a great bazar was held in Boston for the joint benefit of the American Suffrage Association and various States which took part. The gross receipts were nearly $8,000. This year the association moved into larger offices at No. 3 Park street; held fifty-one public meetings and four county conventions and organized twenty-one new leagues. The Woman's Journal was sent for three months to all the members of the Legislature; 378,000 pages of suffrage literature were sold and many thousands more given away.

During the annual meeting in February, 1888, a reception was given to Mrs. Rebecca Moore, of England, at which John W. Hutchinson sang and many bright speeches were made. At the twentieth anniversary of the New England association, in May, Lucy Stone presided. Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant and Mrs. Alice Scatcherd of England, and Baroness Gripenberg and Miss Alli Trygg of Finland, were among the speakers. Others were Miss Clara Barton, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker of Connecticut,[Pg 706] the Hon. William Dudley Foulke and Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana. At the Festival Music Hall was crowded to overflowing and Miss Susan B. Anthony was one of the guests of honor.

This year great excitement was aroused among both men and women by a controversy over the historical text-books used in the public schools of Boston. At the request of a priest the school board removed a history which the Catholics regarded as unfair in its statements, and substituted one which many Protestants considered equally unfair. The school vote of women never had risen much above 2,000, and generally had been below that number. This year 25,279 applied to be assessed a poll tax and registered, and 19,490 voted, in one of the worst storms of the season. All the Catholic candidates were defeated. The suffrage association kept out of the controversy as a body, but its members as individuals took sides as their personal views dictated.

In 1889 Gov. Oliver Ames, for the third time, recommended women suffrage in his inaugural, saying: "Recent political events have confirmed the opinion I have long held, that if women have sufficient reason to vote they will do so and become an important factor in the settlement of great questions. If we can trust uneducated men to vote we can with greater safety and far more propriety grant the same power to women, who as a rule are as well educated and quite as intelligent as men."

The convention met January 29-31. Among outside speakers were Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick of Kentucky, Prof. William H. Carruth of Kansas, and the Hon. Hamilton Willcox of New York. Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson presided at the May Festival and Mrs. Howe's seventieth birthday was celebrated. Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York, Mrs. Emily P. Collins of Connecticut, and many from other States were present.

An organizer was kept in the field eight months and a State lecturer two months; summer meetings were held at Swampscott, Hull and Nantasket. Two quarterly conferences took place in Boston between the State officers and representatives from the eighty-nine local leagues. A great Historical Pageant was given under Miss Pond's supervision in May and October, which netted $1,582; the Woman's Journal was sent four months to all the[Pg 707] legislators, and leaflets to all the students of Harvard and Boston Universities; 15,000 leaflets were given to the South Dakota campaign. The State Farmers' Institute, held at West Brookfield, adopted a woman suffrage resolution almost unanimously.

In Boston 10,051 women voted and the Catholic candidates for the school board were again defeated. The Independent Women Voters elected all their nominees, and candidates who had the joint nomination of both Republicans and Democrats were defeated.

Ex-Gov. John D. Long was one of the speakers at the convention of Jan. 28, 29, 1890; also Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine. In April an evening with authors and composers was arranged, chiefly by Miss Lucia T. Ames. Well-known authors read from their writings and musicians contributed from their own compositions. In the same month a week's fair called The Country Store was held, Miss Charlotte H. Allen supervising the arrangements, with gross receipts, $2,346. The Rev. Charles G. Ames presided at the May Festival and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer of Rhode Island was one of the speakers.

In July a reception was given in the suffrage parlors to the ladies of the National Editorial Association and the members of the New England Women's Press Association. The editors of the Woman's Journal—Lucy Stone, Mr. and Miss Blackwell—and the associate editor, Mrs. Florence M. Adkinson, received the guests, assisted by the Rev. Miss Shaw and Miss Lucy E. Anthony. During Grand Army week in August a reception was extended to the ladies of the Woman's Relief Corps and others, the guests received by Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Howe, the editors of the Journal and Dr. Emily Blackwell, dean of the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.

In October the association exhibited at the Hollis Street Theater a series of Art Tableaux, The History of Marriage, showing the marriage ceremonies of different ages and countries, Mrs. Livermore acting as historian. The receipts were $1,463. The association sent literature to the legislators, to several thousand college students and to all the members of the Mississippi Constitutional Convention; had a booth for two months at the[Pg 708] Mechanics' Fair in Boston; supplied suffrage matter every week to 603 editors in all parts of the country and gave 133,334 pages of leaflets to the campaign in South Dakota. The chairman of its executive committee, Mrs. Stone, also donated 95,000 copies of the Woman's Column to the same campaign, and the secretary, Mr. Blackwell, contributed five weeks' gratuitous service in Dakota, lecturing for the amendment.

The Boston Methodist ministers, at their Monday meeting, passed unanimously a resolution in favor of Municipal Woman Suffrage; and a gathering of Massachusetts farmers, at the rooms of the Ploughman, did the same with only one dissenting vote, after an address by Lucy Stone, herself a farmer's daughter.[307]

The annual meeting, Jan. 27, 28, 1891, was made a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the First National Woman's Rights Convention, which had been held at Worcester in October, 1850. Miss Susan B. Anthony came on from Washington to attend. The advance of women in different lines during the past forty years was ably reviewed in the addresses by representative women in their respective departments.[308] Only two of the speakers at the convention of forty years ago were present on this occasion, Lucy Stone and the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell; and two who had signed the Call—Colonel Higginson and Charles K. Whipple. The resolutions were reaffirmed which had been reported by Wendell Phillips and adopted at the convention of 1850. At this time Mrs. Howe was elected president of the State association.

The New England meeting in May was preceded by a reception to Miss Anthony, the Rev. Miss Shaw and Miss Florence[Pg 709] Balgarnie of England, all of whom made addresses at the convention and the Festival, where ex-Governor Long presided.

The meetings this year included a number of college towns and among the speakers were Senator Hoar, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Stone, with the younger women, Mrs. Anna Christy Fall, Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin, Miss Elizabeth Sheldon (Tillinghast), Miss Elizabeth Deering Hanscom. At Amherst a large gathering of students listened to Senator Hoar. President and Mrs. Merrill E. Gates occupied seats on the platform. At South Hadley President Elizabeth Storrs Mead of Mt. Holyoke entertained all the speakers at the college, and at Northampton it was estimated by the daily papers that 500 Smith College girls came to the meeting.

On October 21 the association gave a reception to Theodore D. Weld in honor of his eighty-eighth birthday. This date was the anniversary of the famous mob of 1835, which attacked the meeting of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. Later a reception was tendered to Mrs. Annie Besant of the London School Board. On November 17, during the week when the W. C. T. U. held its national convention in Boston, a reception was given in the suffrage parlors to all interested in the Franchise Department. A special invitation was issued to White Ribboners from the Southern States where none was yet adopted, and the spacious rooms were filled to overflowing. Lucy Stone presided and Julia Ward Howe gave the address of welcome. Many brief responses were made by the Southern delegates and by Northern delegates and friends.

In December a suffrage fair was held under the management of Mrs. Dietrick, now of Boston, which netted $1,800. Senator Hoar's speech at Amherst was sent to the students of all the colleges in the State.[Pg 710]

At the annual meeting Jan. 26, 27, 1892, the Rev. Joseph Cook gave an address. Lucy Stone presided at the New England convention and Mrs. Howe at the Festival. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt was the speaker from a distance. Letters were read from the Hon. Thomas B. Reed, Terence V. Powderly and U. S. Senators Joseph M. Carey and Francis E. Warren of Wyoming.

In addition to the usual work this year $200 were offered in $5 prizes to the children of the public schools for the best essays in favor of woman suffrage. Mrs. Dietrick was employed for six months as State organizer. An appeal for equal suffrage signed by Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Livermore was sent to editors throughout the State with the request to publish it and to indorse it editorially, which was done by many. A letter signed by the same was sent to every minister in Boston asking him either to present the subject to his congregation or permit it to be presented by some one else, and a number consented.

A Woman's Day was held at the State Agricultural Fair in Worcester, when it was estimated 70,000 people were present. Col. Daniel Needham, president of the Fair, expressed himself as thankful for the opportunity to welcome woman suffrage. Mrs. Rufus S. Frost, Lucy Stone, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Claflin and Mr. Blackwell were the speakers. When a vote was taken at the close, the whole audience rose in favor of suffrage.

The Independent Women Voters of Boston again elected their entire school ticket. Miss Frances E. Willard and Mrs. Claflin addressed the Working Girls' Clubs of the State on suffrage at their annual reunion in Boston. The association was represented at the great farewell reception to Lady Henry Somerset, Lucy Stone presenting her with twenty-three yellow roses for the States with School Suffrage and one pure white for Wyoming.

This year at a special meeting the association amended the old constitution under which it had been working since 1870, and unanimously adopted a delegate basis of representation.

The annual meeting was held Dec. 6, 7, 1892, instead of January, 1893. Mrs. Howe presided and addresses were made by Mrs. Stone, Mrs. Livermore, the Hon. George A. O. Ernst, Mrs. Estelle M. H. Merrill, president of the New England Women's Press Association, and others. Lucy Stone was elected[Pg 711] president and superintendents were instituted for different departments of work.

At a gathering of Massachusetts farmers in Boston, Lucy Stone and Mrs. Olive Wright of Denver, spoke for woman suffrage; the meeting declared for it unanimously by a rising vote and every farmer present signed the petition. The State Grange, at its annual convention, adopted a strong suffrage resolution by 96 yeas, 27 nays. The Unitarian Ministers' Monday Club of Boston, after an address by Mrs. Stone, did the same, and every minister present but one signed the petition. The Universalist Ministers' Monday meeting in Boston, at her request, voted by a large majority to memorialize the Legislature for woman suffrage. The Central Labor Union took similar action. The Boston Transcript, Globe, Advertiser, Traveller and Beacon, the Springfield Republican, Greenfield Gazette and Courier, Salem Observer, Salem Register and many other papers supported the Municipal Suffrage Bill which was then pending.

At the May Festival of 1893 Senator Hoar presided and 900 persons sat down to the banquet. Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant of England, and Miss Kirstine Frederiksen of Denmark, were the speakers from abroad. A reception to these ladies preceded the annual meeting of the New England Association. Mme. Marie Marshall of Paris, was added to the above speakers, also Wendell Phillips Stafford of Vermont, Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles of Rhode Island, and others. On June 5 a reception was given to Mrs. Jane Cobden Unwin of London, Richard Cobden's daughter. On July 19, by invitation of the Waltham Suffrage Club, the State association and the local leagues united in a basket picnic at Forest Grove. On this occasion Lucy Stone made her last public address.

Woman's Day at the New England Agricultural Fair in Worcester was observed in September with addresses by Mrs. Chant, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer and Mr. Blackwell, representing Lucy Stone, who was too ill to be present. There was a very large audience. Part of a day was also secured at the Marshfield Fair with an address by Mrs. Katherine Lente Stevenson. A convention was held at Westfield, October 2, when the opera house was crowded to hear Mrs. Livermore.[Pg 712]

Mr. Blackwell presented a resolution in favor of Municipal Suffrage for women in the Resolutions Committee of the Republican State Convention, October 6. It was warmly advocated by the Hon. John D. Long, Samuel Walker McCall, M. C., Mayor Fairbanks of Quincy, and others, and would possibly have been passed but for the strenuous opposition of the chairman, ex-Gov. George D. Robinson, who said he would decline to read the platform to the convention if the resolution was adopted. It was finally lost by 4 yeas, 7 nays.

On Oct. 18, 1893, occurred the death of Lucy Stone at her home in Dorchester. She said with calm contentment, "I have done what I wanted to do; I have helped the women." Her last whispered words to her daughter were, "Make the world better." The funeral was held in James Freeman Clarke's old church in Boston. Hundreds of people stood waiting silently in the street before the doors were opened. The Rev. Charles G. Ames said afterward that, "the services were not like a funeral but like a solemn celebration and a coronation." The speakers were Mr. Ames, Colonel Higginson, Mrs. Livermore, Mr. Garrison, Mrs. Cheney, the Rev. Samuel J. Barrows, Mrs. Chant, the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer of Providence, Mary Grew of Philadelphia, with a poem by Mrs. Howe. A strong impetus was given to the suffrage movement by the wide publication in the papers of the facts of Lucy Stone's simple and noble life, and by the universal expression of affection and regret. A life-long opponent declared that the death of no woman in America had ever called out so general a tribute of public respect and esteem.

The State association again held its annual meeting in December. Among the resolutions adopted was the following:

> In the passing away of Lucy Stone, our president, the beloved pioneer of woman suffrage, who has been, ever since 1847, its mainstay and unfailing champion, the cause of equal rights in this State and throughout the Union has suffered an irreparable loss.

Her daughter closed the report of the year's work by saying: "Let all those who held her dear show their regard for her memory in the way that would have pleased and touched her most—by doing their best to help forward the cause she loved so well."

Mrs. Mary A. Livermore was elected president.[Pg 713]

On December 16 the association celebrated in Faneuil Hall the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. One of the last expressed wishes of Lucy Stone had been that the celebration should take place in the Old South Church, but the use of this historic building was refused by the trustees, much to the mortification of the more liberal members of the General Committee of the Old South. Colonel Higginson, who had presided at the centennial celebration of the same event by the suffragists twenty years before, again presided and made the opening address. Other speakers were Mrs. Chapman Catt and Wendell Phillips Stafford. Mr. Garrison gave a poem and Mr. Blackwell read the speech made by Lucy Stone at the celebration in 1873. Letters were read from Senator Hoar, Frederick Douglass and others. Governor-elect Frederick T. Greenhalge and Lieut. Gov.-elect Roger Wolcott occupied seats on the platform.

This year the Massachusetts W. S. A. had become incorporated. It had sent suffrage literature to all the Episcopalian, Unitarian and Universalist clergymen in the State, to most of the Methodist ministers, to 1,100 public school teachers and to a large number of college students. Its president, Lucy Stone, had sent, from her death bed, the largest contribution to the Colorado campaign given by any individual outside of that State. Its secretary, Mr. Blackwell, had attended the National Convention of Republican Clubs at Louisville, Ky., and secured the adoption of the following resolution: "We recommend to the favorable consideration of the Republican Clubs of the United States, as a matter of education, the question of granting to the women of the State and nation the right to vote at all elections on the same terms and conditions as male citizens."

A thousand copies of William I. Bowditch's Taxation Without Representation and George Pellew's Woman and the Commonwealth were bound and presented to town and college libraries. Mayor Nathan Matthews, Jr., of Boston appointed two women on the Board of Overseers of the Poor, despite the strong opposition of the aldermen. He also appointed three women members of a commission to investigate and report to him upon the condition of public institutions. Toward the end of the year he again appointed two women on a similar committee, including one of[Pg 714] those who served before. The Hon. George S. Hale said at the annual suffrage meeting, "Both ladies are admirably qualified, and the one who acted last year is declared by all the men who served with her to be the most valuable member of the board."

Out of 622 students and professors at Wellesley College, who were questioned as to their views on suffrage, 506 declared themselves in favor, and 500 of them united in sending a telegram of congratulation to the women of Colorado on the passage of the equal suffrage amendment this year. (1893.)

At the May Festival 1,000 sat down to the banquet and hundreds occupied the balconies. Ex-Governor Long presided. One of the speakers was Robert S. Gray, chairman of the Committee on Woman Suffrage in the Legislature. In honor of Mrs. Howe's seventy-fifth birthday Mrs. Alice J. Harris sang The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the audience joining in the chorus.

On June 18 delegates from many labor organizations met in Boston, in response to a call from the Boston Workingmen's Political League, and decided to act together at the ballot box. Their platform demanded universal suffrage irrespective of sex.

Lucy Stone mite-boxes were circulated by the association for funds to aid the amendment campaign in Kansas. Mr. Blackwell attended the National Convention of Republican Clubs held in Denver. On June 27 it reiterated the woman suffrage resolution it had passed the year before in Louisville.

On July 24 Woman's Day was celebrated at the Massachusetts Chautauqua in South Framingham, with many able speakers. On September 4 Woman's Day was observed at the New England Agricultural Fair in Worcester. Colonel Needham, its president, made an earnest woman suffrage address and was followed by Mrs. Howe, Miss Yates, Mrs. Mary Sargent Hopkins and Mr. Blackwell. In December a suffrage fair was held under the management of Mrs. Abby M. Davis which cleared about $1,800. On the opening night Mrs. Cheney presided and there were addresses by Lady Henry Somerset and Miss Frances E. Willard.

This year the association kept the papers supplied with suffrage articles more thoroughly than ever before; had speakers present the subject to thirty-one women's clubs; furnished literature to the legislators, to 5,000 public school teachers, to all the Congregational[Pg 715] ministers in the State and to many of other denominations; and sent 3,782 leaflets to college students and graduates.

Governor Greenhalge in his inaugural in 1895, said, "I hold to the views expressed in the message of last year as to the extension of Municipal Suffrage to women." He also referred to it favorably in an address before the New England Women's Press Association, and at the Parliament of Man held in Boston.

Mrs. Livermore presided at the annual meeting, January 8, 9. Mrs. Helen H. Gardiner and Representative Alfred S. Roe were among the speakers. From this time date the Fortnightly Meetings at the suffrage headquarters, and these have been held ever since except during the summer vacations. They are usually well attended and seldom fail to have some speaker of note.

On May 4 Mr. Blackwell's seventieth birthday was celebrated by a reception and dinner at Copley Square Hotel, Boston, ex-Governor Long presiding. A newspaper said, "The guests on this occasion represented the conscience and culture of New England." Addresses were made by many of his co-workers,[309] and among those who sent letters were the Rev. Samuel May, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ainsworth R. Spofford, of the Library of Congress, Ex-Governor Claflin, Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, the Hon. James L. Hughes, president of the Equal Rights Association of Toronto, Professor and Mrs. Carruth of Kansas University, and others. On May 14 the golden wedding of the Rev. D. P. and Mrs. Livermore was celebrated by a reception in the suffrage parlors. Their daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren received with them. In accordance with Mrs. Livermore's wish there was no speaking but a great throng of distinguished guests, including both suffragists and "antis," were present.

At the May Anniversary a reception was given to Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi of New York, and Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis, daughter of the staunch advocate of suffrage, George William Curtis. Mr. Blackwell presided at the Festival in Music Hall and 700 sat down to the banquet.

Woman suffrage was indorsed by the Garment Makers' Union of Boston, with its 400 members. This year a long list of prominent[Pg 716] persons signed a published statement declaring themselves in favor, all the names being collected within about a week. This remarkable list included several hundred names, about one-third of men. So far as personal achievement goes they were among the most prominent in the State and included several presidents of colleges, a large number of noted university men, public officials, lawyers, editors, etc. Among the women were the president, dean and twenty professors of Wellesley College; the director of the Observatory and six instructors of Smith College, physicians, lawyers, authors, large taxpayers, and many noted for philanthropy.[310]

The association secured a Woman's Day at the New England Chautauqua Assembly; brought the question before hundreds at parlor meetings and public debates, outside of the many arranged by the Referendum Committee; published six leaflets and a volume, The Legal Status of Women in Massachusetts, by Mr. Ernst, and distributed an immense amount of literature.

Up to this time the anti-suffrage associations organized in Massachusetts always had gone to pieces within a short period after they were formed. But in May, 1895, the present Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women was organized, with Mrs. James M. Codman at its head and Mrs. Charles E. Guild as secretary. This was a society composed of women alone. Col. Higginson said in Harper's Bazar:

> All the ladies move in a limited though most unimpeachable circle. All may be presumed to interchange visiting cards and meet at the same afternoon teas. There is not even a hint that there is any other class to be consulted. Where are the literary women, the artists, the teachers, the business women, the temperance women, the labor reform advocates, the members of the farmers' grange, the clergymen's wives? Compared with this inadequate body how comfortably varied looks the list of the committee in behalf of woman suffrage. [Distinguished names given.] It includes also women who are wholesomely unknown to the world at large but well known in the granges and among the Christian Endeavorers. Can any one doubt which list represents the spirit of the future?

> The more cultivated social class—the "Four Hundred," as the saying is—have an immense value in certain directions. They stand for the social amenities and in many ways for the worthy charities.[Pg 717] Generous and noble traditions attach to their names and nowhere more than in Boston. But one thing has in all ages and places been denied to this class—that of leadership in bold reforms.

On November 5 the mock referendum, which had been opposed by many of the leading suffragists, was voted on and received a large negative majority. (See Legislative Action.)

The State association held its annual convention, Jan. 14, 15, 1896, with large audiences. It opened with a Young People's Meeting, Miss Blackwell presiding.[311] The Rev. Father Scully and Mrs. Fanny B. Ames, State Factory Inspector, were among the many who gave addresses. At the business meeting the following resolution on the mock referendum was adopted:

> Whereas, The returns show that we only need to convert twenty per cent. of the male voters in order to have a majority; and

> Whereas, Public sentiment is growing rapidly and grows faster the more the subject is discussed; therefore,

> Resolved, That we petition the Legislature to give us a real instead of a sham referendum, by submitting to the voters a constitutional amendment enfranchising women.

The president, Mrs. Livermore, was made a Doctor of Laws by Tufts College and was given a great birthday reception by her fellow-townsmen, with addresses by Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden and Mr. Blackwell and a poem by Hezekiah Butterworth.

The May Festival also opened with a Young People's Meeting, Mrs. Howe as "grandmother" introducing the speakers.[312] Mr. Garrison presided at the Festival and the speakers included Alfred Webb, M. P., of Dublin, the Rev. Dean Hodges, of the Episcopal Theological School, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson and Prof. Ellen Hayes of Wellesley.

A series of meetings was held this year in Berkshire County. Mrs. Mary Clarke Smith was kept in the field as State organizer for seven months. A speaker was sent free of charge to every woman's club or other society willing to hear the suffrage question presented; 13,000 pages of literature were distributed. On[Pg 718] October 27 the State Baptist Young People's Union at its anniversary indorsed woman suffrage. In December a rousing meeting was held in Canton, Congressman Elijah Morse presiding, with Mrs. Livermore and Miss Yates as speakers.

Among the deaths of the year was that of Frederick T. Greenhalge—the latest of a long line of Massachusetts governors who have advocated woman suffrage since 1870—Governors Claflin, Washburn, Talbot, Brackett, Long, Butler and Ames.

At the annual meeting, in 1897, the speakers included the Rev. George L. Perin and Augusta Chapin, D. D. As the laws were about to be revised and codified it was decided to ask for an equalization of those bearing on domestic relations. The Women's Journal noted that never before had so many petitions for suffrage been sent in within so short a time. On February 16 the association gave a large and brilliant reception at the Vendome to Miss Jane Addams of Chicago. Col. Higginson presided, and Miss Addams, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Livermore spoke. On April 17 a reception was given in the suffrage parlors to Mrs. Harriet Tubman, the colored woman so noted in anti-slavery days for her assistance to fugitive slaves, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney assisting.

Mr. Blackwell presided at the Festival, May 27, and eloquent addresses were made by the Rev. Dr. George C. Lorimer, Lieutenant-Governor John L. Bates, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall and many others, while letters of greeting were read from Lady Henry Somerset and Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett of England. It was Mrs. Howe's seventy-eighth birthday and she was received with cheers and presented with flowers.

On July 29 the annual meeting of the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society, held at Adams, was "a woman suffrage convention from end to end," with Miss Susan B. Anthony as the guest of honor in her native town. Her friends and relatives from all parts of the country were present and addresses were made by the vice-president of the society, the Rev. A. B. Whipple, by Miss Shaw, Mrs. Chapman Catt, Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton and Miss Blackwell, officers of the National Suffrage Association, and by Mrs. May Wright Sewall, vice-president of the International Council of Women,[Pg 719] Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, editor of the Woman's Tribune and Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Miss Anthony's biographer.

The Prohibition State Convention in September resolved that "educational qualifications and not sex should be the test of the elective franchise." The next year it adopted a woman suffrage plank.

In December the association held a bazar under the management of Miss Harriet E. Turner which cleared $3,200. During the year the usual large amount of educational work was done, which included 1,024 suffrage articles furnished to 230 newspapers, and the holding of 176 public meetings. The New England Historical and Genealogical Society voted unanimously to admit women to membership. Strong efforts were made to have the Boston school board elect several eminently qualified women as submasters, but sex prejudice defeated them.

The Anti-Suffrage Association published an anonymous pamphlet entitled Tested by its Fruits. The Massachusetts W. S. A. published a counter-pamphlet by Chief-Justice Groesbeck of Wyoming, who testified that some of the laws which it represented as then in force had been repealed many years before, and that upon some "an absurd construction" had been placed.

The convention of Jan. 26, 1898, was addressed by J. M. Robertson of England. At the May Festival in Hotel Brunswick, the Hon. Hugh H. Lusk of New Zealand gave an address, and the occasion was made noteworthy by bright speeches from young women—Mrs. Helen Adelaide Shaw, Miss Maud Wood (Park) of Radcliffe and Miss Hanscom of Boston University and Smith College. Several members of the Legislature spoke and reports were received from all the New England States.

Woman's Day was celebrated at the Mechanics' Fair in Boston. This year the association began to issue a monthly letter to the local leagues. As an addition to the literature, Secretary-of-the-Navy John D. Long's suffrage address with his portrait was issued as a handsome pamphlet. In response to an appeal from the president, Mrs. Livermore (so well known through the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War), $500 and many boxes of supplies were sent to the soldiers in the Spanish-American[Pg 720] War, and the secretary of the State association, Mrs. Ellie A. Hilt, literally worked herself to death in this service.

The usual meetings were held in 1899 and 1900 and the same great amount of work was done. To increase the school vote of women in 1899 thirty-eight public meetings were held by the association, with the result that in Boston 3,000 new names were added to the registration list. In 1900 the association contributed liberally to the suffrage campaign in Oregon. A large and brilliant reception was given at the Hotel Vendome in honor of Mrs. Livermore's 80th birthday.

Presidents of the State association since 1883 have been the Hon. William I. Bowditch (1878) to 1891; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe to 1893; Mrs. Lucy Stone elected that year but died in October; Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, 1893 and still in office. Henry B. Blackwell has been corresponding secretary over thirty years.[313]

The first president of the New England association was Mrs. Howe. In 1877 Mrs. Lucy Stone was elected, and at her death in 1893 Mrs. Howe was again chosen and is still serving.[314]

Legislative Action:[315] The first petition for the rights of women was presented to the Legislature by William Lloyd Garrison in 1849. In 1853 Lucy Stone, Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips and Thomas Wentworth Higginson went before the constitutional convention held in the State House, with a petition[Pg 721] signed by 2,000 names, and pleaded for an amendment conferring suffrage on women.

The first appearance of a woman in this State before a legislative committee was made in 1857, when Lucy Stone, with the Rev. James Freeman Clarke and Mr. Phillips, addressed the House Judiciary asking suffrage for women and equal property rights for wives. The next year Samuel E. Sewall and Dr. Harriot K. Hunt were granted a similar hearing. In 1869, through the efforts of the New England Suffrage Association, two hearings were secured to present the claims of 8,000 women who had petitioned for the franchise on the same terms as men. This was the beginning of annual hearings on this question, which have been continued without intermission for over thirty years. Henry B. Blackwell has spoken at every hearing and Lucy Stone at every one until her death.

1884—Petitions were presented for Municipal Suffrage, for the appointment of police matrons; also for laws permitting husbands and wives to contract with each other and make gifts directly to each other; allowing a woman to hold any office to which she might be elected or appointed; and requiring that a certain number of women should be appointed on Boards of Overseers of the Poor, on State Boards of Charities and as physicians in the women's wards of insane asylums. Hearings were given on most of these petitions. At that of January 25 for Municipal Suffrage the speakers were William I. Bowditch, Mrs. Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, the Rev. J. W. and Mrs. Jennie F. Bashford, Mary F. Eastman, Mrs. H. H. Robinson, Mrs. Harriette Robinson Shattuck and Miss Nancy Covell.

On January 29 a hearing was given to the remonstrants conducted by Thornton K. Lothrop. The speakers were Francis Parkman (whose paper was read for him by Mr. Lothrop) Louis B. Brandeis, Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells, William H. Sayward, Mrs. Lydia Warner and George C. Crocker. A letter was read from Mrs. Clara T. Leonard. Mr. Parkman asserted that the suffragists "have thrown to the wind every political, not to say every moral principle;" that "three-fourths of the agitators[Pg 722] are in mutiny against Providence because it made them women;" and that "if the ballot were granted to women it would be a burden so crushing that life would be a misery."

This year 315 petitions for suffrage with 21,608 signatures were presented. The remonstrants who set out with the avowed intention of getting more secured about 3,000. A number of persons who signed the anti-suffrage petition in Boston published letters afterwards over their own names and addresses saying that they had signed without reading, upon the assurance of the canvasser employed by the remonstrants that it was a petition to permit women to vote on the question of liquor license.

In the House Municipal Suffrage was discussed March 12, 13, and finally was defeated by 61 yeas, 155 nays. A bill to let women vote on the license question, which had not been asked for by the suffrage association, was voted down without a count.

A law was enacted requiring two women trustees on the board of every State lunatic hospital, and one woman physician in each. Samuel E. Sewall, Frank B. Sanborn, Mr. Blackwell and Miss Mary A. Brigham had been the speakers at the hearing in behalf of this measure. All the other petitions were refused.

1885—On Municipal Suffrage and the submission of a constitutional amendment a hearing was given February 17. As usual the Green Room was crowded. There were before the committee petitions for suffrage with 16,113 signatures, and petitions against it with 285. The speakers in favor were the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Mrs. Cheney, Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Mr. Bowditch, William Lloyd Garrison, Jr., Miss Eastman, Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin, Mrs. Abby M. Gannett and Miss Lelia J. Robinson. The opposition was conducted by Mr. Brandeis and the speakers were Judge Francis C. Lowell, Mrs. Gannett Wells, Thomas Weston, Jr., Henry Parkman and the Rev. Brooke Hereford, lately from England, with letters from President L. Clark Seelye of Smith College, Miss Mary E. Dewey and Mr. Sayward. The committee reported in favor of Municipal Suffrage with only one dissenting. The House on May 4 rejected the bill by 61 yeas, 131 nays.

While the women sat in the gallery waiting for the measure to be discussed, the bill proposing to limit the working day for[Pg 723] women and children to ten hours was "guyed, laughed at and voted down amid ridicule and uproar." This Legislature also refused the petition of Mr. Sewall and others for one or more women on every Board of Overseers of the Poor; for the better protection of wives; for the submission of a constitutional amendment granting women full suffrage; and for the amendment of the school suffrage law to make it as easy for women as for men to register. (See Suffrage.)

1886—At the hearing, January 28, a letter was read from the Hon. Josiah G. Abbott, and addresses were made by Mr. Garrison, Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Cheney, Mrs. Eliza Trask Hill, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles, Mrs. Shattuck, Mrs. Robinson, Miss Eastman and Mrs. Claflin. The remonstrants' hearing had been appointed for January 29. Their attorney, E. N. Hill, tried at the last moment to get a postponement but failed. The leaders of the "antis" declined to speak but several of the rank and file appeared and made the usual objections. The committee reported in favor of Municipal Suffrage. It was discussed in the House April 14, about the same number speaking on each side, and defeated by 77 yeas, 132 nays, the most favorable vote since 1879.

On May 20, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, representatives of the suffrage association and other societies had a hearing in behalf of bills to raise the "age of protection" and to provide adequate penalties for seduction, but no action was taken.

1887—On January 6 Governor Oliver Ames, in his inaugural address to the Legislature, said, "I earnestly recommend, as a measure of simple justice, the enactment of a law securing Municipal Suffrage to women." The suffrage petitions this year had 5,741 signatures, the remonstrant petitions 81. On February 2 it was ordered in the House, on motion of Josiah Quincy, that the Committee on Woman Suffrage consider the expediency of submitting the question of Municipal Suffrage to the women of the different cities and towns, the right to be given to them in any city or town where the majority of those who voted on the question should vote in favor; or where a number of women should petition for it equal to a majority of the number of men who voted at the last annual municipal or town election; or[Pg 724] where a majority vote of the men should be given for it at the annual election.

On motion of Mr. Quincy an order for legislation to equalize the interest of husbands and wives in each other's property had been previously introduced but was lost.

On February 9 a hearing was given to the petitioners. The speakers were the same as the previous year with the addition of Col. T. W. Higginson. Mr. Blackwell presented two letters in favor of the bill, one addressed to Republicans, one to Democrats.[316] Clement K. Fay spoke for the remonstrants.

The committee reported in favor of Municipal Suffrage, two dissenting. It was discussed in the House March 3 and 10. Mr. Bailey of Everett offered an amendment that the provisions of the bill be tried for ten years, but it was not put to a vote. The bill was lost by 86 yeas, 122 nays, including pairs.

A bill to let women vote on the license question passed the House by 116 yeas to 88 nays, including pairs, but was defeated in the Senate, 24 yeas, 13 nays.

The bill was passed providing for police matrons in all cities of 30,000 or more inhabitants.

1888—The Legislature was asked for Municipal and Presidential Suffrage and for the submission of a constitutional amendment; also for various improvements in the laws relating to women. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union petitioned for License Suffrage. Several thousand women signed the petition and one hundred the remonstrance. On January 25 a hearing was given on the petitions for Municipal and License Suffrage. Mr. Bowditch, Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Howe and Mrs. Cheney spoke for Municipal Suffrage and Miss Elizabeth S. Tobey for License Suffrage. Mr. Brandeis made an argument as attorney for the remonstrants. Charles Carleton Coffin, A. A. Miner, D. D., Mrs. Claflin, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles and Miss Cora Scott Pond replied for the petitioners.

On February 20 and 25 hearings were given on the petitions[Pg 725] for six bills drawn by Mr. Sewall: 1. To give mothers the equal care, custody and education of their minor children. 2. To give married women a right to appoint guardians for their minor children by will. 3. To repeal the act of 1887 limiting the inheritance of personal property. 4. To regulate and equalize the descent of personal property between husband and wife. 5. To equalize curtesy and dower and the descent of real estate between husband and wife. 6. To enable husbands and wives to make gifts, contracts and conveyances directly with one another, and to authorize suits between them.

Addresses in support of the petitions were made by Mr. Sewall, Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Stone, Mr. Blackwell, the Hon. George A. O. Ernst, Miss Robinson, George H. Fall and others. All these measures were refused. Several new statutes for the better protection of women were passed this year, however, at the instance of Mr. Sewall, among them one providing severe penalties for any person who should aid in sending a woman as inmate or servant to a house of ill fame; one prohibiting railroads from requiring women or children to ride in smoking cars; one providing that women arrested should be placed in charge of police matrons.

On April 23 Municipal Suffrage was defeated in the House, 50 yeas, 121 nays. License Suffrage, after a prolonged contest, passed by 118 yeas, 110 nays, and was defeated in the Senate, 20 yeas, 19 nays.

1889—At the hearing of January 31 the attendance was larger than ever before. Prof. W. H. Carruth, Franklyn Howland and the Rev. J. W. Hamilton (afterwards Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church) were added to the usual list of speakers.

On February 4 a hearing was granted to the W. C. T. U. for Municipal Suffrage, and on February 8 one was given to the remonstrants. The Hon. John M. Ropes, the Rev. Charles B. Rice, the Rev. Dr. Dexter of the Congregationalist and Arthur Lord spoke in the negative. They said they were employed as counsel by the remonstrants, whose names and numbers they declined to give. As Mr. Lord was unable to complete his argument in the allotted time, at his request a further hearing was granted on February 11. Extracts were read from letters by[Pg 726] Mrs. Clara T. Leonard and Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney.[317] Mrs. Howe, Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell, Col. L. Edwin Dudley and Miss Tobey replied. Chester W. Kingsley, chairman of the legislative committee, said that as no petitions against suffrage had been sent in he would ask all the remonstrants present to rise. Not a person rose, but the men standing in the aisles tried to sit down. Mr. Lord suggested that the remonstrants were averse to notoriety, whereupon Senator Kingsley asked all in favor to rise, and the great audience rose in a body.

Among the petitions sent in this year for Municipal Suffrage was one signed by President Helen A. Shafer of Wellesley College, a number of the professors and about seventy students who were over twenty-one. The committee reported in favor of both Municipal and License Suffrage. The former was discussed March 12 and lost by a vote, including pairs, of 90 yeas, 139 nays. The Woman's Journal said: "Although not a majority, the weight of character, talent and experience was overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, as is shown by the fact that the chairmen of thirty of the House Committees, out of a total of forty-one, were recorded in its favor."

License Suffrage passed the Senate, 15 yeas, 12 nays, after a long fight, and was defeated in the House, 101 yeas, 42 nays.

1890—Suffrage petitions were presented and also petitions asking that fathers and mothers be made equal guardians of their children; that contracts between husbands and wives be legally valid; and that a widow be allowed to stay more than forty days in the house of her deceased husband without paying rent. All these were refused.

On March 12 a hearing was given to the petitioners for suffrage. Mrs. Stone, Mr. Blackwell, the Rev. J. W. Hamilton, Mrs. Ellen B. Dietrick, the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Mr. Crane of Woburn and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell spoke in behalf of the W. S. A., and Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden, Mrs. Amelia C. Thorpe and Miss Tobey in behalf of the W. C. T. U. Mr. Ropes, Dr. A. P. Peabody and J. B. Wiggin spoke against woman suffrage. Mr. Lord asked that the hearing be extended for[Pg 727] another day, as he wished to speak in behalf of the remonstrants, although no petitions had been sent in. Mr. Blackwell requested the chairman of the committee to ask Mr. Lord to state definitely whom he represented. The chairman answered that if he did not choose to tell he could not compel him. On March 19 a hearing was given to Mr. Lord, who spoke for more than an hour. The usual distinguished suffrage advocates spoke in answer.

On April 8 seventy-nine Republican Representatives met at the Parker House, Boston, in response to an invitation from the Republican members of the House Committee on Woman Suffrage. Ex-Gov. John D. Long presided. Addresses were made by Mr. Long, U. S. Collector Beard, Mayor Thomas N. Hart of Boston, the Hon. Albert E. Pillsbury, ex-president of the Senate, ex-Governor Claflin and State Treasurer George E. Marden. Letters were read from the Hon. W. W. Crapo and ex-Governor Ames. The following was unanimously adopted:

> Resolved, That it is the duty of the Republican party of Massachusetts forthwith to extend Municipal Suffrage to the women of the commonwealth.

On April 17, after extended discussion in the House, the bill was lost, including pairs, by 73 yeas, 141 nays. The same Legislature defeated a proposal to disfranchise for a term of three years men convicted of infamous crimes, and it voted to admit to suffrage men who did not pay their poll-tax.

1891—On February 4 a hearing was granted to the petitioners for Municipal Suffrage, conducted by Mr. Blackwell for the association, by Mrs. Fessenden for the W. C. T. U. To the usual speakers for the former were added Mrs. Helen Campbell, the Rev. Charles G. Ames, and also the Rev. Daniel Whitney, who had advocated woman suffrage in the Massachusetts constitutional convention of 1853 and now celebrated his eighty-first birthday by supporting it again. The speakers for the W. C. T. U. were the Rev. Joseph Cook, Mrs. Thorpe, President Elmer Hewitt Capen of Tufts College, Mrs. Katherine Lente Stevenson and others. Mrs. Martha Moore Avery spoke for the labor reformers. No remonstrants appeared.

In the Senate, March 31, Senators Gilman, Nutter and Breed[Pg 728] spoke for Municipal Suffrage, and no one in the negative. The bill was lost by a vote, including pairs, of 12 yeas, 25 nays.

This year a bill was passed requiring the appointment of women as factory inspectors, and two were appointed.

1892—The suffrage association petitioned for Municipal and Full Suffrage, also for equal property rights for women. The W. C. T. U. for Municipal and License Suffrage, and both societies for legislation granting women equal facilities with men in registering to vote for school committee. On March 2 a hearing was given by the Committee on Election Laws on an order introduced by Senator Gorham D. Gilman to remove the poll-tax prerequisite for women's school vote, as it had been removed from men. Bills to secure for them a more just and liberal method of registration, drafted by ex-Governor Long and Mr. Blackwell, were submitted. Addresses were made by these two, Senator Gilman, Mrs. Cheney, Dr. Salome Merritt, Mrs. Brockway and others.

On February 19 a hearing was given on the suffrage petitions which were advocated by Senator Gilman, Colonel Dudley, Mrs. Howe, Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell, the Hon. George S. Hale, Mrs. Trask Hill and others. No remonstrants appeared. On March 14 the hearing for the W. C. T. U. was held with many prominent advocates.

License Suffrage was discussed in the House April 27, and on a viva voce vote was declared carried, but on a roll call was defeated, 93 yeas, 96 nays. A reconsideration was moved next day and the advocates of the bill secured twenty-three additional votes, but the opponents also increased their vote and the motion was refused. Out of the 240 members 117 recorded themselves in favor of the bill. Municipal Suffrage was voted down in the Senate May 2, without debate, by 10 yeas, 22 nays.

The poll-tax was abolished as a prerequisite for voting in the case of women. This had been done in the case of men in 1890. A bill to permit a wife to bring an action against her husband, at law or in equity, for any matter relating to her separate property or estate passed the House but was defeated in the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported against legislation to enable a woman to be appointed a justice of the peace.[Pg 729]

1893—This year for the first time the State W. S. A., the National W. S. A. of Massachusetts, the W. C. T. U., the Independent Women Voters and the Loyal Women of American Liberty all united in petitioning for a single measure, Municipal Suffrage. The hearing at the State House on February 1 was conducted by Mr. Blackwell. Addresses were made by Lucy Stone,[318] Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Mrs. Stevenson, the Rev. Louis A. Banks, Mayor Elihu B. Hayes of Lynn, Mrs. A. J. Gordon, Mrs. Trask Hill, Mrs. A. P. Dickerman, Mrs. Fiske of St. Johns, N. B., Amos Beckford, George E. Lothrop, Mrs. M. E. S. Cheney and Miss Blackwell. Mrs. M. E. Tucker Faunce was the sole remonstrant.

The committee reported in favor of the petitioners, 7 yeas, 4 nays. The question was debated in the Legislature February 21. Every inch of space was crowded, the first three rows of the men's gallery were allowed on this occasion to be occupied by women and even then many stood. On motion of Representative White of Brookline an amendment was adopted by 110 yeas, 90 nays, providing that Municipal Suffrage should be granted conditionally; the question be submitted to a vote of the men and women of the State, and the measure to go into effect only in case the majority of those voting on it voted in favor. The bill as amended was then defeated by 111 yeas, 101 nays, almost every opponent of suffrage voting against it. They thus virtually declared that they were not willing women should have Municipal Suffrage even if the majority of both men and women could be shown to favor it. The adverse majority this year was ten votes; the smallest in any previous year had been 49.

1894—Gov. Frederick T. Greenhalge, in his inaugural message to the Legislature, strongly urged that it should consider the extension of Municipal Suffrage to women.

On January 18 a hearing was given by the Joint Special Committee. No remonstrant petitions had been sent in. The chairman invited alternate speeches from suffragists and opponents, but only one of the latter presented himself, J. Otis Wardwell of Haverhill, who said:[Pg 730]

> I appear here this morning for a lady who, I understand, has occupied a position as chairman or secretary of an organization that has for some time been an active opponent of woman suffrage.

> Mr. Blackwell—May I inquire what the organization is that the gentleman refers to? We have never been able to find out much about this organization against woman suffrage. We hear that there is one, but if so it is a secret society. What is the name of it?

> Mr. Wardwell—I do not know the name of it, sir. [Laughter.]

When pressed for the name of the lady at whose request he appeared he finally acknowledged that it was Mrs. C. D. Homans of Boston. It was afterwards reported that she was extremely indignant with him for having disclosed her name.

Addresses in favor of suffrage were made by Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Livermore, Mr. Ernst, Mr. Garrison, Mr. and Miss Blackwell, for the State W. S. A.; by Mrs. Cheney, president, for the State School Suffrage Association; by Dr. Salome Merritt and Miss Charlotte Lobdell for the National W. S. A. of Massachusetts; by Willard Howland, Mrs. Gleason and others for the W. C. T. U.; by Mrs. Trask Hill for the Independent Women Voters; and by Mrs. Avery for the labor element; also by Miss Catherine Spence of Australia, Mrs. Emily A. Fifield of the Boston school board, and others. Henry H. Faxon added a few words.

A second hearing was given January 19, at which Mrs. Fessenden and twelve other speakers represented the W. C. T. U. No remonstrants appeared. At the request of a member of the Joint Special Committee a third hearing was given on January 29. The Rev. Dr. Hamilton, Mrs. L. A. Morrison, Mrs. Trask Hill and others spoke in favor of suffrage, and Jeremiah J. Donovan against it. The committee made a majority report against Municipal Suffrage and a minority report in favor.

On January 31 Arthur S. Kneil offered an amendment providing that the question should be submitted to the men and women of the State, and that the act should take effect only if a majority of the votes cast on the proposition were in favor. Wm. H. Burges wanted it submitted to the men only. A second amendment proposed to lay the whole matter on the table till the opinion of the Supreme Court could be taken on the constitutionality of Mr. Kneil's amendment. On February 1 there was a spirited discussion but finally both amendments were defeated,[Pg 731] and the minority report in favor of the bill was substituted for the adverse majority report by a vote of 104 yeas, 90 nays.

On February 2 Senator Arthur H. Wellman urged the adoption of his order that the Justices of the Supreme Court should be required to give their opinion to the House on three questions:

> 1. Is it constitutional, in an act granting to women the right to vote in town and city elections, to provide that such act shall take effect throughout the commonwealth upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of the commonwealth?

> 2. Is it constitutional to provide in such an act that it shall take effect in a city or town upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of such city or town?

> 3. Is it constitutional to provide that such an act shall take effect throughout the commonwealth upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of the commonwealth, including women specially authorized to register and vote upon this question?

Alfred S. Roe and the other leading advocates of Municipal Suffrage withdrew their opposition to the order, saying that they preferred the bill as it stood, but that if amendments were to be added to it at any subsequent stage it would be well to know whether they were constitutional. The order was adopted.

On March 3 four Justices of the Supreme Court—Field, Allen, Morton and Lathrop—answered "No" to all three questions. Justices Holmes and Barker answered "Yes" to all three; and Justice Knowlton answered "No" to the first and third and "Yes" to the second. These opinions were published in full in the Woman's Journal of March 10, 1894.

On March 14 Municipal Suffrage was discussed in open session. An amendment was offered to limit the right to taxpaying women and a substitute bill to allow women to vote at one election only. The latter was offered by Richard J. Hayes of Boston, who said, "You would see the lowest women literally driven to the polls by thousands by mercenary politicians. The object lesson would settle the question forever." The amendment and the substitute were lost and the bill was passed to its third reading by a vote, including pairs, of 122 yeas, 106 nays.

On March 29 the galleries were crowded with women. Richard Sullivan of Boston offered an additional section that the question be submitted to the men at the November election for an expression of opinion. This was adopted by 109 yeas, 93 nays.[Pg 732] The bill to grant women Municipal Suffrage at once, irrespective of what the expression of opinion in November might be, was then passed to be engrossed, by a vote, including pairs, of 118 yeas, 107 nays. A motion to reconsider was voted down.

On April 5 the bill came up in the Senate. Floor and galleries were crowded and hundreds were turned away. Senator William B. Lawrence of Medford, a distiller, offered as a substitute for the bill a proposal to submit the question to the men at the November election for an expression of opinion as a guide to action by the next Legislature. He said it was absurd to grant women the suffrage first and call for an expression of opinion by the men afterward. The vote on the substitute was a tie, 19 yeas, 19 nays. To relieve the president of the Senate from the necessity of voting Senator John F. Fitzgerald changed his vote, but Senator Butler declined to be so relieved and gave his casting vote against the substitute. The bill for Municipal Suffrage was then defeated by 14 yeas, 24 nays.

The Boston Herald, of April 9, had an editorial entitled Liquor and Woman Suffrage, expressing satisfaction in the defeat of the bill but emphatic disapproval of the corrupt methods used against it in the Senate. A majority of the Senators had promised to vote for it but the Liquor Dealer's Association raised a large sum of money to accomplish its defeat, a persistent lobby worked against it and several Senators changed front. The Herald plainly intimated that the result was due to bribery.

The credit of the unusually good vote in the House in 1893 and '94 was largely due to Representative Alfred S. Roe of Worcester, an able member, highly esteemed and very popular, who worked for the bill with the utmost zeal and perseverance.

There were petitions this year from many different organizations representing a vast aggregate membership. On June 9 a bill to allow women to be notaries public was defeated in the Senate by 10 yeas, 12 nays.

1895.—On January 30 a great hearing was held in old Representatives' Hall at the State House, with floor, aisles and galleries crowded to the utmost capacity. Senator Alpheus M. Eldridge presided and Mrs. Livermore, as president of the State Association, conducted the hearing for the five organizations[Pg 733] that appeared as petitioners. Addresses were made by Lady Henry Somerset, Mrs. Howe, Mr. Blackwell, Profs. Hayes and Webster of Wellesley College, Mrs. Fessenden, Mrs. Trask Hill, Mrs. Emily McLaughlin, Mrs. Boland, John Dean, F. C. Nash, Frank H. Foster, chairman of the legislative committee of the American Federation of Labor for Massachusetts, James F. Norton, the representative of 10,000 Good Templars.

No opposing petitions had been sent in but Thomas Russell appeared as attorney for the remonstrants and said: "Believing as they do that the proper place for women is not in public urging or remonstrating against legislation before public gatherings, but rather in the home, the hospital, the school, the public institution where sin and suffering are to be found and to be alleviated, they have not themselves appeared before you"—but had sent him.[319] Representative Roe said that the lawyer who had spoken for the remonstrants at the hearing of 1894 had received $500 for his services, and asked Mr. Russell if he appeared in the same capacity. He answered that no compensation had been promised him, and that he did not mean to accept any. He added: "I represent no organization, anything more than an informal gathering of ladies, and as for the numbers I can not state. But I do not come here basing my claim to be heard on the numbers of those who have asked me to appear. It is the justice of the cause which I speak upon that entitles me to a hearing, as it would if there were no one but myself."

Later twelve remonstrances were sent in, signed by 748 women. For suffrage there were 210 petitions from 186 towns and cities representing 133,111 individuals, men and women.

The opposition, alarmed by the large affirmative vote of 1894, this year put forth unprecedented efforts. Daily papers were paid for publishing voluminous letters against suffrage—sometimes of four columns—and an active and unscrupulous lobby worked against the bill. For the first time in history an anti-suffrage association was formed within the Legislature itself. Representatives Dallinger, Humphrey, Bancroft of Clinton, Eddy of New Bedford, and others, organized themselves into[Pg 734] a society, elected a chairman and secretary and worked strenuously and systematically, making a thorough canvass of the House and pledging as many members as possible to vote "No."

The suffragists made the mistake of devoting their attention mainly to the Senate, where it was expected that the bill would come up first, and where it was believed that the main difficulty would be, but on March 5 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was brought up in the House. Every inch of space was crowded with spectators. After much discussion the bill was defeated by 137 yeas, 97 nays.

On March 13 a bill to raise the "age of protection" for girls from 16 to 18 years was defeated by 108 yeas, 55 nays.

On May 17 Senator Wellman's bill for a "mock referendum" was adopted by the Legislature. It proposed to take a vote of the men and women of the State on the question "Is it expedient that Municipal Suffrage should be extended to women?"

The Mock Referendum: This is called by the advocates of equal rights a "mock referendum" because it was to have no legal validity and was to give the women nothing even if it should be carried in their favor. The Woman's Journal said:

> Two years ago an amendment was added to the Municipal Suffrage Bill providing that it should become law when ratified by a vote of the majority of the men and women of the State. Nearly every opponent in the House voted against the bill after that amendment had been incorporated, showing clearly that they were not willing to let women have suffrage even if a majority of the men and women of the State should vote for it. It was then believed that such action would be constitutional. The Supreme Court afterwards gave its opinion that Municipal Suffrage could not be extended by a popular vote of either the men or the women, or both, but must be extended, if at all, by the Legislature. Following that decision, the opponents have become clamorous for a popular vote.

The suffragists, who, beginning in 1869, had petitioned year after year for the submission to the voters of a legal and straightforward constitutional amendment, which would give women the ballot if the majority voted for it, were disgusted with this sham substitution. Mrs. Livermore, the State president, declared that she would neither take part in the mock vote herself nor advise others to do so. This feeling was so general that at the last meeting of the executive committee of the W. S. A. for[Pg 735] the season, in June, it was found impossible even to pass a resolution recommending those men and women who favored equal suffrage to go to the polls and say so.

A number of individual suffragists, however, believed that advantage should be taken of the chance to make an educational campaign and, as the Woman's Journal of June 8 said, "to use the opportunity for what it is worth as a means of agitation." Therefore a Suffrage Referendum State Committee was formed of more than fifty prominent men and women, including U. S. Senator Hoar, ex-Governor Long, the Hon. J. Q. A. Brackett, Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Fannie B. Ames, Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, the editors of the Woman's Journal and others. Mrs. Mary Clarke Smith was employed as organizer, beginning July 10, and as good a campaign was made as the circumstances permitted. By the time the executive committee reassembled in October, every one had become convinced of the wisdom of this course, and the State Suffrage Association and the Referendum Committee worked hand in hand during the last few weeks before election. It was a disadvantage that the bill for the "mock referendum" was passed just before people went away for the summer, and that the vote was to be taken soon after they came back in the fall; nevertheless, a spirited campaign was made, a large number of meetings and rallies were held and a great quantity of literature was distributed.

About six weeks before election a Man Suffrage Association was formed with Francis C. Lowell as chairman, Thomas Russell as treasurer and Charles R. Saunders as salaried secretary.[320] This society was composed wholly of men. It sent out an enormous number of circulars and other documents, spent money like water, enlisted active political workers, utilized to a considerable extent the party "machines," and as far as possible secured a committee of men to work at each polling place on election day and roll up a large negative vote of men. It contained a number of influential politicians who displayed much skill in their tactics. They published a manifesto against equal rights signed by one[Pg 736] hundred prominent men. The Woman's Journal, which printed this document on October 19, said:

> In the main the protest represents merely money and social position. There are half-a-dozen names on it which it is a pity and a shame to see there. All the rest were to be expected. They are men whose opinion would be of weight on questions of stocks and bonds, but whose opinion on questions of moral reform has only a minus value.... Its signers have pilloried themselves for posterity. It is regarded as discourteous to-day to remind President Eliot of Harvard that his father was the only member of Congress from Massachusetts who voted for the Fugitive Slave Law. Forty years hence it will be regarded as cruel to remind the children of these gentlemen [among whom was President Eliot] that their fathers put their names to a protest against equal rights for women.

At first the two anti-suffrage associations, the men's and the women's, co-operated with the suffragists in getting up debates; but no man ever consented to take part in one against suffrage a second time, and toward the end of the campaign it became almost impossible to secure speakers in the negative. Both sides published appeals and counter-appeals and the question was discussed in the press, at public meetings and in social circles to an extent unprecedented in the history of the State. Even the advertisements in the street cars began with the query in large letters, Should Women Vote? in order to attract attention to a particular brand of soap, etc.

During the early part of the canvass the opponents of suffrage circulated pledges for signature by women promising to vote "No" in November,[321] but they soon became convinced that in trying to get out a large vote of women against suffrage they had undertaken more than they could accomplish. The Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women supplied in plate form to a large number of State papers a series of articles one of which urged women to express themselves against suffrage, warned them that "silence will be cited as consent," and said: "It is our duty in any clear and forcible way that presents itself, to say 'I am not sure that our country should run this enormous new risk.'"

The "antis" have since asserted that in saying "in any clear[Pg 737] and forcible way that presents itself," they did not mean to include the most obvious way, i. e., by voting "No" when given an opportunity by the Legislature to do so. Later in the campaign they issued a manifesto declaring that they did not urge women to register or vote, and that silence was not to be interpreted as consent. And finally, just before registration closed in Boston and the other cities, when it was clear that the majority of women were not going to register to vote either way, they issued another manifesto urging women not to vote against suffrage!

This was a transparent device to conceal the fewness of their numbers, and they thus stultified all their previous professions, as they had asserted for years that whenever women were given the right to vote on an important question it would be their duty to do so, irrespective of their personal inclinations, and it was in order to save women from this burden that their enfranchisement was opposed. If they could have brought out an overwhelming vote of women against equal suffrage, of course they would have done so. Since they could not, it was their policy to advise women not to express themselves and thus let the few who were strongly opposed be confounded with the mass of those who were indifferent. The Man Suffrage Association, which professed to be working in full harmony with the women's organization, declared in small and inconspicuous type that it did not urge women to take the trouble to register, merely for the sake of expressing themselves on the referendum, but that it did urge those who voted at all to vote "No." It published a circular giving reasons "why women and the friends of women should vote no," and it covered walls and fences from one end of the State to the other with huge placards bearing in enormous letters the words, "Men and Women, Vote No!"

The main object of this association, however, was not to get an expression of opinion from the women (which would weigh little either way) but to influence the Legislature through a large negative vote from the men. Mr. Saunders was reported in an interview in the Boston Herald as saying that the women who took the trouble to vote at all would probably vote in favor ten to one (it proved to be twenty-five to one), but that if the men[Pg 738] would give a good majority against it the Legislature could be relied upon to defeat a genuine amendment for years.

The suffragists spent only $1,300 during the entire canvass. The Man Suffrage Association never made the sworn report of its receipts and expenditures which the law requires of every campaign committee, although even the papers opposed to suffrage exhorted it to do so and warned it that it was placing itself in a false position by refusing, but the treasurer published an unsworn statement, not of his receipts but of his general expenditures, by which it appeared that the association, during the six weeks of its existence, spent $3,576. In addition large sums were expended by the women's anti-suffrage association, which, not being a campaign committee but a permanent society, was under no legal obligation to file a statement.

The "mock referendum" was voted on at the State election, Nov. 5, 1895, receiving 108,974 yeas, 187,837 nays. Men cast 86,970 yeas, 186,115 nays; women cast 22,204 yeas, 861 nays. Forty-eight towns gave a majority for equal suffrage, two were a tie, and in several the adverse majority was only one or two votes, and yet in most of these towns no suffrage league existed, and in some of them no suffrage meeting ever had been held.

The number of men who voted in the affirmative was a general surprise. A leaflet by one of the leading remonstrants, circulated during the campaign, asserted that "not one citizen of sound judgment in a hundred is in favor of woman suffrage;" but nearly one-third of the male voters who expressed themselves declared for it. There was the smallest affirmative vote in the most disreputable wards of Boston. Nearly 2,000 more votes of men were cast for suffrage than had been cast for prohibition in 1889. The proportion of votes in favor was almost twice as large as in Rhode Island, the only other New England State in which the question had been submitted, although in that there was no anti-suffrage association in the field. Outside of Boston the largest negative vote by women was cast in Cambridge and Newton, which have the reputation of being remonstrant strongholds. In 238 of the 322 towns not one woman voted "No." In most of these the anti-suffrage association had no branches, and there is no reason to suppose that the women ever had heard[Pg 739] of its eleventh-hour advice to women not to vote. In every county, and in every Congressional, Senatorial and Representative district the women's vote was in favor at least ten to one. The "mock referendum" answered the main purpose of its promoters, however, for it did seriously cut down the vote for suffrage in the Legislature for several years thereafter, but it made a host of converts among the people at large and gave a fresh impetus to the activity of the State Suffrage Association, which ever since has steadily grown in membership.

1896—The usual petitions for suffrage were presented from 79 cities and towns, with 7,780 signatures. The Joint Special Committee on Woman Suffrage, which had been appointed annually for many years, was discontinued, with the good result that the suffragists ever since have had their hearings before two more influential committees, those on Constitutional Amendments and on Election Laws. On February 26 the latter gave a hearing for Municipal Suffrage. Mr. Blackwell opened the case for the petitioners and the usual number of fine addresses were made. Thomas Russell spoke for the remonstrants, and Miss Blackwell replied to him. On February 27 the Committee on Constitutional Amendments gave a hearing. Addresses were made by Mrs. Howe, Mr. Garrison, the Rev. Florence E. Kollock, Oswald Garrison Villard, Mr. Ernst, Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows, Miss Cora A. Benneson and Clyde Duniway, formerly of Oregon. Mr. Russell again spoke for the remonstrants and was answered by Miss Blackwell, Miss Gail Laughlin and Mrs. Mary Clarke Smith.

On March 4 a hearing was given to the petitioners for License Suffrage. Just after the hearing closed Mr. Russell arrived to remonstrate, but too late.

On March 9 a hearing was given on the petition of the State W. S. A. that the times of registration should be the same for women (school) voters as for men.

The Committee on Constitutional Amendments recommended that the question of submitting a suffrage amendment be referred to the next Legislature—three dissenting and favoring its submission[Pg 740] this year. On March 23 consideration of the question was voted down and the yeas and nays were refused.

On March 31 and April 1 License Suffrage was discussed and finally defeated by 93 yeas, 116 nays, including pairs.

The Committee on Election Laws reported in favor of Municipal Suffrage but the bill was defeated.

The Supreme Court decided that women could not be made notaries public because they are not distinctly named as eligible in the State constitution.

Thomas F. Keenan, an opponent of woman suffrage, introduced a bill to license houses "for commercial sexual intercourse," which he alone voted for.[322]

1897—It was decided to ask this year for a thorough revision and equalization of the statutes bearing on domestic relations, in view of the fact that the last Legislature had appointed a committee of lawyers to revise and codify the laws. Especial attention was called to the need of a law making fathers and mothers joint guardians of their children. Mr. Ernst, in behalf of the association, prepared a bill equalizing the property rights of husbands and wives. Mr. Russell, in behalf of the M. A. O. F. E. S. W. (which had for years been circulating leaflets declaring that the laws of Massachusetts were already more than just to women) prepared a bill tending in a similar direction; and a Judge of Probate prepared a more limited bill. All three appeared before the revising committee and, after repeated conferences, a bill making some improvements was recommended by the committee and enacted by the Legislature, but with a proviso that it should not go into effect until the following year, in order that the next Legislature might have a chance to amend it.

On February 10 the committee gave a hearing to the petitioners for the submission of an amendment to enfranchise women. It was addressed by Mr. Blackwell, Mrs. Cheney, Mrs. Boland, the Rev. Thomas Scully, the Rev. Mr. Ames, the Rev. Augusta Chapin, Miss Blackwell and others. No remonstrants appeared.[Pg 741] The committee reported favorably, but on February 18 the bill was defeated by 74 yeas, 107 nays.

On February 24 the Committee on Election Laws heard arguments for Municipal and Presidential Suffrage, and also on the petition of the W. C. T. U. for License Suffrage. The committee had before it 144 largely signed petitions for suffrage and none against it. Mrs. Howe and Mr. Blackwell spoke in behalf of the measures asked for by the suffrage association, and a large number of prominent women for the W. C. T. U. Mr. Russell, Mrs. J. Elliott Cabot, Frank Foxcroft, Miss Dewey, Dr. Walter Channing, Mrs. A. J. George, A. Lawrence Lowell and Miss Mary A. J. McIntyre spoke against all three bills. Miss Blackwell, at the close, replied in behalf of both associations. Members of the committee asked the president of the anti-suffrage association, Mrs. Cabot, and almost all the women who spoke on that side whether they would vote for or against license if they had the ballot. Everyone answered that she would vote for license. Mr. Russell had declared that if women were allowed to vote, "no license would be carried in every town and city of the commonwealth, contrary to the will of the people." The committee gave a majority report against all the bills.

On March 10 the question of accepting the adverse report on License Suffrage came up in the Legislature. The vote stood, 100 yeas, 100 nays, and Speaker John L. Bates gave his casting vote in favor of substituting the bill for the adverse report. On March 18 the question was debated and the vote resulted in 108 yeas, 125 nays. There was much public interest and a lively discussion in the papers. Municipal and Presidential Suffrage were lost without a roll-call. A bill to make the Boston School Board appointive instead of elective, which would have deprived women of their School Suffrage, was defeated.

1898—The hearing on February 2 was conducted by Mr. Blackwell for the petitioners; Mr. Russell for the remonstrants. A letter from ex-Gov. William Claflin in favor of suffrage was read. Mrs. Anna Christy Fall, Mr. Garrison, ex-U. S. Attorney Frank B. Allen, Mrs. Helen Adelaide Shaw, Dr. A. E. Winship, editor of the Journal of Education, and others spoke for suffrage; Mrs. Arthur D. Gilman, Mrs. Egbert C. Smythe, Mrs. Rothery[Pg 742] of Wellesley, Mrs. Lincoln R. Stone and Mrs. George against it. Miss Blackwell replied for the petitioners. The committee reported "leave to withdraw." On February 14, after debate in the House of Representatives, the vote stood 44 yeas, 97 nays.

On February 23 the committee gave a hearing on Municipal Suffrage and on License Suffrage, both of which were eloquently urged. Mrs. Cabot, Mrs. Charles E. Guild, the Rev. Thomas Van Ness, the Rev. Reuen Thomas, Mrs. Henry F. Durant, Mrs. William T. Sedgwick, Mr. Foxcroft and Mr. Russell spoke in opposition. Municipal Suffrage was not debated, but after discussion on March 10 and 11, in the House of Representatives, the vote on License Suffrage, including pairs, stood 60 yeas, 116 nays.

The record for 1899 and 1900 presented no variations except that a number of local associations petitioned for Municipal Suffrage for Taxpaying Women. The State association did not officially ask for this, though the majority of its officers favored the measure. The annual hearings were given, the usual large crowds were in attendance, the ablest men and women in the State advocated the granting of suffrage, those heretofore mentioned spoke in opposition,[323] and the negative vote was in about the same proportion as before the "remonstrants" made their appearance.[324][Pg 743]

Laws: Until 1845 the women of Massachusetts suffered to the fullest extent the barbarities of the English Common Law. After that date the changes were gradual but very slow. From 1884 there was but little improvement in the property laws until 1899, when a radical revision was effected by a legislative committee and approved by the Legislature. As there was to be a general revision of the statutes and the new book would not be issued until Jan. 1, 1902, it was decided that all should go into effect at that date. The new property law for women provides as follows: No distinction is made between real and personal property in distributing the estate. The surviving husband or wife takes and holds one-third if the deceased leaves children or their descendants; $5,000 and one-half of the remaining estate if the deceased leaves no issue; and the whole if the deceased leaves no kindred. This is taken absolutely and not for life. Curtesy and dower have not been abolished but the old-time curtesy, which is a life interest in the whole of a deceased wife's real estate, is cut down to a life interest in one-third, the same as dower; and in order to be entitled to dower or curtesy the surviving husband or wife must elect to take it in preference to abiding by the above provisions.

Either husband or wife can make a will under the new law without the consent of the other, but the survivor, if not satisfied with the will of the deceased, can waive it within a year and take the same share of the estate that he (or she) would have taken if there had been no will, except that, if he would thus become entitled to more than $10,000 in value, he shall receive, in addition to that amount, only the income during his life of the excess of his share of such estate above that amount; and except that, if the deceased leaves no kindred, he, upon such waiver, shall take the interest he would have taken if the deceased had died leaving kindred but no issue.

A discretionary amount may be assigned by the Probate Court to the widow for the support of herself and minor children and takes precedence of the debts of the deceased. The old law took this allowance out of the personal estate only, and often the[Pg 744] widow was not able to receive the immediate assistance she needed, because the property was all in the form of real estate. The new law permits the real estate to be used if necessary. It also gives $100 to a minor child for his immediate necessities, if there is no widow; the old law gave $50. The new law permits the widow to remain in her husband's house for six months after his death. The old law gave her only forty days.

A married woman has full control of her separate property, and can dispose of her real estate subject only to the husband's interests. If she has been deserted or if the court has decreed that she is living apart from him for justifiable cause, she can by will or deed dispose of all her real and personal estate as if unmarried. The husband can do the same.

A married woman can be executor, administrator, guardian or trustee. She may make contracts with any one except her husband; may sue and be sued, carry on business in her own name, by complying with the legal requirements; control and invest her earnings and enter into partnerships. She is responsible for her contracts and debts and her property may be held for them. The husband is not liable on any judgments recovered against the wife alone, and her separate property is not liable on any judgment or execution against the husband. Suits between husband and wife are not allowed except for divorce.

The father is the legal guardian of the persons and estates of minor children; he has power to dispose of them during the lifetime of the mother and may appoint a guardian at his death.[325]

For non-support of wife and minor children the husband may be fined not exceeding $20 or imprisoned in the house of correction not exceeding six months. At the discretion of the court the fine is paid in whole or part to the town, city, society or person actually supporting such wife and children. (1893.)[Pg 745]

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13 years in 1886; to 14 in 1888; to 16 in 1893. The penalty is imprisonment in the State prison for life or for any term of years, or for any term in any other penal institution in the commonwealth. This may be one day in the city jail.

Among various laws passed in the interests of women was one in 1895 making army nurses eligible to receive State aid. One of 1896 requires the State to inter the wife or widow of an honorably discharged soldier, sailor or marine who served during the Civil War, if she did not leave sufficient means for funeral expenses, provided she was married prior to 1870. In 1900 it was enacted that the State should perform a similar service for the mothers of said soldiers, sailors or marines, and that this should not be with the pauper dead, in either case.

Massachusetts has detailed laws regarding the employment of women, among them one restricting the hours of work in any mercantile establishment to fifty-eight in a week, except in retail stores during the month of December. Ten hours is a legal workday for women in general.

Separate houses of detention are required for women prisoners in cities of over 30,000.[326]

Suffrage: The original charter of Massachusetts in 1691 did not exclude women from voting. In 1780 the first constitution prohibited them from voting except for certain officers. The new constitution of 1820 limited the suffrage strictly to males.

In 1879 the Legislature enacted that a woman twenty-one years of age, who could give satisfactory evidence as to residence and who could stand the educational test (i. e., be able to read five lines of the constitution and write her name), and who should give notice in writing to the assessors that she wished to be assessed a poll tax (two dollars) and should give in under oath a statement of her taxable property (which was not required of men, as they had the option of letting the assessors guess at the amount) should thereupon be assessed and should be entitled to register and vote for members of school boards.[327] In[Pg 746] order to keep her name on the registration list this entire process had to be repeated every year, while a man's name once placed on the list was kept there without further effort on his part, and the payment of the same poll tax entitled him to full suffrage.

In 1881 the poll tax was reduced to fifty cents, and the law was changed so that women's names should remain on the registration list so long as they continued to reside and pay their taxes in the place where they were registered. Even now, however, it requires constant watchfulness on their part to have this done. In 1890 the poll tax as a prerequisite for voting was abolished for men, and in 1892 for women. Only a few weeks in each year were set apart when women might register until 1898, when it was enacted that the time of registration should be the same for both.

The School Suffrage includes only a vote for members of the school board and not for supervisors, appropriations or any questions connected with the public schools. Women are not authorized to attend caucuses or have any voice in nominations of school officers. As they were thus deprived of all voice in selecting candidates, an association, Independent Women Voters, was formed in Boston in 1889 by Mrs. Eliza Trask Hill, who served as president until 1896, when she removed from the city, and Mrs. Sarah J. Boyden has filled the office since then. This organization, which was entered at the registration office as a political party, holds a caucus in each ward between January 1 and April 1 every year and nominates candidates for the School Board. Such nomination by 100 or more legal voters entitles their names to be placed on the Australian ballot. Some of the nominees of the Independent Women Voters are often accepted by the regular parties, but even when this is refused they are sometimes elected over the Republican or Democratic candidates.

Because of the conditions attached and the small privilege granted it is remarkable that any considerable number of women should have voted during these past years. When School Suffrage was first granted, in 1879, only 934 women voted, and for the first seven years the average was only 940. Since then there has been a large increase of interest. During the past seven years the number never has fallen below 5,000. In 1898, 5,201 women[Pg 747] voted; in 1899, 7,090; in 1900, 9,542; and this year (1901) there were 15,545 names on the register and 11,620 voted. The highest number was reached in 1888, when under special circumstances 25,279 women were registered and 19,490 voted.

Office Holding: Women have served as School Committee (trustees) since 1874. For some time previous to 1884 they could hold by appointment the offices of overseers of the poor, trustees of public libraries, school supervisors, members of the State Boards of Education and of Health, Lunacy and Charity, without special legislation. It was required that there should be women on the boards of the three State Primary and Reform Schools, State workhouse, State almshouse and Board of Prison Commissioners, and that certain managers and officers of the Reformatory Prison for Women at Sherborn should be women.

In 1884 a bill was passed requiring the appointment of two women on the board of every Hospital for the Insane and one woman physician for each. In 1885 it was enacted that women might be assistant registers of deeds; in 1886 that they might be elected overseers of the poor. In 1887 a law was passed requiring police matrons in all cities of 30,000 inhabitants or more. There had been matrons in Boston fifteen years.

In 1890 the Supreme Court decided that a woman could not act as notary public. In 1891 it was enacted that there should be women factory inspectors; in 1895 that a woman could be appointed assistant town or city clerk; in 1896 that county commissioners might appoint a woman clerk pro tempore!

The evolution of the Special Commissioner shows the laborious processes by which women make any gains in Massachusetts. In 1883 a law was passed that women attorneys could be appointed Special Commissioners to administer oaths, take depositions and acknowledge deeds. In 1889 it was amended to give Special Commissioners the same powers as justices of the peace in the above respects and also that of issuing summonses for witnesses. In 1896 it was provided that any woman over twenty-one, the same as any man, whether a lawyer or not, could be appointed commissioner; a change of name by marriage should terminate her commission but should not disqualify her for re-appointment. In 1898 the powers were extended to appointments[Pg 748] of appraisers of estates. In 1899 the powers of the Special Commissioner were made coincident with those of justice of the peace, but the authority to perform the marriage ceremony was taken from justices generally and is now given to specified ones only.

Women can not be justices of the peace. They may be appointed by the State to take acknowledgments of deeds but not to perform the marriage ceremony unless regularly ordained ministers.

Women at present are serving on State Boards as follows: Commissioners of Prisons, Charity and Free Public Library—two each; trustees of Insane Hospitals at Danvers, Northampton, Taunton, Worcester and Medfield—two each, and at Westborough, three; School for Feeble-minded, one; Hospital for Epileptics, two; for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates, one; Hospital Cottages for Children, one; State Hospital and State Farm, two; Lyman and Industrial Schools, two.

It has been impossible to ascertain the number of women serving as School Trustees later than 1898. Then the records showed 194 on boards in 138 towns, but, as in many cases only the initials of the prefixes to the names were given, this is probably an underestimate. Women serve on the boards of public libraries.

Women are found in the following official positions in Boston: trustees of public institutions, two; of children's institutions, three; of insane hospitals, two; of bath departments, two; overseers of the poor, two; city conveyancer in law department, one; Superior Court stenographer, one; probation officers, two; chief matron House of Detention, one; supervisor of schools, one; members of school committee, four.

Occupations: Massachusetts claims the first woman who ever practiced medicine in the United States—Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, who studied with her father and began in 1835, long before a medical college in the country was open to women. In 1881 Lelia J. Robinson applied for admission to the bar in Boston and the Supreme Court decided a woman to be ineligible. The Legislature of 1892 enacted that women should be admitted to the practice of law. No professions or occupations are now legally forbidden to them.

Education: One of the first seminaries for women in the United States was Mt. Holyoke at South Hadley, Mass., now a[Pg 749] college with 550 students; the largest college for women in the world is Smith at Northampton, with 1,131 students; one that ranks among the four highest in existence, Wellesley, has 819; Radcliffe at Cambridge, has 407. The requirements of admission and the examinations are the same for Radcliffe as for Harvard and the courses of instruction are identical. The teaching is done by members of the Harvard faculty, over one hundred of them. All degrees must be approved by the President and Fellows of Harvard, the diplomas are countersigned by the President and bear the University seal. Nevertheless Radcliffe is not recognized as having any official connection with the ancient university. A number of graduate courses in Harvard are open to women but without degrees.

Boston University, with 1,430 students, is co-educational in all its departments, including law, medicine and theology. The same is true of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the State Agricultural College. There has been no distinction of sex in Tufts College (Univers.) since 1892; or in Clark University (post-graduate) in Worcester, since 1900. The College of Physicians and Surgeons and Tufts Colleges of Medicine and Surgery, in Boston, admit women. They are excluded from Andover Theological Seminary (Cong'l), Newton Theological Institute (Baptist), Amherst College, Williams College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

In the public schools there are 1,197 men and 12,205 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $136.23; of the women, $51.41. Omitting the High School salaries, the average amount paid to men per month is $130.09; to women, $49.61. In some counties over one-half as much is paid to women teachers as to men, but in Essex County the monthly ratio is $127.82 to men, and $47.17 to women, and in Suffolk County $200.07 to men and $63.44, or less than one-third, to women. Boston has 215 men teachers at an average monthly salary of $213.61; and 1,762 women at an average of $69.68. In no other State is the discrepancy so great in the salary of men and women teachers.

The women's clubs of Massachusetts are as the sands of the sea. Of these 169, with a membership of 21,451, belong to the[Pg 750] State Federation. The New England Woman's Club was organized in 1868, the same year as Sorosis in New York and about one month earlier. These two are generally spoken of as the pioneers of women's clubs as they exist to-day.

#### THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.[328]

When the third volume of the History of Woman Suffrage closed in 1885 it left this association three years old, with Mrs. Harriette Robinson Shattuck, president, Dr. Salome Merritt, vice-president, and thirteen other vice-presidents who represented the same number of counties. To these leaders and others it seemed necessary that Massachusetts should have this society in order to give a support to the officers and the methods of the National Woman Suffrage Association, which they were not receiving from the State society, at that time auxiliary to the American Association. In those three years conventions had been held in some twenty cities.

Mrs. Harriet M. Emerson was then engaged in preparing petitions, to which she secured many signers, asking for "a statute to enable a widow who desires it, to become on reasonable terms a co-executor with those appointed by her husband's will." For several years she spent much time on this work and had the help of many of the best citizens of Boston. It was ably presented at each session of the Legislature, but no action was taken.[329]

HARRIET MAY MILLS. |  | FLORENCE HOWE HALL.
Syracuse, N. Y. |  | Plainfield, N. J.
REV. ANNA GARLIN SPENCER.
Providence, R. I.
LUCRETIA L. BLANKENBURG. |  | LAVINA A. HATCH.
Philadelphia, Pa. |  | E. Pembroke, Mass.

Mrs. Harriet H. Robinson, the corresponding secretary, has published Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement, The New Pandora, a woman's play, Capt. Mary Miller, etc.; Mrs. Shattuck, The Woman's Manual of Parliamentary Law, Advanced Rules for Large Assemblies. Another member, Mrs. Sara A. Underwood, has done valuable work on the newspapers[Pg 751] of Boston, New York and other cities, and before the Legislature. The writings of Mrs. Evaleen L. Mason are well known.

In 1888 certain historical text-books which were objected to by the Roman Catholics were removed from the schools and replaced by others. This caused great excitement, over 25,000 women registered to vote, and for two successive years helped to defeat all the Catholic candidates for the school board and to elect a number of women. The members of this association maintained the non-partisan side and opposed the extremists who urged that Catholics should be excluded from the board, thus depriving it of some of its most experienced and faithful men.

In April, 1888, the association applied for a charter and became the first incorporated body of woman suffragists in the State. In December a petition was sent to Congress asking for an amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting disfranchisement on account of sex.

In 1889 a petition from this association was introduced in the Legislature to require assessors to ask at every house whether there are women there who wish to be assessed a poll tax. A petition was also sent in for a law providing that one-third of the membership of the school committee consist of women. These were presented by Mr. Barker of Malden.

At the eighth annual meeting in May, 1890, C. W. Ernst gave an instructive address on political topics.

In October, 1891, a special meeting was called to discuss the question of discontinuing auxiliaryship to the National-American Association, and continuing work as an independent organization. After a full discussion the vote resulted in remaining auxiliary, only one opposed.

In March, 1892, a plan was laid before the association by Dr. Merritt for action in the various cities and towns of the State to secure the nomination in caucuses of such senators and representatives only as would declare themselves in favor of woman suffrage. A committee was formed to confer with other organizations, and at the next meeting it reported that the Boston Suffrage League, Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick, president, had approved the plan and called a meeting where nine wards were represented and a compact signed. In May this agreement was[Pg 752] adopted by the Suffolk County Committee, who were to work in Boston while the association was to manage outside counties. One thousand copies were printed and circulated but the final results showed not enough interest to make the measure a success.

At this time Mrs. Shattuck resigned the presidency, "being engaged in work more imperative," and Mrs. Robinson gave up her office of corresponding secretary. At the October meeting Miss Hatch was elected a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Columbian Exposition. Mrs. Sarah A. P. Dickerman acted as president during the remainder of the year. Valuable discussions were held on State and National Banks, Should the Governor Exercise the Veto Power? Shall Immigration Be Restricted? Which Would Benefit Boston Most, License or No License? and other timely questions.

In January, 1893, it was voted to petition the Legislature that women be allowed to vote on a constitutional amendment affecting their property rights. A special effort was made in petition work both for Congress and the Legislature. In one small village where forty-two signatures were obtained, only four persons refused to sign. In May Dr. Merritt was unanimously elected president of the association, and remained in office until her death in 1900. At this meeting a statement was made that in Massachusetts there were from 105,000 to 110,000 families with widows or single women as heads, not represented by one vote. In December a committee was appointed to confer with the legislative committee of the State School Suffrage Association to secure an extension of the time (then only two or three days) which was allotted to the registration of women.

At the legislative hearing in January, 1894, petitions were presented by this association from seven counties, covering twenty-one towns. At this date 186 women were reported as holding office, eleven being district superintendents of schools. The following May the registration laws were so changed that women have since had the same time as men in which to register. Under the present law, the assessors in their regular rounds are required to take the names of women voters having the same residence as on a previous voting list. These are then entered on the register for the ensuing campaign without further trouble.[Pg 753]

In September, 1895, a special meeting was called to decide how best to help the work for the referendum which had been submitted by the Legislature in order to ascertain how many women desired to vote. Twenty-five dollars were appropriated toward defraying the expenses of the State committee appointed to conduct this campaign.

In 1896 much time was spent on measures helpful to women and children. One of these was to secure the early closing of stores, the result being that through the entire summer all the principal stores in Boston were closed at 5 p. m. every day, and on Saturdays at 12 M., as they have been each summer since.

House Bill 625 of 1896 started with a most innocent appearance under the title, "A bill to enlarge the powers of the police commissioners of Boston." In reality it asked that the powers of the police force be so extended as to allow them to issue permits for the keeping of houses of ill-repute, with authority for their inspection and control. Other organizations joined this one in opposition, with the result that the bill was defeated.

The association also advocated "A bill to prohibit child insurance," on account of the injury done to families by absorbing the means which should be expended for food, clothes and other necessaries in the payment of policies. It was considered, moreover, in the nature of a premium for child murder by neglect.

The most interesting event of 1898 was the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the first woman's rights convention. Dr. Merritt spoke of the rise of the movement, saying that 1848 was as marked an epoch in the rights of women as was 1776 in the rights of men. Miss Hatch's paper gave the trend of events previous to the Seneca Falls Convention, showing that these molded public sentiment and gave rise to the calling of this memorable meeting. Speeches, letters from absent members and a roll of honor, each giving the name of an old worker and adding appropriate remarks, followed.

In addition to the usual petitions was one to Congress in behalf of the Hawaiian women. A protest was also sent against the admission to Congress of Brigham H. Roberts of Utah, a polygamist and an enemy to woman suffrage.

Since 1884 this association has held 128 public meetings. It[Pg 754] has been represented by active working delegates at every convention of the National Association since becoming an auxiliary in 1882. The recording secretary has held that office for seventeen years, never having been absent from a monthly meeting unless because of illness or attendance at the national conventions. She has been a delegate to the latter for fourteen years.

This association did much pioneer press work. From its first session a report of the same, with items made up of whatever had occurred in any part of the world advantageous to woman's advancement since the previous meeting, has appeared next day in the leading Boston dailies, with scarcely an omission during the eighteen years.

Besides those already mentioned the following have held office and been faithful workers: Mesdames A. M. Mahony, Sarah A. Rand and Lydia L. Hutchins; and the Misses Hannah M. Todd, Elizabeth B. Atwill, Charlotte Lobdell, Agnes G. Parrott and Sophia M. Hale. In 1901 the society united with the Massachusetts State Association.

### FOOTNOTES:

[303] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, editor of the Woman's Journal (Boston) and recording secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage Association since 1890. It is due to the Woman's Journal, founded in 1869, that so complete a record of the State work has been obtained.

[304] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 215.

[305] Among many names which appear in connection with these annual meetings are those of the Revs. Daniel P. Livermore, Charles W. Wendte, S. S. Herrick, Philip S. Moxom, Charles F. Thwing, L. B. Bates, F. A. Abbott, S. W. Bush, William J. Potter, C. P. Pitblado, George Willis Cooke, Fielder Israel, Eben L. Rexford, Christopher R. Eliot, David A. Gregg, Edward A. Horton, B. F. Hamilton, George A. Gordon, Charles F. Dole, Nathan E. Wood, W. W. Lucas, the Revs. Ida C. Hultin, Lorenza Haynes, Mary Traffern Whitney, Lila Frost Sprague, J. W. Clarke, of the Boston Traveller, D. H. Beggs, President of the Central Labor Union, Judge Robert Pitman, the Hon. Joseph H. Walker, Francis J. Garrison, John Graham Brooks, John L. Whiting, Sam Walter Foss, Sherman Hoar, W. L. Haskel, Mesdames Martha Perry Lowe, E. N. L. Walton, Martha Sewall Curtis, O. A. Cheney, Ellie A. Hilt, Abby M. Davis, Judith W. Smith, Misses Anna Gardner, Lucia T. Ames, Eva Channing, Amorette Beecher, Alice Parker, all of Massachusetts. The Rev. J. W. Bashford, Delaware College, Ohio, the Rev. Florence E. Kollock, Illinois, Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, California, Mrs. Helen Coffin Beedy, Mrs. Etta H. Osgood, Maine, U. S. Senator Henry W. Blair, Mrs. Armenia S. White, Miss Mary N. Chase, New Hampshire, Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden, Mrs. A. D. Chandler, Vermont, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Chace, Dr. John C. Wyman, Dr. Ira Aldrich, Jeanette S. French, Louise Tyler, Rhode Island, Mesdames Emily O. Kimball, Josephine M. Bissell, Emily J. Leonard, Annie C. S. Fenner, Judge Joseph and Miss Elizabeth Sheldon, Connecticut, Mrs. Cornelia Collins Hussey, New Jersey, Judge William S. Peirce, Philadelphia, Miss Anna Gordon, Illinois, Dr. Ida Joe Brooks, Arkansas, Ellis Meredith, Denver, Giles B. Stebbins, Michigan, Lloyd McKim Garrison, New York, Amelia B. Edwards, Mrs. Percy Widdrington, England.

[306] As this board was continued for many years with but little change, and as it indicates clearly the personnel of the association, the remainder is given in full. Vice presidents, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, John G. Whittier, U. S. Senator George F. Hoar, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, Theodore D. Weld, ex Gov. William Claflin, Judge Samuel E. Sewall, William Lloyd Garrison, Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Hon. John Hopkins, Miss Abby W. May, A. Bronson Alcott, Marie E. Zakrzewska, M. D., Col. Thomas W. Higginson, Miss Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Wendell Phillips, Miss Louisa M. Alcott, the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Mrs. Adelaide A. Claflin, the Rev. William I. Haven, Judge Thomas Russell, Lucy Sewall, M. D., Robert C. Pitman, George A. Walton, Mrs. C. B. Redmund, Charles W. Slack, Seth Hunt, Mrs. Eliza K. Church, the Rev. Jesse H. Jones, Uretta McAllister, Julia M. Baxter; recording secretary, Charles K. Whipple; treasurer, Miss Amanda M. Lougee; executive committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone, chairman, Mrs. Mary C. Ames, Miss Mary F. Eastman, Mrs. Judith W. Smith, Mrs. Henrietta L. T. Wolcott, Mrs. W. I. Bowditch, Mrs. S. E. M. Kingsbury, Mrs. E. N. L. Walton, Mrs. S. C. Vogl, S. C. Hopkins, Mrs. E. P. Nickles, Mrs. Fenno Tudor, Dr. J. T. Leonard, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Miss Eva Channing, the Rev. J. W. Bashford, Mrs. Harriet W. Sewall, Miss Kate Ireson, Frederick A. Claflin, Arthur P. Ford, Miss M. Ada Molineux, S. Frank King, Miss Cora Scott Pond, J. Avery Howland.

[307] In the 111 Granges of the State, 70 women were secretaries and 39 lecturers this year.

[308] Mrs. Helen Campbell spoke on Women in Industry, Mrs. Howe on Women in Literature, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell on Women in the Ministry, Mrs. Charlotte Emerson Brown, president of the General Federation, on Women's Clubs, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden, president of the State W. C. T. U., on Women's Work for Temperance, Mary A. Greene, LL. B., on Women in Law, Dr. Emily Blackwell on Women in Medicine, Mrs. Sallie Joy White, late president of the New England Women's Press Association, on Women in Journalism, and Miss Eastman on Steps in Education for Girls from Dame School to College. The opportunities for women at Vassar, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Boston University and Mt. Holyoke were presented respectively by Dr. Emma B. Culbertson, Prof. A. Eugenia Morgan, Miss Cora A. Benneson, Miss E. D. Hanscom and Miss Sarah P. Eastman, president of the Boston Mt. Holyoke Alumnæ. Mrs. Cheney read a paper on Women in Hospitals and Miss Alla Foster gave reminiscences of her mother, Mrs. Abby Kelly Foster. Lucy Stone spoke on the Gains of Forty Years, Colonel Higginson on Landmarks of Progress, Mr. Blackwell on Kansas and Wyoming. Woman Suffrage by State and Federal Legislation; Mr. Garrison on Women Needed as Political Helpmeets; and the Rev. Ada C. Bowles on the Suffrage Revival in Worcester in 1869. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates spoke on Suffrage, and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer on Our Debt to the Pioneers.

Letters were read from U. S. Senators Joseph M. Carey and Francis E. Warren of Wyoming, ex-president James H. Fairchild of Oberlin, the Hon. Charles Robinson of Kansas, Thomas Davis, husband of Paulina Wright Davis, Francis G. Adams, secretary of the Kansas Historical Society, Theodore D. Weld, Mesdames Hannah M. Tracy Cutler, Elizabeth B. Chace, Frances H. Drake, Caroline Healy Dall, J. Elizabeth Jones, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Caroline M. Severance, Clara B. Colby, Miss Mary Grew, Miss Anna L. T. Parsons, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett of England, and others.

[309] Mrs. Livermore, the Rev. Charles G. Ames, Mrs. Cheney, Prof. Ellen Hayes of Wellesley, the Hon. Alfred S. Roe, Mrs. Phebe Stone Beeman, Mrs. Sallie Joy White and Mr. M. H. Gulesian of Armenia, with a poem by Mr. Garrison.

[310] The best known of these names are included in the list of eminent persons in the Appendix.

[311] There were addresses by Fletcher Dobyns and Oswald Garrison Villard of Harvard, Miss Maud Thompson of Wellesley College, Edson Reifsnyder of Tufts, and Miss Mabel E. Adams, with music by the Boston Choral Society.

[312] Miss Elva Hurlburt Young, president of the senior class of Wellesley College, A. M. Kales and Raymond M. Alden of Harvard, W. H. Spofford Pittinger of Providence, R. I. A poem by Mrs. Stetson, Girls of To-day, was recited by Miss Marion Sherman of the Boston School of Oratory.

[313] Other officers have been Recording secretary, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, treasurers, Miss Amanda M. Lougee, Mrs. Harriet W. Sewall, Francis J. Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison, chairmen of the executive committee, Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs. Judith W. Smith, Miss Blackwell. Vice presidents for 1900 are the Hons. George F. Hoar, John D. Long, William Claflin, W. W. Crapo, Josiah Quincy, George A. O. Ernst, J. W. Candler, Lieut. Gov. John L. Bates, Col. T. W. Higginson, the Rev. George Willis Cooke, William I. Bowditch, William Lloyd Garrison, Prof. Ellen Hayes, Mesdames Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, Pauline Agassiz Shaw (Quincy A.), Oliver Ames, Fanny B. Ames, Abby Morton Diaz, Susan S. Fessenden, Ole Bull, Emma Walker Batcheller, Martha Perry Lowe, Mary Schlesinger, Miss Mary F. Eastman, Miss Lucia M. Peabody.

[314] Mr. Blackwell was corresponding secretary from 1871 to 1893, Miss Laura Moore of Vermont, one year, and Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles of Rhode Island, from 1894 to the present time, recording secretaries, Charles K. Whipple, Mrs. O. Augusta Cheney, Mrs. Ellie A. Hilt, Miss Eva Channing, treasurers, Mrs. Harriet W. Sewall, John L. Whiting, Miss Amanda M. Lougee, Francis J. Garrison. The vice presidents are the presidents and prominent members of the New England State Associations.

[315] Limited space has prevented any résumé of the speeches made during these years in the conventions or before the legislative committees. The reader is referred to the files of the Woman's Journal which have been placed in a number of public libraries. The names of legislators who have advocated woman suffrage will be found at the close of Legislative Action.

[316] The one to the Republican members was signed by Alanson W. Beard, William Claflin, William W. Crapo, Henry L. Dawes, Frank P. Goulding, Thomas N. Hart, George F. Hoar, John D. Long, Samuel May, Adin Thayer and John G. Whittier; the other to the Democratic by Josiah G. Abbott, Edward Avery, John M. Corse, John E. Fitzgerald, John Hopkins, George E. McNeil, Bushrod Morse, Frederick O. Prince, Albert Palmer and Charles H. Taylor.

[317] These letters have been doing duty ever since, being quoted in adverse reports of congressional committees, Legislatures, speeches and documents of the opponents, etc.

[318] This was the last time Lucy Stone addressed a legislative committee. She had presented her first plea in 1857. Every year since 1869 she had made her annual pilgrimage to the State House to ask for the rights of women.

[319] The remonstrants in past years had gone repeatedly before legislative committees, and since 1897 they have appeared and spoken every year in opposition to any form of suffrage for women.

[320] Mr. Saunders, when asked by a reporter of the Boston Record if it was true that he received $150 per month for his services, declined to say, but stated that he should consider that a small amount, as he was giving practically all of his time and effort.

[321] The M. A. O. F. E. S. W. says that this was not done by the association officially. It was certainly done by some of its prominent members.

[322] On one occasion, after Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and her associates had made their appeals, Mr. Keenan referred to them in the legislative debate as "women masquerading in pants," and said, "I never knew a woman who loved her children or her home that wanted to vote."

[323] Dr. Lyman Abbott of New York, Miss Heloise E. Hersey, Miss Sarah E. Hunt, Mesdames Barrett Wendell, W. W. Vaughan, Judith Andrews, Nathaniel Payne, James H. Robbins, Frank B. Fay and Henry Thompson also "remonstrated."

[324] It seems desirable to preserve the names of those who have championed and voted for a measure so bitterly opposed. Those of the eighty four opponents may drop into oblivion. Honor roll Senators S. Stillman Blanchard, Arthur B. Breed, Gorham D. Gilman, Robert S. Gray, Charles H. Innes, Francis W. Kittridge, Joel D. Miller, Henry S. Milton, Joseph O. Neill, Isaac N. Nutter, Representatives John E. Abbott, Charles H. Adams, Frederick Atherton, Frank E. Badger, Thomas C. Batchelder, John L. Bates, Alanson W. Beard, Amos Beckford, Frank P. Bennett, Thomas W. Bicknell, John B. Bottum, Harvey L. Boutwell, George A. Brown, Walter J. D. Bullock, Edward B. Callender, James F. Carey, George D. Chamberlain, Albert Clarke, Charles Carleton Coffin, Henry Cook, Louis A. Cook, Charles U. Corey, Fred E. Crawford, Franklin Cross, Arthur B. Curtis, Francis W. Darling, William D. Dennis, Solomon K. Dexter, E. Walter Everett, George H. Fall, Frank E. Fitts, Jubal C. Gleason, Samuel L. Gracey, James W. Grimes, Thomas E. Grover, Luther Hall, Harris C. Hartwell, Martin E. Hawes, William R. Hayden, Alfred S. Hayes, Ehhu B. Hayes, Charles E. Haywood, Edmund Hersey, John Hildreth, John G. Horan, Charles R. Johnson, George R. Jones, William E. Judd, Alfred F. Kinney, John Larrabee, Mahlon R. Leonard, Frederic O. MacCartney, Samuel W. McCall, James H. Mellen, John M. Merriman, Charles H. Miller, Daniel L. Milliken, Charles P. Mills, Bushrod Morse, James J. Myers, H. Heustis Newton, Herbert C. Parsons, George W. Penniman, Francis C. Perry, Albert Poor, Josiah Quincy, Francis H. Raymond, Alfred S. Roe, (Judge) Thomas Russell, Thomas E. St. John, Howard K. Sanderson, Charles F. Shute, George T. Sleeper, Frank Smith, Metcalf J. Smith, George L. Soule, Eugene H. Sprague, Ezra A. Stevens, Hazard Stevens, Stephen S. Taft, George F. Tucker, John E. Turtle, O. W. H. Upham, Horace G. Wadlin, Jesse B. Wheeler, Frederick L. Whitmore, John W. Wilkinson, John A. Woodbury, Charles L. Young.

[325] In 1847 Lucy Stone began to advocate giving the mother equal guardianship of the children with the father. During the past thirty years the State Suffrage Association has repeatedly petitioned the Legislature to this effect. In 1902 many other organizations joined in the effort, and the petition for equal guardianship was indorsed by 34,000 women. The Committee on Probate and Chancery reported adversely. Representative George H. Fall's Equal Guardianship Bill was debated on two days and finally passed both Houses and was signed by Gov. W. Murray Crane in June.

The only society of women that has ever ranged itself publicly on the opposing side of this question is the Massachusetts Anti-Suffrage Association. For years it circulated with its official imprint a leaflet in defense of the law which excluded mothers from the custody and guardianship of their children.

[326] For information in regard to the laws the History is indebted to Mrs. Anna Christy (George H.) Fall, a practicing lawyer of Malden.

[327] This was purely class legislation, as the woman who had paid property tax was not required to pay poll-tax, and poor women could not vote without paying two dollars each year. The law was not asked for by the Suffrage Association.

[328] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Lavina Allen Hatch of East Pembroke, recording secretary of the association from its beginning in 1882, and also corresponding secretary from 1892.

[329] In 1884 the Boston Political Class was formed as an auxiliary. While the idea of such an educational scheme originated with Sara A. Underwood, its successful development is due to Harriette Robinson Shattuck, who became president of the class. Lavina Allen Hatch kept its records, and Dora Bascom Smith gave the use of her parlors for its fortnightly meetings.

[Pg 755]

## CHAPTER XLVI.

### MICHIGAN.[330]

From the time of the defeat of the suffrage amendment to the State constitution in 1874 there was no central organization in Michigan for ten years, although a few local societies maintained an existence. Through a conjunction of these forces a convention was called at Flint, May 21, 1884, which resulted in the forming of a State Equal Suffrage Association, officered as follows: President, Mary L. Doe; vice-president, Gov. Josiah W. Begole; corresponding secretary, Nellie Walker; recording secretary, Fannie Holden Fowler; treasurer, Cordelia F. Briggs.

The second State convention was held in Grand Rapids, Oct. 7-9, 1885, with Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell in attendance. Letters were received from Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, and Thomas W. Palmer, U. S. Senator from Michigan. The latter said: "I hope that you will put forward the economic aspect of the question—its effect upon taxation. Women are the natural economists."

In lieu of the annual meeting in 1886 four political State conventions—Prohibition, Greenback, Republican and Democratic—were memorialized for a plank indorsing a Municipal Suffrage Bill. Sarah E. V. Emery appeared before the Prohibition convention, which adopted the plank. She also attended the Democratic, where she was invited to the platform and made a vigorous speech, which was received with applause, but the suffrage resolution was not adopted. Emily B. Ketcham attended the Republican convention but was refused a hearing before the Committee on Resolutions. After its report had been accepted friends obtained an opportunity for her to address the meeting, but she[Pg 756] was received with considerable discourtesy. Mrs. Fowler secured the adoption of the plank by the Greenback convention.

The association met in the State House at Lansing, Jan. 13, 14, 1887. Miss Anthony, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, gave an address in Representative Hall. She was introduced by Gov. Cyrus G. Luce, and many senators and representatives were in the audience.[331]

The convention of 1888 took place in Bay City, June 6-8. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and Helen M. Gougar of Indiana addressed large audiences in the opera house on successive evenings. Immediately afterward a series of two days' meetings was held by Mrs. Gougar, assisted by May Stocking Knaggs, at Saginaw, Flint, Port Huron, Detroit, Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, societies being organized at several places.

In November the Association for the Advancement of Women met in Detroit. Many suffragists were in attendance and the State president, Mrs. Doe, called a council in the parlors of the Church of Our Father. Fifty responded and it was unanimously decided to renew the effort for Municipal Suffrage.

The annual meeting was held in the State House at Lansing, Jan. 19-21, 1889. A letter was received from Senator Palmer, enclosing a draft for $100 and saying: "Equal suffrage in municipal affairs means better statutes, better ordinances, better officers, better administration, lower taxation, happier homes and a better race." This generous gift enabled the association to keep a committee—Helen Philleo Jenkins, Harriet A. Cook, Mrs. Ketcham and Mrs. Knaggs—at the capital for several weeks, where they worked systematically to convert members and to secure victory.

The convention met at Detroit, Feb. 13, 14, 1890. Mrs. Doe, who had been the leader of the State forces since their organization, declined renomination and Mrs. Jenkins was chosen president.

The association convened at Lansing again Feb. 10-12, 1891;[Pg 757] and its speakers were given a joint hearing in Representative Hall on the Municipal Suffrage Bill, which was then before the Legislature. Addresses were made by Harriet J. Boutelle, Belle M. Perry, Sarah E. V. Emery and Martha Snyder Root.

Miss Anthony was present at the State convention, which took place in Battle Creek, May 4, 5, 1892. Articles of incorporation were adopted and Mrs. Ketcham was elected president.

In June the State Republican Convention met at East Saginaw. Mrs. Ketcham, with Mrs. Doe, chairman of the legislative committee, pleaded before the Committee on Resolutions for recognition of this measure. They were courteously treated and when about to retire their opinion was asked on a list of resolutions presented from Genesee County, viz.: That women professors be appointed at Michigan University until their number should bear a fair proportion to the number of women students; that women be appointed on boards of control of the State penal, reformatory and charitable institutions; that Municipal Suffrage for women be recommended, and that an amendment to the State constitution, striking out the word "male" as a qualification for voters, be submitted to the electors. The ladies indorsed all except the fourth proposition, but none of them was adopted.

After the nominations for the Legislature had been made, letters were written to candidates of all parties to ascertain their attitude toward the Municipal Suffrage Bill. Many favorable and some evasive replies were received, while not a few letters were wholly ignored. A suffrage lecture course was arranged in eight cities, from November, 1892, to March, 1893, inclusive, with Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the National Association and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee, Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether of Tennessee, as speakers.

The next annual convention was held in the Capitol, Feb. 1-3, 1893. Mrs. Colby had preceded it in January with her address on Wyoming, given in Representative Hall, the facts and figures of which left a strong impression.[332] The speakers addressed the Legislature in behalf of the Municipal Suffrage Bill.[Pg 758]

In January, 1894, Miss Anthony lectured at Ann Arbor before the University Association. By the efforts of Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, her hostess and friend of many years, preparations had been made for a mass meeting, in which the State E. S. A. participated, Miss Shaw also being present. It convened in Newberry Hall, January 15-17, with a large attendance and resulted in the organization of the Ann Arbor E. S. A., with one hundred members and Mrs. Hall as president. On the last evening she gave a large reception at her home in honor of the two ladies, which was attended by President and Mrs. George B. Angell and many of the university faculty.

This year's convention assembled at Grand Rapids, May 7-10, with the Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois as the principal speaker.

The meeting of 1895 took place at Saginaw, May 7-9. In the evening Representative George H. Waldo gave a review of his efforts in behalf of the Equal Suffrage Bill, and an enthusiastic indorsement of the measure. This convention had the assistance of Mrs. Chapman Catt, who made the chief address. Mrs. Ketcham retired from the presidency and the association elected Mrs. Knaggs. A new standing committee of five was appointed to secure women physicians and attendants in public institutions for the care of women and girls. After adjournment the Saginaw Political Equality Club was formed.

In 1896 the State convention met in Pontiac, May 19-22. Senator Palmer was the orator of the occasion.

The following July Mrs. Knaggs and Carrie C. Faxon addressed the Democratic State Convention at Bay City, through the courtesy of the Hons. John Donovan and O'Brien J. Atkinson. They were accorded an attentive hearing with much applause, and given a rising vote of thanks, emphasized by an exhortation from the chairman, the Hon. Thomas Barkworth, that the party prepare to concede to the women of the State their political rights.

The annual meeting of 1897 took place in Vermontville, May 11-13. On November 22, 23, a national conference was held in[Pg 759] Grand Rapids by Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt, together with the officers of the State association and many other Michigan women.

In 1898 the convention met in Bay City, May 3-5. On the last evening Mrs. May Wright Sewall of Indiana gave a brilliant address on The Duties of Women Considered as Patriots. Its strong peace sentiments aroused deep interest, as this was at the beginning of the Spanish-American War.

The invitation of the Susan B. Anthony Club of Grand Rapids to the National W. S. A., to hold its annual convention in that city in 1899, having been accepted, the date was fixed for April 27 to May 3, inclusive, and it was decided that the State meeting should immediately follow. This national gathering was full of interest, affording as it did an opportunity of attendance to many women of the State who were unable to go to the convention at Washington.[333] Grand Rapids women were generous in their hospitality, all visitors being entertained free of expense. The executive ability of Mrs. Ketcham was evident from first to last. The State association held a business session May 4, and was addressed by Mr. Blackwell and Mrs. Colby. Mrs. Lenore Starker Bliss was elected president.

An immediate result of the national meeting was the organization of the Anna Shaw Junior Equal Suffrage Club of Grand Rapids, with seventeen youthful members.

In December the American Federation of Labor held its annual convention in Detroit. Miss Anthony addressed it by invitation and urged the members to adopt a resolution asking Congress for a Sixteenth Amendment forbidding the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex. Her speech was most enthusiastically received and the resolution she offered was immediately adopted, and, in the form of a petition which represented nearly 1,000,000 members, duly forwarded to Congress.

Prior to the State convention of 1900 Mrs. Chapman Catt, assisted by Miss Shaw, Miss Harriet May Mills of New York and Mrs. Root, held two days' conventions at Hillsdale, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor, organizing suffrage clubs at the first[Pg 760] three places. The annual meeting convened in Detroit, May 15-17, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt giving addresses on consecutive evenings. Mrs. Bliss declining renomination, Mrs. Ketcham was unanimously replaced at the head of the State association.[334]

In July, at the request of Miss Anthony, the Columbia Catholic Summer School held in Detroit extended an invitation for a speech on suffrage. Mrs. Chapman Catt was selected, all arrangements being made by Mrs. Jenkins and others. Father W. J. Dalton, who introduced her, said he hoped to see women voting and filling all offices, even that of police commissioner.

The Greenback and the People's parties have welcomed women as assistants. Prominent among these have been Marian Todd, Martha E. Strickland and Elizabeth Eaglesfield. In 1896 Mrs. Emery and Mrs. Root were placed upon the State Central Committee of the People's Party. The Prohibitionists also have received women as party workers.

Besides those already named, others who have been foremost in every plan to forward equality for women are Giles B. and Catharine A. F. Stebbins, Sara Philleo Skinner, Lila E. Bliss, H. Margaret Downs, Delisle P. Holmes, Wesley Emery, Brent Harding, Smith G. Ketcham and John Wesley Knaggs; among the younger women, Florence Jenkins Spalding and Edith Frances Hall.

Legislative Action: Prior to 1885 the charters of twelve cities made inoperative the early State law which gave School Suffrage to women. By appealing to the Legislature of that year the charters of Grand Rapids and Bay City were so amended that the right to vote at school meetings was conferred upon women.

The new State association organized in 1884 adopted as its principal plan of work a bill which had been drawn by the Hon. Samuel Fowler and introduced in the Legislature of 1883, to grant Municipal Suffrage to women.

In 1885 this bill was presented in the Senate by John W. Belknap, a strong supporter. Independent of the State association, Theodore G. Houk introduced in the House a joint resolution to[Pg 761] strike the word "male" from the constitution. The Joint Judiciary Committees granted a hearing to the friends of woman suffrage in February. The Municipal Bill came to a vote in the Senate on May 21, which resulted in 14 ayes, 15 noes, but was not acted upon in the House. The Houk joint resolution passed the House by 81 ayes, 10 noes, but was not brought up in the Senate.

In 1887 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again taken up, being introduced simultaneously in both Houses, in the lower by Henry Watson, in the upper by Charles J. Monroe, both staunch friends. A hearing was had before the Senate Judiciary and the House Committee on Elections in March. Miss Frances E. Willard aided the suffragists by a brief address. On April 12 the House committee reported in favor of striking out all after the enacting clause, thus completely obliterating the bill, which report was accepted by a vote of 50 ayes, 33 noes. The Senate Bill was not considered.

In 1889 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced in the Senate by Arthur D. Gilmore and in the House by Dr. James B. F. Curtis. It was referred to the Judiciary Committees, and at their request the hearing was had before the entire Legislature during the annual convention of the State E. S. A. No outside lecturers were invited, because the friends of the measure were met by a strongly-expressed wish that the women of Michigan should speak for themselves. Short speeches were made by May Stocking Knaggs, Catharine A. F. Stebbins, Emily B. Ketcham, Lucy F. Andrews, Elizabeth Eaglesfield, Frances Riddle Stafford, Harriet A. Cook, Mrs. R. M. Kellogg, Phebe B. Whitfield and Mary B. Clay of Kentucky who was then residing in the State. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby being present, she was invited to make the closing remarks.

Just before this hearing the bevy of officers and speakers passing through the corridor on their way to the House were warned by Joseph Greusel, a friendly journalist, that a circular of protest had been placed upon the desk of each member. This was headed: "Massachusetts Remonstrants against Woman Suffrage, to the Members of the Michigan Legislature;" and contained[Pg 762] the familiar array of misrepresentations. With the co-operation of Lucy Stone, a reply was printed immediately after the convention and likewise distributed in the Legislature.

The House Bill remained under the judicious guardianship of Dr. Curtis. The chairman of the legislative committee, Mrs. Knaggs, was in constant attendance and secured valuable information on the practical working of Municipal Suffrage from Gov. Lyman U. Humphrey, Attorney-General Simeon B. Bradford, ex-Attorney-General L. B. Kellogg and Laura M. Johns, all of Kansas. The Hon. Charles B. Waite of Chicago prepared by request an exhaustive legal opinion on The Power of the Legislature of Michigan in Reference to Municipal Suffrage. The Judiciary Committee—John V. B. Goodrich, Russell R. Pealer, Byron S. Waite, Norris J. Brown, Oliver S. Smith, Thomas C. Taylor, James A. Randall—gave a unanimous report in favor of the bill, which included this opinion and the Kansas reports. Senator Thomas W. Palmer, who had been appointed Minister to Spain, went to Lansing on the very eve of leaving this country and, in an address to the joint Houses of the Legislature, made a strong plea for the measure.

As the day fixed for the consideration of the bill approached, the suffrage committee found itself confronted by an arrangement, quietly made by the opponents, to have an address delivered in Representative Hall by a Mrs. Mary Livermore, who had been holding parlor meetings in Detroit for pay and speaking against woman suffrage; and the false report was industriously circulated that this was the great suffragist of like name, who had discarded her lifelong convictions and gone over to the enemy.

The bill was considered May 15, 1889. By the courtesy of J. B. Mulliken, general manager of the D. L. and N. R. R., a special train which carried a large delegation of women was sent from Detroit. Some came from other parts of the State and the societies of Lansing were well represented. The galleries were filled and the floor of the House was lined with interested women. After a largely favorable discussion the vote was taken, resulting in 58 yeas, 34 noes. The bill was immediately dispatched to the Senate. That body lost no time, but at once brought the measure[Pg 763] under consideration and after a brief discussion it was defeated by one vote—11 ayes, 12 noes.[335]

That evening Mrs. Livermore gave her belated dissertation and, upon motion, was followed by Adele Hazlitt, who with great courtesy slew her weak arguments.

At this session the charters of East Saginaw and Detroit were amended to give women of those cities the school ballot; the former through the efforts of Representative Rowland Connor.[336]

In 1891 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again presented to the Legislature, in the House by Samuel Miller and in the Senate by Alfred Milnes, both champions of the measure. The State suffrage convention was in session at the capital February 10-12, and the Legislature gave a joint hearing in Representative Hall to its speakers, all Michigan women. The Senate Bill was taken up March 25, discussed and lost by 14 ayes, 12 noes. It was then tabled and taken up again May 13, receiving 14 ayes, 15 noes. Just prior to this consideration of the bill ninety-five petitions in its favor, representing eighty-eight towns and bearing several thousand signatures, were presented.

This discussion was the most trying of all during the ten years of effort to secure Municipal Suffrage, owing to the character of the chief opponent, Senator Frank Smith, who represented the basest elements of Detroit. Knowing his illiteracy, the reporters had expected much sport by sending his speech to the papers in full, but in the interests of decency they refrained from publishing it. Women came down from the galleries white with anger and disgust, and avowed that if they never had wanted the ballot before they wanted it now. The suffrage committee received many friendly courtesies from Lieut.-Gov. John Strong, besides a substantial gift of money. When asked for the use of the Senate Chamber for one evening of the convention he said: "Certainly; your money helped to build the State House. You have as much right to it as any of us."[Pg 764]

In March, 1893, the bill was introduced by Henry Wirt Newkirk in the House and Samuel W. Hopkins in the Senate. Both were lawyers of distinguished ability, and among the most earnest advocates the measure ever had. The State suffrage convention was in session while it was being considered. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev. Caroline Bartlett made addresses before the Legislature, the latter speaking on Woman's Legitimate and Illegitimate Work in Politics. These speeches took the place of the customary committee hearing. The evening before the bill was voted on Miss Anthony addressed the Legislature with her customary acumen and force.

The measure had been made the special order for 2:30 p. m. the next day. The House assembled at 2 o'clock. Following the roll-call the usual order was the presentation of petitions. At this time a member in the rear, at a sufficient distance from the Speaker's desk to give impressiveness to what would follow, rose and presented "A petition from the people of Chippewa County in favor of the Municipal Woman Suffrage Bill." A page sprang forward and taking the document, which was prepared upon paper of an extra size and ornamented with long streamers of red and green ribbons, ran with it to the clerk's desk, and that officer proceeded to read it at length, including a long list of signatures which comprised Patrick O'Shea, Annie Rooney, Spotted Tail, etc. This petition was followed by two others of similar character, bearing Indian names of such significance as the wit of the opposition could invent. After this dignified prelude the House discussed the measure at length, and defeated it by a vote of 38 ayes, 39 noes. A reconsideration was moved and the bill tabled.

This Municipal Suffrage Bill was taken up again in May and passed the House on the 19th with an educational amendment: "Women who are able to read the constitution of Michigan in the English language." The vote was 57 ayes, 25 noes. On May 25 it was considered in the Senate and, after a vigorous battle, was carried by a vote of 18 ayes, 11 noes. Gov. John T. Rich affixed his signature May 27, and apparent victory was won after ten years of effort. Representative Newkirk and Senator Hopkins received the heartfelt gratitude of those for whom they had[Pg 765] given their ardent labors, and local societies held jubilee meetings. The newspapers of the State were unanimous in expressing welcome to the new class of voters.

Mary L. Doe started at once upon a tour for the purpose of organizing municipal franchise leagues for the study of city government, and everywhere was met with eager interest. She left a league in every place she visited, men also joining in the plans for study. Thus in conscientious preparation for their new duties, women in the various municipalities passed the summer and early autumn of 1893.

Mayor Pingree of Detroit recognizing the new law, ordered a sufficient additional number of registration books, but Edward H. Kennedy and Henry S. Potter, who were opposed to it, filed an injunction against Hazen S. Pingree and the Common Council to restrain them from this extra purchase. Mary Stuart Coffin and Mary E. Burnett "countered" by filing a mandamus September 30, to compel the election commissioners to provide means for carrying out the law. As these were cases for testing the constitutionality of the law they were taken directly to the Supreme Court. They were set for argument October 10, at 2 P. M., but a case of local interest was allowed to usurp the time till 4 o'clock, one hour only being left for the arguments with three advocates on each side. Two of the women's lawyers, John B. Corliss and Henry A. Haigh, therefore filed briefs and gave their time to the first attorney, Col. John Atkinson.

A decision was rendered October 24, the mandamus denied and the injunction granted, all the judges concurring, on the ground that the Legislature had no authority to create a new class of voters. Those who gave this decision were Chief Justice John W. McGrath and Justices Frank A. Hooker, John D. Long, Claudius B. Grant and Robert M. Montgomery.[337]

In spite of this Waterloo, the names of those men who, through the ten years' struggle, in the various sessions of the Legislature, stood as champions of the political rights of women, are cherished in memory. Besides those already given are Lieut-Gov. Archibald[Pg 766] Butters, Senators Edwin G. Fox, James D. Turnbull, Charles H. McGinley and C. J. Brundage, and Representative Fremont G. Chamberlain. In both Houses, session after session, there were many eloquent advocates of woman's equality.

No further efforts have been made by women to secure the suffrage; but in 1895 George H. Waldo, without solicitation, introduced into the House a joint resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male." This was done in fulfilment of a promise to his mother and his wife, when nominated, to do all that he could to secure the enfranchisement of women if elected. Although the officers of the State association did not believe the time to be ripe for the submission of such an amendment, they could not withhold a friendly hand from so ardent and sincere a champion. The resolution was lost by one vote.

This Legislature passed what was known as "the blanket charter act," in which the substitution of "and" for "or" seemed so to affect the right of women to the school ballot in cities of the fourth class as to create a general disturbance. It resulted in an appeal to Attorney-General Fred A. Maynard, who rendered an opinion sustaining the suffrage of women in those cities.

In 1897 the main efforts of the association were directed toward securing a bill to place women on boards of control of the State Asylums for the Insane, and one to make mandatory the appointment of women physicians to take charge of women patients in these asylums and in the Home for the Feeble-Minded. These measures were both lost; but on April 15 Governor Pingree appointed Jane M. Kinney to the Board of Control of the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Pontiac for a term of six years, and after twenty days' delay the Senate confirmed the appointment.

Interest was taken also in a bill requiring a police matron in towns of 10,000 inhabitants or more, which this year became law.

In 1899 a bill was again introduced into the Legislature to make mandatory the appointment of women physicians in asylums for the insane, the Industrial Home for Girls, the Home for the Feeble-Minded, the School for Deaf Mutes and the School for the Blind. This measure had now enlisted the interest of the State Federation of Women's Clubs and many other organizations of[Pg 767] women, and thousands of petitions were presented. Emma J. Rose led the work of the women's clubs in its behalf. It passed the Legislature and became a law.

Laws: In 1885 a law was enacted that manufacturers who employ women must furnish seats for them; in 1889 that no girl under fifteen years of age should be employed in factories or stores for a longer period than fifty-four hours in a single week; in 1893 that no woman under twenty-one should be employed in any manufacturing establishment longer than sixty hours in any one week; in 1895 that no woman under twenty-one should be allowed to clean machinery while in motion.[338]

A law enacted in 1897 prohibits the use of indecent, immoral, obscene or insulting language in the presence of any woman or child, with a penalty for its violation.

Dower but not curtesy obtains. The widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the rents, issues and profits of property not conveniently divisible, owned by her husband. She may stay in the dwelling of her husband and receive reasonable support for one year. She is entitled to her apparel and ornaments and those of her husband, $250 worth of his household furniture and $200 worth of his other personal property, which she may select. If he die without a will and there are no children she inherits one-half, and if there are no other heirs the whole of her husband's real estate, and personal property, if the latter, after all debts are paid, does not exceed $1,000. If there is excess of this it is distributed like real estate. This reservation is not made for the widower, but "no individual, under any circumstances, takes any larger interest than the husband in the personal property of his deceased wife."

Where the wife has separate real estate she may sell, mortgage or bequeath it as if she were "sole." The husband can not give full title to his real estate unless the wife joins so as to cut off her dower.

The wife's time, services, earnings and society belong to her husband, but he may give to his wife her services rendered for[Pg 768] another, whether in his own household or elsewhere, so that she may recover for them in her own name. Damages for the loss of such services and society, resulting from injuries inflicted upon the wife, belong to the husband and are to be recovered in his own name. Her obligation to render family services for him is co-extensive with his obligation to support her. She can sue in her own name for personal injuries.

Husband and wife can not be partners in business; but of personal property owned by them jointly she is entitled to her share the same as if unmarried; and real estate held by them in fee or in joint tenancy goes entirely to the survivor without probate or other proceedings.

A wife may become a sole trader with the husband's consent, or may form a business partnership with another. She can not become security.

All persons, except infants and married women and persons of unsound mind, may submit differences to arbitration.

The father is legally entitled to the custody of the persons and education of minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will for the minority even of one unborn, but the mother may present objections to the Probate Judge and appeal from his decision.

The husband must provide the necessities of life according to his station and means while the wife remains in his domicile. If she is deserted or non-supported, the Circuit Court of the county shall assign such part of his real or personal estate as it deems necessary for her support, and may enforce the decree by sale of such real estate, which provision holds during their joint lives.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years. In 1895 a bill to raise the age from 14 to 18 was introduced in the Senate by Joseph R. McLaughlin. More than 10,000 persons petitioned for its passage, two similar bills having been introduced in the House. A hearing was granted by the Judiciary Committees, at which speeches were made by Senator and Mrs. McLaughlin, Clara A. Avery, Mrs. Andrew Howell, Dr. E. L. Shirley, the aged Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, Melvin A. and Martha Snyder Root. Mrs. Root also addressed the Legislature in Representative Hall. The bill was amended to 17 years and passed in the Senate. The next day, after its[Pg 769] friends had dispersed, the vote was reconsidered and the bill amended to 16 years, passing both Houses in this form. The penalty is imprisonment for life, or for any such period as the court shall direct, no minimum penalty being named.

Suffrage: When at the close of the Civil War the States eliminated the word "white" from their constitutions, Michigan in 1867 amended her School Law to conform and also struck out the word "male" as a qualification for the suffrage, and gave tax-paying women a vote for school trustees. In 1881 this law was further amended to include parents or guardians of children of school age. No woman can vote for county or State Superintendents, as these officers are provided for under the constitution. Tax-paying women may also vote on bonds and appropriations for school purposes.

The year of 1888 was marked by a test of the constitutionality of this School Law, which involved the right of the Legislature to confer any form of suffrage whatever upon women. The test was made through the prosecution of the inspectors of election of the city of Flint by Mrs. Eva R. Belles, whose vote was refused at a school election, she being a qualified voter under the State law. Mrs. Belles won her case which was then appealed to the Supreme Court. This affirmed the decision of the lower court and sustained the law.

In May, 1893, the Legislature conferred Municipal Suffrage on women, but in October the Supreme Court decided it unconstitutional on the ground that "the Legislature had no authority to create a new class of voters." (See Legislative Action.) The Court held that it could, however, confer School Suffrage as "the whole primary school system is confided to the Legislature and its officers are not mentioned in the constitution." By this decision women can have no other form of the franchise except by constitutional amendment.

Office Holding: Hundreds of women are serving as officers and members of school boards throughout the State, as township school inspectors and as county school commissioners and examiners.

A number are acting as deputy county clerks, and one as[Pg 770] deputy clerk of the United States District Court. The latter frequently opens the court. Women serve as notaries public.

For thirty years women have filled the office of State Librarian, the present incumbent being Mary C. Spencer.

Dr. Harriet M. C. Stone has been for several years assistant physician in the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo.

The State Industrial School for Girls has two women on the Board of Guardians, one of whom, Allaseba M. Bliss, is the president and is serving her second term of four years, having been reappointed by Gov. Hazen S. Pingree.[339] Since 1899 the law requires women physicians in asylums for the insane and other State institutions where women and children are cared for.

In the autumn of 1898 Mrs. Merrie Hoover Abbott, law-partner in the firm of Abbott & Abbott of West Branch, was nominated on the Democratic ticket as prosecuting attorney of Ogemaw County. She was elected and entered upon her duties Jan. 1, 1899. Quo warranto proceedings were instituted by Attorney-General Horace M. Oren to test her right to the office, and October 17 the Supreme Court filed its opinion and entered judgment of ouster. In the meantime Mrs. Abbott had discharged successfully the duties of the position. The opinion was as follows: "Where the constitution in creating a public office is silent in regard to qualification to office, electors only are qualified to fill the same, and since under the constitution women are not electors, they are not eligible to hold such offices. The office of prosecuting attorney is a constitutional office which can only be held by one possessing the qualification of an elector."

From this opinion Justice Joseph B. Moore dissented, making an able argument. In closing he said:

> The statutes of this State confer upon woman the right to practice law. She may represent her client in the most important litigation in all the courts, and no one can dispute her right. She may defend a person charged with murder. Can she not prosecute one charged with the larceny of a whip? To say she can not seems illogical.... Individuals may employ her and the courts must recognize her employment. If the people see fit, by electing her to an office the duties of which pertain almost wholly to the practice of the law, to employ her to represent them in their litigation,[Pg 771] why should not the courts recognize the employment?... Where the constitution and the statutes are silent as to the qualification for a given office, the people may elect whom they will, if the person so elected is competent to discharge the duties of the office.... None of the duties of prosecuting attorney are of such a character as to preclude one from their performance simply because of sex.

Charles S. Abbott, Allen S. Morse and T. A. E. Weadock were the advocates for Mrs. Abbott, and she also made a strong oral argument in her own behalf. Unfortunately the case was not one which permitted an appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is forbidden by law to women.

Education: All universities and colleges admit women. The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), one of the largest in the country, was among the first to open its doors to them. (1869.) Mrs. Lucinda Hinsdale Stone was a strong factor in securing their admission. In having women on its faculty, it is still in advance of most of those where co-education prevails.

In the public schools there are 3,471 men and 12,093 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $44.48; of the women, $35.35.

Michigan may truly be called the founder of Woman's Clubs, as the first one for purely literary culture of which we have any record was formed in Kalamazoo, in 1852, by Mrs. Stone, to whom the women of the State are deeply indebted in many ways. At present (1902) there are 133 in the General Federation with a membership of about 10,000, and a number are not federated. This State also leads all others in the number of women's club houses, ten of the leading clubs possessing their own. There are two of these in Grand Rapids—the St. Cecilia (musical) costing $53,000, and the Ladies' Literary costing $30,000, both containing fine libraries, large audience rooms and every convenience.

### FOOTNOTES:

[330] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary L. Doe and Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs, both of Bay City and former presidents of the State Equal Suffrage Association.

[331] This year strong societies were formed in Detroit, Bay City and Battle Creek. Michigan sent three representatives, Melvin A. and Martha Snyder Root and Emily B. Ketcham, to the New England Woman Suffrage Bazaar held at Boston in December. Mr. and Mrs. Root had spent much time and money canvassing the State to arouse interest and secure contributions for this, and at its close New England gave to Michigan the total proceeds of her sales.

[332] Melvin A. Root presented at this convention a compact digest of The Legal Condition of Girls and Women in Michigan, which was published the following year. It has been used widely, not only in this but in other States, and has proved of inestimable service. A liberal gift of money came from the Hon. Delos A. Blodgett of Grand Rapids, a constant friend.

[333] See Chap. XVIII.

[334] Other officers elected: Vice-president, Clara B. Arthur; corresponding secretary, Alde L. T. Blake; recording secretary, Edith Frances Hall; treasurer, Martha Snyder Root; auditors, Margaret M. Huckins, Frances Ostrander; member national executive committee, Lenore Starker Bliss.

[335] Many petitions in favor of the bill had been sent unsolicited, this not being a part of the plan of work. After the quick defeat in the Senate it was found that the chairman of the committee to which these had been referred had on file the names of 5,502 petitioners (2,469 men, 3,033 women) out of twenty-one senatorial districts. These were in addition to many thousands sent in previous sessions, when petitioning had been a method of work.

[336] Although the Detroit women obtained the change in their law just before the spring election, they made a house to house canvass to secure registration and polled a vote of 2,700 women, electing Sophronia O. C. Parsons to the school board.

[337] It is interesting to note that in Wayne County women registered and attended primary meetings prior to this decision, but their votes were held not to invalidate the nominations, although at least one of the Judges of the Recorder's Court owed his election to being nominated through the votes of women.

[338] In April, 1896, a large number of the philanthropic women of Detroit, including many suffragists, organized the Protective Agency for Women and Children, opening an office in the Chamber of Commerce Building and employing an agent on salary. Since then it has done admirable work and has obtained some good legislation.

[339] Mrs. May Stocking Knaggs has been appointed (1901) a member of the Board of Control of the State Industrial School for Girls, by Gov. Aaron T. Bliss. [Eds.

[Pg 772]

## CHAPTER XLVII.

### MINNESOTA.[340]

The first agitation of the question of woman suffrage in Minnesota, and the first petitions to the Legislature to grant it, began immediately after the Civil War, through the efforts of Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns and Mrs. Mary J. Colburn, and the first suffrage societies were formed by these ladies in 1869. The work has continued with more or less regularity up to the present.

From 1883 to 1890 the State Suffrage Association held its annual meetings regularly in one or the other of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe, the Hon. William Dudley Foulke, Mary A. Livermore, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles, Abigail Scott Duniway and other eminent advocates were secured as speakers at different times. Dr. Martha G. Ripley succeeded Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns as president in 1883, and was re-elected each year until 1889. She was followed by Mrs. Ella M. S. Marble for that year, and Dr. Mary Emery for 1890.

The association contributed toward sending Mrs. Julia B. Nelson to South Dakota to speak in the suffrage campaign of 1890. On November 18, 19, the State convention was held in St. Paul, Mrs. Stearns presiding. Mrs. Nelson was elected president. Among the speakers were Attorney-General Moses E. Clapp, the Reverends Mr. Vail and Mr. Morgan, Mrs. A. T. Anderson, Mrs. Priscilla M. Niles, Mrs. Ella Tremain Whitford and the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin.

In the autumn of 1891 the convention met at Blue Earth City. This place had not lost the savor of the salt which Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Phœbe W. Couzins had scattered[Pg 773] in the vicinity thirteen years before, and the meetings were enthusiastic and well-attended. The Rev. W. K. Weaver was the principal speaker.

It was largely as the superintendent of franchise of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which was better organized, that Mrs. Nelson, president of the suffrage association from 1890 to 1896, was able to secure thousands of signatures to the petitions for the franchise which were sent to each Legislature during those years.

The meeting of 1892 took place at Hastings, September 6-8, and was welcomed by the Rev. Lewis Llewellyn. Letters were read from many noted people, and addresses given by the Rev. Mr. Morgan, Mrs. Stearns and several local speakers.

The convention met in Lake City, Aug. 24, 25, 1893, with the usual fine addresses, good music and representative audiences.

In 1894 Woman's Day was celebrated at the State Fair, its managers paying the speakers.

In the spring and autumn of 1895 Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois and Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, national organizers, lectured throughout Minnesota and formed a number of clubs. They also attended the State convention, which was held in the Capitol at St. Paul, September 10, 11. Gov. D. M. Clough was among those who made addresses.

In 1896 the president, Mrs. Nelson, gave one month to lecturing and visiting societies.

In October, 1897, the acting president, Mrs. Concheta Ferris Lutz, made an extended lecture tour. The annual meeting convened at Minneapolis in November, at the same time as a conference of the officers of the National Association. All arrangements were made by Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Dr. Ripley and Mrs. Niles. The meetings in the First Baptist Church, one of the largest in the city, were very successful. On Sunday evening the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, preached in the Universalist Church, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, lectured in the Wesley M. E. Church, both to crowded houses. The next evening, when Miss Anthony, national president, and the latter spoke, every foot of standing ground was[Pg 774] occupied, and on Tuesday, when Miss Shaw gave her lecture on The Fate of Republics, the church was equally well-filled.

Mrs. Nelson, after seven years' service, relinquished the office of president and Dr. Eaton was elected. Professional duties soon made it necessary for her to resign and her place was filled by Mrs. Lutz. Political equality clubs were formed in six different wards of Minneapolis by Dr. Eaton.

The convention of 1898 was called October 4, 5, at Minneapolis, with Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance. The meetings were held in the G. A. R. Hall, the Masonic Temple and the Lyceum Theater. Mrs. Martha J. Thompson was elected president and Dr. Ethel E. Hurd corresponding secretary.

In 1899 the convention met in the court-house of Albert Lea, October 9, 10. On the first evening Mrs. Chapman Catt was the speaker, her theme being A True Democracy. The Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois lectured on The Crowning Race. Miss Laura A. Gregg and Miss Helen L. Kimber, both of Kansas, national organizers, gave reports of county conventions conducted by them throughout Minnesota, with the assistance of Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden, president of the Iowa Equal Suffrage Association. The records showed ninety-eight suffrage meetings altogether to have been held during the year.

In 1900 the convention took place at Stillwater, October 11, 12. The officers elected were: President, Mrs. Maude C. Stockwell; vice-president, Mrs. Jennie E. Brown; corresponding secretary, Miss Delia O'Malley; recording secretary, Mrs. Maria B. Bryant; treasurer, Dr. Margaret Koch; auditors, Sanford Niles and Mrs. Estelle Way; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Martha J. Thompson.[341]

Judge J. B. and Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, C. W. and Mrs. Martha A. Dorsett have been among the oldest and most valued[Pg 775] suffrage workers in the State. Miss Martha Scott Anderson, on the staff of the Minneapolis Journal, gives efficient help to the cause. Three presidents of the State W. C. T. U., Mesdames Harriet A. Hobart, Susanna M. D. Fry and Bessie Laythe Scoville have been noted as advocates of equal rights.[342]

Legislative Action and Laws: In February, 1891, at the request of Mrs. Julia B. Nelson, president, and Mrs. A. T. Anderson, chairman of the executive committee of the State association, S. A. Stockwell introduced in the House a bill conferring Municipal Suffrage upon women. Mrs. Nelson spent several weeks at the capital looking after the petitions which came from all parts of the State, interviewing members of the Legislature, distributing literature and trying to get the bill out of the hands of the Committee on Elections, to which it had been referred. After repeated postponements a hearing finally was granted, at which she made a strong plea and showed the good results of woman suffrage in Kansas and Wyoming. The bill was indefinitely postponed in Committee of the Whole, by a vote of 52 yeas, 40 nays.

Among the leaflets placed on the desk of each member was one especially prepared by Mrs. Nelson, entitled Points on Municipal Suffrage. One of its twelve points was this: "If the Legislature has the power to restrict suffrage it certainly has the right to extend it. The Legislature of Minnesota restricted the suffrage which had been given to women by a constitutional amendment, when it granted to the city of St. Paul a charter taking the election of members of the school board entirely out of the hands of women by giving their appointment to the mayor, an officer elected by the votes of men only."[343][Pg 776]

Early in the session of 1893 Mrs. Nelson had a conference with Ignatius Donnelly, leader of the Populists, who was then in the Senate. He was willing to introduce a suffrage bill, but as the Republicans were in the majority it was thought best to have this done by John Day Smith, the leader of that party in the Senate. Mr. Smith consented, with the understanding that Mr. Donnelly should help by championing the bill. "Municipal Suffrage for women with educational qualifications," was all this bill asked for. Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Anna B. Turley and Senator Donnelly made addresses before the Judiciary Committee at a hearing in the Senate Chamber, with an interested audience present. Mrs. Nelson also gave an evening lecture here on The Road to Freedom.

In place of this bill one to submit an amendment to the voters was substituted. The suffragists were averse to this, but accepted it with the best grace possible, and enthusiastically worked for the new bill to amend the State constitution by striking the word "male" from the article restricting the suffrage. Senators Smith, Donnelly and Edwin E. Lommen spoke for the bill, and it passed the Senate by 31 yeas, 19 nays.

In the House it was persistently delayed by the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, George H. Fletcher, and the friends could not get it upon the calendar in time to be reached unless it should be made a special order. Edward T. Young endeavored to have this done, but as there were several hundred other bills to be considered and less than three days of the session left, his motion was lost. On the last night, Mr. Young and H. P. Bjorge made an effort to have the rules suspended and the bill put upon its final passage. The vote on this motion was 54 yeas, 44 nays, but as a two-thirds vote is necessary it was lost. Speaker W. E. Lee voted with the affirmative.[344]

Three Suffrage Bills were introduced into the Legislature of 1895, two in the House and one in the Senate. The first, for an amendment to the State constitution, was offered by O. L. Brevig and was indefinitely postponed. S. T. Littleton presented the[Pg 777] second, which was to give women a vote upon all questions pertaining to the liquor traffic. This found favor in the eyes of the W. C. T. U., as did also the County Option Bill of J. F. Jacobson, but both were unsuccessful. George T. Barr introduced a Municipal Suffrage Bill into the Senate, but too late for it to be acted upon.

In 1897 Ignatius Donnelly secured the introduction of a bill to enfranchise taxpaying women. A hearing was given by the Judiciary Committee, at which Mrs. Nelson argued that in simple justice women who pay taxes should have a voice in their expenditure or be exempted from taxation, but the bill was not reported.

This year the State Federation of Clubs secured a resolution to submit an amendment to the electorate in 1898, giving women the privilege of voting for and serving on Library Boards.

In 1899 the Local Council of Women of Minneapolis obtained the Traveling Library Bill.

During this year no petitioning or legislative work was done by the suffragists. The previous legislature had submitted an amendment, which carried, providing that all amendments hereafter must receive a majority of the largest number of votes cast at an election, in order to be adopted. The precedent had been established in 1875 of requiring a vote of the electors on the granting of School Suffrage to women, and in 1898, of Library Suffrage, and it was held that the same would have to be done on granting Municipal or any other form of the franchise.

Dower and curtesy were abolished March 9, 1875. If either husband or wife die without a will, the survivor, if there is issue living, is entitled to the homestead for life and one-third of the rest of the real estate in fee-simple, or by such inferior tenure as the deceased was possessed of, but subject to its just proportion of the debts. If there are no descendants, the entire real estate goes absolutely to the survivor. The personal property follows the same rules. If either husband or wife has wilfully and without just cause deserted and lived separately from the other for the entire year immediately prior to his or her decease, such survivor shall not be entitled to any estate whatever in any of the lands of the deceased.[Pg 778]

The estate of a child who dies without a will and leaves neither wife nor children, goes to the father; if he is dead, to the mother.

The wife can not convey or encumber her separate real estate without the joinder of her husband. The husband can sell or mortgage all his real estate without her joinder, but subject to her dower. They are both free agents as to personal property.

If divorce is obtained for the adultery of the wife, her own real estate may be withheld from her, but not so in case of the husband.

In case of divorce, the court decides which parent is more fit for the guardianship of children under fourteen years of age; over fourteen, the child decides. Except when children are given to the mother by decree of court, the father is the legal guardian of their persons and property. He may appoint by will a guardian for a child, born or unborn, to the exclusion of the mother.

The husband must support the family according to his means. Failure to do so used to be considered a misdemeanor but it has recently been made a felony punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to three years unless he give bond for their maintenance. This is likely to be of little effect, however, because of the law of "privileged communications" which makes it impossible for the wife to testify against the husband.

In 1891 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years, after thousands of women had petitioned to have it raised to 18. If the child is under 10 years the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for life; between 10 and 14 not less than seven nor more than thirty years; between 14 and 16 not less than one nor more than seven years, or it may be imprisonment in the county jail not less than three months nor more than one year.

Suffrage: An amendment to the constitution was adopted in 1875, giving women a vote on all questions pertaining to the public schools. It being held afterward that this did not enable them to vote for county superintendents, an act for this purpose was passed by the Legislature in 1885. (!) The constitution was further amended by popular vote in 1898, granting to women the franchise for members of Library Boards, and making them[Pg 779] eligible to hold any office pertaining to the management of libraries. On as harmless an amendment as this 43,600 men voted in the negative, but 71,704 voted in the affirmative; and it was adopted.

This was probably the last election at which any amendment whatever could have been carried; for, among four submitted in the same year, was one providing that thereafter no amendment could be adopted by merely a majority of those voting upon it, but that it must have a majority of the largest number of votes cast at that election.[345] None ever has been submitted which aroused sufficient interest to receive as large a vote of both affirmative and negative combined as was cast for the highest officer. Therefore in Minnesota it is impossible for women to obtain any further extension of the franchise. Their only hope for the full suffrage lies in the submission of an amendment to the Federal Constitution by Congress to the Legislatures of the various States.

Office Holding: An act of 1887 declares that a woman shall retain the same legal existence and legal personality after marriage as before, and shall receive the same protection of all her rights as a woman which her husband does as a man; and for any injury sustained to her reputation, person or property, she shall have the same right to appeal, in her own name alone, to the courts for redress; but this act shall not confer upon the wife the right to vote or hold office, except as is otherwise provided by law. By a constitutional amendment adopted in 1875 women were made eligible to all offices pertaining to the public schools and to public libraries. They have served as State librarians.

Miss Jennie C. Crays was president of the Minneapolis school board for two years. There are forty-three women county superintendents at the present time, each having from 100 to 130 districts to visit. Women have served as clerks and treasurers of school districts.

A law of 1889 gave to women as well as men the powers of constables, sheriffs or police officers, as agents of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.[Pg 780]

A law of 1891 enabled women to be appointed deputies in county offices.

Dr. Adele S. Hutchison is a member of the State Medical Board which examines physicians for license to practice. She was appointed by Gov. John Lind and is the first woman to hold such a position. Women can not sit on any other State boards.

There is no law requiring police matrons but they are employed in Minneapolis and St. Paul by the city charters.

The State hospitals for the insane are required by law to have women physicians. The steward's clerk in the State Institute for Defectives is a woman. The State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children has a matron, a woman agent and a woman clerk. The State Training School, once called the Reform School, has women for agent and secretary.

The State Prison has a matron for the eight women prisoners. There are about 500 men prisoners (1900).

The Bethany Home at Minneapolis was established by women in 1875, and is entirely officered by them. In 1900 it cared for 126 mothers and 226 infants, and had a kindergarten and a training school for nurses. The city hospitals send all their charity obstetrical cases here, and about half of its support comes from the city.

The Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children was founded by women in 1882, and until 1899 was entirely officered and managed by them.

The Maternity Hospital for unfortunate women was founded by Dr. Martha G. Ripley in 1888. In 1899 it cared for 103 mothers and 99 infants.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is forbidden to women by law. Women were admitted to the bar in 1877 by act of the Legislature. There are sixty-eight women doctors registered as in actual practice in the State. In Minneapolis there is an active Medical Women's Club of physicians of both schools. Women ministers are filling pulpits of Congregational, Universalist, Christian and Wesleyan Methodist churches, and the superintendent of the State Epworth League is a woman.[Pg 781]

Women are especially conspicuous in farming, which is one of the greatest industries of the State.[346]

A number of women own and publish papers, and each of the large metropolitan dailies has one or more women on its staff.

Education: Women have been admitted to all departments of the State University since its foundation, and there are women professors and assistants in practically every department, including that of Political Science and the College of Engineering and Mechanic Arts. Of the four officers of the Department of Drawing and Industrial Art, three are women. The College of Medicine and Surgery also has women professors in every department, and women are on the faculty of the College of Dentistry.

The State School of Agriculture was established in the fall of 1888. In October, 1897, women were admitted to the regular course of study. In the Academic Department their class work is with the men, but instead of the especial branches of carpentry, blacksmithing and field work, they have sewing, cooking and laundering. They also have a department of home management, home economy, social culture, household art and domestic hygiene, Mrs. Virginia C. Meredith, preceptor.

All the other educational institutions are open to women, and the faculties of the Normal Schools are largely composed of women.

In the public schools there are 2,306 men and 9,811 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $46; of the women, $35.

The State Federation of Women's Clubs, Mrs. Lydia P. Williams, president, is in effect a suffrage kindergarten, many of its members working on committees of education, reciprocity, town and village improvements, household economics, legislation, etc.

In Minneapolis a stock company, capitalized at $80,000, is being formed to erect a club house for the women's societies.[Pg 782]

The Local Council of Women of Minneapolis, organized 1892, is one of the strongest associations of the kind in the United States. During the past seven years it has been composed of nearly one hundred different organizations in the city, and now comprises twelve departments: reform and philanthropy, church, temperance, art, music, literature, patriotism, history, education, philosophy, social and civic. Honorary president, Mrs. T. B. Walker, acting president Mrs. A. E. Higbee, and corresponding secretary, Mrs. J. E. Woodford, are largely responsible for the success of the Council. (1900).

The School and Library Association was formed in 1899 at a meeting called by representatives of the Political Equality, the Business Women's, the Medical Women's and the Teachers' Clubs of Minneapolis. Eleven hundred signatures are required for the nomination of a member of the school board, but the women secured over 5,000 names on each petition for their candidates for school and library trustees, the largest one having 5,470. The association sent out dodgers with pictures and brief write-ups of the candidates, and also leaflets explaining to the women how to register and vote. Mrs. A. T. Anderson has been at the head of this work.

Women attend the conventions of the Prohibition and the People's parties as delegates, and are welcome speakers. Miss Eva McDonald (Valesh) was secretary of the Populist Executive Committee. Both Prohibitionists and Populists have passed woman suffrage resolutions in their State conventions. The Federation of Labor and the Grange have done the same.

### FOOTNOTES:

[340] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Red Wing, who for twenty years has been the rock on which the effort for woman suffrage has been founded in this State. She acknowledges much assistance from Drs. Cora Smith Eaton and Ethel E. Hurd, both of Minneapolis.

[341] Among the officers of the State association at different times have been Mesdames Harriet Armstrong, Sarah C. Brooks, S. P. T. Bryan, E. G. Bickmore, Fxine G. Bonwell, Annie W. Buell, Charlotte Bolles, Jessie Gray Cawley, E. L. Crockett, L. B. Castle and Hannah Egleston, Prof. S. A. Farnsworth, Mesdames Eleanor Fremont, Sarah M. Fletcher, May Dudley Greeley, Mary A. Hudson, Julia Huntington, Dr. Bessie Park Hames, Oliver Jones, Miss Anna M. Jones, Mrs. Charles T. Koehler, Miss Ruth Elise Kellogg, the Rev. George W. Lutz, Mrs. Julia Moore, William B. Reed, Mesdames Susie V. P. Root, Lottie Rowell, Antoinette B. St. Pierre, H. G. Selden, Miss Blanche Segur, Mesdames Martha Adams Thompson, T. F. Thurston, Mr. J. M. Underwood, Miss Emma N. Whitney, Mesdames Belle Wells, Roxana L. Wilson and Mattie B. Whitcomb

[342] It would be impossible to name all of the men and women, in addition to those already mentioned, who have rendered valuable assistance. Among the more conspicuous are Miss Pearl Benham, Mesdames R. Coons, M. B. Critchett, J. A. Clifford, Edith M. Conant, Lydia H. Clark, Miss A. A. Connor, Mesdames Eliza A. Dutcher, L. F. Ferro, H. E. Gallinger, Doctors Chauncey Hobart, Mary G. Hood, Nettie C. Hall, Mesdames Norton H. Hemiup, Rosa Hazel, Julia A. Hunt, Doctors Phineas A. and Katherine U. Jewell, Mrs. Lucy Jones, Miss Eva Jones, Mesdames Leland, Kirkwood, A. D. Kingsley, V. J. D. Kearney, Frances P. Kimball, M. A. Luly, Viola Fuller Miner, Paul McKinstry, Jennie McSevany, the Rev. Hannah Mullenix, Mesdames E. J. M. Newcomb, Antoinette V. Nicholas, the Reverends Margaret Olmstead, Alice Ruth Palmer, Mesdames Pomeroy, E. A. Russell, D. C. Reed, the Rev. W. W. Satterlee, Mesdames Rebecca Smith, Abigail S. Strong, C. S. Soule, Anna Smallidge, M. A. Van Hoesen, Dr. Mary E. Whetstone, Mesdames L. May Wheeler, Sarah E. Wilson and E. N. Yearley.

[343] Mrs. Nelson published at this time, through financial aid from Mrs. Sarah Burger Stearns, a little paper for gratuitous distribution, called the Equal Rights Herald.

[344] This Legislature of 1893 provided for the adoption of a State Flag, and appointed a committee of women to select an appropriate design. At the request of a few women the Moccasin Blossom was made the State Flower by an act of the same Legislature, which was passed with great celerity.

[345] The vote on this was 69,760 for, and 32,881 against, a total of 102,641; yet the whole number of votes cast in that election of 1898 was 251,250. The amendment itself could not have been adopted if its own provisions had been required!

[346] The woman farmer turns up the soil with a gang-plow and rakes the hay, but not in the primitive fashion of Maud Muller. She is frequently seen "comin' through the rye," the wheat, the barley or the oats, enthroned on a twine-binder. The writer has this day seen a woman seated on a four-horse plow as contentedly as her city cousin might be in an automobile. Among the many plow-girls of Nobles County is Coris Young, a genuine American of Vermont ancestry, who has plowed 120 acres this season, making a record of eighty acres in thirteen days with five horses abreast.

[Pg 783]

## CHAPTER XLVIII.

### MISSISSIPPI.[347]

In 1884 the idea of an organization devoted exclusively to the advancement of the "woman's cause" in Mississippi had not assumed tangible form, granting that even the audacious conception had found lodgment in the brain of any person. The nearest approach seems to have been a Woman's Press Club, which sprung into being about this time, but was short-lived, due to the fact, it is charged, that a little leaven of "woman's rights" having crept in, "the whole lump" was threatened.

To the Women's Christian Temperance Union the State is largely indebted for the existence of its Woman Suffrage Association, which was organized in Meridian, May 5, 1897, immediately upon the adjournment of a convention of the State W. C. T. U. The seed sown in 1895 by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, and in 1897 by Miss Ella Harrison of Missouri and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado, now produced a harvest of clubs, and resulted in a roster of friends in twenty-four towns. Mrs. Nellie M. Somerville was elected president of the association, and Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson corresponding secretary.

The first annual convention was held in Greenville, March 29, 30, 1898. The second and third took place at Clarksdale, the former April 5, 6, 1899, and the latter in May, 1900.[348] At this meeting the report of the superintendent of press, Mrs. Butt, showed that twenty-two newspapers had opened their columns[Pg 784] to suffrage articles. Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizer, were present, and the former gave an address to a large and sympathetic assemblage. She was likewise greeted with good audiences at seven other towns, among them Jackson, the capital, where she spoke in the House of Representatives. A work conference was held at Flora in September of this year.

Legislative Action and Laws: The W. S. A. has not attempted any legislative work, other than the one effort made in 1900 to secure a bill providing for a woman physician at the State Hospital for the Insane. This was introduced and championed in the Senate by R. B. Campbell (to whom the association is also indebted for the compilation of a valuable pamphlet on The Legal Status of Mississippi Women). It passed that body almost unanimously, but did not reach the House.

The measure which provided for the State Industrial Institute and College for Women (white) was the conception of Mrs. Annie Coleman Peyton, the bill itself being framed by her brother, Judge S. R. Coleman, a legislator and a leading attorney. It was sent to the Legislature as early as 1877, but was not at that time even considered. Mrs. Peyton continued her agitation in its behalf and succeeded in having it introduced in 1880 and in 1882, but it was twice defeated. By the time the Legislature convened in 1884, however, its author had enlisted the sympathy of so many of the prominent men and women of the State that the bill was passed at that session. Wiley P. Nash and Mac C. Martin were its earnest champions on the floor of the House; while Col. J. L. Power, the present Secretary of State, Major Jonas, of the Aberdeen Examiner, and Mrs. Olive A. Hastings were among the ablest coadjutors of Mrs. Peyton.

In 1900 the suffrage association petitioned Gov. A. H. Longino to appoint one woman on the board of this institution, which is wholly for women, but he refused on the ground that it would be unconstitutional.

In 1880 the Legislature abrogated the Common Law as to its provisions for wives, being a pioneer among the Southern States to take such action. It declared:

[Pg 785]

> The Legislature shall never create any distinction between the rights of men and women to acquire, own, enjoy and dispose of property of all kinds, or their power to contract in reference thereto. Married women are hereby emancipated from all disabilities on account of coverture. But this shall not prevent the Legislature from regulating contracts between husband and wife; nor shall the Legislature be prevented from regulating the sale of homesteads.

The property belonging to the wife at the time of marriage no longer passes to her husband, although it is still largely under his control. He becomes her debtor and is accountable to her for her separate property; and she must have him account to her annually for the income and profits which he may receive from it, otherwise she will be barred. If the wife permit the husband to employ the income or profits of her estate in the maintenance of the family, he will not be liable to her therefor.

Dower and curtesy are abolished. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving no children nor descendants of any, the entire estate, real and personal, goes to the survivor. But if there are one or more children or descendants by this or by a former marriage, the surviving wife or husband has a child's share of both real and personal estate.

Each has equal rights in making a will, although if the provisions are not satisfactory to the survivor he or she can take under the law, but this can not be done if separate property is owned equal to what would be the inheritable portion of the estate.

If the residence is upon the property of the husband, that is the homestead and exempt from his debts and he is the head of the family. If it is upon the property of the wife, that is the homestead and exempt from her debts, and she is the head of the family. In neither case can it be mortgaged or sold unless both join, but the one owning it may dispose of it by will.

A married woman may qualify as executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased person, and as guardian of the estate of a minor or person of unsound mind.

She may contract, sue and be sued and carry on business in her own name as if unmarried and her earnings belong to her.

The father is the legal guardian of the minor children and by will may appoint a guardian of their property, but he can not deprive the mother of the custody of their persons.[Pg 786]

The husband is required by law to support and maintain his family out of his estate and by his services unless the wife sees fit to allow him to use her property for this purpose.

Alimony is allowed to the wife whether the suit for divorce is brought by her or against her, or whether she asks simply for separation; but, even if divorced, unchastity on her part will bar her right to further alimony.

The "age of protection" for girls remains at 10 years. The penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary for life.

The Constitutional Convention of 1890 provided that no Legislature should repeal or impair the above property rights of married women.

This convention was called primarily to change the constitution with reference to the elimination of the negro vote. It was composed of representative men thoroughly alive to what they construed as the best interests of the State. As one way of circumventing the threatened supremacy of this vote, the enfranchisement of women was variously considered. The first amendment for this purpose was submitted by Judge John W. Fewell:

> Resolved, That it is a condition necessary to the solution of the franchise problem, that the right to vote shall be secured by proper constitutional enactment to every woman who shall have resided in this State six months, and who shall be 21 years of age or upward, and who shall own, or whose husband, if she have a husband, shall own real estate situate in this State of the clear value of $300 over and above all incumbrances.

> The vote of any woman voting in any election shall be cast by some male elector, who shall be thereunto authorized in writing by such woman so entitled to vote; such constitutional amendment not to be so framed as to grant to women the right to hold office.

This was referred to the Committee on Franchise, composed of thirty-five members, but was defeated. The idea was that a great many white women owned property, while very few negro women did, hence the woman vote would furnish a reserve fund which could be called out in an emergency, the author of the measure himself being "not an advocate of female suffrage generally," according to his remarks before the convention. Many, perhaps a majority, at one time favored the scheme, it was said, though comparatively few of the committee recognized the justice of woman's enfranchisement per se.[Pg 787]

J. W. Odom offered, among other measures from the "California Alliance" of DeSoto County, a proposition that the right of suffrage be conferred upon women on "certain conditions" not specified. John P. Robinson and D. J. Johnson also submitted sections providing for "female suffrage under certain conditions." Jordan L. Morris offered the following:

> The Legislature shall have power to confer the elective franchise on all women who are citizens of the State and of the United States, 21 years of age and upwards, who own, in their own right, over and above all incumbrances, property listed for taxation of the value of $500 or upwards, or who, being widows, own jointly with their own or their husband's children, property of said value listed for taxation; or who are capable of teaching a first-grade public school in this State, as prescribed by law, and who never have been convicted, and shall not thereafter be convicted of any crime or misdemeanor and not pardoned therefor, to such extent and under such restrictions and limitations as it may deem proper to prescribe.

All of these noble efforts resulted in no action whatever to enfranchise women.

Suffrage: Since 1880 a woman as a freeholder, or leaseholder, may vote at a county election, or sign a petition for such an election to be held, to decide as to the adoption or non-adoption of a law permitting stock to run at large. She may also, if a widow and, as such, the head of the family, manifest by ballot her consent or dissent to leasing certain portions of land in the township, known as the "sixteenth sections," which are set apart for school purposes. As a patron of a school, which presupposes her widowhood, she may vote at an election of school trustees, other than in a "separate school district," which practically limits this privilege to women in the country.[349]

As a taxpayer a woman can petition against the issuance of bonds by the municipality in which she resides (except where the proposed issuance is governed and regulated by a charter adopted previous to the code of 1892), but if a special election is ordered she can not vote for or against issuing the bonds.

The Legislature in dealing with the liquor traffic may make[Pg 788] the grant of license depend upon a petition therefor signed by men and women, or by women only, or upon any other condition that it may prescribe; and it seems to be equally true that the Legislature may grant to women the right to vote at elections held to determine whether or not local option laws shall be put in force, but it never has done so.

Office Holding: The constitution provides that "all qualified electors, and no others, shall be eligible to office."

In the constitutional convention of 1890 Jordan L. Morris offered a resolution "that the Legislature may make women, with such qualifications as may be prescribed, competent to hold the office of county superintendent of schools." This amendment was tabled. J. W. Cutrer submitted a section "making eligible to all offices connected with the public schools, except that of State Superintendent of Public Education, all women of good moral character, twenty-five years or upwards of age," which was not favorably reported. A clause was introduced by W. B. Eskridge making "any white woman twenty-one years old, who has been a bona fide citizen of the State two years before her election, and who shall be of good moral character," eligible to the office of chancery or circuit clerk; and another, that "any white woman, etc., shall be qualified to hold the office of keeper of the Capitol and State librarian."

The last office, as recommended in a separate measure by George G. Dillard, which was adopted, is the only one to which women are specifically eligible, but none has held it.

In some counties the constitution has been liberally interpreted to make women eligible to serve on school boards; this, however, is regulated usually by the judgment of the county superintendent. Women are elected to such positions occasionally in the smaller towns.

The code of 1892 created the text-book committee, whose duty is to adopt a uniform series of books for use in the public schools of a county. An official record is kept of its specific functions, all members being required to "take the oath of office," etc., and thus constituted public officers according to a recent ruling of the Attorney-General. The majority of these committees[Pg 789] are women teachers, appointed by the county superintendents, but no provision has been made for their remuneration.

Women can not serve as notaries public.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. They are licensed to practice medicine, dentistry and pharmaceutics. It is believed that the statute would be construed to enable them to practice law, but the test has not been made. Several women own and manage newspapers.

Education: The State University has been open to women for twenty years, and annually graduates a number. Millsaps College, a leading institution for men, has recently admitted a few women to its B. A. course, and this doubtless will become a fixed policy. The Agricultural and Mechanical College and the State Normal School (both colored) are co-educational. Several women hold college professorships.

In the public schools there are 3,645 men and 4,254 women teachers: The average monthly salary of the men is $32.18; of the women, $26.69.

The State Federation of Women's Clubs was organized in 1897 and has a membership of fifteen societies.

Women have never actively participated in public campaigns except in local politics where the liquor question has been the paramount issue. Miss Belle Kearney is a temperance lecturer of national reputation, and a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage.

### FOOTNOTES:

[347] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt of Clarksdale, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association and editor of the Challenge, a county paper.

[348] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt; vice-president, Mrs. Fannie Clark; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Harriet B. Kells; recording secretary, Mrs. Rebecca Roby; treasurer, Miss Mabel Pugh. Other officers have been Miss Belle Kearney and Mesdames Nellie Nugent, Charlotte L. Pitman and Pauline Alston Clark.

[349] Any municipality of 300 or more inhabitants may be declared a "separate school district" by an ordinance of the mayor or board of aldermen if it maintain a free public school at least seven months in each year. Four months is the ordinary public term, the additional three months' school being supported by special taxation. Thus as soon as a woman has to pay a special tax she is deprived of a vote.

[Pg 790]

## CHAPTER XLIX.

### MISSOURI.[350]

The movement toward equal suffrage in Missouri must always recognize as its founder Mrs. Virginia L. Minor. She was a thorough believer in the right of woman to the franchise, and at the November election of 1872 offered her own vote under the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. It was refused; she brought suit against the inspectors and carried her case to the Supreme Court of the United States, where it was argued with great ability by her husband, Francis Minor, but an adverse decision was rendered.[351]

The first suffrage association in the State was organized at St. Louis in the winter of 1867. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony lectured under its auspices at Library Hall in the autumn of that year, and a reception was given them in the parlors of the Southern Hotel. For many years meetings were held with more or less regularity, Mrs. Minor was continued as president and some legislative work was attempted.

On Feb. 8, 9, 1892, an interstate woman suffrage convention was held in Kansas City. Mrs. Laura M. Johns, president of the Kansas association, in the chair. Mrs. Minor, Mrs. Beverly Allen and Mrs. Rebecca N. Hazard were made honorary presidents and Mrs. Virginia Hedges was elected president. Addresses were given by Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York and Miss Florence Balgarnie of England. A club was formed in Kansas City with Mrs. Sarah Chandler Coates as president.

During the next few years the State association co-operated with other societies in public and legislative work. Mrs. Minor[Pg 791] passed away in 1894, an irreparable loss to the cause of woman suffrage.

In May, 1895, the Mississippi Valley Congress was called at St. Louis under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and various other organizations participated. Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the National Association, stopped on their way to California and made addresses. Just before Miss Anthony began her address, seventy-five children, some of them colored, passed before her and each laid a rose in her lap, in honor of her seventy-five years.

The preceding spring the National Association had sent Mrs. Anna R. Simmons of South Dakota into Missouri to lecture for two months and reunite the scattered forces. A State suffrage convention followed the congress and Mrs. Addie M. Johnson was elected president. At its close a banquet with 200 covers was given in the Mercantile Club Room, with Miss Anthony as the guest of honor. A local society, of nearly one hundred members, was formed in St. Louis. During October Mrs. Simmons again made a tour of the State at the expense of the National Association.

On June 15, 16, 1896, the annual convention took place in St. Louis with delegates present from seventeen clubs. Addresses were made by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the Woman's Journal, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado and others who were in the city trying to obtain some recognition for women from the National Republican Convention. Miss Ella Harrison was made president. Public meetings were called for November 12, 13, in Kansas City, as it was then possible to have the presence of Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt on their return from the suffrage amendment campaign in California.

In January, 1897, Mrs. Bradford spent three weeks lecturing in the State, and the president devoted a month to this purpose during the autumn. The annual meeting convened in Bethany, December 7-9, Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Hoffman being the principal speakers.[Pg 792]

The convention of 1898 was held at St. Joseph, October 17-19, with Miss Anthony and Mrs. Chapman Catt in attendance, and the board of officers was re-elected.

In the fall of 1899 a series of conferences, planned by the national organization committee, was held in twenty counties, being managed by Mrs. Johnson and Miss Ella Moffatt, and addressed by Miss Lena Morrow of Illinois and Mrs. Mary Waldo Calkins. These ended with a State convention at Chillicothe in October.

The annual meeting of 1900 was held in St. Joseph during October, and Mrs. Johnson was elected president.[352]

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1887, through the efforts of Mrs. Julia S. Vincent and Mrs. Isabella R. Slack, a bill was introduced in the Legislature to found a Home for Dependent Children. The bill was amended until when it finally passed it created two penal institutions, one for boys and one for girls.

In 1893 a bill proposing an amendment to the State constitution, conferring Full Suffrage on women, was brought to a vote in the Assembly and received 47 ayes, 69 noes. In 1895 a similar bill was lost in the Assembly.

In 1897, largely through the efforts of Miss Mary Perry, a bill was secured creating a State Board of Charities, two members of which must be women. This was supported by the Philanthropic Federation of Women's Societies, who also presented one for women on school boards, which was not acted upon.

Bills for conferring School Suffrage on women have been presented on several occasions, but never have been considered. One has been secured compelling employers to provide seats for female employes.[353]

Dower and curtesy both obtain. If there are any descendants living, the widow's dower is a life-interest in one-third of the[Pg 793] real estate and a child's share of the personal property. If there are no descendants, the widow is entitled to all her real estate which came to the husband through the marriage, and to all the undisposed-of personal property of her own which by her written consent came into his possession, not subject to the payment of his debts; and to one-half of his separate real and personal estate absolutely, and subject to the payment of his debts. If the husband or wife die intestate, leaving neither descendants, father, mother, brothers, sisters, or descendants of brothers or sisters, the entire estate, real and personal, goes to the survivor. If a wife die, leaving no descendants, her widower is entitled to one-half of her separate real and personal estate absolutely, subject to her debts. (Act of 1895.)

In 1889 an attempt was made to give a married woman control of her separate real estate, which up to that time had belonged to the husband. Endless confusion has resulted, as the law applies only to marriages made since that date. To increase the complications a wife may hold real property under three different tenures: An equitable separate estate created by certain technical words in the conveyance, and this she can dispose of without the husband's joining in the deed; a legal separate estate, which she can not convey without his joining; and a common-law estate in fee, of which the husband is entitled to the rents and profits. In either case, if the wife continually permits the husband to appear as the owner and to contract debts on the credit of the property, she is estopped from withholding it from his creditors. There may be also a joint estate which goes to the survivor upon the death of either.

No married woman can act as executor or administrator.

The wife's separate property is liable for debts contracted by the husband for necessaries for the family. If he is drunken and worthless she may have him enjoined from squandering her property. For these causes and for abandonment the court may authorize her to sell her separate property without his signature.

The wife may insure the husband's life, or he may insure it for her, and the insurance can not be claimed by his creditors.

A married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on business in her own name, and possess her wages. She[Pg 794] may recover in her own name for injuries which prevent her from conducting an independent business, but not for those which interfere with the performance of household duties, as her services in the home belong to the husband. She may, however, bring suit in her own name for bodily injuries.

The wife may sue for alienation of her husband's affections and recover, according to a recent Supreme Court decision, "even though they may not be entirely alienated from her and though he may still entertain a sneaking affection for her."

The husband is liable for torts of the wife and for slanders spoken by her, although out of his presence and without his knowledge or consent. (1899.)

The father is the guardian of the persons, estates and education of minor children. At his death the mother is guardian, but if she marries again she loses the guardianship of the property because no married woman can be curator of a minor's estate.

If the husband abandon or fail to support his family, he may be fined and imprisoned and the court may decree their maintenance out of his property. The wife must live where and how the husband shall determine. If she chooses to live elsewhere his obligation to support her ceases. In case of divorce he must support the children, even if their custody is given to the mother.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 14 years in 1889 and to 18 years in 1895. The penalty was reduced, however, and is at present "imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of two years, or a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500, or imprisonment in the county jail not less than one month nor more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court." Between the ages of 14 and 18 years, the girl must be "of previously chaste character."

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: In 1897 the Supreme Court decided that women may hold any office from which they are not debarred by the constitution of the State. They are now eligible as county clerks, county school commissioners and notaries public, and for various offices up to that of judge of the Supreme Court, which are not provided for by the constitution. It is the opinion of lawyers that they may serve on city school boards, and they have[Pg 795] been nominated without objection, but none has been elected. Women are barred, however, from all State offices.

Two women sit on the State Board of Charities, but they can not do so on any other State boards.

A number are now serving as county clerks and county commissioners.

The W. S. A. and the W. C. T. U. have secured the appointment of salaried police matrons from the board of police commissioners in St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph. There are also depot matrons in these cities, and the first two have women guards at the jails and workhouses.

St. Louis has a woman inspector of shops and factories.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: This was one of the first States in the Union to open its Law and Medical Schools to women. In 1850, when Harriet Hosmer, the sculptor, could not secure admission to any institution in the East where she might study anatomy she was permitted to enter the Missouri Medical College.

In 1869 the Law College of Washington University at St. Louis admitted Miss Phœbe W. Couzins, and she received her degree in 1872.

The State University and all the State institutions of learning are co-educational. The Presbyterian Theological School admits women.

In the public schools there are 5,979 men and 7,803 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $49.40; of the women, $42.40.

### FOOTNOTES:

[350] The History is indebted for material for this chapter to Mrs. Addie M. Johnson of St. Louis, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[351] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, p. 734, and following, or Wallace's Supreme Court Reports, Vol. XXI.

[352] Other officers elected: Vice-president, Mrs. Kate M. Ford; corresponding secretary, Dr. Marie E. Adams; recording secretary, Mrs. Sue DeHaven; treasurer, Mrs. Alice C. Mulkey; auditors, Miss Almira Hayes and Mrs. Ethel B. Harrison; member national executive committee, Mrs. Etta E. M. Weink.

Among those who have held official position since 1894 are: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Cordelia Dobyns, Mrs. Amelie C. Fruchte; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. G. G. R. Wagner, Mrs. Emma P. Jenkins; recording secretary, Mrs. E. Montague Winch; treasurer, Mrs. Juliet Cunningham; auditors, Mrs. Maria I. Johnston, Mrs. Minor Meriwether.

[353] In 1901 women obtained a law and appropriation for a State Home for Feeble-Minded Children.

[Pg 796]

## CHAPTER L.

### MONTANA.[354]

In August, 1883, Miss Frances E. Willard, national president, came to Montana and formed a Territorial Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Butte. At this time Miss Willard in her speeches, and the union in its adoption of a franchise department, made the initiative effort to obtain suffrage for the women of Montana. This organization has been here, as elsewhere, a great educative force for its members, training them in parliamentary law, broadening their ideas and preparing them for citizenship. Out of its ranks have come the Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes, Mesdames Laura E. Howey, Delia A. Kellogg, Mary A. Wylie, Martha Rolfe Plassman, Anna A. Walker and many other earnest advocates of the ballot for women. Within the past five or six years a number of professional and business women have joined the suffrage forces and to-day they compose a majority of the active leaders.

No attempt was made to organize the State until Mrs. Emma Smith De Voe was sent by the National Association in 1895. She visited most of the prominent towns and formed clubs or committees. The first State convention was called at Helena in September of this year by the suffrage association of that city, Miss Sarepta Sanders, president, and Mrs. Kellogg, secretary. It was assisted by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, to whose eloquent addresses was due the great impetus the cause received at this time.[355]

Mrs. De Voe again visited the State in the spring of 1896. The[Pg 797] annual meeting took place at Butte in November. Mrs. Harriet P. Sanders, wife of Senator Sanders, having declined re-election, was unanimously made honorary president, and Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell succeeded her in the presidency. Nearly 300 members were reported.

A large and successful convention met at Helena in November, 1897, when a State central committee was appointed, with Mrs. Haskell as chairman and members in nearly every county. Madame F. Rowena Medini was made president, but she left the State before her year of office had expired and Dr. Mary B. Atwater filled her place. No convention being held in 1897 or 1898 she acted as president until that of October, 1899, when Dr. Maria M. Dean was elected. Mrs. Chapman Catt was present.

To Mrs. P. A. Dann of Great Falls, a contemporary of Miss Susan B. Anthony, too much honor can not be given for her years of service and financial help. U. S. Senator Wilbur F. Sanders has been a loyal friend. Foremost among the early workers for woman suffrage in Montana was Mrs. Clara L. McAdow, whose energy and business talent made the Spotted Horse, a mine owned by herself and husband, a valuable property.

In July, 1889, Henry B. Blackwell, corresponding secretary of the American W. S. A., came to Montana to present the question to the Constitutional Convention. His address was received with warm applause but the convention refused to adopt a woman suffrage amendment by 34 yeas, 29 nays. A resolution was presented that the Legislature might extend the franchise to women whenever it should be deemed expedient, thus putting the matter out of the hands of its proverbial enemies. The measure had able champions in B. F. Carpenter, W. M. Bickford, J. E. Rickards, Hiram Knowles, P. W. McAdow, J. A. Callaway, Peter Breen, T. E. Collins, W. A. Burleigh, W. R. Ramsdell, Francis E. Sargeant, William A. Clark (now U. S. Senator), its president, and others. Prominent among those opposed were Martin Maginnis and Allen Joy. It was lost by a tie vote, July 30. A proposal to submit the question separately to the electors was defeated by the same vote, August 12. The constitution conferred School Suffrage, which women already possessed under[Pg 798] Territorial government, and gave to taxpaying women a vote on questions of taxation.

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1895 women secured an enactment that the commissioners of any county, at the request of a certain number of petitioners, must call a special election for a vote on licensing the sale of liquor. A two-thirds vote is necessary to prohibit this. Women themselves can neither petition nor vote on the question.

This year a bill was introduced by Representative John S. Huseby for a constitutional amendment granting suffrage to women. It was passed in the House, 45 yeas, 12 nays; indefinitely postponed in the Senate by a "rising vote," 14 yeas, 4 nays.

In 1897 a systematic effort was made to secure a bill for this amendment. Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell, chairman of the State central committee, invaded the legislative halls with an able corps of assistants from the W. S. A. Petitions signed by about 3,000 citizens were presented, and it looked for a time as if the bill might pass. It was debated in the House and attracted much attention from the press, but lacked five votes of the required two-thirds majority. It was not acted upon in the Senate.

In 1899 Dr. Mary B. Atwater, then president of the State Association, with other officers and members, succeeded in having a Suffrage Amendment Bill introduced. Some excellent work was done, but the measure was lost in Committee of the Whole.

Dower is retained but curtesy abolished. If there is only one child, or the lawful issue of one child, the surviving husband or wife receives one-half of the entire estate, real and personal; if there is more than one child, or one child and the lawful issue of one or more deceased children, the survivor receives one-third. If there is no issue living the survivor takes one-half of the whole unless there is neither father, mother, brother, sister nor their descendants, when the widow or widower takes it all.

The wife may mortgage or convey her separate property without the husband's signature. He may do this but can not impair her dower right to one-third.

A married woman may act as executor, administrator or guardian. She may also sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name.[Pg 799]

A married woman can control her earnings by becoming a sole trader through the necessary legal process. She thus makes herself responsible for the maintenance of her children.

The father, if living, or if not, the mother, while she remains unmarried and if suitable, is entitled to the guardianship of minor children. In case of divorce, other things being equal, if the child be of tender years, it is given to the mother, and if of an age to require education and preparation for business, then to the father.

By the code of 1895 the husband is required to furnish support for the family as far as he is able, and the wife must help if necessary. Her personal property is subject to debts incurred for family expenses. Even though divorce be denied, the court may award maintenance to wife and children.

Montana is one of three States which make 18 years the legal age for the marriage of girls. In all others it ranges from 12 to 16 years.

In 1887, on petition of women, the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 15 years, and in 1895 to 16. The penalty is imprisonment not less than five years.

Suffrage: Women may vote for school trustees on the same terms as men, but not for other school officers. They had this privilege under Territorial government. Those possessing property may vote also on all questions submitted to taxpayers. These privileges were incorporated in the first State constitution.

Office Holding: Women may serve as county superintendents or hold any school district office.

In 1884 there were two women county superintendents; now every county in the State has a woman in this office. The superintendent of the Helena schools is a woman. The Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes held the position of school trustee as early as 1888. Dr. Maria M. Dean has been elected three times in succession as a trustee in Helena. She is chairman of the board and has been influential in many progressive measures.

Women have served on library boards and been city librarians. Miss Lou Guthrie has been for a number of years librarian of the State Law Library, and Mrs. Laura E. Howey fills this position in the State Historical Library.

There has been a woman on the State Board of Charities since[Pg 800] its organization in 1893, Mrs. Howey, Mrs. M. S. Cummins and Mrs. Lewis Penwell having been successively elected.

Dr. Mary B. Atwater has been for over three years chairman of the Board of Health of Helena.

Women served as notaries public until a ruling of Attorney-General C. B. Nolan (1901) declared this illegal.

In 1892, the first year the Populist party put a ticket in the field, it nominated Miss Ella Knowles for the office of Attorney-General. She made a spirited campaign, addressing more than eighty audiences, and alone organized some fourteen counties, being the first Populist to speak in them. She ran 5,000 votes ahead of her ticket, in a State which casts only about 50,000. The contest was so close that it was three weeks before it was decided who had been elected; but when the votes came in from the outlying precincts, where she was unknown, it was found that her Republican opponent, H. J. Haskell, had a majority. Miss Knowles was then appointed Assistant Attorney-General, an office which she filled for four years to the eminent satisfaction of the people. During this time she married her rival.

Occupations: No occupation is now legally forbidden to women. Mainly through the efforts of Mrs. Haskell, a bill was passed by the Legislature of 1889 which gave women the right to practice law. The Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes was ordained in the Congregational Church in 1896, and has preached regularly ever since. In 1889 she was chosen as moderator at the Conference of the Congregational Churches of Montana, at Helena.

Education: The educational advantages for women are the same as those accorded men. All institutions of learning—the State University, the Agricultural College, even the School of Mines—are open to both sexes.

In the public schools there are 201 men and 885 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $69.28; of the women, $48.61.

Montana women were awarded seven medals at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. Their botanical exhibit was one of the most notable at the exposition. It was artistically arranged by Mrs. Jennie H. Moore, the flowers being all scientifically labeled[Pg 801] and properly classified. Of the $100,000 appropriated to the use of the State Commission, the men assigned $10,000 to the women for their department, exercising no supervision over them. At the close of the exposition they brought back $2,800, which they turned into the State treasury, and $3,000 worth of furniture, which they presented to various State institutions.

In 1894 there was an exciting contest over removing the location of the permanent capital and some fear that Helena would lose it. A number of her leading women, in a special car provided by the Northern Pacific R. R., visited the prominent towns in Eastern Montana, speaking and working in the interest of their city and undoubtedly gaining many votes for Helena, which was selected instead of the rival, Anaconda.

In 1896 Mrs. Haskell was made a delegate to the Populist convention of Lewis and Clarke County, which met in Helena, and also to the Populist State and National Conventions. She took a prominent part in their proceedings, and was instrumental in securing a woman suffrage plank in the Populist State platform after a hard fight on the floor of the convention. At the Populist convention in St. Louis that year she was chosen a member of the National Committee.

In the autumn of 1900 a number of prominent women of Helena appeared as representatives of the suffragists before the Lewis and Clarke County Conventions, and before the State conventions—Republican, Democrat and Populist—asking that they insert a plank in their platforms recommending the submission of the question of woman suffrage to the voters. Only the Populists adopted it. The ladies also attended the State conventions of the three parties with the same resolution; but the Populists alone indorsed it, "demanding" suffrage for women.

One of the important factors in this movement is the Woman's Relief Corps, an organization which has grown in strength during the last decade and is making its members staunch patriots and woman suffragists. It has had an educative influence equal to that of the W. C. T. U. but on different lines. Women are actively identified with lodges and clubs, many of the latter being members of the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

### FOOTNOTES:

[354] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Long Alderson of Helena, one of the first officers of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[355] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Harriet P. Sanders; vice-president, Mrs. Martha Rolfe Plassman; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Delia A. Kellogg; recording secretary, Mrs. Mary Long Alderson; treasurer, Dr. Mary B. Atwater; auditors, Mrs. Martha E. Dunckel and Mrs. Hiram Knowles; delegate-at-large, Mrs. Mary A. Wylie. Dr. Atwater has been elected to the same office at each succeeding convention.

[Pg 802]

## CHAPTER LI.

### NEBRASKA.[356]

After the defeat of the constitutional amendment to confer the suffrage, which was submitted to the voters of Nebraska in 1882, the women were not discouraged, but continued to hold their State conventions as usual. That of 1884 took place at York, in January, and was welcomed by Mayor Harlan.

On Jan. 16, 17, 1885, the annual meeting was held at Lincoln. Mrs. Ada M. Bittenbender was the principal speaker, and the convention was specially favored with music by the noted singer of ante-bellum days, James G. Clark. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, editor of the Woman's Tribune, was elected president.

The convention of 1886 met at Madison, August 18, 19, and was addressed by Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon of New Orleans.

On Jan. 6-8, 1887, the convention assembled in the Hall of Representatives in Lincoln. It was fortunate in having Miss Susan B. Anthony, who was enthusiastically received by large audiences. The chancellor postponed the opening lecture of the university course so that the students might hear her address. Mrs. Saxon again rendered valuable assistance.

The convention of 1888 met in the opera house at Omaha, December 3, 4, memorable in being honored by the presence of the two great leaders, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, president, and Miss Susan B. Anthony, vice-president-at-large of the National Association. A reception was held at Hotel Paxton, and short speeches were made by prominent men. A notable feature was the exhibit of the rolls containing the names of 12,000 Nebraska men and women asking for equal suffrage.

The convention for 1889 took place in May, at Kearney, James Clement Ambrose being among the speakers.

Fremont claimed the tenth annual meeting, Nov. 12, 1890,[Pg 803] Miss Anthony, and Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Minnesota stopping off to attend it on their return from several months' campaigning in South Dakota.

The convention of 1891 was held at Hastings in October, and that of 1892 at Pender, July 1, 2. In 1893 all efforts were concentrated on the work done at the World's Fair in Chicago, and the raising of money to assist the Colorado campaign, and the convention was omitted.

Miss Anthony, now national president, also attended the meeting of 1894, in Beatrice, November 7, 8. This time she was on her way home from a campaign in Kansas for a suffrage amendment, to which the Nebraska association had contributed liberally. A telegram announcing its defeat was handed her on the platform, just as she was about to begin her speech, and no one who was present ever will forget her touching account of the efforts which had been made in various States for this measure during the past twenty-seven years. The delegates were welcomed by Mayor Schultz.

David City was selected for the next convention, Oct. 30, 31, 1895; and that of 1896 was enjoyed at the summer session of the Long Pine Chautauqua Assembly. Mrs. Colby had spent two months lecturing throughout the State and preparing for this meeting. Money was raised for the Idaho suffrage campaign, then in progress. Mrs. Colby and Miss Elizabeth Abbott addressed the Resolution Committee of the Populist State convention, asking for a woman suffrage plank.

The meeting of 1897, at Lincoln, September 30, was assisted by Mrs. Ida Crouch Hazlett, a lecturer and organizer from Denver, who was engaged for State work.

In October, 1898, the convention was held in Omaha during the executive meeting of the National Council of Women, which enabled it to have addresses by Miss Anthony, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Adelaide Ballard of Iowa, and other prominent speakers. Mrs. Colby declining to stand for re-election, after sixteen years' service, Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward was the choice of the association. One hundred dollars were sent to South Dakota for amendment campaign work.[Pg 804]

In October, 1899, the National W. S. A. sent eight organizers into the State to hold a series of forty-nine county conventions; 250 meetings were held, 18 county organizations effected and 38 local clubs formed. The canvass ended in an enthusiastic convention in the capitol building at Lincoln, with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois, Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden of Iowa, Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, among the speakers. State headquarters were opened at Omaha with Miss Gregg in charge. Her work has been so effective that it has been necessary to employ assistants to send out press articles, arrange for lectures, etc.

In 1900 a very successful annual meeting took place in Blair, October 23, 24, with a representation almost double that of the previous year and an elaborate program. Mrs. Chapman Catt was again present, there was much enthusiasm and it was resolved to continue the efforts to create a public sentiment which would insure a woman suffrage clause in the new State constitution which is expected in the near future.[357]

Among the many flourishing local societies may be mentioned that of Table Rock, which is so strong an influence in the community that the need of any other club for literary or public work is not felt. It holds an annual banquet to which husbands and friends are invited, and the husbands, in turn, under the name of the H. H. (Happy Husband) Club give a reception to the suffragists, managing it entirely themselves.

The society at Chadron, under the inspiration of Mrs. Hayward, is one of the most active, and has sent money to assist campaigns in other States. A canvass of the town in February, 1901, showed that 96 per cent. of the women wanted full suffrage.

Mrs. Colby organized a Club in Lincoln which has done excellent service under the leadership of Dr. Inez C. Philbrick.

Suffrage headquarters have been established at the Chautauquas held at Long Pine, Beatrice, Salem and Crete, and various Woman's Days have been held under the auspices of the State[Pg 805] Association, at which speakers of national reputation have made addresses. Anthony and Stanton Birthdays have been largely observed by the suffrage clubs.

The history of the Nebraska work for the past sixteen years is interwoven with that of the president, Mrs. Colby, who has given her life and money freely to the cause. At a convention in Grand Island in May, 1883, it was voted to establish a suffrage paper at Beatrice, for which the State association was to be financially responsible, and Mrs. Colby was made editor. A year later, when the executive committee withdrew from the arrangement, she herself assumed the entire burden, and has edited and published the Woman's Tribune to the present time. In 1888 she issued the paper in Washington, D. C., during the sessions of the International Woman's Council and the National W. S. A., publishing eight editions in the two weeks, four of sixteen and four of twelve pages, each averaging daily 12,500 copies. A few years afterwards the office was permanently removed to Washington. As long as Mrs. Colby was a resident of Nebraska she stood at the head of every phase of the movement to obtain equal rights for women. Miss Mary Fairbrother, editor and proprietor of the Woman's Weekly, has made her paper a valuable ally.

Miss Helen M. Goff, a lawyer, acted as corresponding secretary of the State Association for many years, speaking for the cause in political campaigns, holding a suffrage booth at State fairs, and working in the Legislature for suffrage bills.[358]

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1887 a bill for Municipal Suffrage was introduced by Senator Snell of Fairbury, and by Representative Cole of Juniata. Mrs. Colby had secured 3,000 signatures for this measure, and with Mrs. Jennie F. Holmes, president of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, worked all winter to secure its passage.[359][Pg 806]

In 1893 three bills were introduced into the Legislature relating to suffrage for women, and one asking for a law providing for police matrons in cities of 25,000 or more inhabitants. Miss Goff remained at the capital all winter looking after these bills. Mrs. Colby, representing the State W. S. A., and Mrs. Zara A. Wilson the State W. C. T. U., had charge of the Bill for Municipal Suffrage. J. F. Kessler introduced this in the House and worked for it. It was defeated by 35 ayes, 48 noes.

The bill for Full Suffrage was introduced into the House by G. C. Lingenfelter, and championed by W. F. Porter (now Secretary of State) and others. It was defeated by 42 ayes, 47 noes. The Populist members supported this, but considered that Municipal Suffrage discriminated against women in the country. The bill for extended School Suffrage was introduced too late to reach a vote. The Police Matron Bill was carried.

In 1895 the W. S. A. decided to do no legislative work except to second the efforts of the W. C. T. U. to have the "age of protection" for girls raised to 18 years; and to secure a resolution asking Congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the Federal Constitution. The latter measure was not acted upon; the former was successful.

In 1897 bills were introduced for the Federal Amendment, for Municipal Suffrage, to allow women property holders to vote on issuing bonds, and to make the right of the surviving husband or wife equal in the family estate. Both branches of the Legislature invited Mrs. Colby to address them. Immediately afterward the House Judiciary Committee approved an amendment to the State constitution, striking out the word "male," but this was defeated later in the session. The other bills were not reported from the committees.

In 1899 a hearing was granted to a committee from the suffrage association urging a resolution asking Congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the State Legislatures, and such a measure was reported to the House but not adopted.

Dower and curtesy both obtain. A widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate. In case the husband die[Pg 807] without a will, after the payment of all debts, charges, etc., she may have household furniture to the value of $250 and other personal property not exceeding $200. If any residue remains she is entitled to the same share that a child receives. If there is no issue living, a widow takes the use for life of the entire estate, both real and personal. If there is no kindred of the husband, the widow comes into absolute possession. If a wife die, leaving no issue, the husband has the life use of all her real estate. If she leave children by a former husband they are entitled to all of the estate which did not come to her as a gift from her surviving husband. If she leave issue by the latter only, or by both, then the widower has a life interest in one-third of her real estate. After the payment of her debts her personal property is distributed in the same way as her real estate.

The wife can mortgage or sell her real estate without the husband's signature and without regard to his curtesy. He can do the same with his separate property but subject to her dower. Both must join in an incumbrance or sale of the homestead.

A married woman may control her own property and wages and carry on business in her own name.

Father and mother have equal guardianship and custody of minor children. (1895.)

The husband is expected to furnish suitable maintenance according to his own ideas. The property which belonged to the wife before marriage can be levied on for the husband's debts for necessaries furnished the family if he have no property.

The mother is not "next of kin" and can not sue for damages to a minor child. In 1900 a child of thirteen was injured by a locomotive, and the Judge held that the father and not the mother was entitled to bring suit, although she had a divorce years before and had brought up the child without any assistance from him.

If a divorce is granted for the wife's adultery "the husband may hold such of her personal estate as the court may term just and reasonable." If she secure a divorce on account of his adultery, "the court may restore to her the whole, or such part as may seem just, of her own property which she had at marriage. If this is insufficient for the support of herself and her children the court may decree alimony from the husband's estate."[Pg 808]

The "age of protection" for girls was raised in 1885 from 10 to 12 years; in 1887 from 12 to 15; in 1895 from 15 to 18. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than twenty nor less than three years, but the law provides that if such "female child is over 15 and previously unchaste" this penalty shall not be inflicted. For such the law offers no protection. Nor shall there be conviction for the crime against a child of any age without other evidence than her own testimony. (1895.)

Suffrage: In 1869 School Suffrage was conferred on women. In 1875 the Legislature repealed this law except for widows and spinsters. In 1881 it was again changed, and women since then have voted in school district matters on the same terms as men; i. e., if parents of children of school age or assessed on property real or personal they may vote at all elections pertaining to schools. They can not, however, vote for State or county superintendents or county supervisors (commissioners). As the last named levy the taxes, and the other two are the most important officers connected with the schools, it will be seen that women are deprived of the most valuable school vote. All efforts, however, to secure an extension of the school franchise have resulted in failure.

As it requires a majority of the highest number of votes cast at an election to carry an amendment, it is useless to ask the Legislature to submit one conferring Full Suffrage upon women.

Office Holding: There is nothing in the State constitution or the statutes making women ineligible to any elective office except membership in the Legislature.

Although they are not allowed to vote for county superintendents there are at present sixteen women filling this office, eight of them serving a second term and three a third, while nineteen are superintendents or principals of schools. A woman was candidate on the Fusion ticket for regent of the State University; another has been registrar since the university opened, and one is at present recorder.

Mrs. Ada M. Bittenbender was candidate for Supreme Judge.

A woman is deputy State auditor. Women are serving or have served as postmasters and as clerks in both houses of the Legislature, clerk of the State library and member of the State[Pg 809] examining committee of education. Miss Mary Fairbrother was proof-reader in the House in 1899. Miss Helen M. Goff is assistant reporter in the State department of the Judiciary. Women act as notaries public.

The W. S. A. and W. C. T. U. secured a bill requiring the appointment of women physicians at three State insane asylums. There are matrons at all of the State institutions for the blind, feeble-minded, etc., and also at the Girls' Industrial School, although the superintendent is always a man. The Milford Industrial School has a woman physician, a woman superintendent and a board of five women visitors. At the Home for the Friendless all the officers and employees are required to be women and there is a board of women visitors.

All cities of 25,000 or more are required to appoint police matrons at $50 per month. This includes only Omaha and Lincoln.

A woman is Secretary of the Board of Trade in Omaha and official agent for the Humane Society with police powers.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. A woman is president of one bank and vice-president of another. Among the many in newspaper work, an Indian, Mrs. Susette La F. Tibbles, is prominent.

Education: All institutions of learning are open to women. In the public schools there are 2,038 men and 7,154 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $45.05, of the women, $36.56.

The Prohibition party always puts a suffrage plank in its State platform and women candidates on its ticket, even for the office of Lieutenant-Governor, but it polls so small a vote that this can be only complimentary. The Populist and Republican parties have indorsed equal suffrage at county conventions and elected women on their tickets. Women go as delegates to the Prohibition and Populist conventions. One of the strongest of the State organizations is the Woman's Relief Corps.

### FOOTNOTES:

[356] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward of Chadron, former president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[357] The present officers of the association are: President, Mrs. Clara A. Young; vice-president, Mrs. Amanda J. Marble; corresponding secretary, Miss Nelly E. Taylor; recording secretary, Mrs. Ida L. Denny; treasurer, Mrs. K. W. Sutherland; auditors, Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward and Mrs. Getty W. Drury.

[358] Other names which appear from time to time as doing good work for this cause are the Hon. J. D. Ream, M. H. Marble, J. W. Dundas, Mesdames A. J. Marble, Susanna A. Kendall, Irene Hernandez, Miriam Baird Buck, Lucy Merwin, Vannessa Goff, Maria C. Arter, Mary E. McMenemy, F. C. Norris, M. A. Van Middlesworth, M. A. Cotton, Misses Viola Kaufman and Edna Naylor.

[359] Mrs. Colby gives this interesting bit of description: "Our husbands were both in the Senate. We had apartments in the same house, where, hobnobbing over our partnership housekeeping, we planned our public work. Our husbands each had a spell of sickness at the same time, and while our functions of State presidency were temporarily exchanged for those of nursing, our enemies took advantage of us and killed that bill, on the very day, February 15, that Gov. John A. Martin signed the bill under which the women of Kansas have ever since enjoyed the municipal ballot."

[Pg 810]

## CHAPTER LII.

### NEVADA.[360]

The question of equal political rights for women always has been a subject of discussion in Nevada. Through the efforts of Miss Hannah K. Clapp and a few other women a suffrage bill was passed by the Senate in 1883, but was defeated in the House. Miss Mary Babcock was one of the most efficient of these early workers. Many party leaders, whenever opportunity permitted, have referred to the justice of enfranchising the women who with the men braved the dangers and endured the hardships of pioneer life, and are equally interested in the material development and political well-being of the State. After the organization of the Nevada Woman's Christian Temperance Union the superintendent of the franchise department distributed literature, brought up the topic at public meetings, urged it as a subject of debate in clubs and schools and thus secured a steady gain in suffrage sentiment.

The first step toward associated effort was taken by the women of Austin, Nov. 30, 1894, in forming the Lucy Stone Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage League. One or two others were organized that year, and a general agitation was begun through press and petition work by the suffragists in every community.

In the spring of 1895 the visit of Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, who were on their way to California, created such widespread enthusiasm that a new impetus was given to the movement. A little later Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe of Illinois was sent by the National Association to canvass the State with the help of the local workers. As a result a convention was held at Reno, October 29, 30. Mrs.[Pg 811] DeVoe and Mrs. Frances A. Williamson were the principal speakers, and the ten minutes' addresses by the delegates from various counties were very clever and acceptable. A State Equal Suffrage Association was formed with Mrs. Williamson as president; Miss Clapp and Dr. Eliza Cook, vice-presidents; Fannie Weller, corresponding secretary; Phoebe Stanton Marshall, recording secretary; Elda A. Orr, treasurer; Kate A. Martin and Alice Ede, auditors; Annie Warren, press work; Mary A. Boyd, State Fair work; Emma B. Blossom, superintendent of literature; Marcella Rinkle, member national executive committee.

The president, who was also chairman of the legislative work committee, was in the lecture field four months. She had to act as her own advance agent, but during this time she spoke in every city and town in the State and organized numerous clubs. Her meetings were well attended, and great interest was manifested. The second convention was held at Reno, Sept. 24, 1896, with every county represented. Mrs. Elda A. Orr was elected president and Mrs. Williamson, State organizer and lecturer. Mrs. Orr has ever since been continued as president, and to no one person in Nevada is the cause of woman suffrage so much indebted for hospitality, financial aid and valuable work.

The public meeting called on November 9 to greet Miss Anthony and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, was very successful. Miss Anthony gave a résumé of the exciting campaign just closed in California, and made an object lesson of its critical points which greatly amused the audience. Mrs. Chapman Catt followed in an able argument on woman suffrage as the best and safest means to secure and maintain good government.

In order to give the movement a more pronounced individuality Mrs. Williamson and her daughter, M. Laura Williamson, founded the Nevada Citizen, a monthly paper devoted to the social, civil and industrial advancement of women. They edited and managed it, publishing it at their own risk, and it received a liberal patronage. After a successful existence of two years, business called both from the State and it was discontinued.

In 1897 Mrs. Williamson again canvassed the various counties, and the most prominent men and women were found willing[Pg 812] to give the measure their indorsement. The third annual meeting was held at Carson City, October 30, with delegates from most of the counties. The numerous greetings from leading politicians showed an increasing interest in this question. Mrs. Orr and Mrs. Williamson were both re-elected. The former made an able address, and Mrs. Frances Folsom gave a general review of the laws relating to the property rights of women in the different States.

The fourth convention was postponed till the meeting of the Legislature in the winter of 1899, in order that the speakers might appear before that body with their arguments for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the voters.[361]

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1895 a bill was introduced in the House by Henry H. Beck, to amend the State constitution by eliminating the word "male" from before the word "citizen" wherever it occurs. All amendment bills have to pass two successive Legislatures and then be submitted to the voters. The Rev. Mila Tupper Maynard and Mrs. Frances A. Williamson managed the legislative work this year. The former made an eloquent address before the Legislature in joint assembly. An exciting debate followed in the House, but the bill was defeated by six votes. About ten days later it was introduced in the Senate by Dr. William Comins, who supported it with an able speech. It was strongly opposed but finally passed by a two-thirds vote. Toward the close of the session it was reconsidered in the House, and after a spirited debate was passed by four votes.

In 1897 the legislative work was conducted by Mrs. Williamson. She read a brief of the constitutional grounds on which women claim the right of suffrage before the Judiciary Committees of both Houses, and addressed the Legislature in joint assembly.[362] This year the bill for a constitutional amendment was[Pg 813] introduced in the Senate by Dr. Comins. The Judiciary Committee recommended its passage, and after a lively debate it received a two-thirds vote. Later on the bill was presented in the House by Frank Norcross. It was held in committee and delayed in every possible way, but finally was brought up in joint assembly. A stubborn debate followed, in which the advocates made an able defense, but it was defeated by a tie vote. A motion to reconsider it was defeated also.

In 1899 the Constitutional Amendment Bill again passed the Senate by the usual two-thirds vote, and was defeated again in the House by the usual small vote.

Governors Colcord, Jones and Sadler recommended in their biennial messages to the Legislature that the proposed suffrage amendment to the State constitution be submitted to the voters.[363] The Reno Gazette and Wadsworth Dispatch merit special mention for the able manner in which they have advocated the suffrage movement.

A married woman may control her separate property if a list of it is filed with the county recorder, but unless it is kept constantly inventoried and recorded it becomes community property.

The community property, both real and personal, which includes all accumulated after marriage, is under absolute control of the husband, and at the death of the wife all of it belongs to him without administration. On the death of the husband the wife is entitled to one-half of it. If he die leaving no will and no children, she may claim all of it after she has secured the payment of debts to the satisfaction of creditors. The inheritance of separate property is the same for both, and either may claim a life interest in a homestead not exceeding $5,000 in value.

To become a sole trader a woman must comply with certain legal conditions. Her earnings are considered by law to belong to her if her husband has allowed her to appropriate them to her own use, when they are regarded as a gift from him to her.[Pg 814]

A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name.

The father is the legal guardian of the children and may appoint one by will. If this is not done, the mother, if suitable, is the guardian while she remains unmarried.

The husband is required to furnish the necessaries of life to the family; but there is no penalty for failure to do so, except that where the neglect has been continued for one year, when it could have been avoided by ordinary industry, the wife is entitled to a divorce.

In 1889 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 14 years. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than five years, which may extend for life.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: Women are not eligible to any elective or appointive offices except those of county school superintendents and school trustees. There are serving at present one county superintendent and fifteen trustees.

Women act as clerks in State, county and city offices. They can not serve as notaries public.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. A number are carrying on mining, and have had mines patented in their own names.

Education: Women are admitted to all educational institutions on the same terms as men.

In the public schools there are 40 men and 274 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $101; of the women, $61.50.

### FOOTNOTES:

[360] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Frances A. Williamson, first president of the State Equal Suffrage Association.

[361] Among those who have filled the various offices are: Vice presidents, Margaret Campbell and Susan Humphreys, corresponding secretaries, May Gill and Catharine Shaw; auditors, A. A. Rattan, Mary Cowen and Laura A. Huffines; superintendent of press work, Margaret Furlong; superintendent of literature, Hester Tate; members national executive committee, Caroline B. Norcross and Elizabeth Webster.

Prominent among the active suffragists, besides those already mentioned, are Sadie Bath, Lettie Richards, Martha J. Wright, Gerty Grey, Annie Ronnow, Emma Hilp, Mary Haslett, Mamie Dickey, Edith Jenkins, Louisa Loschenkohl, Clara Dooley, Mary Bonner, Eliza Timlin and Josie Marsh.

[362] Mrs. Williamson was assisted by Elda A. Orr, Elizabeth Webster, Mary Alt, Mary A. Boyd, Jane Frazer, Kate A. Martin, Elizabeth Evans, Marcella Rinkle, Susan Humphreys, Sara Reynolds, Frances Folsom, Emma B. Blossom and others, whose womanly and dignified work was complimented by the legislative body and the public in general.

[363] Among the members of both Houses who from time to time have championed this question and favored all legislation for the advancement of women are Messrs. Bell, Birchfield, Coryell, Denton, Ernest, Garrard, Gregooich, Haines, Julien, Kaiser, Lord, Mante, Martin, Marshall, McHardy, McNaughton, McCone, Murphy, Richards, Skagg, Vanderleith and Williamson.

[Pg 815]

## CHAPTER LIII.

### NEW HAMPSHIRE.

New Hampshire has been rich in distinguished citizens who believed in woman suffrage. Ex-United States Senator Henry W. Blair always has been one of its most devoted advocates, and his successor, Dr. Jacob H. Gallinger, is no less a staunch friend. The names of both for many years have stood as vice-presidents of the State Association. From 1868 the Hon. Nathaniel P. and Mrs. Armenia S. White were the pillars of the movement and there was an efficient organization. His death in 1880 and her advancing years deprived it of active leadership and, while the sentiment throughout the State continued strong, there was little organized work. Mrs. White was president for many years and afterwards was made honorary president. Parker Pillsbury was for a long time vice-president and later the Hon. Oliver Branch. Mrs. Jacob H. Ela and Mrs. Bessie Bisbee Hunt served several years as chairmen of the executive committee.[364] Many petitions for suffrage were circulated and sent to the Legislature and money was raised for the National Association. The Grange and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union have been valuable allies.

On June 29, 30, 1887, a convention was held in Concord and arrangements made for a systematic canvass of the State.

On Jan. 10, 1889, Mrs. White and other officers of the State Association were granted a hearing by the Constitutional Convention then in session. They presented petitions and made a plea that the State constitution be amended so as to prohibit[Pg 816] political distinctions on account of sex. The special committee reported "inexpedient to legislate" and their report was adopted.

A State meeting was held in Concord, Dec. 14, 1892, a full board of officers was elected and it was voted to become auxiliary to the National American Association and to remain auxiliary to the New England Association.

On Jan. 10, 1895, the New England W. S. A. held a convention in Nashua with Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Henry B. Blackwell and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, editors of the Woman's Journal, Boston, as speakers. The day after its close the annual business meeting of the New Hampshire Association was held and was addressed by Miss Blackwell. On November 8 it called a meeting at the same place for the transaction of some special business.

On Jan. 10, 1896, and on Feb. 24, 1897, the annual meetings were held in Nashua, the latter addressed by Miss Blackwell. Mrs. Marilla M. Ricker, a former officer of the society but now practicing law in Washington, D.C., was candidate for U. S. Minister to Colombia, and New Hampshire was one of six States which petitioned for her appointment. Ex-Senator Blair exerted himself in her behalf, but it is hardly necessary to say that she was not appointed.

The desire for a more effective organization had grown so strong that in November, 1900, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Boston was sent into the State by the New England Association and spent two weeks, forming clubs in Concord, Newport, Littleton, Andover and North Conway, and preparing for societies in Nashua and Manchester.

In the autumn of 1901 Miss Mary N. Chase of Andover spent a month organizing local societies. A convention was called for December 16, 17, in Manchester, at which ten towns were represented. The meetings were held in the City Hall, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National Association, was introduced to a fine audience the first evening by Cyrus H. Little, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Addresses were made also by Mr. and Miss Blackwell. A strong official board was elected[365] and an effort will be made to educate public[Pg 817] sentiment to demand a woman suffrage clause from the convention to revise the State constitution, which is likely to be held within a short time. On the evening of December 17 Mrs. Chapman Catt spoke in Concord, the State capital.

Legislative Action and Laws: The suffrage association has been petitioning the Legislature since 1870. That year it secured a law allowing women to serve on school boards. In 1878 it obtained School Suffrage for women.

In 1885 it presented a petition, signed by several thousand citizens, asking the Full Franchise for women, and was given "leave to withdraw."

In 1887 a bill conferring Municipal Suffrage and permitting women to hold all municipal offices was presented with a petition signed by 2,500 citizens. A hearing was granted by the committee on July 6 and 300 persons were present. On the 13th it was favorably reported in the House, but August 6, it was defeated by 87 ayes, 148 noes. This year the House raised the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to 14 years but the Senate amended to 13 years.

In 1889 the bill for Municipal Suffrage was again introduced, sent to the Judiciary Committee and referred to the next session as "unfinished business."

In 1891 the petitions for this bill contained 3,000 signatures, and Mr. Angell of Derry also introduced a bill for suffrage for tax-paying women, but neither was acted upon. This experience was repeated in 1893.

In 1895, after a hearing had been granted to the women, the bill was reported favorably by the Judiciary Committee and passed a second reading in the House, but a third was refused. D. C. Remick and M. Lyford were earnest in their support of the measure. This year the "age of protection" for girls was raised to 16, but the bill was vetoed by Gov. Busiel who claimed that it was not properly framed.

Dower and curtesy both obtain. The widow is entitled to a life interest in one-third of the real estate and a homestead right of $500, and if she waive the provisions of the will in her favor[Pg 818] she may have, after the payment of debts, one-third of the personal property if issue survive; if not, one-half. If she waive its provisions and release her dower and homestead right, she may have, after all debts and expenses of administration are paid, one-third of the real estate absolutely if issue by her survive, and, if not, one-half, and the same amount of personal property. The widower is entitled to a life interest in all the wife's real estate, and a homestead right of $500, and if he waive the provisions of her will in his favor, the same amount of her personal property as she would receive of his. If he release his curtesy and homestead right he is entitled to the same amount of her real estate as she would have of his.

A married woman retains control of her separate property. She can mortgage or convey it without the husband's joinder but can not bar his curtesy of life use of the whole or his homestead right; nor can she deprive him of these by will. The husband has the same privileges, subject to her dower.

A married woman may carry on business in her own name. She may sue and be sued and make contracts. Her earnings are her sole and separate property. She can not become surety for her husband.

The father is the legal guardian but if he is insane or has given cause for divorce the court may award the minor children to the mother. The judge of probate may appoint a guardian, when necessary, to have care of the persons and property of minor children, and it may be either the father or mother.

If the husband refuse to provide for his family he may be prosecuted in criminal form. If he is insane or has given cause for divorce the court may award support out of his property.

The common law making 12 years the legal age for a girl to marry has been retained by special statute.

The "age of protection" for girls is 13 years with a penalty of imprisonment not exceeding thirty years, but no minimum punishment named.

Suffrage: Since 1878 women, possessing the same qualifications required of men, that is, residence in the district three months preceding the election, are entitled to vote for members of the school board and for appropriations of money. There[Pg 819] are no county superintendents, and the State Superintendent of Instruction is appointed by the Governor and Council. The city ordinances of Manchester, Franklin and Nashua prohibit women from this suffrage, but they may vote in Concord, the capital.

New Hampshire was the first State in New England to give School Suffrage to women.

Office Holding: Women are eligible to all elective or appointive School offices except where it is forbidden by special charters. They are not eligible to any other elective office.

A number are serving on School Boards. They may sit on State Boards which are appointed by the Governor. They have done so only on the Board of Charities and Corrections and on that of the State Normal School.

There is no law requiring women physicians in any State institutions, or police matrons in any city. One has been appointed in Manchester.

Women may act as notaries public.

Occupations: On July 25, 1889, Chief Justice Charles Doe of the Supreme Court delivered the opinion that women may become members of the bar and practice in all the courts. No occupation or profession is legally forbidden. Ten hours are made a working day.

Education: The old college of Dartmouth at Hanover is for men only. The State Agricultural College at Durham admits both sexes.

In the public schools there are 256 men and 2,714 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $69.75; of the women $40.59.

### FOOTNOTES:

[364] Among other officers since 1884 are: Presidents, Mrs. E. J. C. Gilbert and Miss Josephine F. Hall; vice-presidents, Judge J. W. Fellows, Gen. Elbert Wheeler, the Rev. Enoch Powell, Mrs. Martha E. Powell, John Scales, Mesdames C. A. Quimby, Caroline R. Wendell, N. H. Knox, Marilla H. Ricker, M. L. Griffin, Fanny W. Sawyer and Mary Powers Filley; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Jacob H. Ela, Mrs. Maria D. Adams; recording secretary, the Rev. H. B. Smith; treasurers, Mesdames A. W. Hobbs, C. R. Meloon, Uranie E. Bowers and Miss Abbie E. McIntyre; auditor, Mrs. C. R. Pease; executive committee, Mrs. Mary E. H. Dow and Mrs. (Dr.) Tucker.

[365] President, Miss Mary N. Chase; vice-president, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Hunt; secretary, Miss Mary E. Quimby; treasurer, the Rev. Angelo Hall; auditors, Miss C. R. Wendell and the Hon. Sherman E. Burroughs.

[Pg 820]

## CHAPTER LIV.

### NEW JERSEY.[366]

Although many local suffrage meetings had been held in New Jersey prior to 1867, in that year a State Society was organized by Lucy Stone, which met regularly in various cities until she removed to Massachusetts a few years afterwards, when the association and its branches gradually suspended, except the one at Vineland, with Mrs. Anna M. Warden as president. Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey, Mrs. Katherine H. Browning, Mrs. Warden and others continued to represent the State as vice-presidents at the national conventions.

In 1890 Dr. Mary D. Hussey, who had been a member of the old society, invited a number of active suffragists to unite in forming a new State association. Eleven responded and, at the residence of Mrs. Charlotte N. Enslin, in Orange, February 5, a constitution was adopted, Judge John Whitehead elected president and Dr. Hussey secretary and treasurer.[367]

In 1891 the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell became president; Mrs. Amelia Dickinson Pope was elected in 1892; and in 1893 Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, accepted the presidency.

The first public meeting of the association was held at Orange, March 4, 1893, where Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri, gave an address. The first auxiliary society formed was that of Essex County, with forty members, Mrs. Jennie D. De Witt, president. Five other State meetings were held and the membership trebled. Among the lecturers were Aaron M. Powell, Mrs. Blackwell, Mrs. S. M. Perkins of Ohio, and the president. A number of[Pg 821] clergymen gave sermons on suffrage, 14,000 pages of literature were circulated in seventeen of the twenty-one counties, and the Woman's Column was sent to 200 persons at the expense of Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey. The women's vote at school meetings greatly increased and a number were elected trustees. The annual convention was held at Newark in November.

The constitutional amendment campaign in the neighboring State of New York had a very favorable effect on public opinion in New Jersey during 1894. In addition to the usual meetings a memorial service in honor of Lucy Stone was held in Peddie Memorial Church, Newark, one of the largest churches in the State, with more than 2,000 people present, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore being the chief speaker. Another meeting was held in Orange, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe making the principal address.

A sunflower lunch was given to raise funds for the campaign in Kansas and $200 were sent, of which half was contributed by Mrs. Hussey. Among the vast amount of literature circulated were 1,000 copies of suffrage papers. The State convention was held as usual in Newark, November 24. This year the Populist party declared for woman suffrage in its State convention. The Knights of Labor also have indorsed it.

In 1895, before entering upon the three years' campaign for the restoration of School Suffrage, which had been declared unconstitutional the previous year, the association presented to the Legislature petitions signed by about 1,000 persons, asking for the restoration of full suffrage to the women of New Jersey, which had been taken away in 1807. This was done not with any expectation of success but in order to place the association on record as having demanded this right. In the new measure for School Suffrage they begged that it might include the women of towns and cities instead of merely country districts, according to the law of 1887, but this was refused.

Mrs. Anna B. S. Pond arranged a course of lectures for the benefit of the School Suffrage fund and, with a souvenir, $100 were raised. A handsome suffrage flag was presented to the association by Miss Martha B. Haines, recording secretary.

Four meetings of the State association were held in Newark, and one in Plainfield during the year, and lectures were given by[Pg 822] Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, Mrs. Annie L. Diggs of Kansas, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee. The fifth convention assembled in the chapel of Trinity (Episcopal) Church, Elizabeth, November 29. Mrs. Ella B. Carter, chairman on press work, stated that many leading papers were advocating the restoring of School Suffrage. Mrs. Harriet L. Coolidge, chairman of the School Suffrage Committee, reported that about fifty women had held the office of trustee since 1873, when this right was given, that twelve more were still serving despite the Supreme Court decision, and that women had voted in school meetings in almost every county.

The School Suffrage Resolution passed the Legislature, but as it had to be approved by two successive Legislatures before it could be submitted to the voters, it was necessary to agitate the subject so the law-makers might see that the people really desired the passage of this measure, and the winter of 1896 was devoted to this purpose. A new circular setting forth the success it had previously been was circulated in connection with the petition. As the president was unable to attend the session of the Legislature, Miss Mary Philbrook, chairman of the Committee on Laws, took charge of the measure, which in March was passed for the second time without opposition. It was decided, however, to have certain other proposed amendments to the constitution altered, and that for School Suffrage was kept back with the others, as the constitution can be amended only once in five years.

In the spring circulars were sent to 300 newspapers to be published, urging women to attend school meetings and to exercise the scrap of franchise still left to them—a vote on appropriations.[368] New Jersey sent $150 to the National Association and $50 to California for its campaign this year, in addition to the money spent on State work. The annual meeting was held in Orange, Nov. 27, 1896. A vote of thanks was tendered Miss Jane Campbell of Philadelphia for her generous gift of 300 copies of "Woman's Progress" containing an account of suffrage in New Jersey by Mrs. Hall.[Pg 823]

The signatures to the petition were increased to over 7,000 in 1897, and the Legislature passed the resolution for the School Suffrage Amendment for the third time, in March. The association at once began active work to influence the voters. Meetings were held in halls, churches and parlors in all parts of the State and many articles were published explaining the scope of the amendment. The State Federation of Women's Clubs, the Granges, Working Girls' Societies, Daughters of Liberty, the Ladies of the G. A. R., the Junior Order of American Mechanics and other organizations gave cordial indorsement. Mrs. Hall delivered three addresses on this subject before the State Federation of Clubs; Mrs. Emily E. Williamson, afterwards its president, also made a strong speech, urging the members to work for the amendment, and paid for 5,000 of the Appeals which were sent out. The W. C. T. U. rendered every possible assistance in securing signers for the petitions and educating public sentiment.

During the summer an extensive correspondence was carried on with prominent people including the State board of education, State, county and city superintendents of public instruction, etc. They were asked to sign An Appeal to the Friends of Education which clearly set forth the advantages of the proposed amendment. Having obtained the one hundred influential signatures desired the document was widely distributed to the press. Copies were sent to many organizations of men and women, and also to the clergy, with the request that they would use their influence with their congregations. A number did so, but probably many were afraid to speak on this subject lest they injure the chances of the Anti-Gambling Amendment to the constitution, which was to be voted on at the same time. The school authorities strongly indorsed the amendment and related the benefit which School Suffrage for women had been within their experience. Extracts from these letters, including one from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Hon. Charles J. Baxter, thanking the association for work in its behalf, were widely published.

The Republican State Executive Committee and some county committees indorsed the amendment. Efforts were made to have it presented at the many meetings which were held in behalf[Pg 824] of the Anti-Race Track Amendment, but they were not always successful. Through an unavoidable circumstance the press work fell principally on the president. The corresponding secretary, Dr. Hussey, gave an immense amount of labor, devoting the whole summer to the work of the campaign. Mrs. Angell rendered most efficient service, a part of it the sending of a letter to nearly every minister in the State. Mrs. L. H. Rowan was chairman of the finance committee but so sure were the friends of success that only $150 were expended.

The special election was held Sept. 28, 1897, and the result was a great disappointment. The School Suffrage Amendment, to which it was generally supposed there would be practically no opposition, was defeated—65,021 ayes, 75,170 noes. The adverse vote came almost entirely from the cities where the actual experiment never had been made. The country districts, where women had exercised School Suffrage, understood its workings and voted for the amendment. The Germans in particular opposed it, and it was said that they and many other voters understood it to give complete suffrage to women. As it was printed in full on the ballot itself, the carelessness and indifference of the average voter were thus made painfully apparent.

The labor was not altogether wasted, however, as through it the people were brought to understand that women still had a partial vote at school meetings. (See Suffrage.) For instance the women of Cranford, where a new schoolhouse was badly needed, were told by their town counsel that they had lost the ballot, but the president of the suffrage association informed them of the error of this learned gentleman, and they came out and voted, the campaign being conducted by the Village Improvement Association, a club composed of women. The majority in favor of the new schoolhouse was only seven. The opposition called a second meeting and reversed this decision. The women circulated petitions and compelled the school board to call a third meeting where they won the day. It was voted to erect one new building to cost $24,700 and another on the south side to cost nearly $11,000.

This same year, in South Orange, two unsuccessful attempts were made to get an appropriation to build a much-needed High[Pg 825] School. The men finally decided to call upon the women for help. Nearly 500 attended the meeting, and the $25,000 appropriation was carried by an overwhelming majority. The school at Westfield and two new High School buildings at Asbury Park and Atlantic Highlands were built because of the women's vote. Manual training was introduced into the Vineland schools through the zeal of women. A report from Moorestown says: "The year that women first began to vote at school meetings marks a decided revival of intelligent interest in our public schools." In Scotch Plains, where the meetings were held in the public school building, a holiday afterwards had always been necessary in order to clean it. With the advent of the feminine voters, expectoration and peanut shells ceased to decorate the floors, and the children were able to attend school the next day as usual. The Women's Educational Association introduced manual training into the public schools of East Orange.[369]

A number of meetings of the State association were held during 1897, and among the speakers were Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford and Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Colorado, Mrs. Celia B. Whitehead and Miss Laura E. Holmes. The annual convention took place at Wissner Hall, Newark, November 30.

Three State meetings were held in 1898, the conference of the National Board co-operating with the State association, taking the place of the convention. This was held May 6, 7, at Orange, and was the strong feature of the year. Through the efforts of the local committee, Mrs. Minola Graham Sexton, chairman, a large attendance was secured. Among the speakers were the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, president of the New York State Association, and a number of State women. New Jersey contributed this year $648 to the Organization Committee of the National, most of which went to the Oklahoma campaign. The largest contributions were from Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey, $450; Moorestown League (Miss S.[Pg 826] W. Lippincott) $50; collections at Orange, $41; Essex County, $40; Mrs. A. Van Winkle, $20.

The annual meeting was held at Camden, Nov. 29, 1898. Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, corresponding secretary of the National Association, and Miss Jane Campbell, president of the Philadelphia county association, were the afternoon speakers, Mrs. Bradford making the principal address of the evening. The New Jersey Legal Aid Association was formed this year in Newark, Dr. Hussey taking an active part. The first president was Miss Cecilia Gaines, who was succeeded by Mrs. Stewart Hartshorn. Its object is to give legal assistance to those unable to pay for it, and especially to women. All its officers are women, and a woman attorney is employed. Up to the present time (1901) it has had applications from 700 persons.

Two meetings of the State Association were held in 1899. A contribution of $220 was made to the National Organization Committee. At the annual meeting, held November 28, at Jersey City, Major Z. K. Pangborn, editor of the Journal, made an address at the evening session. The principal speaker was Mrs. Percy Widdrington of London, who gave an account of woman suffrage and its good practical results in England.

Resolutions of deep regret for the death of Aaron M. Powell, editor of The Philanthropist, were adopted.

The State Association held two meetings during 1900, and did a great deal of work in preparation for the National Suffrage Bazar. Dr. Hussey was made chairman of the Bazar Committee, while Mrs. Sexton arranged the ten musical entertainments which were given during the Bazar. The tenth annual convention was held at Moorestown, November 13, 14. There was a large attendance, including many men. The new national president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, was the principal speaker. Others were Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, president of the Pennsylvania Association; Mrs. Mary V. Grice, president of the State Congress of Mothers; Mrs. Catharine B. Lippincott, representing the Grange, and Mrs. Hall, who spoke on the American Woman in the American Home.

Mrs. Hall, who had been president during the whole period of active life of the association, declined re-election. She did so[Pg 827] with the greatest reluctance, but felt that the increasing pressure of work made it important that some one with more leisure at her disposal should fill the office. Mrs. Sexton was elected president.[370]

Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey is the largest contributor in New Jersey to the suffrage cause in general. Since many of her donations have been made to the National Association directly, not passing through the hands of the State treasurer, they can not be computed here, nor does she herself know their full amount. She has given also most liberally to State work and her contributions run well up into the thousands. A number of New Jersey women have been made life members of the National Association by her. She is a member of its organization committee.[371]

In early days Mrs. Theresa Walling Seabrook stood almost alone in the W. C. T. U. in her advocacy of woman suffrage and it required ten years of effort to secure a franchise department, of which she was made the first superintendent. For many years, however, this organization has been an active and helpful force and undoubtedly has made numerous converts, besides securing valuable legislation. The Grange has been always a faithful ally of the woman suffrage cause.

Legislative Action and Laws: On Feb. 13, 1884, a special committee of the Assembly granted a hearing on the petition of Mrs. Celia B. Whitehead and 220 others, asking the restoration of the right of Full Suffrage which had been unconstitutionally taken away from women in 1807. (See Suffrage.) Henry B. Blackwell and the Rev. Phœbe A. Hanaford of Massachusetts and Mrs. Theresa Walling Seabrook presented the question. They asked also for School Suffrage. The committee reported favorably on both measures. The former reached a vote and was defeated by 24 yeas, 27 nays.[Pg 828]

In 1887 Dr. William M. Baird, Speaker of the Assembly, had a bill introduced conferring School Suffrage on women in villages and country districts, and advocated it from the floor. It passed unanimously, March 23, not on its merits but because the Speaker wanted it. It was passed by the Senate March 31, by 15 yeas, 2 nays, and signed April 8, by Gov. Robert S. Green.

This year Aaron M. Powell and the Rev. A. H. Lewis secured a law raising the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to 16.

In 1894 the courts decided that the law granting School Suffrage to women was unconstitutional and that an amendment to the constitution would be necessary to enable them to exercise it. The suffrage association immediately took steps to secure a resolution submitting this amendment to the electors, as previously described. In 1895 it was introduced in the Senate by Foster M. Voorhees (now Governor) and passed in June by 13 yeas, 2 nays. It passed the Assembly by 36 yeas, one nay. It had to be acted upon by two Legislatures. In March, 1896, it passed the Senate unanimously; and the Assembly by 57 yeas, one nay. A technicality required it to pass the third Legislature, which it did in March, 1897—Senate, 15 yeas, 1 nay; Assembly, 42 yeas, 5 nays.

In April, 1894, it was enacted that women might be notaries.

In March, 1895, a bill was secured making women eligible to appointment as Commissioners of Deeds, after having failed in 1891, '92 and '94, and Miss Mary M. Steele was appointed.

In 1896 Miss Mary Philbrook, an attorney, with the help of the suffrage officials, secured a bill making women eligible as Masters in Chancery and was herself the first one appointed.

This year the State Teachers' Association secured a law permitting a Teachers' Retirement Fund to be created, which, with some amendments in 1899, enables a teacher after twenty years' service, if incapacitated for further work, to receive from $250 to $600 per annum. Some improvement also was made in the property laws for women.

In April, 1898, through the efforts of the Federation of Women's Clubs, a law was passed and an appropriation made for State Traveling Libraries.

Dower and curtesy obtain. The widow is entitled to a life use of one-third of the real estate and, if there is a child or children,[Pg 829] to one-third of the personal property absolutely; if there are no children, to one-half of it. The remainder of the real and personal estate goes to the husband's kindred. "The widow may remain in the mansion house of her husband free of rent until dower is assigned." The widower is entitled to the life use of all the wife's real estate, and if there is no will, to all her personal property without administration. She may, however, dispose of all of it by will as she pleases. She can not by will deprive the husband of his curtesy in real estate, except by order of the Court of Chancery when she is living separate from him. She can not encumber or dispose of her separate estate without his joinder. He can mortgage or convey his real estate without her joinder but it is subject to her dower. Her separate property is liable for her debts but not for those of her husband.

Since 1895 a married woman may contract as if unmarried, and sue and be sued in her own name as to property, but for personal injuries the husband must join. She can not become surety.

Since 1896 she may carry on business in her own name, her earnings and wages are her separate property, and her deposits in savings banks are free from the control of her husband.

The father is the legal guardian of the persons and estates of minor children. At his death the mother becomes guardian. In case of separation with no misconduct on the part of either, the mother has the preference until the child is seven years old, after which the rights are equal. Provision is made for the access of the mother to infant children. On the death of the one to whom the child is assigned it is subject to the order of the court.

The husband must furnish such support as will maintain the wife in the position in which he has placed her by marriage. If he refuse he must give bonds or go to jail. The wife must contribute to the support of the family if the husband is unable.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years in 1887. The penalty is a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment at hard labor not exceeding fifteen years, or both. No minimum penalty is named.

No girl under fourteen shall be employed in a factory, and no children under fourteen shall be employed in any workshop or factory over ten hours a day or sixty hours a week. The failure[Pg 830] of employers to provide seats for female employes beside a work bench or counter shall be punished as a misdemeanor.

Suffrage: New Jersey is the first State in which a woman ever cast a ballot. The constitution adopted July 2, 1776, conferred the franchise on "all inhabitants worth $250, etc." In 1790 a revision of the election law used the words "he or she," thus giving legislative sanction to a construction of the constitution which placed women in the electorate. While the records show that women did vote for various officers, including President of the United States and members of the Legislature, yet in those days of almost absolute male supremacy, when it was not customary for women to own even $250 worth of property and all they possessed became the husband's at marriage, it is not to be supposed that very many could avail themselves of the privilege. Enough did so, however, to make them a factor in the fierce political contentions which soon arose, and to gain the enmity of politicians. In 1807 the Legislature passed an arbitrary act limiting the suffrage to "white male citizens." This was clearly a usurpation of authority, as the constitution could be changed only by action of the voters. Nevertheless, men were in power and women were no longer permitted to exercise the franchise.

In 1844 a convention framed a new constitution in which the suffrage was restricted to "white males," and only men were allowed to vote on its adoption. Women were still electors according to the existing constitution, and yet they were not permitted to vote for delegates to this convention nor for the ratification of the new constitution. No Supreme Court could have rendered any other decision than that this was illegally adopted.

For exactly eighty years women were deprived of any franchise. During the last twenty of this period they made repeated efforts to vote and presented numerous petitions to the Legislature to have their ancient right restored. In 1887 this body enacted that women might vote at school meetings (i. e. in villages and country districts) for trustees, bonds, appropriations, etc.

In 1893 a law was enacted giving the right to vote for Road Commissioner to "all freeholders." An election was very soon contested at Englewood, and in June, 1894, the Supreme Court decided that the act was illegal because "it is not competent for[Pg 831] the Legislature to enlarge or diminish the class of voters comprehended within the constitutional definition." [The court had forgotten about that Legislature of 1807.]

This gave the opportunity for those who were opposed to women's exercising the School Suffrage. At a special election for school trustees held in Vineland, July 27, 1894, the women were forcibly prevented from depositing their ballots. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction was appealed to and he directed the county superintendent to appoint a board of trustees, as the election from which the women were excluded was illegal. This was done on the advice of the Attorney-General, who held that the constitution by empowering the Legislature to "provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free public schools," gave it the power to confer on women the right to vote at school meetings for school officers.

Without following the details it is only necessary to relate that the Supreme Court declared that "the State constitution says, 'Every male citizen, etc., shall be entitled to vote for all officers that are now or may be hereafter elective by the people' (!) and school trustees are elective officers within this provision, therefore the Act allowing women to vote for them is unconstitutional."

Women had been voting for these officers seven years under this Act, and always for the benefit of the schools, according to the almost universal testimony of educational authorities. It now became necessary, in order to continue this privilege, to obtain an amendment to the constitution. The story of the three years' effort made by the State Suffrage Association for this purpose is related earlier in the chapter. Since this had to be made they begged that the amendment might include School Suffrage for the women in towns and cities also, but this was refused. And yet even a proposition to restore School Suffrage to those of villages and rural districts, when submitted to the voters, was defeated at the election on Sept. 28, 1897, by 65,029 yeas, 75,170 nays, over 10,000 majority.

While the Supreme Court decision took away the vote for trustees it did not interfere with the right of women in villages and country districts to vote on questions of bonds and appropriations[Pg 832] for the building of schoolhouses and other school purposes, and that is the amount of suffrage now possessed by women in New Jersey. When the school laws were revised in 1900 this fragment was carefully guarded and provision made for furnishing two boxes, one in which the men might put their vote on all school matters, and the other where women might put theirs on the ones above specified.

Office Holding: In 1873 a law was passed that "no person hereafter shall be eligible to the office of school trustee unless he or she can read and write," and women were authorized to serve when duly elected. In 1894, when the School Suffrage was taken away by the Supreme Court, thirty-two were holding the office and the decision did not abrogate this right. They have continued to be elected and twenty-seven are serving at the present time. At Englewood, in 1899, Miss Adaline Sterling was president of the board. Women are not eligible as State or county superintendents.

Four of the nine trustees of the State Industrial School for Girls are women, and a woman physician is employed when one is needed.

Dr. Mary J. Dunlop has been superintendent and medical director of the State Institution for Feeble-Minded Women since 1886, and three of the seven managers are women.

There are no women physicians in any other State institution and no law requiring them. In most of the hospitals there are training schools for nurses with women superintendents.

The State Board of Children's Guardians has a woman chairman of the executive committee, and a woman attorney.

The State Charities Aid Association has seven women on the Board of Managers, including the general secretary. Women sit on the boards of the State School for Deaf Mutes, the Home for Waifs and those of some county asylums. Most of the almshouses have matrons in the female department but there are no women on the boards of management.

A matron and three assistants are in charge of the women in the penitentiary and there is a matron at the jails of most cities. In some of them police matrons have been appointed, but no law requires this.[Pg 833]

In the State Hospital at Trenton over eighty women are employed, including four supervisors, a librarian, stenographers, nurses, etc.

In the State Home for Boys there are over twenty women, including principal of school, teachers, matrons, typewriters, etc.

There are women on a number of Public Library Boards, and one, at least, acts as treasurer. The head librarian and all the assistants of the Plainfield public library are women. Sixty of the ninety-nine public libraries in the State employ women librarians, and five are served by volunteers. Most of the assistants in all cities are women.

Women act as masters in chancery, commissioners of deeds and notaries public, and one at least has served as district clerk.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. Admission to the bar having been denied to Miss Mary Philbrook, in 1894, solely on account of her sex, she requested a hearing before the Judiciary Committee of the Legislature of 1895, which was addressed by Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, president of the State Suffrage Association, Mrs. Carrie Burnham Kilgore, a lawyer of Philadelphia, and Miss Philbrook herself. Soon afterward a law was enacted making women eligible to examination for admission to the bar, which, in June, was passed successfully by Miss Philbrook, who thus became the first woman lawyer. There are now eight. In 1899, Miss Mary G. Potter of the New York Bar, Miss Philbrook of the New Jersey Bar, and Dr. Mary D. Hussey of the New York University Law School, called a meeting of women attorneys at East Orange. A committee was appointed which organized the Women Lawyers' Club in New York, on June 24, with members in both States.

There are about one hundred women physicians in the State, seventy-five allopathic and the rest belonging to other schools. They are members of most of the county medical societies, which makes them members of the State Medical Society. Dr. Sarah F. Mackintosh was the first woman admitted to a county society (Passaic) in 1871. Dr. Frances S. Janney was elected president of the Burlington County Medical Society in 1900, the first to receive such an honor. The first meeting of women physicians[Pg 834] took place in Atlantic City, June, 1900, when those of the State gave a reception to those from other States who were attending the convention of the American Medical Association. The Medical Club of Newark, the first organization of women physicians, was formed the next November, with seventeen charter members from Newark and its vicinity, Dr. Katherine Porter of Orange, president.

Education: Princeton University is closed to women, and so are Princeton Theological Seminary (Presb.), Drew Theological Seminary (Meth. Epis.) and Rutgers College (Dutch Reformed). There is no college for women in New Jersey. The State Normal School is co-educational.

In the public schools there are 833 men and 5,806 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $86.21; of the women $48.12. In Plainfield the principals of all the public schools, except the High School, are women. This is due to the fact that the city superintendent from 1881 to 1892 was a woman, Miss Julia Buckley (afterwards dean of the woman's department of Chicago University), and the custom established by her has been continued.

New Jersey has so many associations of women that they have acted as a bar against the formation of suffrage clubs, women feeling that they had already too many meetings to attend. The State Federation of Women's Clubs has been an active and progressive force. It secured State Traveling Libraries; and if the Palisades are preserved from destruction, as now seems likely, this will be due to its earnest efforts. It was influential, in 1899, in having the kindergarten made a part of the public school system. It also has a town improvement department, with numerous branches. Several of its auxiliary clubs have founded public libraries, and some of them have conducted campaigns to put women on the school board. Other clubs have supported kindergartens and arranged free lectures for the public.

### FOOTNOTES:

[366] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Florence Howe Hall of Plainfield, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association for the past eight years, and to Dr. Mary D. Hussey of East Orange, its founder and corresponding secretary.

[367] The others present were Mesdames Phebe C. Wright, Alice C. Angell, Sarah A. McClees, Caroline Ross Graham, Katherine H. Browning, Anna M. Warden, Mrs. Minola Graham Sexton, Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell.

[368] The sending of this yearly circular to the press, shortly before the time of the annual school meeting, has been continued under the special charge of the president.

[369] East Orange also had from 1894 to 1900 a school committee consisting of ten women elected every year at the annual school meeting—a sort of auxiliary association which did good work. In 1900 it became a city, and the school officers are now elected at the polls where women can not vote.

[370] The remaining officers elected were: Vice-president, Mrs. W. J. Pullen; corresponding secretary, Dr. Mary D. Hussey; recording secretary, Miss J. H. Morris; treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery; auditor, Mrs. Mary C. Bassett.

The other officers who have served during the past ten years are: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Katherine H. Browning, Mrs. Margaret C. Campfield, Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Mrs. Harriet Lincoln Coolidge; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Charlotte C. R. Smith; recording secretaries, Miss Martha B. Haines, Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell, Mrs. Alice C. Angell, Miss Mary Philbrook; treasurers, Mrs. Charlotte N. Enslin, Dr. Mary D. Hussey, Mrs. Stephen R. Krom; auditors, Aaron M. Powell, Miss Susan W. Lippincott, Mrs. J. M. Pullen; chairmen press committee, Anna B. S. Pond, Dr. Florence de Hart.

[371] Among many others who have served faithfully as local presidents and in other ways are Dr. Ella Prentiss Upham, Mrs. Maria H. Eaton, Mrs. Samuel R. Huntington, Mrs. Madge S. MacClary, Mrs. Sarah S. Culver, Miss M. Louise Watts.

[Pg 835]

## CHAPTER LV.

### NEW MEXICO.[372]

At the Constitutional Convention held in 1888 an effort was made to secure equal political rights for women, but it received little support. In September, 1893, Mrs. E. M. Marble visited Albuquerque and organized a suffrage club with Mrs. G. W. Granger as president. In December, 1895, Mrs. Laura M. Johns, president of the Kansas E. S. A. and national organizer, spent a few days in New Mexico, on the way to and from Arizona, and formed several clubs.

In 1896 Mrs. Julia B. Nelson, president of the Minnesota W. S. A., began work in the Territory under the auspices of the National Association, her first address being delivered at Raton, April 1, and her last May 12, at the same place. Her mission was to discover the suffragists, make converts, arrange for a Territorial convention and effect an organization auxiliary to the national.[373] As a result a convention was held at Albuquerque, April 28, 29, conducted by Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Nelson. A Territorial association was formed and the following officers were elected: President, Mrs. J. D. Perkins; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice P. Hadley; recording secretary, Miss Clara Cummings; treasurer, Mrs. Martha C. Raynolds.

In 1897 and 1898 no conventions were held, on account of the absence of several of the officers from the Territory. Through the efforts of Mrs. Hadley (herself prevented by physical infirmity), H. B. Fergusson, delegate to Congress for New Mexico,[Pg 836] represented the Territory and made a speech in the convention of the National Association at Washington in 1898.

In November, 1899, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, secretary, spent one day in Santa Fé with George H. and Mrs. Catherine P. Wallace. Mr. Wallace was secretary of the Territory, and in their home, the historic old Palacio, forty people gathered to hear Mrs. Chapman Catt lecture. She made an hour's address, after which there was an interesting discussion. As a result, a meeting was called for December 19, and the Territorial association was reorganized with the following officers: President, Mrs. Wallace; vice-president, Mrs. Hadley; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Esther B. Thomas; recording secretary, Mrs. Anna Van Schick; treasurer, Miss Mary Morrison; member national executive committee, Mrs. Ellen J. Palen. Several vice-presidents were named and twenty-five members enrolled.[374]

Legislative Action and Laws: On Feb. 10, 1893, a bill was passed in the Lower House declaring the right of female citizens to vote at elections and hold offices relating to public schools and public education. It was not acted upon by the Senate. In 1895 this bill was defeated.

In 1899 a bill was introduced by Representative McIntosh of San Juan County (near the Colorado line), on request of his constituents, for the extension of School Suffrage to women. This received the favorable votes of one-third of the Lower House, but did not reach the Senate.

A law was passed April 2, 1884, defining the rights of the married woman. It secured to her the control of property owned by her at the time of marriage and of wages earned afterward, made her not liable for her husband's debts and gave her the same power to make contracts, wills, etc., as was possessed by him. The law at present is as follows:

> Curtesy still obtains. One-half of the community property goes to the wife whether the husband dies testate or intestate. In addition to this she is entitled to one-fourth of the rest of his estate, "provided[Pg 837] this deduction shall only be made when said property amounts to $5,000, and the heirs be not descendants; although it may exceed this sum in the absence of the latter. Also from the property of the wife the fourth shall be deducted as the marital right of the husband, and upon the same conditions, should the husband without this aid remain poor." If there are no legitimate children surviving, the widow or widower shall be heir to all the acquired property of the marriage community.

By act of 1897, a mortgage not executed by the wife shall in no wise affect the homestead rights of the wife or family.

By act of 1899: "The signature or consent of the wife shall not be necessary or requisite in any conveyance, incumbrance or alienation of real property owned by the husband, whether such property became his before or during coverture; but the right to make such conveyance or create such incumbrance shall exist in the husband to the same extent as though he were unmarried."[375]

The father is the legal guardian of the minor children.

The husband is not required by law to support the family.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years, with penalty of imprisonment not less than five nor more than twenty years.

Suffrage: Women have no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: In 1899 a bill passed for appropriations, etc., for the Deaf and Dumb Asylum recommended the appointment of two women on the Board of (five) Trustees. The appointments were duly made and confirmed.

Women serve as members of county school examining boards.

The new office of supervising teacher of the Government Indian Pueblo Schools has been filled by Miss Mary E. Dissett.

Women are special masters in court, notaries public, court and legislative stenographers in Spanish and English and census enumerators. In the last two administrations a woman has acted as private secretary to the Governor.

A woman has been appointed commissioner for New Mexico to take testimony in Indian depredation claims.

At a Territorial Irrigation Convention, in 1900, one woman was a duly elected delegate, taking part in the discussions, etc.

Occupations: All professions and occupations are open to[Pg 838] women. They conduct ranches and engage in mining. In Santa Fé the Woman's Board of Trade, an incorporated body, has so ably conducted the work for charities and for civic improvements as to arouse a sentiment that women might well be intrusted with educational and more extended municipal affairs. In Las Cruces an organization of women is doing a similar work.

Education: All educational institutions are open to both sexes, and degrees are conferred alike upon men and women. The Territorial University at Albuquerque, the Las Vegas Normal University and others have women on their faculties.

At the meeting of the Territorial Educational Association in December, 1899, a council was formed composed of twenty-five members, both women and men. At its first meeting, in September, 1900, a resolution in favor of School Suffrage for women was unanimously adopted.

In the public schools there are (approximately) 390 men and 316 women teachers. The average salaries are not obtainable.

The call to arms for the Spanish-American War brought men to the different recruiting posts in New Mexico, but no provision for them had been made by the government. The women of Santa Fé, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Las Vegas and other towns quickly organized Soldiers' Aid Societies and raised funds to feed and care for them, till the companies were mustered in and came under Uncle Sam's charge.

At the Territorial Democratic Convention in Albuquerque, April, 1900, the following was included in the platform: "It is our belief that women should be granted an equal voice and position with men in all matters pertaining to our public schools."

The native Spanish-Americans have great reverence for their elders. Among a few of the old Don families where the eldest member living is a senora, so greatly are her wishes and opinions respected that the entire community will vote as she dictates; the politician has only to secure her allegiance and he is sure of the vote in her precinct. The suffrage bills which have been presented to the Legislature have not been opposed by the Spanish-American members, but by the Anglo-Saxons.

### FOOTNOTES:

[372] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Catherine P. Wallace of Santa Fé, president of the Territorial Suffrage Association. While Mr. Wallace was consul-general to Australia, in 1890, she visited New Zealand and assisted the women there in their successful effort for the franchise. When this subject was before the Australian Parliament at Melbourne, she furnished the Premier with the debate in the United States Congress on the admission of Wyoming, and with other documents.

[373] Mrs. Nelson visited Raton, Blossburg, Albuquerque, Santa Fé, Springer, Las Vegas, Watrous, Wagon Mound, Socorro, San Marcial, Las Cruces, Deming, Silver City, Hillsboro and Kingston, giving two or three lectures at each place and leaving a club in many.

[374] Among the best known of the advocates are Mrs. M. J. Borden, Professor and Mrs. Hiram Hadley of the Agricultural College, President and Mrs. C. L. Herrick and Miss Catherine Fields, all of the Territorial University; Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Raynolds, Judge and Mrs. McFie, Col. and Mrs. I. H. Elliott and Secretary George H. Wallace.

[375] This law was repealed by the Legislature of 1901, and it was made impossible for either husband or wife to convey real property without the signature of the other.

[Pg 839]

## CHAPTER LVI.

### NEW YORK.[376]

The State of New York, home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, may be justly described as the great battle-ground for the rights of women, a title which will not be denied by any who have read the preceding three volumes of this History. The first Woman's Rights Convention in the world was called at Seneca Falls in 1848.[377] New York was also a pioneer in beginning a reform of the old English Common Law, so barbarous in its treatment of women. And yet, with all the splendid work which has been done, the State has been slow indeed in granting absolute justice. At the commencement of the new century, however, the legal and educational rights of women are very generally conceded, but their political rights are still largely denied. Except during the Civil War, there has not been a year since 1851 when one or more conventions have not been held to demand these rights, and when a committee of women has not visited the Legislature to secure the necessary action. A State association was formed in 1869.

The convention of 1884 met in the Common Council Chamber at Albany, March 11, 12, with the usual large attendance of delegates from all parts of the State, and the evening sessions so crowded that an overflow meeting was held in Geological Hall. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, the president, was in the chair and addresses were made by Mesdames Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mary Seymour Howell, Caroline Gilkey Rogers and Henrica Iliohan; and by Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert of Illinois and Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana,[Pg 840] who had come from the national convention in Washington. On the way to Albany a large reception had been tendered to them at the Hoffman House in New York. On March 13 a hearing was held in the Assembly Chamber before the Judiciary Committee on the bill for Full Suffrage for women. The room was filled and strong speeches were made by all of the above women. Gov. Grover Cleveland gave a courteous reception to the delegates.

In 1885 the convention took place in Steinway Hall, New York, February 12, 13, all the counties being represented by delegate or letter. The speakers were Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Rogers and the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Eaton and Mrs. Delia S. Parnell (mother of Charles Stewart Parnell). On the evening of the 12th a large reception to Mrs. Stanton was given at the Murray Hill Hotel.

The convention of 1886 met in Masonic Hall, New York, March 23, 24. Addresses were made by Miss Susan B. Anthony, James Redpath, Mesdames Blake, Howell, Rogers and Iliohan, Gov. John W. Hoyt of Wyoming and Mrs. Margaret Moore of Ireland. A reception was tendered to Dr. Clemence S. Lozier at the Park Avenue Hotel.

In the fall an interesting observance was arranged by the State Suffrage Association when the statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, given to the American nation by France, was unveiled on October 28. There was a great excursion down the bay to witness this ceremony and the association chartered a boat which was filled with friends of the cause. A place was secured in the line between two of the great warships, and, while the cannon thundered a salute to the majestic female figure which embodied Freedom, speeches were made on the suffrage boat by Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Margaret Parker of England, Mrs. Harriette R. Shattuck of Massachusetts, Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Howell and others.

The convention met again in New York at Masonic Hall, April 21, 22, 1887, and was addressed by Madame Clara Neymann, Rabbi Gustave Gottheil, Mrs. Florence McCabe, Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Howell, Dr. Lozier and others.

In 1888 the annual meeting assembled at the same place, March 22, 23. It was attended by the many delegates who had[Pg 841] come from European countries to the International Congress of Women about to be held in Washington, D. C. Among the speakers were Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg of Finland and Mrs. Ashton Dilke, Mrs. Alice Scatcherd and Mrs. Zadel Barnes Gustafson of England. On the evening preceding the opening of the convention a large reception was given to these foreign ladies at the Park Avenue Hotel.

The State convention was held in Rochester, Dec. 16, 17, 1890, in the First Universalist Church. Its distinguishing feature was the reception given in the Chamber of Commerce to Miss Susan B. Anthony by her fellow townsmen, as a welcome home from her long and hard campaign in South Dakota. The large rooms were handsomely decorated and over 600 people were present during the evening, including President David Jayne Hill and a number of the faculty of Rochester University, several members of Congress and many men of prominence.

The speakers at the convention were Miss Mary F. Eastman of Boston, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and Miss Anthony. Mrs. Blake positively declined a re-election, having served eleven consecutive years, and Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf was elected president. During Mrs. Blake's presidency she had many times canvassed New York and had extended her lecture tours into various other States, going as far west as California.

Henceforth, in addition to annual conventions, the association adopted the plan of holding mid-year executive meetings in various cities for the transaction of business, with public sessions in the evenings addressed by the best speakers.

In 1891 the convention met in Auburn, November 10, 11, the audiences crowding the opera house on both evenings. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and Miss Shaw were the speakers, with an address of welcome from Mrs. J. Mary Pearson. Reports showed that the membership had doubled in the last year, and that Woman's Day had been observed at many fairs, resulting in the forming of county organizations. A resolution was adopted urging the Legislature to appoint some women on the State Board of Managers for the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The convention closed with a[Pg 842] reception at the elegant home of Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne, niece of Lucretia Mott and daughter of Martha C. Wright, two of those who called the first Woman's Rights Convention.

Syracuse was selected for the annual meeting of 1892, November 15-17. Miss Anthony, president of the National Association, was in attendance, and the opera house was filled at all the sessions. Mrs. Martha T. Henderson, vice-president-at-large, who had been appointed to represent the State, was delegated to arrange for the noon-day suffrage meetings during the Columbian Exposition. Mrs. Greenleaf's address reviewed the great debate which had taken place at the New York Chautauqua Assembly the preceding August, between the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev. J. M. Buckley, editor of the Christian Advocate, and emphasized the evident sympathy of the immense audience with the side of the question presented by the former. Suffrage Day had been observed at the Cassadaga Lake Assembly with an address by Miss Anthony, and also at the State Fair. The association was congratulated on the fact that there had been a further extension of School Suffrage during the year.

All interest centered in the approaching convention to revise the constitution of the State, through which it was hoped a woman suffrage amendment would be obtained. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Howell had been appointed to address the Legislature, which they had done in April of this year, for the purpose of securing women delegates to this convention, that was to be held in 1893, but eventually was deferred one year. Committees were appointed which visited the political State conventions the following summer, asking a declaration in their platforms for this amendment, but were unsuccessful.

The annual meeting of 1893 was held at Brooklyn, in Long Island Historical Hall, Nov. 13-16. It was welcomed by Mrs. Mariana Wright Chapman, president of the Brooklyn suffrage society. The plan of work was perfected, which had been prepared by Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton, for an active canvass of the State in behalf of a plank in the approaching Constitutional Convention. Addresses were made by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and Henry B. Blackwell of Boston, Miss Anthony, the Rev. Miss Shaw, national vice-president-at-large; Mrs. Ella[Pg 843] A. Boole, Aaron M. Powell, Gen. C. T. Christiansen, Mrs. Anna C. Field, Mrs. Emma Bourne, Mrs. Blake and others. Among the resolutions adopted was the following:

> The thanks of this association are due to Gov. Roswell P. Flower for his recognition of woman's ability in the appointment to a State office of our national president, Susan B. Anthony, viz: as one of the Board of Managers of the State Industrial School at Rochester.

The great campaign of 1894, undertaken to secure a clause for woman suffrage in the revised State constitution, will be considered further on in this chapter.

The annual convention met in Ithaca, Nov. 12-14, 1894, the opera house being filled with the usual large audiences. It was welcomed by Mayor Clinton D. Bouton and President Jacob Gould Schurmann of Cornell University. Miss Anthony was present and a galaxy of eloquent New York women made addresses.

Newburgh entertained the convention Nov. 8-12, 1895. The speakers were Miss Anthony, Dr. Edward McGlynn, Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis, daughter of George William Curtis; Miss Arria S. Huntington, daughter of Bishop Frederick D. Huntington; Miss Margaret Livingston Chanler, Madame Neymann, Mrs. Maude S. Humphrey, Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Cornelia K. Hood, Miss Julie Jenney, Mrs. Boole, Mrs. Annie E. P. Searing, Mrs. M. R. Almy, Miss Harriette A. Keyser, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell, the Rev. Miss Shaw and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee. Miss Anthony was especially stirred by a previous speech which reflected on the dress, manners and social standing of the pioneers in the movement for the rights of women, and which felicitated the present advocates on their great superiority in these respects. She named the pioneers, one by one, paid warm tribute to their beautiful personality and commanding ability and asked where a woman could be found in all the present generation to excel, if, indeed, to equal them.

The delegates enjoyed visits to the many interesting places in the neighborhood, including West Point and Vassar College. A beautiful reception was given by Mrs. C. S. Jenkins. It was supposed that the disappointment of the previous year in failing to secure an amendment from the Constitutional Convention[Pg 844] would result in a falling off in membership, but instead this was found to be considerably augmented. At the close of the convention the delegates went to New York to attend Mrs. Stanton's eightieth birthday reception at the Metropolitan Opera House.

The convention of 1896 was held in Rochester, November 18, 19, with more delegates present than ever before. It was preceded by a reception on the evening of the 17th, where the guests were delighted to greet Miss Anthony and her little band, who had arrived that morning from their arduous field of labor in the California amendment campaign. The welcome for the city was extended by Mayor George Warner. Many of the speakers of the previous year were present, with the addition of the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first ordained woman minister, and the noted colored woman of anti-slavery days, Harriet Tubman. The press chairman, Mrs. Elnora Monroe Babcock, reported that, instead of the 135 newspapers of the year before, 253 in the State were now using suffrage matter regularly furnished by her committee.

On the Friday night succeeding the convention a banquet was given in honor of Miss Anthony, with over 200 guests. Mrs. Mary Lewis Gannett was toastmistress and Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw made interesting addresses.

Mrs. Greenleaf, who had done such heroic work during the past six years and sustained the association on so high a plane, felt obliged to decline a re-election, and Mrs. Mariana Wright Chapman was unanimously chosen for her place. Mrs. Greenleaf was appointed fraternal delegate to the annual meeting of the State Grange, and Mrs. Howell to the State Labor Convention, and both were cordially received. The Grange had on several occasions declared for woman suffrage.

Geneva extended a welcome to the convention Nov. 3-5, 1897, and successful meetings were held in Collins Hall and the opera house. The speakers from abroad and many delegates were entertained at the handsome home of Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller, daughter of Gerrit Smith. Added to the usual list were Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, recording secretary of the National Association; the Rev. Annis Ford Eastman, Mrs. Gannett, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, and Miss M. F. Blaine, Charles Hemiup, W.[Pg 845] Smith O'Brien, the Rev. Remick and Dr. William H. Jordan of Geneva. A pleasant event of the year had been the carving of Miss Anthony's face on the stairway of the magnificent new Capitol building at Albany, by order of George W. Aldridge, State superintendent of public works.

On April 28, 29, 1898, the fortieth anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention was held in Rochester. This city also had entertained that convention which had adjourned in Seneca Falls to hold a session here. The anniversary proceedings took place afternoons and evenings in the Central Presbyterian church with a fine corps of speakers.[378]

On Nov. 8-11, 1898, the annual meeting was held in the court house at Hudson. It was welcomed by the mayor, Richard A. M. Deeley, for the city and by Mrs. Mary Holsapple for the local suffrage club. An address of greeting also was given by Judge Levi S. Longley, and the Hudson Club extended its courtesies. A letter from Mrs. Stanton was read by her daughter, Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch of England, who also made an address. Many of the strong speakers were present who have been frequently mentioned in connection with these State conventions. The treasurer reported receipts for the year $3,220.

Chautauqua County invited the convention of 1899 to Dunkirk, November 1-3, and entertained it royally. There was a reception on the first evening, and a luncheon was given every day to the delegates who wished to remain at the hall between sessions. Both day and evening meetings were large and enthusiastic, the former held at the Woman's Union, the latter in Academy Hall. Mayor Alexander Williams welcomed the convention for the city, and Mrs. Ellen Cheney for the county in a witty poem, Mrs. Chapman responding. Stirring addresses were[Pg 846] made by the Hon. F. S. Nixon and Dr. J. T. Williams. Miss Anthony was present, with many of the old speakers and several new ones, among them Mrs. Carrie E. S. Twing.

The last annual meeting of the century convened at Glens Falls, Oct. 29-Nov. 1, 1900, in Ordway Hall. Addresses of welcome were made by the Hon. Addison B. Colvin and the president of the Warren County association, Mrs. Susie M. Bain. Mrs. Chapman Catt, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Boole, president State Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Howell and Miss Harriet May Mills were among the principal speakers. A notable feature was the presence of many bright and enthusiastic young workers. Pledges of support were made for the national bazar to be held the next month in New York.

Among the resolutions adopted was one congratulating Miss Anthony upon her success in raising the last of the $50,000 fund which was to open the doors of Rochester University to women.

In addition to this long array of conventions without a break, the mid-year executive meetings in various cities have been of almost equal interest. At nearly every one of these State conventions Miss Anthony has assisted with her inspiring presence and strong words of counsel. To many of them Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, not able to come in person, has sent ringing letters of encouragement, for which the affectionate greetings of the delegates have been returned. New York has the largest membership of any State in the Union and pays the largest amount of money into the national treasury each year, not alone in auxiliary dues, but in private subscriptions.

The State association has had but three presidents in over twenty years: Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, 1879-1890; Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, 1890-1896; Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, 1896 and still serving. Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage was continuously in office from the time a State association first existed.[379][Pg 847]

With active work in progress for so many years, and with suffrage organizations in the counties and towns throughout all of this large State, it would be impossible to make personal mention of even a small fraction of those who have aided the movement. The hundreds who have furnished the money and the thousands who have served in a quiet way through all the years would require a separate chapter.[380]

It would be equally impossible to describe the efforts made from year to year, the meetings held, the memorials presented to political conventions, the debates, the parliamentary drills, the lecture courses, the millions of pages of literature distributed, the struggles to place women on the school boards, the special efforts of the standing committees on legislation, press, industries, work among children, etc. It is far more difficult to write the history of a State where so much has been done than where the tale may be quickly told. No State is better organized for suffrage work.[381] There is no doubt that a strong sentiment exists outside of New York City in favor of the enfranchisement of women. However, with the adverse influence always exerted by a great metropolis, it is impossible to foretell when this will be accomplished.

Constitutional Amendment: The history of the struggle of a comparatively few women to secure a clause for equal suffrage in the State constitution, when it was revised in 1894, told in the fewest possible words, is as follows:[382]

As early as 1887 Gov. David B. Hill, at the earnest request of the State Suffrage Association, had recommended that women should have a representation in the convention which would frame this revision. Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lillie[Pg 848] Devereux Blake, Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell and Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers addressed a joint committee of the Legislature urging that women delegates should be permitted to sit in this convention. Mrs. Blake also prepared a strong written appeal which was sent to every member. Gov. Roswell P. Flower in his message in 1892 made a similar recommendation. Again Miss Anthony, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Howell made a plea for women, this time before the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

The original bill provided for a certain number of delegates to be appointed by the Governor, among these four to represent the Prohibitionists, three the Labor Party and three the Woman Suffrage Association. The power of the Governor to appoint was afterwards declared unconstitutional. A bill allowing three women delegates passed the Assembly, but was defeated in the Senate. The act which finally was secured provided that all the delegates should be elected, and that there should be two representatives each for the Prohibition, Labor and Socialist parties. None was granted to the Suffragists; but the law said: "The electors may elect any citizen of the State above the age of twenty-one years."

The following was then sent to each of the political party conventions, through properly accredited delegates:

> Among other duties incumbent upon the members of your honorable body is that of nominating delegates-at-large to the convention called for the revision of the State constitution. As women are eligible to these positions we offer you the names of three who have been selected by the executive board of the State W. S. A. as their choice of delegates for that convention, with the hope that you will accept them as candidates of your own.

The names presented were those of Miss Anthony, Mrs. Howell and Miss Emily Howland, the last a large taxpayer and an excellent business woman. The ladies were courteously listened to by the Democrats, and refused an opportunity to speak by the Republicans. Similar efforts were made in district conventions.

MARY S. ANTHONY. |  | JEAN BROOKS GREENLEAF.
Rochester, N. Y. |  | Rochester. N. Y.
MARIANA W. CHAPMAN.
Brooklyn, N. Y.
EMILY HOWLAND. |  | ELIZA WRIGHT OSBORNE.
Sherwood, N. Y. |  | Auburn, N. Y.

Both Republicans and Democrats, however, refused to nominate any women, the compensation of $10 per day, in addition to the political power conferred, making the positions entirely too valuable to give to a disfranchised class. The name of even Susan B. Anthony was declined by the Republicans of her district.[Pg 849] The Democrats of that district, who were in a hopeless minority, made the one exception in the whole State and nominated Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, who ran some votes ahead of the rest of the ticket.

Every effort was now directed toward obtaining a clause in the new constitution, as there was little doubt that if this could be done it would be adopted with the rest of that instrument. An eloquent appeal was issued to all the friends of liberty throughout the State, urging them to assist in securing this measure of justice to women. A campaign was carefully planned with an ability which would have been creditable to experienced political managers, and $10,000 were raised and expended with the most rigid economy.[383]

To save rent headquarters were established in Miss Anthony's own home in Rochester, which soon became a beehive of industry, and the work increased until practically every room was pressed into service. The president of the State association and campaign committee, Mrs. Greenleaf, and the corresponding secretary, Miss Mary S. Anthony, gave practically every hour of their time for six months to this great effort. The postoffice daily sent mail sacks to the house, which were filled with petitions and other documents and set out on the porch for collection.

Miss Anthony herself, at the age of seventy-four, spoke in every one of the sixty counties of the State, contributing her services and expenses. This series of mass meetings was managed by Miss Harriet May Mills and Miss Mary G. Hay. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw spoke at forty of these, and Mrs. Howell at a large number. The entire management of New York City was put into the hands of Mrs. Blake, while the campaign for Brooklyn was conducted by Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt made thirty-eight speeches in these two cities and vicinity. Mrs. Stanton, from her home in New York, sent many strong articles to the metropolitan press,[Pg 850] which were copied throughout the State. Mrs. Martha R. Almy. State vice-president, was an active worker.

Women of social influence in this city, who never had shown any public interest in the question, opened headquarters at Sherry's, held meetings and secured signatures to a suffrage petition. The leaders of this branch were Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell, Mrs. Joseph H. Choate, Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, Mrs. J. Warren Goddard, Mrs. Robert Abbe, Mrs. Henry M. Sanders and Miss Adele M. Fielde. Among those who signed the petition were Chauncey M. Depew, Russell Sage, Frederick Coudert, the Rev. Heber Newton, the Rev. W. S. Rainsford, Bishop Henry C. Potter, Rabbi Gustave Gottheil, John D. Rockefeller, Robert J. Ingersoll and William Dean Howells.

One of the surprises of the campaign was the organization in Albany of a small body of women calling themselves "remonstrants," under the leadership of the Episcopal bishop, William Croswell Doane, and Mrs. John V. L. Pruyn. Another branch was organized in New York City by Mrs. Francis M. Scott, and one in Brooklyn with Mrs. Lyman Abbott at the head and the support of her husband's paper, The Outlook.

The suffrage forces circulated 5,000 petitions and secured 332,148 individual signatures, about half of them women (including 36,000 collected by the W. C. T. U.) and memorials from labor organizations and Granges, bringing the total, in round numbers, to 600,000.[384] The "remonstrants" obtained only 15,000 signatures, yet at that time and ever afterwards many of the newspapers insisted that the vast preponderance of sentiment among men and women was opposed to equal suffrage.[Pg 851]

A part of the work was to collect statistics showing the amount of property on which taxes were paid by women. It was impossible to obtain these in New York City, but in three-fifths of the towns and cities outside it was found to be $348,177,107. In Brooklyn women paid one-fourth of all the taxes. The drudgery of preparing these tax lists and recounting and labeling all the petitions was done chiefly by Miss Isabel Howland.

During the convention an office and a reception room in the Capitol were granted for the use of the women. On May 24 Miss Anthony and Mrs. Greenleaf addressed the Suffrage Committee of the Constitutional Convention in the Assembly Chamber of the Capitol at Albany. A large crowd was present, including the committee and most of the delegates. Mrs. Greenleaf's remarks were brief but forcible, and Miss Anthony spoke earnestly for three-quarters of an hour, seeming to have the full sympathy of her audience.

The women of New York City were accorded a hearing on May 31, and strong arguments were made by Dr. Jacobi, Miss Margaret Livingstone Chanler, Mrs. Blake and Miss Harriette A. Keyser. On June 7 the Suffrage Committee was addressed by representative women, in five-minute speeches, from all of the Senatorial districts outside of New York City.[385] Mrs. Greenleaf presided at all these meetings.[386]

The final hearing was accorded June 28, when U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey, who had come from Wyoming by invitation for this purpose, made a most convincing argument based on the practical experience of his own State for twenty-five years. He was followed by Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Mary T. Burt, president of the State W. C. T. U.

All of these addresses in favor of recognizing woman's right to the franchise were valueless except for the creation of public[Pg 852] sentiment and as a matter of history, for the chairman of the convention, the Hon. Joseph H. Choate, had appointed a Suffrage Committee the large majority of whom were known anti-suffragists, and he was reported to have said before the convention met that the amendment should not be placed in the constitution. The committee made an adverse report, which was discussed by the convention on the evenings of August 8 and 15, with the Assembly Chamber crowded at each session.[387] The advocates of adopting a woman suffrage plank were led by the Hon. Edward Lauterbach and the opponents by Mr. Root and William P. Goodelle, chairman of the Suffrage Committee.[388]

While the ballot was being taken Mr. Choate went on the floor among the delegates, and himself gave the last vote against the amendment. The ballot resulted—in favor of the amendment, 58; opposed, 98.

Even though a defeat, this was a decided advance over the Constitutional Convention of 1867, when there were but 19 ayes and 125 noes. Then less than one-seventh, this time more than one-third of the members were in favor of the enfranchisement of women.

The following month Miss Anthony and Mr. Lauterbach addressed the Committee on Resolutions of the State Republican Convention, and Miss Anthony and Mrs. Blake that of the Democratic, asking for a recognition of woman suffrage in their platforms, but both ignored the request.

Legislative Action: Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony were the pioneers in legislative work for woman suffrage, the former making her first speech before a committee—in behalf of property rights—as early as 1845,[Pg 853] and continuing her appeals for the various rights of women during twenty-five years, after which her addresses were given usually before the committees of the United States Congress. Miss Anthony made her first appearance in Albany in 1853, and her last one before a committee there in 1897. She devoted her strongest efforts to the Legislature of her own State until the demands of national work became so great as to absorb most of her time, and then she, too, transferred her appeals to the legislative body of the United States, although assisting always the work in New York.

Meanwhile other competent laborers had come into the field. In 1873 Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake began her legislative work, and for twenty-five years there were few bills in the interests of women under consideration at Albany which were not managed by her, with an able corps of assistants, chief among whom was Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell.

For fifty years there is an almost unbroken record of the efforts of women to secure equality of rights from the Legislature of New York, and they have succeeded to the extent that now, with the exception of the statute providing for dower and curtesy, but few serious discriminations exist against women in the laws, although the injustice of disfranchisement has been mitigated in only a slight degree.

When the Legislature assembled on Jan. 1, 1884, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Howell were at hand to further the interests of the pending bill "to prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex." On March 13 a hearing was held in the Assembly Chamber before the Judiciary Committee and a large audience. The speakers were Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert of Illinois and Mrs. Helen M. Gougar of Indiana, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers. On May 8, after an exciting debate, the bill was defeated—57 ayes, 62 noes.

The bill of 1885 was drawn by Mrs. Blake and was accompanied by a strong written argument, with many court decisions to show that it was within the power of the Legislature itself to protect all citizens from disfranchisement. This was presented by Gen. James W. Husted, speaker of the House. Two hearings[Pg 854] were given in the Assembly Chamber, at which addresses were made by Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Rogers and Gov. John W. Hoyt of Wyoming.

The bill was debated April 7. General Husted, Mayor James Haggerty and Dr. J. T. Williams spoke in favor; Gen. N. M. Curtis and Kidder Scott in opposition. The vote stood 57 ayes, 56 noes, but a constitutional majority was lacking.

During the summer Mrs. Blake spoke in almost every district whose member had voted against the measure.

In 1886 a bill for Municipal Suffrage only was presented, drawn by Augustus Levy and introduced in the Senate by George Z. Erwin, in the House by Speaker Husted. On February 10 a hearing took place in the Assembly Chamber. Mrs. Blake presided and the speakers were Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller. On March 2 the Senate gave a hearing to Mr. Levy and James Redpath. The campaign this winter was one of the most vigorous ever made. Besides the executive officers of the State association, who were in Albany some days of every week, much help was secured by the occasional visits of prominent women and the numerous letters of influential people from all parts of the State. On the night of the final vote the Assembly Chamber was filled by friends of the measure and many officials were present, including the Lieutenant-Governor and the Attorney-General. As this bill would give women only the right to vote in municipal affairs, it had many supporters who would not have favored full suffrage. The debate was long and earnest, Mr. Erwin, General Husted, Mr. Longley of Brooklyn, Mr. Freligh of Ulster and others speaking in favor, and General Curtis, William F. Sheehan and others in opposition. The roll-call was taken in great excitement, and the ayes went up until their number reached 65, the constitutional majority. A round of applause broke out, but in an instant two men arose and changed their votes from the affirmative to the negative, so that on the final call the vote stood, 63 ayes, 52 noes.

This winter another law was enacted to remove all doubts as to the constitutionality of the one of 1880, which conferred School Suffrage on women in villages and country districts.[Pg 855] Representative Charles Sprague introduced a bill making mothers and fathers joint guardians of their children, but it was defeated.

In 1887 Mrs. Howell drew up the Municipal Suffrage Bill, which was introduced by Senator Erwin. She spent ten days personally interviewing every senator until she had the promise of the twenty votes which were given the bill on its final passage, seventeen being necessary. There were but nine noes.

After the clerk had read the bill in the Assembly, Speaker Husted said: "If there is no objection this bill will go at once to the third reading." Wm. F. Sheehan, the leading opponent of woman suffrage, was asleep at the time and so it was thus ordered. Mrs. Howell continued her efforts, but the measure was defeated—48 ayes, 68 noes—by a moneyed influence from New York City, after nearly enough votes to carry it had been promised.

A bill providing police matrons in cities, with the exception of New York and Brooklyn, was secured from this Legislature. It had been passed in 1882, but not signed by Gov. Alonzo B. Cornell; passed again in the Assembly in 1883, but defeated in the Senate by the Police Department of New York City. The bill was finally secured by the Woman's Prison Association, but it was not made mandatory and no attention was paid to it by the city authorities.

A bill was presented this year to relieve women from the death penalty, on the ground that since they had not the full privileges of men they should not suffer equal punishment. The measure was ably supported, but failed to pass.

In 1888 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was presented in the Senate by Charles Coggeshall, and in the Assembly by Danforth E. Ainsworth. A hearing in the Senate Chamber on February 15 was addressed by Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Rogers and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer of Rhode Island. The bill was lost in the Senate by a tie vote, 15 ayes, 15 noes; in the House by 48 ayes, 61 noes.

Laws were enacted at this session providing that there shall be women physicians in all State insane asylums where women are patients; and also that there shall be at least one woman trustee in all public institutions where women are placed as patients, paupers or criminals.

In 1889 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was again presented in[Pg 856] the Assembly by Mr. Ainsworth, but it was lost by 56 ayes, 43 noes, not a constitutional majority.

In 1890 the Municipal Suffrage Bill was presented by Speaker Husted, but was defeated by 47 ayes, 52 noes.

In 1891 no legislative work was attempted beyond the efforts toward securing a representation of women in the Constitutional Convention, which it was supposed would be held at an early date.

In 1892 an act was passed to enable women to vote for County School Commissioners, which received the signature of Gov. Roswell P. Flower.

This year a Police Matron Bill was obtained which was made mandatory in cities of 100,000 and over. This bill had been passed several times before and vetoed, but it finally obtained the Governor's signature. Even then the Police Commissioners of New York refused to appoint matrons until the matter was taken up by the Woman Suffrage League of that city. This was the end of a ten years' struggle on the part of women to secure police matrons in all cities. Most active among the leaders were Mrs. Mary T. Burt, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons and Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell, backed by the W. C. T. U., the Prison Reform, the Suffrage and various other philanthropic and religious societies.

In 1892 Hamilton Willcox, who had worked untiringly in the Legislature for many years, had a bill introduced in the Assembly to give a vote to self-supporting women. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee, but met with general disfavor. Mrs. Howell being in the Assembly Chamber with friends one evening, three of its members invited her to go to their committee room and draw up a bill for Full Suffrage, telling her they would report it favorably in place of the Working Woman's Bill. This she did and the new bill was at once reported. The next week she gave every moment to working with the members for it, aided by General Husted, Mr. Willcox and William Sulzer. On Friday morning, one week from the day the bill was reported, it came to the final vote and passed by 70 ayes, only 65 being required for the constitutional majority. Excitement ran high at this success and ten minutes were given for congratulations to Mrs. Howell by friends and foes alike. The Monday following[Pg 857] she carried the bill from the Engrossing Committee to the Senate. Only three days of the session were left and the committee held no more meetings, so she saw separately each member of the Judiciary Committee and all gave a vote in favor of considering the bill. Mr. Sheehan was now Lieutenant-Governor and presiding officer of the Senate and would allow no courtesies to Mrs. Howell, but one senator, Charles E. Walker, arranged for her to see every member, and she secured the promise of 18 votes, 17 being required. On Thursday evening, although Senator Cornelius R. Parsons made many attempts to secure recognition, the bill was not allowed to come before the Senate. There was every reason to believe Governor Flower would have signed it.[389]

In 1893 Mrs. Cornelia H. Cary worked for a bill providing that on all boards of education one person out of five should be a woman, but it failed to pass. The measure making fathers and mothers joint guardians of their children, so often urged, became a law this year chiefly through the efforts of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Buffalo, which had been hampered constantly in its efforts to care for helpless children by the interference of worthless fathers.[390]

A law also was enacted, championed by Col. George C. Webster, giving to a married woman the right to make a valid will without her husband's consent.

The season of 1894 was given wholly to the work of securing a woman suffrage amendment in the revised State constitution.

In 1895 Mrs. Martha R. Almy, as chairman of the Legislative Committee, began work in Albany early in January and was absent but one legislative day from that time until May. She was[Pg 858] assisted by Mrs. Helen G. Ecob, and their effort was to secure a resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male." In order to submit such an amendment in New York, a resolution must be passed by two successive Legislatures.

Judge Charles Z. Lincoln, the legal adviser of Gov. Levi P. Morton, drew up the resolution and it was introduced January 22 in the Assembly by Fred S. Nixon, and in the Senate by Cuthbert W. Pound. It was favorably reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee early in the session. The chairman of the Assembly Committee, Aaron B. Gardenier, was very hostile, and after every effort to get a report had been exhausted, Mr. Nixon and Mrs. Almy made a personal appeal to the committee and were successful. On March 14 six men brought in the mammoth petition for woman suffrage which had been presented to the Constitutional Convention the previous year. The resolution was passed by 80 ayes, 31 noes. This was a remarkable action for the first Legislature after the great defeat in the Constitutional Convention only a few months before.

When the measure came to the Senate it was moved by Senator Pound to substitute Mr. Nixon's resolution for his own, as they were identical. But Amasa J. Parker[391] objected in order to make it run the gauntlet of the Senate Committee again, and this gave the anti-suffragists an opportunity to oppose it. He then asked for a hearing for Bishop William Croswell Doane and others before the State Judiciary Committee, of which he was a member, which Chairman Edmond O'Connor granted. The committee met but once a week, and twice the hearing was postponed to accommodate the opposition. The second time, as no one appeared against the resolution, it was again reported favorably. Just after this had been done Mr. Parker appeared and objected, and the chairman agreed to recall it and give the opposition one more chance. On April 10, the time appointed for the hearing, Bishop Doane sent a letter declining the honor of appearing, but a delegation from New York City came up, and Mrs. Francis M. Scott and Prof. Monroe Smith of Columbia University addressed the committee opposing the measure.[Pg 859] Mrs. Almy and Mrs. Mary H. Hunt replied in its behalf. For the third time the resolution was reported favorably by the Senate Committee, and April 18 the vote was taken. Senators Pound, Coggeshall and Bradley spoke in favor, and Jacob H. Cantor in opposition. It was carried by 20 ayes, 5 noes.

When the resolution went to the Revision Committee it was found that in one section there was a period where there should have been a comma. Mrs. Almy was obliged to remain two weeks and get an amendment through both Houses to correct this error. Finally the resolution was declared perfect, and was ordered published throughout the State, etc. Then it was discovered that the word "resident" was used instead of "citizen," and the entire work of the winter was void. As it is not required that copies of original bills shall be preserved, the responsibility for the mistake never can be located.

The Senate of 1896, by a change in the term of office, was to sit three years instead of two; and a concurrent resolution, in order to pass two successive Legislatures, would have to be deferred still another year, so no work was attempted.

On Jan. 4, 1897, when the Legislature assembled, every member found on his desk a personally addressed letter appealing for the right of women citizens to representation, signed by all the officers of the State Suffrage Association and by the presidents of all the local societies. The resolution asking for a suffrage amendment was introduced in the Senate by Joseph Mullen, in the Assembly by W. W. Armstrong, and was referred to the Judiciary Committees. Repeated interviews by Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, chairman of the legislative committee, and other members were not sufficient to secure a favorable vote even from the committees, as they were frightened by the action of the preceding Legislature.

The New York Society Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women was at work on the spot, and every legislator received a letter urging him not to consider any kind of a bill for woman suffrage. Finally a hearing was appointed by the Senate Committee for March 24. In the midst of a snowstorm, all the way from Rochester came the National president, Miss Anthony; from New York City, the State president, Mrs. Chapman;[Pg 860] the chairman of the national organization committee, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt; Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and Miss Elizabeth Burrill Curtis; from Syracuse, Miss Harriet May Mills; and in Albany already were Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Almy, Mrs. Julia D. Sheppard and a number of local suffragists. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mills addressed the committee. As the delegation withdrew one senator said to another: "I do not know what is to become of us men when such women as these come up to the Legislature." Nevertheless the resolution was not reported by the committee.

Under the auspices of a Civic Union of all the boroughs of the proposed "Greater New York," an active campaign was carried on during this winter to secure various advantages for women under the new charter, but it met with no especial success.

In 1898 Mrs. Mary Hilliard Loines was chairman of the legislative committee, and Mrs. Florence Dangerfield Potter, a graduate of Cornell and of the New York University Law School, acted as attorney. The Suffrage Amendment Resolution was introduced the first week of the session by Representative Otto Kelsey, a steadfast friend of woman suffrage. The usual number of letters was sent throughout the State to secure co-operation and a hearing was given March 2 in the Assembly library. The speakers introduced by Mrs. Loines were Mrs. Chapman, Miss Mills, Mrs. Craigie, Miss Margaret Livingstone Chanler and Mrs. Martha A. B. Conine, a member of the Colorado Legislature. The Rev. William Brundage of Albany spoke forcibly in favor of the amendment. No opponents were present. Although the chairman and some members of the committee were in favor, it was learned that the majority were opposed, so a vote was not pressed. The Senate committee being the same as the previous year, it was thought not worth while to introduce the resolution into that body.

In 1899 the legislative work differed from that of the years directly preceding, the executive committee having decided that it might be wiser to ask for some form of suffrage which the Legislature itself could grant without submitting the question to the voters. The following bills were authorized:

[Pg 861]

> 1: To make it obligatory to appoint at least one woman on school boards in those cities, about forty-six in all, where the office is appointive.

> 2: To amend the village law, making it obligatory that in all charters where a special vote of tax-payers is required on municipal improvements or the raising or distribution of taxes, women properly qualified shall vote on the same basis as men.

A great many letters had been sent to Gov. Theodore Roosevelt, then newly elected, asking him to recognize the rights of women in his inaugural address, which he did by calling the attention of the Legislature to "the desirability of gradually extending the sphere in which the suffrage can be exercised by women." These two bills, therefore, were sent to him for approval and he appointed an interview at Albany with a committee from the State association. Mrs. Loines, Mrs. Blake, Miss Mills, Miss Mary Lyman Storrs and Mrs. Nellie F. Matheson went with the State president to this interview, and the Governor cordially indorsed the bills.

Letters were sent to the legislators and also to the presidents of the county suffrage societies, asking them to influence their representatives. The bill for the Taxpayers' Suffrage was introduced into the Assembly by Mr. Kelsey. That good work was done was evident by the vote—98 ayes, 9 noes.

But the battle was with the Senate, where the bill was introduced by W. W. Armstrong. On February 22 a hearing was given in the Senate Chamber before the Judiciary Committee. Suffragists and opponents were there in force. The latter were represented by Mesdames Arthur M. Dodge, W. Winslow Crannell and Rossiter Johnson. The State president introduced the suffrage speakers, Miss Chanler, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, the last being qualified from residence to testify to the good effect of this kind of suffrage in England. Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller, Miss Anne Fitzhugh Miller and others were present. Owing largely to the influence of Elon R. Brown the committee brought in an adverse report.[392] Senator Armstrong moved to disagree and the vote, thus called for, in the Senate stood 21 ayes, 24 noes—a vote on the report, not on the bill, but it put the Senate on record.[Pg 862]

The Bill for Women on Appointed Boards of Education, which had been changed under protest of the suffragists to "one-third of the members of the board" from "at least one woman," was voted on April 19. In the Assembly it received 59 ayes, 23 noes; but 76 was the constitutional majority, so Senate action was useless. It was bitterly opposed by many prominent school officers.

In 1900 the Legislature made a glaring exhibition of the position in which a non-voting class can be placed. Early in the session a resolution was offered on the motion of Senator Thomas F. Grady of New York City, "that it is not expedient or advisable to attempt at this session any changes in the constitution in regard to woman suffrage." It passed by 26 ayes, 17 noes. Let it be said, for the honor of the State, that there were senators who protested indignantly against such trampling upon the rights of the people. Several who voted in favor of this resolution afterwards voted for the suffrage bill.

The Bill for Woman Suffrage on Tax Questions was introduced the very next day by Senator Armstrong. Soon afterward it was presented in the Assembly by Mr. Kelsey. On March 22 it passed with only two negative votes—John Hill Morgan of Brooklyn and James B. McEwan of Albany. When this bill came to the Senate there were so many before it that April 4 its friends moved to take it up out of order by suspension of rules. Senators Armstrong, Coggeshall and Lester H. Humphrey spoke in favor, Senator Grady against. The vote in favor was 23 ayes, 19 noes (nine of these from New York City), but twenty-six votes were necessary to suspend. The situation, however, was more encouraging than the year before. The legislative committee of the State W. S. A. this year consisted of Mesdames Loines, Blake, Matheson, Priscilla D. Hackstaff and Ella Hawley Crossett.

In 1901 the committee was composed of Mesdames Loines, Hackstaff, Craigie, Jean Brooks Greenleaf and Lucy P. Allen. All efforts were centered on the bill to give taxpaying women the right to vote on questions of taxation. A conference with Governor Odell showed his friendliness to the bill and disclosed the fact that he had used his influence to amend the charter of his own city of Newburg to give this privilege to women.[Pg 863]

Speaker Nixon, in his opening address, referred to the bill as a measure of justice which he hoped would be introduced every year until it became a law. Mr. Kelsey for the third time constituted himself its champion, and worked earnestly for its success. Letters poured in from all parts of the State, the W. C. T. U. co-operated cordially, and hearings were granted by House and Senate committees. The bill passed the Assembly February 26 by 83 ayes, 29 noes. Of the latter 18 were from New York City. Of the 38 absent or not voting 22 were from that city.

In the Senate the bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee as usual. On March 20 a hearing before this committee was arranged for those in favor and opposed. It was conducted by Mrs. Loines for the suffragists, who were represented by Mrs. Chapman, Miss Chanler, a large taxpayer in Dutchess County, and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell of Boston, but a taxpayer in New York. Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge was at the head of the eighteen women who came from the anti-suffrage society to protest against taxpaying women being granted a representation on questions of taxation. The other speakers were Mrs. Rossiter Johnson of New York City, Mrs. Crannell of Albany, and Mrs. William Putnam of Groton who read a paper written by Mrs. Charles Wetmore. The first took the ground that the bill was unconstitutional. The second protested against the attempt "to force widows, spinsters and married women to vote against their will." The third begged the members of the Senate Committee "not to be hoodwinked into believing this was not a suffrage measure," and assured them that "many of the members had pledged themselves to vote for it without recognizing that it was a suffrage bill." She also said: "For the last fifty years, while the suffragists have been wasting their strength in the effort to get the ballot, we, and women like us, have been quietly going ahead and gaining for women the rights they now enjoy in regard to education, property and the professions. The suffragists had nothing to do with it."

The friends of the bill in the Senate tried in vain to obtain a report from the Judiciary Committee, the chairman, Edgar Truman Brackett, being opposed to the bill. Finally, on April 11, Senator Humphrey moved "to discharge the committee from[Pg 864] further consideration," which was carried by 22 ayes, 20 noes. On April 19 it was brought to a vote and passed by 27 ayes, 14 noes, 8 of the latter from New York City. Mr. Grady was absent.

The bill was signed by Gov. Benjamin F. Odell, April 24, 1901. It was generally understood that U. S. Senator Thomas C. Platt was in favor of the measure. Judge Charles Z. Lincoln, chairman of the Statutory Revision Committee, gave most valuable assistance.

The effect of this bill was far greater than had been anticipated, because of the importance of New York as a State. Before six months had passed women in considerable numbers had voted in a dozen different places. Although it applied only to towns and villages, these numbered about 1,800. What was of more importance, the principle had been recognized. There was scarcely a newspaper in the United States that did not contain an editorial upon the subject, which in the vast majority of cases declared the law to be just.

Laws: Dower and curtesy obtain. If the husband die without a will the widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate and, after the payment of the debts, to one-third of the personal estate absolutely. If there are no children she may have one-half of the latter—stocks, cash, furniture, pictures, silver, clothing, etc.—and the other half goes to the husband's relatives, even down to nephews and nieces. The widow may, however, have the whole if it does not exceed $2,000. If it exceed that amount, $2,000 may be added to her half. If there are no relatives of the husband she may have all the personal property. If there has been a living child the widower has a life interest in all the wife's estate. If there have been no children he takes all the personal property absolutely, and her real estate goes to her next of kin. If there is a child living he has one-third of the personal property absolutely.

The husband is liable for the wife's debts before marriage to the extent of any property acquired from her by ante-nuptial agreement. She holds her separate property, however acquired, free from any control of the husband and from all liability for his debts. She can live on her own real estate, and forbid her husband entering upon it.[Pg 865]

Either husband or wife can make a will without the knowledge or consent of the other, the latter disposing of all her separate property, the former of all but the wife's life interest in one-third of the real estate. The law provides, however, that no person having husband, wife, child or parent can bequeath over one-half of his property, after payment of debts, to any institution, association or corporation.

The wife can mortgage or convey her real and personal estate without the husband's signature. He may do this with his personal property but not with his real estate.

A married woman may carry on any trade or business and perform any labor or services on her own account, and her earnings are her sole and separate property. She may sue and be sued as if unmarried, and may maintain an action in her own name and the proceeds of such action will be her separate property.[393]

She may contract as if unmarried and she and her separate estate are liable. A woman engaged in business can not be arrested for a debt fraudulently contracted. All women enjoy certain exemptions from the sale of their property under execution which in the case of men are granted only to householders—that is, a man who provides for a family.

The husband's creditors have no claim to a life insurance unless the annual premiums have exceeded $500; and it is also exempt from execution for the wife's debts.

Common Law marriages are legal, requiring neither license nor ceremony, and 14 years is the legal age for the girl.[394][Pg 866]

Absolute divorce is granted only for adultery. In case of either absolute or limited divorce the husband may be required to pay alimony to the wife during her life, even if she should marry again.

Every married woman is joint guardian of her children with her husband, having equal powers, rights and duties in regard to them, and on the death of either parent the survivor continues guardian. (1893.)

A husband is required to support his wife commensurately with his means and her station in the community, without regard to the extent of her individual property. If he fail to do this or if he abandon his family he may be arrested and compelled to give security that he will provide for them and will indemnify the town, city or county against their becoming a charge upon the public within one year. Failing, he may be sent to prison or penitentiary for not less than six months' hard labor, or until he gives such bond, but none of this is obligatory on the court.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years, and it was made optional with the court to impose less than the existing penalty of ten years' imprisonment. A few years afterward it was proposed to reduce the age to 12 years. Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, in behalf of the W. C. T. U., went before the Judiciary Committee and said: "I represent 21,000 women and any man who dares to vote for this measure will be marked and held up to scorn. We are terribly in earnest." The matter was dropped. In 1895 the age was raised from 16 to 18, with a penalty for first degree of not more than twenty years' imprisonment; for second degree, not more than ten. No minimum penalty is named. Trials may be held privately, and it is the testimony of the various protective associations of women that it is almost impossible to secure convictions.

The laws contain many provisions for the benefit of female employes; among them one that if any employer in New York City fail to pay wages due up to $50, none of his property is exempt from execution and he may be imprisoned without bail.

Suffrage: In 1880 a law was enacted by the Legislature declaring that "no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve as[Pg 867] any school officer, or to vote at any school meeting, by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications now required by law."

It was the undoubted intention to give School Suffrage to all women by this law, but at once Attorney-General Hamilton Ward rendered a decision that it did not apply to cities but only to places where separate "school meetings" were held, mainly country districts and villages.

In 1881 another attempt was made by the Legislature to confer School Suffrage on all women by striking out the word "male" in an old statute of 1864, but as it failed to amend the very portion of the law which referred to School Commissioners, this left the condition unchanged.

In 1886 the Legislature tried it again by enlarging the qualifications of voters, but as the words "school district" were used it did not succeed in giving the suffrage to any women except those who already possessed it.

In 1892 the Legislature once more came boldly to the rescue, and undertook to enact that women should have a vote for District School Commissioners, which would bring under its provisions all the women of the State. The Act read: "All persons without regard to sex, who are eligible to the office of School Commissioner, and have the other qualifications required by law, shall have the right to vote for School Commissioner."

As the Act of 1880 had said specifically that "no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve as any school officer by reason of sex," this seemed to settle the question. The Act further provided that "All persons so entitled to vote for School Commissioner shall be registered as provided by law for those who vote for county officers, and whenever School Commissioners are to be elected it shall be the duty of the county clerk to prepare a ballot to be used exclusively by those who, by reason of sex, can vote only for School Commissioner."

This Act went into effect in April, 1893, and in the autumn Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage registered in Manlius, Onondaga County. Immediately the board of inspectors were requested to remove her name from the registry. They refused and application was made to the Supreme Court to strike off her name, on the sole contention that she was not a lawful voter on account of[Pg 868] her sex. The application was granted on the ground that the Act conferring upon women the right to vote for School Commissioner was unconstitutional. The inspectors obeyed the order. Mrs. Gage appealed to the General Term, where the order was affirmed, and then she carried her case to the Court of Appeals. The decision here was in brief that a School Commissioner is a county officer, and that by the State constitution only male citizens may vote for such officers. The decision closed by saying: "A Constitutional Convention may take away the barrier which excludes the claimed right of the appellant, but until that is done we must enforce the law as it stands."[395]

Thus after twenty years of time, four acts of the Legislature and three decisions of the highest courts, the School Suffrage for women is still confined exclusively to those of the villages and country districts. The law condensed reads as follows:

> Every person of full age residing in any school district, etc., who owns or hires real property in such district liable to taxation for school purposes; and every such resident who is the parent of a child who shall have attended the school in said district for a period of at least eight weeks within one year preceding such school meeting; and every such person, not being the parent, who shall have permanently residing with him or her a child of school age, etc.; and every such resident and citizen as aforesaid, who owns any personal property, assessed on the last preceding assessment-roll of the town, exceeding $50 in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execution, and no other, shall be entitled to vote at any school meeting held in such district, for all school district officers and upon all matters which may be brought before said meeting. No person shall be deemed ineligible to vote at any such school district meeting, by reason of sex, who has one or more of the other qualifications required by this section.[396]

[Pg 869]

This was the only suffrage granted to women until 1901, when the following was enacted by the Legislature:

> A woman who possesses the qualifications to vote for village or town officers, except the qualification of sex, and who is the owner of property in the town or village assessed upon the last preceding assessment-roll thereof, is entitled to vote upon a proposition to raise money by tax or assessment.

This law is believed to include about 1,800 places. The bill for it was managed by a committee of the State Suffrage Association in three successive Legislatures.

By the city charters of eleven of the thirty-six third-class cities—Amsterdam, Cohoes, Corning, Geneva, Ithaca, Jamestown, Newburg, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, Oswego and Watertown, taxpaying women have a vote on special appropriations. Hornellsville also conferred this privilege but it was declared illegal by the corporation council, because the word "resident" was used instead of "citizen."

Office Holding: By a statute of 1880 women are eligible for any school office. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction is elected by the Legislature. Instead of county superintendents, as in most States, New York has District Commissioners. A district may comprise either a part or the whole of a county, but no city may form any part of it. At present ten women are serving as District Commissioners. A considerable number sit on the school boards of cities and villages but no exact record is kept. In Greater New York thirty women serve as school inspectors; there are also four supervisors in the departments of sewing, cooking, kitchen-garden and physical culture, at salaries ranging from $2,000 to $2,500.

The same law which enables women to serve as District School Commissioners makes them eligible to all district offices, including those of trustee, collector, treasurer and librarian, as the law in prescribing qualification, omits the word "male."[397]

Women also are eligible to the office of village clerk. They serve as notaries public, clerks of the Surrogate Court and deputy[Pg 870] tax collectors. Miss Christine Ross of New York City is a certified public accountant and auditor.

Most cities have police matrons. Sixty fill this position in Greater New York at a salary of $1,000 per annum.

Women are employed as city physicians in several places. The law requires one woman physician in each State hospital for the insane and eleven are at present employed, leaving only the State Homeopathic Hospital at Gowanda[398] and the Manhattan Hospital on Long Island without one.

One woman trustee is required on the board of every State institution where women are placed as patients, paupers or criminals, but this is not strictly obeyed. A list of the boards of eleven hospitals shows twelve women and sixty-five men, but four have no women members. Two women are on the board of Craig Colony of Epileptics; three on that of the Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded.

The following are serving as State officials: On State Board of Charities of twelve commissioners, one woman, with thirteen employed in different departments at from $480 to $1,400 per annum; State Superintendent Woman's Relief Corps, at $1,500; two State hospital accountants at $1,400, three at $700; principal of House of Refuge for Women at Hudson, $1,200; superintendent Western House of Refuge, $1,200; five in Commission of Lunacy Department, $700 to $1,400; fourteen in the State Library, $50 to $175 per month; seven in Administrative Department of the Board of Regents of the University of New York, and thirteen in the College and High School Departments (not teachers), $720 to $1,200 per annum; ten in Home Education Department, $50 to $150 per month; in the Department of Public Instruction, five confidential clerks at from $900 to $2,000; in Bureau of Examinations seven women at $900 (men in same positions receive $1,800); in State Museum one woman at $600; in Training Class Bureau two women clerks at $900; three women in office of Secretary of State at $900; one index clerk in Bureau of Charitable Institutions at $1,050; one in State Comptroller's office at $1,050; one examiner for Civil Service Commission at $900 (men receive $1,400 for same work), and three[Pg 871] stenographers at $600 to $900; two State's prison stenographers at $1,000; a Bertillon indexer, $1,200; one clerk for Commission of Labor, $1,200; one for Free Employment Bureau, $900; under Superintendent of Insurance, five women, $1,200 to $1,400; in office of State Architect three, $626 to $900; in Bureau of Records two clerks, $1,200; thirteen women are Factory Inspectors or employes in that department, $600 to $1,500; twelve in the service of Commissioner of Excise, $720 to $1,080.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. Several are presidents of banks, a number are brokers, many are directors of corporations and there are women managers of countless enterprises.

Education: The two great universities, Cornell at Ithaca and Columbia in New York City, admit women to all departments and grant them the full degrees. In Cornell they recite in the same classes with the men students, and have the additional advantage of a residential hall on the campus. There are no women on the faculty. Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, has been a member of the board of trustees for several years. The women undergraduates of Columbia have class-rooms and residence in Barnard, an independent corporation but an affiliated college, its dean having the same relation to Columbia as the heads of all the other colleges. The faculty is composed partly of the regular Columbia staff and partly of special professors, among whom are a number of women. The seniors attend certain courses in philosophy and science in the regular university classes, and all of these are open to post graduates. The University of New York, situated in and near the city, is co-educational in its post-graduate courses and in its Departments of Law, Pedagogy and Commerce. Its Law Department is celebrated for the prominent women it has graduated. Pratt Institute of Brooklyn is open to both sexes alike.

The Universities of Syracuse and Rochester are co-educational. The latter was opened in 1900 through the efforts of the women of the city in raising a fund of $50,000. The project would have failed, however, had it not been for the assistance of Miss Anthony. On the morning of the day when the limit would expire which had been fixed by the trustees for the raising of this sum,[Pg 872] $8,000 were still lacking. Every possible source had been exhausted and in despair the women appealed to Miss Anthony, who already had collected and turned over a considerable amount. She set out with the wonderful determination which always has characterized her, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon she went before the board of trustees with the full quota in checks and pledges, making herself responsible for the last $2,500.

Union Theological Seminary of New York City (Presbyterian) is one of the very few orthodox institutions of this kind which admit women.

The State is distinguished by having in Vassar the first of the great colleges for women which offer a course of study approximating that of the best universities. It was founded in 1861. Over 700 students are in attendance.

Besides seven large co-educational institutions there are eight or ten smaller ones for boys alone and several for girls alone.

In the public schools there are 5,405 men and 28,587 women teachers; in New York City 1,263 men and 10,949 women. The average annual salary for teachers in the cities outside of New York is $597; in that city, which employs one-third of the whole number, $1,035. The average annual salary in the commissioner districts is $322.49. There are women in Greater New York receiving $2,500; there are hundreds in the State receiving one-tenth of that sum. So far as it has been possible to secure an estimate there is fully as much discrepancy between men's and women's salaries for the same work as in other States.

The women of Greater New York take a prominent part in political campaigns. There are seven or eight Women's Republican Clubs, a Health Protective Association and a Woman's Municipal League which were active in 1897 when Seth Low, president of Columbia College, was candidate for mayor on the Reform ticket.[399] There is also a flourishing Ladies' Democratic Club.[Pg 873]

A unique observance is the annual Pilgrim Mothers' Dinner at the renowned Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. This was instituted in December, 1892, by the New York City Suffrage League, Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, president, in memory of those noble women, who are apt to be overlooked at the celebrations in honor of the Pilgrim Fathers.

New York divides with Massachusetts the honor of forming the first Woman's Club—Sorosis, in 1868—and it continues foremost among the States in the size and influence of its organizations of women. Over 200, part of them suffrage societies, belong to the Federation of Clubs, and these represent only a portion of the whole number. There are eighty auxiliaries to the State Suffrage Association.

### FOOTNOTES:

[376] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Mrs. Mariana Wright Chapman of Brooklyn, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf of Rochester, and Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, the presidents of the State Woman Suffrage Association during the past twenty years.

[377] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.

[378] Those making addresses were Miss Anthony, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Chapman Catt, Mrs. Gannett, Mrs. Searing, Rabbi Max Landsberg, the Hon. Charles S. Baker, the Hon. John Van Voorhis, the Rev. H. Clay Peeples, the Rev. Ward Platt, the Rev. H. H. Stebbins, the Rev. J. W. A. Stewart and Prof. S. A. Lattimore, acting president of the Rochester University.

Addresses of welcome: Miss Mary S. Anthony for the City Political Equality Club, the Rev. W. C. Gannett for the church that welcomed the first convention, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf for the State association.

The committee of arrangements were Mesdames S. A. West, Amy E. T. Searing, J. G. Maurer, S. C. Blackall, Florence D. Alexander, Mary L. Gannett, D. L. Kittredge, Emma B. Sweet, A. B. Taylor, D. L. Johnson, F. B. Van Hoesen; Misses Jessie Post, Frances Alexander; Messrs. C. G. Alexander and Joseph Bloss.

[379] The others who have held office since 1883 are as follows: Mary S. Anthony, Martha R. Almy, Elnora Monroe Babcock, Henrietta M. Banker, Ella Hawley Crossett, Hannah B. Clark, Elizabeth Burrell Curtis, Everline R. Clark, Charlotte F. Daley, Margaret H. Esselstyne, Mrs. Hannah L. Howland, Emily Howland, Isabel Howland, Cornelia K. Hood, Maude S. Humphrey, Mary Seymour Howell, Priscilla Dudley Hackstaff, Ada M. Hall, Martha H. Henderson, Helen M. Loder, Anne F. Miller, Jennie McAdams, Harriet May Mills, Clara Neymann, Eliza Wright Osborne, Mary J. Pearson, Helen C. Peckham, Mary Thayer Sanford, Kate Stoneman, Kate S. Thompson, Emily S. Van Biele, Emilie J. Wakeman.

[380] Aside from those elsewhere mentioned, the names which seem to occur most often in looking over the records are those of Dr. Sarah L. Cushing, Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, Zobedia Alleman, Abigail A. Allen, Kornelia T. Andrews, Amanda Alley, Mary E. Bagg, Charlotte A. Cleveland, Ida K. Church, Susan Dixwell, Eliza B. Gifford, Esther Herman, Ella S. Hammond, Mary Bush Hitchcock, Belle S. Holden, Mary H. Hallowell, Emeline Hicks, Mary N. Hubbard, Marie R. Jenney, Rhody J. Kenyon, Lucy S. Pierce, Harriet M. Rathbun, Martha J. H. Stebbins, Julia D. Sheppard, Chloe A. Sisson, Delia C. Taylor.

[381] Much of the credit for the excellent organization is due to Miss Harriet May Mills, State organizer, daughter of C. D. B. Mills of anti-slavery record. Miss Mills is a graduate of Cornell University, and is devoting her youth and education entirely to the cause of woman suffrage.

[382] The story of this canvass, the largest and most systematic which ever has been made for such a purpose, is given in full in "Record of the New York Campaign of 1894," a pamphlet of 250 pages, issued by the State association in 1895, and placed in many libraries throughout the country. It is given also, with many personal touches, in the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Chap. XLII.

[383] From treasurer's report: Emily Howland generously contributed $1,200. That staunch friend, Sarah L. Willis of Rochester gave $720. Abby L. Pettengill of Chautauqua County, $220. Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Greenleaf of Rochester, $200. General C. T. Christiansen of Brooklyn began the contributions of $100, of which there were eight others from our own State—Semantha V. Lapham, Ebenezer Butterick, Mrs. H. S. Holden, Marian Skidmore, Hannah L. Howland, Cornelia H. Cary, Mr. and Mrs. James Sargent; Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Ohio.

[384] One who was a witness gives this description:

"There were no more dramatic scenes during the convention than those afforded by the presenting of the petitions. The names were enrolled on pages of uniform size and arranged in volumes, each labeled and tied with a wide yellow ribbon and bearing the card of the member who was to present it. At the opening of the sessions, when memorials were called for, he would rise and say: 'Mr. President, I have the honor to present a memorial from Mary Smith and 17,117 others (for example), residents of —— county, asking that the word 'male' be stricken from the Constitution.' Often one after another would present a bundle of petitions until it would seem as though the entire morning would be thus consumed. They were all taken by pages and heaped up on the secretary's table, where they made an imposing appearance. Later they were stacked on shelves in a large committee room.

"Mrs. Burt, the president of the W. C. T. U., brought in the petitions of her society all at once, many great rolls of paper tied with white ribbon. A colored porter took them down the aisle on a wheelbarrow."

[385] Mesdames Cornelia K. Hood, Cornelia H. Cary, Mariana W. Chapman, Mary E. Craigie, Cora Sebury, Martha R. Almy, A. E. P. Searing, Elinor Ecob Morse, Marcia C. Powell, Helen G. Ecob, Susie M. Bain, Carrie E. S. Twing, Clara Neymann, Selina S. Merchant, Henrietta M. Banker, Maude S. Humphrey, Mary Lewis Gannett; Dr. Sarah H. Morris; Misses Arria S. Huntington, Emily Howland, Elizabeth Burrill Curtis.

[386] A hearing, on June 14, was given to the "Antis," as the press dubbed the remonstrants. Their petition against being allowed the suffrage was presented by the Hon. Elihu Root, and the speeches were made by Francis M. Scott, the Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, the Hon. Matthew Hale and J. Newton Fiero. Letters were read from the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt and Austin Abbott.

[387] Among the earnest advocates of the suffrage article were Judges Titus and Blake of New York, Judge Towns of Brooklyn, Judge Moore of Plattsburg, Messrs. Lincoln, Church and McKinstry of Chautauqua, Maybee of Sullivan, Cornwall of Yates, Powell of Kings, Cassidy of Schuyler, Kerwin of Albany, Phipps of Queens, Fraser of Washington, Arnold of Dutchess, Bigelow and Campbell of New York, Roche of Troy.

Speeches in opposition were made by Messrs. McClure, Goeller and Platzek of New York, Fuller of Chenango, Griswold of Greene, Mereness of Lewis, Sullivan of Erie, Lester of Saratoga, Hirshberg of Newburg, Kellogg of Oneonta, Mantanye of Cortland, Cookinham of Utica.

[388] Members of committee in favor of woman suffrage clause: Edward Lauterbach, Mirabeau Lamar Towns, Vasco P. Abbott, John Bigelow, Gideon J. Tucker. Opposed: William P. Goodelle, Henry J. Cookinham, John F. Parkhurst, Henry W. Hill, D. Gerry Wellington, John W. O'Brien, Henry W. Wiggins, Thomas G. Alvord, David McClure, De Lancy Nicoll, John A. Deady, William H. Cochran.

[389] In the work for other bills Mrs. Howell was assisted by Miss Kate Stoneman, New York's first woman lawyer, Mrs. Sarah A. Le Boeuf, Mrs. Joan Cole and Miss Winnie, all of Albany. George Rogers Howell, assistant and also State librarian, aided his wife in every way. As a State officer for many years he had strong influence and it always was used for woman's political freedom. During these years Mrs. Howell, as president of the Albany Political Equality Club, conducted many public meetings in the Senate Chamber of the historic old Capitol building until it was torn down. Legislators and State officers came each Tuesday night to hear the suffrage speeches.

[390] In 1860, after ten years of persistent effort by Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and other pioneer workers, who had gathered up thousands of petitions and besieged the Legislature, session after session, a law was secured giving father and mother joint guardianship. In 1862, so quietly that the women were not aware of it, the Legislature repealed this law and again vested the guardianship solely in the father. Although repeated efforts were afterwards made to have the mother's right restored, this was not done for thirty years.

[391] Senator Parker is a brother of Mrs. J. V. L. Pruyn, who organized the first anti-suffrage society in the State, at Albany.

[392] In Senator Brown's own city of Watertown, over 50 per cent. of the women had just voted to bond the city for a new High School, the press giving them full credit for it, but he persistently opposed this bill.

[393] It was not supposed that this right could be questioned, but in 1901, in New York City, a woman who was supporting her children by washing while her husband was in the hospital, was thrown from a trolley car with her baby in her arms and injured so that she could not work. She brought suit against the Street Railway Company before a municipal court, and was awarded $147.50. The company appealed to the Supreme Court and Justice David Leaventritt reversed the decision, saying in his opinion, "At Common Law the husband was absolutely entitled to the earnings of his wife, and neither the Enabling Act of 1860 nor the broader one of 1864 has affected the right, unless the service and earnings were rendered and received expressly upon her sole and separate account." Afterwards in explanation he said that the woman had not made it clear in her suit that she was working for herself and not performing service for her husband.

In 1902 a law was passed securing absolutely to married women their own earnings and the right to sue for damages by loss of wages in case of personal injury.

[394] In 1901 an attempt was made to correct this evil, and a ridiculous law was passed and duly signed by Governor Odell providing that a couple may become husband and wife by signing an agreement before witnesses, but in order to make this legal it must be recorded within six months. If at the end of this time it has not been recorded both are free to marry somebody else. If the fourteen year old wife should not know of this legal requirement she may find herself abandoned without redress.

[395] This decision covers many pages with hair-splitting definitions, tracing the laws governing School Commissioners back to 1843, and summing up with the following unintentional satire.

"The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, prescribes the qualifications of voters 'for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elected by the people,' and confines the franchise specifically to 'male citizens.' The office of School Commissioner was one thereafter made 'elective by the people,' through the operation of the alternative given by Article 10, Section 2, which provides that 'all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law shall be elected by the people or appointed as the Legislature may direct.' That is, in such cases, it may choose between election and appointment and in the latter event may dictate the authority and mode of appointment. The Legislature chose that the office should be elective, and, becoming such, it fell within the scope and terms of the constitutional provisions applicable to elections by the people."

[396] By the charters of the third class cities of Auburn, Geneva, Hornellsville, Jamestown, Norwich, Union Springs and Watertown women have School Suffrage on the same terms as men. The city of Kingston is divided into several common and union free school districts and women are authorized to vote.

[397] For legal opinion see Appendix for New York.

[398] In 1902 the hospital at Gowanda, the largest of the kind in the State, placed a woman on its staff as specialist in gynecology.

[399] In 1901, when Mr. Low was again a candidate and was elected, these clubs were a prominent factor in the campaign. They arranged meetings, addressed large audiences, raised $30,000 and circulated 1,000,000 pieces of literature. Their work was commended by the press of the whole United States and much credit was given them for the success of the Reform ticket. When the Board of Education of forty-six members was appointed by Mayor Low, various societies petitioned him to give women a representation upon it, but he declined to do so.

[Pg 874]

## CHAPTER LVII.

### NORTH CAROLINA.[400]

The only attempt at suffrage organization in North Carolina was made by Miss Helen Morris Lewis, Nov. 21, 1894. A meeting was called at the court house in Asheville and attended by a large audience, which was addressed by Miss Lewis and Miss Floride Cunningham. Thomas W. Patton, mayor of the city, made a stirring speech in favor of giving the ballot to women. At his residence the next day a society was formed with a membership of forty-five men and women; president, Miss Morris; vice-president, T. C. Westall; secretary, Mrs. Eleanor Johnstone Coffin; treasurer, Mayor Patton. The next mayor of Asheville, Theodore F. Davidson, also advocated woman suffrage.

In 1895 addresses were made in various cities by Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, who had been attending the national convention in Atlanta.

Later on Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and Miss Belle Kearney, a noted lecturer from Mississippi, aroused considerable enthusiasm in various places by pleas for woman suffrage in their temperance addresses. Miss Lewis has spoken in a number of towns and at the State Normal School. No organized work has been done, however, and but little public interest is felt.

Legislative Action and Laws: Early in February, 1895, as a result of the suffrage meeting held in Asheville, a bill was presented in the Legislature to place women on school boards. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, a native of North Carolina, addressed the legislators in its behalf and upon the rights of women. The bill provoked a hot discussion but was defeated. It is impossible to obtain a record of the vote.

In 1897 a bill to permit women to serve as notaries public was defeated in the House on the ground that it would be unconstitutional,[Pg 875] as this is a State office. The same year a bill providing for the appointment of women physicians in the State insane asylums was referred to a committee and never reported.

Bills also have been presented for full suffrage and suffrage for tax-paying women, but none has been acted upon. Several Acts have been passed prohibiting employers from working women in the chain gangs on the public roads in different counties.[401]

The most unjust discriminations against women in the property laws were removed by the Constitutional Convention of 1868. Since then a married woman may acquire and hold real estate and have the enjoyment of its income and profits in her own separate right, and she may dispose of it by will subject to the husband's curtesy (the life use of the whole); but she can not sell any of it without his consent. The husband can not sell his real estate so as to cut off the dower of the wife (the life use of one-third) without her consent.

The code of 1883 stipulates that if the husband receives the income of the wife's separate property and she offers no objection, he can not be made liable to account for his use of it for more than one year previous to the date of the complaint or of her death. By an act of 1889, the husband is required to list the property of the wife "in his control."

Both dower and curtesy obtain. If there are neither descendants nor kindred the widow is heir of the entire estate. If there are not more than two children, and the husband die without a will, one-third of the personal property goes to the widow; if there are more than two children, she shares equally with them; if there be no child or legal representative of a deceased child, one-half goes to the widow, the other half to the kindred of the husband. If a wife die without a will, the widower has a life estate in her real property, if there has been issue born alive, and all of her personal property absolutely, subject to her debts.

A homestead to the value of $1,000 is exempt from sale during widowhood unless the widow have one in her own right.

The wife is not bound by contract unless the husband joins in writing. In actions against her he must be served with the suit.[Pg 876]

The wife can not be a sole trader without the husband's written and recorded consent, unless living apart from him under legal divorce or separation, or unless he is an idiot or a lunatic, or has abandoned her or maliciously turned her out of doors. She controls even her wages only under these circumstances.

The divorce laws make the discrimination against women that while the husband can secure a divorce for one act of adultery on the part of the wife, she can secure one from him on this ground only if he separates from her and lives openly in adultery.

The father is the legal guardian of the persons and education of the minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will even for one unborn. The court appoints the guardian for the estate.

Wilful neglect by the husband to provide adequate support for the wife and children is a misdemeanor.

The "age of protection" for girls still remains 10 years, with a penalty of death. Over 10 and under 14 the crime is a misdemeanor, punishable with fine or imprisonment in the penitentiary at discretion of the court, if the child has been previously chaste.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: By the State constitution only those entitled to vote are eligible to office. Women are thus barred from every elective and appointive office, even that of notary public.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. They are admitted to the State Medical Society and made chairmen of various sections. There has been a revolution of public sentiment during the past twenty years in regard to women in wage-earning occupations. What formerly would have caused ostracism is now regarded as proper and commendable.

Education: In 1897 the post-graduate work of the State University was opened to women. The undergraduate departments are still closed to them. Other institutions are about equally divided among co-educational, for boys only and for girls only. The State Normal and Industrial School for Girls (white) and the Agricultural and Mechanical College for Boys (colored), both at Greensborough, offer excellent opportunities. There are four other universities and colleges for colored students.

In the public schools there are 4,127 men and 4,077 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $25.07; of the women, $22.24.

### FOOTNOTES:

[400] The History is indebted for most of the information in this chapter to Mrs. Sarah A. Russell of Wilmington, the wife of Gov. Daniel L. Russell.

[401] In 1901 a bill, supported by a petition largely signed by women, which provided for a reformatory for youthful criminals where they might be separated from the old and hardened, was introduced in the Legislature but never was brought to a vote.

[Pg 877]

## CHAPTER LVIII.

### OHIO.[402]

The second Woman's Rights Convention ever held took place at Salem, Ohio, in April, 1850, and such meetings were continued at intervals until the beginning of the Civil War. After the war a State association was formed, but the records of its existence are not available. In the early summer of 1884 Mrs. Rachel S. A. Janney, whose husband was president of the State Agricultural College (now the State University), called a convention in Columbus, at which Mrs. Rosa L. Segur, Mrs. Ellen Sully Fray, Mr. and Mrs. O. G. Peters, Mrs. Elizabeth Coit and family, Mrs. Ammon of Cleveland, and other well-known advocates were present. So few were in attendance, however, that it was thought best not to organize permanently, but Judge Ezra B. Taylor of Warren was chosen president and Mrs. Frances M. Casement, vice-president. Judge Taylor, in declining because of Congressional duties, expressed sympathy and interest in the movement. He was a member of the Judiciary Committee of the U. S. House of Representatives for thirteen years, and through his influence when chairman, in 1890, a majority report in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution to enfranchise women was submitted to the House for the first and last time.

Mrs. Casement did very efficient work, especially in the northern part of the State, and as a result a large and enthusiastic meeting was held at Painesville, her home, in May, 1885, and a State association regularly organized. On the list of officers were placed three persons who through all these years have made the enfranchisement of women their paramount work—Mrs. Casement, Mrs. Segur of Toledo and Mrs. Coit of Columbus.[Pg 878] Mrs. Casement, who was made president, always has given generously of time and money and is still a member of the executive committee. Mrs. Segur, who was elected corresponding secretary, also continues her activity. She does much press work and is one of the main supports of the Toledo W. S. A., which has held regular monthly meetings since its organization in 1869. Mrs. Coit was chosen treasurer and held the office fourteen years, during which she seldom missed a convention or an executive meeting. In 1900 she was made honorary president without one dissenting vote.[403]

In addition to the State conventions from two to five executive committee meetings have been held yearly since 1885. Before the adoption of the biennial sessions of the Legislature, there were usually conferences at Columbus in midwinter to influence legislation, and different members remained there for weeks. Mrs. Sarah C. Schrader, Mrs. Martha H. Elwell and Mrs. Louisa Southworth rendered especially valuable service in such matters.

Mrs. Southworth, in her home at Cleveland, also had charge of the systematic enrollment of persons indorsing woman suffrage, which has been very effective in answering the objection that women do not want to vote. This was begun in 1888, when she was made national superintendent of enrollment, as she was a thorough advocate of this method of petition. Bills for woman suffrage introduced into the Legislature need the backing of many names, and in this way more can be added each year. The blanks are headed: "We believe that women should vote on equal terms with men;" and an effort is made to keep the names of men and women separate. The original lists are carefully preserved, but typewritten copies for reference are made and classified according to towns, counties and Congressional districts, pains being taken each year not to register duplicates. The entire expenses, amounting to several thousand dollars, have[Pg 879] been borne by Mrs. Southworth. All of the canvassers have contributed their services.[404]

Good educational work has been done through Woman's Day at colleges, camp meetings and county fairs. A memorable occasion was that of the Centennial Celebration of the city of Cleveland in 1896. One day was devoted to the consideration of the advancement of woman in philanthropy, education, domestic science, etc. Although the speakers had been requested not to touch upon the question of her political enfranchisement, three women indirectly mentioned it and these received the heartiest applause of any brought out in the course of a whole day of able speechmaking. One of them was not permitted to retire until she acknowledged in a graceful word or two the enthusiasm of the audience. The committee having charge of this celebration asked a woman in each township on the Western Reserve to gather facts in regard to its early women, and over 200 granted the request. These papers when published made four volumes of valuable information respecting the pioneer women of this famous section of Ohio.

In 1896 the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore, a Universalist minister of Springfield, and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas, visited seventeen towns and cities in the interest of the State W. S. A. and formed numerous organizations.

A conference of national and State officers, with several public meetings, was held at Toledo in the autumn of 1897, Mrs. Fray, president of Lucas County, making the arrangements. The following spring Mrs. Harriet Brown Stanton of Cincinnati did the preparatory work for a two days' meeting in that city, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee of the National Association, being the speakers.

In the spring of 1900 Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, president of the State association, visited fifteen principal towns preparing the way for organization, while in others plans were made by[Pg 880] correspondence. Five persons participated in the campaign made later: Miss Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt as speakers, each contributing two weeks of time; Miss Harriet May Mills and Miss Mary G. Hay, of New York, national organizers; Mrs. Upton accompanying the party. The object was to ascertain suffrage sentiment and to organize the northwestern part of the State. The next work was done in the southern part, Ohio women making the arrangements and Dr. Frances Woods of Iowa acting as speaker and organizer. At the close of 1900 the State had twice as many members as the year before, with vastly increased interest and activity. This growth was due to many causes, not least among them being the work and inspiration of Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, who was corresponding secretary for five years, and for ten has scarcely missed a convention.

Legislative Action: In 1888 the Legislature was asked to submit to the voters an amendment giving Full Suffrage to women. This measure was lost, and a Municipal Suffrage Bill met a like fate.

In 1889 a bill for Full Suffrage was defeated in the Senate by 19 ayes, 9 noes, a three-fifths majority being required.

In 1890 a similar bill was introduced in the House and discussed at length. It received 54 ayes, 47 noes, but not a constitutional majority.

In 1891 the Legislature was petitioned without result, and in 1892 and 1893 School Suffrage Bills were defeated by small majorities.

It was enacted in 1893 that mayors in cities of 10,000 inhabitants and upward shall furnish proper quarters for women and female children under arrest, and that these shall be out of sight of the rooms and cells where male prisoners are confined. The law further provides for the appointment of police matrons.

In 1894 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced but was not reported from committee. This year, however, School Suffrage was granted to women.

To Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard and Mrs. Katherine B. Claypole, president and recording secretary of the State W. S. A., women are largely indebted for this law. Like all reform measures, it was preceded by many discouraging defeats. In[Pg 881] 1892 a bill was introduced into the House by E. W. Doty, providing that women should vote for and serve as members of school boards. It was lost by seven votes, reconsidered in the adjourned session of 1893 and lost again by six votes. Another bill was introduced into the House in January, 1894, by Gustavus A. Wood, but was defeated by 47 ayes, 43 noes. Mrs. Everhard then made an earnest appeal to Senator William T. Clark to introduce the same bill. He promptly acceded and it passed the Senate on April 10 by 20 ayes, 6 noes. It was returned to the House and passed April 24 by 55 ayes, 26 noes, 11 not voting. Mr. Clark at once sent a telegram to the president of the association: "Woman suffrage bill a law; truth is mighty yet."

In 1894 the Legislature was asked to enact a law making women eligible as trustees of homes and asylums for women and children. The request was refused on the ground that the law would be declared unconstitutional because such trustees must be electors.

In 1896 Free Traveling Libraries were established.

In 1898 the Legislature provided that a woman could be a notary public. Two months later the law was declared unconstitutional, as notaries must be electors.

Laws: In 1884 a law was enacted giving a married woman the right to sue and be sued and to proceed in various other matters as if unmarried. Her personal property and real estate were liable to judgment, but she was entitled to the benefits of all exemptions to heads of families.

In 1887 married women obtained absolute control of their own property. This act gave a wife the right to enter into any engagements or transactions with her husband, or any other person, to hold and dispose of real and personal property and to make contracts.

Dower was retained but curtesy abolished, except for a man married before 1887 and regarding property owned by his wife before that date. Either husband or wife on the death of the other is now entitled to one-third of the real estate for life. If either die without a will, and there are no children or their legal representatives living, all the real estate passes to the survivor,[Pg 882] and the personal property subject to the debts. If there are children, or their legal representatives, the widow or widower is entitled to one-half of the first $400, and to one-third of the remainder subject to distribution. A homestead not exceeding $1,000 in value may be reserved for the widow.

In 1893 it was made legal for a married woman to act as guardian; and in 1894 as executor or administrator.

By the code of 1892 the father is legal guardian of the children and may appoint a guardian by will, even of one unborn. If he has abandoned the mother, she has custody.

The husband must support his wife and minor children by his property or labor, but if he is unable to do so, the wife must assist as far as she is able. The father or, when charged with maintenance thereof, the mother of a legitimate or illegitimate child under sixteen, who being able, either by reason of having means or by labor or earnings, shall neglect or refuse to provide such child with proper home, care, food and clothing; or, if said child is a legal inmate of the county or district children's home, shall refuse to pay the reasonable cost of its keeping, shall upon conviction be guilty of felony and punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than three years nor less than one, or in a county jail or workhouse at hard labor for not more than one year nor less than three months.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 12 years; in 1894 from 12 to 14; in 1896 from 14 to 16. The penalty is imprisonment not more than twenty nor less than three years.

Suffrage: The law of 1894 permits women, on the same terms as men, to vote for members of the boards of education (trustees), but not for State Commissioner (superintendent) nor on any question of bonds or appropriations. There are no county commissioners in Ohio.

The history of this law, after it passed into the Revised Statutes, is as follows: In December, 1894, Mrs. Ida M. Earnhart of Columbus, whose husband, Senator M. B. Earnhart, had championed the bill, was one of the first women to register for voting at the school election to be held the next April. For the purpose of a test case a written request was made of the board[Pg 883] of elections to strike her name from the list; they refused and suit was brought in the name of the State of Ohio against the board and Mrs. Earnhart. The case was argued in the Circuit Court of Franklin County in January, 1895. Mrs. Caroline McCullough Everhard, president of the State W. S. A., attended the hearing. Senators William T. Clark and M. B. Earnhart ably defended the law. On February 1 the decision was rendered by Judge J. G. Shauck, Judges Charles G. Shearer and Gilbert H. Stewart concurring in the opinion, which declared the law to be constitutional. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the decision of the lower court was sustained. This completed the victory which the State suffrage association had worked so hard to win. More than 30,000 women voted at the first election following. In the spring of 1902, 14,800 women registered in Cleveland and 80 per cent. voted.

Everything was quiet until the winter of 1898, when the activity of the suffragists was again called out by the introduction into the House of a bill by A. J. Hazlett to repeal the School Suffrage law. The board of elections of Cleveland had asked for this. Forthwith letters were sent to all the suffrage clubs by Mrs. Everhard, and requests were made to many prominent persons to use their influence against it. Protesting petitions were circulated and, with more than 40,000 names, were sent to the Legislature in a very short time. On Feb. 10, 1898, members of the legislative committee of the State W. S. A. appeared before the House Committee on Elections and spoke against the bill. Through courtesy to Mr. Hazlett, who was a member of this committee, it was reported back, but without recommendation, and when brought to a vote in the House it was overwhelmingly defeated—76 against repeal, 22 in favor.

Office Holding: No woman can be elected or appointed to any office, with the exception of that of school trustee, as the statutes provide that all incumbents must be electors. The same law applies to the boards of all State institutions. It also prevents women from serving as notaries public.

They can act as deputies, since these are considered merely as clerks. The law specifies that women can be Probate Court deputies because minors are eligible to that office.[Pg 884]

Women can not be State School Commissioners, and there is no office of county commissioner. They are serving acceptably on the school boards of various towns and cities, but no official record is anywhere kept of the exact number.[405]

A law of 1892 says: "In all asylums for the insane there shall be employed at least one female physician." There are eight such institutions in the State and at present only four have women physicians.

The same year it was made mandatory on every Judge of Common Pleas to appoint in his county a board of visitors consisting of three men and three women, whose duty it is to make periodical visits to the correctional and charitable institutions of the county and to act as guardians ad litem to delinquent children.

A law of 1893 requires police matrons in all cities of 10,000 inhabitants and over. They must be more than thirty years old, of good moral character and sound physical health, and must have the indorsement of at least ten women residents of good standing. Their salary is fixed at not less than two-thirds of the minimum salary paid to patrolmen in the same city, and they may serve for life unless they are discharged.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: Oberlin was the first co-educational college in[Pg 885] the United States (1833). Antioch was the second (1853). The State University and all other State institutions of learning always have been open to both sexes alike. Of the thirty-four colleges and universities twenty-seven are co-educational, five are for men and two for women. There are seventy-nine higher educational institutions other than colleges, such as academies, normal and business schools, theological seminaries, etc. Of these eight are for men, ten for women, fifty-nine co-educational and two without statistics.

In the public schools there are 10,556 men and 15,156 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $50; of the women, $40.

Ohio is one of the leading States in the number of women's clubs—289, with a membership of 10,300, being enrolled in the General Federation. It was principally through the efforts of this large body of women that a bill was passed in 1896 providing for Traveling Free Libraries and 900 are now in circulation, more than in any other State. It also was instrumental in securing a bill for the establishment of State Normal Schools in connection with Ohio and Miami Universities.

The Rookwood Pottery of Cincinnati, which has more than a national reputation, is the result of the intelligence and well directed efforts of a woman—Mrs. Maria Longworth Nichols (now Mrs. Bellamy Storer). Inspired by the Japanese display at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, in 1876, she began experimenting with the clays of the Ohio valley and eventually developed the exquisite pottery which is found in every art museum and large private collection in the country, and whose manufacture employs a number of skilled artists.

### FOOTNOTES:

[402] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton of Warren, treasurer of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association since 1892 and president of the State association.

[403] Presidents of the State association: Frances M. Casement, 1885-1888, Martha H. Elwell, 1888-1891, Caroline McCullough Everhard, 1891-1898, Harriet Brown Stanton, 1898-1899, Harriet Taylor Upton, 1899 and now serving.

State Conventions: Painesville, 1885, Toledo, 1886, Cleveland, 1887; Chillicothe, 1888, Akron, 1889, Massillon, 1890, Warren, 1891, Salem, 1892, Delaware, 1893, Cincinnati, 1894, Ashtabula, 1895, Alliance, 1897, Cincinnati, 1898, Akron, 1899, Athens, 1900. During the Presidential campaign of 1896, when William McKinley, a resident of Ohio, was a candidate, the excitement was so intense that it was thought wise to abandon the convention, which was to have been held in October at Springfield.

[404] When the State Suffrage Association decided to abandon this work, Mrs. Southworth was elected State superintendent of franchise by the W. C. T. U. and the enrollment was continued. At their national convention, in 1901, it showed 50,000 names and aroused great enthusiasm. Of these, 9,650 were collected in the four cities of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo; during the year 7,500 names had been added to the list. The system has been adopted by the unions in many States.

[405] Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, the author of this chapter, is now serving her second term on the board of education in Warren, O. In the spring of 1898 the local political equality club determined to have some women in this position and selected Mrs. Upton and Mrs. Carrie P. Harrington. Two vacancies having occurred, the board (which fills such vacancies) was asked to appoint them but refused. Their names therefore were presented to the Republican caucus in the spring of 1898. Instead of two candidates, as usual, there were four, as the two vacancies were to be filled for the remainder of the term. The board and the politicians still refused to recommend the women, so six names went before the caucus. The women were asked whether they wanted to run for the short term to fill the vacancies or for the full term of three years. They refused to say, but simply asked that their names should be considered. They had little hope of anything but to fill the vacancies, as the president and treasurer of the present board were candidates for the long term. The night of the caucus was very stormy, but the women of the city turned out in force and, with the assistance of the men, the two women were nominated for the long term. A Republican nomination is equivalent to an election in Warren.

The board was magnanimous, both ladies were placed on committees and most courteously treated. The next year Mrs. Upton was made chairman of the most important committee, that on supplies, buildings and grounds, which expends nine tenths of all the money used by the board. The other woman member was added to this committee when the new grammar school was begun in 1899. It is considered one of the best ventilated and best planned buildings in that part of the State.

In the spring of 1901 both were triumphantly re-elected. Mrs. Upton was continued as chairman of her committee, and Mrs. Harrington was made chairman of the next in importance, that on text books. [Eds.

[Pg 886]

## CHAPTER LIX.

### OKLAHOMA.[406]

Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement April 22, 1889, and its first woman's organization was the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, founded in Guthrie, March 10, 1890, by Mrs. Margaret O. Rhodes, under the direction of Miss Frances E. Willard. In the following April a convention was called at Oklahoma City, delegates coming from ten societies, and Mrs. Rhodes was elected president. In October, 1890, the first annual convention was held in Guthrie, the capital, Mrs. Alice Williams of Missouri being the principal speaker. The first Legislature was in session and she also addressed this body making a strong plea for legislation in favor of temperance and woman suffrage.

In 1895 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the organization committee of the National Suffrage Association, arranged for a lecturer to visit all the principal towns on the Rock Island and Santa Fé Railroads, and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas was selected for this pioneer work. She came into the Territory the first week in October and lectured in twelve places, forming clubs. Her campaign closed at Guthrie where the first suffrage convention was held, November 11, 12, and an association organized. Miss Margaret Rees was elected president,[407] Mrs. J. R. Keaton, secretary, and Mrs. R. W. Southard, delegate to the national convention.

Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Minnesota was sent into the Territory by the National Association for three months in May, 1896. She spoke in twenty-three towns, organizing a number of clubs, and on June 7, 8, closed her work with a mass meeting in Guthrie.[Pg 887]

The third convention was held in Perry, Nov. 13, 14, 1897, Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas being present as the chief speaker. Mrs. Celia Z. Titus was elected president; Margaret Rees, corresponding secretary; Sarah L. Bosworth, recording secretary; Eva A. Crosby, treasurer.

In September, 1898, Miss Mary G. Hay, organizer for the National Suffrage Association, arranged for a campaign, preparatory to asking the Legislature to grant woman suffrage, as in a Territory full suffrage can be given by legislative enactment. In October Mrs. Chapman Catt came on and meetings were held in the chief towns, where committees were appointed to look after petitions and other necessary work. This series of meetings closed November 6, 7, with the annual convention in Oklahoma City. Mrs. Rhodes was elected president, Mrs. Della Jenkins, vice-president, Miss Rees continued as secretary, Mrs. Minnie D. Storm made treasurer.

Legislative Action: In the first Legislature, in 1890, specific work was begun for woman suffrage. When the law regarding the franchise was under discussion a petition was presented praying that it should read, "Every citizen of the age of 21 shall have a right to vote," instead of "every male citizen." A proposition for this was lost by three votes in the House and was not considered by the Council. School Suffrage was granted to women.

In 1897 a bill asking for the enfranchisement of women was prepared by Miss Margaret Rees and introduced in the House, where it was carried by a vote of 13 yeas, 9 nays, but was killed in the Council. Mrs. Johns, who had been sent by the National Association, labored most earnestly for the bill and won hundreds of friends for the cause by her wise council and able management.

After the suffrage convention in 1898, described above, Miss Hay returned to New York and Miss Laura A. Gregg was appointed by the National Association to co-operate with the Oklahoma women in securing the franchise from the Legislature of 1899. Their efforts and the results were thus related in the report to the National Suffrage Convention at Grand Rapids, Mich., in April, by Mrs. Chapman Catt, who had remained in Guthrie most of the winter looking after the interests of the bill with the discretion and ability for which she is distinguished:[Pg 888]

> Last November headquarters were opened in a business block at Guthrie, in charge of Miss Gregg, from which an active correspondence was conducted, resulting in a large petition and a constant accession of new recruits. There was a most thorough system of press work, nearly every newspaper in the Territory aiding the movement. The strongest and best men espoused our cause and the outlook seemed propitious. The Legislature convened the first week in January, but an unfortunate quarrel arose between it and the Governor which hindered legislation and compelled our campaign to drag throughout the entire sixty days' session. Miss Gregg continued her work at headquarters during the winter, and Miss Hay spent a month in Guthrie looking after the interests of our bill. It finally passed the house, 14 yeas, 10 nays, the week before the session was to close, and immediately the opposition concentrated its efforts on the Council. However, a majority were pledged to support our measure, and we felt little fear.

> As soon as the news spread that the bill was through the House, a telegram was received by each member of the Council from the Albany (N. Y.) women remonstrants. These were not all phrased alike, but each asked the recipient: "What can be done to defeat the woman suffrage bill? Answer at our expense." At nearly the same moment, the chief agent of the Saloonkeepers' League, an association recently organized, as they claimed, "to protect our interests from unjust legislation," appeared upon the scene. Only a week remained of the legislative session. Whether this agent of the Oklahoma saloons came at the invitation of the Albany remonstrants, or the Albany remonstrants sent their telegrams offering assistance at the instigation of the Saloonkeepers' League, or whether their simultaneous appearance was by chance, I am unable to say. That they appeared together seems significant. If they work as distinct forces, a study in the vagaries of the human reason is presented in the motives offered to the public by these two organizations. The Albany remonstrants would protect the sweet womanly dignity of Oklahoma women from the debasing influence of politics. The Saloonkeepers' League would save the debasing influence of politics from the sweet womanly dignity of Oklahoma women. So these Albany women, who never fail to inform the public of their devotion to the church, join hands with the Oklahoma saloonkeepers, who never fail to declare that the church is a fanatical obstacle to personal liberty. A queer union it is, but some day the world will discover the mystery which has consummated it!

> It so happened that in this Legislature there was a member who for thirty years, in a neighboring State, had been an avowed friend of suffrage. This was known to all Oklahoma, and even the enemies expected him to lead our forces in the Council. This man not only betrayed us, but headed the opposition in a filibustering effort to keep the bill from coming to a final vote and succeeded. Now, why did he fail us? Did he renounce the faith of a lifetime? No. Did the suffragists offend him? No; but even if they had done so a man of character does not change his views in a moment for a personal[Pg 889] whim. Why, then, this change? Any member of the Legislature, for or against suffrage, if he would speak as frankly to others as he did to us, would tell you it was for money. Rumor was plentiful stating the amount and the donor. The saloons all over Oklahoma, with a remarkable unanimity of knowledge, boasted beforehand that the bill was killed and that this man was the instrument which they had used, and while they were boasting he was conferring with us and promising us his faithful support, hoping to conduct the filibustering so adroitly that we could not detect his hand in it....

> To come to the main point, we had won the victory but a crime robbed us of it. Suffragists know how to bear defeats with fortitude, for each one is only a milestone showing the progress made on a journey, but a defeat by the defection of a friend is a new thing in the history of our movement.

Dr. Delos Walker of Oklahoma City was one of those who assisted in every way possible to give the ballot to the women of the Territory. Dr. C. F. McElwrath of Enid championed the bill in the House and secured its passage over the head of every opponent. The efforts of the women were supplemented also by those of Senator I. A. Gandey and Representative William H. Merten, both of Guthrie, and T. F. Hensley of El Reno, editor of the Democrat.

Laws: Dower and curtesy do not obtain. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one child, the survivor receives one-half of both real and personal property. If there is more than one child or one child and descendants of one or more deceased children, the widow or widower receives one-third of the estate. If there is no issue living the survivor receives one-half; and if there is neither issue, father, mother, brother nor sister, the survivor takes the whole estate. A homestead may be occupied by the widow or widower until otherwise disposed of according to law.

Husband or wife may mortgage or convey separate property without the consent of the other.

A married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name. She may carry on business as a sole trader and her earnings and wages are her sole and separate property.

The usual causes for divorce exist but only a 90 days' residence is required. A wife may sue for alimony without divorce. In cases where both parties are equally at fault the court may refuse[Pg 890] divorce but provide for the custody and maintenance of children and equitable division of property.

The father is the legal guardian of the children. At his death the mother becomes the guardian, if a suitable person, but if she remarries the guardianship passes to the second husband.

The husband is expected to furnish a suitable support for the family, but no punishment is prescribed for a failure to do this.

No law existed for the protection of girls until 1890 when the age was made 14 years. In 1895 it was raised to 16 years. The penalty is first degree (under 14), imprisonment not less than ten years; second degree (under 16), not less than five years. In both cases the girl must have been "of previous chaste character."

Suffrage: The first Territorial Legislature (1890) granted School Suffrage to the extent of a vote for trustees.

Office Holding: Women may hold all school offices. Eleven of the twenty-three counties have women superintendents. They are not eligible to State offices but are not prohibited by law from any county offices. One woman is registrar of deeds and one is deputy U. S. marshal. There are at the present time about one hundred women notaries public.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. Ten hours is made a legal working day.

Education: All educational institutions are open alike to both sexes. In the public schools there are 914 men and 1,268 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $31.93; of the women, $26.20.

Thirty Federated Clubs in Oklahoma, with over 700 members, are taking up successfully a great variety of public work. Guthrie contains eight of these, with a membership of more than one hundred, and the library committee has succeeded in starting a library, which has now seven hundred volumes.

### FOOTNOTES:

[406] The History is indebted for material for this chapter to Mrs. Margaret Olive Rhodes of Guthrie, president of the Territorial Woman Suffrage Association.

[407] Mrs. Rachel Rees Griffith and her two daughters are known as the Mothers of Equal Suffrage in Oklahoma. Miss Margaret was the first Territorial president, while no one has done more in the local club of Guthrie than Miss Rachel. Mrs. Griffith is nearly eighty years of age, but fully expects to live to see the women of Oklahoma enjoying the full franchise.

[Pg 891]

## CHAPTER LX.

### OREGON.[408]

After the defeat of the woman suffrage amendment in 1884 no organized effort was made for ten years, although quiet educational work was done. On the Fourth of July, 1894, a meeting was called at the residence of Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway in Portland and a committee formed which met every week for several months thereafter. Woman's Day was celebrated at the convention of the State Horticultural Association, in September, by invitation of its president, William Salloway. Addresses were made by N. W. Kinney and Mrs. Duniway, and Governor Lord and his wife were on the platform. On October 27 a mass meeting was held at Marquam Grand Theater, at which a State organization was effected and a constitution adopted which had been prepared by the committee.[409]

In January, 1895, the association secured from the Legislature a bill for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment, which it would be necessary for a second Legislature to pass upon. The annual meeting of the State Association was held at Portland in November as quietly as possible, it being the aim to avoid arousing the two extremes of society, consisting of the slum classes on the one hand and the ultra-conservative on the other, who instinctively pull together against all progress. Officers were elected as usual and the work went on in persistent quietude.

The convention of 1896 met in Portland, November 16.[410] Mrs.[Pg 892] Duniway, the honorary president, was made acting president, that officer having left the State; Mrs. H. A. Laughary, honorary president; Dr. Annice F. Jeffreys, vice-president-at-large; Ada Cornish Hertsche, vice-president; Frances E. Gotshall, corresponding secretary; Mary Schaffer Ward, recording secretary; Mrs. A. E. Hackett, assistant secretary; Jennie C. Pritchard, treasurer. These State officers were re-elected without change until November, 1898, when Mrs. W. H. Games was chosen recording secretary and Mrs. H. W. Coe, treasurer. In 1899, and again in 1900, Mrs. Eunice Pond Athey, formerly of Idaho, became assistant secretary.

The year 1896 was a period of continuous effort on the part of the State officers to disseminate suffrage sentiment in more or less indirect ways, so that other organizations of whatever name or nature might look upon the proposed amendment with favor. Early in this year the executive committee decided to organize a Woman's Congress and secure the affiliation of all branches of women's patriotic, philanthropic and literary work, to be managed by the suffrage association. It was resolved also to obtain if possible the attendance of Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, who was at that time in the midst of the amendment campaign in California.

Never has there been a more successful public function in Oregon than this Congress of Women, which was held the first week in June, 1896, with Miss Anthony as its bright particular star. The love of the people for the great leader was universally expressed, socially as well as publicly. The speakers represented all lines of woman's work—education, art, science, medicine, sanitation, literature, the duties of motherhood, philanthropy, reform—but sectarian and political questions were excluded. It was most interesting to note the clever manner in which almost all the speakers sandwiched their speeches and papers with suffrage sentiments, and also the hearty applause which followed every allusion to the proposed amendment from the audiences that packed the spacious Taylor Street Church to overflowing.[Pg 893] Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, the noted San Francisco philanthropist, was a special attraction and made many converts to woman suffrage by her beautiful presence and eloquent words.

For ten consecutive days in July commodious headquarters were maintained at the Willamette Valley Chautauqua, under the supervision of the State recording secretary, Mrs. Ward. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw Day was the most successful one of the assembly. Miss Shaw spoke as if inspired, and afterward a large reception was held in her honor.

Thirty-six regular meetings and four mass meetings were held by the suffrage association during the year.

The Woman's Club movement had by this time assumed important proportions among society women, under the tactful management of that staunch advocate of equal rights, Mrs. A. H. H. Stuart; and the suffragists joined heartily in the new organization, which, in spite of its non-political character, strengthened the current of public opinion in behalf of the proposed amendment.

The Oregon Emergency Corps and Red Cross Society became another tacitly acknowledged auxiliary. The Oregon Pioneer Association approved the amendment by unanimous resolution, and the State Grange, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Good Templars, the Knights of Labor, the Printers' Union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and other organizations were recognized allies.

In 1898 the second Woman's Congress took place at Portland in April under the auspices of the executive committee of the State E. S. A., forty affiliated societies of women participating.

The suffrage business for this year was all transacted in executive sessions, and no convention held.

Woman's Day at the Willamette Valley Chautauqua in July, when forty different organizations of men and women were represented, was a great success. Suffrage addresses were given by Mrs. Alice Moore McComas of California, Dr. Frances Woods of Iowa, and Mrs. Games. Col. R. A. Miller, the president, himself an ardent suffragist, extended an invitation for the following year.[Pg 894]

In 1899 Mrs. Duniway was invited by the Legislature to take part in the joint proceedings of the two Houses in honor of forty years of Statehood.

This year, in preparation for the election at which the woman suffrage amendment submitted by the Legislature of 1899 was to be voted on, 106 parlor meetings were held, 30,000 pieces of literature distributed, and the names and addresses of 30,000 voters in fourteen counties collected. Mrs. Duniway spoke by special invitation to a number of the various orders and fraternities of men throughout the State, most of whom indorsed the amendment. The usual headquarters were maintained during the Fair, under the management of Dr. Jeffreys.

Legislative Action: The Legislature, having changed its time of meeting from September in the even years to January in the odd ones, convened in 1895. Through the efforts of its leading members, a bill passed both Houses in February to submit again a woman suffrage amendment to the voters. The resolution proposing it was carried without debate in the House by 41 ayes—including that of Speaker Moore—11 noes. In the Senate the vote was 17 ayes, 11 noes. As Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway was lecturing in Idaho, the State suffrage association was represented at this Legislature by its vice-president-at-large, Dr. Annice F. Jeffreys.

The meeting of the Legislature of 1897 found the women ready and waiting for the necessary ratification of the amendment; but the Solons of the non-emotional sex fell to quarreling among themselves over the United States senatorial plum and, being unable to agree on a choice of candidates, refused to organize for any kind of business, so another biennial period of public inactivity was enforced upon the suffragists.

The Legislature convened in January, 1899, and with it came the long-delayed opportunity. Mrs. Duniway and Dr. Jeffreys had charge of the Suffrage Amendment Bill. They were recognized by prominent members, and admitted by vote to the privileges of the floor in each House. Senator C. W. Fulton, who had distinguished himself as the champion of the amendment in 1880 and 1882, was requested by them to carry their banner to victory once more. He assured them that personally he was[Pg 895] willing, but said so many bills on all sorts of side issues had been insisted upon by women that the members were not in a mood to listen to any more propositions from persons who had no votes.

The ladies did not press the matter, but for days they furnished short, pithy letters to the papers of the capital city, answering fully all of the usual objections to woman suffrage. They also sent an open letter to each member of the Legislature, explaining that this plea for equal rights was based wholly upon the fundamental principle of self-government, and not made in the interest of any one reform. In this were enclosed to every Republican member Clarkson on Suffrage in Colorado and Clara Barton's Appeal to Voters; to every Democrat her Appeal and some other document, taking care to keep off of partisan toes. At length Senators Fulton and Brownell, leaders in the Upper House, considered the time ripe for calling up the amendment, which was at once sent in regular order of business to the Lower House, where it was referred to the Judiciary Committee and—buried.

Finally Senator Fulton secured a request from the Senate that the bill be returned for further consideration, and a hearing was made a special order of business. The room was filled with ladies and Mrs. Duniway was asked to present the claims of the women of the State, over half of whom, through their various societies, had asked for the submission of the amendment. On the roll-call which followed the vote stood 25 ayes, one no.

The measure was made a special order of business in the House the same evening. The hall was crowded with spectators, Mrs. Duniway spoke ten minutes from the Speaker's desk, and the roll-call resulted in 48 ayes, 6 noes.

A feature of the proceedings was the presentation by one of the members, in a long speech, of a large collection of documents sent by the Anti-Suffrage Association of Women in New York and Massachusetts. The preceding autumn they had sent a salaried agent, Miss Emily P. Bissell of Delaware, to canvass the State against the bill.

The succeeding campaign was very largely in the nature of a "still hunt." Mrs. Ida Crouch Hazlett, of Colorado, held meetings for two months in counties away from the railroads and did effective work among the voters of the border. Miss Lena Morrow,[Pg 896] of Illinois, also did good service for some time preceding election, in visiting the various fraternal associations of men in the city of Portland, by whom she was generally accorded a gracious hearing. These ladies represented the National Association.[411]

All went well until about two weeks before election day, June 6, 1900, and the measure in all probability would have carried had it not been for the slum vote of Portland and Astoria, which was stirred up and called out by the Oregonian, edited by H. W. Scott, the most influential newspaper in the State. It was the only paper, out of 229, which opposed the amendment. But notwithstanding its terrible onslaught, over 48 per cent. of all the votes which were cast upon the amendment were in its favor. Twenty-one out of the thirty-three counties gave handsome majorities; one county was lost by one vote, one by 23 and one by 31.

The vote on the amendment in 1884 was 11,223 ayes; 28,176 noes. In 1900 it stood 26,265 ayes; 28,402 noes. Although the population had more than doubled in the cities, where the slum vote is naturally the heaviest and is always against woman suffrage, the total increase of the "noes" of the State was only 226, while in the same time the "ayes" had been augmented by 15,042.

Laws: If either husband or wife die without a will and there are no descendants living, all the real estate and personal property go to the survivor. If there is issue living, the widow receives one-half of the husband's real estate and one-half of his personal property. The widower takes a life interest in all the wife's real estate, whether there are children or not, and all of her personal property absolutely if there are no living descendants, half of it if there are any.

All laws have been repealed that recognize civil disabilities of the wife which are not recognized as existing against the husband, except as to voting and holding office.[Pg 897]

By registering as a sole trader a married woman can carry on business in her own name.

In 1880 the Legislature enacted that "henceforth the rights and responsibilities of the parents, in the absence of misconduct, shall be equal, and the mother shall be as fully entitled to the custody and control of the children and their earnings as the father, and in case of the father's death the mother shall come into as full and complete control of the children and their estate as the father does in case of the mother's death."

If the husband does not support the family, the wife may apply to the Circuit Court and the Judge may issue such decree as he thinks equitable, generally conforming to that in divorce cases, and may have power to enforce its orders as in other equity cases.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 in 1864 and from 14 to 16 years in 1895. The penalty is imprisonment not less than three nor more than twenty years. The fact that the victim was a common prostitute or the defendant's mistress is no excuse.

Suffrage: In 1878 an Act was passed entitling women to vote for school trustees and for bonds and appropriations for school purposes, if they have property of their own in the school district upon which they or their husbands pay taxes.

Office Holding: Women are not eligible to any elective office, except that of school trustee.

An old law permitted women to fill the offices of State and county superintendents of schools, but it was contested in 1896 by a defeated male candidate and declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Women can not sit on any State boards.

They are employed as court stenographers, and in various subordinate appointive offices. They may serve as notaries.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: All the large educational institutions are open to women. In the public schools there are 1,250 men and 2,443 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $43; of the women, $34.81.

### FOOTNOTES:

[408] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Portland, honorary president of the State Equal Suffrage Association and always at the head of the movement in Oregon.

[409] Dr. Frances A. Cady, Lydia Hunt King, Eugenie M. Shearer, Charlotte De Hillier Barmore, Mary Schaffer Ward, Gertrude J. Denny, Alice J. McArty, Ada Cornish Hertsche, Maria C. DeLashmutt, Cora Parsons Duniway, Frances Moreland Harvey and Abigail Scott Duniway.

[410] Department superintendents chosen: Evangelical work, Mrs. Charlotte De Hillier Barmore; press, Mrs. Eugenie M. Shearer; round table, Mrs. Julia H. Bauer; music, Mrs. H. R. Duniway, Mrs. A. E. Hackett; Cooper Medal contests, H. D. Harford and Mrs. S. M. Kern; health and heredity. Dr. Mary A. Leonard; legislation and petitions, Dr. Annice F. Jeffreys, Mrs. Duniway. Fifteen counties were represented by Dr. Annie C. Reed and Mesdames F. M. Alfred, R. A. Bensell, F. O. McCown, A. A. Cleveland, F. M. Lockhart, J. H. Upton, J. L. Curry, A. R. Burbank, M. E. Thompson, J. W. Virtue, A. S. Patterson, A. C. Hertsche and J. J. Murphy.

[411] The chairmen of the county committees were Miss Belle Trullinger, now the wife of Gov. T. T. Geer, and Mesdames R. A. Bensell, J. A. Blackaby, Thomas Cornelius, S. T. Child, C. H. Dye, W. R. Ellis, J. B. Eaton, P. L. Fountain, J. B. Huntington, Almira Hurley, T. B. Handley, Ellen Kuney, H. A. Laughary, Stephen A. Lowell, A. E. Lockhart, M. Moore, James Muckle, J. J. Murphy, Jennie McCully, Celia B. Olmstead, R. Pattison, A. S. Patterson, N. Rulison, Anna B. Reed, E. L. Smith, Thomas Stewart, C. U. Snyder, C. R. Templeton, M. E. Thompson, J. H. Upton, J. W. Virtue, Clara Zimmerman.

[Pg 898]

## CHAPTER LXI.

### PENNSYLVANIA.[412]

The thought of woman suffrage in Pennsylvania always brings with it the recollection of Lucretia Mott of Philadelphia, one of the four women who called the first Woman's Rights Convention, at Seneca Falls, N. Y., July 19, 20, 1848, and among the ablest advocates of the measure.[413]

The Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association was organized Dec. 22, 1869, with Mary Grew as president.[414] There have been annual meetings in or near Philadelphia regularly since that time, and large quantities of suffrage literature have been distributed.[415] In 1892 Miss Grew resigned, aged 80, and was succeeded in the presidency by Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, who still holds this office.

The convention of 1900 took place in Philadelphia, November 1, 2, and the other officers elected were vice-president, Mrs. Ellen H. E. Price; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Mary B. Luckie; recording secretary, Mrs. Anna R. Boyd; treasurer, Mrs. Margaret B. Stone; auditors, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine and Mrs. Selina D. Holton. Miss Ida Porter Boyer, superintendent of press work, reported that 326 newspapers in the State, exclusive of those in Philadelphia which were supplied by a local chairman, were using regularly the suffrage matter sent out by her bureau, and that the past year this consisted of 17,150 different articles.[Pg 899]

A number of able speakers have addressed the Legislature or canvassed the State from time to time, including Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president and vice-president of the National Association; Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee; Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the Woman's Journal; Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson of New York, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, and Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas; Judge William N. Ashman, Miss Matilda Hindman, Miss Boyer, Mrs. Blankenburg and Miss Jane Campbell, president of the Philadelphia society.[416]

The latter is the largest and most influential suffrage society in the State. Previously to 1892 the Philadelphians who were identified with the movement belonged to the Pennsylvania association. In the fall of this year it was decided to make it a delegate body, and as that meant barring out individual memberships, the Philadelphia members formed a county organization. Miss Grew was invited to lead the new society, but feeling unable to perform the necessary duties she accepted only the honorary presidency. It was, however, largely owing to her counsel and influence that so successful a beginning was made. After her death in 1896 the office of honorary president was abolished.

The first president of this society was Miss Campbell, who has been annually re-elected. The club has quadrupled its membership in the eight years of its existence, counting only those who pay their yearly dues, and has now 400 members. It has worked in many directions; distributed large quantities of literature; has sent speakers to organizations of women; fostered debates among the young people of various churches and Young Men's Literary Societies by offering prizes to those successful on the side of woman suffrage; held public meetings in different parts of the city, which includes the whole county; assisted largely in the national press work, and always lent a generous hand to the enterprises of the National Association.[417][Pg 900]

In 1895 this society prepared a list of all the real and personal property owned by women within the city limits, which amounted to $153,757,566 real and $35,734,133 personal. These figures comprise 20 per cent. of the total city tax, and all of it is without representation.

With the hope of arousing suffrage sentiment, classes were formed under the auspices of the State association to study political science; Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts was employed to organize clubs in the State; requests were sent to all the clergymen of Philadelphia to preach a sermon or give an address on Woman Suffrage; and prizes of $5, $10 and $15 were offered for the three best essays on Political Equality for Women, fifty-six being received.

A Yellow Ribbon Bazar was held in Philadelphia in 1895, the net proceeds amounting to over $1,000. Miss Mary G. Hay, Miss Yates and Miss Gregg were then employed as organizers, and were very successful in forming clubs. There are now sixteen active county societies.[418]

Legislative Actions and Laws: In 1885 Miss Matilda Hindman was sent to Harrisburg to urge the Legislature to submit an amendment to the voters striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the State constitution. As a preliminary, 249 letters were sent to members asking their views on the subject; 89 replies were received, 53 non-committal, 20 favorable, 16 unfavorable. Miss Hindman and eleven other women appeared before a Joint Committee of Senate and House to present arguments in favor of submitting the amendment. A bill for this purpose passed the House, but was lost in the Senate by a vote of 13 ayes, 19 noes. This was the first concerted action of the Pennsylvania suffragists to influence legislation for women. A legacy of $1,390 from Mrs. Mary H. Newbold aided their efforts to secure the bill.

Political conditions have been such that it has been considered[Pg 901] useless to try to obtain any legislative action on woman suffrage, and no further attempts have been made. To influence public sentiment, however, mass meetings addressed by the best speakers were held in the Hall of the House of Representatives during the sessions of 1893, '95, '97 and '99.

In 1897 and 1899 the suffragists made strenuous attempts to secure a bill to amend the Intestate Law, which greatly discriminates against married women, but it was killed in committee.

Owing to a gradual advance in public sentiment laws have been enacted from time to time protecting wage-earning women; also enlarging the property rights of wives, enabling them to act as incorporators for business of profit, and giving them freedom to testify in court against their husbands under some circumstances.

In 1891 a number of influential women decided to form a corporation, with a stock company, for the purpose of building a club house and equipping the same to rent as a business of profit. The charter was refused, because several of the women making application were married. After some delay enough single women were found to take out the letters patent. When incorporated the original number organized the company and built the New Century Club House in Philadelphia, which paid five per cent. to stockholders the first year. One of the members of this board of directors, to save time and trouble, made application to be appointed notary public, but she was refused because the law did not permit a woman to serve. Public attention was thus called to the injustice of these statutes and, after much legislative tinkering, laws were passed in 1893 giving wives the same right as unmarried women to "acquire property, own, possess, control, use, lease, etc." The same year women were made eligible to act as notaries public.

Dower and curtesy both obtain. If there is issue living, the widow is entitled to one-third of the real estate for her life and one-third of the personal property absolutely. If no issue is living, but collateral heirs, the widow is entitled to one-half of the real estate, including the mansion house, for her life, and one-half of the personal estate absolutely. If a wife die intestate, the widower, whether there has been issue born alive or not, has a life interest in all her real estate and all of her personal property[Pg 902] absolutely. If there is neither issue nor kindred and no will the surviving husband or wife takes the whole estate.

A husband may mortgage real estate, including the homestead, without the wife's consent, but she can not mortgage even her own separate estate without his consent. Each can dispose of personal property as if single.

As a rule a married woman can not make a contract, but there are some exceptions. For instance, she can contract for the purchase of a sewing-machine for her own use. The wife must sue and be sued jointly with the husband.

A married woman must secure the privilege from the court of carrying on business in her own name.

The law provides that the party found guilty of adultery can not marry the co-respondent during the lifetime of the other party. If any divorced woman, who shall have been found guilty of adultery, shall afterward openly cohabit with the person proved to have been the partaker of her crime, she is rendered incapable of alienating either directly or indirectly any of her lands, tenements or hereditaments, and all wills, deeds, and other instruments of conveyance therefor are absolutely void, and after her death her property descends and is subject to distribution according to law in like manner as if she had died intestate. This latter clause does not apply to a divorced man.

In June, 1895, through the legislative committee of the State W. S. A., Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, chairman, and with the co-operation of other women's organizations, the following law, championed by Representative Frank Riter, was secured:

> A married woman who contributes by the efforts of her own labor or otherwise toward the support, maintenance and education of her minor child, shall have the same and equal power, control and authority over her said child, and the same and equal right to the custody and services, as are now possessed by her husband who is the father of such minor child.

The best legal authorities are undecided as to whether labor within the household entitles the mother to this equal guardianship or whether it must be performed outside the home. The father is held to be the only person entitled to sue for the earnings of a minor child, and as no legal means are provided for enforcing the above law it is practically of no effect.[Pg 903]

The law says, "As her baron or lord, the husband is bound to provide his wife with shelter, food, clothing and medicine;" also:

> If any husband or father neglect to maintain his wife or children, it is lawful for any alderman, justice of the peace or magistrate, upon information made before him, under oath or affirmation, by the wife or children, or by any other person, to issue his warrant for the arrest of the man, and bind him over with one sufficient surety to appear at the next Court of Quarter Sessions, there to answer the said charge.

> If he is found to be of sufficient ability to pay such sum as the court thinks reasonable and proper, it makes an order for the comfortable support of wife or children, or both, the sum not to exceed the amount of $100 per month. The man is to be committed to jail until he complies with the order of the court, or gives security for the payment of the sum. After three months' imprisonment, if the court find him unable to pay or give security, it may discharge him.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 16 years. The penalty is a fine not exceeding $1,000, and imprisonment by separate and solitary confinement at labor, or simple imprisonment, not exceeding fifteen years. No minimum penalty is named.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding:[419] The State constitution of 1873 made women eligible for all school offices, but they have had great difficulty in securing any of these. Out of 16,094 school directors in the State only thirty-two are women. In Philadelphia a Board of Public Education, appointed by the courts, co-operates with the school directors. This board consists of forty-one members, only three being women. In the entire State, six women are reported to be now filling the offices of county and city school superintendent and assistant superintendent.

In seventeen years but sixty-seven women (in twelve counties) have been appointed members of the Boards of Public Charities.

In 1899 a law was passed recognizing Accounting as a profession, and Miss Mary B. Niles is now a Certified Public Accountant and Auditor.[Pg 904]

There have been women on the Civil Service Examining Board for nurses, matrons, etc., but there are none at present.

To Pennsylvania belongs the honor of appointing the first woman in a hospital for the insane with exclusive charge—Dr. Alice Bennett, Norristown Asylum, in 1880. Now all of the six State hospitals for the insane employ women physicians. In Philadelphia there are five hospitals under the exclusive control of women.

Women have entire charge of the female prisoners in the Philadelphia County jail. Police matrons are on duty at many of the station houses in cities of the first and second class, sixteen in Philadelphia.

Committees of women, officially appointed, visit all the public institutions of Philadelphia and Montgomery counties.

Dr. Frances C. Van Gasken served several years as health inspector, the only woman to fill such an office in Philadelphia.

Six women are employed as State factory inspectors and receive the same salary as the men inspectors.

Within the past ten years a large number of women have become city librarians through appointment by the Common Councils.

Mrs. Margaret Center Klingelsmith, LL.B., is librarian of the State University Law School, but has been refused admission to the Academy of Law (Bar Association) of Philadelphia, although there is a strong sentiment in her favor led by George E. Nitzsche, registrar of the Law School.

Occupations: The only prohibited industry is mining. No professions are legally forbidden to women.

In 1884 a graduate of the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Carrie Burnham Kilgore, made the fight for the admission of women to the bar and was herself finally admitted to practice in the courts of Philadelphia. Judges William S. Pierce, William N. Ashman and Thomas K. Finletter advocated this advanced step.

There are 150 women physicians in Philadelphia alone.

Education: The Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia, Clara Marshall, M. D., dean, was incorporated in 1850.[420] The idea of its establishment originated with Dr. Bartholomew Fussell, a[Pg 905] member of the Society of Friends. Its foundation was made possible through the effective work of Dr. Joseph S. Longshore in securing a charter from the Legislature. Dr. Hannah Myers Longshore was a member of the first graduating class, a pioneer among women physicians, and through her skill and devotion won high rank in her profession.[421] In 1867 the name was changed by decree of court from Female Medical College to Woman's Medical College. It is the oldest and largest medical school for women in the world, and has nearly 1,000 alumnae, including students from nineteen foreign countries. The management is entirely in the hands of women.

In 1861 the Woman's Hospital was founded, mainly through the efforts of Dr. Ann Preston, to afford women the clinical opportunities denied by practically all the existing hospitals. It is now one of the largest in Philadelphia.

During the past twenty years a number of educational institutions have been opened to women. Of the forty colleges and universities in the State, just one-half are co-educational; three are for women alone; two Catholic, one military and fourteen others are for men alone. Of the sixteen theological seminaries, only one, the Unitarian at Meadville, admits women. They have the full privileges of the Colleges of Pharmacy and Dentistry in Philadelphia.

The principal institutions closed to women are the Jefferson Medical, Hahnemann Medical, Medico-Chirurgical, Franklin and Marshall, Haverford, Lafayette, Moravian, Muhlenberg, St. Vincent, Washington and Jefferson, Waynesburg, Lehigh and most of the departments of the Western University.

In the University of Pennsylvania (State) women are admitted on equal terms with men to the post-graduate department; as candidates for the Master of Arts degree; and to the four years' course in biology, leading to the degree of B. S. They may take special courses in pedagogy, music and interior decoration (in the Department of Architecture) but no degree. The Medical, Dental and Veterinary Departments are entirely closed to them. Of the large departments, Law is the only one which is fully, freely and heartily open to women on exactly the[Pg 906] same terms as to men, and it confers the degree of LL. B. upon both alike. There are no women on the faculty, but Prof. Sara Yorke Stevenson, the distinguished archoælogist, is secretary of the Department of Archæology and Paleontology and curator of the Egyptian and Mediterranean Section.

The Drexel Institute, founded and endowed by Anthony J. Drexel, was opened in December, 1891. Instruction is given in the arts, sciences and industries. All the departments are open to women on the same terms as to men. Booker T. Washington has a free scholarship for a pupil, and one is held by the Carlisle Indian School.

Bryn Mawr, non-sectarian, but founded by Joseph W. Taylor, M. D., a member of the Society of Friends, was opened in 1885. It stands at the head of the women's colleges of the world, and ranks with the best colleges for men. Miss M. Carey Thomas, Ph. D., LL. D., is president.

Notwithstanding these splendid educational advantages, as late as 1891 there was no opportunity in the Philadelphia public schools for a girl to prepare for college or for a business office. In 1893 the present superintendent, Edward Brooks, reorganized the Girls' High School, arranging a four years' classical course and a three years' business course.

There are in the public schools 9,360 men and 19,469 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $42.69; of the women, $38.45. In Philadelphia the average for men is $121.93; for women, $67.61. In this city, by decree of the board of education, the highest positions are closed to women.

Pennsylvania is rich in women's clubs, 117 belonging to the State Federation. The three largest are the New Century, with 600 members; Civic, 500; New Century Guild (workingwomen), 400—all in Philadelphia. Most of the clubs have civic departments. The suffrage societies have full membership in the State Federation of Clubs. The Civic and Legal Education Society of Philadelphia, composed of men and women, has lecture courses on national, State and municipal government and a practical knowledge of law. A study class of municipal law is conducted by Mrs. Margaret Center Klingelsmith, the law librarian of the State University.

### FOOTNOTES:

[412] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucretia Longshore Blankenburg of Philadelphia, who has been president of the State Suffrage Association since 1892.

[413] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.

[414] Officers in 1884: President, Mary Grew, vice presidents, John K. Wildman, Ellen M. Child, Passmore Williamson, corresponding secretary, Florence A. Burleigh, recording secretary, Anna Shoemaker, treasurer, Annie Heacock, executive committee, Mary S. Hillborn, Martha B. Earle, Sarah H. Peirce, Gertrude K. Peirce, Joshua Peirce, Leslie Miller, Maria P. Miller, Harriet Purvis, Caroline L. Broomall, Deborah Pennock, J. E. Case, Matilda Hindman, Dr. Hiram Corson.

[415] These meetings have been held in Chester, West Chester, Lancaster, Reading, Lewistown, Oxford, Kennett Square, Norristown, Scranton, Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Chester and Columbia.

[416] For an account of the Citizens' Suffrage Association, Edward M. Davis, president, see Vol. III, p. 461.

[417] At the annual meeting of October, 1900, the following were elected: President, Miss Jane Campbell; vice-presidents, Miss Eliza Heacock and Miss Elizabeth Dornan; corresponding secretary, Miss Katherine J. Campbell; recording secretary, Mrs. Olive Pond Amies; treasurer, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine. Sixteen delegates were elected to represent the society at the State convention.

[418] Among the men and women who have been especially helpful to the cause of woman suffrage since 1884, besides those already mentioned, are Robert Purvis, John M. Broomall, Edward M. Davis, Drs. Hannah E. Longshore, Jane V. Myers, Jane K. Garver; Mesdames Rachel Foster Avery, Emma J. Bartol, Eliza Sproat Turner, Elizabeth B. Passmore, J. L. Koethen, Jr., Helen Mosher James, Charlotte L. Peirce, Ellen C. H. Ogden, Mary E. Mumford, Elizabeth Smith, J. M. Harsh, J. W. Scheel, H. C. Perkins, Hanna M. Harlan, Misses Julia T. Foster, M. Adeline Thomson, Susan G. Appleton, Julia A. Myers, L. M. Mather, Lucy E. Anthony.

[419] William and Hannah Penn were both Proprietary Governors of the colony, William from the time of its settlement in 1682 until 1712, when he was stricken with illness. Hannah then took up the affairs and administered as governor until William's death in 1717, and after that time until her son became of age.

Sidney Fisher, in his account of the Pennsylvania colony, says that this is the only instance in history where a woman has acted as Proprietary Governor. Hannah Penn was skilful in her management and retained the confidence of the people through financial and political embarrassments.

[420] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 389.

[421] Drs. Joseph and Hannah Myers Longshore were the uncle and mother of Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg. [Eds.

[Pg 907]

## CHAPTER LXII.

### RHODE ISLAND.[422]

Rhode Island was one of the pioneer States to form a woman suffrage association. On Dec. 11, 1868, in answer to a call signed by a large number of its most distinguished men and women, a successful meeting was held in Roger Williams Hall, Providence, and Mrs. Paulina Wright Davis was elected president of the new organization.[423] Many series of conventions in different parts of the State were held between 1870 and 1884, at which the officers and special speakers presented petitions for signatures and prepared for legislative appeals.

In 1884, by unanimous vote of the Assembly, the State House was granted for the first time for a woman suffrage convention. Four sessions were held in the Hall of the House of Representatives, and Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, William Lloyd Garrison, Mary F. Eastman and others addressed great throngs of people who filled the seats, occupied all the standing room and overflowed into the lobbies.

Up to the present date this association has held an annual convention in October, a special May Festival with social features in the spring, and from one to four meetings each intervening month. These have been rendered attractive by papers and addresses from the members and by public speakers of ability from different parts of the United States and from other lands. In addition to this active propaganda special organizers have been secured from time to time to canvass the State and win intelligent support for the cause.

The association has had but three presidents—Paulina Wright Davis for the first two years, Elizabeth Buffum Chace from 1870 until her death in 1899, aged ninety-two, and Ardelia C. Dewing,[Pg 908] now serving. When Mrs. Chace was unable longer to be actively the leader, Anna Garlin Spencer, who returned in 1889 to reside in Rhode Island, as first vice-president acted for her about seven years and Mrs. Dewing for the remainder of the time. Mrs. Davis was an exquisite personality with soul ever facing the light; Mrs. Chace, a woman of granite strength and stability of character, with a keen mind always bent upon the reason and the right of things, and with a single-hearted devotion to the great principles of life.[424]

The vice-presidents of the association number "honorable names not a few."[425] Among them was the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, who during the eleven years of his ministry in Providence, 1878-1889, acted as the first vice-president and did the greatest possible service to the association in all ways, ever championing the principle of equality of rights. The secretaries of the association always have been among the leaders in the movement. At first Rhoda Anna Fairbanks (Peckham) was the single officer in that capacity. In 1872 Anna C. Garlin (Spencer) was added as corresponding secretary but resigned in 1878 when her marriage required her removal from the State.[426] Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles served from 1891 to 1900 when Mrs. Annie M. Griffin was elected. There have been but three treasurers—Marcus T. Janes, Mrs. Susan B. P. Martin and Mrs. Mary K. Wood.[427] The chairman of the Executive Committee has always shared the[Pg 909] heaviest burdens. Mrs. Chace was the first chairman. Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle succeeded her and continued in the office until her death in 1890. Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich then served to the end of her life in 1898. The association has done a great deal of active work through its organizers, the brilliant and versatile Elizabeth Kittridge Churchill, Mrs. Margaret M. Campbell, Mrs. Louise M. Tyler, and others. Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles, from 1890 to 1898, acted as organizer as well as secretary.

The State Society affiliated with the New England Woman Suffrage Association from the first; with the American in 1870 and with the National-American in 1891. It was incorporated in 1892 and has been the recipient of legacies from James Eddy, Mrs. Rachel Fry, Mrs. Sarah Wilbour, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Chace and others. It raised and expended for the woman suffrage campaign of 1887 more than $5,000 and has had some paid worker in the field during most of the years.

Legislative Action: From the first year of its existence, 1869, the State Association petitioned the Legislature for an amendment to the constitution abolishing sex as a condition of suffrage, and hearings were held before many committees.

In 1885, through the influence of Representative Edward L. Freeman, a bill for such an amendment actually passed both Houses, but failed through some technicality.

In 1886 it passed both Houses again by the constitutional majority of two-thirds. It was necessary that it should pass two successive Legislatures, and the vote in 1887 was, Senate, 28 ayes, 8 noes; House, 57 ayes, 5 noes. The amendment having been published and read at the annual town and ward meetings was then submitted to the voters. It was as follows: "Women shall have the right to vote in the election of all civil officers and on all questions in all legal town, district or ward meetings, subject to the same qualifications, limitations and conditions as men."

The story of this campaign can be compressed into a few sentences, but it was a great struggle in which heroic qualities were displayed and was led by the woman whose life has meant so much for Rhode Island, Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, who had as her able lieutenant the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, and as her body-guard all the faithful leaders of the suffrage cause in[Pg 910] the State and helpers from other States.[428] Headquarters were established immediately in the business center of Providence. These rooms were opened each morning before nine o'clock and kept open until ten at night throughout the contest. The campaign lasted twenty-nine days, during which ninety-two public meetings were held, some in parlors but most in halls, vestries and churches. Miss Cora Scott Pond came at once into the State to organize the larger public meetings and Miss Sarah J. Eddy and Mrs. C. P. Norton arranged for parlor meetings. The regular speakers were Henry B. Blackwell, William Lloyd Garrison, the Revs. C. B. Pitblado, Louis A. Banks, Frederick A. Hinckley, Ada C. Bowles; Mesdames Mary A. Livermore, J. Ellen Foster, Zerelda G. Wallace, Julia Ward Howe, Katherine Lente Stevenson, E. S. Burlingame, Adelaide A. Claflin; Miss Mary F. Eastman and Miss Huldah B. Loud.[429] Miss Susan B. Anthony was invited to make the closing speech of the campaign but declined as she considered the situation hopeless.

The cities and towns were as thoroughly canvassed by these speakers as the short time permitted. A special paper, The Amendment, was edited by Mrs. Lillie B. Chace Wyman, assisted by Miss Kate Austin and Col. J. C. Wyman; the first number, issued March 16, an edition of 20,000, and the second, March 28, an edition of 40,000. They contained extracts from able articles on suffrage by leading men and women, letters from Rhode Island citizens approving the proposed amendment, and answers to the usual objections.

The principal newspapers of Providence, the Journal and the Telegram, both led the opposition to the amendment, the former admitting in an editorial, published March 10, "the theoretic justice of the proposed amendment to the constitution conferring suffrage upon women," but hoping it would be rejected because[Pg 911] "whatever may be said for it, the measure has the fatal defect of being premature and impolitic." The opposition of the Telegram was more aggressive and even of a scurrilous type. To offset this hostility if possible the suffrage association hired a column of space in the Journal and half a column in the Telegram and kept this daily filled with suffrage arguments; toward the end of the campaign securing space also in the Daily Republican. The papers of the State generally were opposed to the measure, but the Woonsocket Daily Reporter, Newport Daily News, Hope Valley Sentinel-Advertiser, Pawtuxet Valley Gleaner, Providence People, Bristol Phenix, Central Falls Visitor and a few others gave effective assistance. The association distributed about 39,000 packages of literature to the voters.

In the Providence Journal of April 4 the names of over ninety prominent voters were signed to this announcement: "We, the undersigned, being opposed to the adoption of the proposed Woman Suffrage Amendment to the Constitution, respectfully urge all citizens (!) to vote against it at the coming election."

The next day the Journal contained in the space paid for by the association the signatures of about the same number of equally prominent men appended to this statement: "We favor the passage of the Woman Suffrage Amendment which has been submitted to the voters of Rhode Island for action at the coming election." The same issue contained a list of many of the most distinguished men and women in this and other countries, beginning with Phillips Brooks and Clara Barton, and headed, "Some Other People of Weight Who Have Indorsed Woman Suffrage. Match This if You Can."

The election was held April 6, 1887, and at the sixty-two polling places men and women were on hand to urge the electors to vote for the amendment. The result was 6,889 ayes, 21,957 noes—the largest defeat woman suffrage ever received.

Many of the ablest lawyers having decided that no extension of franchise, not even a school vote, could be secured in Rhode Island through the Legislature (except possibly Presidential Suffrage) and the amendment to the constitution having been defeated by so heavy a vote, it was deemed best not to ask for another submission of the question for a term of years. Therefore[Pg 912] other matters, involving legal equality of the sexes, formed for a while the chief subjects for legislative work.

In 1892 a special appeal was made to the General Assembly to confer upon women by statute the right to vote for presidential electors. Three hearings were had before the House committee but the bill was not reported.

In 1895 a hearing, managed by Mrs. Jeanette S. French, was granted by the Senate committee. A number of able women of the State made addresses and the committee reported unanimously in favor of submitting again an amendment for the Full Suffrage. It was too late, however, for further action and was referred to the May session. At that time it passed the Senate but was lost in the House by a small majority.

In 1897 the Governor was empowered by the General Assembly to appoint a commission to revise the State constitution. This was deemed by many as opposed to the spirit of the basic law of the Commonwealth, in substituting a small appointive body for the Constitutional Convention of Electors previously considered necessary to revise the fundamental law of the State, but the commission was appointed. The Woman Suffrage Association early presented a claim for a hearing which was granted for May 11. The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer conducted it and introduced the other speakers who were all citizens of the State and of influence in their communities.[430] After interviews were held with the commission, the association adopted resolutions which were afterwards incorporated in a letter and read by Mrs. Bolles to the Committee on Revision. It said in part:

> We are informed that you consider it inadvisable to incorporate a suffrage amendment in the revised constitution lest it endanger the acceptance of other proposed and necessary changes. This view may be correct, but surely it need not prevent you from advising a provision by which the Legislature would be empowered to extend suffrage to women at its discretion, and this we greatly desire. A conservative measure of this nature could not call out a large amount of antagonism from the voters, while it would be a great help to women in their efforts to obtain a voice in such matters of[Pg 913] public concern as are of vital importance to their interests. The constitution of Rhode Island is far behind the spirit of the age in its treatment of women, as only one other State makes it equally difficult for them to obtain even the simplest form of political rights. In revising the fundamental law this fact ought not to be overlooked and the instrument should be so constructed as to bring it up to date in this respect.

These appeals were not responded to favorably by the Commission, although great courtesy and willingness to consider the subject were manifested, and a large minority vote was given in the Commission itself to empower the Legislature to grant suffrage at discretion by statute. The proposed revision was submitted to the electors and during the campaign preceding their vote the association passed the following resolution at its annual meeting of Oct. 20, 1898: "Resolved, That we consider the proposed constitution unworthy the intelligence and civilization of the age, for these reasons: First, It does not give suffrage to women citizens and makes the obtaining of an amendment for this purpose even more difficult than it is at present by requiring a larger legislative majority to submit any question to the voters. Second, It restricts the suffrage of men by a property qualification."

The revised constitution was voted down by a large majority.

Laws: The Suffrage Association from its first existence closely watched legislation affecting women and children, and often appeared by representative speakers before committees engaged in framing changes in such laws; but in 1892 and '93 a special effort was made to secure full legal equality for men and women. Miss Mary A. Greene, a Rhode Island lawyer, educated for and admitted to the bar in Massachusetts, was engaged to prepare a full statement of the existing laws relating to women and children and to draw up a code for suggestion to the Legislature which should embody the exact justice for which the association stood. This step was taken at that time because the Legislature had just appointed a Committee of Codification to consider the statutes bearing on domestic relations, contract powers, etc. The suggestions of the association, as prepared by Miss Greene, were not acted upon in any formal way, still less with completeness, but the changes made in the interest of equal rights for women were marked and the association had a distinct[Pg 914] share in them. The property laws for women are now satisfactory except that of inheritance which is as follows:

Dower and curtesy both obtain. If the husband die without a will, leaving children, the widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the personal property absolutely, the remainder going to them. If there are no children or descendants she takes one-half of the personal property and as much of the real estate for life as is not required to pay the husband's debts. The other half of the personal property goes to the husband's relatives and, after her death, all of the real estate. The widower is entitled to a life use of all the wife's real estate if there has been issue born alive. If she die without a will he may take the whole of her personal property without administration or accountability to the children or to her kindred. The widow and minor children are entitled to certain articles of apparel, furniture and household supplies and to six months' support out of the estate. The widow has the prior right as administrator.

The wife may dispose of her personal and real property by will, but can not impair the husband's curtesy, or the life use of all her real estate. The husband may do the same subject to the wife's dower, or life use of one-third of the real estate.

If any person having neither wife nor children die without a will "the property shall go to the father of such person if there be a father, if not, then to the mother, brothers and sisters."

All the property of a married woman, whether acquired before or after marriage, is absolutely secured to her sole and separate use, free from liability for her husband's debts. Personal and real estate may be conveyed by her as if unmarried, the latter subject to the husband's curtesy. Her husband must present an order from her to collect the rents and profits.

A married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued, and carry on any trade or business, and her earnings are her sole and separate property. She can not, however, enter into business partnership with her husband.

Neither husband nor wife is liable for the torts of the other. The wife's property is liable for her debts or torts.

A married woman may act as executor, administrator or[Pg 915] guardian if appointed to those offices by will, but she can not be appointed to them by the court except to the guardianship of children.[431]

In case of divorce for fault of the husband the wife may have dower as if he were dead. If alimony be claimed the dower is waived. If the divorce is for the fault of the wife, the husband, if entitled to curtesy, shall have a life estate in the lands of the wife, subject to such allowance to her, chargeable on the life estate, as the court may deem proper. In case of separation only, the petitioner may be assigned a separate maintenance out of the property of the husband or wife as the case may be.

The father is the legal guardian of the minor children. At his death the mother is entitled to the guardianship and custody. The mother may be appointed guardian by the court during the husband's lifetime. If he is insane or has deserted or neglected his children she is entitled to full custody.

If the wife is deserted by her husband unjustifiably and not supported by him, she may receive authority from the court for the custody and earnings of her minor children, and he may be imprisoned not less than six months nor more than three years. If he abandon her and is absent from the State one year or more or is condemned to prison for a year or more, the court can order the income from his property applied to the support of his family.

A law of 1896 provided that a wife owning property might contract in writing for the support of her husband and children, but this was repealed in three months. She is not required to support them by her labor or property, as the husband is the legal head of the family.

The most of the above laws have been enacted since 1892.

Until 1889, 10 years was the age for the protection of girls, but then it was made 14 years, with a penalty of not less than ten years' imprisonment. In 1894 it was raised to 16 and the penalty made not more than fifteen years with no minimum number specified. The former penalty still holds, however, for actual rape.

Suffrage: Women have no form of suffrage. The husband may vote as a taxpayer by right of his wife's real estate.

Office Holding: Eligibility to office is limited by the constitution[Pg 916] to electors. The article referring to school committee (trustees) merely says, however, that they shall be "residents of the town." In 1872 and '73 the suffrage association procured by direct effort an Act qualifying women to serve on school committees and many have done so with distinction. There are sixteen now serving in the State. The city charter of Pawtucket requires one of the three members to be a woman.

As far back as 1869 an appeal was made by the suffrage association that women should be placed on all boards of management of institutions in which women were confined as prisoners or cared for as unfortunates. In partial response an Act was passed in 1870 establishing an Advisory Board of Female Visitors to the charitable, penal and correctional institutions of the State. This board had no powers of control, but had full rights of inspection at all times and constituted an official channel for criticism and suggestions. It is still in existence and is composed of seven representative women.

The association was not satisfied with a board of such limited powers and in 1874 it memorialized the Legislature for an Act requiring that women, in the proportion of at least three out of seven, should be placed on the State Board of Charities and Correction, with equal powers in all particulars. This petition was presented for three years successively and special hearings granted to its advocates, but at last was definitely refused. In 1891, however, two institutions, the State Home and School for Dependent Children and the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, were placed in charge of boards of control, to be appointed by the Governor, to report to the Legislature and to exercise full powers of supervision and management, "at least three of whom shall be women."

In 1878 a meeting was held by the association to consider the need of good and wise women in all places where unfortunate women are in confinement, and the matter of placing police matrons in stations was discussed. Agitation followed and the W. C. T. U., under the enthusiastic lead of Mrs. J. K. Barney, adopted the matter as a special work, the W. S. A. aiding in all possible ways. In March, 1881, the first police matron in the country (it is believed) was appointed in Providence and installed[Pg 917] as a regular officer. From this beginning the movement spread until in 1893 an Act was passed by the General Assembly, without a dissenting voice, requiring police matrons in all cities, the nominations in each to be recommended by twenty women residents in good standing.

The first agitation for women probation officers was started in a meeting of the State Suffrage Association in 1892. The W. C. T. U. and the leaders in rescue mission work in Providence continued the movement, and in 1898 a woman was appointed in Providence to that office, with equal powers of the man probation officer, to be responsible for women who are released on parole.

In 1893 an Act was passed as the result of a determined movement lasting several years, in which the suffrage association shared, although the principal leaders were the labor reform organizations of the State and the Council of Women of Rhode Island (to which body the W. S. A. was auxiliary). It raised the legal age of the child-worker from ten to twelve years, provided for sanitary conditions and moral safeguards in shops and factories, and for the appointment of two factory and shop inspectors, "one of whom shall be a woman," to secure its enforcement. The man and woman inspector were made exactly equal in power, responsibility and salary, instead of the woman being, as in most States, a deputy or special inspector. Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer was chosen for this position.

Appointive offices which women have held recently, or are holding, are assistant clerk of the Supreme Court and Court of Common Pleas; stenographer for same; clerk to State Commissioner of Public Schools; clerk to State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner; as superintendent of State Reform School for Girls, and as jailer in Kent county.

No woman has ever applied to serve as notary public, but doubtless it would not be considered legal.

Occupations: No occupation or profession is forbidden to women, but a test is soon to be made as to whether they will be admitted to the bar. Women are prohibited from contracting to work more than ten hours a day. They can bind themselves to be apprentices till the age of eighteen, men until twenty-one.

Education: Rhode Island contains only one university—Brown—founded[Pg 918] in 1764. In 1883 Miss Helen McGill and Miss Annie S. Peck, college graduates, addressed a meeting at Providence on the higher education of women. Arnold B. Chace was requested at this time to report at the next regular meeting of the State Suffrage Association the prospects for the admission of women to Brown University, as he was treasurer of the university corporation. At a later meeting the Rev. Ezekiel Gilman Robinson, then president of the university, by request addressed the association and declared his views, saying in substance that he was not in favor of their admission, especially in the undergraduate departments, as the discipline required by young men and women was quite different and all social questions would be complicated by the presence of the latter.

After much discussion at other meetings it was decided to form a committee, representing several organizations interested in the advancement of women, to work more definitely in this direction. On Feb. 20, 1886, a number of ladies assembled at the home of Mrs. Rachel Fry, a prominent member of the suffrage association, and, after discussion and advice from Mr. Chace, appointed a committee.[432] Three days later it met at the home of Mrs. R. A. Peckham, organized and elected Miss Sarah E. Doyle chairman and Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer secretary. It met again March 14, to hear reports on the conferences of the members with professors of the university, and the result showed a considerable number of them in favor of the project. To influence public opinion the committee published statistics showing that thirty young women of Rhode Island were attending colleges outside the State, and argued that most of these who now were "exiles" would gladly receive the higher education at home.

The movement was accelerated by the act of four young girls, Elizabeth Hoyt, Henrietta R. Palmer, Emma L. Meader and Helen Gregory, who took by permission the classical course in the Providence High School, at that time limited to boys; and in 1887 addressed a petition prepared by David Hoyt, the principal, to the president of the university, urging that when their preparation[Pg 919] was complete they might be allowed to share the educational privileges of Brown. They received a discouraging response and all turned to other colleges.

Up to this time friends on the faculty and in the corporation of the university were working up a scheme for the unofficial entrance of women and their instruction in the class-rooms, and the committee had engaged itself with the practical details connected with this plan.

On Feb. 4, 1889, this somewhat informal committee organized an association and adopted a constitution which declared its object, "to secure the educational privileges of Brown University for women on the same terms offered to men." Of the thirty-two original signers to this constitution eighteen were members of the State Suffrage Association and the number included the president, two vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer and four members of the executive committee. The same officers were continued.

Prof. Benjamin Franklin Clarke was from the first an earnest supporter of the claims of the women, and worked within the faculty as Arnold B. Chace did in the corporation. When in 1889 Elisha Benjamin Andrews (who as professor had in 1887 indorsed the woman suffrage amendment) became the president of the university, the cause of the higher education of women took a great leap forward. In October, 1891, the Women's College connected with Brown University was established and a small building hired for its home. Six young women, among them the now distinguished president of Mount Holyoke College, Miss Mary Woolley, entered the class rooms. The results of the next ten years are thus summed up in the official year-book for 1901:

> The Women's College was founded in October, 1891. At first only the privileges of university examinations and certificates of proficiency were granted. In June, 1892, all the university degrees and the graduate courses were opened. In November, 1897, the institution was accepted by the corporation and officially designated the Women's College of Brown University. The immediate charge, subject to the direction of the president, was placed in the hands of a dean. All instruction was required to be given by members of the university faculty. Pembroke Hall, which was built by the Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of Women, was[Pg 920] formally transferred to the university in October, 1897, and was accepted as the recitation hall of the Women's College.

The record of the admission of women to this ancient university is part of the history of the Woman Suffrage Association, because all the initial movements were taken by that body, the society which continued the work was separated from the association only for purposes of practical efficiency, and the first principle on which the movement proceeded was that of absolute equality in educational opportunity, which is the corollary of political democracy. With its actual opening to women, however, other elements of leadership assumed control and have secured later results.

On Jan. 16, 1892, the original association having practically secured its object, the money in the treasury was turned over to the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, and from that body finally found its way to a scholarship fund for the Women's College, and the association disbanded. Later the need for raising funds to meet the requirement for buildings and endowments led to the reorganization of the work, and the present Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of Women was formed. Miss Doyle was elected the president of this new association, as she had been of the old. At the dedication of Pembroke Hall, which the efforts of this later society had secured, the early history (especially the connection of the Woman Suffrage Association with the work) was not dwelt upon, but the facts should have permanent record to furnish one more proof that woman suffrage societies have started great collateral movements, which, when they are fully successful, often forget or do not know the "mother that bore them."[433]

It was not until 1893 that the full classical course of the Providence High School, preparatory for the university, was officially thrown open to girls, although a few had previously attended.[Pg 921] Now all departments, including the manual training, are open alike to both sexes, and there are no distinctions anywhere in the public schools. In these there are 207 men and 1,706 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $103.74; of the women, $51. Only one other State (Mass.) shows so great a discrepancy.

The Association of Collegiate Alumnæ has an active branch in Rhode Island. Seventeen clubs representing 1,436 members belong to the State Federation. The Local Council of Women, which is auxiliary to the National Council, has a membership, by delegate representation, of thirty-two of the leading educational, church, philanthropic and reformatory societies of Providence and of the State. About one-half of these have men as well as women for members, but all are represented in the Council by women. This body has done many important things, having taken the most active part in securing Factory and Shop Inspection; initiated the formation of the Providence Society for Organizing Charity; started the movement for a Consumers' League and launched that association; and is now at work to secure a State institution for the care and training of the Feeble-Minded. The Council holds from six to ten private meetings in the year, at least two public meetings, and an annual public Peace Celebration in conjunction with the Peace Committee of the International Council of Women.

### FOOTNOTES:

[422] The History is indebted for this chapter to the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer of Providence, vice-president-at-large of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[423] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 340.

[424] The annual meeting in October, 1895, celebrated the completion of a quarter of a century's service on the part of Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace as president of the Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association. Letters from absent friends were read expressing their high appreciation of her life-long service in the cause of humankind as well as womankind. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mr. William Lloyd Garrison and Miss Mary F. Eastman attended to speak for the cause, and to testify their love for Mrs. Chace. The Hon. E. L. Freeman, ex-Gov. John W. Davis and others of the State also spoke words of great respect. The association honored itself by once more electing Mrs. Chace its chief officer, although she had expressed a strong desire to retire from the position as she felt that the burden of the work should be borne by younger shoulders. [Annual Report to National Suffrage Convention.

[425] Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Rowland Hazard, Phebe Jackson, Susan Sisson, Sarah Helen Whitman, Elizabeth K. Churchill, Abraham Payne, Sarah T. Wilbour, Charlotte A. Jenckes, George L. Clarke, Francis C. Frost, Susan R. Harris, Augustus Woodbury and many others of the best known and most useful citizens.

[426] Others were Mrs. M. M. Brewster, Mrs. Mary C. Peckham, Mrs. Rowena P. B. Tingley, Miss Charlotte R. Hoswell, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich and Mrs. Martha Knowles.

[427] Present board: President Mrs. A. C. Dewing; first vice-president, Mrs. Thomas W. Chase; second vice-president, Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles; third vice-president, Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour; secretary, Mrs. Annie M. Griffin; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood; auditors, Mrs. O. I. Angell, Mrs. Elizabeth Ormsbee; honorary vice-presidents, the Hon. H. B. Metcalf, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin and Arnold B. Chace.

[428] The officers were: President, Mrs. Chace; vice-presidents, Mr. Hinckley, Arnold B. Chace, Phebe Jackson, Mary O. Arnold and Julia Ward Howe; acting secretary, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood; executive committee, Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle, Miss Sarah J. Eddy, Mesdames Aldrich, Fanny Purdy Palmer, C. P. Norton, Louisa A. Bowen, Elizabeth C. Hinckley, Susan C. Kenyon, Mary E. Bliss, Frances S. Bailey and S. R. Alexander, from whom the campaign committee was selected.

[429] Occasional addresses were made by Gen. Thomas W. Chace, Col. J. C. Wyman, Judge R. C. Pitman, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin, the Revs. H. C. Westwood, Augustus Woodbury, H. I. Cushman, N. H. Harriman, Thomas R. Slicer, O. H. Still, J. H. Larry; Messrs. Olney Arnold, Augustine Jones, R. F. Trevellick, Ralph Beaumont, John O'Keefe and others.

[430] Dr. Helen C. Putnam represented the physicians, Mrs. Mary Frost Evans the editors, Miss Sarah E. Doyle the teachers, Mrs. Mary A. Babcock and Mrs. A. B. E. Jackson the W. C. T. U., Mrs. L. G. C. Knickerbocker and Mrs. S. M. Aldrich women in private life, while the W. S. A. contributed Mrs. J. S. French, Mrs. A. C. Dewing and Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles. Edwin C. Pierce and Rabbi David Blaustein, members of the association, also spoke in favor of suffrage for women.

[431] The right to be appointed by the court was given to married women by Act of 1902.

[432] Mrs. Francis W. Goddard, Miss Sarah E. Doyle, principal of the Girls' High School of Providence; Mrs. M. M. Brewster, president of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union; Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer and Mrs. R. A. Peckham, representing the State Suffrage Association; Mrs. Augustine Jones, representing the Friends' School, and Mrs. M. E. Tucker.

[433] The Suffrage Association has held one meeting in Pembroke Hall, however, which was presided over by its acting president and at which the daughter of Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, spoke upon "The Political Position of Women in England," and the use of Sayles Hall of Brown University was freely granted for a series of meetings under the auspices of the W. S. A. devoted to a presentation of "Woman's Contribution to the Progress of the World." These were addressed by Abba Goold Woolson, Mary A. Livermore, Lillie Devereux Blake, Lillie Chace Wyman, Alice Stone Blackwell, Mary F. Eastman, Prof. Katherine Hanscom and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer.

In October, 1901, Miss Susan B. Anthony addressed the students and was enthusiastically received.

[Pg 922]

## CHAPTER LXIII.

### SOUTH CAROLINA.[434]

In 1890 Mrs. Virginia Durant Young being on a visit to Mrs. Adelaide Viola Neblett at Greenville, these two did so inspire each other that then and there they held a suffrage conference with Mrs. S. Odie Sirrene, Mrs. Mary Putnam Gridley and others, and pledged themselves to work for woman's enfranchisement in South Carolina.

Mrs. Young made a suffrage address to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Beaufort in 1891, and later spoke on the subject by invitation at Lexington and in the Baptist church at Marion. She eventually succeeded in forming a State association of 250 men and women who believed in equal rights, and interested themselves in circulating literature on this question. Its officers for 1900 are Mrs. Young, president; Mrs. Mary P. Prentiss, vice-president; Miss Harriet B. Manville, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Gridley, treasurer.

In 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, and Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick of Massachusetts, made addresses at various places, on their way home from the national convention in Atlanta. In April of this year Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, Miss Helen Morris Lewis of North Carolina, and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, with Mrs. Young and Mrs. Neblett, began a suffrage campaign at Greenville. They went thence to Spartanburg, Columbia and Charleston. Here the party divided, Miss Clay and Mrs. Young going to Georgetown, Florence, Marion, Latta, Darlington, Timmonsville and Sumter. Later Mrs. Neblett, Miss Clay and Mrs. Young spoke at Allendale, Barnwell, Hampton and Beaufort.

Miss Clay, auditor of the National Association, worked four[Pg 923] months in South Carolina this year at her own expense. Half of the time was spent in Columbia, assisting Mrs. Young and others in the effort to have an amendment giving suffrage to taxpaying women incorporated in the new constitution then being framed. They had hearings before two committees in September, and presented their arguments to the entire Constitutional Convention in the State House, with a large number of citizens present. The amendment failed by a vote of 26 yeas, 121 nays.

President D. B. Johnston, of the Girls' Industrial and Normal College, and John J. McMahan, State superintendent of instruction, have done much to advance the educational status of women, and both believe in perfect equality of rights. Among other advocates may be mentioned the Hon. Walter Hazard, Dr. William J. Young, McDonald Furman, B. Odell Duncan, George Sirrene, Col. John J. Dargan, Col. Ellison Keith, the Rev. Sidi H. Brown, Col. V. P. Clayton, the Rev. John T. Morrison, Samuel G. Lawton, J. Gordon Coogler and William D. Evans, president of the State Agricultural Society.

Miss Martha Schofield, superintendent of the Colored Industrial School at Aiken, regularly enters a protest against paying taxes without representation. Other women who have been devoted workers in the cause of suffrage are Miss Mary I. Hemphill, editor with her father of the Abbeville Medium; Mesdames Marion Morgan Buckner, Daisy P. Bailey, Florence Durant Evans, Lillian D. Clayton, Gertrude D. Lido, Cora S. Lott, Abbie Christensen, Martha Corley and Mary P. Screven; Dr. Sarah Allen; Misses Claudia G. Tharin, Iva Youmans, Annie Durant, Kate Lily Blue and Floride Cunningham.

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1892 Mrs. Virginia Durant Young petitioned the Legislature for her personal enfranchisement, adopting this method of presenting the arguments in a nutshell, and as "news" they were widely published and commented on. At this session Gen. Robert R. Hemphill, a stanch advocate, presented a bill in the Senate to give women the franchise and the right of holding office, and brought it to a vote on December 17; yeas, 14, nays, 21.

In 1895 numerously signed petitions for suffrage were sent to the Legislature by the women of Fairfax, Lexington and Marion.[Pg 924] The right of petition was also frequently used by the members of the State W. C. T. U.

In 1896 Mrs. Young addressed the Legislature in behalf of Presidential Suffrage for women.

In 1892, '93, '95 and '98 the laws were improved in regard to married women's property rights, allowing them to hold real estate independently of their husbands, restraining husbands from collecting debts or wages owing to their wives, and making the wife's signature necessary to the legality of mortgage.

In 1895 was enacted by the Constitutional Convention that, "The real and personal property of a woman, held at the time of her marriage, or that which she may thereafter acquire, either by gift, grant, inheritance, devise or otherwise, shall be her separate property, and she shall have all the rights incident to the same, to which an unmarried woman or a man is entitled. She shall have the power to contract and be contracted with, in the same manner as if she were unmarried."

Dower prevails but not curtesy. If either husband or wife die without a will the other has an equal claim on the property. Should there be one or more children, the survivor receives one-third of the real and the personal estate. If there are no lineal descendants, but collateral heirs, the survivor takes one-half of the entire estate. If there are no lineal descendants, father, mother, brother, sister, child of such brother or sister, brother of the half-blood or lineal ancestor, the survivor receives two-thirds of the estate and the other third goes to the next of kin. If there is no kin, the survivor takes the whole estate.

A homestead to the value of $1,000 is exempted to "the head of the family."

South Carolina is the only State which does not allow divorce.

The father is the legal guardian of the children, and may appoint a guardian of their persons and property by will.

The law requires the husband to support the family, but there is no effective way for its enforcement. Any one may sell the wife necessaries and subject the husband's property to the payment of the bills, if he does not furnish a suitable support, but he can claim his homestead against such a debt and in many ways render this remedy unavailing.[Pg 925]

In 1895 the "age of protection for girls" was raised from 10 to 14 years. The penalty is "death, with privilege of the jury to recommend to mercy, whereupon the penalty may be reduced to imprisonment in the penitentiary at hard labor during the whole lifetime of the prisoner."

Seduction under promise of marriage is punished by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000, or imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than five years.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: In the early '90's Gov. Benjamin R. Tillman secured the election of the first woman State librarian. Ever since this office has been filled by a woman, elected annually by the Legislature. No other elective office is open to women.

A number of the engrossing clerks in the Senate are women.

Through the efforts of the W. C. T. U. there is a police matron at Charleston.

Dr. Sarah Allen was appointed physician in the State hospital for the insane in 1896, and still holds the position.

There are women directors on the board of the Columbia Library Association.

Women do not serve on the board of any State institution.

They can not be notaries public.

Occupations: Women are not permitted to practice law. No other profession or occupation is legally forbidden to them.

Education: In 1894 the State University at Columbia opened its doors to women. In the same year the Medical College of Charleston admitted them, and still later Furman University (Baptist) at Greenville. These were direct results of the agitation for equal rights. Charleston College and Clemson Agricultural College are closed to women, but they may enter the other educational institutions. Gov. Benjamin R. Tillman was largely instrumental in securing the Girls' Industrial and Normal College at Rock Hill, in 1894.

In the public schools there are 2,245 men and 2,728 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $25.18; of the women, $24.29.

### FOOTNOTES:

[434] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Virginia D. Young of Fairfax, owner and editor of the Enterprise and president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[Pg 926]

## CHAPTER LXIV.

### TENNESSEE.[435]

No organized work for woman suffrage had been done in Tennessee up to 1885, when Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon was appointed president of the State by the National Association. In 1886 she removed to Washington Territory and Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether was made her successor. As the best means of obtaining a hearing from people who would not attend a suffrage meeting, Mrs. Meriwether decided to begin her work in the ranks of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. After three years of quiet effort in this organization (of which she was State president) she succeeded in adding the "franchise" to its departments and having a solid suffrage plank nailed into its platform by unanimous vote. In May, 1889, she formed in Memphis the first local suffrage club, with a membership of fifty.

In January, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee, came to Memphis and were welcomed not only by the suffrage society, but also by the Local Council of Women, the Woman's Club and the Nineteenth Century Club. They addressed a fine audience in the Young Men's Hebrew Association Hall.

The following June Mrs. Meriwether was employed by the National Association to lecture and organize for two weeks, and visited the most important towns in the State.

In May, 1897, Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama made a six weeks' lecture and organizing tour under the auspices of the association, during which she spoke in every available town of any size, Mrs. Nellie E. Bergen acting as advance agent. No other organizing work ever has been done in Tennessee.

The first State suffrage convention was held at Nashville in[Pg 927] May, 1897, an association formed and Mrs. Meriwether unanimously elected president. This was in fact an interstate convention, being held during the Tennessee Centennial Exposition at the invitation of the managing committee, who offered the suffragists the use of the Woman's Building for three days to give reasons for the faith that was in them. Delegates were present from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi and Illinois. Addresses were given by Miss Laura Clay and Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain of Kentucky, Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton and Miss Griffin of Alabama, Miss Josephine E. Locke of Illinois, Mrs. Flora C. Huntington and Mrs. Meriwether.

The second convention took place at Memphis, April 22, 1900, Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizer, in attendance. Mrs. Meriwether was elected honorary president for life; Mrs. Elise M. Selden was made president and Miss Margaret E. Henry, corresponding secretary. On Sunday evening Mrs. Chapman Catt addressed a mass meeting in the Grand Opera House, and the next evening spoke in the audience hall of the Nineteenth Century Club, both given free of charge.

One incident will further show the growth of public sentiment in this direction. In 1895 a prominent Memphis woman sent to the Arena an article entitled The Attitude of Southern Women on the Suffrage Question, which she claimed to be that of uncompromising opposition. In conclusion she said: "The views presented have been strengthened by opinions from women all over the South, from the Atlantic Coast to Texas, from the Ohio to the Gulf. More than one hundred of the home-makers, the teachers and the writers have been consulted, all of them recognized in their own communities for earnestness and ability. Of these, only thirteen declared themselves outright for woman suffrage; four believed that women should vote upon property and school questions; while nine declined to express themselves. All the others were opposed to woman suffrage in any form." She then gave short extracts from the letters of eighteen women, four in favor and fourteen opposed.

The editor wrote to Mrs. Josephine K. Henry of Kentucky asking for an article from the other side. She sent one entitled The New Woman of the New South, and the two were published[Pg 928] in the Arena of February, 1895. Mrs. Henry gave extracts from the letters of seventy-two prominent women in various parts of the South—all uncompromising suffragists. She had written to Mrs. Meriwether that, as her opponent was from Tennessee, she wanted a distinct voice from that State, and requested her to give a few reasons for desiring the suffrage and obtain the signatures of women to the same. Mrs. Meriwether supplied the following:

> We, the undersigned women of Tennessee, do and should want the ballot because—

> 1. Being 21 years old, we object to being classed with minors.

> 2. Born in America and loyal to her institutions, we protest against being made perpetual aliens.

> 3. Costing the treasuries of our counties nothing, we protest against acknowledging the male pauper as our political superior.

> 4. Being obedient to law, we protest against the statute which classes us with the convict and makes the pardoned criminal our political superior.

> 5. Being sane, we object to being classed with the lunatic.

> 6. Possessing an average amount of intelligence, we protest against legal classification with the idiot.

> 7. We taxpayers claim the right to representation.

> 8. We married women want to own our clothes.

> 9. We married breadwinners want to own our earnings.

> 10. We mothers want an equal partnership in our children.

> 11. We educated women want the power to offset the illiterate vote of our State.

Mrs. Meriwether sent this "confession of faith" to the presidents of every suffrage club and W. C. T. U. in Tennessee, giving them a fortnight to obtain signatures and adding, "The King's business requires haste." In two weeks it was returned with the names of 535 women, while several presidents wrote: "If you could only give us two weeks more we could double the number."[436]

Legislative Actions and Laws: Dower and curtesy both obtain. The widow receives one-third of the real estate, unless there are neither descendants nor heirs-at-law, when she takes[Pg 929] it all in fee-simple. Of the personal property she takes a child's share, unless there are no lineal descendants, when she takes it all. The widower is entitled to a life interest in the wife's real estate, if there has been issue born alive, and to all of her personal estate whether there are children or not. The law provides that a homestead to the value of $1,000 shall inure to the widow.

The wife can neither sue nor be sued nor make contracts in her own name, unless the husband has deserted her or is insane. The husband is entitled to her earnings and savings.

Meigs' Digest says: "The general principle of the law is that marriage amounts to an absolute gift to the husband of all personal goods of which the wife is actually or beneficially possessed at the time, or which come to her during coverture. So that if it be money in her pocket or personal property in the hands of a third party, the title vests at once in the husband.

"By right of his marriage the husband takes an interest in his wife's real estate, and during their joint lives the law gives him a right to the crops, profits and products of her lands. He has the usufruct of all her freehold estate. The husband is entitled to the profits of all lands held by the wife for her life, or for the life of another.

"When a marriage is dissolved at the suit of the husband, and the defendant is owner in her own right of lands, his right to and interest therein and to the rents and profits of the same, shall not be taken away or impaired, but the same shall remain to him as though the marriage had continued. And he shall also be entitled to her personal estate, in possession or in action, and may sue for and recover the same in his own name.

"When the wife is forced to separate from her husband, by reason of cruel and inhuman treatment from him, she may, by a bill in equity, have a suitable provision made for her support, out of the rents and profits of her land."

The code says: "A father, whether under the age of twenty-one years, or of full age, may by deed executed in his lifetime or by last will and testament in writing, from time to time and in such manner and form as he thinks fit, dispose of the custody and tuition of any legitimate child under the age of twenty-one years and unmarried, whether born at the time of his death or[Pg 930] afterwards, during the minority of such child, or for a less time." If the father abandon the family the mother becomes guardian, but she can not appoint one by will.

No law requires the husband to support wife or children.

The legal age for marriage is fourteen years for boys and twelve for girls.

By earnest pleading and continual petitioning during the past ten years women have secured the following: 1. The passage of a bill making women eligible as superintendents of county schools. 2. Police matrons in two cities—Memphis and Knoxville. 3. A law raising the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to 16 years (1893), but if over 12 the crime is only a misdemeanor. The penalty is, if under 12, "death by hanging, or, in the discretion of the jury, imprisonment in the penitentiary for life or for a period not less than ten years;" if over 12, "imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three months nor more than ten years; provided no conviction shall be had on the unsupported testimony of the female ... or if the female is a bawd, lewd or kept female." (1895.)

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: Women are not eligible to any elective office except that of county superintendent of schools, which was provided for by special statute about 1890. They can not serve as school trustees.

For a number of years all the librarians and engrossing clerks of both Senate and House have been women. They can not act as notaries public.

Occupations: Women have engaged in the practice of law, but this was forbidden by a recent decision of the Supreme Court (1901). It was based on the ground that an attorney is a public officer, and as women are not legally entitled to hold public office they can not practice law.

Education: Degrees in law have been conferred upon several women at Vanderbilt University, for white students, and at Fiske University, for colored. All institutions of learning, except a few of a sectarian nature, are coeducational.

In the public schools there are 5,019 men and 4,195 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men (estimated) is $31.88; of the women, $26.18.

### FOOTNOTES:

[435] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether of Memphis, honorary president of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[436] Among prominent men who have aided in protective and progressive work for women are Legislators W. H. Milburn, Thomas A. Baker and Joseph Babb; Editors G. W. Armistead of the Issue, Gideon Baskette of the Nashville Banner and J. M. Keating of the Memphis Appeal; the Revs. H. S. Williams, W. B. Evans, C. H. Wilson and T. B. Putnam; Judges E. H. East and Arthur Simpson. Among women may be mentioned Mesdames E. J. Roach, Georgia Mizelle, Bettie M. Donaldson, Margaret Gardner, Emily Settle, Ida T. East, Caroline Goodlett, S. E. Dosser, A. A. Gibson, Mary T. McTeer and Kate M. Simpson; Misses Louise and Mary Drouillard, J. E. Baillett, M. L. Patterson and S. E. Hoyt. Lo! all these are of the faithful—and yet "the half hath not been told."

[Pg 931]

## CHAPTER LXV.

### TEXAS.[437]

The first addresses in favor of woman suffrage in Texas are believed to have been given by Mrs. Mariana T. Folsom in 1885. The first attempt at organization was made on May 10, 1893, when Mrs. Rebecca Henry Hayes called a meeting in the parlors of the Grand Windsor Hotel at Dallas for the purpose of forming a State association. Fifty-two names were enrolled; Mrs. Hayes was made president, Dr. Lawson Dabbs corresponding secretary, and Margaret L. Watrous, recording secretary.[438] Mrs. Sarah S. Trumbull was elected State organizer and auxiliary associations were formed in various towns. Mrs. Hayes traveled 9,000 miles in the interest of this cause during the next two years, but as Texas has 360 counties and a scattered and widely separated population, organized work is very difficult.

In 1896 Mrs. Elizabeth Good Houston became president. Mrs. Alice McAnulty served a number of years most efficiently as corresponding secretary. Dr. Grace Danforth also did effective work. Mrs. L. A. Craig presented the question to the Democratic State Convention of 1894, but without any practical result. Mrs. McAnulty and Mrs. Elizabeth Fry attended the Populist State Convention the same year, but no action was taken.

Since 1887 the State W. C. T. U. has been pledged to woman suffrage. The president, Mrs. S. C. Acheson, under whose management it was adopted, was an enthusiast upon the subject. Mrs. Fry was the first State superintendent of franchise, and, through both the W. C. T. U. and the W. S. A., has rendered valuable service. Later, Mrs. Mary E. Prendergast filled this position, distributing much literature and speaking in many[Pg 932] cities. Judge Davis McGee Prendergast became a convert before his wife and convinced her of the righteousness of woman suffrage. These two ladies are southern-born and life-long Texans.

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1891, through the efforts of the W. C. T. U., the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 12 years. In 1895 it was raised to 15 years. The penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary from not less than five years to life.

No attempt ever has been made to secure the franchise, but at this time (1895) the women learned that thirty of the legislators believed in woman suffrage, one of them declaring: "If some of these seats were occupied by women, we men would do better work."

Neither dower nor curtesy obtains. If there are any lineal descendants a surviving husband or wife is entitled to a life interest in one-third of the real estate and to one-third of the personal estate absolutely; if none, to all the personal property and a life interest in one-half the real estate. If there are neither father, mother, brothers, sisters nor their descendants, the surviving husband or wife is entitled to the whole estate, both real and personal, as to separate property.

In addition to such provision, one-half of the community property passes to the widow or widower if there are one or more children and the whole of such property if there are no lineal descendants. A widow or widower is also entitled to retain a homestead not exceeding $5,000 in value. If either husband or wife die without a will or become insane, and there are no living descendants, and the other party to the marriage has no separate estate, the community property passes to the survivor without an administration, unless there is a guardianship by the State of the insane spouse. If, however, there are descendants, the survivor has the exclusive management of the community property. A woman loses this right if she contract another marriage. In the event of the insane person being restored to a sound mental condition, an accounting of such property must be rendered.

The property which a woman owns at marriage, or acquires[Pg 933] by gift, devise or descent afterward, remains her separate estate, but passes under the absolute control of the husband, except that he can not sell it without her consent.

The wife can not sell her separate property without the husband's consent. He may sell his separate property without hers.

He may also sell the community property, except the homestead, without her consent.

The wife must sue and be sued jointly with her husband in regard to her separate property, and all other matters.

The wages of the wife belong to the husband as part of the community property, whether she is living with him or separate from him.

Divorce is granted to the husband if the wife commit a single act of adultery; to the wife, only if the husband has abandoned her and lived in adultery with another. The law places the division of the property entirely in the hands of the judge, but provides that "nothing herein contained shall be construed to compel either party to divest himself or herself of real estate." Supreme Court decisions have laid down the general rule that separate property shall be restored to its owner. Where there are no children the community property may be divided as in case of death. The court, however, may make such provision as it deems essential for the support of wife or children or an invalid husband. If necessary it may place separate or community property in the hands of trustees, the rents and profits to be applied to the maintenance and education of the children or the support of the wife. The judge assigns the children for their best interests. In general practice the mother, unless disqualified morally, retains the custody of female children of any age and of males to the age of eight, when they are usually given to the father. There is no absolute rule, and in case of children or property an appeal may be taken to a higher court.

The father is the natural guardian of the persons and education of the minor children, and is entitled to be appointed guardian of their estates.

The law of support, revised in 1895, provides that "if the husband fail to support the wife or children from the proceeds of the land she may have or fail to educate the children as the fortune[Pg 934] of the wife would justify, she may in either case complain to the County Court, which upon satisfactory proof shall decree that so much of her proceeds shall be paid to the wife for the support of herself and the education of the children as the court may deem necessary."[439]

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: Most of the public offices have some women on their clerical force, that of the comptroller having seven. They are paid the same as men for the same work.

Women were postmasters of both Senate and House in the Legislature of 1900, and acted as clerks of committees.

They can serve as notaries public.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. They practice law and medicine, are managers of many kinds of business and proprietors of hotels, and two have been presidents of banks.

Mrs. Henrietta King is widely known as "the Cattle Queen of the World." Her ranch covers a million acres, and the net proceeds of her sales of horses and cattle are estimated at $500,000 a year. A number of women own and manage ranches.

Education: Most of the leading institutions of learning are open to both sexes. Among these are the State University, Baylor University (Baptist), Southwestern University (Methodist South), Fort Worth Polytechnic (Methodist Episcopal), Trinity University (Cumberland Presbyterian) and Wiley University (colored). Austin College and the State Agricultural and Mechanical College are restricted to male students.

The State Industrial College for Girls (white) was established by the Legislature of 1900, with an appropriation of $60,000. All of the industries will be taught, from domestic science to draughting. The W. C. T. U. and others had been petitioning for this ten years.[440][Pg 935]

The Prairie View State Normal School for colored youth of both sexes has had an Industrial Department from its beginning years ago. A movement is now on foot to establish such a department as a portion of the public school system. Austin already has one, made possible by legacy, and its fine results have greatly inspired the law-makers.

One woman has served as superintendent of schools at Waco, and there are many women principals of High Schools.

There are in the public schools 7,347 men and 7,672 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $49.20; of the women, $35.50.

Practically all of the progressive steps enumerated above have been taken since 1883. When it is remembered that less than twenty years ago women were virtually ostracized if they attempted any kind of occupation outside the home, even teaching being looked upon askance, the changes seem almost miraculous.

Texas has 130 Woman's Clubs with a membership of about 3,500. With other good works they have distributed great quantities of reading matter among isolated families. They also have established forty public libraries and four traveling libraries.

### FOOTNOTES:

[437] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Helen M. Stoddard of Fort Worth, president of the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

[438] Under the direction of Dr. Dabbs a Congress of Women was held in connection with the State Fair, and a Texas Woman's Council was formed, not committed to suffrage but progressive in its views.

[439] The lawyer who was consulted as to the accuracy of these statements said, after a careful examination: "There are so many other laws bearing upon each of these that all this is necessarily imperfect, but there is enough else, that is likewise true, to fill a book."

[440] In 1901 Mrs. Helen M. Stoddard was appointed by Gov. Joseph D. Sayers a member of the committee to locate this school. The appointment was confirmed by the Senate, and the committee of twelve men elected her secretary. She received, of course, the same pay as the other members. Later three women were placed on the Board of Regents, herself among the number. [Eds.

[Pg 936]

## CHAPTER LXVI.

### UTAH.[441]

To write the history of woman suffrage in Utah one must turn backward to 1870, when the Legislature of the Territory passed a bill conferring the franchise upon women, to which acting-Governor S. A. Mann affixed his signature February 12. From that time women voted at all elections, while some of them took a practical interest in public matters and acted as delegates to political conventions and members of Territorial and county committees.

The first attempt to elect a woman to any important office was made in Salt Lake City at the county convention of 1878, when Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells was nominated for treasurer. She received the vote of the entire delegation, but the statute including the word "male" was held to debar women from holding political offices. A bill was presented to the next Legislature with petitions numerously signed asking that this word be erased from the statutes, which was passed. Gov. George W. Emory, however, refused to sign it, and though other Legislatures passed similar bills by unanimous vote, none ever received his signature or that of any succeeding governor.

In June, 1871, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony, the president and vice-president-at-large of the National Woman Suffrage Association, stopped at Salt Lake City on their way to the Pacific Coast and met many of the prominent men and women.

In 1872 the Woman's Exponent was established, and it is impossible to estimate the advantage this little paper gave to the women of this far western Territory. From its first issue it was the champion of the suffrage cause, and by exchanging with[Pg 937] women's papers of the United States and England it brought news of women in all parts of the world to those of Utah. They also were thoroughly organized in the National Woman's Relief Society, a charitable and philanthropic body which stood for reform and progress in all directions. Through such an organization it was always comparatively easy to promote any specific object or work. The Hon. George Q. Cannon, Utah's delegate in the '70's, coming from a Territory where women had the ballot, interested himself in the suffrage question before Congress. He thus became acquainted with the prominent leaders of the movement, who went to Washington every winter and who manifested much interest in the women afar off in possession of the rights which they themselves had been so long and zealously advocating without apparent results. Among these were Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker and others of national reputation.

Women were appointed as representatives from Utah by the National Suffrage Association, and the correspondence between its officers and Mrs. Wells, who had been made a member of their Advisory Committee and vice-president for the Territory, as well as the fact that the women of Utah were so progressive on the suffrage question and had sent large petitions asking for the passage of a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution to enfranchise all women, resulted in an invitation for her to attend its annual convention at Washington, in January, 1879. Mrs. Wells was accompanied by Mrs. Zina Young Williams and they were cordially welcomed by Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony. This was a valuable experience for these women, as, even though they had the right of suffrage, there was much to learn from the great leaders who had been laboring in the cause of woman's enfranchisement for more than thirty years. They were invited to address the convention, and selected with others to go before Congressional committees and the President of the United States, as well as to present important matters to the Lady of the White House. The kindness which they received from Mrs. Hayes and other noted women always will remain a pleasant memory of that first visit to the national capitol. On their return home they took up the subject of the ballot more[Pg 938] energetically in its general sense than ever before through public speaking and writing.

During the seventeen years, from 1870 to 1887, that the women of Utah enjoyed the privilege of the ballot several attempts were made to deprive them of it. In 1880 a case came before the Supreme Court of the Territory on a mandamus requiring the assessor and registrar to erase the names of Emmeline B. Wells, Maria M. Blythe and Cornelia Paddock from the registration list, also the names of all other women before a certain specified date, but the court decided in favor of the defendants.

In the spring of 1882 a convention was held to prepare a constitution and urge Congress to admit Utah as a State. Three women were elected—Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball, Mrs. Elizabeth Howard and Mrs. Wells—and took part in framing this constitution, and their work was as satisfactory as that of the male members. Although this was a new departure, it caused no friction whatever and was good political discipline for the women, especially in parliamentary law and usage.

This year another case was brought, before the Third District Court, to test the validity of the statute conferring the elective franchise upon the women of the Territory. A registrar of Salt Lake City refused to place the names of women upon the list of voters, and Mrs. Florence L. Westcott asked for a writ compelling him to administer the oath, enter her name, etc. The case was called for argument Sept. 14, 1882, Chief Justice James A. Hunter on the bench, and able lawyers were employed on both sides of the question. The decision sustained the Legislative Act of 1870 under which women voted. Associate Justice Emerson agreed with Judge Hunter, and Associate Justice Twiss acknowledged the validity of the law, but insisted that women should be taxpayers to entitle them to the right. This test case decided all others and women continued to vote until the passage of the Edmunds-Tucker Law, in March, 1887. During this period women gained much political experience in practical matters, and their association with men acquainted with affairs of State, in council and on committees gave them a still wider knowledge of the manipulation of public affairs.

In September, 1882, the National W. S. A. held a conference[Pg 939] in Omaha, Neb., and Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Zina D. H. Young attended. Miss Anthony, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, chairman of the Executive Committee, and many other distinguished women were in attendance. Mrs. Wells, as vice-president for Utah, presented an exhaustive report of the suffrage work in the Territory, which was received with a great deal of enthusiasm.

At the national convention in Washington the previous January the proposed disfranchisement of Utah women by the Edmunds Bill had been very fully discussed and a resolution adopted, that "the proposition to disfranchise the women of Utah for no cause whatever is a cruel display of the power which lies in might alone, and that this Congress has no more right to disfranchise the women of Utah than the men of Wyoming."[442] This sympathy was gratefully acknowledged by the women of the Territory.

The suffrage women throughout the various States made vigorous protests against the injustice of this pending measure. A committee appointed at the convention in Washington, in the winter of 1887, presented a memorial to the President of the United States requesting him not to sign the bills, but to veto any measure for the disfranchisement of the women of Utah.[443] Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood made an able speech before the convention on this question. There were at that time several bills before Congress to deprive Utah women of the elective franchise.

During the subsequent years of this agitation every issue of the Woman's Exponent contained burning articles, letters and editorials upon this uncalled-for and unwarranted interference with the affairs of the women of this Territory. The advocates of the rights of all women stood up boldly for those of Utah, notwithstanding the scoffs and obloquy cast upon them. It was a fierce battle of opinions and the weaker had to succumb. The strong power of Congress conquered at last, and the Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887 wrested from all the women, Gentile and[Pg 940] Mormon alike, the suffrage which they had exercised for seventeen years. Naturally they were very indignant at being arbitrarily deprived of a vested right, but were obliged to submit. They were determined, however, not to do so tamely but to teach their sons, brothers and all others the value of equal suffrage, and to use every effort in their power toward securing it whenever Statehood should be conferred.

Mrs. Arthur Brown and Mrs. Emily S. Richards were appointed to represent the Territory at the National Suffrage Convention in Washington in 1888, and were there authorized to form an association uniform with those in various States and Territories. Heretofore it had not been considered necessary to organize, as women were already in possession of the ballot.

Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, who had been lecturing on suffrage in Oregon and Washington, visited Salt Lake in September, 1888. They spoke in the theater, and on the following day a reception was tendered them in the Gardo House, where they had the opportunity of meeting socially between five and six hundred people, both Gentiles and Mormons, men and women. The same evening another large audience in the theater greeted them, and on the day succeeding at 10 a. m. there was a meeting for women only in the Assembly Hall. These meetings were held under the auspices of the Woman's Relief Society, Mrs. Zina D. H. Young, president. Though they occurred at a time when the people were suffering from indignities heaped upon them because of unjust legislation, yet a strong impression was made on those (mostly Gentiles) who never previously had been converted to suffrage.

After careful deliberation and several preliminary meetings in the office of the Woman's Exponent, a public call was made through the daily papers, signed by the most influential women of Salt Lake City, for a meeting in the Assembly Hall, Jan. 10, 1889, to organize a Territorial Suffrage Association. Mrs. Richards occupied the chair and Mrs. Lydia D. Alder was elected secretary pro tem. Prayer was offered and the old-fashioned hymn, "Know this that every soul is free," was sung by the congregation.[444] One hundred names were enrolled and Mrs.[Pg 941] Caine and Mrs. Richards were elected delegates to the National Convention. Mrs. Caine was already at the Capital with her husband, the Hon. John T. Caine, Utah's delegate in the House of Representatives. Mrs. Richards arrived in time to give a report of the new society, which was heard with much interest.

Within a few months fourteen counties had auxiliary societies. Possibly because of the former experience of the women there was very little necessity of urging these to keep up their enthusiasm. Towns and villages were soon organized auxiliary to the counties, and much good work was done in an educational way to arouse the new members to an appreciation of the ballot, and also to convince men of the benefits to be derived by all the people when women stood side by side with them and made common cause.

On April 11, three months after the Territorial Association was organized, a rousing meeting was held in the Assembly Hall, in Salt Lake City, Mrs. Alder, vice-president, in the chair. Eloquent addresses were made by Bishop O. F. Whitney, the Hon. C. W. Penrose, the Hon. George Q. Cannon, Dr. Martha P. Hughes (Cannon), Mrs. Zina D. H. Young, Mrs. Richards, Ida Snow Gibbs and Nellie R. Webber.

A largely attended meeting took place in the County Court House, Ogden City, in June, the local president, Elizabeth Stanford, in the chair. Besides brief addresses from members eloquent speeches were made by C. W. Penrose and the Hon. Lorin Farr, a veteran legislator. The women speakers of Salt Lake who had been thoroughly identified with the suffrage cause traveled through the Territory in 1889, making speeches and promoting local interests, and strong addresses were given also by distinguished men—the Hons. John T. Caine, John E. Booth, William H. King (delegate to Congress), bishops and legislators. The fact can not be controverted that the sentiment of the majority of the people of Utah always has been in favor of equal suffrage.

At the annual meeting, held in the Social Hall, Salt Lake City, in 1890, Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball, a woman of great executive ability, was elected president.[445][Pg 942]

In 1890 Mrs. Kimball and Maria Y. Dougall went as delegates to the National Convention and reached Washington in time to be present at the banquet given in honor of Miss Anthony's seventieth birthday. In Mrs. Kimball's report she stated that there were 300 paid-up members of the Territorial Association exclusive of the sixteen county organizations.

During 1890 the women worked unceasingly, obtaining new members and keeping up a vigorous campaign all the year round. Meetings were held in the most remote towns, and even the farmer's wife far away in some mountain nook did her part toward securing the suffrage.

On July 23, 1890, the day Wyoming celebrated her Statehood, the Suffrage Association of Utah assembled in Liberty Park, Salt Lake City, to rejoice in the good fortune of Wyoming women. The fine old trees were decorated with flags and bunting and martial music resounded through the park; speeches rich with independent thought were made by the foremost ladies, and a telegram of greeting was sent to Mrs. Amalia Post at Cheyenne.

Conventions were held yearly in Salt Lake City, with the best speakers among men and women, and the counties represented by delegates. Many classes in civil government also were formed throughout the Territory.

At the National Convention in Washington, in February, 1891, there were present from Utah ten representatives, and the number of paid-up members entitled the delegates to twenty votes, the largest number of any State except New York.

On Feb. 15, 1892, the association celebrated Susan B. Anthony's birthday in one of the largest halls in Salt Lake City, handsomely decorated and the Stars and Stripes waving over the pictures of Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony. Several members of the Legislature took part in the exercises, which were entirely of a suffrage character. A telegram was received from Miss Anthony which said, "Greetings, dear friends: that your citizens' right to vote may soon be secured is the prayer of your co-worker." A message of love and appreciation was returned.[Pg 943]

On July 29, 1892, a grand rally in the interest of suffrage was held in American Fork, attended by the leaders from Salt Lake City and other parts of the Territory. Ladies wore the yellow ribbon and many gentlemen the sunflower; the visitors were met at the station with carriages and horses decorated in yellow, and bands of music were in attendance. Mrs. Hannah Lapish, the local president, had charge, a fine banquet was spread, and the entire day was a grand feast of suffrage sentiment. C. W. Penrose was the orator.

During 1892 Mrs. Wells traveled in California and Idaho, and wherever she went, in season and out of season, spoke a good word for the cause, often where women never had given the subject a thought, or had considered it brazen and unwomanly. The annual convention in October was an enthusiastic one, but the real work of the women during that year was for the Columbian Exposition, though a suffrage song book was published and much literature circulated, not only in Utah but broadcast throughout the West; and Mrs. Richards did some work in Southern Idaho.

In some striking respects 1893 was a woman's year, and much was done to advance the suffrage cause indirectly. The association gave a large garden party in Salt Lake, with addresses by Mrs. Minnie J. Snow, Mrs. Julia P. M. Farnsworth and the Hon. George Q. Cannon.

At the annual convention Mrs. Wells was elected president, Mrs. Richards vice-president, and they continued in office during the time of the struggle to obtain an equal suffrage clause in the State constitution. Mrs. Wells made personal visits throughout the Territory, urging the women to stand firm for the franchise and encourage the men who were likely to take part in the work toward Statehood to uphold the rights of the women who had helped to build up the country, as well as those who since then had been born in this goodly land, reminding them that their fathers had given women suffrage a quarter of a century before.

In February, 1894, Mrs. Wells called an assembly of citizens for the purpose of arousing a greater interest in a Statehood which should include equal rights for women as well as men. The audience was a large one of representative people. They[Pg 944] sang Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic and also America, and brilliant addresses were made by the Hon. John E. Booth, the Hon. Samuel W. Richards, Dr. Richard A. Hasbrouck, a famous orator formerly of Ohio, Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon, Mrs. Zina D. H. Young and Mrs. Lucy A. Clark. As a result of this gathering parlor meetings were held in various parts of the city, arousing much serious thought upon the question, as the Territory was now on the verge of Statehood.

On July 16 President Grover Cleveland signed the enabling act and the Woman's Exponent chronicled the event with words of patriotic ardor, urging the women to stand by their guns and not allow the framers of the constitution to take any action whereby they might be defrauded of their sacred rights to equality. Miss Anthony's message was quoted, "Let it be the best basis for a State ever engrossed on parchment;" and never did the faith of its editor waver in the belief that this would be done.

From this time unremitting work was carried on by the women in all directions; every effort possible was made to secure a convention of men who would frame a constitution without sex distinction, and to provide that the woman suffrage article should be included in the document itself and not be submitted separately.

At the annual convention in October, 1894, a cordial resolution was unanimously adopted thanking the two political parties for having inserted in their platforms a plank approving suffrage for women.

The November election was most exciting. Women all over the Territory worked energetically to elect such delegates to the convention as would place equal suffrage in the constitution.

After the election, when the battle was in progress, women labored tactfully and industriously; they tried by every means to educate and convert the general public, circulated suffrage literature among neighbors and friends and in the most remote corners, for they knew well that even after the constitution was adopted by the convention it must be voted on by all the men of the Territory.

In January, 1895, the president, Mrs. Wells, went to Atlanta to the National Convention, accompanied by Mrs. Marilla M.[Pg 945] Daniels and Mrs. Aurelia S. Rogers. In her report she stated that the women of Utah had not allied themselves with either party but labored assiduously with both Republicans and Democrats. In closing she said: "There are two good reasons why our women should have the ballot apart from the general reasons why all women should have it—first, because the franchise was given to them by the Territorial Legislature and they exercised it seventeen years, never abusing the privilege, and it was taken away from them by Congress without any cause assigned except that it was a political measure; second, there are undoubtedly more women in Utah who own their homes and pay taxes than in any other State with the same number of inhabitants, and Congress has, by its enactments in the past, virtually made many of these women heads of families."

A convention was held February 18 in the Probate Court room of the Salt Lake City and County building. Delegates came from far and near. Mrs. Wells presided, and vice-presidents were Mrs. Richards, Mrs. C. W. Bennett; secretary, Mrs. Nellie Little; assistant secretary, Mrs. Augusta W. Grant; chaplain, Mrs. Zina D. H. Young. A committee was appointed by the Chair to prepare a memorial for the convention,[446] and stirring speeches were made by delegates from the various counties.

In the afternoon as many of the ladies as could gain admittance went into another hall in the same building, where the Constitutional Convention was in session, and where already some members had begun to oppose woman suffrage in the constitution proper and to suggest it as an amendment to be voted upon separately. The Hon. F. S. Richards, a prominent member, presented their memorial, which closed with the following paragraph: "We therefore ask you to provide in the constitution that the rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex, but that male and female citizens of the State shall equally enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges." This was signed by Emeline B. Wells, president Woman Suffrage Association; Emily S. Richards, vice-president; Zina D. H. Young,[Pg 946] president National Woman's Relief Society; Jane S. Richards, vice-president, and all the county presidents.

The next morning a hearing was granted to the ladies before the Suffrage Committee. Carefully prepared papers were read by Mesdames Richards, Carlton, Cannon, Milton, Pardee and Pratt. Mrs. Wells spoke last, without notes, stating pertinent facts and appealing for justice.

There was much debate, pro and con, in the convention after this time, and open and fair discussions of the question in Committee of the Whole. The majority report was as follows:

> Resolved, That the rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this State shall equally enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.

The minority report submitted later was too weak and flimsy to be considered.

The women addressed a cordial letter of appreciation and thanks to the committee who had so nobly stood by their cause.[447] Having secured this favorable report the women had not supposed it would be necessary to continue their efforts, and it would not have been except for a faction led by Brigham H. Roberts who actively worked against the adoption of this article by the delegates.[448] Numerously signed petitions for woman suffrage from all parts of the Territory were at once sent to the convention.

On the morning of April 8 the section on equal suffrage which had passed its third reading was brought up for consideration, as had been previously decided. The hall was crowded to suffocation, but as the debate was limited to fifteen minutes it was soon disposed of without much argument from either side. The vote of the convention was 75 ayes, 6 noes, 12 absent. Every member afterwards signed the constitution.[Pg 947]

On May 12, Miss Anthony and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the National Association, arrived, as promised, to hold a suffrage conference. They were accompanied by Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford and Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Colorado. The conference met in the hall where the Constitutional Convention had adjourned a few days before. Mrs. Wells presided and Gov. Caleb W. West introduced Miss Anthony, assuring his audience it was a distinguished honor, and declaring that the new State constitution which included woman suffrage would be carried at the coming election by an overwhelming majority. Miss Anthony responded in a most acceptable manner. Governor West also introduced Miss Shaw who made an eloquent address. Mrs. Bradford and Mrs. Meredith were formally presented and welcome was extended by Mesdames Zina D. H. Young, W. Ferry, B. W. Smith, J. Milton, C. E. Allen, M. I. Home, E. B. Ferguson and the Hon. J. R. Murdock, a pioneer suffragist and member of the late convention.

The same afternoon a reception was given in honor of the ladies at the handsome residence of the Hon. F. S. and Mrs. Richards, attended by over three hundred guests, including State officials, officers and ladies from the military post, and many people of distinction. The conference lasted two days, with large audiences, and the newspapers published glowing accounts of the proceedings and the enthusiasm. Many social courtesies were extended.

Miss Anthony and her party held meetings in Ogden and were honored in every possible way, the Hon. Franklin D. Richards and his wife and the Hon. D. H. Peery being among the entertainers there.

The question soon arose whether women should vote on the adoption of the constitution at the coming November election. The commission which had been appointed by the U. S. Government to superintend affairs in Utah, decided at their June meeting to submit the matter to the Attorney-General. There was considerable agitation by the public press; some newspapers favored the women's voting and others thought its legality would be questioned and thus the admission to Statehood would be hindered.[Pg 948] The women generally were willing to abide by the highest judicial authority.

A test case was brought before the District Court in Ogden, August 10. The court room was crowded with attorneys and prominent citizens to hear the decision of Judge H. W. Smith, which was that women should register and vote. The case was then carried to the Supreme Court of the Territory and the decision given August 31. Chief Justice Samuel A. Merritt stated that Judge G. W. Bartch and himself had reached the conclusion that the Edmunds-Tucker Law had not been repealed and would remain effective till Statehood was achieved, and that he would file a written opinion reversing the judgment of the lower court. Judge William H. King, the other member, dissented and declared that "the disfranchisement of the women at this election he regarded as a wrong and an outrage."

The opinion of the Supreme Court could not be ignored and therefore the women citizens acquiesced with the best grace possible. Unremitting and effective work continued to be done by the suffrage association, although the foremost women soon affiliated with the respective parties and began regular duty in election matters. The leaders went through the Territory urging women everywhere to look after the interests of the election and see that men voted right on the constitution, which was not only of great importance to them and their posterity but to all women throughout the land.

LAURA M. JOHNS. |  | MARY J. COGGESHALL.
Salina, Kan. |  | Des Moines, Iowa.
EMMELINE S. WELLS,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
MARY SMITH HAYWARD. |  | JULIA B. NELSON.
Chadron, Neb. |  | Red Wing, Minn.

Women attended conventions, were members of political committees and worked faithfully for the election of the men who had been nominated at the Territorial Convention. A few women also had been placed on the tickets—Mrs. Emma McVicker for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mrs. Lillie Pardee for the Senate, and Mrs. E. B. Wells for the House of Representatives, on the Republican ticket, and it was held that although women were not allowed to vote, they might be voted for by men. But finally, so many fears were entertained lest the success of the ticket should be imperiled that the women were induced to withdraw. Mrs. Wells' name remained until the last, but the party continuing to insist, she very reluctantly yielded, informing the committee that she did it under protest. On Nov. 5, 1895,[Pg 949] the Republican party carried the election by a large majority; the constitution was adopted by 28,618 ayes, 2,687 noes, and Full Suffrage was conferred on women.

President Cleveland signed the constitution of Utah, Jan. 4, 1896, and the inaugural ceremonies were held in the great tabernacle in Salt Lake City, January 6, "Utah completing the trinity of true Republics at the summit of the Rockies." Gov. Heber M. Wells took the oath administered by Chief Justice Charles S. Zane, and at a given signal the booming of artillery was heard from Capitol Hill. Secretary-of-State Hammond read the Governor's first proclamation convening the Legislature at 3 o'clock that day. Mrs. Pardee was elected clerk of the Senate and entered upon the duties of the office at the opening session, signing the credentials of the U. S. Senators—the first case of the kind on record. C. E. Allen had been elected representative to Congress, and the Legislature at once selected Frank J. Cannon and Arthur Brown as United States Senators.

At the National Suffrage Convention in Washington, the evening of January 27 was devoted to welcoming Utah. Representative Allen and wife were on the platform. The Rev. Miss Shaw tendered the welcome of the association. Senator Cannon, who had just arrived in the city, responded declaring that woman was the power needed to reform politics. Mrs. Allen and Mrs. S. A. Boyer spoke of the courage and persistence of the women, and Mrs. Richards gave a graphic account of the faithful work done by the Utah Suffrage Association.

In January, 1897, Mrs. Wells attended the National Convention in Des Moines, Iowa, and described the first year's accomplishments to an appreciative audience.

On Oct. 30, 1899, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the National organization committee, and Miss Mary G. Hay, secretary, came to Salt Lake City on the homeward way from Montana, and a meeting was held in the office of the Woman's Exponent, Mrs. Wells in the chair and about twenty-five ladies present, all ardent suffragists. After due deliberation a committee was appointed, Mrs. Richards, chairman, Mrs. J. Fewson Smith, secretary, to work for suffrage in other States, especially Arizona. Subsequently this committee organized properly,[Pg 950] adopted the name Utah Council of Women, and did all in their power to raise means and carry on the proposed work, and dues were sent to the national treasury.

In February, 1900, Mrs. Richards, president, and Mrs. Lucy A. Clark, delegate, went to Washington and took part in the National Convention and the celebration of Miss Anthony's eightieth birthday. On this occasion the Utah Silk Commission presented to her a handsome black silk dress pattern, which possessed an especial value from the fact that the raising of the silk worms, the spinning of the thread and all the work connected with its manufacture except the weaving was done by women.

During this year the Council of Women worked assiduously to make a creditable exhibit at the national suffrage bazar, Mrs. Mary T. Gilmer having personal charge of it in New York City.

LAWS: Dower and curtesy are abolished. The law reserves for the widow one-third of all the real property possessed by the husband free from his debts, but the value of such portion of the homestead as is set apart for her shall be deducted from this share. If either husband or wife die without a will leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one, the survivor takes one-half the real estate; if there are more than one or issue of one living, then one-third. If there is issue the survivor has one-half the personal estate. If none he or she is entitled to all the real and personal estate if not over $5,000 in value, exclusive of debts and expenses. Of all over that amount the survivor receives one-half and the parents of the deceased the other half in equal shares; if not living it goes to the brothers and sisters and their heirs.

Also the widow or widower is entitled to one-half the community property subject to community debts, and if there is no will, to the other half provided there are no children living.

A homestead not exceeding $2,000 in value and $250 additional for each minor child, together with all the personal property exempt from execution, shall be wholly exempt from the payment of the debts of decedent, and shall be the absolute property of the surviving husband or wife and minor children. This section shall not be construed to prevent the disposition by will of the homestead and exempt personal property.[Pg 951]

A married woman has absolute control over her separate property and may mortgage or convey it or dispose of it by will without the husband's consent. The husband has the same right, but in conveying real estate which is community property, the wife's signature is necessary.

A married woman may engage in business in her own name and "her earnings, wages and savings become her separate estate without any express gift or contract of the husband, when she is permitted to receive and retain them and to loan and invest them in her own name and for her own benefit, and they are exempt from execution for her husband's debts." (1894.)

A married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued in her own name.

The father is the legal guardian of the children, and at his death the mother. The survivor may appoint a guardian.

Support for the wife may be granted by the court the same as alimony in divorce, if the husband have property in the State. If not there is no punishment for non-support. (1896.)

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 13 years in 1888, and to 18 years in 1896. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five years.

Suffrage: The Territorial Legislature conferred the Full Suffrage on women in 1870, and they exercised it very generally until 1887 when they were deprived of it by Congress through what is known as the Edmunds-Tucker Act. Utah entered the Union in 1896 with Full Suffrage for women as an article of the State constitution.

That they exercise this privilege quite as extensively as men is shown by the following table prepared from the election statistics of 1900. It is not customary to make separate returns of the women's votes and these were obtained through the courtesy of Governor Wells, who, at the request of the Utah Council of Women, wrote personal letters to the county officials to secure them. Eleven of the more remote counties did not respond but those having the largest population did so, and, judging from previous statistics, the others would not change the proportion of the vote.[Pg 952]

Counties. | Registered. | Voted.
Men. | Women. | Total. | Men. | Women. | Total.
Salt Lake | 14,083 | 13,328 | 27,411 | 13,102 | 12,802 | 25,904
Utah | 5,921 | 5,922 | 11,843 | 5,649 | 5,650 | 11,299
Cache | 3,112 | 3,210 | 6,322 | 2,946 | 3,085 | 6,031
Box Elder | 1,759 | 1,548 | 3,307 | 1,677 | 1,466 | 3,143
Davis | 1,175 | 1,327 | 2,502 | 1,133 | 1,277 | 2,410
Carbon | 986 | 511 | 1,497 | 937 | 477 | 1,414
Uintah | 851 | 683 | 1,534 | 796 | 622 | 1,418
Iron | 743 | 672 | 1,415 | 708 | 646 | 1,354
Washington | 690 | 752 | 1,442 | 690 | 752 | 1,442
Piute | 409 | 264 | 673 | 399 | 246 | 645
Morgan | 408 | 387 | 795 | 398 | 378 | 775
Rich | 404 | 289 | 693 | 398 | 286 | 684
Wayne | 342 | 302 | 644 | 318 | 309 | 627
Grand | 285 | 135 | 420 | 263 | 129 | 392
Kane | 280 | 341 | 621 | 219 | 285 | 504
San Juan | 123 | 61 | 184 | 106 | 56 | 162
| 31,571 | 29,732 | 61,313 | 29,738 | 28,486 | 58,198

Total registration of men | 31,571
" vote " " | 29,738
Registered but not voting | 1,833
Total registration of women | 29,732
" vote " " | 28,486
Registered but not voting | 1,246

It will be seen that in five counties the registration and vote of women was larger than that of men, and in the State a considerably larger proportion of women than of men who registered voted. Women cast nearly 50 per cent. of the entire vote and yet the U. S. Census of this year showed that males comprised over 51 per cent. of the population.

All of the testimony which is given in the chapters on Wyoming, Colorado and Idaho might be duplicated for Utah. From Mormon and Gentile alike, from the press, from the highest officials, from all who represent the best interests of the State, it is unanimously in favor of suffrage for women. The evidence proves beyond dispute that they use it judiciously and conscientiously, that it has tended to the benefit of themselves and their homes, and that political conditions have been distinctly improved.[449]

Office Holding: Governor Heber M. Wells at once carried into effect the spirit of the constitution, adopted in 1895, by appointing[Pg 953] women on all State boards of public institutions where it was wise and possible. Two out of five places on the Board of the Deaf and Dumb Institute were given to women, Harriet F. Emerson and Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon.

The first Legislature, 1896, passed "An act for the establishment of sericulture" (raising of silk worms). Women had worked energetically to secure this measure, and it was appropriate that five of them, three Republican and two Democratic, should be appointed as a silk commission, Zina D. H. Young, Isabella E. Bennett, Margaret A. Caine, Ann C. Woodbury and Mary A. Cazier. Each was required to give a thousand-dollar bond. A later Legislature appropriated $1,000 per annum to pay the secretary.

Two women were appointed on the Board of Regents of the State University, Mrs. Emma J. McVicker, Republican and Gentile; Mrs. Rebecca E. Little, Democrat and Mormon. Both are still serving. Two were appointed Regents of the Agricultural College, Mrs. Sarah B. Goodwin and Mrs. Emily S. Richards.

At the close of the Legislature the Republican State Central Committee was reorganized; Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells was made vice-chairman, Miss Julia Farnsworth, secretary. The Democratic party was quite as liberal toward women and the feeling prevailed that at the next election women would be placed in various State and county offices. There were many women delegates in the county and also in the State conventions of both parties in 1896, and a number of women were nominated.

It was a Democratic victory and the women on that ticket were elected—Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon to the Senate, Eurithe Le Barthe and Sarah A. Anderson to the House; Margaret A. Caine, auditor of Salt Lake County; Ellen Jakeman, treasurer Utah County; Delilah K. Olson, recorder Millard County; Fannie Graehl (Rep.), recorder Box Elder County, and possibly some others.

In the Legislature of 1897, Mrs. Le Barthe introduced a bill forbidding women to wear large hats in places of public entertainment, which was passed. Dr. Cannon championed the measure by which a State Board of Health was created, and was appointed by the Governor as one of its first members. She had[Pg 954] part in the defeat of the strong lobby that sought to abolish the existing State Board of Public Examiners, which prevents incompetents from practicing medicine. She introduced a bill compelling the State to educate the deaf, mute and blind; another requiring seats for women employes; what was known as the Medical Bill, by which all the sanitary measures of the State are regulated and put in operation; and another providing for the erection of a hospital for the State School of the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, carrying with it the necessary appropriation. All the bills introduced or championed by Dr. Cannon became laws. She served on the Committees on Public Health, Apportionment, Fish and Game, Banks and Banking, Education, Labor, etc.

At the close of their second term the Senate presented her with a handsome silver-mounted album containing the autographs of all the Senators and employes. She had drawn what is known as the long term, and at its close she was chosen to present a handsome gavel to the president of the Senate in behalf of the members. Thus far she has been the only woman Senator.

In 1899 Mrs. Alice Merrill Horne (Dem.), the third woman elected to the House, was appointed chairman of the State University Land Site Committee, to which was referred the bill authorizing the State to take advantage of the congressional land grant offered for expending $301,000 in buildings and providing for the removal of the State University to the new site. At a jubilee in recognition of the gift, held by the faculty and students, at which the Governor and Legislature were guests, Mrs. Horne was the only woman to make a speech and was introduced by President Joseph T. Kingsbury in most flattering terms for the work she had done in behalf of education. She championed the Free Scholarship Bill giving one hundred annual Normal School appointments, each for a term of four years; and one creating a State Institute of Art for the encouragement of the fine arts and for art in public school education and in manufactures, for an annual exhibition, a course of lectures and a State art collection, both of which passed. She was a member of committees on Art, Education, Rules and Insane Asylum; was the only member sent to visit the State Insane Asylum, going by direction of the Speaker of the House, as a committee of one, to surprise[Pg 955] the superintendent and report actual conditions. Mrs. Horne was presented with a photographed group of the members of the House, herself the only woman in the picture.

The November election of 1900 was fraught with great interest to the women, as the State officials were to be elected as well as the Legislature, and they were anxious that there should be some women's names on the tickets for both the House and Senate, and that a woman should be nominated for State Superintendent of Public Instruction by both parties. For this office the Republican and the Democratic women presented candidates,—Mrs. Emma J. McVicker and Miss Ada Faust,—but both conventions gave the nomination to men. Meantime Dr. John R. Park, the superintendent, died suddenly and Gov. Wells appointed Mrs. McVicker as his successor for the unfinished term.

Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, of Washington, D. C. was sent to Utah by the Republican National Committee, and with Mrs. W. F. Boynton and others, made a spirited and successful campaign.

There never has been any scramble for office on the part of women, and here, as in the other States where they have the suffrage, there is but little disposition on the part of men to divide with them the "positions of emolument and trust." Only one woman was nominated for a State office in 1900, Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen for the Legislature, and she was defeated with the rest of the Democratic ticket. All of the women who have served in the Legislature have been elected by the Democrats.

Several women were elected to important city and county offices. In many of these offices more women than men are employed as deputies and clerks.

In 1900 Mrs. W. H. Jones was sent as delegate to the National Republican Convention in Philadelphia, and Mrs. Elizabeth Cohen to the Democratic in Kansas City, and both served throughout the sessions. This is the first instance of the kind on record, although women were sent as alternates from Wyoming to the National Republican Convention at Minneapolis in 1888.

Women are exempted from sitting on juries, the same as editors, lawyers and ministers, but they are not excluded if they wish to serve or the persons on trial desire them. None has thus far been summoned.[Pg 956]

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women except that of working in mines.

Education: All of the higher institutions of learning are open to both sexes. In the public schools there are 527 men and 892 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $61.42; of the women, $41.19.

Women in Utah always have been conspicuous in organized work. The National Woman's Relief Society was established at Nauvoo, Ills., in 1842, and transferred to Salt Lake City in 1848. It is one of the oldest associations of women in the United States—the oldest perhaps of any considerable size. It has over 30,000 members and is one of the valuable institutions of the State. The National Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association has 21,700 members and in 1900 raised $3,000 partly for building purposes and partly to help the needy.[450] There are also a State Council of Women, Daughters of the Pioneers, Daughters of the Revolution, Council of Jewish Women, etc. Thirty-three clubs belong to the National Federation but this by no means includes all of them.

### FOOTNOTES:

[441] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells of Salt Lake City, editor of the Woman's Exponent, and president of the Territorial Association during the campaign when Full Suffrage was secured. Valuable assistance has been rendered by Mrs. Emily S. Richards of that city, vice-president during the same period.

[442] Committee: Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, Virginia L. Minor of St. Louis, Harriet R. Shattuck of Boston, May Wright Sewall of Indianapolis and Ellen H. Sheldon of Washington, D. C.

[443] Committee: Lillie Devereux Blake, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Caroline Gilkey Rogers and Mary Seymour Howell, of New York; Clara B. Colby, Nebraska; Sarah T. Miller, Maryland; Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Illinois; Harriet R. Shattuck, Massachusetts, and Louisa Southworth, Ohio.

[444] The officers elected were: President, Margaret N. Caine; vice-presidents, Lydia D. Alder, Nellie R. Webber, Priscilla J. Riter; secretary, Cornelia N. Clayton; corresponding secretary, Charlotte I. Kirby; treasurer, Margie Dwyer; executive committee, Maria V. Dougall, Nettie Y. Snell, Ann E. Groesbeck, Phoebe Y. Beatie and Jennie Rowe.

[445] Vice-presidents, Mrs. Richards, Ann D. Groesbeck and Caroline E. Dye; recording secretary, Rachel Edwards; corresponding secretary, Julia C. Taylor; treasurer, Margie Dwyer; executive committee, Cornelia H. Clayton, Margaret Mitchell, Nellie Little, Theresa Hills and May Talmage.

[446] Mesdames Richards, Young, Bennett, G. S. Carlton, J. S. Gilmer, Romania B. Pratt, Phebe Y. Beatie, Amelia F. Young, Martha H. Cannon, C. E. Allen, Emma McVicker, Ruth M. Fox, Priscilla Jennings, Lillie Pardee and Martha Parsons.

[447] Hon. J. F. Chidester, chairman; A. S. Anderson, Joseph E. Robinson, Parley Christianson, Peter Lowe, James D. Murdock, Chester Call, Andreas Engberg, A. H. Raleigh, William Howard, F. A. Hammond, S. R. Thurman. In addition to this committee those who sustained the women and pleaded their cause were Messrs. Richards, Whitney, Evans, Cannon, Murdock, Rich, Hart, Ivins, Snow, Robinson, Allen, Miller, Farr, Preston, Maeser and Wells. There were others, but these were the foremost.

[448] Mr. Roberts was elected to Congress on the Democratic ticket in 1900, although strenuously opposed by the women of Utah, irrespective of politics, but largely owing to the vigorous protests of the women of the whole United States, he was not permitted to take his seat. [Eds.

[449] See Appendix—Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.

[450] In 1889 Mrs. Susa Young Gates established the Young Woman's Journal, a monthly magazine, as the organ of this association, although it was for eight years financially a private enterprise. The president, Mrs. Elmina S. Taylor, was her constant help and inspiration. The first year Mrs. Lucy B. Young, mother of the editor, then past sixty, took her buggy and traveled over Utah explaining the venture and securing subscriptions. Two thousand numbers a year were published. Of late years the business managers have been women. In 1897 Mrs. Gates made over the magazine to the association without any consideration, but was retained as editor. There were at this time practically no debts and 7,000 subscribers, which later were increased to 10,000.

[Pg 957]

## CHAPTER LXVII.

### VERMONT.[451]

Much credit is due to the New England Woman Suffrage Association for the life and efficiency of the Vermont society. In 1883 this organization secured the services of Mrs. Hannah Tracy Cutler of Illinois for a series of lectures. At the close of these, and pursuant to a call signed by twenty-five citizens, a convention was held at St. Johnsbury, November 8, 9, when, with the aid of Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, editors of the Woman's Journal, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe of Massachusetts, and Mrs. Cutler, the State W. S. A. was formed.[452]

In over seventy towns and villages local committees have been appointed to distribute literature, circulate petitions and further the general plans of work. For the past two years the editors have been supplied with suffrage papers weekly or fortnightly.

Lecture trips have been arranged for the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana, the Rev. Ada C. Bowles, the Rev. Louis A. Banks, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Miss Diana Hirschler, Miss Ida M. Buxton, of Massachusetts, and Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden. Eighty appointments have been filled by Miss Mary N. Chase, A. B. Thirty conventions have been held at which valuable aid has been rendered by Mr. and Miss Blackwell, Miss Shaw, Mrs. Howe, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee.[453][Pg 958]

Legislative Action and Laws: Harvey Howes of West Haven was the only man in a convention called to amend the State constitution in 1870, who voted to grant full political rights to women; 233 voted in opposition.

To secure to taxpaying women the right of Municipal Suffrage, has been the special line of legislative work for the State association. Petitions asking for this, with signatures varying in number from 1,225 to 3,616, and bills to grant it, have been presented in both Houses of the Legislature at nine biennial sessions, beginning with 1884. In every instance save one these have been referred to the Judiciary Committees.

In 1884 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced into the House by O. E. Butterfield and supported by himself and Messrs. Adams, Henry, Stickney and others, but was lost by 69 yeas, 113 nays.

In 1886 a bill to permit all women to vote who paid taxes was introduced and strongly advocated in the House by Luke P. Poland. It was amended without his consent to require that they should pay taxes on $200 worth of property, and passed by 139 yeas, 89 nays. In the Senate it was championed by Messrs. Bates, Blake, Bunker, Clark, Cushing, Foster, Pierce, Smith, Stanley and Swain, but was lost by 10 yeas, 18 nays.

In 1888 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced into the House by C. P. Marsh, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, that gave a hearing at which the State W. S. A. was represented. Later, at a public hearing in Representatives' Hall, Henry B. Blackwell, Prof. W. H. Carruth of Kansas, Col. Albert Clarke, Mrs. Mary W. Foster and Miss Laura Moore urged the passage of this bill. It was reported to the House "without expression of opinion." The friendly members on the committee were Messrs. Marsh, Ballard and Mann. In the debate which followed, these three, with Messrs. Southworth and Dole, supported the bill; and a letter was read from Amasa Scott, presenting arguments in its favor. It was lost by 38 yeas, 192 nays.

Still later in this session a petition signed by the officers of the[Pg 959] State association asking that "property owned by women be exempt from taxation," was presented in the House; as was also a bill by Hosea Mann providing that, "The property, both real and personal, owned by women shall be exempt from taxation, except for school purposes." This was defeated without debate.

In 1890 a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced into the House by Mr. Mann and favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee, with reasons given "why the bill ought to pass," signed by Messrs. Thompson, Darling, Enright, Mann, Robinson and Smith of St. Albans. It was advocated by them, Smith of Royalton and others, but was lost by 99 yeas, 113 nays.

During this session a bill to incorporate the Vermont W. S. A., was introduced into the Senate by S. E. Grout. It was favorably reported from the General Committee, but was refused passage without debate by 8 yeas, 10 nays.

In 1892 Wendell Phillips Stafford introduced the Municipal Suffrage Bill into the House; it was made a special order and was championed by Messrs. Stafford, Booth, Darling, Enright, Martin, Taylor, Weston and others, and was passed by 149 yeas, 83 nays. When it reached the Senate it was reported from the Judiciary Committee with a weighty amendment, and a third reading was refused by 18 yeas, 10 nays.

At this session Gov. Levi K. Fuller in his address, under the heading of Municipal Suffrage, called attention to this question and advised "giving the matter such consideration as in your judgment it may warrant."

In 1894 the bill was introduced again into the House by Hosea Mann, who advocated and voted for this measure in four sessions of the Legislature. Four members of the Judiciary Committee were favorable—Messrs. Ladd, Lord, Lawrence and Stone. Its champions were Messrs. Mann, Burbank, Bridgeman, Butterfield, Fuller, Peck, Paddock, Smith of Morristown, Vance and others. It was defeated by 106 yeas, 108 nays.

In 1896, for the first time, a Municipal Suffrage Bill was introduced into the Senate, by Joseph B. Holton. It was reported favorably by the committee; ordered to a third reading with only one opposing voice; advocated by Messrs. Holton, Hulburd, Merrifield and Weeks, and passed without a negative vote. When[Pg 960] the bill reached the House it was reported from the Judiciary Committee "without recommendation." It was supported by Speaker Lord, Messrs. Bates, Bunker, Childs, Clark, Haskins, McClary and others, but a third reading was refused by 89 yeas, 135 nays.

In 1898 petitions for Municipal Suffrage signed by 2,506 citizens were presented to the Legislature and a bill was introduced into the House by E. A. Smith. This was reported by an unfriendly chairman of the Judiciary Committee at a time when its author was not present, and was lost without the courtesy of a discussion.

In 1900, petitions for Municipal Suffrage for Women Taxpayers were presented to the Senate; a bill was introduced by H. C. Royce, and at a hearing granted by the Judiciary Committee Henry B. Blackwell, L. F. Wilbur, the Hon. W. A. Lord and Mrs. E. M. Denny gave arguments for it. Adverse majority and favorable minority reports were presented by the committee. By request of Messrs. Royce and Brown, the bill was made a special order, when it was advocated by Messrs. Royce and Leland; but a third reading was refused by 13 yeas, 15 nays. Later in this session, a petition signed by the officers of the State W. S. A., asking that "women, who are taxpayers, be exempt from taxation, save for school purposes," was presented to the Senate. This was, by the presiding officer, referred to the Committee on the Insane.

The names of all members voting for suffrage bills have been preserved by the State association. The names of the opponents pass into oblivion with no regrets.

In 1900 a bill was presented, for the second time, by the Federation of Clubs, providing for women on the boards of State institutions where women or children are confined, but it was killed in committee.

In 1884 the law granting to married women the right to own and control their separate property and the power to make contracts, was secured through the efforts of the Hon. Henry C. Ide, now United States Commissioner in the Philippines. Since 1888 their wages have belonged to them.

Dower and curtesy were abolished by the Legislature of 1896.[Pg 961] Where there are no children the widow or the widower takes in the estate of the deceased $2,000 and one-half of the remainder, the other half going to the relatives of the deceased. If there are children, the widow takes absolutely one-third of the husband's real estate (homestead of the value of $500 included) and one-third of his personal property after payment of debts; the widower takes one-third of the wife's real estate absolutely, but does not share in her personal property.

The Court of Chancery may authorize a wife to convey her separate property without the signature of her husband. The husband can mortgage or convey all his separate property without the wife's signature, except her homestead right of $500.

The law equalizing the division of property to the fathers and mothers of children dying without wills, was secured by Representative T. A. Chase in 1894.

Senator O. M. Barber, now State auditor, was the author, in the same year, of the law allowing a married woman to be appointed executor, guardian, administrator or trustee.

The father is the legal guardian and has custody of the persons and education of minor children. He may appoint by will a guardian even for one unborn. (Code, 1894.)

If the husband fail to support his wife the court may make such decision as it thinks called for, and the town may recover from a husband who deserted his wife and children, leaving them a charge upon it for one year previous to the time of action.

A married woman deserted or neglected by her husband "may make contracts for the labor of her minor children, shall be entitled to their wages, and may in her own name sue for and recover them."

In 1886 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years. In 1898 it was raised to 16 years. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than twenty years or a fine not exceeding $2,000, or both, at the discretion of the court. No minimum penalty is named.

Suffrage: Women have the same right as men to vote on all questions pertaining to schools and school officers in cities, towns and graded school districts; and the same right to hold offices relating to school affairs. This law, which had been enacted[Pg 962] in 1880 and applied to "school meetings," was re-enacted when the "town system" was established in 1892, and gave women the right to vote on school matters in the town meetings.

Office Holding: Since 1880 "women 21 years of age" may be elected to the office of town clerk, and to all school offices.

In 1900 thirteen women were elected town clerks; six were serving as school directors, eighty-four as county superintendents and seventy-five as postmasters, according to the Vermont Register, which is not always complete.

Women sit on the State Board of Library Commissioners. In 1900 they were made eligible to serve as trustees of town libraries.

This year also a law making women eligible to the office of notary public was secured by Representative J. E. Buxton.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: Equal advantages are accorded to both sexes in all the colleges, except that the State University, at Burlington, does not admit women to its Medical Department.

In 1888, Dr. E. R. Campbell, president of the society, reported as follows: "The Vermont Medical Society opens wide its doors to admit women, and bids them welcome to all its privileges and honors, on an equal basis with their brother physicians."

In the public schools there are 509 men and 3,289 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $41.23; of the women, $25.04.

Progressive steps have been taken in the churches of most denominations. In 1892, for the first time, women were elected as delegates to the annual State Convention of the Congregational Churches. In 1900 there were fifteen accredited women delegates in the convention. The Domestic Missionary Society, an ally of this church, has employed sixteen women during the past year as "missionaries," to engage in evangelistic work in the State.

The Vermont Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, although it does not admit women to its membership, has passed resolutions five times in the last ten years, indorsing equal rights, and has petitioned the Legislature to grant them Municipal Suffrage.[Pg 963] For this credit is due to the Rev. George L. Story and the Rev. L. L. Beeman.

The Free Baptist Church passed a resolution declaring unequivocally for the Christian principle of political equality for women at its Yearly Meeting in 1889. That year, for the first time in its history, it sent a woman delegate to the General Conference.

A similar resolution was passed at a meeting of the Northern Association of Universalists, later in the same year. This church admits women to equal privileges in its conventions and its pulpits. This is also true of the Unitarian Church.

The annual meeting of the State Grange in 1891 adopted this resolution: "We sympathize with and will aid any efforts for equal suffrage regardless of sex."

All the political parties have been urged to indorse woman suffrage. The Prohibitionists did so in their annual convention of 1888. At the Republican State Convention that year the Committee on Resolutions, through its chairman, Col. Albert Clarke, presented the following, which was adopted: "True to its impulses, history and traditions of liberty, equality and progress, the Republican party in Vermont will welcome women to an equal participation in government, whenever they give earnest of desire in sufficient numbers to indicate its success."

### FOOTNOTES:

[451] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Laura Moore of Barnet, who has been secretary of the State Woman Suffrage Association for seventeen years.

[452] The following have been presidents: Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden, C. W. Wyman, Mrs. M. E. Tucker, the Hon. Hosea Mann, Willard Chase, Mrs. A. D. Chandler, L. F. Wilbur, Mrs. P. S. Beeman, the Rev. George L. Story, Miss Elizabeth Colley, A. M.

Among those who have served on the executive board are Mesdames L. E. Alfred, A. F. Baldwin, F. W. Brown, A. M. W. Chase, E. L. Corwin, C. J. Clark, L. D. Dyer, P. R. Edes, M. W. Foster, C. D. Gallup, S. F. Leonard, Emma J. Nelson and Julia A. Pierce; Misses Clara Eastman, O. M. Lawrence, Laura Moore, Julia E. Smith and Mary E. Spencer; the Hon. Chester Pierce, Col. Albert Clarke, Dudley P. Hall and G. W. Seaver.

[453] Some of those who have rendered excellent service to the cause are Mesdames Clara Bailey, Lucia G. Brown, M. A. Brewster, Inez E. Campbell, H. G. Minot, G. E. Moody, Harriet S. Moore, Emily E. Reed, Clinton Smith, Mary H. Semple, Anna E. Spencer, L. B. Wilson and Jane Marlette Taft; Misses Caroline Scott, Eliza S. Eaton and I. E. Moody; the Rev. Mark Atwood, L. N. Chandler, Editor Arthur F. Stone and ex-Gov. Carroll S. Page.

[Pg 964]

## CHAPTER LXVIII.

### VIRGINIA.

As early as 1870 and 1871 Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage of New York and Mrs. Paulina Wright Davis of Rhode Island lectured on woman suffrage in Richmond. There has been, however, very little organized effort in its behalf, although the movement has many individual advocates. Since 1880 the State has been represented at the national conventions by Mrs. Orra Langhorne, who has been its most active worker for twenty years. Other names which appear at intervals are Miss Etta Grimes Farrar, Miss Brill and Miss Henderson Dangerfield. A few local societies have been formed, and in 1893 a State Association was organized, with Mrs. Langhorne as president and Mrs. Elizabeth B. Dodge as secretary and treasurer. Its efforts have been confined chiefly to discovering the friends of the movement, distributing literature and securing favorable matter in the newspapers. The Richmond Star is especially mentioned as a champion of the enfranchisement of women. In 1895 Miss Anthony, president of the National Association, on her way home from its convention in Atlanta, addressed a large audience at the opera house in Culpeper. Later this year Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine spoke in the same place. Mrs. Ruth D. Havens of Washington, D. C., lectured on The Girls of the Future before the State Teachers' Normal Institute.

Legislative Action and Laws: Petitions have been sent to the Legislature from time to time, by the State association and by individuals for woman suffrage with educational qualifications, the opening of State colleges to women, the appointment of women physicians in the prisons and insane asylums, women on school boards, proper accommodations in jails for women prisoners and the separation of juvenile offenders from the old and hardened. None of these ever has been acted upon.[Pg 965]

In 1898 a bill to permit women to serve as notaries public was vetoed by the Governor as unconstitutional.

Dower and curtesy both obtain. The wife inherits a life interest in one-third of the real estate. If there are children she has one-third of the personal property absolutely; if none, one-half. The husband inherits all of the wife's personal property whether there are children or not, and the entire real estate for life if there has been issue born alive. If this has not been the case he has no interest in the wife's separate real estate. The homestead, to the value of $2,000, is exempted for the wife.

By Act of 1900, a married woman may dispose as though unmarried of all property heretofore or hereafter acquired. She can sell her personal property without her husband's uniting. He has the same right. She can sell her land without his uniting, but unless he does so, if curtesy exist, he will be entitled to a life estate. Unless the wife unites with the husband in the sale of his real estate, she will be entitled to dower.

By the above Act a married woman may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, in the same manner and with the same consequences as if she were unmarried, whether the right or liability asserted by or against her accrued before or after the passage of the act. The husband is not responsible for any contract, liability or tort of the wife, whether the liability was incurred or the tort was committed before or after marriage.

There has been no decision as to the wages of a married woman since the above Act; but it is believed they would be held to belong to her absolutely, even if not engaged in business as a sole trader.

The father is the legal guardian of the minor children, and may appoint a guardian for such time as he pleases.

The husband is liable for necessaries for the support of the family, and can be sued therefor by any one who supplies them.

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 14 years in 1896. The penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five nor more than twenty years.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: No offices are filled by women except that there is one physician at the Western Insane Asylum and,[Pg 966] through the efforts of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, a matron in the woman's ward of the State prison.

Women are employed as clerks in various county offices. They can not serve as notaries public.

Occupations: Under the ruling of the courts, a woman can not practice law. No other profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: For the higher education the women of Virginia must go outside of their State.[454] The State Superintendent of Free Schools and the Secretary of the State Board of Education both express great regret at this fact, and the hope that all institutions of learning will soon be opened to them. Secretary Frank P. Brent says:

> We have as yet no women acting as school superintendents or members of school boards, but I feel sure the Constitutional Convention will make women eligible to one or both of these positions.

> Last year I had the honor to decide that in matters pertaining to the educational affairs of this State, the wife may be regarded as the head of the family, although the husband is living; and this decision has just been reaffirmed by the United States Court of Appeals.[455]

Women are admitted to several of the smaller colleges. The Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, and the Woman's College at Lynchburgh, both under the same presidency, rank well among institutions for women only. Miss Celestia C. Parrish is vice-president. Hampton Institute, for negroes and Indians, is co-educational.

The public schools make no distinction of sex. There are 2,909 men and 5,927 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $32.09; of the women, $26.39.

### FOOTNOTES:

[454] The State Universities are closed to women only in Virginia, Georgia and Louisiana, and the undergraduate departments in North Carolina.

[455] The decision of the court was "When an intelligent, active, industrious, frugal woman finds she has married a man who, instead of coming up to the standard of a husband, is a mere dependent ... and leaves to her the support of the family, it would be contradictory of fact and an absurd construction of the law to say that he, and not she, is the head of the family."

This is believed to be the first legal decision of the kind and has created wide discussion.

[Pg 967]

## CHAPTER LXIX.

### WASHINGTON.[456]

The history of woman suffrage in Washington begins with the passage of a bill by the Legislature, giving women the full rights of the ballot on the same terms as men, which was approved Nov. 23, 1883, by the Territorial Governor, William A. Newell. This was due principally to the efforts of a few individuals, both men and women, as there was no organization.[457]

The municipal elections of the following spring brought the first opportunity to exercise the newly-acquired right. The women evinced their appreciation of it by casting 8,368 ballots out of the whole number of 34,000, and the leading papers testified to the widespread acknowledgment of the strength and moral uplift of their vote.

The general election of November, 1884, naturally showed a larger vote by both men and women, the latter casting 12,000 out of the 48,000 ballots. It was estimated at this time that there were less than one-third as many women as men in the Territory. When the scattered population, the long distances and the difficulties of travel are taken into consideration it must be admitted that women took the largest possible advantage of the recently granted privileges.

For the next two years they continued to use the franchise with unabated zeal, and newspapers and public speakers were unanimous in their approval. In a number of instances the official returns, during the three-and-a-half years they possessed the suffrage, exhibited a larger percentage of women voting than of men. Chief Justice Roger S. Greene of the Supreme Court estimated that at the last election before they were disfranchised four-fifths of all the women in the Territory went to the polls.

Many women have remarked upon the increased respect and[Pg 968] courtesy of the men during this period. Mrs. Elizabeth Matthews, who removed from New Orleans to Port Townsend in 1885, states that, although accustomed from babyhood to the deferential gallantry of the men of the South, she never had dreamed that any women in the world were receiving such respectful consideration as she found in Washington Territory at that time. The political parties realized the necessity of putting their best men to the front, and it was fully conceded that ethics had become a factor in politics.

Prior to the Legislature of 1886 some discussion arose as to the constitutionality of the Equal Suffrage Law, and, in order to remove all doubt, a strengthening Act was passed, which was approved by Gov. Watson C. Squire, November 29.

On Feb. 3, 1887, the case of Harlan vs. Washington came before the Territorial Supreme Court. Harlan had been convicted of carrying on a swindling game by a jury composed of both men and women, and he contested the verdict on the ground that women were not legal voters. The Supreme Court, whose personnel had been entirely changed through a new Presidential administration, decided that the law conferring the elective franchise upon them was void because it had not been fully described in its title. This decision also rendered void nineteen other laws which had been enacted under the same conditions.

The members of the next Legislature had been elected so long before the rendering of this decision that their seats could not be contested; and as their election had been by both men and women they were determined to re-establish the law which the Supreme Court had ruthlessly overthrown. Therefore the Equal Suffrage Law was re-enacted, perfectly titled and worded, and was approved by Gov. Eugene Semple, Jan. 18, 1888.

The members of a convention to prepare a State constitution were soon to be chosen, and the opponents of woman suffrage were most anxious to have the question considered by the Supreme Court before the election of the delegates. They arranged that the judges of the spring municipal election in a certain precinct should refuse to accept the vote of a Mrs. Nevada Bloomer, the wife of a saloon-keeper and herself an avowed opponent of woman suffrage. This was done on April 3, and she brought[Pg 969] suit against them. The case was rushed through, and on August 14 the Supreme Court decided that the Act of January 18 was invalid, as a Territorial Legislature had no right to enfranchise women, and that in consequence the Equal Suffrage Law was void. The Judges responsible for this decision were Associate Justices George Turner and William G. Langford.

The very Act of Congress which organized the Territory of Washington stated explicitly that, at elections subsequent to the first, all persons should be allowed to vote upon whom the Territorial Legislature might confer the elective franchise.

By the organic act under which all the Territories were formed women had been voting in Wyoming since 1869 and in Utah since 1870. The arbitrary disfranchisement of the women of the latter by Congress in 1887 demonstrated that this body did have supreme control over suffrage in the Territories, and therefore unimpeachable power to authorize their Legislatures to confer it on women, as had been done by that of Washington. There never was a more unconstitutional decision than that of this Territorial Supreme Court. Congress should have refused to admit the Territory until women had voted for delegates to the constitutional convention and on the constitution itself.[458]

Without doubt the Supreme Court of the United States would have reversed the decision of the Territorial Court, but Mrs. Bloomer refused to allow the case to be appealed, and no one else had authority to do so.

As the women were thus illegally restrained from voting for delegates, the opponents of their enfranchisement were enabled to elect a convention with a majority sufficient to prevent a woman suffrage clause in the constitution for Statehood.

Henry B. Blackwell, corresponding secretary of the American W. S. A., came from Massachusetts to assist in securing such a clause. After a long discussion as to whether he should be permitted to address the convention, both sides agreed that the delegates should be invited to hear him in Tacoma Hall. His address was highly praised even by newspapers and persons opposed to equal suffrage. Four days later, with Judge Orange[Pg 970] J. Jacobs and Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, he was granted a hearing before the Suffrage Committee of the convention.

The question of incorporating woman suffrage in the new State constitution was debated at intervals from Aug. 9 to 15, 1889. The fight for the measure was led by Edward Eldridge and W. S. Bush. In a long and able argument Mr. Eldridge reviewed the recent decision of the Supreme Court and made an eloquent plea for justice to women. Substitutes granting to women Municipal Suffrage, School Suffrage, the right to hold office, the privilege of voting on the constitution, all were defeated. Finally a compromise was forced by which it was agreed to submit a separate amendment giving them Full Suffrage, to be voted on at the same time as the rest of the constitution, women themselves not being allowed to vote upon it.[459]

Only two-and-a-half months remained before election, the women were practically unorganized, there were few speakers, no money, and the towns were widely scattered. Miss Matilda Hindman of Pennsylvania and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, D. C., editor of the Woman's Tribune, came on and canvassed the State. Both were effective speakers and they received as much local assistance as possible, but all the money and influence which could be commanded by the disreputable element that had suffered from the woman's vote were brought to bear against the amendment, and its defeat was inevitable.

The constitution was adopted Nov. 5, 1889, the woman suffrage amendment receiving 16,521 ayes, 35,913 noes; an adverse majority of 19,392.

In 1890 the first State Legislature conferred School Suffrage on women to the extent of voting for trustees and directors.

The political campaign of 1896 was one in which reform of all kinds was unusually in evidence. Three women sat as delegates in the State Fusion Convention at Ellensburg. Mrs. Laura E. Peters, president of the suffrage club at Port Angeles, was a Populist delegate and was chosen a member of the Platform Committee. Through her efforts a suffrage plank was inserted in the platform of that branch of the convention.

The president of the State Suffrage Association, Mrs. Homer[Pg 971] M. Hill, said in her official report: "The People's Party was composed of Silver Republicans, Populists and Democrats. At the State convention these met in separate sessions. The Democrats voted down a resolution demanding that the Committee on Platform bring in a report favoring the amendment. The Silver Republicans passed one 'commending the action of the Free Silver party in presenting to the people the proposed amendment to the constitution.' The Populists inserted in their platform a plank declaring that 'direct legislation without equal suffrage would be government by but one-half of the people,' and unequivocally favored the amendment.

"Although each of these three parties had its own platform, the combination formed the People's Party and made its fight upon one composed of eleven planks, or articles of faith, to which all three agreed, but equal suffrage was not one of them. Therefore the so-called union platform, minus suffrage, was the one generally published and used as the basis of the campaign speeches. Because of this no speaker of the People's Party was obliged to mention the amendment, and it was avoided as an issue in the campaign; the State Central Committee permitted each speaker to say what he pleased personally, but he was not allowed to commit the party or to urge men to vote for it. Nearly every one, however, advocated equal suffrage.

"The Republicans, in convention at Tacoma, adopted the following: 'Firmly believing in the principle of equal rights to all and special privileges to none, we recommend to the voters of the State a careful consideration of the proposed constitutional amendment granting equal suffrage;' and this always was published as part of the platform. A few of the leading Republican orators advocated the amendment and none spoke against it. Its defeat is commonly attributed to the fact that 20,000 of the People's party did not vote upon it, and that the Republicans passed the word a short time before election to vote against it.

"Mrs. W. Winslow Crannell, who was sent out by the Albany (N. Y.) Anti-Suffrage Association, did not hold a meeting of women or a public meeting in the State. She conferred with men whom the anti-suffrage representative, Alfred Downing of[Pg 972] Seattle, already knew, and her coming tended to arouse the loyal support of the suffragists.

"The Prohibition party gave official indorsement. The Social Democratic party and the Socialist Labor party both inserted suffrage planks in their platforms. The latter claims 9,000 votes in the State."

The Fusion party was everywhere successful and the Legislature of 1897 was composed of reform elements. Mrs. Peters had charge of the Equal Suffrage Bill, which was introduced on the first day of the session by the Hon. J. P. de Mattos, and proposed to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause. This passed the House on February 4 by 54 ayes, 15 noes. The bill was amended in the Senate and was strongly supported by Joseph Hill and W. V. Rinehart. The amended bill passed the Senate on February 25 by 23 ayes, 11 noes, and was returned to the House.

Here it reached a vote March 11, the last day before the close of the session, only through Mrs. Peters' slipping up to Speaker Charles E. Cline's desk and whispering to him to recognize L. E. Rader, who wished to present it. As the Speaker was a staunch suffragist he did so. The bill passed by 54 ayes, 15 noes, and was sent back for the signature of the President of the Senate and then returned to the House for the Speaker to sign. Mrs. Peters thus relates what happened after he had done so:

> By the merest accident, Senator Thomas Miller, a friend, obeyed an impression to examine the bill to see if it were all right, when lo and behold! he discovered that the true bill had been stolen during the short recess and an absolutely worthless bill engrossed and signed. Senator Miller at once made the fraud public and Speaker Cline tore his signature from the bill. On Thursday morning, the last day, a certified copy of the true bill was sent to the House, where it was ratified and returned to the Senate. I then requested the President of the Senate to make me a special messenger to take the bill to the Governor for his signature. As I happened to hold the peculiar position of having voted (at the State convention) for both those gentlemen, and as I had taken pains to remind them of that fact, and as both the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor were suffragists, I found no difficulty in having my request granted. I said that the bill had been delayed, deformed, pigeon-holed and stolen, and I would not feel safe until it was made law by the Governor's signature.

> I was duly sworn in as special messenger, and very proudly carried[Pg 973] the bill to the office, where Gov. John R. Rogers affixed his signature to it and declared it law.

The history of the campaign which followed, as condensed by the president, Mrs. Hill, shows that active work did not begin until the convention held at Seattle in January, 1898. The executive committee was called together after its adjournment and the situation thoroughly canvassed. A resolution which welcomed work for the amendment by other societies under their own auspices was unanimously passed, as it was realized that there was not time in which to bring all suffragists into line under one management. Money was scarce and hard to obtain, and public attention was divided between the Spanish-American War and the gold excitement in Alaska. The association at once turned its attention to the obtaining of funds, the securing of the favorable attitude of the press and the formal indorsement of the amendment by other organizations.

Clubs were formed in wards and precincts to hold meetings, assist the State association financially, distribute literature and circulate a petition for signatures of women only, asking that the voters cast their ballots for the proposed amendment. It was impossible to prosecute the petition work thoroughly throughout the State, but the largest cities—Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and Olympia—with many country precincts, both east and west of the mountains, were very satisfactorily canvassed. It was found that over 88 per cent. of all the women asked to sign the petition did so. The rest were divided between the indifferent and those positively opposed. No one received a salary for services. Less than $500 was collected, and $5.47 remained in the treasury, after every bill was paid, the day before election.

The State association issued 5,000 pieces of literature of its own, a booklet of thirty pages containing testimonials from leading citizens of the four Free States—Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho. Early in the campaign Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, sent 62,200 pieces. Henry B. Blackwell, editor of the Woman's Journal, shortly before the election forwarded from Boston 500 pieces to each of the thirty-four counties in Washington. This literature no doubt helped to swell the vote for the amendment.[Pg 974]

Forty country newspapers were regularly sent free to State headquarters; the city papers at half-rates. The press was courteous in every instance, and either advocated equal suffrage, kept silence or opened its columns to both sides. The Seattle Daily Times strongly favored it.

The Christian Church Convention, which met in Tacoma early in the campaign, gave hearty indorsement to the amendment. The M. E. Church Conference followed at the same place with a vote of 27 ayes, 26 noes; the Congregational Convention at Snohomish with one dissenting vote. Presbyterian and other ministers throughout the State quietly gave their support. The ministerial associations of Seattle each received a committee from the E. S. A. One of the members of the Ministers' Association of Spokane read a paper on Equal Suffrage, which was interestingly discussed, showing eight in favor, three opposed and one doubtful. The Christian Endeavorers at their convention in Walla Walla passed a resolution calling attention to the approaching election, and asking for the intelligent consideration of the amendment; eight of the trustees were in favor of recommending active work in local societies, but because the sentiment was not more nearly unanimous no action was taken. The Independent Order of Good Templars and the Prohibition party indorsed the amendment. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union lent a helping hand judiciously. All demands and arguments were non-sectarian and non-political, being based upon the claims of justice as the only tenable ground on which to stand.

Many of the most self-sacrificing workers came from the liberal and free-thought societies, which are generally favorable to equal rights. The Western Central Labor Union of Seattle extended courtesies to the E. S. A. and kept suffrage literature in its reading-room. The Freemen's Labor Journal of Spokane, State organ of the trades unions, supported the amendment. Single Taxers, as a rule, voted for it. The State Grange in convention formally indorsed it and promised support.[460]

On Nov. 5, 1898, the amendment was voted upon, receiving 20,658 yeas, 30,540 nays; majority opposed, 9,882. As in 1889,[Pg 975] the adverse majority was 19,392, a clear gain was shown of 9,510 in nine years.

In 1899 a bill was prepared for the State association by Judge J. W. Langley, amending the constitution so that whenever an amendment giving the right of suffrage to women should be submitted to the people, the women themselves should be permitted to vote upon it. John W. Pratt introduced the bill in the House, but it was referred to the Committee on Constitutional Revision and not reported. Near the close of the session Mr. Pratt brought it up on the floor of the House. A motion to postpone it indefinitely was immediately made and, practically without discussion, was carried by almost a unanimous vote.

Organization: For twelve years before the women of Washington were enfranchised, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon was in the habit of canvassing the Territory in behalf of woman suffrage, traveling by rail, stage, steamer and on foot, and where she found halls and churches closed against her, speaking in hotel offices and even bar-rooms, and always circulating her paper the New Northwest. The Legislature recognized her services by a resolution in 1886, when accepting her picture, The Coronation of Womanhood. There was not during all this time any regularly organized suffrage association. When in the summer of 1888 the women of the Territory saw the franchise taken away from them by decision of the Supreme Court, a number of local societies were formed and soon banded themselves into an association of which the Hon. Edward Eldridge was president until his death in 1892. Afterward A. H. Stewart was made president, Mrs. Laura E. Peters, vice-president, and Mrs. Bessie Isaacs Savage, secretary. Mrs. Zerelda N. McCoy was president of the Olympia Club, and Mrs. P. C. Hale, treasurer.

On Jan. 21, 22, 1895, the first delegate convention was held in Olympia, and a State Equal Suffrage Association formally organized. Mrs. Savage was elected president; Mrs. Clara E. Sylvester, vice-president; Mrs. Lou Jackson Longmire, secretary; Mrs. Ella Stork, treasurer. In April a special meeting was held in Seattle and the State was divided into six districts for organization and other work, as it was evident there would soon be another amendment campaign.[Pg 976]

The second convention was held in Seattle, Jan. 29, 30, 1896, with the Hon. Orange J. Jacobs as the principal speaker.

Throughout 1897 the efforts of the suffragists were directed toward securing a resolution from the Legislature for the submission of an amendment, and no convention was held.

In January, 1898, the State association again met in Seattle. Mrs. Homer M. Hill was elected president; Mrs. Peters, vice-president; Miss Martha E. Pike, secretary; Mrs. Savage, treasurer.

The management of the exposition held in Seattle for three weeks in October, kindly accorded space to the Red Cross, Equal Suffrage Association, W. C. T. U., Kindergarten and City Federation of Women's Clubs. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, with Miss Mary G. Hay, paid Washington a visit during this month. She spoke in the first M. E. Church at Seattle to a large audience, and the Woman's Century Club tendered her a reception. At Tacoma the Woman's Study Club arranged a lecture for her in the Tacoma Hotel parlors, which was well attended by representative people. Mrs. Emma C. McCully made the preparations for her at Ellensburg, and Mrs. Lida M. Ashenfelter bore the expense of the meeting at Spokane.

In December, 1899, the State Teachers' Association passed a resolution strongly indorsing equal suffrage. The Mental Science Convention took similar action.

Since the defeat of the amendment in 1898 no State conventions have been held. During 1900 the corresponding secretary, Miss Pike, visited many towns and conferred with representative women in reference to again taking up the work; while the president, Mrs. Hill, endeavored to secure the interest and indorsement of the various political parties.

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1886 the Legislature amended the Homestead Law and gave to widows possession of the homestead, wearing apparel and household furniture of their deceased husbands, and the right to comply with the legal provisions for securing homesteads in case the husbands had not done so; it further declared that the homestead should be inviolate from executions for the payment of debts, either individual or community; it amended the community property law, giving[Pg 977] husband and wife equal rights in the testamentary disposition of it. It also enabled married women to act as administrators.

In 1890 the Legislature conferred School Suffrage upon women. The act was approved by Gov. E. P. Terry on March 27. The same Legislature passed a bill requiring employers to provide seats for their female employes, and enacted that all avenues of employment should be open to women. It amended the community property law so that husband or wife could prevent the sale of his or her interest.

In 1891 a bill was passed which made a woman punishable for the crime of arson, even though the property set fire to might belong to her husband.

The Legislature of 1893 appropriated $5,000 for the Woman's Department of the State at the World's Fair in Chicago. A bill passed this year provided matrons for jails in cities of 10,000 or more inhabitants. The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 12 to 16 years. Unfortunately the title of this bill was omitted and in compiling the code it was excluded, but the Supreme Court afterward legalized the action of the Legislature.

In 1899 the age was raised to 18 years. This was accomplished through the efforts of the W. C. T. U., under the management of Misses Mary L. and Emma E. Page. The penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for life or "for any term of years." No minimum penalty is given. Deceit or fraud may be considered force.

Married women were granted the right to act as executors of wills in 1899.

Dower and curtesy are abolished. The testamentary rights of husband and wife are the same in regard to their separate property. If either die without a will, leaving only one child, or the lawful issue of one, the widow or widower takes half the real estate. If there is more than one child living, or one child and lawful issue of one or more children deceased, the widow or widower takes one-third of the real estate. If there is no descendant living the survivor receives one-half the real estate, unless there is neither father, mother, brother nor sister of the decedent living, when he or she takes all of it. The surviving husband or[Pg 978] wife has one-half the personal property if there is issue living, otherwise all of it, after the debts are paid.

The old Spanish law in regard to community property obtains. While each retains control of his or her separate estate, the control of the community property is vested absolutely in the husband. This includes all acquired after marriage by the joint or separate efforts of either; lands acquired under the homestead laws; lands purchased with money derived from profits or loans of the wife's separate estate; lands purchased by her with money saved from household expenses; and the court has held that even her earnings outside the home are community property unless she is living apart from her husband. The husband can not convey this without the wife's signature, and he can not dispose of more than one-half of it by will. Upon the death of either husband or wife one-half of the community property descends to the survivor, and the other half is subject to testamentary disposition. If there is no will the survivor takes half and the heirs of the deceased half; if there are none he or she takes the whole. The survivor has the preference in the right of administration.

A married woman may make contracts and sue and be sued in her own name. Husband and wife can not enter into business partnerships with each other.

By an act of 1879 father and mother were given equal guardianship of the children, and in case of the death of either the guardianship passed to the survivor. But in 1896 the Legislature enacted that the father might appoint by will a guardian of both persons and estates of minor children to the exclusion of the mother.

The same Legislature passed a law making the expenses of the family and education of the children chargeable upon the property of both husband and wife, or either of them, and provided that in relation thereto they might be sued jointly or separately.

Suffrage: Since 1890 women may vote for school trustees, bonds and appropriations on the same terms as men, but can not vote for State or county superintendents.

Office Holding: In the fall of 1894 Miss Ella Guptil was elected superintendent of schools for Clallam County. Her right[Pg 979] to hold the office was contested by her opponent, C. E. Russell. Miss Guptil asked the following Legislature to make her position definite, and in February, 1895, a bill was passed and approved by Gov. John H. McGraw which removed all doubt, and she assumed the office.

At the present time (1900) there are seven women county superintendents. Women may sit on the school boards of all cities and towns. They are not eligible to any other elective office.

In 1897-98 Mrs. Carrie Shaw Rice served as a member of the State Board of Education. Women do not sit on other boards.

The law requires women matrons in the jails of all cities of 10,000 inhabitants and upwards, but not at police stations.

Women are employed in subordinate capacities in various State and municipal offices. They are also librarians in many places.

They can not serve as notaries public.

Occupations: It was enacted by the Legislature of 1890 that: "Hereafter in this State every avenue of employment shall be open to women; and any business, vocation, profession and calling followed and pursued by men may be followed and pursued by women, and no person shall be disqualified from engaging in or pursuing any business, vocation, profession, calling or employment on account of sex: Provided, That this section shall not be so construed as to permit women to hold public office."

Education: All of the educational institutions are open to both sexes alike.

In the public schools there are 1,033 men and 2,288 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $42.13; of the women, $34.53.

### FOOTNOTES:

[456] The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Miss Martha E. Pike of Seattle, corresponding secretary of the State Equal Suffrage Association.

[457] See History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 776.

[458] For further information see Appendix for Washington.

[459] For addresses and other proceedings see the Woman's Tribune, Oct. 5, 1889, and the following numbers.

[460] That practically all of the best elements in the State favored this amendment, and yet it was defeated, shows how thoroughly the disreputable classes controlled politics.

[Pg 980]

## CHAPTER LXX.

### WEST VIRGINIA.[461]

In 1867 Samuel Young introduced into the Senate of West Virginia a bill to confer the suffrage on educated, taxpaying women, but it found no advocates except himself. In 1869 he presented a resolution asking Congress for a Sixteenth Amendment to enfranchise women, which received the votes of eight of the twenty-two senators.

No further step ever was taken in this direction until the spring of 1895, when Mrs. Annie L. Diggs of Kansas was sent into the State by the National Woman Suffrage Association but reported that the question was too new to make any organization possible. In the fall Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizer, arranged a two weeks' series of meetings with the Rev. Henrietta G. Moore of Ohio as speaker, and several clubs were formed in the northern part of the State. A convention was called to meet in Grafton, November 25, 26, when an association was formed and the following board of officers was elected: President, Mrs. Jessie C. Manley; vice-president, Harvey W. Harmer; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Annie Caldwell Boyd; recording secretary, Mrs. L. M. Fay; treasurer, Mrs. K. H. De Woody; auditors, Mrs. M. Caswell and Mrs. Louise Harden.

The second convention was held at Fairmont in January, 1897, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, assisting. Everything was so new that her presence and instruction were an inspiration and a help, without which it is doubtful whether the work would have continued. Officers were elected as follows: President. Mrs. Fannie J. Wheat; vice-president, Mrs. Mackie M. Holbert; recording secretary, Mrs. Beulah Boyd Ritchie; auditors, Mrs. Mary Long[Pg 981] Parson and Mrs. Mary Butcher; member national executive committee, Mrs. Mary H. Grove. The corresponding secretary and the treasurer were re-elected.

In April, 1898, the annual meeting was held at Wheeling, in the Carroll Club Auditorium. Mrs. Chapman Catt and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, made addresses each afternoon and evening, and both filled the pulpit of the large Methodist Church on Sunday. All the officers were re-elected except the treasurer, who was succeeded by Miss J. B. Wilson.

The next convention took place at Fairmont in the fall of 1899, Mrs. Chapman Catt again assisting to make it a success. The officers elected were: President, Mrs. Ritchie; vice-president, Mr. Harmer; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Boyd; recording secretary, Miss Clara Reinheimer; treasurer, Mrs. Holbert; auditors, Mrs. Georgia G. Clayton and Mrs. Belle McKinney; member national executive committee, Mrs. Wheat; press superintendent, Mrs. Manley.

Prior to 1895, the subject of the enfranchisement of women was practically unknown in West Virginia, but now there is no part of the State in which the injustice and ignominy of their disfranchisement has not been brought to the mind and conscience of the voters.

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1897 the Legislature appointed a committee to draw up a new State constitution, and the suffragists presented to it a petition, signed by about 600 leading men and women, asking that the word "male" be omitted from the suffrage clause. Individual appeals were made and literature sent to each member of the committee. Many signatures for the petition were obtained at the State Fair, held in Wheeling, where room for a suffrage booth in the Manufacturer's Building was given by the president of the board, Anton Reymann, while every other foot of space was rented out at a large price. The booth was decorated with portraits of the leaders, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and made as attractive as possible.

In 1899 the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw addressed a joint session of both Houses of the Legislature in behalf of the enfranchisement[Pg 982] of women. Her expenses were paid by the Fairmont suffrage club.[462] The lecture was a decided success, many members of the Legislature expressing themselves as favorable to the cause she advocated. The clause striking out the word "male" was not, however, reported from the committee, and the whole matter of a new constitution eventually was dropped.[463]

By an Act of 1891, no child under 12 years of age, of either sex, can be employed in any mine, factory or workshop.

By an Act of 1893 a married woman may carry on business in her own name, and her earnings and all property, real and personal, purchased by her with the proceeds of such earnings, is in all cases her sole and separate property and not subject to the control or disposal of her husband or liable for his debts. By another act of this year a married woman may sue and be sued in any court in her own name.

By an Act of 1895, a married woman may appoint an attorney in fact to execute any deed or other writing.

By an Act of 1899 employers are required to provide seats for female employes.

Dower and curtesy both obtain. The widower has a life interest in all his wife's real estate, whether they have had children or not. The widow has a life interest in one-third of her husband's real estate, if there are children living. If there are neither descendants nor kindred, the entire real estate of a husband or wife dying without a will goes to the survivor. If there are children living, the widow or widower has one-third of the personal property, and all of it if there are none. A homestead to the value of $1,000 is exempted for either.[Pg 983]

If a child die possessed of property and without descendants or a will the father is heir to all of it; if he is dead, the mother inherits only an equal share with each of the remaining children. If both parents and all brothers and sisters are dead, the grandfather is the sole heir; he failing the grandmother shares equally with her surviving children.

The husband can convey his separate property without his wife's signature. The wife can not sell or encumber her separate property without her husband's consent.

The father is the legal guardian of the minor children. If a widow remarry the guardianship of the children of the first husband passes to the second, and she can not even appoint a guardian at her death. No married woman can be a guardian.

The husband is required to furnish support adequate to his property and position in life.

In 1897 the legal age of marriage for girls was raised from twelve to sixteen years.

The "age of protection" remains at 12 years. Formerly the penalty was death or, in the discretion of the jury, imprisonment for not less than seven nor more than twenty years. In 1891 it was enacted that it might be regarded as a felony and punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years. Through the efforts of women bills to raise the age have been repeatedly introduced but always have been defeated.

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: In 1887 Dr. Harriet B. Jones was appointed assistant hospital physician in the State insane asylum, with the same salary paid the men physicians. She was the first woman ever appointed to such a position in a State institution in West Virginia. On her resignation she was succeeded by Dr. Luella F. Bullard, who still holds the office.

To the untiring energy of Dr. Jones is due the State Industrial Home for Girls. During two sessions of the Legislature she remained at the capital, entirely at her own expense and leaving a lucrative practice, to urge the need of this institution. At length $10,000 were appropriated for this purpose in 1897 and $20,000 more in 1899. Now a girl committing a minor offense[Pg 984] is no longer placed in jail or in the penitentiary while her brother for the same misdeed is sent to the Reform School. Dr. Jones was elected president and all the officers are women.

The State Home for Incurables also represents the work and ability of a woman, Mrs. Joseph Ruffner. Before the same Legislatures as Dr. Jones, she appeared with a bill asking an appropriation, and by persistence secured one of $66,000. The home is now in successful operation with Mrs. Ruffner as president. The Governor is required to appoint boards composed equally of men and women for these two institutions.

Women sit also on the boards of orphan asylums, day nurseries and homes for the friendless.

The Humane Society of Wheeling was organized in 1896 with Mrs. Harriet G. List as president. In 1899 she secured an appropriation of $3,000 from the Legislature to aid in its work.

A woman is librarian on the staff of the Agricultural Experiment Station. The board of education of Wheeling appoints the three librarians in the public library, which is supported from the school fund, and for several years all of these have been women.

In some parts of the State women are appointed examiners to decide on the fitness of applicants to teach in the public schools, but they can not sit on school boards.

Women can not serve as notaries public.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women except that of mining.

Education: All institutions of learning are open to both sexes alike. Bethany College has admitted women for more than ten years, and four are on the faculty. In 1897 the State University was made co-educational, after much opposition. It has eight women on its faculty, and two of the three members of its library staff are women.

In the public schools there are 4,096 men and 2,712 women teachers. It is impossible to obtain the average salaries.

### FOOTNOTES:

[461] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Annie Caldwell Boyd of Wheeling, who has been an officer continuously in the State Woman Suffrage Association since it was organized.

[462] This club raised money by suppers, festivals and a Woman's Exchange for use in the work. It subscribed for twenty-five copies of the Woman's Journal to be sent to the State University, to the six Normal Schools and to various individuals. It also offered $35 in prizes for the best orations on The Enfranchisement of Women, to be competed for by the students of the above schools.

[463] In the Legislature of 1901 a bill was introduced conferring on women the right to vote for Presidential electors, as this can be done by the legislators without a reference to the voters. The bill was drawn up by George E. Boyd, Sr. It was reported by the House Judiciary Committee, February 21, with the recommendation "that it do not pass." Henry C. Hervey spoke strongly in its favor and was ably seconded by S. G. Smith, who closed by demanding the ayes and noes on the Speaker's question, "Shall the bill be rejected?" The ayes were 31, noes 25, the bill being defeated by six votes. Speaker William G. Wilson voted against it.

The bill was presented in the Senate by Nelson Whittaker, but U. S. Senator Stephen B. Elkins came on from Washington and commanded that it be tabled, which was done.

[Pg 985]

## CHAPTER LXXI.

### WISCONSIN.[464]

As a Territory Wisconsin interested herself in equal rights. In the first Constitutional Convention universal suffrage regardless of sex or color had a considerable vote. In the second woman suffrage received a certain amount of favorable consideration. Early in the history of the State widows were made heirs of all the property in case of the death of the husband without children, and laws were passed by which a life interest in the homestead was secured to the wife. In 1851 the regents of the State University declared that their plan "contemplated the admission of women," and in 1869 women were made eligible to all school offices.

The first Woman Suffrage Association was organized in 1869 as a result of a large convention in Milwaukee, arranged by Dr. Laura Ross and Miss Lily Peckham, a bright young lawyer, and addressed by Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Miss Susan B. Anthony and others. Soon after this several local societies were organized. Its annual meetings since 1883 have been held as follows: 1884, Richland Center; 1885, Whitewater; 1886, Racine; 1887, Madison; 1888, Stevens' Point; 1889, Milwaukee; 1890, Berlin; 1891, Menominee; 1892, Richland Center; 1893, Mukwonago; 1894, Racine; 1895, Evansville; 1896, Waukesha; 1897, Monroe; 1898, Spring Green; 1899, Platteville; 1900, Brodhead.

The president during 1884 was Mrs. Emma C. Bascom, wife of the president of the State University. On leaving for the East she was succeeded by the Rev. Olympia Brown, who has been re-elected every year since.[465] Mrs. Brown was called to[Pg 986] the pastorate of the Universalist Church of Racine in 1878, and during her nine years of service there held occasional meetings in behalf of woman suffrage in various parts of the State.

In addition to annual conventions numerous conferences have been held, too many and too similar in character to make a detailed history of them essential. In the winter of 1884 a course of lectures was given in Racine on subjects relating to women by Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Mrs. May Wright Sewall and Mrs. J. G. McMurphy.

In November, 1886, Mrs. Brown held a series of nine district conventions in company with Miss Anthony and Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby. On November 1 she received a telegram from Miss Anthony, then in Kansas, saying that they would join in holding conventions in all the congressional districts beginning on the 8th. This seemed a very short time in which to prepare for such a campaign, but by the president's deciding on places and dates without consultation, sending posters to the different towns selected and announcements to all the papers of the State, and then going in person to secure halls and make local arrangements, the date named found a tolerable degree of preparation. The canvass opened with a large reception at the home of Mrs. M. B. Erskine in Racine, which was followed by conventions at Waukesha, Ripon, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Grand Rapids, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Evansville and Madison. At the last place the ladies spoke in the Senate Chamber to a distinguished audience. The effect of these meetings was marked. Many members were added to the State association, branches were organized and an impetus given to the work such as never was known before and has not been repeated. Since then many conventions have been held by the president of the association, its several lecturers and outside speakers.

In 1896 the suffrage association kept open house for ten days at the Manona Lake Assembly; during this time the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice-president-at-large, gave one of the Chautauqua lectures to an audience of 4,000 people.[Pg 987]

In 1898 a conference was held in Madison by the officers of the National Association, attended by the State Executive Board and representatives of various societies.

The Rev. Ella Bartlett, the Rev. Nellie Mann Opdale and the Rev. Alice Ball Loomis have each served as State lecturer for two or more years and proved most efficient. Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe has also lectured in the State during several different seasons with excellent effect.

Among those who have aided in the work in an early day may be mentioned Madame Mathilde F. Anneke, Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott, Mrs. Ella Partridge, Mrs. Emeline Wolcott; and later Mrs. Lephia O. Brown, the mother, and J. H. Willis, the husband, of the Rev. Olympia Brown.[466]

Prof. Henry Doty Maxon stands pre-eminent among the men who have assisted the cause. He was pastor of the Unitarian Church at Menominee and vice-president of the State Suffrage Association for a number of years, attended the annual meetings regularly and himself arranged one of the most successful, which was held in his church, known as the Mabel Taintor Memorial Hall. Col. J. G. McMynn exerted an influence in favor of woman's advancement, at an early day. Many men have aided by giving money and influence, among them State Senator Norman James, David B. James, Capt. Andrew Taintor, the Hon. T. B. Wilson, Burr Sprague, M. B. Erskine, the Hon. W. T. Lewis, Steven Bull, the Hon. Isaac Stevenson, U. S. Senator Philetus Sawyer and Judge Hamilton of Neenah. The clergy generally have assisted by giving their churches for meetings. The Richland Center Club and the Greene County Equal Rights Association deserve special mention for their faithfulness and generosity. The Suffrage Club of Platteville is also very active.

One of the most important features of the work has been the publication of the Wisconsin Citizen, a monthly paper devoted to[Pg 988] the interests of women. It was started in 1887 to educate the people on the suffrage bill of 1885 and has continued ever since, no other one influence having been so helpful to the cause. The association owes this paper to Mrs. Martha Parker Dingee, a niece of Theodore Parker, who edited it for seven years, reading all the proofs, without help and without remuneration; and to Mrs. Helen H. Charlton who has edited and published the paper from 1894 to the present time.

Miss Sarah H. Richards compiled and published an interesting history and directory of the Wisconsin Woman Suffrage Association to which the present sketch is much indebted.

Legislative Action: Only one measure looking to the extension of suffrage to women ever has been passed by the Legislature. This was done in 1885 as the result of the efforts of Alura Collins Hollister, who was appointed to represent the association in legislative work at Madison. The following was submitted to the voters: "Every woman who is a citizen of this State of the age of twenty-one years and upward, except paupers, etc., who has resided within the State one year and in the election district where she offers to vote ten days next preceding any election pertaining to school matters, shall have the right to vote at such election." This was discussed at length in both branches of the Legislature and passed on March 13 by a large majority.

It was voted upon at the fall election in 1886 receiving a majority of 4,583, and thus became a law.[467]

It will be noted that this law specifies what women are to vote, viz.: actual citizens who are not paupers; where women are to vote, viz.: in the election districts where they reside; when women are to vote, viz.: when there is an election pertaining to school matters. It does not specify what women are to vote upon or for whom—they are full voters without limitation at all elections pertaining to school matters. What elections pertain to school matters? First, the general election held once in two years, at which the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and officers controlling the State University and other State institutions[Pg 989] are chosen. Second, the municipal election which in most cities pertains to school matters, as a school board or superintendent is chosen then. Third, other elections in country villages where one or more school officers are chosen. Fourth, special elections where subjects relating to schools are voted upon. Of several suffrage bills reported at this session this one, called the Ginty Bill, was the only one which provided for a submission of the question to the voters, which shows the purpose of the framers to have been to grant State or national suffrage. The broad scope of this law practically giving women a vote on the election of all national, State and municipal officers, was pointed out to the leaders of the suffrage association by some of the men instrumental in its passage, notably Senator Norman James, chairman of the Joint Special Committee that reported the bill. It is claimed that the Legislature did not intend to pass a law so far reaching, but the circumstances of its passage, political conditions at the time, as well as the statements of its members and of the committee, show that they did intend to pass this broad, far-reaching law, giving suffrage to women.

To awaken women to the necessity of voting at the first opportunity—the municipal election in 1887—the suffrage association undertook an active canvass of the State which lasted without interruption until the autumn of 1888, a period of over two years. The Rev. Olympia Brown gave up her church in Racine and devoted herself exclusively to the work. The association was assisted by Miss Anthony, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch. Some of these speakers remained a month, others a week and some only for two or three lectures. The State president attended every meeting.

On the morning of the election in April, 1887, Attorney-General Charles B. Estabrook sent out telegrams to those places where he supposed women would be likely to vote, ordering the inspectors to reject their ballots, which was done; but where they were not advised by him the ballots of women were accepted.

The next effort of the suffrage leaders was to instruct the people in the law and the circumstances of its passage, and thus to inspire confidence in spite of the refusal of the ballots. It was[Pg 990] suggested that as the Presidential election was near at hand, politicians would not leave it uncertain as to whether or not women were entitled to vote, but would secure an interpretation of the law from the Supreme Court without proper argument and presentation of the facts, hence the State W. S. A. decided to test the matter itself. The case was brought by Mrs. Brown against the election inspectors in Racine for refusing to accept her vote, and was ably argued before Judge John B. Winslow of the Circuit Court, now a member of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. He overruled the demurrer of the inspectors, stating that women were entitled to vote at that election and for all candidates, thus confirming the law.

An appeal was immediately taken by the inspectors to the Supreme Court, and in order to keep the subject before the people and to create a favorable public sentiment the association continued its canvass by distributing literature and giving lectures. The decision rendered Jan. 31, 1888, was written by Justice John B. Cassody and was so vague and loosely worded that lawyers were not agreed as to its meaning. He reversed the finding of the lower court, however, declaring the intent of the law to be to confer School Suffrage only.[468]

The association now found itself confronted by a large debt, the whole suit having cost about $1,500, but by active work the autumn of 1888 found everything paid. In all this Mrs. Almeda B. Gray, one of the officers of the association, was a leading spirit, contributing largely in time and money; Mrs. M. A. Fowler worked night and day, making routes for speakers and planning the campaign, other women assisted according to their ability and the club at Richland Center did excellent service. The decision still left room for litigation, the claim being made that the ruling of the Supreme Court plainly recognized the right of women to vote provided their ballots were put in a separate box.

In the following November Wm. A. McKinley was elected Superintendent of Schools for Oconto County by the votes of women placed in a separate box. His election was contested and the case was argued before Judge Samuel B. Hastings of Green[Pg 991] Bay, who, quoting from the decision of Judge Cassody, decided that women had a right to vote provided their ballots were put into a separate box. This case also was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the decision, rendered by Judge William P. Lyon, Jan. 26, 1890, was that the votes of the women in Oconto County were illegally counted. The ground for this finding was that further legislative action was necessary before separate ballot-boxes could be legally provided. Judge Cassody dissented from this opinion.

The law then became practically a dead letter, except in a few instances, until 1901, when an Act of the Legislature provided for separate ballot boxes for women, and in the spring of 1902 they voted on school questions.

In 1895 the legislative committee, consisting of Mrs. Jennie Lamberson, Mrs. Jessie Luther and Mrs. Alice Kollock, assisted by Mrs. Charlton, secured the introduction of two bills—one to strike the word "male" from the State constitution, the other for a suffrage amendment by statute law. A hearing was granted before the joint committee of both Houses in the Senate Chamber, which was crowded. Mesdames Elizabeth Boynton Harbert (Ills.), Helen H. Charlton, Nellie Mann Opdale, Ellen A. Rose and Dr. Annette J. Shaw were the speakers.[469] The bills were reported favorably but were lost after discussion.

Laws: Dower and curtesy obtain. A widow is entitled to a life interest in one-third of the real estate and, if the husband die without a will, to the share of a child in the personal estate. If there is no lawful issue she has the entire estate, both real and personal. The widower has a life interest in all the real estate of his wife not disposed of by will, or in all of it if the wife died intestate, unless she left issue by a former husband, in which case such issue takes it, free from the right of the surviving husband to hold the same by curtesy. If the wife die without a will and leave no issue, the widower is entitled to the entire estate, both real and personal. There may also be reserved for the widow a homestead of not more than forty acres of farm land, or one-quarter of an acre in a town, which at her subsequent marriage[Pg 992] or death passes to the heirs of the former husband. If none exist she does not lose her homestead rights by marrying again.

The wife may dispose of all her real estate by conveyance during her lifetime or by will, without the husband's consent. He can not destroy her dower rights.

A married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on business in her own name.

The father, if living, and in case of his death the mother, while she remains unmarried, shall be entitled to the custody of the persons and education of the minor children. The father may by will appoint a guardian for a child, whether born or unborn, to continue during its minority or for a less time.

Neglect to provide for a wife and minor children is a misdemeanor, punished by imprisonment in the county jail not less than fifteen days, during ten days of which food may be bread and water only; or by imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding one year, or in the county workhouse, at the discretion of the court.

In 1887 a law was passed raising the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to 14 years. In 1889 this was amended by lowering the age to 12 and reducing the punishment from imprisonment for life to not more than thirty-five nor less than five years. The clause also was added: "Provided that if the child shall be a common prostitute, the man shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than seven."[470] In 1895 the age was raised again to 14 years with the same penalty.

Suffrage: By the law of 1885 every woman who is a citizen of this State of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, except paupers, etc., who has resided in the State for one year and in the election district where she offers to vote ten days next preceding any election pertaining to school matters, shall have a right to vote at such election. By the present interpretation of this law the suffrage of women is limited to school officers and questions. Suffrage may be extended by statute but such law must be ratified by a majority of the voters at a general election.[Pg 993]

Office Holding: There is no law authorizing women to hold any elective office except such as pertains to schools, but they have been eligible to these since 1869. Eighteen women have served as county superintendents at the same time; nine are acting at present. They sit on school boards in a number of cities.

In the Legislature women act as enrolling and engrossing clerks, and as clerks and stenographers to committees. They are also found as clerks, copyists and stenographers in the various elective and appointive State, city and county offices.

In the State institutions they are employed as teachers, matrons, bookkeepers, supervisors, State agents for placing dependent children, etc. The Milwaukee Industrial School for Girls, supported partly by public and partly by private funds, is the only institution managed entirely by women.

There are no women physicians at any of the State institutions. One woman was appointed county physician in Waukesha, and one or two have been made city physicians.

The office of police matron was established by city ordinance in Milwaukee in 1884. There is none in any other city.

Women act as notaries public and court commissioners.

Women could not sit on any State Boards until the Legislature of 1901 authorized the appointment of one woman on the Board of Regents for the State University, and one on that of the State Normal School. It also authorized the appointment of a woman State Factory Inspector.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women.

Education: In 1851 the regents of the State University took a stand in favor of co-education. In 1866 an Act reorganizing the university declared that in all its departments it should be opened to male and female students; but owing to prejudices it was not until 1873 that complete co-education was established, although women were graduated in 1869. All institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes.

In the public schools there are 2,654 men and 9,811 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $41; of the women, $29.50.

### FOOTNOTES:

[464] The History is indebted for most of the material in this chapter to the Rev. Olympia Brown of Racine, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association since 1884.

[465] The other officers at present are: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Ellen A. Rose and Mrs. Madge Waters; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Etta Gardner; corresponding secretary, Mrs. M. Geddes; recording secretary, Miss Emma Graham; treasurer, Mrs. Lydia Woodward; State organizer, the Rev. Alice Ball Loomis; district presidents, Dr. Abby M. Adams, Mesdames Kate Taylor, M. A. Fowler, L. A. Rhodes, Augusta Morris, Alura Collins Hollister, L. M. Eastman, Mary Upham, Emma Shores and Sylvia Rogers; press committee, Mesdames Sarah Buck, Clara F. Eastland, Jennie Beck and Dora Putnam; finance committee, Mesdames Anna Gile, Donald Jones and J. B. Hamilton.

[466] Besides those mentioned above, Mesdames Nancy Comstock, Josephine DeGroat, M. A. Derrick, M. A. Fowler, M. M. Frazier, Laura James, Dr. Sarah Monroe, E. A. Rose, S. A. Rhodes, Burr Sprague and Lydia Woodward all have been most valuable helpers. Among generous contributors have been W. H. Crosby, Charles Erskine; Mesdames L. J. Barlow, Laura C. Demmon, Almeda B. Gray, Mary E. Hulett, Emma V. Laughton, Mary Merrill, Margaret Messenger, Hannah Patchen, Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott, Emeline Wolcott and Park Wooster; those who have aided by the pen are Mesdames Marian V. Dudley, Clara Eastland, Hattie Tyng Gardner, Etta Gardner, C. V. Leighton and Minnie Stebbins Savage.

[467] The State constitution provides that the suffrage may be extended by a law submitted to the electors at any general election. If it receives a majority vote it is held to have the force of a constitutional amendment.

[468] The open letter addressed to Judge Cassody, March 28, 1888, by Mrs. Brown, in regard to this decision, was pronounced by the best lawyers as unsurpassed in logic, legal acumen, keen sarcasm and righteous indignation. [Eds.

[469] E. P. Wilder, associate editor of the Madison State Journal, chief official organ of the Republican party, made an excellent address at this time in favor of woman suffrage, which was afterwards printed as a leaflet.

[470] This is believed to be the only case on record where the age of protection has been lowered. The amendment was urged by Senator P. J. Clawson of Monroe, Green County At its next meeting the county suffrage society passed the strongest possible denunciatory resolutions, and thereafter its members worked diligently to defeat Mr. Clawson for the nomination to Congress, which they succeeded in doing.

[Pg 994]

## CHAPTER LXXII.

### WYOMING.[471]

It is said that a contented people or a happy life is one without a history. The cause of woman suffrage in Wyoming has not been marked by agitation or strife, and for that reason there is no struggle to record, as is the case in all other States. In its story Mrs. Esther Morris must ever be considered the heroine. A native of New York, she joined her husband and three sons in 1869 at South Pass, then the chief town of Wyoming. She was a strong advocate of the enfranchisement of women and succeeded in enlisting the co-operation of Col. William H. Bright, president of the first Legislative Council of the Territory, which that very year passed a bill conferring on women the full elective franchise and the right to hold all offices. Gov. John A. Campbell was in some doubt as to signing it, but a body of women in Cheyenne, headed by Mrs. Amalia Post (wife of Morton E. Post, delegate to Congress), went to his residence and announced their intention of staying until he did so. A vacancy occurring soon afterward in the office of Justice of the Peace at South Pass, the Governor appointed Mrs. Morris on petition of the county attorney and commissioners. She tried between thirty and forty cases and none was appealed to a higher court.[472]

In 1871 a bill to repeal this woman suffrage law was passed by the Legislature and vetoed by Governor Campbell. An attempt to pass it over his veto failed. No proposition to abolish it ever was made in the Legislature thereafter.

In 1884, fifteen years after women had first voted in Wyoming, U. S. District Attorney Melville C. Brown, at the request of[Pg 995] Miss Susan B. Anthony, sent to the National Association an extended résumé of the status of women suffrage in the Territory, to which he himself had been opposed in 1869. It expressed throughout the most emphatic approval without any qualifications. Some of the statements were as follows:

> Women have exercised their elective franchise, at first not very generally but of late with universality, and with such good judgment and modesty as to commend it to the men of all parties who hold the good of the Territory in high esteem.... It has been stated that the best women do not avail themselves of the privilege. This is maliciously false.... The foolish claim has also been made that the influence of the ballot upon women is bad. This is not true. It is impossible that a woman's character can be contaminated in associating with men for a few minutes in going to the polls any more than it would be in going to church or to places of amusement. On the other hand women are benefited and improved by the ballot.... The fact is, Wyoming has the noblest and best women in the world because they have more privileges and know better how to use them.

> To conclude I will say: Woman suffrage is a settled fact here, and will endure as long as the Territory. It has accomplished much good; it has harmed no one; therefore we are all in favor, and none can be found to raise a voice against it.

In the convention called the first Monday of September, 1889, to prepare a constitution for admission as a State, this was the first clause presented for consideration:

> The right of citizens of the State of Wyoming to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this State shall enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.

After just twenty years' experience of woman suffrage no man in this convention was found in opposition to it, but to the surprise of the members, one delegate, A. C. Campbell of Laramie, proposed to amend this section by making it a separate article to be voted upon apart from the rest of the constitution. He supported his amendment by a long speech in which he said that he himself should vote in favor of the article and, from his observations throughout the Territory, he believed two-thirds or more of the people would do the same, but he thought they ought to have a chance to express themselves; that "they were going to have a pretty tough time anyhow getting into the Union, and if[Pg 996] they put in a proposition of this kind without giving those persons who were opposed to woman suffrage a chance to express themselves, they would vote against the whole constitution."

The other members of the convention looked upon this as a scheme of the opponents, and Mr. Campbell had no support to his proposition. On the contrary, the most eloquent addresses were made by George W. Baxter, Henry A. Coffeen, C. W. Holden, Asbury B. Conaway, Melville C. Brown, Charles H. Burritt and John W. Hoyt demanding that the suffrage clause should stand in the constitution regardless of consequences. Space will permit only the keynote of these courageous speeches.[473]

> Mr. Baxter: ... I defend this because it is right, because it is fair, because it is just.... I shall ever regard as a distinguished honor my membership in this convention, which, for the first time in the history of all this broad land, rising above the prejudice and injustice of the past, will incorporate into the fundamental law of the State a provision that shall secure to every citizen within her borders not only the protection of the courts, but the absolute and equal enjoyment of every right and privilege guaranteed under the law to any other citizen.

> Mr. Coffeen: ... The question, as I take it, is already settled in the hearts and minds and judgments of the people of our glorious State proposed-to-be, and shall we stand here to-day and debate over it when every element of justice and right and equality is in its favor; when not one iota of weight of argument has been brought against it; when every word that can be said is in favor of continuing the good results of woman suffrage, which we have experienced for twenty years?... I shall not go into the policy or propriety of submitting such a proposition as this now before us to the people of this Territory....

> Mr. Holden: I do not desire at this time to offer any reason why the right to vote should be granted to women; that is not the question before us. The question is, shall we secure that right by fundamental law? The proposition now under consideration is, shall we leave it to the people of Wyoming to say whether or not the privilege of voting shall be secured to women? Now, Mr. Chairman, I believe that I voice the wishes of my constituency when I say that rather than surrender the right which the women of this Territory have so long enjoyed—and which they have used not only with credit to themselves but with profit to the country in which they live—I say that rather than surrender that right we will remain in a Territorial condition throughout the endless cycles of time.

> Mr. Conaway: ... The sentiment of this convention, and I believe of the people whom we represent, is so nearly unanimous that extended discussion, it seems to me, would be a waste of[Pg 997] time.... If it were proposed to submit to a vote of the people whether the property of the gentleman from Laramie should be taken from him, or my property should be taken from me and given to somebody else, there would be no difference of opinion upon it. In Wyoming this right of our women has been recognized, has been enjoyed; there are such things in law as vested rights, and the decisions of our courts are unanimous that it is not within the power of the Legislature ever to take away from any person his rights or his property and to confer them upon another, and that is what this clause proposes to do, to submit to a vote whether we shall take away from one-half of our citizens—and, as my friend has well stated, the better half—a certain right, and increase the rights of the other half by so doing....

> Mr. Brown: I was a member of that second Legislature which tried to disfranchise women.... From that day to the present no man in the Legislature of Wyoming has been heard to lift his voice against woman suffrage. It has become one of the fundamental laws of the land, and to raise any question about it at this time is as improper, in my judgment, as to raise a question as to any other fundamental right guaranteed to any citizen in this Territory. I would sooner think, Mr. Chairman, of submitting to the people of Wyoming a separate and distinct proposition as to whether a male citizen of the Territory shall be entitled to vote....

> Mr. Hoyt: ... For twenty years the women of this Territory have taken part with the men in its government, and have exercised this right of suffrage equally with them, and we are all proud of the results. No man in Wyoming ever has dared to say that woman suffrage is a failure. There has been no disturbance of the domestic relations, there has been no diminution of the social order, there has been no lessening of the dignity which characterizes the exercise of the elective franchise; there have been, on the contrary, an improvement of the social order, better laws, better officials, a higher civilization. Why, then, this extraordinary proposition that, after so many years, having exercised with us the right of suffrage since the foundation of this Territorial government, women are now to be singled out, to be set aside, and the question submitted to a vote as to whether they shall have a continuance of the rights which have been given to them by unanimous consent, and which they have exercised wisely and properly and, as my friend says, with profit to the whole Territory? This is indeed an extraordinary proposition, to submit to a vote the continuance of a vested right. I will not impugn the motives of the gentleman who makes it, but I demand as a matter of justice that it shall be voted down by an overwhelming majority, and I would that he had never presented it.... We are told that if we put this clause into our constitution as a fundamental law, we shall fail to secure its approval by the people of Wyoming and its acceptance by the Congress of the United States; but if it should so prove that the adoption of this provision to protect the rights of the women should work against our admission, then I agree with my friend, Mr.[Pg 998] Holden, that we will remain out of the Union until a sentiment of justice shall prevail....

> Mr. Burritt: ... Mr. Campbell destroyed any argument that he made in favor of this amendment by saying, first, that woman suffrage as a principle is right; second, that he would vote for it if presented to the people. And he further said that he was not afraid, in defending the right of petition, to come before this convention and indorse this proposition to be separately voted upon, even if it cost him the ladies' vote or the votes of any other class. That certainly is very courageous on the part of the gentleman from Laramie.... But I will say this much in addition, which he did not say, that, as a member of this convention and believing the right of suffrage to be a vested right, of which it would be wrong and wicked for us to attempt to deprive women, I have also the courage to rise above the single constituent that I have in Johnson County who is opposed to woman suffrage (and I know but one) and to rise above the majority even of its citizens if I knew they were opposed, and I am sure that this convention and this State have as much courage as I have. Believing that woman suffrage is right, I am sure that this convention has the courage to go before Congress and say that if they will not let us in with this plank in our State constitution we will stay out forever.... I stand upon the platform of justice, and I advocate the continuance of the right of women to vote and hold office and enjoy equally with men all civil, religious and political privileges, and that this right be incorporated as a part of the fundamental law of the State....

The woman suffrage clause was retained as a part of the constitution, which was adopted by more than a three-fourths majority of the popular vote.

A bill to provide for the admission of Wyoming as a State was introduced into the House of Representatives on Dec. 18, 1889, and later was favorably reported from the Committee on Territories by Charles S. Baker of New York. A minority report was presented by William M. Springer of Illinois, consisting of twenty-three pages, two devoted to various other reasons for non-admission and twenty-one to objections because of the woman suffrage article.

As it was supposed that the new State would be Republican, a bitter fight was waged by the Democrats, using the provision for woman suffrage as a club. The bill was grandly championed by Joseph M. Carey, delegate from the Territory (afterward United States senator) who defended the suffrage clause with the same courage and ability as all the others in the constitution.[474][Pg 999]

The principal speech in opposition was by Joseph E. Washington of Tennessee, who said in part:

> My chief objection to the admission of Wyoming is the suffrage article in the constitution. I am unalterably opposed to female suffrage in any form. It can only result in the end in unsexing and degrading the womanhood of America. It is emphatically a reform against nature.... I have no doubt that in Wyoming to-day women vote in as many [different] precincts as they can reach on horseback or on foot after changing their frocks and bustles.... Tennessee has not yet adopted any of these new-fangled ideas, not that we are lacking in respect for true and exalted womanhood.[475]

William C. Oates of Alabama also delivered a long speech in opposition, of which the following is a specimen paragraph:

> I like a woman who is a woman and appreciates the sphere to which God and the Bible have assigned her. I do not like a man-woman. She may be intelligent and full of learning, but when she assumes the performance of the duties and functions assigned by nature to man, she becomes rough and tough and can no longer be the object of affection.

He concluded his argument by saying that if ever universal suffrage should prevail the Government would break to pieces of its own weight.

The enfranchisement of women was also vehemently attacked by Alexander M. Dockery of Missouri, George T. Barnes of Georgia, William M. Springer of Illinois, and William McAdoo of New Jersey. It was strongly defended by Henry L. Morey of Ohio, Charles S. Baker of New York, Daniel Kerr and I. S. Struble, both of Iowa, and Harrison B. Kelley of Kansas.

Every possible effort was made to compel the adoption of an amendment limiting the suffrage to male citizens, and it was defeated by only six votes. The bill of admission was passed March 28, 1890, after three days' discussion, by 139 ayes to 127 noes. During the progress of this debate Delegate Carey telegraphed to the Wyoming Legislature, then in session, that it looked as if the suffrage clause would have to be abandoned if Statehood were to be obtained, and the answer came back: "We[Pg 1000] will remain out of the Union a hundred years rather than come in without woman suffrage."[476]

In the Senate the fight against the suffrage article was renewed with added intensity. The bill for the admission of Wyoming was reported favorably through the chairman of the Committee on Territories, Orville H. Platt of Connecticut, in January, 1890, but was not reached on the calendar until February 17. On objection from Francis M. Cockrell of Missouri, that there was not time then for its consideration, it was postponed, but without losing its place on the calendar. Not until May 2, however, did it come up again as unfinished business, and only to be again postponed. On May 8 the bill was set down for the following Monday, but it was June 25 before it finally received extended consideration. The debate continued for three days and the clause conferring suffrage on women took a prominent place.

George G. Vest of Missouri led the opposition and said in the course of his lengthy oration:

> I shall never vote to admit into the Union any State that adopts woman suffrage. I do not propose to discuss the sentimental side of the question.... In my judgment woman suffrage is antagonistic to the spirit, to the institutions, of the people of the United States. It is utterly antagonistic to my ideas of the Government as the fathers made it and left it to us. If there were no other reason I would never give the right of suffrage to women because the danger to the institutions of the United States to-day is in hurried, spasmodic, sentimental suffrage.... I believe that with universal suffrage in this country, the injecting into our suffrage of all the women of the United States would be the greatest calamity that could possibly happen to our institutions and people.... If there were no other reason with me, I would vote against the admission of Wyoming because it has that feature in its constitution. I will not take the responsibility as a senator of indorsing in any way, directly or indirectly, woman suffrage. I repeat that in my judgment it would be not only a calamity but an absolute crime against the institutions of the people of the United States....

In an extended speech John H. Reagan of Texas said:

> But what are we going to do, what are the people of this Territory going to do, by the adoption of this constitution? They are going to make men of women, and when they do that the correlative must[Pg 1001] take place that men must become women. So I suppose we are to have women for public officers, women to do military duty, women to work the roads, women to fight the battles of the country, and men to wash the dishes, men to nurse the children, men to stay at home while the ladies go out and make stump speeches in canvasses.... Mr. President, when the Almighty created men and women He made them for different purposes, and six thousand years of experience have recognized the wisdom and justice of the Almighty in this arrangement. It is only latterly that people have got wiser than their Creator and wiser than all the generations which have preceded them.... The constitution of society, the necessity for the existence of society, the necessity of home government, which is the most important of all the parts of government, can only be preserved and perpetuated by keeping men in their sphere and women in their sphere....

> It is a wholesome thing to reflect that after a hard day's struggle and of rough contacts which men must have with each other, they can go to a home presided over by one there who soothes the passions of the day by the sweetness of her temper, the gentleness of her disposition and the happiness which she brings around the family circle. But if the wife and the husband are both out in the bitter contests of the day, making speeches, electioneering with voters, pushing their way to the polls, they will both be apt to go home in a bad humor, and there will not be much happiness in a family during the remainder of the day which follows such a scene. And while they are both out what will become of the children? Are they to take care of themselves?

> What rights can women expect to have that they do not have now? They are clothed with the protection of law.[477] In my judgment, Mr. President, the day that the floodgate of female suffrage is opened upon this country, the social organism will have reached the point at which decay and ruin begin.... Why, sir, what is the advantage? If the head of the family votes he is apt to reflect the views of the family. It is more convenient than to have all the family going out to vote.

Wilbur F. Sanders of Montana interrupted Senator Reagan to ask if the law should not be an expression of the intellectual and moral sense of all the people, and whether governments did not derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

John T. Morgan of Alabama entered into a long and sarcastic argument to prove that if a woman could vote in Wyoming she might be sent to Congress and then she could not be admitted because the law says a senator or representative "must be an inhabitant of the State in which he is chosen." He ignored the[Pg 1002] fact that all legal papers are made out with this pronoun, which presents no difficulty in their application to women.

Henry B. Payne of Ohio said that he was not in favor of woman suffrage, and that no woman in England ever had been permitted to exercise the elective franchise. (Women then had been voting in England for twenty-one years, the same length of time as in Wyoming.) He asked, however, if these little technical objections would not be more than overcome by the moral influence that a woman Representative might exert in the committee rooms and on the floor of the House.

Mr. Morgan at once launched forth into a panegyric on the moral influence of woman which certainly demonstrated that if sentimentalism were a bar to voting, as Senators Vest and Reagan had insisted it should be, the senator from Alabama would have to be disfranchised. Part of it ran as follows:

> It is not the moral influence of woman upon the ballot that I am objecting to, and it is not to get rid of that or to silence or destroy such influence that I oppose it, but it is the immoral influence of the ballot upon woman that I deprecate and would avoid. I do not want to see her drawn into contact with the rude things of this world, where the delicacy of her senses and sensibilities would be constantly wounded by the attrition with bad and desperate and foul politicians and men. Such is not her function and is not her office; and if we degrade her from the high station that God has placed her in to put her at the ballot-box, at political or other elections, we unman ourselves and refuse to do the duties that God has assigned to us.

> I can say for myself and for those who are dearest to me of all the objects in this life, that I would leave a country where it was necessary that my wife and daughters should go to the polls to protect my liberties. I would just as soon see them shoulder their guns and go like Amazons into the field and fight beneath the flag for my liberties, as to see them muster on election day for any such purpose.[478]

James K. Jones of Arkansas based his argument on the estimate of an equal number of men and women in Wyoming, and assumed that all the women had voted in favor of the suffrage clause and that therefore it did not represent the wishes of men, thus denying wholly the right of women to a voice in a matter which so vitally concerned themselves. In reality women formed considerably less than one-third of the adult population, while the constitution was adopted by more than a three-fourths vote.[Pg 1003]

William M. Stewart of Nevada and Algernon S. Paddock of Nebraska defended the right of the Territory to decide this question for itself.

George Gray of Delaware declared his belief that "woman suffrage is inimical to the best interests of society." John C. Spooner of Wisconsin disapproved the enfranchisement of women, but believed Wyoming had a right to place it in its constitution.

Orville H. Platt of Connecticut in urging the acceptance of the report said:

> I never have been an advocate of woman suffrage. I never believed, as some senators do, that it was wise. But with all that, I would not keep a Territory out of the Union as a State because its constitution did allow women to vote, nor would I force upon a Territory any restriction or qualification as to what its vote should be in that respect. When Washington Territory came here and asked for admission and the bill was passed, it had had woman suffrage, and I was appealed to by a great many citizens all over the United States to keep it out of the Union, so far as my action could do so, until it restored the right of women to vote which had been taken away under a decision of its own courts—taken away, as I thought, unjustly; for I did not consider that decision good law. The senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Hoar, interrogated me when I was advocating the admission of Washington as to why we did not incorporate into that enabling act some language that should undo the wrong which had been done by the Supreme Court of the Territory and restore to women the right of voting. I said then, as I say now, that I think this is a matter which belongs to the Territory; and I am surprised that gentlemen who are so devoted to home rule as a sacred right which should never be interfered with in this republic, should not be willing to allow to a Territory, when it asks for admission, the right to determine whether women should or should not be permitted to vote by the constitution of the proposed State.... Why should we, the Congress of the United States, stand here and say to that Territory, where women have enjoyed the right of voting for twenty years, and nobody arises to gainsay it or to intimate that they have not exercised the right wisely, why should we stand here and say: "Keep out of the Union; we will let no community, no Territory, in here which does not deprive its women of the right they have enjoyed while in a Territorial condition"?

After every possible device to strike out the obnoxious clause had been exhausted, the bill to admit Wyoming as a State was passed on June 27, 1890, by 29 ayes, 18 noes, 37 absent.[479] Although[Pg 1004] Henry W. Blair of New Hampshire and Henry M. Teller of Colorado interposed remarks showing a thorough belief in the enfranchisement of women, there was no formal argument in its behalf, it being generally understood that all Republicans would vote for the bill in order to admit a Republican State, and a number did so who were not in favor of woman suffrage.

When the people of Wyoming met at Cheyenne, July 23, to celebrate their Statehood, by Gov. Francis E. Warren sat Mrs. Amalia Post, president of the Woman Suffrage Association. The first and principal oration of the day was made by Mrs. Theresa A. Jenkins, of which the History of Wyoming says:

> Proceeding to the front of the platform, Mrs. Jenkins, in clear, forceful tones which penetrated to the very outskirts of the crowd, delivered without manuscript or notes an address which in logic and eloquence has rarely if ever been equaled by any woman in the land.... At its conclusion she received an ovation and was presented with a magnificent basket of flowers.

> The great incident of the celebration, the presenting of the flag, next followed. Mrs. Esther Morris, the "mother" of the woman suffrage movement in this State, who is widely respected for her great ability and heroic womanhood, was by general consent accorded the post of honor and made the presentation to Governor Warren. Gathering its folds about her she said:

> "On behalf of the women of Wyoming, and in grateful recognition of the high privilege of citizenship which has been conferred upon us, I have the honor to present to the State of Wyoming this beautiful banner. May it always remain the emblem of our liberties, 'and the flag of the Union forever.'"

> The Governor, on receiving it from Mrs. Morris, made an eloquent response during which he paid this tribute to women:

> "Wyoming in her progress has not forgotten the hands and hearts that have helped advance her to this high position; and, in the adoption of her constitution, equal suffrage is entrenched so firmly that it is believed it will stand forever.... Women of Wyoming, you have builded well, and the men of Wyoming extend heartiest greeting at this time. They congratulate you upon your achievements, and ask you to join them in the future, as in the past, in securing good government for our commonwealth."

The poet of the day was a woman, Mrs. I. S. Bartlett, who gave The True Republic. In every possible way the men showed[Pg 1005] their honor and appreciation of the women, and from this noble attitude they never have departed.

In May, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, carried out a long-cherished desire to visit Wyoming. She was on the way to take part in the Woman's Congress of San Francisco, accompanied by the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, and they stopped at Cheyenne where they were the guests of Senator and Mrs. Carey, who gave a dinner party in their honor, attended by Governor and Mrs. Richards, Senator and Mrs. Warren, Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Jenkins, Mrs. Post and other distinguished guests. They went immediately from dinner to the new Baptist church, which was filled to overflowing, and were introduced by the Governor. At the close of the lecture Mrs. Jenkins said, "Now I desire to introduce the audience to the speakers." She then called the names of the Governor and all his staff, the attorney-general, the United States judges, the senators and congressmen, the mayor and members of the city council. Each arose as his name was mentioned, and before she was through it seemed as if half the audience were on their feet, and the applause was most enthusiastic.

Miss Anthony often spoke of this as one of the proudest moments of her life—when it was not necessary to beg the men in her audience to do justice to women, but when these men, the most eminent in the State, rose in a body to pay their respects to the women whom they had enfranchised without appeal, and to those other women who were devoting their lives to secure political freedom for all of their sex.

During the more than thirty years which have elapsed since the suffrage was given to women, not one reputable person in the State ever has produced any evidence or even said over his or her own signature that woman suffrage is other than an unimpeachable success in Wyoming.

Every Governor of the Territory for twenty years bore witness to its good results. Governors of Territories are appointed by the President, not elected by the people, and as they were not dependent on women's votes, their testimony was impartial.

Year after year the State officials, the Judges of the Supreme Court, ministers, editors and other prominent citizens have testified[Pg 1006] in the strongest possible manner to the beneficial results of woman suffrage.[480]

Gov. Francis E. Warren said in 1885: "I have seen much of the workings of woman suffrage. I have yet to hear of the first case of domestic discord growing therefrom. Our women nearly all vote." He also reported to the Secretary of the Interior: "The men are as favorable to woman suffrage as the women are. Wyoming appreciates, believes in and indorses woman suffrage." In his official report the next year he stated: "Woman suffrage continues as popular as at first. The women nearly all vote and neither party objects." And in 1889: "No one will deny that woman's influence in voting always has been on the side of good government. The people favor its continuance." In the same year, while still Governor, he wrote:

> After twenty years' trial of woman suffrage in Wyoming Territory, it is pronounced an unqualified success by men and women alike, and of both political parties.... I sincerely hope that all the new States will so provide that it may prevail immediately, or that it can be extended at any time hereafter when their Legislatures desire, if they are not now ready to take the step.

> The women of Wyoming have been exceedingly discreet and wise in their suffrage, so much so that the different Legislatures have not attempted its overthrow, although majorities have sometimes been largely Republican and at other times largely Democratic.

During all his years as United States senator Mr. Warren never has failed to give his testimony and influence in favor of the enfranchisement of women.

In 1889 Delegate Joseph M. Carey wrote from the House of Representatives at Washington: "Wyoming Territory has for twenty years had full woman suffrage. It has commended itself to the approval of our people of all parties ... I sincerely hope the new States will adopt suffrage principles without regard[Pg 1007] to sex, or provide by a clause in their respective constitutions that the Legislatures may by statute confer the right of franchise upon women." Throughout his subsequent term in the United States Senate he was consistent in this attitude and has remained so ever since.

Following the example of every Territorial Governor, Amos W. Barber, the first State Governor, declared:

> Woman suffrage does not degrade woman. On the contrary, it ennobles her and brings out all the strong attributes of true womanhood. To their credit be it said, the women are almost a unit for ability, honesty and integrity wherever found, in high life or low life. A man must walk straight in Wyoming, for the women hold the balance of power and they are using it wisely and judiciously. The cause of education is their first aim. They are making our schools the model of the country, and, too, they can make a dollar go much further than their husbands can.

In 1900 a petition was circulated in the State, asking Congress to submit a Sixteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of United States citizens on account of sex. It was signed by the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Auditor of State, the State Superintendent of Instruction, the State engineer, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the United States district attorney, the United States surveyor general, the director and the observer of the United States Weather Bureau, the mayor of Cheyenne and a long list of editors, ministers, lawyers, physicians, bankers and the most prominent women in the State. Mrs. Carey, who had the petition in charge, wrote to Miss Anthony: "Thousands of names could be secured if it were necessary."

Literally speaking the testimony from Wyoming in favor of woman suffrage is limited only by the space for this chapter.[481]

In 1901 this joint resolution was passed:

> Whereas, Wyoming was the first State to adopt woman suffrage, which has been in operation since 1869 and was adopted in the constitution of the State in 1890; during which time women have exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that better candidates have been elected for office, methods of election purified, the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence increased and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by political responsibility; therefore,[Pg 1008]

> Resolved, By the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, That, in view of these results, the enfranchisement of women in every State and Territory of the American Union is hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better social order;

> Resolved, That an authenticated copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the Governor of the State to the Legislature of every State and Territory, and that the press be requested to call public attention to these resolutions.

> Edward W. Stone, President of the Senate.
> J. S. Atherley, Speaker of the House.

> Approved Feb. 13, 1901.

> DeForest Richards, Governor.

For a number of years women served on grand and petit juries. In compiling the first volume of the Laws of Wyoming, Secretary and Acting Governor Edward M. Lee said:

> In the provisions of the woman suffrage clause, enacted in 1869, we placed this youngest Territory on earth in the van of civilization and progress. That this statement has been verified by practical experience the testimony is unanimous, continuous and conclusive. Not a link is wanting in the chain of evidence and, as a Governor of the Territory once said: "The only dissenting voices against woman suffrage have been those of convicts who have been tried and found guilty by women jurors." Women exercised the right of jurors and contributed to the speedy release of the Territory from the régime of the pistol and bowie-knife. They not only performed their new duties without losing any of the womanly virtues, and with dignity and decorum, but good results were immediately seen. Chief Justice J. H. Howe, of the Supreme Court, under whose direction women were first drawn on juries, wrote in 1872: "After the grand jury had been in session two days the dance-house keepers, gamblers and demi-monde fled out of the State in dismay to escape the indictment of women jurors. In short, I have never, in twenty-five years' experience in the courts of the country, seen a more faithful and resolutely honest grand and petit jury than these."

The best women in the Territory served as jurors, and they were treated with the most profound respect and highly complimented for their efficiency. The successor of Chief Justice Howe was opposed to their serving and none were summoned by him. Jury duty is not acceptable to men, as a rule, and the women themselves were not anxious for it, so the custom gradually fell into disuse. The juries are made up from the tax lists, which contain only a small proportion of women. There are no court[Pg 1009] decisions against women as jurors, and they are still summoned occasionally in special cases.

Women have not taken a conspicuous part in politics. The population is scattered, there are no large cities and necessarily no great associations of women for organized work. They are conscientious in voting for men who, in their opinion, have the best interests of the community at heart. More latitude must necessarily be permitted in new States, but in 1900 they decided that it was time to call a halt on the evil of gambling, and as the result of their efforts a law was passed by the present Legislature (1901) forbidding it. The Chicago Tribune gave a correct summing-up of this matter in the following editorial:

> The women of Wyoming are to be credited with securing one reform which is a sufficient answer, in that State at least, to the criticism that woman suffrage has no influence upon legislation and fails to elevate political action. There will be no legalized gambling in Wyoming after the first of January next, the Legislature having just passed a law which makes gambling of every kind punishable by fine and imprisonment after the above date.

> This has been the work of the women. When they began their agitation about a year and a half ago, gambling was not only permitted but was licensed. The evil was so strongly entrenched and the revenue accruing to the State so large that there was little hope at first that anything would be accomplished. The leaders of the crusade, however, organized their forces skilfully in every town and village. Their petitions for the repeal of the gambling statute and for the passage of a prohibitory act were circulated everywhere, and were signed by thousands of male as well as female voters. When the Legislature met, the women were there in force, armed with their voluminous petitions. The gamblers also were there in force and sought to defeat the women by the use of large sums of money, but womanly tact and persuasion and direct personal appeals carried the day against strong opposition. The Legislature passed the bill, but it was the women who won the victory.

The most prejudiced must admit that women could not have done this if they had not represented at least as many votes as the gambling fraternity.

Laws: The first Legislature (1869), which conferred the suffrage upon women, gave wives exactly the same rights as husbands in their separate property.

Dower and curtesy have been abolished. If either husband or wife die without a will, leaving descendants, one-half of the estate, both real and personal, goes to the survivor. If there are[Pg 1010] no descendants, three-fourths go to the survivor, one-fourth to the father and mother or their survivors, unless the estate, both real and personal, does not exceed $10,000, in which case it all passes to the widow or widower. A homestead to the value of $1,500 is exempted for the survivor and minor children.

A married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on business in her own name.

The father is the guardian of the minor children, and at his death the mother. There is no law requiring a husband to support his family.[482]

The "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 14 years in 1882, and from 14 to 18 in 1890. The penalty varies from imprisonment for one year to life. Seduction under promise of marriage up to the age of 21 years is a penitentiary offense. Male and female habitues of a house of ill-repute are considered guilty of the same offense, but the man is liable for a fine of $100 and imprisonment for sixty days, while the woman is liable for only half this punishment.

Suffrage: Women have had the Full Franchise since 1869.

No separate record is kept of their votes, as they have exercised the suffrage so long that this would seem no more necessary than to keep one of the men's votes. The census of 1900 gives the percentage of men in the State as 63 (in round numbers) and of women as 37. The estimate of those who are best informed is that 90 per cent. of the women who are eligible use the suffrage.

Office Holding: Since the organization of the Territory in 1869 women have been eligible to all official positions, but there never has been any scramble for office.

No woman ever has served in the Legislature.

Miss Estelle Reel was State Superintendent of Public Instruction for four years. She is now National Superintendent of Indian Schools, appointed by President William McKinley, and has 300 of these under her charge.

Miss Grace Raymond Hebard is librarian of the State University, and for the past ten years has filled the position of secretary of the board of trustees, upon which women serve.[Pg 1011]

Miss Bertha Mills is clerk of the State Land Board, with a salary equal to that of any clerk or deputy in the State House.

Miss Rose Foote was assistant clerk in the House of Representatives of the last Legislature, and as a reader she left nothing to be desired. Women frequently serve as legislative enrolling clerks. There have been women clerks of the courts.

Women hold several important clerkships in the State Capitol and are found as stenographers, etc., in all the State, county and municipal offices.

In many districts they serve on the school board, and nearly all of the counties elect them to the responsible position of superintendent. As such they conduct the institutes, examine teachers and have a general supervision of the schools.

Occupations: The only industry legally forbidden to women is that of working in mines.

Education: All educational advantages are the same for both sexes.

By a law of 1869 Wyoming requires equal pay for men and women in all employment pertaining to the State. This includes the public schools, in which there are 102 men and 434 women teachers. But here as elsewhere the men hold the higher positions and their average monthly salary is $60.40, while that of the women is $42.86.

### FOOTNOTES:

[471] The History is indebted to the Hon. Robert C. Morris of Cheyenne, clerk of the Supreme Court of Wyoming, for much of the information contained in this chapter.

[472] Mrs. Morris is the mother of Robert C. Morris, and this paragraph is inserted by the editors. A full account of this first experiment in woman suffrage will be found in Vol. III, Chap. LII.

[473] Published in full in Wyoming Historical Collections, Vol. I.

[474] In an address Mr. Carey said later: "I was agreeably surprised to have so many of the ablest men in Congress, both in public and in private conversation, disclose the fact that they firmly believed the time would come when women would be permitted to exercise full political rights throughout the United States."

[475] See laws for women in Tennessee chapter.

[476] Miss Susan B. Anthony was an interested and anxious listener to this debate from the gallery of the House, and a joyful witness to the final passage of the bill.

[477] See laws for women in Texas chapter.

[478] In 1901, when a convention in Alabama was framing a new constitution, Senator Morgan sent a strong letter urging that this should include suffrage for tax-paying women.

[479] A telegram announcing that President Harrison had signed the bill was handed to Miss Anthony while she was addressing a large audience at Madison, S. D., during the woman suffrage campaign in that State, and those who were present say, "She spoke like one inspired."

By request of Miss Anthony and Lucy Stone, officers of the National W. S. A., the woman suffrage clubs of the entire country celebrated on the Fourth of July the admission into the Union of the first State with the full franchise for women, and an address from Mrs. Stanton was read—Wyoming the First Free State for Women.

[480] From 1876 to 1883 Edgar Wilson Nye (Bill Nye) was editor of the Laramie Boomerang, in which he published the following as the result of his eight years' observation of woman's voting:

"Female suffrage, I may safely and seriously assert, according to the best judgment of the majority in Wyoming Territory, is an unqualified success. An effort to abolish it would be at once hooted down. Its principal opposition comes from those who do not know anything about it. I do not hesitate to say that Wyoming is justly proud because it has thus early recognized woman and given her a chance to be heard. While she does not seek to hold office or act as juror, she votes quietly, intelligently and pretty independently. Moreover, she does not recognize the machine at all, seldom goes to caucuses, votes for men who are satisfactory, regardless of the ticket, and thus scares the daylights out of rings and machines."

[481] See Appendix—Testimony from Woman Suffrage States.

[482] When the attention of a distinguished jurist of Wyoming was called to these laws he said the question never had been raised, but there would be no objection to changing them.

[Pg 1012]

## CHAPTER LXXIII.

### GREAT BRITAIN.

#### EFFORTS FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY FRANCHISE.[483]

##### BY MISS HELEN BLACKBURN, EDITOR OF THE ENGLISHWOMAN'S REVIEW, LONDON.

The chapter on Great Britain contributed by Miss Caroline Ashurst Biggs to Vol. III of this History of Woman Suffrage brought the story down to the passage of the Representation-of-the-People Act of 1884 which extended Household Suffrage to the Counties and created the Service Franchise, thus giving the ballot to a large number of agricultural labourers and men who had their residence on premises of which their employers paid the rent and taxes, but which still left all such women without any franchise whatsoever.

With the passing of that Act may be said to have begun a new phase in the movement. During the '70's there had been a debate and division on the Women's Suffrage Bill in the House of Commons nearly every year. After the General Election of 1880 the question of Household Suffrage in the Counties came to the front, and all the efforts of the Women's Suffrage Societies were directed and inspired by the anticipation that when the claims of the agricultural labourer were dealt with, those of women would find their opportunity. But far from this, they were left practically in a worse position than before, for now 2,000,000 new voters were added to the number of those who could make prior claim to the attention of their representatives.

1885.—Immediately after the General Election which followed[Pg 1013] the passing of the new Reform Bill, Mr. Gladstone gave notice of his Bill for Home Rule for Ireland and the party feeling aroused was of such intensity that the Liberal party was cloven in twain. The Women's Suffrage movement was affected by the keen party strife, in which women were as deeply interested as men, and the question of their enfranchisement was no longer the only rallying point for their political activity. This period is marked by a rapid development of organisations amongst women for party purposes. In the Primrose League, which had been started in 1883, women had been assigned unprecedented recognition as co-operating with men on equal footing for political purposes. It does not promote special measures but lays down for its principle the Maintenance of Religion, of the Estates of the Realm and of the Imperial Ascendancy of the British Empire, thus indicating its Conservative tendency. The Women's Liberal Federation, founded in 1885 to promote liberal principles, endeavours to further special measures. The Women's Liberal Unionist Association founded in 1888 had for its principal object the defence of the legislative union between England and Ireland.

Thus women entered actively into the work of the three respective parties, and this re-acted in various ways on the Women's Suffrage propaganda. It might seem that this had a depressing effect, for the rigid neutrality in regard to party which always had characterised the National Societies for Women's Suffrage might easily seem dull and tame to the ardent party enthusiasts, and many of the Liberal women threw their energies by preference into the Women's Liberal Associations, but the old charge that women had no interest in politics, now received its complete quietus. It seems indeed a far cry from the manners of sixty years ago, when to talk politics to a woman was considered rude, to the manners of to-day when the Primrose League balances its 75,000 Knights with 63,000 Dames, besides associates innumerable, both men and women; and the Women's Liberal Federation with its 448 Associations has actively worked for candidates in a great number of counties in England.

1886.—The number of members returned after the General Election of 1885 who were understood to be favorably inclined[Pg 1014] towards the enfranchisement of women, exceeded any previous experience and on February 18th the motion to adjourn discussion was rejected by 159 ayes, 102 noes, and the bill passed second reading without further division; but before going into Committee another dissolution of Parliament took place.

The General Election which followed was even more favorable, the friendly Members returned being in an actual majority, and yet session after session passed and the pressure of Government business consumed Parliamentary time.

1887-1890.—The need of a central point, such as is afforded when there is a bill before the House, round which all the suffrage forces could rally independent of party, made it difficult for them to maintain their cohesion. The Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage had been such a point but it could not escape the distracting outside influences, and a revision of its rules took place in December, 1888, with the result that the Society as hitherto existing dissolved and reformed in two separate organisations. One of these established new rules which enabled it to affiliate with Societies formed for other purposes; and one adhered to the old rules which admitted only organisations formed with the sole object of obtaining the Franchise. But if, as was held, the internal re-organisation of the Societies redounded to greater strength, even more so did an unprecedented attack from the outside, in the Summer of 1889, when the Nineteenth Century opened its pages to a protest against the enfranchisement of women, to which a few ladies in London society had been diligently canvassing for signatures. The appearance of this protest was naturally the sign for an immediate counterblast, and the two Central Societies in London put a form of declaration into immediate circulation. The Fortnightly Review gave space to a reply from the pen of Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett and to a selection from the signatures which poured into the Suffrage Offices with a rapidity that was amazing, as in sending out the forms for signature numbers had not been aimed at but rather it was sought to make the list representative. The Nineteenth Century had contained the names of 104 ladies, mostly known as wives of public men, while those who had taken part in[Pg 1015] work for the good of the community and to advance the interests of women were conspicuous by their absence. The Fortnightly gave space for about 600 names asking for the suffrage, selected from over 2,000 received within a few days.[484]

This was the last work in which the distinguished reformer, Miss Caroline Ashurst Biggs, took part, as she died in September, 1889. Miss Lydia Becker, editor of The Women's Suffrage Journal, which she had founded in 1870, passed away the following Summer. These two deaths were an irreparable loss to the movement for the enfranchisement of women.

1891.—Parliamentary prospects grew brighter and Mr. William Woodall, who had charge of the Suffrage Bill, obtained May 13th for its consideration. The first Lord of the Treasury, Mr. W. H. Smith, had received a deputation appointed by the Suffrage Societies April 20th, to present him with a largely signed memorial praying that Her Majesty's Government would reserve the day appointed for the discussion of a measure "which suffers under the special disadvantage that those whom it chiefly concerns have no voting power with which to fortify their claims." They received the assurance that the House would not adjourn before the 13th, and that the Government had no intention of taking the day for their business.

On April 30th, however, when the Government proposed to take certain specified days for their business, Mr. Gladstone objected, insisting that they should be uniform in their action and take all Wednesdays up to Whitsuntide. This afforded a manifest opportunity for shelving the Suffrage Bill which the opponents[Pg 1016] were quick to perceive and, although Mr. Smith declared himself unable to take this day, Sir Henry James moved that all Wednesdays be taken. This was carried and the Government, for probably the first time in Parliamentary History, had a day forced on them.

1892.—Better fortunes attended the endeavours of the Parliamentary leaders in the following session. Mr. Woodall having accepted office in the Government, Sir Algernon Borthwick (now Lord Glenesk) undertook the necessary arrangements for the introduction of the Bill. This was placed, by the result of the ballot for a day, in the hands of Sir Albert Rollit, who set it down for April 27th in the following terms:

> Every woman who (1) in Great Britain is registered as an elector for any Town Council or County Council, or (2) in Ireland is a rate-payer entitled to vote at an election for guardians of the poor, shall be entitled to be registered as a Parliamentary elector and, when registered, to vote at any Parliamentary election for the County borough or division wherein the qualifying property is situate.

This Bill was brought forward for second reading on the appointed day by Sir Albert Rollit with a powerful statement of the question, and a debate followed marked by a high and serious tone. For this brief narrative it will suffice to note the closing speech from the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, who concluded by saying that whenever any important extension of the Franchise was brought up "they would have to face and deal with the problem of Women's Suffrage—and deal with it in a complete fashion." The division showed 175 for the Bill, 192 against—a result which was a surprise to both sides, for the opponents had exerted themselves in a manner beyond all precedent; they had sent round a whip signed by twenty members, ten on each side of the House, and Mr. Gladstone had written a letter to Mr. Samuel Smith, that had been circulated as a pamphlet, in which amongst other points he urged that at least it should be ascertained "that the womanly mind of the country was in overwhelming proportion and with deliberate purpose bent on procuring the vote."

1893-1895.—At the opening of the Parliament it was a great satisfaction to the Women's Suffrage party that Viscount Wolmer (now the Earl of Selborne) had undertaken the Parliamentary[Pg 1017] leadership of the question. It will hardly be needful here to go into all the causes which thwarted the vigilance of the leader in procuring a hearing for the measure in that Parliament.

On June 1st, 1895, a representative Conference was held at Westminster Town Hall to consider a plan for an appeal to the House of Commons from women all over the United Kingdom. Miss Florence Davenport Hill, who presided, briefly explained that the object of such an appeal was to convince the country in a more emphatic manner than could be possible by the petitions, memorials and demonstrations that already had been tried again and again, all of which were necessarily limited in their scope. This appeal should be from women of all ranks and classes in all parts of the United Kingdom. The Appeal for the Parliamentary Franchise then agreed upon was managed by a committee appointed from the chief organisations amongst women.

1896.—This effort to "focus the diffused interest of women in the suffrage into one concentrated expression" resulted in the collection of 257,796 signatures, nearly every constituency in the United Kingdom being represented. Although the Appeal was in readiness for presentation in the session of 1895, a suitable opportunity did not arise until 1896, when a fairly good place had been drawn in the ballot by Mr. Faithfull Begg and the Bill was set down for May 20th. Permission was obtained to place the Appeal in Westminster Hall on May 19th, and passes were given to the Committee to enable them to show it to any Members of Parliament who might wish to inspect it. Accordingly—although it was already known that all Wednesdays had been taken in Government business—the Appeal of the women of this day and generation for constitutional rights was placed in that grand old Hall, round which the Parliamentary associations of a thousand years are clustered. Many Members showed great interest in studying the signatures from their respective constituencies.

Irrespective of the interest called forth, other good results followed, for the Women's Suffrage Societies had been drawn into pleasant relation with a great many new friends and helpers all over the country. It was also shown that women who differed widely on political and social questions could work cordially and unanimously for this common object. The closer union which[Pg 1018] this work had brought about led to the modification of the Special Appeal Committee into a combined Committee for Parliamentary Work. A Conference held in the Priory Rooms, Birmingham, October 16th, attended by delegates from all the Women's Suffrage Societies, greatly assisted concerted action.

1897.—All was thus in good working order when at the opening of the session an excellent place was drawn in the ballot by Mr. Faithfull Begg (M. P. for St. Rollox division of Glasgow) and the Women's Franchise Bill was set down for February 3rd, when it passed second reading by a majority of 71. The old opponents sent out a strong whip against the Bill and mustered in force, but they were exceeded by the old friends, nor did the division show the whole strength of the movement, as many known to be favorable were still absent at that early date of the session.[485] A statement issued by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, said:

> This vote places the question of Women's Suffrage in a new phase, and its friends have only to continue to press it upon the attention of Parliament and the public in order to render it necessary at no distant date that it should be dealt with by the Government of the day. This has been the history of nearly all important measures of reform. They have very rarely been placed on the Statute Book by private members; but private members by repeatedly bringing a particular question before the House give the opportunity for its full consideration by Parliament and the country, so that in due time it takes its place as a Government measure. It will be the aim of the Union to put Women's Suffrage in this position, so that no Government, of whatever party, shall be able to touch questions relating to representation without at the same time removing the electoral disabilities of women.

The closer coalition that Autumn of all the Societies which make Women's Suffrage their sole object into a National Union was in itself a symptom of that new phase, and the combined Sub-Committee[Pg 1019] was now further modified into the Executive Committee of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies.

1898-1899.—The value of this second reading has been permanent notwithstanding that its progress through the next stage of going into Committee was thwarted by what even the Times described as an "undignified shuffle." The rule that Bills which have reached Committee stage before Whitsuntide should be taken on Wednesdays after Whitsuntide in their turn, so that if any one Bill is not finished on the day it is taken it is carried to the next, was so worked as to shut out the Women's Franchise Bill in 1899, and the rule which was meant to give equitable share to all was abused by purposely protracted talk over Bills which had no claim to such profuse attention.

This was the last opportunity that the pressure of the eventful years with which the century closed afforded for Parliamentary debate. The great meeting in Queen's Hall, London, June 29th, 1899, when the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies gave hearty welcome to their fellow-workers from all parts of the globe during the International Council of Women, remains the latest event of public significance.

The new House of Commons, 1901, includes 267 members who have voted in former Parliaments on the question of extending the Parliamentary Franchise to Women; of these 96 are opponents, 171 are supporters. One has continued to be a consistent opponent from the division on Mr. John Stuart Mill's amendment to the Reform Bill of 1867. Two have continued to be consistent supporters from the same division. Of members whose first time of voting dates from one or other of the numerous divisions which took place between the Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884, there still remain 20 opponents and 25 supporters. Of the members who recorded their vote for the first time on the question in the division on Sir Albert Rollit's Bill of 1892, there remain 24 opponents and 30 supporters. Of those whose first votes date from the division on Mr. Faithfull Begg's Bill in 1897, there remain 51 opponents and 114 supporters.

Thus the ratio of supporters gradually strengthens, and this notwithstanding the retirement of twice as many tried friends as of steady opponents. If to these considerations it is added[Pg 1020] that amongst the newly-elected members, for each one who is understood to be an opponent there are at least three understood to be friendly, it will be seen that the march of time strengthens the ranks of the Women's Suffrage cause in the House of Commons.

Amongst the supporters who have retired from Parliamentary life are three past leaders of the Women's Suffrage Bill, Mr. Leonard Courtney, Mr. Woodall and Mr. Faithfull Begg. Two past leaders now have seats in the Cabinet, Lord Selborne and Mr. George Wyndham. The Premier, Lord Salisbury, has been at all times a true friend; the leader of the House of Commons, the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, has voted and spoken in favor of the question in that body.

Mention has been made of the death of Miss Becker and of Miss Biggs. Miss Isabella M. S. Tod of Belfast, who passed away on December 8th, 1896, was a bright and leading spirit, in Ireland especially. In November, 1899, the Edinburgh Committee lost their much-loved Hon. Secretary, Miss Eliza Wigham, who had held that office for more than thirty years. In the same month Mr. Jacob Bright, who secured the Municipal Franchise for women, also passed away.

In Ireland the Local Government Act of 1898 gave fresh impetus to women's public work, and Mrs. Haslam, the veteran Hon. Secretary of the Dublin Women's Suffrage Society, for the past twenty-six years, still encourages the rising workers of today.

The North of England Women's Suffrage Society has just sent a petition with over 29,000 signatures entirely from women working in Lancashire cotton factories. The petition, which looked like a garden roller from its size, was brought up by a deputation of fifteen of the women, and by them placed in the hands of their Parliamentary friends for presentation.

In London the branches have amalgamated into one Central Society—President, Lady Frances Balfour; Chairman, Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett—and life and effort are apparent in every direction.[486][Pg 1021]

The new century has opened with a heavy shadow of sorrow for the British people in the death of their much-loved sovereign, Queen Victoria. Her reign will always be conspicuous as an era of change of tone in regard to the studies and pursuits of women. The extent to which that change is due to the presence on the throne of a woman full of goodness—one for whom Truth was her guide and Duty her rule in every action of her life—will stand out more clearly perhaps to future generations. But this we know, that during the Victorian era the idea of separateness in the interests of men and women has grown less and less, while co-operation and sympathy have grown more and more, so that these words of one of the pioneer thinkers on this subject, Mrs. Jameson, have become a key-note to the suffrage movement: "Whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are wise, whatsoever things are holy, must be accomplished by communion between brave men and brave women."

#### LAWS SPECIALLY AFFECTING WOMEN.

Half a century ago married women had no right to their earnings, nor to dispose of their property; all belonged to the husband unless settled on the wife and then it was in keeping of trustees. Mothers had no rights in their children. All professions were closed to women.

1839.—Custody of Infants Act empowered the Lord Chancellor to leave custody of her child to the mother, up to the age of seven, in case of divorce.

1873.—Custody of Infants Act allowed the mother custody of her child to the age of sixteen in case of divorce.

1886.—Guardianship of Infants Act gave the right to a surviving mother to be joint guardian in addition to any appointed by the father. The Act also enabled her to appoint a guardian in case of the father's death or incapacity; it also required the Court to have regard to the wishes of the mother as well as of the father.

1870-1874.—Married Women's Property Acts secured to them all rights to property acquired by their own skill and industry, and to all investments of their own money in their own names.

1882.—Married Women's Property Act consolidated and[Pg 1022] amended the previous act, enabling married women to acquire, hold and dispose by will or otherwise of any real or personal property without the intervention of a trustee.

1876.—Medical Education Act permitted medical degrees to be conferred on women.

1890.—Intestates Act provided that when a man dies intestate leaving a widow and no children, all his estate if under £500, goes to the widow, if over £500 she shall have £500 in addition to her share in the residue.[487]

#### LAWS RELATING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT. (SUFFRAGE.)

1869.—Municipal Corporations Act restored to women rate-payers of England the vote in Municipal Elections which had been taken away by the Municipal Corporation Act of 1835.

1870.—Elementary Education Act created School Boards and placed women on a complete equality both as electors and as eligible for election.

1881-1882.—The Municipal Act for Scotland gave to women the same Municipal Franchise possessed by those of England since 1869. They already had the School Franchise.

1888.—The County Electors Act gave women equal franchises with men for the election of Councillors for the County Councils created by the Local Government Act of that year.

1894.—Local Government Act which reorganised the Parochial Poor-Law Administration in the Counties, confirmed the rights of women to all Local Franchises and their eligibility as Poor-Law Guardians; and made them also eligible as Parish and District Councillors.

1896.—Poor-Law Guardian Act for Ireland made women for the first time eligible as Poor-Law Guardian.

1898.—Irish Local Government Act reorganized the system of Local Government in Ireland on similar lines to that in England. Women who had hitherto been excluded from the Municipal Franchise now had all Local Franchises conferred on them and were made eligible for Rural and Urban District Councils.[Pg 1023]

1899.—London Government Act changed the system of Vestries to that of Borough Councils throughout the Metropolitan Districts. Women had been eligible on the old Vestries and several were then serving. Their claim to sit on the new Borough Councils was, however, rejected.

#### WOMEN IN PUBLIC WORK.

Half a century ago no offices were held by women beyond such parochial offices as Sextoness, Overseer and Churchwarden, which they occasionally filled. Their always-existing right to act as Poor-Law Guardians seems to have been entirely left in abeyance until the early '70's, when the attention of public-spirited women was being called to the need of reformation in the workhouses.

1870.—Members of School Board: Miss Lydia Becker was the first woman to be elected to public office by the popular vote. This was at the first School Board election in Manchester, in November, 1870. She was re-elected at every subsequent triennial election until her death in 1890. Several were elected in London and other large towns. Their number has gone on slowly increasing, both in towns and rural districts, the women being re-elected again and again whenever they continued to stand.

1873.—Poor-Law Inspectors: The first woman was appointed Poor-Law Inspector in 1873. Then for some years there was no other. Two now fill that office, appointed in 1885 and 1898 respectively.

1875. Poor-Law Guardians: The first Poor-Law Guardian was elected in 1875. There are now over 1,000 serving as Guardians and District Councillors in England, a few in Scotland, and about 90 in Ireland.

1892.—Royal Commissions: Women were appointed as Assistant Commissioners on the Royal Commission of Labor in 1892, and as Royal Commissioners to enquire into secondary education in 1895.

1894.—Factory Inspectors: The first women Factory Inspectors were appointed in 1894, and six are now serving.

The Education Department also has a few as Inspectors. Local[Pg 1024] authorities in large towns are realizing the value of women as Sanitary Inspectors, and the number of these increases gradually.

#### STEPS IN EDUCATION.

Half a century ago there was not one school or college where women could have any approach to University classes. Now there are over 2,000 women graduates, besides 1,500 who hold certificates from Oxford and Cambridge in place of the degrees which would have been theirs had those ancient seats of learning opened their gates to women graduates. The following table shows the particulars:

Distribution. | Women Admitted. | Approximate total number of graduates in January, 1900.
London University | By a supplemental charter of 1878 | 1,100
Victoria University | By its charter of foundation, 1880 | 180
Royal University of Ireland | 1882 | 425
The Scottish Universities: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St. Andrews. | By an ordinance of the University Commissioners in 1892 empowering the admission of women | 226
University of Wales | By a charter in 1893 incorporating the Colleges of Aberystwith, Cardiff, Bangor | 27
Durham | By an amending charter in 1895 | 25
Girton College, Cambridge | Opened for women 1872 | 529
Newnham College, " | Opened for women 1880 | 577
Halls for Women in Oxford | Opened for women 1879 | 426

The students of the three Women's Colleges above take the examinations of Cambridge and Oxford and have instruction in part from their faculties, but receive only certificates instead of degrees. The other universities grant them full degrees.

The establishment of an equal standard of knowledge for men and women has brought about the result that the achievements of women in literature, science and art, once treated as abnormal and exceptional are now quite normal and usual; and the liberal learning, once confined to the very few in favored circumstances, is within the reach of numbers. As a corollary to this it has been recognized that women's occupations also deserve systematic training, with the result that when once the training was given the resourcefulness of women has enabled them to follow out new[Pg 1025] lines, and a new independence has dawned upon them. At the same time the sense of personal responsibility which comes of independence has made many more women realize that they have a duty to the community, and therefore has compelled them to set their thoughts and minds to the performance of those duties. As a natural consequence the fact is being more and more realized by the Electorate and by Government Departments that women can bring useful service to the community.

#### THE ISLE OF MAN.

[The ancient kingdom of the Isle of Man, with an independent government since the time of the vikings, and making its own laws which require only the sanction of the Crown, extended Full Suffrage to women property owners in December, 1880, and the act received the assent of Queen Victoria, January 5th, 1881. This was extended to all women rate-payers in 1892.]

### PROGRESS IN THE COLONIES.

#### NEW ZEALAND.[488]

The first of the Colonies of the British Empire to grant the Parliamentary Franchise to women was New Zealand, therefore, the story of Colonial Progress fitly opens with the land of the Maories. The earliest public mention that this writer has been able to find of the question was in a speech of Sir Julius Vogel to his constituents in 1876, when he said that he was in favor of extending the franchise to women—but as far back as 1869 a pamphlet on the subject, entitled An Appeal to the Men of New Zealand, had been written by Mrs. Mary Müller, who may be fitly termed the pioneer woman suffragist of that colony.

In 1878 the Government introduced an Electoral Bill which included the franchise for rate-paying women; this passed the House of Representatives but met with much opposition in the Upper House on points unconnected with women's suffrage, so that it was ultimately withdrawn.

In 1887 Sir Julius Vogel, Colonial Treasurer, introduced a[Pg 1026] Bill giving practically universal suffrage to women. This was supported by the Premier, Sir Robert Stout, and passed the House of Representatives May 12, 1887, by 41 ayes, 22 noes. Several Members stated that they only voted for it in the hope that in Committee it would be limited to owners of property. An amendment proposed to this effect in Committee was rejected, but this proved a fatal victory, for when the clause was put as it stood the "noes" carried the day.

A resolution moved by Sir John Hall in 1890, carried by a majority of 26, was a further note of encouragement.

The work for Women's Suffrage was mainly carried on by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and they now put forth increased energy, so that early in 1891 Mrs. Kate W. Sheppard, Franchise Superintendent, was able to report that many local unions had appointed franchise superintendents. With what effect they worked was shown when Sir John Hall presented in August, 1891, a petition for the suffrage seventy yards long, which was run out to the furthest end of the House; a row of Members ranged themselves on either side to inspect the signatures and found no two alike, as some seemed to expect. On September 4th Sir John Hall's Bill again passed in the House of Representatives, but was lost by two votes in the Legislative Council, or Upper House.

In 1892 Sir John Hall presented in behalf of the measure the largest petition ever seen in the New Zealand Parliament. That year the Hon. J. Ballance introduced an Electoral Bill on behalf of the Government, in which the most important new feature was the franchise for women. It passed the House of Representatives, but a difference on technical details between the two branches of the Legislature delayed its passage in the Council.

In 1893 the Electoral Act of New Zealand conferred the Franchise on every person over twenty-one, although this did not carry the right to sit in Parliament.

As a General Election was close at hand no time was lost in enrolling women on the register. The report of the New Zealand W. C. T. U. of 1893 supplies the following figures:

| Men. | Women.
On the Register | 177,701 | 109,461
Voting at the Poll | 124,439 | 90,290

[Pg 1027]

A lady present in Auckland during the election relates that the interest taken by the Maori women was very great and that nearly half the Maori votes registered in Auckland were those of women.

The Hon. H. J. Seddon, Premier of New Zealand, when in England for the celebration of the Queen's jubilee in 1897, spoke of the measure as a great success, saying, "It has come to stay." The Bishop of Auckland, speaking at the Church Congress in England that year, said "it had led to no harm or inconvenience, but the men of New Zealand were wondering why they had permitted the women of that Colony to remain so long without the right to vote in Parliamentary elections."

#### SOUTH AUSTRALIA.[489]

On July 22d, 1885, Dr. Stirling moved a Resolution in the House of Assembly in favor of conferring the Franchise for both Houses of the Legislature, on widows and spinsters who possessed qualifications (property) which would entitle them to vote for the Legislative Council. The debate was adjourned on the motion of the Attorney-General and on August 5th the Resolution carried without a division or serious opposition.

This favorable start is the more remarkable that there had been no previous agitation, no society or committee formed, no petitions presented, no meetings held. It was a matter of enlightened conviction on the part of the legislators. Dr. Stirling introduced a Bill in 1886, in the same terms as his resolution, and on April 13th it passed second reading by a majority of two of those voting, but as amendments to the Constitution must have a majority of the whole House, the Bill could not be proceeded with. A general election followed soon after, at which Dr. Stirling did not re-enter Parliament, and Mr. Caldwell took charge of the Bill, which in November, 1889, again passed second reading in the House of Assembly, but again by an insufficient majority.

In the Summer of 1889 a public meeting was held to form a Women's Suffrage League, which set to work holding meetings and collecting signatures to petitions under the guidance of its Hon. Secretary, Mrs. Mary Lee. The efforts of the parliamentary[Pg 1028] friends were thrice baffled—in 1890, 1891 and 1893—by the necessity for a majority of the whole House, which stopped further immediate progress though each time the Bill had passed second reading. The growth of support was, however, evidenced by the reply of the Premier to a deputation from the Women's Suffrage League in November, 1893—that "on the question of Women's Suffrage the Government were in the position of just persons who needed no conversion, as they were thoroughly at one in the matter and were willing to do all they could to place Women's Suffrage on the Statute Book."

When, in August, 1894, the Government brought their Adult Suffrage Bill to the Legislative Council the opponents did their utmost to bring about its defeat by obstructive amendments, but in vain. Finally they moved that the clause prohibiting women from sitting in Parliament be struck out, expecting thereby to wreck the Bill, but the supporters of the measure accepted the amendment and so it was carried by a combination of opponents and supporters, giving women Full Suffrage and the right to sit in the Parliament. An address and testimonial were presented to Mrs. Lee by the Hon. C. C. Kingston, the Premier, Dr. Cockburn, other Members of Parliament and friends. In making the presentation the Premier said he did so at request of the Committee, for her important services in one of the greatest constitutional reforms in Australian history. Royal assent was given to the Bill in 1895.

The first election under this Act took place in April, 1896. Statistics published in the Australian Register of June 10th, give the following totals:

| Men. | Women.
On the roll in Adelaide and suburbs | 30,051 | 24,585
On the roll in the country districts | 47,701 | 34,581
Voting in Adelaide and suburbs | 19,938 | 16,253
Voting in country districts | 31,634 | 23,059
Percentage voting in Adelaide and suburbs | 66.34 | 66.11
Percentage voting in the country districts | 66.32 | 66.68

Speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Central Committee of the Women's Suffrage Society in London, July 15th, 1898, Dr. Cockburn (now Sir John Cockburn, K. C. M. G.) said: "The refining influence of women has made itself felt in this sphere as in every other: they have elevated the whole realm of politics[Pg 1029] without themselves losing a jot of their innate purity. 'No poorer they but richer we,' by their addition to the electoral roll."

#### WEST AUSTRALIA.[490]

The women of West Australia enjoyed the unprecedented experience of having organised their Franchise League and gained the Franchise in one year. The question, however, had been more or less before the Colony since 1893. In that year Mr. Cookworthy had introduced a Women's Suffrage Resolution in the House of Assembly which was lost by only one vote.

After the next General Election, Mr. Cookworthy again introduced his Resolution in 1897, when it was lost by two votes, one of its strongest supporters being absent. Although there was at that time no organisation specially for the Suffrage, the Women's Christian Temperance Union did much to extend interest, and there was a large body of support to be found amongst the intelligent women of the Colony. This led to the formation of a Women's Franchise League for Western Australia.

This League was formally organized at a public meeting of the Leisure Hour Club in Perth, May 11th, 1899, Lady Onslow presiding. That autumn a Resolution similar to the one which had been introduced in the Legislative Assembly passed the Council, and before the year closed the Electoral Act was passed of which the important part for women lies in the interpretation clause, which interprets "Elector" as any person of either sex whose name is on the Electoral Roll of a province or district. Royal assent to the Bill was given in 1900. Although women now can vote for members of the Parliament they can not sit in that body.

Already the Women's Franchise League of Western Australia is transformed into the Women's Electoral League.

#### NEW SOUTH WALES.[491]

The Mother Colony seems likely to be the next to enfranchise women. The question in that Colony first came prominently forward when Sir Henry Parkes, the veteran statesman and oft-times Premier, proposed a clause to give equal voting power to[Pg 1030] women in his Electoral Bill in 1890. The clause was eventually dropped, but the very fact that it had been introduced in a Government Bill by a man of such high position as Sir Henry Parkes gave the question the impetus for which the friends of the movement were waiting to collect the growing interest into organized form and combined action.

On May 6th, 1891, the Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales was formed, Lady Windeyer was elected president and an active campaign was begun. On July 30th Sir Henry Parkes moved a Resolution in the Legislative Assembly "that in the opinion of this House the franchise for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly should be extended to women on the same conditions and subject to the same qualifications as men." The debate was a very long one, occupying twelve hours and concluding at 3 a. m., when the motion was lost by 34 ayes, 57 noes. The friends of Women's Suffrage were in no way cast down by this vote. They believed that in a full House on a fair test division their friends would have been in a majority, but many who were anxious for the passing of the Electoral Bill voted against Sir Henry Parkes' motion lest the inclusion of women should imperil its chances in the Upper House.

The next debate on the question was on November 18th, 1894, when Mr. O'Reilly moved a Resolution that "in the opinion of this House the time has arrived when the franchise should be extended to women." This was supported by Sir Henry Parkes. The Premier, Sir G. H. Reid, approved of Women's Suffrage in the abstract but objected that the present Parliament had received no mandate from the people. Sir George Dibbs thought the demand a just one. Eventually the motion, with the words "the time has now arrived" omitted, was carried by a large majority. No debate has taken place since 1894, as the pressure on the time of the Legislature has been great with Federal and other matters, but the question was never in a more hopeful position. The sudden change of government in 1899 placed a strong friend to the cause at the head of affairs in the present Premier, Sir William Lyne, and at the annual meeting of the Suffrage League in August, 1900, Mr. Fegan, M. P. (Minister for Mines) congratulated the women of New South Wales on being so near[Pg 1031] the goal of their desires. The Premier had definitely said that before the session closed a Bill would be introduced to give women the suffrage, and he hoped that next year they would be able to disband their League, its work being finished. The Bill was introduced in 1901 but was lost by 19 ayes, 22 noes.

On Aug. 14, 1902, the bill conferring the Parliamentary Franchise on women passed the Council. It had already passed the Assembly and is now law.

#### VICTORIA.[492]

In Melbourne an organisation for Women's Suffrage has been in existence some sixteen years, but it is only within the last five years that the question has come within the region of practical politics. The movement suffered from want of concentration of energy. "At one time the original association, though still in existence, was rivalled by other societies with the same object, but more or less tinged with local, class or religious characteristics. This rivalry, though it tended to the growth of the movement, deprived it of force and eventually led to divided counsels and consequently to comparative failure." The Australian Woman's Sphere[493] from which the above words are quoted, goes on to say: "A few years since, largely owing to the patience and tact of the late Annette Bear Crawford, its first Hon. Secretary, there was formed the 'United Council for Women's Suffrage' which aimed at including representatives of all the leagues that had for their main object, or for one of them, the political enfranchisement of women."

The formation of this Council has been the sign of a new life in the question in Melbourne. At the General Election of 1894 a determined effort was made to secure the return of a majority of members pledged to vote for the suffrage cause. The Government promised a Bill in the session of 1895, and on November 26th the Premier, Sir George Turner, introduced a Women's Suffrage Bill which passed the House of Assembly without a division, but was lost in the Legislative Council by two votes.

The Women's Suffrage Bill passed the Legislative Assembly[Pg 1032] in 1897, '98, '99, 1900, '01, each time with an increased majority, but each time its progress has been stopped in the Council.

Nevertheless there are many evidences of increasing vitality in the movement in Victoria, not the least of these being the rise of an Anti-Women's Suffrage Crusade. These "New Crusaders" have presented a petition which purports to be signed by 22,987 "adult women" of Victoria. But in 1891 before the suffrage was a live subject, before it had entered the region of practical politics, the women suffragists in six weeks obtained 30,000 signatures of adult women. The first and the most natural result of the anti-suffrage movement has been to bring down enquiries on the United Council from all parts of the Colony how to help Women's Suffrage.

#### QUEENSLAND.[494]

The Women's Suffrage question appears to have received its first awakening in Queensland from the visit of Miss Hannah Chenings, who in 1891 came from Adelaide on a lecturing tour in connection with an effort to obtain a law for the better protection of young girls. Her account of the Women's Franchise League in South Australia aroused a wish for a similar organisation here, and after a period of silent growth the Women's Suffrage Association was formed in 1894, mainly through the instrumentality of Mrs. Leontine Cooper and Mrs. Maginie, who, as Miss Allen, had been a member of the New South Wales Society.

At the first annual meeting of this association, in March, 1895, the report showed that petitions had been presented with over 11,000 signatures, and that letters expressing themselves as favorable to the measure had been received from thirty Members of the Legislative Assembly. In the General Election of 1897 a large number of candidates declared themselves in favor, but so far the effort to carry a Bill through the House has met with disappointment, and the Women's Suffrage Association are bending their efforts towards inducing the Government to bring in a Bill. Here, as in the other Colonies where they are still unenfranchised,[Pg 1033] the women feel deeply the injustice of their exclusion from the Federal Referendum.

#### TASMANIA.[495]

As long ago as 1885 a Constitutional Amendment Act passed second reading in the Tasmanian House of Assembly which provided for the extension of the Franchise to unmarried women rate-payers, but notwithstanding the support of the Government the question made no further advance in Parliament.

In recent years a Bill to enfranchise women on the same terms as men has passed the House of Assembly on several occasions with increasing majorities, but the opponents are still too numerous to carry it through the Upper House. The Women's Christian Temperance Union have been the most energetic workers in its behalf.

[It will be noticed that in each of these Australian States the Women's Suffrage Bill repeatedly passed the Assembly, or Lower House, which is elected by the people, but was defeated in the Council or Upper House, which is composed entirely of wealthy and aristocratic members, who can be voted for only by these classes, and some of whom are appointed by the Government and hold office for life. In 1901 a Federation of the six States was formed with a National Parliament, both Houses to be elected by the people. In June, 1902, a bill passed this Federal Parliament giving women the right to vote for its members and be elected to this body. About 800,000 women have been thus enfranchised, the largest victory ever gained for this movement.

In South and West Australia and New South Wales women may vote for members of the State Parliament. In Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania they may vote for the Federal but not for the State Parliament, an anomaly which doubtless will be very soon rectified. It is possible that before this volume is read all the women of the six Australian States will possess the full franchise by constitutional right.—Eds.]

In the South African Colonies there has been, as yet, no history to record. That the question simmers in many thoughtful[Pg 1034] minds there can scarcely be a doubt, but the time for organised action does not seem to have yet arrived.

The other Colonies of Great Britain, with the exception of Canada, are not self-governing.

#### DOMINION OF CANADA.

The story of the movement to obtain the Parliamentary Franchise in the Dominion dates back to 1883. In April of that year the Premier, Sir John Macdonald, introduced a Bill in the Legislature for amending the electoral law, including a clause which gave the suffrage to unmarried women who possessed the necessary qualifications.

Previously, on March 9th, the Toronto Women's Literary and Social Progress Club had gathered in public for the first time in the City Council Chamber to consider the Suffrage question. Mrs. McEwan presided and a paper "treating pithily and with much aptness on the subject of the Franchise" was read by Miss E. Foulds, who moved a Resolution "that in the opinion of this Meeting the Parliamentary Franchise should be extended to women who possess the qualifications which entitle men to vote." This and a second resolution proposing the formation of a society to forward such legislation as might be required were both carried, many ladies and gentlemen speaking in their support and a large number of those present giving in their names as members. On April 5th an adjourned meeting was held and the Canadian Women's Suffrage Association was constituted.

Sir John Macdonald's Bill was presented too late to become a law and was re-introduced in 1884. It was in this year that members of the British Suffrage Association visited Canada. Miss Lydia Becker and Mrs. Lilias Ashworth Hallett were among them, and they and several other English ladies united in sending an address to Sir John Macdonald thanking him for the introduction of provisions in his Bill to enable women to vote and expressing their high appreciation of the just and generous spirit which had actuated him. Mrs. Hallett had some conversation with Sir John Hall, who told her the only difficulty they expected in Canada as regarded passing the Bill was from the French population. This expectation proved to be well-founded.[Pg 1035] The Women's Suffrage Clauses were rejected by 51 ayes, 78 noes, after a debate extending over thirty-one consecutive hours.

It was ten years before any further effort was made to secure the Parliamentary Franchise. In 1894 a petition for this, in behalf of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, supplemented by memorials from the Provinces, was presented by Sir James Grant to the House of Commons, and by the Hon. Mr. Scott to the Senate, but no resolution was offered. A Bill introduced by Mr. Dickey, dealing with the electoral franchise, contained a clause asking suffrage for widows and spinsters, but the Bill was read only once. Mr. Davis, unsolicited, brought in a resolution for Women's Franchise on the same terms as men. Forty members voted for it, one hundred and five against it.

A petition for the Parliamentary Franchise for women, very largely signed by Federal voters throughout the Dominion, was presented to the House of Commons and the Senate in 1896. This was the last effort in the Parliament, and as a change has since been made in the Electoral Act, making the voters' list for the Dominion coincide with the Provincial lists, the battle will therefore have to be fought out in each separate Province.

#### THE PRESENT POLITICAL CONDITION.[496]

Women in Canada have no vote for any law maker, either Federal or Provincial. Their franchise is confined to municipalities, which can only make by-laws that relate to the execution of existing laws. But although women have no direct vote, they have, by much labor and united effort, effected some important changes in the criminal code and civil laws, as well as in the political position of women in the municipalities. The societies which have accomplished the most, if not all, of these changes are the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Women's Enfranchisement Association and the National Council of Women.

In the Province of Ontario, in 1884, widows and spinsters were given the Municipal Franchise on the same terms as men.[Pg 1036] All women, married or single, if owners of property, may vote on money by-laws where such are submitted to the electors. Any woman on the assessment roll may vote for School Trustees and is eligible for this office. In 1892 it was enacted that women might study law and qualify for the Bar. In 1893 a Bill to give Municipal Suffrage to married women and one to grant the Provincial Suffrage to all women were defeated by 16 ayes, 53 noes.

In the Province of New Brunswick the Legislature in 1886 gave, unsolicited, to widows and spinsters the right to vote on the same terms as men at Municipal elections. In 1893 an Act was passed permitting the appointment of a woman as School Trustee. This was amended in 1896 making it compulsory that two on each Board shall be women.

In the Province of Nova Scotia the Municipal Franchise was granted to widows and spinsters in 1887. A Bill for the Provincial Franchise was defeated in 1893; and again in 1894 by one vote. An Act of 1895 permits all women, if rate-payers, to vote on School matters. A married woman having property in her own right, provided that her husband is disqualified, may vote in Municipal elections under the Married Woman's Property Act, since 1891. In the city of Halifax widows and spinsters who are rate-payers may vote on Municipal questions. In 1894 a Bill giving women a more extended suffrage was lost by seven votes; in 1895 by four votes; in 1899 a Bill for the full Provincial Franchise was lost by twenty-seven votes.

In the Province of Prince Edward Island, in 1888, the Municipal Suffrage was granted to widows and spinsters owning property. An Act of 1899 made women eligible to appointment on School Boards.

In the Province of British Columbia, in 1888, the Municipal Franchise was conferred on widows and spinsters owning property. An Act of 1891 allows the wife of any householder or freeholder to vote on School matters but not to hold office; in 1897 the Act was amended making them eligible as School Trustees. This same year all women rate-payers were given the Municipal Franchise. Only owners of property may vote on by-laws for raising money upon the credit of the municipality.

In the Province of Manitoba, in 1891, the Municipal Franchise[Pg 1037] was extended to women. Any qualified woman rate-payer can vote on School questions and is eligible for School offices. Women property owners may vote on all submitted by-laws. In 1892 a measure to give women the full Provincial Suffrage was defeated by 28 ayes, 11 noes.

In the Province of Quebec, in 1892, the Municipal and School Franchise was conferred on widows and spinsters on the same terms as on men. The law relating to the right of women to sit on the School Board was ambiguous, so a petition was presented that they be declared eligible. The response to this was an amendment excluding women. In Montreal, under the old charter, only widows and spinsters who owned property had the Municipal Franchise; in 1899 this was amended, adding tenancy with residence as a qualification. In 1898 a Bill granting them the Provincial Suffrage was lost on division.

In the Northwest Territories, in 1894, the Municipal Franchise was granted to widows and spinsters. In School matters every woman rate-payer can vote and is eligible to School offices.[497]

### FOOTNOTES:

[483] The women of Great Britain and Ireland possess every franchise except that for members of Parliament. Local suffrage is restricted to spinsters and widows, but the important vote for Parish and District Councils, created by the Local Government Act of 1894, is possessed by married women "provided husband and wife shall not both be qualified in respect to the same piece of property." It may be stated in general terms that all electors must be rate-payers, although there are some exceptions applying to a small percentage of persons. [Eds.

[484] These were classified in groups: (1) The general list (2) Wives of clergymen and church dignitaries. This list was headed by Mrs. Benson and Mrs. Thomson, the wives of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. (3) Officials, including ladies who are Poor Law Guardians and members of School Boards. (4) Education, including the names of such leaders in the movement for the higher education of women as Mrs. Wm. Grey, Miss Emily Davies, Mrs. Henry Sidgwick—the Mistress of Girton, the Principal of Newnham College, upwards of sixty university lecturers and teachers and head mistresses of High Schools, upwards of eighty university graduates and certificated students, and there were omitted for want of space the names of over 200 other women engaged in the teaching profession. (5) Registered medical practitioners, headed by Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M. D.; Miss Elizabeth Blackwell, M. D., and Mrs. Scharlieb, M. D., together with a number of ladies engaged in the department of nursing. (6) Social and philanthropic workers. (7) Literature, including Miss Anna Swanwick, Mrs. Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Miss S. D. Collet, Miss Olive Schreiner, Mrs. Emily Crawford, Miss Amelia B. Edwards. (7) Art and music. (8) Landowners, women engaged in business and working women, the latter class represented by the secretaries of nine women trades' societies, and over 180 individual signatures of women artisans.

[485] The text of the Bill was as follows:

(1) This Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Franchise (Extension to Women) Act, 1897.

(2) On and after the passing of this Act every woman who is the inhabitant occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house, tenement or building within the borough or county where such occupation exists, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter in the list of voters for such borough or county in which she is so qualified as aforesaid, and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in Parliament.

Provided always that such woman is not subject to any legal incapacity which would disqualify a male voter.

[486] The first petition for woman suffrage presented to Parliament, in 1867, was signed by only 1,499 women. The petition of 1873 was signed by 11,000 women. The petition presented to the members of the last Parliament was signed by 257,796 women. [Eds.

[487] No reference has been made in the above table to the various Factory Acts which impose restrictions on women's labour—these belong to a different department—but whether their interference with the labor of women be for good or for evil, that interference is an additional argument for allowing them a voice in the election of representatives.

[488] In 1877 New Zealand granted School Suffrage to women, and in 1886 Municipal Suffrage.

[489] In 1880 South Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[490] In 1871 West Australia granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[491] In 1867 New South Wales granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[492] In 1869 Victoria granted Municipal Suffrage to women.

[493] The first number of The Australian Woman's Sphere was published in Melbourne, September 1, 1900. It is edited by Miss Vida Goldstein and appears monthly.

[494] In 1886 Queensland granted Municipal Suffrage to Women.

[495] Tasmania granted Municipal Suffrage to women in 1884.

[496] This portion of the report is condensed by the editors of the History from a chapter written by Mrs. Henrietta Muir Edwards for "The Women of Canada, Their Life and Work," a handbook prepared by the National Council of Women, at the request of the Canadian Government, for the Paris Exposition of 1900.

[497] In the city of Vancouver any single woman, widow or spinster, may vote for municipal officers, and all women possessing the other necessary qualifications of male voters may vote for all municipal officers and upon all municipal questions. Married women may vote in the election of School Trustees. It has recently been decided that a man possessing no property of his own, and not being a householder in his own right, may be allowed to vote in municipal matters if his wife be a property owner or a householder. [Eds.

[Pg 1038]

## CHAPTER LXXIV.

### WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

In most of the countries of the world women possess some form of suffrage, but for many reasons it is almost impossible to define exactly in what it consists. Like suffrage for men it is largely based on property, and in most cases can be used only through a proxy. Generally the woman loses the franchise by marriage and the husband may vote by right of the wife's property. In Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy and Roumania the husband votes at local elections by right of the taxes paid by the wife, and in case of a widow this right belongs to the eldest son, grandson or great grandson, or if there is none, then to the son-in-law. The Italian electoral law of 1870 gave a widow the right to vote by proxy in Parliamentary elections. All the Italian universities are open to women.

The constitution of Germany says "every German" above twenty-five years of age shall have the Parliamentary Franchise, but no woman ever has been permitted to vote under it. There are, besides, twenty-five constitutions for the different States which form the Empire. By the wording of some of them, women landed proprietors undoubtedly are entitled to take part in elections. The Prussian code declares that the rights of the two sexes are equal, if no special laws fix an exception, and it gives the Parliamentary Franchise to every one who possesses the county or burgess suffrage. The by-laws which prescribe the qualifications for the latter in some instances exclude women and in others declare that women land holders may act as electors, but only "through a proctor" (proxy). Teachers undoubtedly, as State officials, are entitled to take part in local government. Some of the provinces allow women taxpayers to vote by proxy in the rural districts. Neither the Government nor public sentiment, however, looks with favor upon women electors. It is only in recent years that a few of the most advanced have begun to agitate the question in this country, which holds a most conservative[Pg 1039] attitude towards women. They have recently been admitted to a few of the universities.

In most of the Prussian towns the property qualifications of the wife are accounted to the husband in order that he may take part in municipal elections. In Saxony women proprietors of landed estates, whether married or single, are entitled to a municipal vote but this can be exercised only by proxy, and for this purpose one of their male relatives must be invested with their property. In Saxony, Baden, Wurtemburg, Hesse, the Thuringian States and perhaps a few more, women are permitted to attend public political meetings and be members of political societies, but in all other German States they are excluded from both. They are thus prohibited from forming organizations to secure the franchise. In Westphalia since 1856, and Schleswig-Holstein since 1867, all qualified women have some form of suffrage by male proxy.

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, since 1862, women with property have a proxy vote in municipal and provincial elections and for members of the Lower House of the Parliament, but there are many restrictions to this law. In Bohemia, since 1873, women who are large landed proprietors have a proxy vote for members of the Imperial Parliament and the local Diet.

In Russia among the peasant class the representative of the household votes. The wife, if owner of the necessary amount of property, may select her husband as proxy, but he may also delegate his vote to the wife, and it is a common thing to see her take his place at elections and at village and country meetings of all kinds. In the cities and territorial assemblies, women, married or unmarried, possessing sufficient property, may vote by male proxy for members of the municipal and county assemblies. Property-owning women of the nobility may vote by proxy in the assemblies of the nobility. Part of the universities are open to them. There are 650 women physicians in Russia.

So far as can be learned women are not eligible to office in the above-mentioned countries with a very few exceptions.

In Finland, since 1865, widows and spinsters may vote at rural elections; since 1873 those who are rate-payers may vote at municipal elections. Since 1889 women are eligible as Guardians[Pg 1040] of the Poor. In 1900 they were made eligible to all municipal offices. An influential Finnish Woman's Association with twenty branches is agitating for suffrage on the same terms as men.

In Holland there is no form of woman suffrage and the constitution of 1887 expressly prohibits it.

Women in Denmark have no franchise, but Premier Duentzer has announced that the first reform movement of the new Cabinet (1901) will be the extension of Municipal Suffrage to women.

In 1893, through the efforts of the Socialists, universal suffrage was granted to men in Belgium. While this gives to every man a vote, it permits to the married man, if he pays a small tax, two votes as the head of a family; if he pays tax on what would be about $2,000, or has a university degree, he is allowed three votes. The vast majority of those owning property or possessing university degrees belong to the established (Catholic) Church, and the Socialists soon found themselves out-voted by a minority. They then instituted a new movement demanding "one man, one vote," and the Government, which is Catholic, said: "If you compel this we will enfranchise women," believing that this would strengthen its power. At this writing the contest is going on and becoming more violent.

Switzerland, whose pride is its absolutely republican form of government, allows no woman a vote on any question or for the election of any officer. They are admitted to the universities.

In France, in 1898, unmarried women engaged in commerce (including market women, etc.) were given a vote for Judges of the Tribunals of Commerce. A Woman Suffrage Society has just been formed in Paris which is attracting considerable attention. Women are admitted to the highest institutions of learning.

The laws in all the countries thus far mentioned are most unjust to women and especially to wives.

Women in Sweden have voted in church matters since 1736. It was provided in 1862 that women who are rate-payers may vote directly or by proxy, as they choose, for all officers except for members of the Parliament. Indirectly they have a voice in the election of the First Chamber or House of Lords, as they vote for the County Council which elects this body. They have School and Municipal Suffrage and that for Provincial representatives.[Pg 1041] The laws are very liberal to women. All of the educational institutions, the professions, occupations and many of the offices are open to them. They are members of the Boards of Education, Municipal Relief Committees and Parochial Boards. About six hundred have received university degrees.

In Norway, since 1889, in towns women with children may vote for school inspectors and be eligible to the school boards. In rural communes they are eligible as inspectors, and women who pay a school tax may vote on all school questions and officers, while those who pay no tax but have children may vote on all questions not involving expenditures. In 1884 a Woman Suffrage Association was formed under the leadership of Miss Gina Krog for the purpose of securing the Municipal Franchise. In 1890 a bill for this purpose received 44 out of 114 votes in the Parliament. It was then made an issue by the Liberal party. In 1895 a vote on Local Option was granted to women. In 1898 the Radical party secured universal suffrage for men without property restrictions. They then came to the assistance of women and were joined by a large number of Conservatives. In 1901 Municipal Suffrage was granted to all women who pay taxes on an income of 300 crowns ($71) in country districts and 400 in cities. If husband and wife together pay taxes on this amount both may vote. About 200,000 women thus became electors. Women are found in many offices, in most occupations and professions, and are admitted to all educational institutions.

Iceland, since 1882, grants Municipal Suffrage to tax-paying widows and spinsters; since 1886 all women have had a parish suffrage, which enables them to vote in the selection of the clergy, who have a prominent part in public affairs.

At the Cape of Good Hope women have a limited vote. In the tiny Island of Pitcairn, in the Southern Pacific, they have the same suffrage as men. This is doubtless true of many isolated localities whose records are little known. Among primitive peoples the government is generally in the hands of the most competent without regard to sex, and some of these are still under the reign of the Matriarchate, or the rule of mothers, to whom belong the property and the children. The early Spanish inhabitants of the North American continent placed much authority in the hands of women, and the same is true of the Indian tribes.

[Pg 1042]

## CHAPTER LXXV.

### NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OF WOMEN.

The most conspicuous and significant movement which challenges attention at the beginning of the new century is that toward organization, and the three great combinations which stand out most prominently in interest and importance are the organization of capital, the organization of labor and the organization of women. We scarcely can go back so far in history as not to find men banded together to protect their mutual interests, but associations of women are of very modern date. The oldest on record was formed in Philadelphia, in the closing days of the eighteenth century—Female Society for the Relief and Employment of the Poor—which in 1798 established a house of industry in Arch St., known as the Home for Spinners. The society is still in active existence and gives employment to a large number of women. Church Missionary Societies of Women had their origin early in the century, but as mere annexes to those officered and managed by men. The first association to approach national prominence was the Female Anti-Slavery Society, founded in Boston in 1833, which almost cost the reputation of every one who joined it, so strong was the prejudice against any public action on the part of women. The American Female Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless was established in New York in 1834, and still exists, having cared for 50,000 children. Later in this decade Female Bible Societies came into being to supply Bibles to penal and charitable institutions and to put them in various public places.

MRS. IDA HUSTED HARPER.
Author of Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, and Joint Editor with her of The History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. IV.

From 1840 to 1850 the old Washingtonian Societies, composed entirely of men, were gradually replaced by the Sons of Temperance, and as they also were decidedly averse to receiving women into their organization, and as the latter were deeply interested in the subject, a few of them timidly formed the Daughters[Pg 1043] of Temperance, in the face of extreme opposition on the part of both sexes. In the decade following commenced the agitation of the question of Woman Suffrage, and soon conventions in its interest began to be of frequent occurrence, to the joy of the newspapers, most of which treated them with ridicule and denunciation.

The decade ushered in by 1860 brought the long Civil War, during which, in the Sanitary Commission, the Woman's Loyal League, the Freedmen's Bureau and other associations, women displayed an unsuspected power of organization, and at its close their status in many ways was completely changed and greatly advanced.

In 1868 the country was electrified by the advent of Sorosis in New York City and the New England Woman's Club in Boston. These were the first societies formed by women purely for their own recreation and improvement—all others had been for the purpose of reforming the weak and sinful or assisting the needy and unfortunate—and they met with a storm of derision and protest from all parts of the country, which their founders courageously ignored. The last quarter of a century has witnessed so many organizations of women that it would be practically impossible to record even their names. Every village which is big enough for a church contains also a woman's club, and they exist in many country neighborhoods. In the larger cities single societies have from 500 to 1,000 members, and in a number handsome club houses have been built and furnished, some of them costing from $50,000 to $80,000.

From 1850 the annual conventions in the interest of Woman's Rights were called under the auspices of a Central Committee, but in 1869 the National and American Woman Suffrage Associations were formed. Five years later the Woman's Christian Temperance Union sprang into existence. There are now more than one hundred associations of women in the United States which are national in their form and aims, and a number have become international through their alliance with those of other countries. In 1888, in Washington City, the National Council of Women, a heroic undertaking, was founded to gather these vast and diverse organizations into one great body. By 1900[Pg 1044] sixteen had become thus affiliated, representing a membership of about 1,125,000 women.

An International Council also was organized in 1888 to be composed of similar National Councils in various countries and to meet in a Congress every five years. At the close of the century fourteen National Councils had affiliated with the International, representing a membership of 6,000,000. This is not only immeasurably larger than any other association of women but is exceeded in size by very few organizations of men, and its two great Congresses—during the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, and at London in 1899—were occasions of world-wide interest and value.

Each of the more than one hundred national associations of women in the United States holds its annual, biennial or triennial convention in some one of the large cities, which is attended by delegates from all parts of the country. The sessions are presided over by a woman, discussions are carried on with due attention to parliamentary usage, a large amount of business is transacted with system and accuracy, and in every respect these meetings compare favorably with those conducted by men after centuries of experience. They are treated with the greatest respect by the newspapers which vie with each other in publishing pictures of the delegates, their addresses and extended and complimentary reports of the proceedings. The character of these national organizations, the scope of their objects and the extent of their achievements can in no way be so strikingly illustrated as by giving a list of the most important.[498]

The International Council of Women was organized March 31, 1888, in Washington, D. C., "to unite the women of all the countries in the world for the promotion of co-operative internationalism through the abatement of that prejudice which springs from ignorance[Pg 1045] and which can be corrected only by that knowledge which results from personal acquaintance.

"In the first place its influence has united different organizations of the same country hitherto indifferent or inimical to each other; and in the second it has commenced the work of uniting the women of different nations and abating race prejudice. It has promoted the movement of peace and arbitration, and through its international committees it is forming a central bureau of information in regard to women's contribution to the work of the world."

It is composed at present of fourteen National Councils of as many different countries representing an individual membership of about 6,000,000 women. Its president is Mrs. May Wright Sewall, who was one of its founders.

The National Council of Women was organized in Washington, D. C., March 31, 1888. Its constitution is introduced by the following preamble:

"We, women of the United States, sincerely believing that the best good of our homes and nation will be advanced by our own greater unity of thought, sympathy and purpose, and that an organized movement of women will best conserve the highest good of the family and the State, do hereby band ourselves together in a confederation of workers committed to the overthrow of all forms of ignorance and injustice, and to the application of the Golden Rule to society, custom and law. This Council is organized in the interest of no one propaganda, and has no power over its auxiliaries beyond that of suggestion and sympathy; therefore, no society voting to become auxiliary shall thereby render itself liable to be interfered with in respect to its complete organic unity, independence or methods of work, or be committed to any principle or method of any other society or to any utterance or act of the Council itself, beyond compliance with the terms of this constitution."

The scope of the Council's work is indicated by the heads of its departments: Home Life, Educational Interests, Church and Missionary Work, Temperance, Art, Moral Reform, Political Conditions, Philanthropy, Social Economics, Foreign Relations, Press, Organization; and by its standing committees: Citizenship, Domestic Science, Equal Pay for Equal Work, Dress Reform, Social Purity, Domestic Relations under the Law, Press, Care of Dependent and Delinquent Children, Peace and Universal Arbitration.

Each of these departments and committees works along its special lines and at the annual executive meetings and the triennial Councils the reports of their work are discussed, their recommendations considered and every possible assistance rendered. The general public is invited to the evening sessions and valuable addresses are made by specialists on the above and other important subjects.

The Council is composed of sixteen national organizations, one State Council, six local councils—representing a membership of about 1,125,000 women.

The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union was[Pg 1046] organized in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 18-20, 1874, to carry the precepts of the following pledge into the practice of everyday life: "I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including wine, beer and cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same."

Its object was further stated as follows: "To confirm and enforce the rationale of this pledge, we declare our purpose to educate the young; to form a better public sentiment; to reform, so far as possible, by religious, ethical and scientific means, the drinking classes; to seek the transforming power of divine grace for ourselves and all for whom we work, that they and we may wilfully transcend no law of pure and wholesome living; and finally we pledge ourselves to labor and to pray that all these principles, founded upon the Gospel of Christ, may be worked out into the Customs of Society and the Laws of the Land."

The W. C. T. U. is held to be the most perfectly organized body of women in existence. It originated the idea of Scientific Temperance Instruction in the public schools and has secured mandatory laws in every State and a federal law governing the District of Columbia, the Territories and all Indian and military schools supported by the Government; 16,000,000 children in the public schools receive instruction under these laws as to the nature and effect of alcohol and other narcotics on the human system. Through its efforts the quarterly temperance lesson was included in the International Sunday School Lesson Series in 1884, and a World's Universal Temperance Sunday was secured; 250,000 children are taught scientific reasons for temperance in the Loyal Temperance Legions, and all these children are pledged to total abstinence and trained as temperance workers. W. C. T. U. Schools of Methods are held in all Chautauqua gatherings.

This organization has largely influenced the change in public sentiment in regard to social drinking, equal suffrage, equal purity for both sexes, equal remuneration for work equally well done, equal educational, professional and industrial opportunities for women. It has been a chief factor in State campaigns for statutory prohibition, constitutional amendment, reform laws in general and those for the protection of women and children in particular, and in securing anti-gambling and anti-cigarette laws. It has been instrumental in raising the "age of protection" for girls in many States and in obtaining curfew laws in 400 towns and cities. It aided in securing the Anti-Canteen Amendment to the Army Bill (1900) which prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquors at all army posts. It helped to inaugurate police matrons who are now required in nearly all the large cities of the United States. It organized Mothers' Meetings in thirty-seven States before any other society took up the work. Illinois alone has held 2,000 Mothers' Meetings in a single year.

It keeps a superintendent of legislation in Washington during the entire session of Congress to look after reform bills. It aided in preventing the repeal of the prohibitory law in Indian Territory,[Pg 1047] the resubmission of the prohibitory constitution of Maine, and in preserving the prohibitory law of Vermont. It has secured 20,000,000 signatures and attestations, including 7,000,000 on the Polyglot Petition to the governments of the world. Thousands of girls have been rescued from lives of shame and tens of thousands of men have signed the total abstinence pledge and been redeemed from inebriety through its efforts.

The association protests against the legalizing of all crimes, especially those of prostitution and liquor selling. It protests against the sale of liquor in Soldiers' Homes, where now an aggregate of $253,027 is spent annually for intoxicating liquors, and only about one-fifth of the soldiers' pension money is sent home to their families. It protests against the United States Government receiving a revenue for liquors sold within prohibitory territory, either local or State, and against all complicity of the Federal Government with the liquor traffic. It protests against lynching and lends its aid in favor of the enforcement of law. It works for the highest well-being of our soldiers and sailors and especially for suitable temperance canteens and a generous mess. It works for the protection of the home, especially against its chief enemy, the liquor traffic, and for the redemption of our Government from this curse, by the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes.

The organizing of this great society in the various States and Territories, and the systematizing of the work under forty different departments, is due to the efforts of Miss Frances E. Willard more than to any other one person, and its success is indebted largely to her ability and personal popularity. As its president until her death in 1898, she not only perfected the organization in this country, but originated the idea of the Polyglot Petition and of the World's W. C. T. U., which was organized under the auspices of that of the United States. It now includes fifty-eight different countries and has 500,000 members.

The official organ, The Union Signal, a weekly of sixteen pages, is issued by the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association of Chicago, which publishes also The Young Crusader and many books and leaflets. The National W. C. T. U. gives away 5,000,000 pages of literature per year, exclusive of that circulated by the States and different departments. It has received and expended since its organization in round numbers $400,000. This does not include the large expenditures of the various State and local unions.

Every State and Territory in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, has a W. C. T. U., and one is beginning in the Philippines. These are auxiliary to the National. It is organized locally in over 10,000 cities and towns. The Young Woman's Christian Temperance Union is called a branch, also the Loyal Temperance Legions among children. There are thirty-eight other departments, and it is usual to include the two branches and speak of forty departments. The membership paying dues is 300,000. There was a gain of 15,000 members this year above all losses.[Pg 1048]

The Frances E. Willard National Temperance Hospital and Training School for Nurses, in Chicago, is owned and controlled by an incorporated board of thirty trustees. Its basic principle is the cure of disease without the use of alcohol as an active medicinal agent. Eminent physicians are on the staff and every effort is made to have it rank with the very best of hospitals.

At the national convention in Washington, D. C., in 1900, fifty States and Territories were represented by 509 delegates. Mrs. Lillian M. N. Stevens succeeded Miss Willard as president.

The American National Red Cross Society was organized March 1, 1882, with headquarters at Washington, D. C. Its object is the relief of suffering by war, pestilence, famine, flood, fires, and other calamities of sufficient magnitude to be deemed national in extent. It is governed by the provisions of the International Convention of Aug. 22, 1864, at Geneva, Switzerland.

Up to the present time relief has been given on fields as follows: Michigan forest fires, 1881, material and money, $80,000; Mississippi floods, 1882, money and seeds, $8,000; Mississippi floods, 1883, material and seeds, $18,500; Mississippi cyclone, 1883, money, $1,000; Balkan war, 1883, money, $500; Ohio and Mississippi river floods, 1884, food, clothing, tools, housefurnishings and feed for stock, $175,000; Texas famine, 1885, appropriations and contributions, $120,000; Charleston, S. C., earthquake, 1886, money, $500; Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, 1888, money and supplies, $85,000; Florida yellow fever epidemic, 1888, physicians and nurses, $15,000; Johnstown, Pa., flood disaster, 1889, money and all kinds of building material, furniture, etc., $250,000; Russian famine, 1891-2, food, $125,000; Pomeroy, Ia., cyclone, 1893, money and nurses, $2,700; South Carolina Islands hurricane and tidal wave disaster, money and all kinds of supplies, material, tools, seeds, lumber, $65,000; reconcentrado relief in Cuba, 1898-9, $500,000; American-Spanish War, 1898-9, $450,000; Galveston flood and hurricane, 1900, $120,000; total, $2,016,200.

Miss Clara Barton was its principal founder and has been its president continuously.

The Association of Collegiate Alumnae was organized January 14, 1882; incorporated by special act of the Massachusetts Legislature, April 20, 1899, to unite the alumnae of different institutions for practical educational work.

From 1890 to 1901 the association gave fourteen $500 European fellowships (sharing two others) and ten $300 American fellowships. Among those holding the fellowships was the first woman admitted to the laboratory of the United States Fish Commission, the first woman to receive the Ph. D. degree from Yale, the first woman admitted to Göttingen University, the first woman permitted to work in the biological laboratory at Strasburg University, the first American woman to receive the degree of Ph. D. from any German university, and the first American woman to receive a Ph. D. from Göttingen and Heidelberg Universities.[Pg 1049]

The character of the work accomplished by those holding fellowships made it possible for the association to establish, three years ago, a Council to Accredit Women for Advanced Work in Foreign Universities. Any woman applicant, college graduate or otherwise, found qualified in work, character and serious purpose, receives a certificate properly signed and attested which will secure for her, if possible to any woman, the courtesy and privileges desired at a foreign university.

The organization contributes to the support of the Association for Maintaining the American Woman's Table at the Zoological Station at Naples and to that for Promoting Scientific Research by Women. The latter pays $500 annually for the support of the Woman's Table, and to promote research has just offered a prize of $1,000, which offer, it is expected, will be renewed biennially.

The A. C. A. Committee on Corporate Membership maintains a high standard of colleges whose graduates are admitted to this organization, which has done much in a quiet way to raise the standards of department work, equipment and endowment of American colleges admitting women.

For the past three years the association has published a magazine containing the addresses and reports given at its annual meetings. Among its other publications are statistics relative to the Health of College Women (1885); a Bibliography of the Higher Education of Women (1897); a full descriptive list of the fellowships for graduate study open to women in this country, together with a list of the undergraduate scholarships offered to women in the nineteen colleges belonging to the A. C. A. (1899). It will soon issue studies of the growth and development of colleges, a supplement to the Bibliography of the Higher Education of Women, a study of the child from the point of view of parents and teachers, and a comprehensive statistical investigation into the health, occupations and marriage-rate of college and non-college women.

The work of the national association is carried on largely by standing committees which are under the leadership of the women most notable in education—college presidents, deans and professors. Meanwhile, the president, six vice-presidents and presidents of the various branches, acting through a salaried secretary-treasurer, give coherency and support to the development of its various objects. In addition, each branch has committees which deal with local issues, such as public school work of all kinds, home economics, development of children, civil service reform, college settlements, etc. The investigation of the sanitary conditions of the Boston public schools, 1895-1896, started the wave of schoolhouse cleaning which has swept across the country and which has not stopped at schoolhouses but has included school boards and systems of school administration. The Chicago branch has just issued a summary of laws relating to compulsory education and child-labor in the United States, which shows the inadequacy of the first (except in three States) and the lack of correlation between the two which makes for lawlessness and crime. It is hoped that[Pg 1050] this summary will serve as a basis for agitation which shall not cease until compulsory education becomes a fact and not a theory.

The association has twenty-five branches and 3,000 members.

The Association for the Advancement of Women was organized in New York in October, 1873, at the very beginning of the club movement, to interest the women of the country in matters of high thought and in all undertakings found to be useful to society, and to promote their efficiency in these through sympathetic acquaintance and co-operation. It had a number of distinguished presidents and held congresses in many States, which almost invariably led to the formation of local clubs for study and mutual improvement, as well as to good works in other lines. Among the cities in which a congress was held were New York, Syracuse, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Des Moines, Denver, Madison, St. Paul, Toronto, Baltimore, Memphis, Knoxville, Louisville, Atlanta and New Orleans. Many distinguished women were included in its membership and it had a strong influence in rendering possible the extensive formation of the women's clubs which are now so important a feature in American society. Its work is partly chronicled in two large volumes which give the papers presented and action taken at the meetings. The many great organizations of women in recent years have made further work on the part of the association unnecessary.

The General Federation of Women's Clubs was organized March 20, 1890, to bring into communication the various women's clubs in order that they may compare methods and become mutually helpful. The work is accomplished through three committees—Art, Education and Industries. Those on Art have used their influence toward its study and its application to the home, and also for the quickening of enthusiasm in horticulture and gardening, from which has developed the beautifying of public squares and school yards. In Education some of the most important results are the establishment of hundreds of traveling libraries, assistance in organizing and fostering kindergartens, encouragement of manual training in the public schools, and the formation of Mothers' Clubs for the study of child culture. The federation has worked with other organizations for the appointment of women on school boards and legislation for broader educational advantages for women. In fact, its work has ranged from kindergarten to university.

The Industrial Committee studies conditions surrounding wage-earning women and children and encourages co-operation between the woman of leisure and the one who is self-supporting, and the organization of laboring women in unions and clubs. One principal object is to eliminate the child from the factory and then to educate it. The Civic work has ranged from Health Protective Associations in cities to Village Improvement Societies.

There are thirty-six State Federations, eleven foreign clubs and nearly 700 individual clubs belonging to the federation, representing over 200,000 members (1900).[Pg 1051]

The National Association of Colored Women was organized July, 1896, to arouse all women, especially colored women, to a sense of their responsibility, both in molding the life of the home and in shaping the principles of the nation; to secure the co-operation of all women in whatever is undertaken in the interest of justice, purity and liberty; to inspire in all women, but especially in colored women, a desire to be useful in whatever field of labor they can work to the best advantage.

Kindergartens and day nurseries for the infants of working women have been established; mothers' meetings have been generally held and sewing classes formed; a sanitarium with a training school for nurses has been founded in New Orleans; ground purchased on which an Old Folks' Home is to be built in Memphis, and charity dispensed in various ways. Women on plantations in the "black belt" of Alabama have been taught how to make their huts decent and habitable with the small means at their command, and how to care for themselves and their families in accordance with the rules of health. Schools of Domestic Science are conducted, and a large branch is that of Business Women's Clubs. The Convict Lease System, "Jim Crow" Car Laws, Lynching and other barbarities are thoroughly discussed, in the hope that some remedy for these evils may be discovered. Statistics concerning the progress and achievements of colored people are being gathered. Musical clubs are formed to develop this inherent gift. An organ is published called Notes, edited by Mrs. Booker T. Washington and an assistant in each State.

The association has 125 branches in twenty-six States and over 8,000 members.

The National Congress of Mothers held its first public convention at Washington in February, 1897, and permanent organization was effected there in 1898. Its objects are to raise the standards of home life; to give young women opportunities to learn how to care for children; to bring into closer relations the home and the school; to surround the childhood of the whole world with that wise, loving care in the impressionable years of life which will develop good citizens.

Practical efforts have been made to accomplish all of these objects. Mothers have used their influence in behalf of free kindergartens in the public schools; in having school buildings properly constructed, lighted, heated and ventilated, and for shorter hours in school and less study outside. They have lent their efforts to the uplifting of the drama, since, rightfully used, it can be made a powerful educational factor, and have worked for a pure press, recognizing that it is the greatest material power in the world today. They have regarded their children first of all as future mothers and fathers, next as citizens, and they are demanding that public educational systems adopt their standards of values in the adjustment of curricula.

They have established Mothers' Clubs in many communities, especially[Pg 1052] among women whose opportunities for training of any kind have been meager; have seen that creches and free kindergartens are provided for the children of the poor; that reading rooms are open for the use of boys and girls; have urged that women should serve upon all school boards and those of all prisons and reformatory institutions; have taken the city fathers to task wherever laws pertaining to the cleanliness and health of a community are not enforced; have called mass meetings once a month to discuss questions pertaining to the welfare of the child; by precept and example have set forth the advantages of simplicity of dress and entertainment, and have interested themselves in all kinds of humane work.

State Congresses have been formed in nine States, exact membership not known. Mrs. Theodore W. Birney was the founder of the organization and has been its president continuously.

The National Woman's Relief Society was organized March 17, 1842, at Nauvoo, Ills., being almost the oldest woman's society in existence. It became national in 1868 and was incorporated in 1892, to assist the needy, and to care for the afflicted, to lift up the fallen, to ameliorate the condition of suffering humanity, to encourage habits of industry and economy; to give special attention to those who have not had proper training for life, to sacredly care for the dying and the dead, to minister to the lonely, however lowly, in the spirit of grace and heavenly charity.

It has been a veritable school of instruction to thousands of women, and its organization is so perfect that it is comparatively easy to carry out any plan of work formed by the General Board. Donations are almost entirely by the members themselves, and they have working meetings, bazars and fairs occasionally to raise means for the needful purposes. Many of the branches have built houses for meetings and some also own houses for their poor instead of paying rent. Industries have been carried on to supply work to such as were able to do something for their own support. Of these the most notable is the silk industry in Utah. Over 100,000 bushels of wheat have been stored in granaries against a day of famine or scarcity. Hundreds of nurses and many midwives have been trained under the fostering care of the society. At present money is being raised by donation to erect a commodious building in Salt Lake City opposite the Temple, suitable for headquarters.

The society has 659 branches and 30,000 members in this and other countries and upon the islands of the sea. Mrs. Eliza R. Snow and Mrs. Zina D. H. Young have been the only two presidents.

The International Sunshine Society had its origin in the early nineties in a department edited by Mrs. Cynthia Westover Alden in the New York Recorder, which she afterwards carried into the Tribune. It was first called the Shut-In Society, but the present name was adopted in 1896 and it was incorporated in 1900.

Its object is to incite its members to the performance of helpful deeds, and to thus bring happiness into the greatest possible number of hearts and homes. The membership fee consists of some act or[Pg 1053] suggestion that will carry sunshine where it is needed. This may be the exchange of books, pictures, etc., loaning or giving useful articles, suggesting ideas for work that can be done by a "shut-in" and sending the materials for it, making holiday suggestions and a general exchange of helpful ideas.

There are many Sunshine libraries, some of them traveling, all over the United States and Canada. In Memphis there is a Sunshine Home for Aged Men, a Newsboys' Club House and a Lunch Room for Working Girls. Several branches have Sunshine wards in hospitals. The leading women's clubs have Sunshine Committees, and hundreds of churches have them in their King's Daughters' and Christian Endeavor Societies. Among the thousands of articles which have been placed where they will do the most good are pianos, sewing machines, invalid chairs, baby carriages, furniture and clothing of every description.

There are more than 100,000 members and over 2,000 well-organized branches. The society is officered and managed by women and they compose the immense majority of the members. Mrs. Alden has been the president continuously.

The National Council of Jewish Women was organized in Chicago in 1893, as a result of the Congress of Jewish Women, which was a branch of the Parliament of Religions held during the Columbian Exposition. Its objects are to bring about closer relations among Jewish women and a means of prosecuting work of common interest; to further united efforts in behalf of Judaism through a better knowledge of the Bible, Jewish literature and conditions. It has given much attention to social reform through preventive philanthropy and it affiliates with many organizations of women interested in the public welfare. The Council conducts manual training and industrial schools, sewing and household schools, kitchen gardens, kindergartens, mothers' clubs, boys' clubs, circulating libraries, reading rooms, free baths, employment bureaus, milk and ice depots for the poor, crippled children's classes and many other philanthropies.

During the Spanish-American War the Council contributed about $10,000 in money and goods, and in several cities was the first organization to undertake this relief work. It has sixty-three sections in various States and 6,000 members. Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon has been president continuously.

The Women's National Indian Association was organized in March, 1879, for the civilization, education, enfranchisement and Christianization of the native Indians of the United States; the first society devoted exclusively to Indian advancement, to ask and labor for all these; to demand from the Government lands in severalty, citizenship, industrial teaching and education for the aborigines (1881), and these were granted in the passage of the Dawes Severalty Bill in February, 1887.

Besides its important work politically, beginning a movement which has gained 60,000 Indian citizens, at least 25,000 of whom[Pg 1054] pay taxes and 10,000 of whom voted at the last elections, it has opened directly or indirectly Christian, educational and industrial instruction at forty-seven stations, or in as many tribes; has builded many Indian homes, starting civilized industries in these and in tribes, furnishing agricultural implements, sewing machines, looms, stock, etc., from a loan fund of $12,000. It has various other departments of help for red men—schools, libraries, temperance teaching, etc.—and has expended in all these (besides sending missionary boxes of supplies for the aged and helpless into seventy tribes) from $15,000 to $28,000 annually. It has now a House of Industries where women and girls are taught sewing, knitting, weaving, etc. Altogether forty-one buildings have been erected.

The Association has nearly 100 branches in between thirty and forty States and Territories and has several thousand members. Mrs. Amelia Stone Quinton was general secretary from the beginning for eight years, and has since been president continuously.

The National League of Women Workers was organized April 29, 1897, in the interest of working women and their clubs. It is intended that the League shall stand as a central bureau of information, offering counsel and help when sought, but not placing restrictions upon any club. It has issued various publications, a monthly magazine, The Club Worker, a collection of songs, one of practical talks, another of plays and of entertainments; also a pamphlet entitled How to Start a Club. It has made a collection of all publications issued by the various auxiliary State associations and clubs, which are distributed free of charge to members. Between 8,000 and 9,000 publications are annually sold and distributed. The secretary each year visits from fifty to one hundred clubs to acquaint them with the work of other similar organizations. The League has collected data relating to the management of lunch clubs, vacation houses and co-operative homes for working women.

It is made up of five associations, and includes 100 clubs in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, with a membership of over 8,000.

The National Christian League for the Promotion of Social Purity was organized in New York in October, 1885, and a national charter was obtained in 1889. Its object is to elevate opinion respecting the nature and claims of morality, with its equal obligation upon men and women, and to secure a practical recognition of its precepts on the part of the individual, the family and the nation; to organize the efforts of Christians in preventive, educational, reformatory and legislative effort in the interest of Social Purity. It uses every righteous means to free women and girls from financial dependence upon men, not only by seeking to raise the status of domestic service, but by teaching the advantages of self-support in every kind of legitimate business. During the past six years the League has secured employment directly for 3,300 applicants; it has supplied temporal and social benefits to thousands of distressed women; furnished more than 5,000,000 pages of literature[Pg 1055] helpful to all the people; prevented and stopped immoral shows and impure exhibitions; clothed the naked, fed the hungry and housed the shelterless.

The League has Hospital Auxiliaries, Social Culture Clubs, Industrial Homes with training for Italians and other foreigners; members in nearly every State and Territory—in Europe, China, Japan, India and South America. It was founded by Mrs. Elizabeth B. Grannis, who has been its president continuously.

The Young Ladies' National Mutual Improvement Association was organized at Salt Lake City in June, 1869. Associations were formed in different States, and these were gradually grouped into "stake" or county societies, each one presided over by a president and her board of workers. On June 19, 1880, an organization of these "stakes" was effected and a general president elected. The object is mutual improvement for all, in spiritual, mental and physical conditions.

It is an educational association and has bettered the condition of thousands of girls, leading them toward the light, cultivating unselfishness, a love of humanity, and a desire to help the world; it has given to all its members a deeper, truer, purer education than they could otherwise have obtained. While not strictly a beneficiary organization, it disburses several thousand dollars a year. It owns considerable property, including houses and libraries.

The association has 507 branches and 22,000 members in ten States and Territories and a number of foreign countries. Mrs. Elmina Shepard Taylor has been president since 1878.

The National Kindergarten Union was organized in July, 1892, to unite kindergarten interests; to promote the establishment of kindergartens, and to elevate the standard of their training and teaching. It has instituted more friendly relations between kindergartners, bringing together the conservative and radical elements upon a common platform. A broader conception of the principles of Froebel and their relation to education in general has been promoted, thus enlarging the scope of the kindergarten idea and widening its influence. There are at present seventy branches with 6,000 members.

The Woman's Prison Association and Isaac T. Hopper Home was organized by Mr. Hopper in 1845 in New York and incorporated in 1854. It was afterwards sustained for many years by his daughter, Mrs. Abby Hopper Gibbons. Its object is the amelioration of the condition of women prisoners, the improvement of prison discipline and the government of prisons in respect to women; also the support and encouragement of women convicts after their release. The association has secured in New York the searching of women prisoners by women; a law requiring police matrons; one providing a Reformatory for Women and Girls, and others of like import. The Home is in a large measure self-supporting. From this first organization a number of similar ones have been established and the condition of women prisoners has been much improved.[Pg 1056]

The National Household Economic Association was organized in March, 1893, to promote a scientific knowledge of the care of children, and of the economic and hygienic value of food, fuel and clothing; to inculcate an intelligent knowledge of sanitary conditions in the home, and to urge the recognition of housekeeping as a business or trade which is worthy of highest thought and effort. This was the first organization to present Household Economics in a comprehensive form as an important and profound science. The existence of home departments in nearly every woman's club may be directly or indirectly traced to its influence. From Maine to California women have received from it broader and better views of home and home life. It has vice-presidents in twenty-nine States.

The National Woman's Keeley Rescue League was organized Sept. 18, 1893, to restore the victim of inebriety and drugs to health and happiness and to aid the unfortunate inebriate to become a self-supporting citizen instead of an object of charity; to visit the families of inebriates and by every means possible aid them to a higher and better life. It has brought sunshine and happiness into more than one thousand desolate homes, and enabled the heads of these homes to become self-supporting. Husbands and wives who have been driven asunder by the curse of drink have been re-united. Thousands of children who would have been thrown upon the world or into charitable institutions have been saved and are now cared for in well-provided homes. Many a family has been kept from becoming a charge upon charity, and the current of many a human life has been turned in wholesome channels.

The League pays for a man's treatment at the time he enters a Keeley Institute, taking his note (properly secured by the indorsement of some friend, when possible), and requiring him to pay back in monthly installments or as his circumstances will permit. This creates a revolving fund to be used over and over again. It has its friendly visitors looking after the family while he is taking the treatment and endeavors to have employment for him upon his return. Men who have been sent to the work-house repeatedly have been permanently reclaimed. The League has eighteen branches and 650 members.

The National Federation of Musical Clubs was organized January, 1898, to bring into communication the various musical societies that they may compare methods of work and become mutually helpful; and to arrange in different sections of the country Biennial Musical Festivals. It works for the musical life of the nation by creating a musical atmosphere, studying composers and their works and bringing the best talent in various lines to interpret and illustrate these studies. Large, strong clubs have been helpful in sending their members to those smaller in numbers and weaker financially. Two Musical Festivals have been held, national in character, one in St. Louis in May, 1899, the other in Cleveland in May, 1901, with every possible artistic advantage of the highest talent.[Pg 1057]

There are branches in thirty-two States and Canada; 160 clubs are federated with 12,000 members.

The Needlework Guild of America was organized April, 1885, to collect new garments and distribute them to hospitals, homes and other charities, and to extend its usefulness by the organization of branches. It has distributed to hospitals, homes and other charities in the United States about 2,500,000 new garments. This includes the results of two or three special collections for national disasters. It has 308 branches in this country.

RELIGIOUS:

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized March 23, 1869. Its object is to engage and unite the efforts of Christian women in sending missionaries to the women in foreign mission fields of the church and in supporting them and the native Christian teachers, and all forms of work carried on by the society. It has collected and disbursed $5,454,700; sent to foreign fields 365 missionaries, and established a great educational work for women throughout the Orient. The first woman's college in Asia, at Lucknow, India, was founded by this society. It sent the first fully equipped medical woman to the mission fields of the East, and built the first hospitals for women in India, China and Korea. Nineteen hospitals and dispensaries are supported by the society, and 246 missionaries in Africa, Burmah, Bulgaria, China, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South America and the Philippines, while twenty-four medical women are now in the field. There are 18,000 girls and women in its various schools.

The society has eleven branches, covering the whole United States, 5,410 auxiliaries, and 171,765 members. Mrs. Cyrus D. Foss is president.

The Woman's Home Missionary Society of the M. E. Church was organized July 10, 1880, to enlist and organize the efforts of Christian women in behalf of the needy and destitute women and children of all sections of the United States, without distinction of race, and to co-operate with the other societies and agencies of the church in educational and missionary work. The total receipts from July, 1880, to July, 1900, were $2,782,773; total value of property, $736,152. This property consists of twenty industrial homes and schools, six mission homes, two immigrant homes, three children's homes, six centers of city mission work, five deaconess and missionary training schools, twenty-eight deaconess homes, four rest homes for deaconesses and missionaries.

The Society has eighty-nine conferences, 2,500 auxiliary societies, 59,000 adult members and 13,500 children. The Deaconess Department was established in 1888. There are now (1901) 1,160 deaconesses with $1,600,000 invested in real estate connected with their work. Mrs. Clinton D. Fisk is president.[Pg 1058]

The Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Protestant Church was organized Feb. 14, 1879, to bring the heathen to Christ. It has established schools, built churches and done a valuable work especially among girls. It has twenty branches and about 3,000 members. Mrs. F. A. Brown of Cardington, O., is serving her twenty-first year as president.

The Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society was organized April 3, 1871. The leading object is the Christianization of women in foreign lands by furnishing support through the American Baptist Missionary Union to Christian women employed by said Union as missionaries, native teachers or Bible readers, together with the facilities needed for their work. Its missionaries have been sent to Burmah, Assam, India, China, Japan and Africa. The home constituency is found in the Baptist churches of the New England and Middle Atlantic States.

The total number of American missionaries supported for a longer or shorter time is 142. Of these seventy-eight are now connected with the society, 112 native Bible women employed as visitors in homes, and 367 boarding and day schools with more than 14,000 pupils are maintained. Many women who have been taught in these schools are exerting a strong influence as Christian wives, mothers and teachers. The medical missionaries have cared for souls and bodies alike. One of these doctors reports 17,000 treatments at her dispensary during the last year. Large sums of money have also been expended for mission work of various kinds under the care of the wives of missionaries. The total amount raised and expended in thirty years is over $2,000,000.

There are numerous auxiliary circles, including about 34,000 women, besides 10,000 younger women organized in guilds.

The Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of the West was organized May 9, 1871, for the elevation and Christianization of the women of foreign lands by furnishing support to Christian women employed as missionaries, to native teachers and to Bible women, together with the facilities needed for their work. It supports 177 schools, 5,337 pupils, 159 teachers and 94 Bible women. In the medical department it has two hospitals, two dispensaries, twenty medical students and three helpers; 597 patients were treated in the hospitals during the past year and 6,130 outside patients. The amount raised since organization is $885,279, and 105 missionaries have been sent out. There are 1,530 auxiliaries.

The Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society was organized Feb. 1, 1877, to aid in spreading the gospel and to Christianize homes by means of house-to-house visitation and by missions and schools with special reference to exceptional populations in the United States, and among neighboring countries. The missionary training school was organized Sept. 5, 1881, and located at the headquarters of the society, now in Chicago. The same year records the first issue of the monthly organ, Tidings, which has grown[Pg 1059] from a four-page circular to a thirty-two-page magazine, with a monthly circulation of 13,500 copies. The training school has enrolled 518 students. The Society supports also two training schools for negro workers—Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C., and the Caroline Bishop School in Dallas, Texas. It has employed on its own fields 159 missionaries among foreign populations in this country from Europe, Indians, Negroes, Chinese, Syrians (from Asia), Mexicans, Cubans, Porto Ricans and Americans.

The missionaries report, for the year, besides work along many other lines, 80,635 visits in homes. During the twenty-four years the visits reported aggregate 1,152,950, and from the headquarters of the Society have gone 6,478,544 pages of literature. The total cash receipts have been $1,034,104. Besides providing for its own distinctive work, the Society has aided the American Baptist Home Missionary Society from 1882 until 1901 to an extent represented by a total of $91,288.

Figures have a certain value, but the best fruit is seen in the results of the work of the missionaries on the fields, through the visits in homes, women's meetings, children's meetings, industrial schools, parents' conferences, Bible bands, fireside schools, training classes, and the circulation of pure, wholesome literature. Through this womanly ministry uncounted lives have been transformed and a multitude of abodes have become Christian homes. There are 2,807 auxiliaries and about 60,000 members.

The Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society was organized Nov. 14, 1878, for the evangelization of the women among the freed people, the heathen, immigrants and the new settlements of the West, and for evangelizing and educating the women and children in any part of North America. The amount raised during the last year was $38,000; fifty-seven teachers, missionaries and Bible women are supported among colored people, Indians, Mexicans, Mormons, Chinese, Alaskans and French Catholics.

The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society was organized June 12, 1873, to conduct home and foreign missions. This is believed to be the only Woman's Missionary Society (with possibly the exception of the Christian and the Friends') which from the beginning has been entirely independent and not an auxiliary organization. It has furnished eleven women missionaries for India, one of whom is a professor in the Theological School and two are physicians, and supports a large number of schools, many native and Bible women and extensive zenana work. Besides this it aids all other women missionaries of its denominational conference board by annual appropriations for their local work among women and children at the various stations occupied by Free Baptists. The Rhode Island Kindergarten Hall, the Widows' Home and the Sinclair Orphanage, all located at Benares, province of Orissa, India, are the property of this society.

Its home missionary work is connected with Storer College, Harper's Ferry, W. Va., to which it has furnished thirteen teachers,[Pg 1060] besides contributing largely to the erection and equipment of two of the main buildings. Its receipts have been about $200,000. It has a permanent fund of about $42,000.

The society has twenty-five State organizations, others in Canada and India, with between 8,000 and 9,000 members.

The Woman's Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the Southwest was organized at St. Louis in April, 1877; originally to create and foster a practical and intelligent interest in the spiritual condition of women and children in our own land and in heathen lands. Since the close of its fourteenth year its work has been for foreign missions only, being one of the seven woman's auxiliaries to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America. It has given to the cause of missions $249,618, and has had missionaries, as teachers or physicians, in India, China, Japan, Korea, Siam, Persia and South America. The record of their work has been of a nature sufficiently encouraging to warrant continued and larger support. The Board has 605 branches or auxiliary societies and 13,776 members.

The Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church was organized in December, 1878, to establish and maintain Christian schools among those near home. It has eleven stations in Alaska, eighteen among the Indians, twenty-seven among the Mexicans, thirty-one among the Mormons, forty among the mountaineers, six among the foreigners in this country, five among the Porto Ricans, making a total of 138, with 425 missionaries and teachers and 9,337 pupils.

The Board has secured to the Presbyterian church $750,000 worth of property and has expended about $3,500,000 since organization. Two magazines are published, the Home Mission Monthly, and Over Sea and Land for the young, the latter jointly with the Foreign Societies. It has about 5,000 auxiliary societies with about 100,000 members.

The Christian Woman's Board of Missions was organized Oct. 22, 1874, to maintain preachers and teachers for religious instruction; to encourage and cultivate a missionary spirit and effort in the churches; to disseminate missionary intelligence and secure systematic contributions for such purposes; to establish and maintain schools for the education of both sexes.

Fields: The United States, Jamaica, India, Mexico and Porto Rico. Work: University Bible lectureships, Michigan, Virginia, Kansas, Calcutta, India; eighteen schools, four orphanage schools, two kindergartens, four orphanages with 500 children, one Chinese mission, one hospital, three dispensaries, one leper mission, thirty mission stations outside the United States; 135 missionaries, besides native teachers, evangelists, Bible women and other helpers; $900,000 raised during twenty-six years; income last year, $106,728. Its publications are Missionary Tidings, circulation 13,500; Junior Builders, same circulation; leaflets, calendars, manuals, song[Pg 1061] books, etc. Property values: United States, $120,000; India, $60,300; Jamaica, $38,550; Porto Rico, $10,000; total, $229,650; amount of endowment funds, $85,000.

This is purely a woman's organization; funds are raised and disbursed, fields entered and work outlined and managed without connection with any "parent board," although relations with other organizations of the church are most cordial. There are thirty-six State organizations, 1,750 auxiliaries, forty-five young ladies' circles, 374 mission bands, 1,711 junior societies of Christian Endeavor, 177 intermediate societies and 40,000 members of auxiliaries.

The Woman's State Home Missionary Organization of the Congregational Church represents a slow but steady growth during the past thirty years. Branches exist now in forty-two States and Territories. The last report available, that of 1897, showed $100,768 collected that year and disbursed for the usual home missionary purposes.

The Woman's Centenary Association of the Universalist Church was organized in 1869 to assist weak parishes, foster Sunday-schools, help educate women students for the ministry, endow professorships in schools and colleges, relieve the wants of sick or disabled preachers, ministers' widows and orphans, distribute denominational literature, and do both home and foreign missionary work. Since its organization it has raised and disbursed over $300,000 and has a permanent fund of $20,500, the interest of which is annually expended for the purposes for which the association was organized. Millions of pages of denominational literature have been distributed. The association has ten State societies and 100 mission (local) circles.

The National Alliance of Unitarian and other Liberal Christian Women was organized in 1890. Its objects are primarily to quicken the religious life of Unitarian churches and to bring the women into closer acquaintance, co-operation and fellowship; to promote local organizations of women for missionary and denominational work and to bring the same into association; to collect and disseminate information regarding all matters of interest to the church, viz.: needs of local societies, facilities for meeting them, work to be done, collection and distribution of money, etc.

The Alliance takes part in the missionary work of the denomination, assisting small churches and starting new ones; supports one or more students each year at the Meadville Theological School and maintains several circuit ministers. It has lending and traveling libraries and libraries for ministers, and has established and maintained three permanent ones in places where there was no free library. Through its well-known Post Office Mission it distributes annually about 300,000 sermons and tracts, and through its Cheerful Letter Exchange an untold amount of miscellaneous literature. Money is not disbursed from a central treasury, but is given by the branches which are independent in such matters, an Executive[Pg 1062] Board making recommendations. The expenditures of the past ten years have been $419,757. The Alliance has 255 branches and nearly 11,000 members.

The Woman's Missionary Association of the United Brethren in Christ was organized Oct. 21, 1875, to engage and unite the efforts of women in sending missionaries into all the world; to support these and other laborers in mission fields, and to secure by gift, bequest and otherwise the funds necessary for these purposes. Valuable missionary work is being done in West Africa, China and the Philippines. The association in the last twenty-five years has raised $311,920. It has forty branches and 13,232 members.

The Woman's Foreign Union of Friends was organized May, 1890, to increase the efficiency for spreading the Gospel of Christ among the heathen, and to create an additional bond between the women of the American Yearly Meetings. It has been the instrumentality of greatly quickening the missionary zeal and activity in the denomination. It established missions in Japan, China, India and in unoccupied parts of Mexico, and rendered valuable assistance in planting missions in Alaska, Jamaica and Palestine. It founded and has successfully managed the Friends' Missionary Advocate. During the past ten years $300,000 have been raised and expended. It has ten branches and 4,000 members.

The Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the U. S. A. was organized in 1879. Its object is to cultivate a missionary spirit, to create a deeper interest in the spread of the Gospel, to disseminate missionary intelligence, and to engage and unite the efforts of Christian women in the Lutheran church in supporting missions and missionaries on home and foreign fields, in co-operation with the Boards of Home and Foreign Missions and Church Extension. In the Foreign field it is now supporting eight women missionaries in India, two of whom are physicians and one a trained nurse. The principal station is Guntur, Madras Presidency. In Africa it is supporting two women missionaries at Muhlenberg, Liberia. In the Home field it has helped support eighteen missions and build churches for twelve of them. The amount contributed by the societies for the year ending March 31, 1902, was $27,286.

The Society has twenty-two Synodical Societies, 760 auxiliaries and 20,452 members, active and honorary and cradle roll, besides 489 life members.

The Woman's Missionary Society of the General Synod of the Reformed Church was organized in 1887, to aid in the advancement of the work of Christian Missions in Home and Foreign Lands. Individual societies had existed for ten years previous. The last report available is that of 1893, when 144 societies were reported and $10,000 collected during the year. One-third was expended for foreign and two-thirds for home missions. The society has published an official organ, the Woman's Journal, since 1894.[Pg 1063] Women also belong and contribute to the general missionary societies of the church.

The International Board of Women's and Young Women's Christian Associations had its beginning in 1871, when thirty of these associations affiliated for biennial conferences. Later they organized as the International Board which became incorporated. Its object is to unite in one central organization these bodies of the United States, Canada and other countries, and to promote the forming of similar ones, to advance the mental, moral, temporal and above all the spiritual welfare of young women.

The Ladies' Christian Union of New York, organized in 1858, was the first work in this country for the welfare of young business women. A home was the imperative need of the friendless young women employed in cities then as it is now, since the small wages received make possible for them only the poorest quarters amid demoralizing conditions. These Christian Women opened a house and took into it as many as they could reach, giving clean rooms, wholesome food, cheap rent, pure moral atmosphere and religious influences. From this developed the Young Women's Christian Association.

The federated associations now own property valued at over $5,000,000. In the evolution of this work the Boarding Homes, now accommodating over 3,000 at one time, have been supplemented as the need arose. The Traveler's Aid Department seeks to reach the young, ignorant girls before the agents of evil who haunt the railroad stations and steamer landings. During 1900 over 10,000 were thus protected. The Employment Bureau during this year assisted over 20,000 applicants. The Educational Department, with day and evening classes, has 15,000 enrolled. There are Recreation Departments, Vacation Homes and many other important features. Every phase of the life of a girl or woman is touched by the association. Religion in its broad sense is its fundamental and guiding principle.

Twenty-three States are represented in sixty associations in the United States and Canada, with over 20,000 voting and contributing members, over 500,000 associate members—self-supporting girls and women—and 2,500 junior members.

The Woman's National Sabbath Alliance was organized in 1895, to educate the women of America to an intelligent appreciation of the relation of this one day in seven to the national life, and to emphasize woman's responsibility and influence, especially in the home and in society. The work is along educational lines—in creating public sentiment in favor of better Sabbath observance. While placing a wedge in every tiny opening, its members have prayed, protested, proclaimed and practiced. Through this organization Christian women have become more fearless in standing for their convictions. The Alliance has twenty-two branches and over 1,000 members.[Pg 1064]

PATRIOTIC:

The Woman's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, was organized July 25, 1883. Its object is specially to aid and assist the Grand Army of the Republic and to perpetuate the memory of its heroic dead; to assist such Union veterans as need help and protection, and to extend needful aid to their widows and orphans; to cherish and emulate the deeds of army nurses and of all loyal women who rendered loving service to the country in her hour of peril; to maintain true allegiance to the United States of America; to inculcate lessons of patriotism and love of country among children and in the communities; to encourage the spread of universal liberty and equal rights to all.

General legislation is enacted by the annual national convention, the supreme authority; States are governed by department conventions. The association has educated women in an exact system of reports and returns. There are no "benefits," as it is strictly philanthropic. It supports a National Relief Corps Home for dependent army nurses and relatives of veterans; has secured pension legislation from the general Government for destitute army nurses; has influenced State legislation in the founding of homes for Union veterans and their dependent ones in Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, California, New York and Kansas; has led to the establishment of industrial education in the Ohio Orphans' Home; has been foremost in financial aid in every national calamity; has unitedly furthered patriotic teaching in schools and the flag in school rooms; and has raised and expended for relief in the eighteen years of its existence, $2,500,000. The corps has thirty-five departments, 3,174 subordinate corps and 142,760 members.

Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic were organized Jan. 12, 1886, to assist the G. A. R., encourage them in their noble work of charity, extend needful aid to members in sickness and distress and look after the Soldiers' Homes and the Homes of Soldiers' Widows and Orphans; to obtain proper situations for the children when they leave the homes; to watch the schools and see that children are properly instructed in the history of our country and in patriotism; to honor the memory of those fallen and to perpetuate and keep forever sacred Memorial Day. Its departments and circles have spent for relief $16,685 and given to the G. A. R. $2,658; to the Soldiers' Homes, $364; Soldiers' Widows' Homes, $1,461; Soldiers' Orphans' Homes, $179.

The organization has twenty-three departments and 28,070 members—mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, granddaughters and nieces of soldiers and sailors who served honorably in the Civil War.

The National Alliance of the Daughters of Veterans of the U. S. A. was organized and chartered in 1885, to perpetuate the memories of the fathers and brothers, their loyalty to the Union and their unselfish sacrifices for its perpetuity; to aid them and their widows and orphans, when helpless and in distress; to inculcate a[Pg 1065] love of country and patriotism among women; to promote equal rights and universal liberty, and to acquire, by donation or otherwise, all necessary property and funds to carry out the aforesaid objects; to assist the G. A. R. to commemorate the deeds of their fallen comrades on the 30th of May.

The Alliance is composed of daughters and granddaughters of the Northern soldiers who fought in the Civil War, 1861-1865, and has a sufficient membership to assure the soldiers that their memory will ever be preserved and their widows and orphans will not want. Over $2,000 are spent yearly for relief. The value of donations other than money is nearly double that amount. It has assisted in obtaining pensions, erected monuments for unknown dead, furnished rooms in Soldiers' and Soldiers' Widows' Homes, furnished transportation for helpless soldiers, presented flags and banners, brightened sickrooms with flowers and cheerful faces. At present it is interested in the erection of Lincoln Memorial University at Mason City, Ia., where one building is to be known as the Daughters of Veterans' Building. There are "tents" scattered all over the Union and many State Departments.

The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union was organized in 1853. Its purpose was the purchase and preservation of the home and tomb of General Washington with 200 acres of land. The sum of $200,000 was raised by voluntary contributions from the women of the United States.

The Regent is elected by the Council and is a life officer. Mrs. Justine V. R. Townsend of New York is serving at present. The Regent appoints, and the council at its annual meeting ratifies by votes, one lady in each State as vice-regent to represent the State. The association is purely patriotic. The great annual increase of both home and foreign visitors is gratifying, and testifies to the loving veneration in which the memory of Washington is held. The entrance fee of twenty-five cents is sufficient to keep the home and grounds in perfect colonial order.

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution was organized Aug. 9, 1890, to perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence, by the acquisition and protection of historic spots and the erection of monuments; by the encouragement of historical research in relation to the Revolution, and the publication of its results; by the preservation of documents and relics, and of the records of the individual services of Revolutionary soldiers and patriots, and by the promotion of celebrations of all patriotic anniversaries; to carry out the injunction of Washington in his farewell address to the American people, "to promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge;" to cherish, maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty.

The society has carried out its desired objects; brought together[Pg 1066] the women of the North and South; caused many of them to study the constitution of their country and parliamentary law; rescued from oblivion the memory of many heroic women of the Revolution; examined and certified to the 1,000 nurses sent by the Surgeon General's office to the Spanish-American War; raised $300,000 in money and sent 56,000 garments to the hospitals during that war; contributed $85,000 for a Memorial Hall in Washington, D. C. It has organized children's societies and taught them love for the flag and all it means; made foreign-born children realize what it is to be American citizens; offered medals and scholarships for historical essays by pupils in schools and colleges; helped erect the monuments to Lafayette and Washington in Paris. By requiring careful investigation of claims to membership the society has caused many families to become re-united who had been separated by immigration to remote parts of the country, and has stimulated a proper pride of birth—not descent from royalty and nobility but from men and women who did their duty in their generation and left their descendants the priceless heritage of pure homes and honest government. The society has 600 chapters and over 36,000 members.

The Society of the Daughters of the Revolution was organized Aug. 20, 1891, to perpetuate the patriotic spirit of the men and women who achieved American independence; to commemorate prominent events connected with the War of the Revolution; to collect, publish and preserve the rolls, records and historic documents relating to this period and to encourage the study of the country's history.

Through its State organizations it has marked with tablets historic places; promoted patriotism by gifts of historical pictures to public schools; helped to bring about an observance of Flag Day through the general society; given prizes to various women's colleges for essays on topics connected with the War of the Revolution; raised $5,000 to erect a monument at Valley Forge in memory of Washington's Army. The present work is the establishment of a fund to be loaned in proper sums to girls trying to make their way through college. It has nineteen State societies and 3,200 members.

The Colonial Dames of America were organized in New York City, May 23, 1890, to honor the brave men who in any important service contributed to the achievement of American independence; to collect manuscripts, traditions and relics and to foster a true spirit of patriotism. A hereditary society was deemed the most effective for this purpose. It has made a collection of valuable manuscripts, pedigrees, photographs and books; effected restorations in the old Swedes' Church at Wilmington, placed tablets in Baltimore, to Washington, and in Kingston, N. Y., to Governor Clinton. Historic tableaux have been given in the city of New York, with readings of original papers and lectures by historians. The publication of the "Letters to Washington" from the original manuscripts in the Department of State, has reached its fourth and last volume. For the sick and wounded in the Spanish-American War the society[Pg 1067] raised about $6,600, with a contribution of hundreds of garments and hospital appliances, and several of its members worked in hospitals and camps.

The society also has its valued social side. It has five chapters in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Paris (France), with about 400 members.

The National Society of United States Daughters of 1812 was organized Jan. 8, 1892. Its object is to publish memoirs of famous women of the United States, especially those of the period included in the eligibility of this society; to urge the Government, through an act of Congress, to compile and publish authentic records of men in military and naval service in the war of 1812, and of those in civil service during the period embraced by this society; to secure and preserve documents of the events for which each State was famous during this period; to promote the erection of a home where the descendants of the brave patriots of this war can be sheltered from the storms of life.

The work done in the various States is as follows: Two tablets, one marking New York City defenses during the war and one for "those who served," in the Post Chapel at West Point; Michigan, a monument to General McComb in the heart of Detroit; Maryland, the restoration of Fort McHenry (the inspiration of The Star Spangled Banner); Louisiana, a monument on the field of Cholnette. Massachusetts has received permission to restore the frigate Constitution and is raising $400,000 for this purpose; Pennsylvania is offering prizes in the public schools for historical work, and many other enterprises are under way. It has nineteen State societies with a membership of 776.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy were organized Sept. 10, 1894. The objects of the society are educational, memorial, literary and benevolent; to collect and preserve material for a truthful history of the War between the States; to honor the memory of those who fought and those who fell in the service of the Confederacy; to cherish the ties of friendship among the members of the society and to fulfil the duties of sacred charity to the survivors of the war and those dependent upon them. Much aid has been given to aged and indigent Confederate soldiers. There are homes for these soldiers in every Southern State and monuments have been erected to the Confederate dead in nearly every city. The orphans of Confederate soldiers have been educated and cared for, and in a number of States the society has seen that correct and impartial histories are used in the public schools. It has 500 branches and about 25,000 members.

LODGES:

The Supreme Hive Ladies of the Maccabees of the World was organized Oct. 1, 1892, to extend the benefits of life protection to women; to unite fraternally the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of the Knights of the Maccabees, as well as other women[Pg 1068] who are acceptable; to educate its members socially, morally and intellectually. Four hundred and twenty-five death claims were paid in 1900, amounting to $441,380; and twenty-two disability claims, amounting to $2,400. The total amount paid in claims from organization to Jan. 1, 1901, is $1,523,504.

The organization is composed of one supreme body, three subordinate bodies, known as Great Hives, and 1,835 subordinate or local hives, with a membership of 84,657, of whom 19,321 are social and 65,336 benefit members.

The Supreme Temple Rathbone Sisters of the World was organized Oct. 23, 1888, for promoting the moral, mental and social conditions of its members; cultivating a spirit of fraternal love which shall permeate and control their daily lives; ministering in all ways to the wants of the sick and needy; watching at the bedside of the dying; paying the last sad tribute of love and respect to the dead, comforting and providing for the widow in her afflictions, and daily exemplifying in every possible way the Golden Rule.

The Supreme Temple has general supervision of the Order throughout the world and makes the general laws. The Grand Temples, or State organizations, supervise the local Temples within their domain. The latter, besides carrying out the principles peculiar to a fraternal society, select some special work for the good of those outside their ranks. Reading rooms have been established, funds donated for public improvements, charity, etc. In order to care for the orphans of Rathbone Sisters a Home is soon to be erected, the fund being already set aside for this purpose. The local Temples care for their own poor and sick. In such disasters as those at Galveston and Jacksonville, the Temples send liberal donations to their members to relieve their financial losses.

The Supreme Temple is composed of twenty-four State organizations and 1,124 local Temples, with a membership of 71,247. Four insurance branches have just been established (1900).

The Order of the Eastern Star was organized in the latter part of the eighteenth century—the exact date is not known. Its founders sought to create a social tie between the families of Masons, but it early reached a higher standard of usefulness. Among its objects are caring for the widow and orphan and assisting the Masonic brother in all deeds of mercy and love. It has founded Eastern Star Homes for widows and orphans of Masons and has become a mighty impetus in the building and support of Masonic Homes. Everywhere its members visit the sick, relieve the distressed and speak words of cheer to the despairing. It has been found helpful all over the land in carrying forward the underlying principles of Masonry. It has taught woman to preside in public meetings and to make herself conversant in parliamentary law. Masonry unites the heads of families, whereas the Eastern Star unites the entire families. Its ritualistic teachings are designed to inculcate morals and to improve the social virtues. The Order comprises 3,491 chapters with a membership of 218,238.[Pg 1069]

The Daughters of Rebekah were organized in 1851 as a side degree of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and chartered lodges were authorized in 1868. The object is benevolent work. The order stands very high among charitable organizations and pays out thousands of dollars each year for the relief of widows and orphans. The report for the present year shows that 6,212 families were assisted at an expense of $141,646; and $50,540 were paid for the education of orphans. The Indiana lodge erected a monument in Indianapolis to Vice-President of the United States Schuyler Colfax, the principal founder of the order.

The Daughters of Rebekah usually exist wherever there is a lodge of the I. O. O. F. Men may take the degree but the affairs of the lodges are entirely in the hands of women. There are 125,300 men and 200,850 women members.

The Grand International Auxiliary to the Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, was organized Oct. 16, 1887, to elevate the social standing of railroad people, to promote a fraternal feeling between families of engineers and to render assistance in time of trouble. The Voluntary Relief Association, formed in 1890, has paid to needy families of engineers over $100,000. It has no home for dependents, but helps widows to keep a home and care for their own children. It secures homes for orphans and assists in their education out of a special standing fund. There are $15,000 in the general fund. The order is exclusively composed of women, who manufacture all supplies and from this source realize a considerable revenue. Study clubs for intellectual culture are maintained in the various branches.

There are 255 subdivisions and about 10,000 members. It was founded by Mrs. W. A. Murdock, who has served continuously as president.

The Ladies' Auxiliary to the Order of Railroad Conductors of America was organized in 1888. The idea originally was merely social, but so many objects claimed assistance that, in 1895, the Fraternal Beneficiary Association was added to help the widows and children of railway conductors. Assessments were levied and in five years $2,200 had been thus applied. Good speakers, parliamentarians and business women have been developed and its members have become broader and more enlightened in every direction. There are 156 local divisions, with a membership of about 4,000.

Miscellaneous: Various organizations are in existence which are national in their aims and interests but scarcely have reached national proportions in the number of auxiliaries and membership. Among these may be mentioned the Sociological Society Of America, organized in New York in 1883, to disseminate the principles of Social and Industrial Co-operation; the National Women's Republican Association, founded in 1888; the Pro[Pg 1070] Re Nata, started in Washington in 1889, to perfect its members in the art of extemporaneous speaking; Wimodaughsis, organized in Washington in 1890 for the improvement of women along all educational lines; the Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women; the National Floral Emblem Society, formed at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893, to gain an expression from the people which shall lead to the adoption of a national flower and also the selection of State flowers, which have been chosen in nineteen States and the choice ratified by the Legislature; the National Society of New England Women, founded in New York in 1895, to promote acquaintance among New England women in various localities throughout the country for purposes of mutual helpfulness; the National League of American Pen Women, started in Washington City in 1896, to band together women journalists, authors and illustrators; the Women's Press Association, organized earlier and with branches in various States; the George Washington Memorial Association, incorporated in 1898, to raise $250,000 toward an Administration Building to be a part of the university as set forth in the will of George Washington—$25,000 of this amount being now on hand and as much more guaranteed; the Woman's League of the George Junior Republic, formed in 1899 to promote interest in the National Republic and establish branches; the National Legislative League, founded in 1900 to obtain for women equality of legal, municipal and industrial rights through action by the National Congress and the State Legislatures; Woman's Educational and Industrial Union; various associations for improving cities and villages by means of parks, shade trees, good streets, sanitary appliances, etc.; and countless others of a social, educational or philanthropic nature.

There are also a number of large national organizations composed of both men and women, with the latter very greatly predominating. Of these the most prominent are the Universal Peace Union, founded in 1866 and chartered in 1888, with forty branches in the United States and sixty in Europe; the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; the National Consumers' League; the Christian Endeavor Society; the Epworth League; the Young People's Union; the King's Daughters and Sons; the Anti-Vivisection Society.

The above list shows that women are organized for carrying forward practically every department of the world's work, and that their associations have been steadily increasing in number, size and scope during the past half century. In the early years the Woman Suffrage Association not only stood alone in its advocacy of enfranchisement but was regarded with the most strenuous disapproval by all other organizations of women. In 1881, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, principally through[Pg 1071] the influence of its president, Miss Frances E. Willard, established a department of franchise, but it was many years afterwards before the idea of the ballot was received with favor by any large number of its members. The sentiment is not now unanimous, but considered as a body there are no more active workers for woman suffrage. The National Council of Women has no platform, but its leaders and also those of the International Council are prominent advocates of the franchise. These are now found in greater or less numbers in all the organizations but not one of them includes the suffrage among the specific objects for which it works. As these broaden the associations frequently find it necessary to appeal to Legislative bodies, and the result is usually a significant lesson in the disadvantage of being without political influence. The Federation of Clubs, organized in 1890, in its endeavor to secure the passage of bills for various purposes, has applied to more Legislatures, during the past few years, than has the Suffrage Association. It is indeed a most interesting study to watch the evolution of the so-called women's clubs. Formed at first merely for a superficial literary culture, they widened by degrees into a study of practical matters related to law and economics. From these it was but a step into civics, where they are to-day, struggling to improve municipal, and indirectly national conditions and gradually having revealed to them the narrow limitations of woman's power in public affairs.

With the exception possibly of the church missionary societies and the various lodges, there is not one of these associations of women which does not depend in a greater or less measure on City Councils, State Legislatures or the National Congress for assistance in securing its objects. No other means could be so effective in convincing women that politics, which they have heretofore believed did not directly concern them, in reality touches them at every point. They are learning that the mere personal influence which usually was sufficient to gain their ends in the household, society and the church—the three spheres of action to which they were confined in the past—must be supplemented by political influence now that they have entered the field of public work. Women have been so long flattered by the power which they have possessed over men in social life that they are surprised[Pg 1072] and bewildered to discover that this is wholly ineffectual when brought to bear upon men in legislative assemblies. They find that it is not sufficient to have personal attractions or family position—not even to be a good wife, mother and worker in church and charities—they must be also constituents. This is a new word which was not in the lexicon of woman in past generations. They investigate and they see that whatever may be the private opinion of these legislators, their public acts are governed by their constituents, and women alone of all classes in the community are not constituents.

This knowledge could come to the average woman only through experience, and that which as an individual she might not get in ages she is gaining rapidly through organization. A summary of the preceding list shows about 2,000,000 women enrolled in the various associations. The number which may be duplicated by a membership in several, is probably balanced by the number in those which do not state the membership. This list includes only national associations and it is reasonable to assume that not more than one-half of the local societies are auxiliary to national bodies. This is known positively to be the case in the General Federation of Clubs, which includes less than half of those in the different States. It would be a decided underestimate to say that 4,000,000 women in the United States are members of one or more organizations, and it is clearly evident that this number is increasing. The scope of these associations is constantly broadening as women themselves are emerging from their narrow environment and seeing the needs of the world in wider perspective. They are slowly but certainly learning to devote their time and energy to larger objects, and they are awakening to a perception, above all else, of the strength that lies in combination, a knowledge which was a sealed book to the isolated and undeveloped women of past generations. No other influence has been so powerful in enabling woman to discover herself and her possibilities.

There will be no more important element to be reckoned with during the coming years of the new century than these great associations of women, constantly gaining strength and momentum, not alone by the increase of membership but also by its personnel,[Pg 1073] for now they are beginning to be composed of college graduates, of property owners, of women with business experience. More and more they are directing their attention to public questions, and when brains, wealth, executive ability, enthusiasm and a strong desire for an honest and moral government are thoroughly organized in the effort to obtain it, they must necessarily become a powerful factor in State and national affairs, and one which inevitably will refuse to be held in a disfranchised condition after it shall realize the supreme power which inheres in the suffrage.

There is still another and a more important point of view from which this subject should be studied. Here are more than 4,000,000 women, about one-third of all in the country, banded into active, working organizations. The figures given above show that they are raising and expending millions of dollars and every dollar for some worthy object. The list demonstrates beyond question that every one of these great associations exists for the purpose of improving the conditions of society and helping and bettering humanity. They represent the highest form of effort for education, morality, temperance, religion, justice, patriotism and co-operation. Are not these the very qualities most needed in our electorate? Is not the nation suffering because of the lack of them since it has placed the ballot in the hands of ignorance, immorality, intemperance and lawlessness? Does not an emergency exist for a political influence which shall counterbalance these and tip the scale the other way? Can the Government afford much longer to delay the summons for this great, well-organized, finely-equipped force—if it is to perfect and make permanent the institutions of the republic?

### FOOTNOTES:

[498] The National Suffrage Association is not included in the list, as twenty-one chapters of this volume are devoted to its work. It was the intention to give the name of the president of each organization, but as this officer is so frequently changed it seemed best to abandon this plan save in special instances. The figures given are for 1900 with but few exceptions.

The church missionary societies not mentioned here, and some other national bodies, were appealed to several times for statistics without response. The list, however, includes all of any considerable size and importance. It did not seem that it would represent the true proportions of these associations if arranged alphabetically or according to date of organization, therefore the editors have used their individual judgment in placing them.

[Pg 1075]

## APPENDIX

### EMINENT ADVOCATES OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

The following list is so incomplete as to make the advisability of using it a matter of grave doubt. No name is given except upon what is believed to be unimpeachable authority, but it is unavoidable that scores should be omitted which are entitled to a place. The list will indicate, however, the character of those who have espoused the cause of woman suffrage, and it is published with the request that readers will forward to the editors additional names which can be used, and mention any which should be omitted, in the second edition of this volume. There has been no attempt to give all in any profession, but only a few of those who may fairly be considered representative. The names, for instance, of clergymen alone who are in favor of the enfranchisement of women would fill many pages, while those of prominent lawyers in every community would require almost unlimited space, as it is a question which appeals especially to the sense of equity. The following list will indicate sufficiently that this is not a movement of ultra-radical and irresponsible extremists.

The only President of the United States who declared himself publicly and unequivocally for woman suffrage was Abraham Lincoln, who said as early as 1836, "I go for all sharing the privileges of the Government who assist in bearing its burdens—by no means excluding women," and later utterances indicated that he did not change his position. Rutherford B. Hayes never hesitated to express his approval in private conversation, and in 1872 he assisted materially in placing in the Republican National Platform the nearest approach to an indorsement which the movement ever has received from that party. James A. Garfield said: "Laugh as we may, put it aside as a jest if we will, keep it out of Congress and political campaigns, still the woman question is rising on our horizon larger than a man's hand; and some solution ere long that question must find." Theodore Roosevelt, when a member of the New York Legislature, voted for a woman suffrage bill, saying he had been converted by seeing how much the women accomplished with their school ballot at Oyster Bay, his home. When Governor he said in his message to the Legislature of 1899: "I call your attention to the desirability of gradually enlarging the sphere in which the suffrage can be extended to women." There is reason to believe other Presidents would have expressed themselves favorably had political exigencies permitted.

The only Vice-Presidents on record as advocating and voting for woman suffrage are Hannibal Hamlin, Schuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson and William A. Wheeler. Such action is likely to mean the personal loss of votes and injury to one's party, with no compensation other than the consciousness of[Pg 1076] having done right, as women can give no reward. Under these conditions it is surprising that so large a number in the Congress and State Legislatures have sustained the measures for the enfranchisement of women.[499]

Chief Justices of the U. S. Supreme Court.
Chase, Salmon P. | Wake, Morrison R.

Practically all of the State Supreme Court Justices of Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming, where women have exercised the suffrage for a number of years, and of Kansas where they have had a municipal vote for fifteen years, are strong advocates of woman suffrage.

United States Senators.
Allen, John B. | Wash. | Flanagan, J. W. (1871) | Texas.
Allison, William B. | Iowa. | Gallinger, Jacob H. | N. H.
Anthony, Henry B. | R. I. | Gamble, Robert J. | S. D.
Baker, Edward D. | Ore. | Gilbert, Abijah (1874) | Fla.
Baker, Lucien | Kas. | Hamlin, Hannibal | Me.
Banks, Nathaniel P. | Mass. | Hansbrough, Henry C. | N. D.
Beveridge, Albert J. | Ind. | Harvey, James M. | Kan.
Blair, Henry W. | N. H. | Heitfield, Henry | Ida.
Bowen, Thomas B. | Col. | Henderson, John B. | Mo.
Brice, Calvin S. | Ohio. | Hoar, George F. | Mass.
Brown, B. Gratz | Mo. | Jones, John P. | Nev.
Bruce, Blanche K. | Miss. | Kyle, James H. | S. D.
Burnside, Ambrose | R. I. | Lapham, Elbridge G. | N. Y.
Burrows, Julius C. | Mich. | Logan, John A. | Ills.
Cameron, Angus | Wis. | Manderson, Charles F. | Neb.
Cannon, Frank J. | Utah. | Mason, William E. | Ills.
Carey, Joseph M. | Wy. | Matthews, Stanley | Ohio
Carpenter, Matthew H. | Mich. | McDonald, Joseph E. | Ind.
Chace, Jonathan | R. I. | Mitchell, John H. | Ore.
Chandler, Zach. | Mich. | Mitchell, John I. | Penn.
Cheney, P. C. | N. H. | Morton, Oliver P. | Ind.
Clark, Clarence D. | Wy. | Nye, James W. | Neb.
Clark, William A. | Mont. | Paddock, Algernon S. | Neb.
Conger, Omar D. | Mich. | Palmer, John M. | Ills.
Conover, Simon B. (1874) | Fla. | Palmer, Thomas W. | Mich.
Cullom, Shelby M. | Ills. | Patterson, John J. (1874) | S. C.
Davis, Cushman K. | Minn. | Patterson, Thomas M. | Col.
Dawes, Henry L. | Mass. | Peffer, William A. | Kas.
Depew, Chauncey M. | N. Y. | Perkins, George C. | Cal.
Dillingham, William P. | Vt. | Pettigrew, Richard F. | S. D.
Dolliver, J. P. | Iowa. | Platt, Thomas C. | N. Y.
Dolph, Joseph N. | Ore. | Plumb, P. B. | Kas.
Dubois, Fred T. | Ida. | Pomeroy, S. C. | Kas.
Farwell, Charles B. | Ills. | Pratt, Daniel D. | Ind.
Ferry, Thomas W. | Mich. | [Pg 1077]Quay, Matthew S. | Penn.
Revels, Hiram P. | Miss. | Summer, Charles | Mass.
Roach, W. N. | N. D. | Teller, Henry M. | Col.
Ross, Jonathan | Vt. | Tipton, Thomas W. | Neb.
Sanders, Wilbur F. | Mont. | Wade, Benjamin F. | Ohio.
Sargent, Aaron A. | Cal. | Warner, Willard (1869) | Ala.
Minister to Germany. |  | Warren, Francis E. | Wy.
Sawyer, Philetus S. | Wis. | West, J. Rodman (1874) | La.
Sherman, John | Ohio. | White, Stephen M. | Cal.
Shoup, George L. | Ida. | Wilson, Henry | Mass.
Sprague, William | R. I. | Wilson, James F. | Iowa.
Stanford, Leland | Cal. | Windom, William | Minn.
Stevens, Thaddeus | Penn. | Sec'y of the Treasury.
Stewart, William M. | Nev. | Yates, Richard, Sr. | Ills.

Speakers of the House of Representatives.
Banks, Nathaniel P. | Mass. | Keifer, J. Warren | Ohio.
Henderson, David B. | Iowa. | Reed, Thomas B. | Me.

Representatives in Congress.[500]
Allen, C. E. | Utah. | Fisher, Spencer O. | Mich.
Baker, Charles S. | N. Y. | Fletcher, Lorin | Minn.
Baker, William | Kas. | Giddings, Joshua R. | Ohio.
Barrows, Samuel J. | Mass. | Glenn, Thomas L. | Ida.
Belford, James B. | Col. | Greenleaf, Halbert S. | N. Y.
Bell, John C. | Col. | Gunn, James | Ida.
Blue, Richard W. | Kas. | Handy, L. G. | Del.
Broderick, Case | Kas. | Haskins, Kittridge | Vt.
Broomall, John M. | Penn. | Hepburn, W. P. | Iowa.
Browne, Thomas M. | Ind. | Hitt, Robert R. | Ills.
Butler, Benjamin F. | Mass. | Julian, George W. | Ind.
Caine, John T. | Utah. | Kahn, Julius | Cal.
Cannon, George Q. | Utah. | Kasson, John A. | Iowa.
Caswell, Lucien B. | Iowa. | Minister to Germany
Clapp, Moses E. | Minn. | Kelley, Harrison B. | Kan.
Coffeen, Henry | Wy. | Kelley, William D. | Penn.
Crump, Rousseau O. | Mich. | Kerr, Daniel | Iowa.
Cumback, William | Ind. | King, William H. | Utah.
Curtis, Charles | Kas. | Loring, George B. | Mass.
Cutcheon, Byron M. | Mich. | Loughridge, William | Iowa.
Davis, John | Kas. | Lucas, W. B. | S. D.
Davis, Thomas | R. I. | Maguire, James G. | Cal.
Dingley, Nelson | Me. | Martin, E. W. | S. D.
Douglas, William H. | N. Y. | McCall, Samuel Walker | Mass.
Featherstone, L. P. | Ark. | McCoid, Moses A. | Iowa.
Fergusson, H. B. | N. M. | [Pg 1078]Miers, Robert W. | Ind.
Milnes, Alfred | Mich. | Shafroth, John F. | Col.
Mondell, Frank W. | Wy. | Simpson, Jerry | Kas.
Morey, Henry L. | Ohio. | Smith, Henry C. | Mich.
Morse, Elijah | Mass. | Smith, William Alden | Mich.
Mott, Richard | Ohio. | Steele, George W. | Ind.
Neville, William | Neb. | Struble, I. S. | Iowa.
Northway, S. A. | Ohio. | Sulzer, William | N. Y.
O'Donnell, James | Mich. | Sutherland, George | Utah.
Orth, Godlove S. | Ind. | Taylor, Ezra B. | Ohio.
Payne, Sereno E. | N. Y. | Taylor, Robert W. | Ohio.
Peelle, Stanton J. | Ind. | Tongue, Thomas H. | Ore.
Judge of the U.S. Court of Claims. | Topp, Robertson | Tenn.
Peirce, R. B. F. | Ind. | Van Voorhis, John | N. Y.
Pence, Lafayette | Col. | Walker, James A. | Va.
Pickler, J. A. | S. D. | Walker, Joseph H. | Mass.
Powers, Henry H. | Vt. | Weadock, Thomas A. E. | Mich.
Ranney, A. A. | Mass. | White, John D. | Ky.
Ray, George W. | N. Y. | Wilson, Edgar | Ida.
Riddle, Albert G. | Ohio. | Woods, S. D. | Cal.

Governors of States. (Incomplete list.)
Governor Adams, | Col. | Governor Hunt, | Col..
" Altgeld, | Ills. | " Hunt, | Ida.
" Ames, | Mass. | " Jewell, | Conn.
" Andrews, | Conn. | U.S. Postmaster General.
" Barber, | Wy. | " Jones, | Nev.
" Bates, | Mass. | " Knapp, | Alaska.
" Begole, | Mich. | " La Follette, | Wis.
" Bliss, | Mich. | " Long, | Mass.
" Brackett, | Mass. | Sec'y of the Navy.
" Budd, | Cal. | " Lord, | Ore.
" Burke, | N. D. | " Luce, | Mich.
" Butler, | Mass. | " McDonald, | Ind.
" Butler, | Neb. | " McIntire, | Col.
" Campbell, | Wy. | " Mellette, | S. D.
" Carpenter, | Iowa. | " Morrill, | Kas.
" Chamberlain, | Ore. | " Morton, | Ind.
" Claflin, | Mass. | " Murphy, | Ariz.
" Clough, | Minn. | " Newell, | Wash.
" Colcord, | Nev. | " Odell, | N. Y.
" Davis, | R. I. | " Osborn, | Wy.
" Fifer, | Ills. | " Pattison, | Penn.
" Folger, | N. Y. | " Pingree, | Mich.
Sec'y of the Treasury. |  | " Porter, | Ind.
" Fuller, | Vt. | " Rich, | Mich.
" Greenhalge, | Mass. | " Richards, | Wy.
" Hale, | Wy. | " Rickards, | Mont.
" Hoyt, | Wy. | " Rogers, | Wash.
" Hughes, | Ariz. | " Roosevelt, | N. Y.
" Humphrey, | Kas. | [Pg 1079] " Routt, | Col.
Governor Sadler, | Nev. | Governor Thomas, | Utah.
" Saunders, | Nev. | " Van Sant, | Minn.
" Savage, | Nev. | " Voorhees, | N. J.
" Semple, | Wash. | " Waite, | Col.
" Sprague, | R. I. | " Warren, | Wy.
" Squire, | Wash. | " Washburn, | Mass.
" Steunenberg, | Ida. | " Wells, | Utah.
" St. John, | Kas. | " West, | Utah.
" Talbot, | Mass. | " Winans, | Mich.
" Thayer, | Wy. | " Yates, Sr., | Ills.
" Thomas, | Col. | " Young, | Utah.

Presidents of Universities. (Incomplete list.)
Andrews, E. Benjamin | Brown and Neb. | Latimore, S. A. | Acting President Rochester.
Aylesworth, Barton O. | Pres. Col. Agr. Coll. | Lyons, S. R. | Monmouth (Ills.).
Baker, James H. | Colorado. | MacLean, James | Idaho.
Bascom, John | Wisconsin. | Marvin, James | Kansas.
Bashford, J. W. | Ohio Wesleyan. | Northrop, Cyrus W. | Minnesota.
Beardshear, Wm. | Iowa Agr. College. | Palmer, Alice Freeman | Wellesley College.
Capen, Elmer F. | Tuft's College. | Park, John R. | Utah.
Dickinson, Frances E. | Harvey Medical (Chicago). | Purnell, W. H. | Delaware College.
Evans, J. G. | Hedding (Ills.). | Rogers, Henry Wade | Northwestern.
Hale, Horace M. | Colorado. | Shafer, Helen A. | Wellesley College.
Hawley, J. H. | Willamette (Ore.). | Sharpless, Isaac | Haverford College.
Gates, George A. | Iowa College. | Slocum, W. F. | Colorado College.
Gunnison, Almon | St. Lawrence. | Smiley, Elmer E. | Wyoming.
Gunsaulus, Frank W. | Armour Institute. | Snow, F. H. | Kansas.
Henderson, L. F. | Idaho. | Stephens, D. S. | Kansas City.
Herrick, C. L. | New Mexico. | Sutliff, Phoebe I. | Rockford (Ills.).
Hill, Walter B. | Georgia. | Swain, Joseph | Indiana and Swarthmore.
Hurst, John F. | American University, D. C. | Thomas, Martha Carey | Bryn Mawr College.
Irvine, Julia J. | Wellesley College. | Thwing, Charles F. | Western Reserve.
Jordan, David Starr | Leland Stanford. | Warren, William F. | Boston.
Kellogg, Martin V. | California. | Washington, Booker T. | Tuskeegee Institute.
Kingsbury, J. T. | Utah. | Wells, Daniel H. | Utah.
Knox, Martin Van Buren | Red River Valley, N. D. | White, Andrew D. | Cornell.
Whitney, Orson F. | Utah.

Clergymen.
Archbishop Ireland | Catholic. | Huntington, Fred'k D. | Prot. Epis.
Bishop Bowman, Thomas | Meth. Epis. | " Joyce, Isaac W. | Meth. Epis.
" Brooks, Phillips | Prot. Epis. | " McQuaid of Rochester | Catholic
" Hamilton, John Wm. | Meth. Epis. | " Moore, David H. | Meth. Epis.
" Haven, Gilbert | " | " Newman, John P. | "
" Hurst, John F. | "[Pg 1080]
Bishop Potter, Henry C. | Prot. Epis. | Gregg, David | Presb.
" Sessums, Davis | " | Hall, Frank O. | Univ.
" Simpson, Matthew | Meth. Epis. | Hillis, Newell Dwight | Cong'l.
" Spalding of Peoria | Catholic. | Hinckley, Frederick A. | Unit.
" Turner, Henry McN. | Meth. Epis. | Jones, Jenkyn Lloyd | "
" Walters, A. | " | Kent, Alexander | Liberal.
" Warren, Henry W. | " | King, Thomas Starr | Unit.
Ames, Charles G. | Unit. | Longfellow, Samuel | "
Beecher, Henry Ward | Cong'l. | Lorimer, George C. | Bapt.
Boardman, George W. | Bapt. | May, Samuel J. | Unit.
Bristol, Frank M. | Meth. Epis. | McGlynn, Edward | Cath.
Chadwick, John W. | Unit. | Mills, B. Fay | Evang.
Channing, William Henry | " | Moody, Dwight L. | "
Cheever, George B. | Cong'l. | Newton, Heber | Epis.
Clarke, James Freeman | Unit. | Parker, Theodore | Unit.
Collyer, Robert | Unit. | Perin, George H. | Univ.
Conway, Moncure D. | " | " Pierpont, John | Unit.
Cook, Joseph | Presb. | Pullman, James M. | Univ.
Dalton, W. J. | Catholic | Rainsford, M. S. | Epis.
Duryea, Joseph T. | Cong'l. | Reed, Myron W. | Liberal.
Eaton, Charles H. | Univ. | Savage, Minot J. | Unit.
Eggleston, Edward (author) | Meth. Epis. | Scully, Thomas | Cath.
Foss, Herbert | " | Shippen, Rush | Unit.
Gannett, William C. | Unit. | Swing, David | Liberal.
Gladden, Washington | Cong'l. | Thomas, Hiram W. | "
Gottheil, Rabbi Gustave. |  | Tyng, Stephen H. | Epis.

Women Ministers.
Blackwell, Antoinette Brown | Unit. | Hultin, Ida C. | Unit.
Booth, Maud Ballington | Vols. of Am. | Moore, Henrietta G. | Univ.
Brown, Olympia | Univ. | Murdock, Marian | Unit.
Buck, Florence | Unit. | Safford, Mary J. | "
Chapin, Augusta, D. D. | Univ. | Shaw, Anna Howard | Prot. Meth.
Crane, Caroline Bartlett | Unit. | Spencer, Anna Garlin | Liberal.
Crooker, Florence Kollock | Univ. | Tucker, Emma Booth | Salv. Army.
Deyo, Amanda | " | Whitney, Mary Traffern | Unit.
Eastman, Annis F. | Cong'l. | Wilkes, Eliza Tupper | "
Hanaford, Phebe A. | Univ. | Woolley, Celia P. | "

English Clergymen.
Archbishop of Canterbury | 1901. | Archbishop Cardinal Vaughn | Cath.
" " York | " | Archbishop Moran of Australia
Archdeacon of Manchester. |  | Archbishop Nozaleda of the
Bishop of Edinburgh | 1895. | Philippines | Cath.
" " Exeter | " | Hugh Price Hughes.
" " Hereford | " | James Martineau, D. D.
" " London | " | Most Rev. Gordon Cowie, Bishop of
" " Southwell | " | Auckland and Primate of New Zealand.
Canon Charles Kingsley of Westmin'r. | Newman Hall, LL. B., D. D.
" Wilberforce

[Pg 1081]

American Men.
Alcott, A. Bronson. | Howe, Dr. Samuel G.
Atkinson, Edward. | Howells, William Dean.
Bidwell, Gen. John. | Hurd, Judge Harvey B.,
Bigelow, John, | Dean Northwestern Univ. Law Col.
Minister to France. | Husted, James W.,
Birney, James G. | Speaker of New York Legislature.
Blackwell, Henry B. | Hutchinson, John.
Booth, Judge Henry, | Ingersoll, Robert G.
Dean Union Col. of Law, Chicago. | Jackson, Francis.
Bowles, Samuel. | Jackson, James C.,
Bradwell, Judge James B. | Dansville Sanitorium.
Brooks, John Graham, | Johnson, Thomas L.
Pres. National Consumers' League. | Jones, Samuel M.,
Bryant, William Cullen. | Mayor of Toledo, O.
Burdette, Robert J. | Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth.
Cable, George W. | McCulloch, Hugh,
Childs, George W. | Secretary of the Treasury.
Clark, Francis E., | Miles, Nelson A.,
Pres. National Christian Endeavor. | Lieutenant-General U. S. A.
Clemens, Samuel R. (Mark Twain). | Morton, J. Sterling,
Curtis, George William. | Secretary of Agriculture.
Debs, Eugene V. | Nye, Edgar Wilson (Bill).
Dole, Sanford B., | Owen, Robert Dale.
Governor of Hawaii. | Phillips, Wendell.
Donnelly, Ignatius. | Pillsbury, Parker.
Douglass, Frederick. | Powderly, Terence V.
Dow, Neal. | Purvis, Robert.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo | Quincy, Josiah.
Field, Eugene. | Ridpath, John Clark.
Fields, James T. | Rogers, Nathaniel P.
Fisk, Clinton B. | Sage, Russell.
Ford, Paul Leicester. | Sargent, Frank P.,
Forney, John W. | Com'r of Immigration.
Foss, Sam Walter. | Saxton, Gen. Rufus.
Foulke, William Dudley. | Smith, Gerrit.
Garrison, William Lloyd, Sr. and Jr. | Tilton, Theodore.
Gompers, Samuel. | Tourgeé, Albion W.
Griggs, Edward Howard. | Tyler, Moses Coit.
Hale, Gen. Irving. | Ward, Lester F.,
Harris, William T., | Smithsonian Institute.
U. S. Commissioner of Education. | Washington, Booker T.
Hattan, Frank, | Whittier, John G.
U. S. Postmaster-General. | Woolley, John G.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. | Wright, Carroll D.,
Hooker, John. | Pres. U. S. Labor Commission.

[Pg 1082]

American Women.
Addams, Jane, | Dickinson, Anna E.
Hull House, Chicago. | Dickinson, Mary Lowe,
Alcott, Louisa M. | Hon. Pres. Nat. Council of Women.
Alden, Cynthia Westover, | Diggs, Annie L.,
Pres. Int'l Sunshine Society. | State Librarian, Kansas.
Anthony, Susan B. | Edson, Susan A.,
Avery, Rachel Foster, | Physician to Garfield.
Sec'y Nat'l Suff. Ass'n, 21 years. | Fairbanks, Cornelia C.,
Barrows, Isabel C. | Pres. Gen. Daughters Am. Rev.
Barry (Lake), Leonora M., | Field, Kate.
Grand Organizer Knights of Labor. | Field, Martha R. (Catherine Cole),
Barton, Clara, | Ex-Pres. Wom. Int'l Press Ass'n.
Pres. American Red Cross Ass'n. | Fletcher, Alice,
Blackwell, Alice Stone, | Special Indian Agent (Harv. Univ.)
Editor of The Woman's Journal. | Foster, J. Ellen,
Blackwell, Dr. Elizabeth, | Pres. Nat'l Wom. Rep. Ass'n.
Blackwell, Dr. Emily, | Gage, Matilda Joslyn.
Founders of Woman's Medical College | Gardiner, Helen H.
of New York Infirmary. | Garrett, Mary E.
Blake, Lillie Devereux, | Gibbons, Abby Hopper,
Pres. Nat'l Legislative League. | Pres. Woman's Prison Ass'n.
Booth, Mary L., | Gougar, Helen M.
Editor of Harper's Bazar. | Grannis, Elizabeth B.,
Bradwell, Myra, | Pres. Nat'l Social Purity League.
Founder and editor of Legal News. | Guiney, Louise Imogen.
Byrd, Mary E., | Hall, Florence Howe.
Director Smith Coll. Observatory. | Harbert, Elizabeth Boynton.
Campbell, Helen. | Haskell, Ella Knowles,
Carr, Mary L., | Ass't Att'y-Gen. of Montana.
Ex-President W. R. C. | Helmuth, Mrs. William Tod,
Cary, Alice. | Pres. Nat'l Council of Women.
Cary, Phoebe. | Henrotin, Ellen M.,
Catt, Carrie Chapman, | Ex-Pres. Gen. Fed. of Clubs.
Pres. Nat'l Wom. Suff. Ass'n. | Holley, Marietta,
Child, Lydia Maria. | (Josiah Allen's Wife).
Clay, Laura, | Hollister, Lillian M.,
Aud. Nat'l Wom. Suff. Ass'n. | Sup. Com. Ladies of Maccabees.
Clemmer, Mary. | Hooker, Isabella Beecher.
Colby, Clara B., | Hosmer, Harriet.
Editor of The Woman's Tribune. | Howe, Julia Ward.
Cooper, Sarah B., | Jacobi, Dr. Mary Putnam.
Pres. Golden Gate Kinder. Ass'n. | Kelley, Florence,
Crowe, Martha Foote, | Ex-Chief State Factory Insp., Ills.
Dean Northwestern University. | Krout, Mary H.
Decker, Sarah Platt. | Leslie, Mrs. Frank.
Demorest, Mme. Louise, | Lippincott, Sarah J.,
Editor Demorest's Magazine. | (Grace Greenwood).
Diaz, Abby Morton. | Livermore, Mary A.
[Pg 1083]Lockwood, Mary S., | Solomon, Hannah G.,
Editor Am. Mag. (D. A. R.). | Pres. Nat'l Council of Jewish Wom.
Logan, Olive. | Southworth, Mrs. E. D. E. N.
Lowell, Josephine Shaw, | Spofford, Harriet Prescott.
Pres. Wom. Munic. L., New York. | Stanford, Jane Lathrop (Leland).
Lozier, Dr. Clemence, | Stanton, Elizabeth Cady.
Founder Woman's Homeopathic | Stetson, Charlotte Perkins.
College, New York. | Stevens, Lillian M. N.,
Marshall, Dr. Clara, | Pres. National W. C. T. U.
Dean Wom. Med. Coll., Phila. | Stevenson, Dr. Sarah Hackett.
McCulloch, Catharine Waugh. | Stockham, Dr. Alice B.
McGee, Dr. Anita Newcomb, | Stone, Lucinda Hinsdale.
Ass't Surgeon U. S. A. in | Stone, Lucy.
Spanish-American War. | Stowe, Harriet Beecher.
Miller, Flo Jamison, | Taylor, Elmina Shepard,
Ex-Pres. Woman's Relief Corps. | Pres. Young Woman's Nat'l
Mitchell, Maria. | Improvement Ass'n.
Mussey, Ellen Spencer, | Terrill, Mary Church,
Dean Woman's Law College, | Pres. Nat'l Ass'n of Col. Wom.
Washington, D. C. | Upton, Harriet Taylor,
Nathan, Mrs. Frederick, | Treas. Nat'l Wom. Suff. Ass'n.
Pres. N. Y. Consumers' League. | Wallace, Mrs. Lew.
Palmer, Bertha Honoré, | Wallace, Zerelda G.
Pres. Board Lady Managers, | Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.
World's Fair. | Wells, Emmeline B.
Parton, Mrs. James (Fanny Fern). | Wells, Ida B.
Patton, Abby Hutchinson. | White, Sallie Joy,
Paul, A. Emmagene, | Ex.-Pres. N. E. Wom. Press Ass'n.
Sup't of Street Cleaning Dep't, | Whiting, Lilian.
1st Ward, Chicago. | Whitney, Anne, Sculptor.
Peabody, Elizabeth, | Willard, Frances E.
Educator and philanthropist. | Willing, Jennie Fowler.
Preston, Dr. Ann, | Winslow, Dr. Caroline B.
Dean of Med. Coll. and founder of | Winslow, Helen M.,
Wom. Hosp., Philadelphia. | Editor of Club Woman.
Sewall, May Wright, | Young, Zina D. H.,
Pres. Int'l Council of Women. | Pres. Nat'l Woman's Relief Ass'n.
Seymour, Mary F., | Zakrzewska, Dr. Marie E.,
Ed. of Business Woman's Journal. | Founder New Eng. Hospital for
Smith, Dr. Julia Holmes, | Women and Children.
Dean Nat'l Med. Coll., Chicago.

Great Britain.
Aberdeen, Countess of, | Balfour, A. J.,
Vice-President-at-Large | Prime Minister.
International Council of Women. | Balfour, Lady Frances.
Aberdeen, Earl of, | Battersea, Lady.
Gov.-Gen. of Canada. | Becker, Lydia,
Anderson, Mrs. Garrett, M. D. | Editor Women's Suffrage Journal.
[Pg 1084]Begg, Faithfull, M. P. | Harberton, Lady.
Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury), | Haslem, Anna Maria. (Ireland.)
Mrs. | Huxley, Thomas H.
Besant, Annie. | Lucas, Margaret Bright.
Besant, Walter. | Martineau, Harriet.
Biggs, Caroline Ashurst, | McLaren, Duncan, M. P.
Blackburn, Helen, | McLaren, Mrs. Priscilla Bright.
Editors Englishwoman's Review. | Mill, John Stuart, Mr. and Mrs.
Blake, Dr. Sophia Jex. | Nightingale, Florence.
Blatch, Harriet Stanton. | Proctor, Adelaide A.
Bright, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob. | Ritchie, Anne Thackeray.
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. | Rollitt, Sir Albert, Earl of Selborne.
Butler, Josephine E., | Salisbury, Marquis of.
Pres. Social Purity League. | Prime Minister.
Carlisle, Lady, | Selborne, Earl of.
Pres. Woman's Liberal Federation. | Sidgwick, Mrs. Henry,
Chant, Laura Ormiston. | Princ. of Newnham.
Cobbe, Frances Power. | Somerset, Lady Henry,
Cobden, Richard. | Pres. World's W. C. T. U.
Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice. | Somerville, Mary, Astronomer.
Courtney, Leonard H., M. P. | Stead, Wm. T.
Crawford, Emily. | Tallon, Daniel.
Davies, Emily, Mistress of Girton. | Lord Mayor of Dublin.
D'Israeli, Benjamin, | Taylor, Peter A., M. P., and Mrs.
Prime Minister. | Thomson (Archbish. of York), Mrs.
Edwards, Amelia B. | Todd, Isabella M. S. (Ireland).
Fawcett, Henry, | Unwin, Jane Cobden.
M. P. and Postmaster-General. | Wigham, Eliza.
Fawcett, Mrs. Millicent Garrett, | Wollstonecraft, Mary,
Pres. Wom. Suff. Ass'n Great Brit. | Author of Rights of Woman (1792).
Fry, Elizabeth. | Woodall, William, M. P.
Glenesk, Lord. | Wyndham, Hon. George.
Grey, Sir George, K. C. B.

France.
Dumas, Alexandre (fils). | Hugo, Victor.

Australia.
Barton, Edmund, Premier. | Parkes, Sir Henry,
Cockburn, Sir John, K. C. W. G., | Premier N. S. W.
Kingston, Hon. C. C., Premier S. Aus | Reid, Sir G. H., Premier N. S. W.
Lyne, Sir William, Premier N. S. W. | Turner, Sir George, Premier Victoria.
Onslow, Lady. | Windeyer, Lady.

New Zealand.
Hall, Sir John. | Stout, Sir Robert, Premier.
Seddon, H. J., Premier. | Vogel, Sir Julius, Colonial Treas.

[Pg 1085]

Canada.
Hall, Sir John, M. P. | MacDonald, Sir John, Premier.

South Africa.
Schreiner, Olive.

### TESTIMONY FROM WOMAN SUFFRAGE STATES.[501]

No attempt is made to give here the mass of testimony which is easily available from the States where women vote, but only enough is presented to show its nature and the character of those who offer it. In the four States where women have exercised the full franchise for from six to thirty-three years, not half a dozen reputable persons have said over their own names that any of the evils which were so freely predicted have come to pass or that its effect upon men, women or the community has been other than good. The small amount of criticism which has been openly made has been anonymous or from those whose word was entitled to no weight. There is not another public question on which the testimony is so uniformly one-sided, and similar evidence on any other would be accepted as sufficiently conclusive to demand a unanimous verdict in its favor.

In 1901 Amos R. Wells, editor of the Christian Endeavor World, wrote to twenty-five ministers of several different denominations, choosing their names at random among his subscribers in the equal suffrage States, and asking them whether equal suffrage was working well, fairly well or badly. One answered that it worked badly, three that it worked fairly well, and the twenty-one others were all positive and explicit in saying that it worked well. One point upon which they laid stress was the increased intelligence and breadth of mind of the women, and the good influence of this upon their children. Mr. Wells said in summing up: "Woman suffrage makes elections more expensive, but it is a grand school for the mothers of the republic."

#### Colorado.

In 1898, in answer to the continued misrepresentations of the Eastern press, the friends of woman suffrage issued the following:

> We, citizens of the State of Colorado, desire, as lovers of truth and justice, to give our testimony to the value of equal suffrage. We believe that the greatest good of the home, the State and the nation is advanced through the operation of equal suffrage. The evils predicted have not come to pass. The benefits claimed for it have been secured, or are in progress of development. A very large proportion of Colorado women have conscientiously accepted their responsibility as citizens. In 1894 more than half the total vote for Governor was cast by women. Between 85 and 90 per cent. of the women of the State voted at that time. The exact vote of the last election has not yet been estimated, but there is reason to believe that the proportional vote of women was as large as in previous years. The vote of good women, like that of good men, is involved in the evils resulting from the abuse of our present political system; but the vote of women is noticeably more conscientious than that of men, and will be an important factor in bringing about a better order.

[Pg 1086]

This was signed by the governor, three ex-governors, both senators, both members of Congress and ex-senators, the chief justice and two associate justices of the supreme court, three judges of the court of appeals, four judges of the district court, the secretary of State, the State treasurer, State auditor, attorney-general, the mayor of Denver, the president of the State University, the president of Colorado College, the representative of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the vice-regent of the Mount Vernon Association, and the presidents of thirteen women's clubs.

I am confident that recognition of woman suffrage in the constitution of proposed States will not in any way hinder, delay or endanger their admission. That question is one belonging to the State and not to the general government, and the opponents of woman suffrage will not, I am sure, deny to the new States the right to settle that question for themselves.

Henry M. Teller (Rep.), U. S. Senator. (1889.)

Instead of rough or vicious men, or even drunken men, treating women with disrespect, the presence of a single good woman at the polls seems to make the whole crowd of men as respectful and quiet as at the theater or church. For the credit of American men be it said that the presence of one woman or girl at the polls, the wife or daughter of the humblest mechanic, has as good an effect on the crowd as the presence of the grandest dame or the most fashionable belle. The American woman is clearly as much of a queen at the polls, in her own bearing and the deference paid her, as in the drawing-room or at the opera. I feel more pride than ever in American manhood and American womanhood since seeing these gatherings on Tuesday, where men and women of all classes and conditions met in their own neighborhood to perform with duty and dignity the selection of their own rulers, and to give their approval to the principles to guide such officials when chosen. No woman was less in dignity and sweetness of womanhood after such participation in public duties, and I do not believe there is a man of sensibility in Colorado to-day who does not love his wife, daughter, sister or mother the more for the womanly and gracious manner in which she helped so loyally and intelligently in this election.

Indeed, Colorado in this election has left very little of good argument for its sincere opponents to urge against suffrage. So nearly all of everything having any good sense in it has been disproved here, that the opposition is left with very few weapons in its armory, and all of them weak.

James S. Clarkson (Rep.),
U. S. Ass't P. M. General. (1894.)

When the question was submitted in Colorado, I supported and voted for the proposition as a matter of abstract right; as every fair man must admit, when the question comes to him, that a woman has the same right of suffrage as a man. In advocating suffrage you need no platform but right and justice; those who will not accept it upon that ground would not be persuaded though one rose from the dead. I will add, however, that even the most virulent enemy of woman suffrage can not prove that any harm has come from the experiment. The test in Colorado is still too new to expect[Pg 1087] a unanimous verdict, yet all fair-minded observers are justified in predicting a higher standard of morals and of political life as a result of woman suffrage.

Alva Adams (Dem.), Governor. (1898.)

I supported the cause of woman suffrage, not because I thought it would work the political regeneration of the country, but because I believed it was a woman's due to vote, if she desired to do so. I have also said, and I reiterate, that the enfranchisement of Colorado women has in many ways benefited the State, that it was a decided advance, and that I trusted that other States, in emulation of our example, would soon give the right to women throughout the land.

Charles S. Thomas (Dem.), Governor. (1899.)

There is not a political party in the State that will ever dare to insert in its platform an anti-suffrage plank; for it must not be forgotten that upon this question the voting power of the women would equal that of the men. It is no more likely that the women of Colorado will ever be disfranchised than that the men will be.

Horace M. Hale, former President State University. (1901.)

Few are so unjust or bold as to argue seriously against the abstract right of women to vote; and experience in Colorado and other Western States has done much to dispel the various theoretical and sentimental objections that have been raised against the extension of this manifest right.

The largest majorities for woman suffrage were given in the most intelligent cities, and in the best precincts of each city, while the heavy majorities against it were in the precincts controlled by the debased and lawless classes, and the lowest grade of machine politicians, who rely on herding the depraved vote—showing that these elements dreaded the effect of woman suffrage, and realized the falsity of the argument that it would increase the immoral and controllable vote.

So far as I have been able to judge by observation of elections and analysis of returns, more women vote in the better districts than in the slums, and the proportion of intelligent and refined voters to the ignorant and depraved is larger among women than among men. The average result, therefore, has been beneficial.

No true, refined woman is any less womanly for studying questions of public interest and expressing her opinions thereon by means of the ballot.... The general effect has been decidedly beneficial. Especially does it act as a governor on the political machines of all parties to regulate the character of nominees and platforms.

Woman suffrage is accepted as an established fact, and is very little discussed. I certainly have no reason to think that the general sentiment in its favor has decreased, or that the measure would fail to pass with as large or a larger majority than before, if again submitted to the vote of either the men or women of the State. I have no hesitation whatever in stating as my own positive conviction that woman suffrage is both right and beneficial, and that it should not and never will be repealed in Colorado.

Irving Hale (of Col.), General in the Army of the Philippines. (1902.)

[Pg 1088]

It is said that equal suffrage would make family discord. In Colorado our divorce laws are rather easy, though stricter than in the neighboring States, but since 1893, when suffrage was granted, I have never heard of a case where political differences were alleged as a cause for divorce or as the provoking cause of family discord. Equal suffrage, in my judgment, broadens the minds of both men and women. It has certainly given us in Colorado candidates of better character and a higher class of officials. It is very true that husband and wife frequently vote alike—as the magnet draws the needle they go to the polls together. But women are not coerced. If a man were known to coerce his wife's vote I believe he would be ridden out of town on a rail with a coat of tar and feathers. Women's legal rights have been improved in Colorado since they obtained the ballot, and there are now no civil distinctions. Equal suffrage tends to make political affairs better, purer and more desirable for all who take part in them.

Thomas M. Patterson (Dem.), U. S. Senator. (1902.)

#### Idaho.

It gives me pleasure to say briefly that the extension of the franchise to the women of Idaho has positively purified its politics. It has compelled not only State conventions, but, more particularly, county conventions, of both parties, to select the cleanest and best material for public office. Many conventions have turned down their strongest local politicians for the simple reason that their moral habits were such that the women would unite against them, regardless of politics. It has also taken politics out of the saloon to a great extent, and has elevated local politics especially to a higher plane. Every woman is interested in good government, in good officers, in the utmost economy of administration, and a low rate of taxation.

Frank W. Hunt (Dem.), Governor. (1900.)

Woman suffrage has been in operation in Idaho for over four years and there have been no alarming or disastrous results. I think most people in the State, looking over the past objections to the extension of the right of suffrage, are now somewhat surprised that any were ever made. As to advantages—it is, as in all matters of this kind, difficult to measure them exactly, because the benefit is largely indirect. I think, however, that it has exercised a good and considerable influence over conventions, resulting in the nomination of better men for office, and that it has been of considerable weight in securing the enactment of good laws.

S. H. Hays (Fus.), Ex-Attorney-General. (1901.)

The adoption of equal suffrage has resulted in much good in Idaho. The system is working well, and the best result therefrom is the selection for public positions, State, county and municipal. Our politics in the past has been manipulated by political adventurers, more or less, without regard to the best interests of the people, but principally in the interests of a small coterie of politicians of the different parties, who have depended upon the public treasury for subsistence. The participation of our women in[Pg 1089] the conventions of our various political parties and in elections has a tendency to relegate the professional politicians, at least the worst element, and bring forth in their stead a better class of people. This tendency is of vast importance to the State. It compels leaders of political parties to be more careful in the selection of candidates for different offices of trust and profit.

Ralph P. Quarles, Justice of the Supreme Court. (1902.)

The Chief Justice and all the Judges of the Supreme Court have published a statement saying in part: "Woman suffrage in this State is a success; none of the evils predicted have come to pass, and it has gained much in popularity since its adoption by our people."

#### Utah.

The lawmakers seem to be afraid of enfranchising women because of the deteriorating effect which politics might have on womankind. If this be true let the experience of Utah speak. For six years women in this State have had the right to vote and hold office. Have the wheels of progress stopped? Instead we have bounded forward with seven-league boots. Have the fears and predictions of the local opponents of woman suffrage been verified? Have women degenerated into low politicians, neglecting their homes and stifling the noblest emotions of womanhood? On the contrary women are respected quite as much as they were before Statehood; loved as rapturously as ever, and are led to the altar with the same beatific strains of music and the same unspeakable joy that invested ceremonials before their enfranchisement.

The plain facts are that in this State the influence of woman in politics has been distinctly elevating. In the primary, in the convention and at the polls her very presence inspires respect for law and order. Few men are so base that they will not be gentlemen in the presence of ladies. Experience has shown that women have voted their intelligent convictions. They understand the questions at issue and they vote conscientiously and fearlessly. While we do not claim to have the purest politics in the world in Utah, it will be readily conceded that the woman-vote is a terror to evildoers, and our course is, therefore, upward and onward.

One of the bugaboos of the opposition was that women would be compelled to sit on juries. Not a single instance of the kind has happened in the State, for the reason that women are never summoned; the law simply exempts them, but does not exclude them. Another favorite idiocy of the anti-suffragists is that if the women vote they ought to be compelled to fight. In the same manner the law exempts them from military service.

For one I am proud of Utah's record in dealing with her female citizens. I take the same pride in it that a good husband would who had treated his wife well, and I look forward with eager hope to the day when woman suffrage shall become universal.

Heber M. Wells (Rep.), Governor. (1902.)

[Pg 1090]

There is literally no end to the favorable testimony from Utah, given by Mormons and Gentiles alike.

#### Wyoming.

Gov. John A. Campbell was in office when the woman suffrage law was passed. In 1871 he said in his message to the Territorial Legislature:

> There is upon our statute book "an Act granting to the women of Wyoming Territory the right of suffrage," which has now been in force two years. It is simple justice to say that the women entering, for the first time in the history of the country, upon these new and untried duties, have conducted themselves in every respect with as much tact, sound judgment, and good sense, as men.

In 1873 he said: "Two years more of observation of the practical working of the system have only served to deepen my conviction that what we, in this Territory, have done, has been well done; and that our system of impartial suffrage is an unqualified success."

Governor Thayer, who succeeded Campbell, said in his message:

> Woman suffrage has now been in practical operation in our Territory for six years, and has, during the time, increased in popularity and in the confidence of the people. In my judgment the results have been beneficial, and its influence favorable to the best interests of the community.

Governor Hoyt, who succeeded Thayer, said in 1882:

> Under woman suffrage we have better laws, better officers, better institutions, better morals, and a higher social condition in general, than could otherwise exist. Not one of the predicted evils, such as loss of native delicacy and disturbance of home relations, has followed in its train.

Later he said in a public address: "The great body of our women, and the best of them, have accepted the elective franchise as a precious boon and exercise it as a patriotic duty—in a word, after many years of happy experience, woman suffrage is so thoroughly rooted and established in the minds and hearts of the people that, among them all, no voice is ever uplifted in protest against or in question of it."

Governor Hale, who was next in this office, expressed himself repeatedly to the same effect.

Governor Warren, who succeeded Hale, said in a letter to Horace G. Wadlin, Esq., of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, in 1885:

> Our women consider much more carefully than our men the character of candidates, and both political parties have found themselves obliged to nominate their best men in order to obtain the support of the women. As a business man, as a city, county, and territorial officer, and now as Governor of Wyoming Territory, I have seen much of the workings of woman suffrage, but I have yet to hear of the first case of domestic discord growing out of it. Our women nearly all vote, and since in Wyoming as elsewhere the majority of women are good and not bad, the result is good and not evil.

Territorial Governors are appointed, not elected. As U. S. Senator, Mr. Warren has up to the present time (1902) repeatedly given similar testimony. In various chapters of the present volume may be found the strong approval of ex-U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey.[Pg 1091]

Most of these Governors were Republicans. Hon. N. L. Andrews (Democrat), Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives, said in 1879:

> I came to this Territory in the fall of 1871, with the strongest prejudice possible against woman suffrage. The more I have seen of it, the less my objections have been realized, and the more it has commended itself to my judgment and good opinion. Under all my observations it has worked well, and has been productive of much good. The women use the ballot with more independence and discrimination in regard to the qualifications of candidates than men do. If the ballot in the hand of woman compels political parties to place their best men in nomination, this, in and of itself, is a sufficient reason for sustaining woman suffrage.

Ex-Chief Justice Fisher, of Cheyenne, said in 1883:

> I wish I could show the people who are so wonderfully exercised on the subject of female suffrage just how it works. The women watch the nominating conventions, and if the Republicans put a bad man on their ticket and the Democrats a good one, the Republican women do not hesitate a moment in scratching off the bad and substituting the good. It is just so with the Democratic women. I have seen the effects of female suffrage, and instead of being a means of encouragement to fraud and corruption, it tends greatly to purify elections and give better government.

In 1884 Attorney-General M. C. Brown said in a public letter:

> My prejudices were formerly all against woman suffrage, but they have gradually given way since it became an established fact in Wyoming. My observation, extending over a period of fifteen years, satisfies me of its entire justice and propriety. Impartial observation has also satisfied me that in the use of the ballot women exercise fully as good judgment as men, and in some particulars are more discriminating, as, for instance, on questions of morals.

At another time he said:

> I have been asked if women make good jurors, and I answer by saying, that so far as I have observed their conduct on juries, as a lawyer, I find but little fault with them.... They do not reason like men upon the evidence, but, being possessed of a higher quality of intellectuality, i. e., keen perceptions, they see the truth of the thing at a glance. Their minds once settled, neither sophistry, logic, rhetoric, pleading nor tears will move them from their purpose. A guilty person never escapes a just punishment when tried by women juries.

> The effect of woman suffrage upon the people of Wyoming has been good. It has been said by one man that open, flagrant acts of bribery are commonly practiced at the polls in Wyoming, and this statement is made to show that the effect of woman suffrage has not been good. The statement is not true. In the last election there were in Cheyenne large sums of money expended to influence the result, and votes were bought on the streets in an open and shameless manner. As U. S. Attorney for the Territory, it became my duty to investigate this matter before a grand jury composed of men. The revelations before the jury were astonishing and many cases of bribery were clearly proven; but while a majority of those composing the jury were men of the highest integrity, there were so many members who had probably taken part in the same unlawful transactions that no indictment could be obtained. The circumstances attending this election were phenomenal. It would be unjust to the women, however, if I should fail to add that, while it was clearly proven that many men sold their votes, it was strikingly apparent that few if any women, even of the vilest class, were guilty of the same misconduct.

[Pg 1092]

The Hon. John W. Kingman, for four years a Judge of the U. S. Supreme Court of Wyoming says:

> Woman suffrage was inaugurated in 1869 without much discussion, and without any general movement of men or women in its favor. At that time few women voted. At each election since, they have voted in larger numbers, and now nearly all go to the polls. Our women do not attend the caucuses in any considerable numbers, but they generally take an interest in the selection of candidates, and it is very common, in considering the availability of an aspirant for office, to ask, 'How does he stand with the ladies?' Frequently the men set aside certain applicants for office, because their characters would not stand the criticism of women. The women manifest a great deal of independence in their preference for candidates, and have frequently defeated bad nominations. Our best and most cultivated women vote, and vote understandingly and independently, and they can not be bought with whiskey or blinded by party prejudice. They are making themselves felt at the polls, as they do everywhere else in society, by a quiet but effectual discountenancing of the bad, and a helping hand for the good and the true. We have had no trouble from the presence of bad women at the polls. It has been said that the delicate and cultured women would shrink away, and the bold and indelicate come to the front in public affairs. This we feared; but nothing of the kind has happened. I do not believe that suffrage causes women to neglect their domestic affairs. Certainly, such has not been the case in Wyoming, and I never heard a man complain that his wife was less interested in domestic economy because she had the right to vote and took an interest in making the community respectable. The opposition to woman suffrage at first was pretty bitter. To-day I do not think you could get a dozen respectable men in any locality to oppose it.

In 1895 U. S. Senator Clarence D. Clark wrote as follows to the Constitutional Convention of Utah which was considering a woman suffrage plank:

> So far as the operation of the law in this State is concerned, we were so well satisfied, with twenty years' experience under the Territorial government, that it went into our constitution with but one dissenting vote, although many thought that such a section might result in its rejection by Congress. If it does nothing else it fulfils the theory of a true representative government, and in this State, at least, has resulted in none of the evils prophesied. It has not been the fruitful source of family disagreements feared. It has not lowered womanhood. Women do generally take advantage of the right to vote, and vote intelligently. It has been years since we have had trouble at the polls—quiet and order, in my opinion, being due to two causes, the presence of women and our efficient election laws. One important feature I might mention, and that is, in view of the woman vote, no party dare nominate notoriously immoral men, for fear of defeat by that vote. Regarding the adoption of the system in other States I see no reason why its operation should not be generally the same elsewhere as it is with us. It is surely true that after many years' experience, Wyoming would not be content to return to the old limits, as, in our opinion, the absence of ill results is conclusive proof of the wisdom of the proposition.

In 1896 the Hon. H. V. S. Groesbeck, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, thus summed up the results of twenty-seven years' experience:

> 1. Woman suffrage has been weighed and not found wanting. Adopted by a statute passed by the first legislative Assembly of the Territory, in 1869, and approved by the Governor, it has continued without interruption and with but one unsuccessful demand for the repeal of the law. The constitutional convention which assembled in 1889 adopted the equal suffrage[Pg 1093] provision and refused to submit the question to a separate vote by a large majority. The continuance of the measure for nearly a quarter of a century, and the determination to incorporate it in the fundamental law, even at the risk of failing to secure Statehood, are the strongest arguments of its benefit and permanency.

> 2. It has tended to secure good nominations for the public offices. The women as a class will not knowingly vote for incompetent, immoral or inefficient candidates.

> 3. It has tended to make the women self-reliant and independent, and to turn their attention to the study of the science of government—an education that is needed by the mothers of the race.

> 4. It has made our elections quiet and orderly. No rudeness, brawling or disorder appears or would be tolerated at the polling booths. There is no more difficulty or indelicacy in depositing a ballot in the urn than in dropping a letter in the post office.

> 5. It has not marred domestic harmony. Husband and wife frequently vote opposing tickets without disturbing the peace of the home. Divorces are not as frequent here as in other communities, even taking into consideration our small population. Many applicants for divorces are from those who have a husband or wife elsewhere, and the number of divorces granted for causes arising in this State are comparatively few.

> 6. It has not resulted in unsexing women. They have not been office-seekers. Women are generally selected for county superintendents of the schools—offices for which they seem particularly adapted, but they have not been applicants for other positions.

> 7. Equal suffrage brings together at the ballot-box the enlightened common sense of American manhood and the unselfish moral sentiment of American womanhood. Both of these elements govern a well-regulated household, and both should sway the political destinies of the entire human family. Particularly do we need in this new commonwealth the home influence at the primaries and at the polls. We believe with Emerson that if all the vices are represented in our politics, some of the virtues should be.

In 1902 Justice Corn, of the State Supreme Court, made the following public statement:

> Women of all classes very generally vote. Bad women do not obtrude their presence at the polls, and I do not now remember ever to have seen a distinctively bad woman casting her vote.

> Woman suffrage has no injurious effect upon the home or the family that I have ever heard of during the twelve years I have resided in the State. It does not take so much of women's time as to interfere with their domestic duties, or with their church or charitable work. It does not impair their womanliness or make them less satisfactory as wives and mothers. They do not have less influence, or enjoy less respect and consideration socially. My impression is that they read the daily papers and inform themselves upon public questions much more generally than women elsewhere.

> Woman suffrage has had the effect almost entirely to exclude notoriously bad or immoral men from public office in the State. Parties refuse to nominate such men upon the distinct ground that they can not obtain the women's vote.

> The natural result of such conditions is to increase the respect in which women are held, and not to diminish it. They are a more important factor in affairs, and therefore more regarded. It is generally conceded, I think, that women have a higher standard of morality and right living than men. And, as they have a say in public matters, it has a tendency to make men respect their standard, and in some degree attempt to attain it themselves.

> I have never been an enthusiastic advocate of woman suffrage as a cure[Pg 1094] for all the ills that afflict society, but I give you in entire candor my impressions of it from my observations in this State.

In 1889, after women in Wyoming had very generally exercised the full suffrage since 1869, Mrs. Clara B. Colby, editor of the Woman's Tribune, Washington, D. C., compiled a report from the census statistics. Those relating to crime, insanity and divorce were as follows:

> The population of the United States has increased in the last decade 24.6 per cent. That of Wyoming has increased 127.9 per cent. But while the number of criminals in the whole United States has increased 40.3—an alarming ratio far beyond the increase of population—notwithstanding the immense increase of population in Wyoming, the number of criminals has not increased at all, but there has been a relative decrease, which shows a law-abiding community and a constantly improving condition of the public morals. In 1870 there were confined in the jails and prisons of Wyoming 74 criminals, 72 men and 2 women. The census of 1880 shows the same number of criminals, 74, as against an average number of criminals in the other Western States of 645. This remarkable fact is made more interesting because the 74 in 1890 are all men, and thus the scarecrow of the vicious women in politics disappears. Wyoming being the only State in which the per cent. of criminal women has decreased, it is evident that the morals of the female part of the population improve with the exercise of the right of suffrage.

> There were 189,503 insane in the United States, but there were but three insane persons in Wyoming in 1880, all men. The preponderance of insanity among married women is usually attributed to the monotony of their lives, and since this is much relieved by their participation in politics we should naturally expect to find, as a physical effect, a decreased proportion of insane women where woman suffrage prevails.

> From 1870 to 1880 the rate of divorce increased in the United States 79.4 per cent., three times the ratio of the increase of population, and in the group of Western States, omitting, Wyoming, it increased 436.7 per cent., almost four times the average increase of population, while in Wyoming the average increase in divorce was less than 50 per cent. of that of the population.

> Compare Wyoming with a typical Eastern State—Connecticut—the latter has one insane person to every 363 of the population, Wyoming has one to every 1,497. Nor is this wholly a difference of East and West, for Idaho, its neighbor, shows one insane to every 1,029. Especially would voting seem to increase the intelligence of women, for in Connecticut there are over seven-tenths as many female idiots as there are male idiots, while in Wyoming there are only four-tenths as many.

Woman suffrage may have played no part in these statistics, but if they had shown an increase of crime, insanity and divorce, it certainly would have been held responsible by the world at large.

#### NEW YORK.

The History is indebted to Attorney-General John C. Davies for most of the information on School Suffrage contained in the New York chapter, and also for the opinion which follows herewith on the right of women in that State to hold office.

> By the Consolidated School Law it is provided, as regarding School Commissioners, that "No person shall be deemed ineligible to such office by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications as herewith provided;"[Pg 1095] and regarding common school districts, it is provided that "Every district officer must be a resident of his district and qualified to vote at its meetings." As certain women are qualified to vote in any common school district, such women are thus eligible to any district office, including the offices of trustee, clerk, collector, treasurer or librarian.

> A similar provision in reference to union free schools, that "No person shall be eligible to hold any school district office in any union free school district unless he or she is a qualified voter in such district and is able to read and write," permits women to hold office as members of the board of education and other district offices.

> Aside from Chapter 214 of the Laws of 1892, which has been held to be unconstitutional, I know of no provision of law extending school suffrage to women in cities, except that charters of certain third class cities have extended to women tax-payers the right to vote upon a proposition involving the raising of a tax.

> By the Public Officers' Law, Chap. 681 of the Laws of 1892, Section 3, it is provided that "No person shall be capable of holding a civil office who shall not, at the time he shall be chosen thereto, be of full age, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the State, and, if it be a local office, a resident of the political subdivision or municipal corporation of the State for which he shall be chosen, or within which the electors electing him reside, or within which his official functions are required to be exercised."

> In the case of Findlay against Thorn, in the City Court of New York, where the question arose as to the right of a woman to exercise the office of notary public, Chief Justice McAdam refused to pass upon the question, holding that the right could be decided only in a direct proceeding brought for the purpose by the Attorney-General, in which the notary might defend her title. And the court adds:

> "Whether a female is capable of holding a public office has never been decided by the courts of this State and it is a question about which legal minds may well differ. The Constitution regulates the right of suffrage and limits it to 'male' citizens. Disabilities are not favored and are seldom extended by implication, from which it may be argued that if it required the insertion of the term 'male' to exclude female citizens of lawful age from the right of suffrage, a similar limitation would be required to disqualify them from holding office. Citizenship is a condition or status and has no relation to age or sex. It may be contended that it was left to the good sense of the Executive and to the electors to determine whether or not they would elect females to office and that the power being lodged in safe hands was beyond danger of abuse.

> "If on the other hand it be seriously contended that the Constitution by necessary implication, disqualifies females from holding office, it must follow as a necessary consequence that the Act of the Legislature permitting females to serve as school officers (Chap. 9, Laws of 1880), and all other legislative enactments of like import, removing such disqualifications, are unconstitutional and void. In this same connection it may be argued that if the use of the personal pronoun 'he' in the Constitution does not exclude females from public office, its use in the statute can have no greater effect. The statute, like the Constitution, in prescribing qualifications for office omits the word 'male,' leaving the question whether female citizens of lawful age are included or excluded, one of construction.

> "I make these observations for the purpose of showing that the question whether females are eligible to public office in this State, is one not entirely free from doubt and should not therefore be decided where it arises, as it does here, incidentally and collaterally. When the law officers of the State see fit to test the question in direct proceedings for the purpose, it will be time enough to attempt to settle the contention. In such a proceeding, the case of Robinson (131 Mass. 376, and that reported in 107 Mass. 604), where it was held that a woman could not be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at law in Massachusetts,[Pg 1096] and those decided in other States that they can hold office, may be examined and considered."

> See also Am. and Eng. Ency. of Law, Vol. 19, p. 403-4. I might add that in this State there are many women who hold the office of notary public.

#### WASHINGTON.

The following account of the unconstitutional disfranchising of the women of Washington Territory in 1888 was carefully prepared by the editors of the Woman's Journal (Boston). When the editors of the present volume decided to incorporate it as a part of the History of Woman Suffrage it was submitted to Judge Orange J. Jacobs of Seattle for legal inspection. He returned it with the statement that it was correct in every particular. It constitutes one of the many judicial outrages which have been committed in the United States in the determination to prevent the enfranchisement of women:

> Women voted in Washington Territory for the first time in 1884, and were disfranchised by its Supreme Court in 1887.

> Equal suffrage was granted by the Legislature in October, 1883. The women at once began to distinguish themselves there, as in Wyoming and elsewhere, by voting for the best man, irrespective of party. The old files of the Washington newspapers bear ample evidence to this fact. The first chance they had to vote was at the municipal elections of July, 1884. The Seattle Mirror said:

> "The city election of last Monday was for more reasons than one the most important ever held in Seattle. The presence of women at the voting-places had the effect of preventing the disgraceful proceedings usually seen. It was the first election in the city where the women could vote, and the first where the gambling and liquor fraternity, which had so long controlled the municipal government to an enormous extent, suffered defeat."

> The Post-Intelligencer said:

> "After the experience of the late election it will not do for any one here to say the women do not want to vote. They displayed as much interest as the men, and, if anything, more.... The result insures Seattle a first-class municipal administration. It is a warning to that undesirable class of the community who subsist upon the weaknesses and vices of society that disregard of law and the decencies of civilization will not be tolerated."

> Quotations might be multiplied from the papers of other towns, testifying to the independent voting of the women, the large size of their vote, the courtesy with which they were treated, and the greater quiet and order produced by their presence at the polls.

> Next came the general election of November, 1884. Again the newspapers were practically unanimous as to the result. The Olympia Transcript, which was opposed to equal suffrage, said: "The result shows that all parties must put up good men if they expect to elect them. They can not do as they have in the past—nominate any candidates, and elect them by the force of the party lash."

> The Democratic State Journal said: "No one could fail to see that hereafter more attention must be given at the primaries to select the purest of material, by both parties, if they would gain the female vote."

> Charles J. Woodbury visited Washington about this time. In a letter to the N. Y. Evening Post, he said: "Whatever may be the vicissitudes of woman suffrage in Washington Territory in the future, it should now be put on record that at the election, Nov. 4, 1884, nine-tenths of its adult female population availed themselves of the right to vote with a hearty enthusiasm."[Pg 1097]

> He goes on to say that he arrived in Seattle on Sunday, and was surprised at the quiet and order he found prevailing, and at the general Sunday closing of the places of business: "Even the bars of the hotels were closed; and this was the worst town in the Territory when I first saw it. Now its uproarious theaters, dance-houses, squaw-brothels and Sunday fights are things of the past. Not a gambling house exists."

> Women served on juries, and meted out the full penalty of the law to gamblers and keepers of disorderly houses. The Chief Justice of the Territory was the Hon. Roger S. Greene, a cousin of U. S. Senator Hoar, a man of high character and integrity, and a magistrate celebrated throughout the Northwest for his resolute and courageous resistance to lynch law. In his charge to the grand jury at Port Townsend, August, 1884, he said:

> "The opponents of woman suffrage in this Territory are found allied with a solid phalanx of gamblers, prostitutes, pimps, and drunkard-makers—a phalanx composed of all in each of those classes who know the interest of the class and vote according to it."

> In his charge to another grand jury later, Chief Justice Greene said:

> "Twelve terms of court, ladies and gentlemen, I have now held, in which women have served as grand and petit jurors, and it is certainly a fact beyond dispute that no other twelve terms so salutary for restraint of crime have ever been held in this Territory. For fifteen years I have been trying to do what a judge ought, but have never till the last six months felt underneath and around me, in the degree that every judge has a right to feel it, the upbuoying might of the people in the line of full and resolute enforcement of the law."

> Naturally, the vicious elements disliked "the full and resolute enforcement of law." The baser sort of politicians also disliked the independent voting of the women. The Republicans had a normal majority in the Territory, but they nominated for a high office a man who was a hard drinker. The Republican women would not vote for him, and he was defeated. Next they nominated a man who had for years been openly living with an Indian woman and had a family of half-breed children. Again the Republican women refused to vote for him, and he was defeated. This brought the enmity of the Republican "machine" upon woman suffrage. The Democratic women showed equal independence, and incurred the hostility of the Democratic "machine."

> Between 1884 and 1888 a change of administration at Washington led to a change in the Territorial Supreme Court. The newly appointed Chief Justice and a majority of the new judges of the Supreme Court [appointed by President Cleveland] were opposed to equal suffrage, and were amenable, it is said, to the strong pressure brought to bear upon them by all the vicious elements to secure its repeal. A gambler who had been convicted by a jury composed in part of women contested the sentence on the ground that women were not legal voters, and the Supreme Court decided that the woman suffrage bill was unconstitutional, because it had been headed "An Act to Amend Section So and So, Chapter So and So of the Code," instead of "An Act to Enfranchise Women.".... When the Legislature met in 1888 it re-enacted the woman suffrage bill, giving it a full heading, and strengthening it in every way possible.

> Washington was about to be admitted as a State, and was preparing to hold a Constitutional Convention to frame a State constitution. There was no doubt that the majority of the women wanted to vote. Chief Justice Greene estimated that four-fifths of them had voted at the last election before they were deprived of the right. Two successive Legislatures elected by men and women jointly had re-enacted woman suffrage (for its continuance had been made a test question in the choice of the first Legislature for which the women voted, and that Legislature had been careful to insert the words "he or she" in all bills relating to the election laws). It was admitted on all hands that if the women were allowed to vote for members of the Constitutional Convention, it would be impossible to elect one that would wipe out woman suffrage. It was therefore imperative to deprive the women of their votes before the members of the convention were[Pg 1098] chosen. A scheme was arranged for the purpose. On the ground that she was a woman, the election officers at a local election refused the vote of Mrs. Nevada Bloomer, a saloon-keeper's wife, who was opposed to suffrage. They accepted the votes of all the other women. She made a test case by bringing suit against them. In the ordinary course of things, the case would not have come up till after the election of the constitutional convention. But cases for the restoration of personal rights may be advanced on the docket, and Mrs. Bloomer's ostensible object was the restoration of her personal rights, though her real object was to deprive all women of theirs. Her case was put forward on the docket and hurried to a decision.

> The Supreme Court [George Turner and Wm. G. Langford] this time pronounced the woman suffrage law unconstitutional on the ground that it was beyond the power of a Territorial Legislature to enfranchise women. The Organic Act of the Territory said that at the first Territorial election persons with certain qualifications should vote, and at subsequent elections such persons as the Territorial Legislature might enfranchise. But the court took the ground that in giving the Legislature the right to regulate suffrage, Congress did not at the time have it specifically in mind that they might enfranchise women, and that therefore they could not do so.(!) The suffragists wanted to have the case appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, but Mrs. Bloomer refused.

> The women themselves being prevented from voting, their friends were not able to overcome the combined "machines" of both political parties, and the intense opposition of all the vicious and disorderly elements, at that time very large on the Pacific Coast. A convention opposed to equal suffrage was elected, and framed a constitution excluding women. A friend of the present writer talked with many of the members while the convention was in session. He says almost every lawyer in that body acknowledged, in private conversation, that the decision by which the women had been disfranchised was illegal. "But," they said, "the women had set the community by the ears on the temperance question, and we had to get rid of them." One politician said, frankly, "Women are natural mugwumps, and I hate a mugwump."

> The convention, however, yielded to the pressure sufficiently to submit to the men a separate amendment proposing to strike out the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the new State constitution, but no woman was allowed to vote on it. In November, 1889, this amendment was lost, the same elements that defeated it in the convention defeating it at the polls, with the addition of a great influx of foreign immigrants.

#### NATIONAL-AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.

This is the most democratic of organizations. Its sole object is to secure for women citizens protection in their right to vote. The general officers are nominated by an informal secret ballot, no one being put in nomination. The three persons receiving the highest number of votes are considered the nominees and the election is decided by secret ballot. Those entitled to vote are three delegates-at-large for each auxiliary State society and one delegate in addition for every one hundred members of each State auxiliary; the State presidents and State members of the National Executive Committee; the general officers of the association; the chairmen of standing committees. The delegates present from each State cast the full vote to which that State is entitled. The vote is taken in the same way upon any other question whenever the delegates present from five States request it. In other cases[Pg 1099] each delegate has one vote. Any State whose dues are unpaid on January 1 loses its vote in the convention for that year.

The two honorary presidents, president, vice-president-at-large, two secretaries, treasurer and two auditors constitute the Business Committee, which transacts the entire business of the association between the annual conventions.

The Executive Committee is composed of the Business Committee, the president of each State, and one member from each State, together with the chairmen of standing committees; fifteen make a quorum for the transaction of business. The decisions reached by the Executive Committee, which meets during the convention week, are presented in the form of recommendations at the business sessions of the convention.

The constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote at any annual meeting, after one day's notice in the convention, notice of the proposed amendment having been previously given to the Business Committee, and by them published in the suffrage papers not less than three months in advance.

The association must hold an annual convention of regularly-elected delegates for the election of officers and the transaction of business. An annual meeting must be held in Washington, D. C., during the first session of each Congress.

The Committee on Resolutions must consist of one person from each State, elected by its delegation.

There are few changes in officers and the association is noted for the harmony of its meetings, although the delegates generally are of decided convictions and unusual force of character. Men are eligible to membership and a number belong, but the affairs of the organization are wholly in the hands of women.

Auxiliary State and Territorial associations exist in all but Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Arkansas, Nevada and Texas. Suffrage associations are not needed in the first three, as the women have the full franchise.

OFFICERS FOR 1900.

Honorary Presidents, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, New York City; Susan B. Anthony, Rochester, N. Y.

President, Carrie Chapman Catt, New York City.

Vice-President-at-Large, Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Philadelphia.

Recording Secretary, Alice Stone Blackwell, Boston.

Corresponding Secretary, Rachel Foster Avery, Philadelphia.

Treasurer, Harriet Taylor Upton, Warren, Ohio.

Auditors, Laura Clay, Lexington, Ky.; Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Chicago.

Honorary Vice-Presidents—[Prominent names mentioned in various States.]

STANDING COMMITTEES.

Programme—Carrie Chapman Catt, N. Y.; Rachel Foster Avery, Acting Chairman, Penn.; May Dudley Greeley, Minn.; Lucy Hobart Day, Me.; Kate M. Gordon, La.

Congressional Work—Susan B. Anthony, N. Y.; Carrie Chapman Catt, N.Y.; Harriet Taylor Upton, O.; Helen M. Warren, Wy.; Virginia Morrison Shafroth, Col.

Press Work—Elnora M. Babcock, N. Y.[Pg 1100]

Enrollment—Priscilla Dudley Hackstaff, N. Y. and all State Treasurers.

Federal Suffrage—Sallie Clay Bennett, Ky.; Martha E. Root, Mich.

Presidential Suffrage—Henry B. Blackwell, Mass, and State Presidents.

National Committee on Local Arrangements—Lucy E. Anthony, Penn.

Railroad Rates—Mary G. Hay, N. Y.

SPECIAL COMMITTEES.

Industrial Problems Affecting Women and Children—Clara Bewick Colby, D. C; Martha E. Root, Mich.; Annie L. Diggs, Kas.; Margaret O. Rhodes, Okla.; Annie English Silliman, N. J.; Mary C. C. Bradford, Col.; Gail Laughlin, N. Y.

Legislation for Civil Rights—Laura M. Johns, Kas.

Convention Resolutions—Susan B. Anthony, N. Y.; Carrie Chapman Catt, N. Y.; Ida Husted Harper, D. C.; Anna Howard Shaw, Penn.; Rachel Foster Avery, Penn.

Political Equality Series—Alice Stone Blackwell, Mass.; Ida Husted Harper, D. C.

LIFE MEMBERS. (1901.)

Alabama—Adella Hunt Logan.

California—Mrs. A. R. Faulkner, Mary Wood Swift.

Colorado—Mary C. C. Bradford, Emily A. Brown, Amy K. Cornwall, Louisa S. Janvier, Emily R. Meredith.

Connecticut—H. J. Lewis.

District of Columbia—Julia L. Langdon Barber, Lucia E. Blount, Mary Foote Henderson, Margaret J. Henry, Hannah Cassall Mills, Mary A. McPherson, Martha McWirther, Mary C. Nason, Julia T. Ripley, Sophronia C. Snow, C. W. Spofford, Jane H. Spofford, Mary E. Terry, Helen Rand Tindall, Eliza Titus Ward, Nettie L. White.

Georgia—Gertrude C. Thomas.

Illinois—Sarah O. Coonley, Climenia K. Dennett, Emily M. Gross, Ida S. Noyes, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Elmina Springer, Lydia A. Coonley Ward.

Indiana—Ida Husted Harper, Alice Wheeler Peirce, May Wright Sewall.

Iowa—Martha C. Callanan, Nancy Logan, Mettie Laub Romans.

Kansas—Mabel LaPorte Diggs, Sarah E. Morrow.

Kentucky—Susan Look Avery, Sallie Clay Bennett, Mary B. Trimble, Laura R. White.

Louisiana—Caroline E. Merrick.

Maryland—Caroline Hallowell Miller.

Massachusetts—Carrie Anders, Martha M. Atkins, Alice Stone Blackwell, Henry B. Blackwell, Ellen Wright Garrison, Ellen F. Powers, Caroline Scott, Pauline Agassiz Shaw, Nellie S. Smith.

Michigan—Delos A. Blodgett, Daisy Peck Blodgett, Olivia B. Hall.

Minnesota—Alice Scott Cash, Elizabeth A. Russell, Sarah Vail Thompson.

Missouri—Phoebe W. Cousins, Virginia L. Minor, Sarah E. Turner.

Nebraska—Clara Bewick Colby, Mary Smith Hayward, Mary H. Williams.

New Hampshire—Marilla M. Ricker.

New Jersey—Florence Howe Hall, Laura Lloyd Heulings, Cornelia C. Hussey, Dr. Mary D. Hussey, Mrs. S. R. Krom, Susan W. Lippincott,[Pg 1101] Calista S. Mayhew, Dr. Sarah C. Spotteswoode, Ellen Hoxie Squier, Elizabeth M. Vail.

New Mexico—Alice Paxson Hadley.

New York—Susan B. Anthony, Mary S. Anthony, Victoria Bradley, Amelia Cameron, Cornelia H. Cary, George W. Catt, Carrie Chapman Catt, Ella Hawley Crossett, Anna Dormitzer, Rebecca Friedlander, Fannie Humphreys Gaffney, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Priscilla Dudley Hackstaff, Sarah V. Hallock, Mary H. Hallowell, Mary G. Hay, Belle S. Holden, Emily Howland, Hannah L. Howland, Dorcas Hull, Emma G. Ivins, Rhody J. Kenyon, Mary Elizabeth Lapham, Semantha Vail Lapham, Mrs. Frank Leslie, Mary Hillard Loines, Anne Fitzhugh Miller, Elizabeth Smith Miller, Martha Fuller Prather, Euphemia C. Purton, Mary Thayer Sanford, James F. Sargent, Angelina M. Sargent, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Fanny Garrison Villard, Julia Willetts Williams, Sarah L. Willis.

Ohio—Caroline McCullough Everhard, Elizabeth J. Hauser, Sallie J. McCall, Anna C. Mott, Alice E. Peters, Louisa Southworth, Susan M. Sturges.

Oklahoma—Rachel Rees Griffiths.

Pennsylvania—Lucy E. Anthony, Mary Schofield Ash, Rachel Foster Avery, Emma J. Bartol, Lucretia L. Blankenburg, Ellen K. Brazier, Emma J. Brazier, Katherine J. Campbell, Kate W. Dewald, Julia T. Foster, Alvin T. James, Helen Mosher James, Edith C. James, Dr. Agnes Kemp, Caroline Lippincott, Mary W. Lippincott, Hannah Myers Longshore, Jacob Reese, Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Nicolas M. Shaw, M. J. Stecker, M. Adeline Thomson.

Rhode Island—Sarah J. Eddy, Charlotte B. Wilbour, Sarah S. Wilbour.

South Carolina—A. Viola Neblett, Martha Schofield.

Utah—Emily S. Richards, Emmeline B. Wells.

Wisconsin—Rev. Olympia Brown.

Persia—Susan Van Valkenburg Hamilton (formerly of Indiana).

DELEGATES TO NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1883-1900.

At the national conventions those who occupy the platform and make the addresses naturally have the most conspicuous place, but those who come from the various localities, year after year, bringing the reports from their States and taking their necessary part in the proceedings, are equally valuable factors. Their names, at least, should be preserved, and the following list, while by no means complete, is as nearly so as it has been possible to make it. Those which are included in the National chapters are not repeated. Many of the women recorded below receive their deserved mention in the State chapters.

Alabama: Amelia M. Dillard, Minnie Henderson. Arizona: Ex-Gov. and Mrs. L. C. Hughes, Pauline M. O'Neill, Mrs. G. H. Oury. Arkansas: Mary A. Davis, Lizzie D. Fyler, C. M. Patterson. California: Nellie Holbrook Blinn, Amy G. Bowen, Emilie Gibbons Cohen, Warren C. Kimball, Lucy Wilson Moore, Julia Schlesinger, Mary Simpson Sperry, Beda S. Sperry, Mary Wood Swift. Colorado: Theodosia G. Ammons, Dr. Mary Barker Bates, Margaret Bowen, Nettie E. Caspar, Hattie E. Fox, H. Jennie James, B. R. Owens, Katharine A. G. Patterson, Eliza F. Routt, Lucy E. Ransom Scott, Mary Jewett Telford, Harriet M. Teller. Connecticut: Mrs. L. D. Allen, Rose I. Blakeslee, Sarah E. Browne, Caroline[Pg 1102] B. Buell, Mrs. E. C. Champion, Alta Starr Cressy, Mrs. N. F. Griswold, Addie S. Hale, Howard J. Hale, Ellen B. Kendrick, Emily O. Kimball, Grace C. Kimball, Mary J. Rogers, Abby Barker Sheldon. Dakota Territory: Marietta M. Bones, Linda B. Slaughter. Delaware: Mary R. De Vou, Margaret W. Houston, Margaret E. Kent, Patience W. Kent, Emma Lore, Mary Elizabeth Milligan, Adda G. Quigley, Mary H. Thatcher, Elizabeth Bacon Walling. District of Columbia: Frances B. Andrews, L. L. Bacon, Mary L. Bennett, Bessie Boone Cheshire, Anna Gray De Long, Lucy S. Doolittle, Annie M. Edgar, Dr. Susan Edson, M. J. Fowler, Emma M. Gillett, J. Minnie Holn, Martha V. Johnson, Carrie E. Kent, Mrs. J. H. La Fetra, Mary S. Lockwood, Sarah J. Messer, Henrietta C. Morrison, Helen Mitchell, Hattie E. Nash, Mary V. Noerr, Ellen M. O'Connor, Mary A. Ripley, Mary L. Talbot, Cora De La Matyr Thomas, Helen Rand Tindall, Eliza Titus Ward, Elizabeth Wilson, Theresa Williams, Dr. Caroline B. Winslow. Mary H. Williams. Florida: Ella C. Chamberlain. Georgia: D. M. Allen, Margaret Chandler, Julia Iveson Patton, Gertrude C. Thomas, Adelaide Wilson.

Idaho: Mrs. Milton Kelley. Illinois: Julia K. Barnes, Mary I. Barnes, Emma J. Bigelow, Corinne S. Brown, Hannah J. Coffee, C. H. Crocker, Angelina Craver, Climenina K. Dennet, George H. Dennet, Sylvia Doton, Emmy C. Evald, Matilda S. Garrigus, Mary T. Hager, Mrs. Frank L. Hubbard, Mary Louise Haworth, Kate Hughes, Lizzie F. Long, Lena Morrow, Angie B. Schweppe, Eva Munson Smith, Dr. Alice B. Stockham, Adeline M. Swain, Nellie J. Tweed, Jessie Waite, Dr. Lucy Waite, Margaret Will. Indiana: Lizzie M. Briant, Mary G. Hay, Dr. M. A. Jessup, Etta Mattox, Alice Wheeler Peirce, Bertha G. Wade, Alice G. Waugh, Iva G. Wooden. Iowa: Alice Ainsworth, Eunice T. Barnett, Lucy Busenbark, Narcissa T. Bemis, James Callanan, Martha C. Callanan, Margaret V. Campbell, Mary J. Coggeshall, Nettie Sanford Chapin, Martha J. Cass, Elizabeth Coughell, Anna B. Crawford, Marietta Farr Cannell, Ella G. Cline, Mary Mason Clark, Victoria Dewey, Jane Denby, C. Holt Flint, Nellie C. Flint, Louise B. Field, Mrs. W. P. Hepburn, Jane Hammond, Julia Clark Hallam, Harriet Jenks, Charles W. Jacobs, Rosina Jacobs, Mrs. M. Lloyd Kennedy, A. M. E. Leffingwell, Polly A. Maulsby, Florence M. Maskrey, Mary E. McPherson, Jane Amy McKinney, Ella Moffatt, Bessie Murray, Emily Phillips, Mary D. Palmer, Emeline B. Richardson, Mettie Laub Romans, Rowena Edson Stevens, Estelle Smith, Elmina Springer, Frances Smith, Rev. John Ogilvie Stevenson, Ina Light Taylor, Roma W. Woods, Frilla Belle Young. Kansas: Anna A. Broderick, Fannie M. Broderick, Jennie Broderick, B. B. Baird, C. H. Cushing, Mabel La Porte Diggs, Caroline Doster, Martha Powell Davis, Bertha H. Ellsworth, Nannie Garrett, Dr. Eva Harding, Antoinette Haskell, Hetta P. Mansfield, Mrs. J. McPatten, Constant P. McElroy, Jennie Robb Maher, Bina A. Otis, Josephine L. Patton, Carrie L. Prentiss, Althea B. Stryker, Sarah A. Thurston, Abbie A. Welch, Alonzo Wardall, Elizabeth M. Wardall, Anna C. Wait. Kentucky: Laura S. Bruce, Mary C. Cramer, S. M. Hubbard, Sarah G. Humphries, Mary K. Jones, Dr. Sarah M. Siewers, Sarah H. Sawyer, Mrs. M. R. Stockwell, Amanthus Shipp, Mary Wood, Sallie B. Wolcott, Laura White. Louisiana: Florence Huberwald, Matilda P. Hero, Dr. Harriet C. Keating, Caroline E. Merrick, Jr., Katharine M. Nobles, Frances Sladden.

Maine: Rev. Henry Blanchard, M. S. Carlisle, Lucy Hobart Day, Martha O. Dyer, Dr. Abby M. Fulton, Martha W. Fairfield, Helen A. Harriman, Mary C. Nason, Mary E. A. Osborne, Sarah J. L. O'Brien, Abby A. C. Peaslee, Cordelia A. Quimby, Sophronia C. Snow, Lucy A. and Lavinia Snow, Elizabeth P. Smith. Maryland: Amanda M. Best, Juliet L. Baldwin, Emma Madox Funck, Emma Frinck, Annie W. Janney, Annie R. Lamb, Mary E. Moore, Rebecca T. Miller, Martha S. Townsend, Mary J. Williamson. Massachusetts: Annie T. Auerbach, Richard and Carrie Anders, Martha Atkins, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver C. Ashton, Esther F. Boland, Catherine W. Bascom, Samuel J. Barrows, Martha Sewall Curtis, Adelaide A. Claflin, Emma Clapp, Sophia A. Forbes, Ellen Wright Garrison, Cora Chapin Godfrey, Adeline Howland, Sarah Hudson, Mary E. Hilton, Mrs. Arden Hall, Hannah Hall, Charlotte Lobdell, Eveleen L. Mason,[Pg 1103] Louisa A. Morrison, Martha A. P. Neall, Ellen F. Powers, Agnes G. Parritt, Maud Wood Park, John Parker, Cora V. Smart, Silvanus Smith, Judith W. Smith, Mary Clarke Smith, Nellie S. Smith, Mrs. W. H. Semple, Jane A. Stewart, Dora Bascom Smith, Addie E. Tarbell, Sarah E. Wall, Eliza Webber, Elizabeth H. Webster, Evelyn Williams, Dr. Marion L. Woodward, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Whiting. Michigan: Charlotte Goeway, Mrs. C. D. Hodges, De Lisle P. Holmes, Sarah L. Hazlett, Margaret M. Huckins, Frances Kinney, Dr. Clara W. McNaughton, Ida J. Marsh, Nettie McCloy, E. Matilda Moore, Carrie W. Miller, Frances Wright Spearman, Sarah E. Smith, Elizabeth A. Willard. Minnesota: Nina T. Cox, Lydia R. Eastwood, Mayme Jester, Delilah C. Reid, Judge J. B. Stearns, Sarah Burger Stearns, Martha Adams Thompson, Sarah Vail Thompson. Mississippi: Harriet B. Kells, Nellie M. Somerville, Lily Wilkinson Thompson. Missouri: Alice Blackburn, Mary Waldo Calkins, Ella Harrison, Virginia Hedges, Addie M. Johnson, Alice C. Mulky, J. B. Merwin, Sarah E. Turner, Emaline A. Templeton, Mary U. Vandwert, Mrs. E. E. Montague Winch, Victoria Conkling Whitney, Isabella Wightman, Eliza T. Wilson, William Wilson, Sarah Wilson. Montana: Dr. Maria M. Dean, Eva Hirschberg, George W. Jones, Delia A. Kellogg, Marie L. Mason, Sarepta Sanders, Harriet P. Sanders, Dora D. Wright.

Nebraska: Maria C. Arter, Rachel Brill, Clara Cross, Nettie L. Cronkhite, Abby Gay Dustin, Helen M. Goff, Ellen D. Harn, Ellen A. Herdman, Irene Hernandez, Lena McCormick, Amanda J. Marble, Maud Miller, Anna L. Spirk, Sarah K. Williams, Esther L. Warner. Nevada: Hannah R. Clapp, Mary E. Rinkle, Annie Warren, Frances A. Williamson. New Hampshire: Mary A. P. Filley, M. E. Powell, Marilla M. Ricker, Rev. H. B. Smith. New Jersey: Emma L. Blackwell, Phoebe Baily, Katherine H. Browning, Hannah Cairns, Jennie D. DeWitt, Dr. Florence De Hart, Rev. Phoebe A. Hanaford, Mrs. A. J. Jackson, Jane Bryant Kellogg, Susan W. Lippincott, Ellen Miles, Mary Philbrook, Amelia Dickinson Pope, Aaron M. Powell, Louise Downs Quigley, Theresa M. Seabrook, Minola Graham Sexton, Charlotte C. R. Smith, Laura H. Van Cise, M. Louise Watts, Phoebe C. Wright. New Mexico: Fannie Baca, I. M. Bond, H. D. Fergusson, Ida Morley Jarrett, Mayme E. Marble, Mrs. J. D. Perkins, Anna Van Schick. New York: Mrs. E. Andreas, Mrs. Wilkes Angel, Ruby Abby, Abigail A. Allen, Dr. Augusta Armstrong, Rev. Caroline A. Bassett, Victoria Bradley, Sarah F. Blackall, Frances Benedict, Mrs. R. G. Beatty, Helen M. Cook, Dr. Harriet B. Chapin, Eveleen R. Clark, Cornelia H. Cary, Noah Chapman, Margaret Livingston Chanler, Mrs. M. A. Clinton, Charlotte A. Cleveland, Ella Hawley Crossett, Lucy Hawley Calkins, Nora E. Darling, Marie Frances Driscoll, S. W. Ellis, Mrs. M. D. Fenner, Laura W. Flower, Dr. Fales, Catherine G. Foote, Theodosia C. Goss, Eliza C. Gifford, Dr. Virginia L. Glauner, Elizabeth P. Hall, Mary H. Hallowell, Frances V. Hallock, Dorcas Hull, Etta E. Hooker, Emily Howland, Isabel Howland, Cornelia K. Hood, Belle S. Holden, Mary N. Hubbard, Margherita Arlina Hamm, Ella S. Hammond, Priscilla D. Hackstaff, Mary Bush Hitchcook, Elizabeth Noyes Hopkins, Ada M. Hall, Marie R. Jenney, Julie R. Jenney, Frances C. Lewis, Jeannette R. Leavitt, Carrie S. Lerch, Mary Hillard Loines, Mrs. P. A. Moffett, Pamela S. McCown, Margaret Morton, Mrs. Joshua G. Munro, Anne Fitzhugh Miller, Sarah A. McClees, Deborah Otis, Martha F. Prather, Jessie Post, J. Mary Pearson, Lucy S. Pierce, Abby Hutchinson Patton, Lucy Boardman Smith, Marian H. Skidmore, Angeline M. Sargent, James Sargent, Jessie J. Cassidy Saunders, Mary B. Sackett, Jane M. Slocum, Mary Thayer Sanford, Emma B. Sweet, Emma M. Tucker, Kate S. Thompson, Sarah L. Willis, Kate Foster Warner, Anna Willets, Cerelle Grandin Weller. North Carolina: Lilla Ripley Barnwell, Floride Cunningham, Miriam Harris, Helen Morris Lewis, Margaret Richardson. North Dakota: Helen de Lendrecie, Dr. Cora Smith (Eaton), Henrietta Paulson Haagensen, Delia Lee Hyde, Mary S. Lounsberry, Sara E. B. Smith, Mary Whedon.

Ohio: Ella M. Bell, Sarah S. Bissell, W. O. Brown, Frances M. Casement, Katharine B. Claypole, Mary N. Cunningham, Elizabeth Coit, Martha P. Dana, Martha H. Elwell, Ellen Sully Fray, Mary C. Francis, Jannette Freer, Elizabeth Gilmer, Prof. Jennie Gifford, Mary L. Geffs, Clara Giddings, Eliza P.[Pg 1104] Houk, Emma C. Hayes, Margaret Hackadorne, Emma P. Harley, Eason Holbrook, Minnie C. Hauser, Elizabeth J. Hauser, Cecilia Halloway, Minnie Stull Harris, Prof. Mary Jewett, Josephine King, Mary J. Lawrence, Mary Folger Lang, Sallie J. McCall, Rev. Henrietta G. Moore, Mary J. McMillan, Anna C. Mott, Lydia A. D. Northway, Miss L. J. Ormstead, Addie M. Porter, Alice E. H. Peters, O. G. Peters, Sarah M. Perkins, Annie Laurie Quinby, Harriet B. Rossa, Florence Richards, Edythe E. Root, Mrs. N. Coe Stewart, Abbie Schumacher, Helen R. Smith, Katherine Dooris Sharpe, Hattie A. Sachs, Harriet Brown Stanton, Dr. Viola Swift, Lottie M. Sackett, Cornelia Shaw, C. Swezey, Rosa L. Segur. Oklahoma: Margaret Rees, Mrs. R. W. Southard, Celia Z. Titus. Oregon: Frances E. Gottshall. Pennsylvania: Olive Pond Amies, Agnes M. Biddle, Mrs. W. C. Butterfield, Mary Patterson Beaver, A. Isabel Bowers, Emma J. Bartol, Katherine J. Campbell, Anna M. Child, Alice M. Coates, Elizabeth D. Green, Susanna M. Gaskill, Caroline Gibbons, Mrs. E. N. Garrett, Bertha W. Howe, Hetty Y. Hallowell, Lidie C. W. Koethen, Mary F. Kenderdine, Mary S. Kent, Agnes Kemp, Mary B. Luckie, Alberta Moorehouse, Mrs. L. M. B. Mitchell, Dr. Jane V. Myers, Esther A. Pownall, Anna C. Pennock, Elizabeth B. Passmore, Charlotte L. Peirce, Harriet Purvis, Jacob Reese, Jean B. Stephenson, Nicolas M. Shaw, Emily H. Saxton, Mary B. Satterthwaite, Margaret B. Stone, Mattie A. N. Shaw, Mrs. G. W. Schofield, Robert Tilney, Annie L. Tilney.

Rhode Island: Mary O. Arnold, Emeline Burlingame Cheney, Elizabeth Buffum Chace, Ardelia C. Dewing, Jeannette S. French, Charlotte B. Wilbour. South Carolina: Mary P. Gridley, Jean B. Lockwood, Maude Sindersine, Claudia Gordon Tharin, May Tharin. South Dakota: Irene G. Adams, Ida R. Bailey, Mrs. F. C. Bidwell, Emma Cranmer, Mrs. W. V. Lucas, Anna R. Simmons, Mrs. C. E. Thorpe. Tennessee: Jennie Bailett, L. Graham Crozier, Mary McLeer. Texas: Rebecca Henry Hayes, L. R. Perkins. Utah: Corinne M. Allen, Sarah A. Boyer, Phebe Young Beatie, Charlotte Ives Cobb, Marilla M. Daniels, Mary E. Gilmer, Annie Godbe, Sarah M. Kimball, Aurelia S. Rodgers. Vermont: Mary N. Chase, Eliza S. Eaton, Mary Hutchinson, Alice Clinton Smith. Virginia: Elisan Brown, Nina Cross, Henderson Dangerfield, Elizabeth B. Dodge, Etta Grymes Farrar, Georgia Gibson, Emma R. Gilman, L. M. Green, Arabella B. Howard, Anna M. Snowden, Elizabeth Van Lew, Mary B. Wickersham. Washington: Mrs. Francis W. Cushman, Mrs. L. C. Kellogg, Martha E. Pike. West Virginia: Jessie G. Manley, Columbia A. Morgan, Florence M. Post, Clara Reinhammer. Wisconsin: Louisa M. Eastman, Almeda B. Gray, Laura B. James, Lucinda Lake, Jessie Nelson Luther, Maybell Park, Dora Putnam, Ellen A. Rose. Wyoming: Hon. M. C. Brown, Amalia B. Post, Mrs. Francis E. Warren.

### FOOTNOTES:

[499] For Congressional action see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, Chaps. XVII, XXIV, XXV; Vol. III, Chap. XXX; present volume, Chaps. III, V, VI, Chapter on Wyoming, and references in footnote of Chap. I.

[500] This list is most incomplete, as members change so frequently and the House has not voted on the question since 1869. Most of the names given above are of those who have in some way openly advocated the measure. Practically all of the members from the States where women have the full franchise are in favor, and there always has been a large number from Kansas. In 1896, in response to letters of inquiry, many announced themselves as ready to vote for a suffrage amendment.

[501] This is supplementary to matter contained in the State chapters.

[Pg 1105]

## INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

The famous bibliographer, William Oldys, wrote early in the 18th century: "The labour and patience, the judgment and penetration, which are required to make a good index are only known to those who have gone through this most painful but least-praised part of a publication." Lord Campbell said, a century later, in his preface to The Lives of Chief Justices: "I proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament to deprive an author, who publishes a book without an index, of the privilege of copyright."

If an index were deemed so valuable in those periods of comparative leisure, one as complete as possible is surely an absolute necessity in these days when time is at the highest premium, but the maker is under obligation to study conciseness in order that the index may not be as long as the book. It has seemed practicable to reduce very greatly the length of this one without impairing its efficiency by asking the reader to bear in mind a few simple facts as to the arrangement of the History.

Chapters II-XXI are devoted exclusively to the conventions of the National Suffrage Association and the consequent hearings, reports and discussions in Congress; the story of each year is complete in its chapter and the date is in the running title on the right hand page. The work of the American Association before the two societies united is complete in Chapter XXII. These chapters contain the argument.

Chapters XXV-LXXII comprise the full history of the work in the States and Territories, one chapter given to each and all alphabetically arranged with name in running title on the right hand page. Each State is subdivided and the heads denoted by capital letters, as follows: Organization, Legislative Action, Laws, Suffrage, Office Holding, Occupation, Education.

The other chapters are clearly designated in the Table of Contents, and practically all the information which the book contains on each subject will be found in its respective chapter. The greatest problem has been the indexing of the many speeches so as to convey an idea of their subject-matter, as a number of them cover a variety of topics, and it has been possible to indicate only the principal points. The editors trust, however, that the systematic arrangement of the volume and the full Table of Contents will enable the reader to obtain the desired information without difficulty.

- Age of Protection, 460,
  - and in each State chapter under Legislative Action and Laws, beginning 465.
- Amendment Campaigns for Woman Suffrage, xxi; 40;
  - in Calif., 486;
  - in Col., 513;
  - in S. D., 553-7;
  - in Ida., 590;
  - in Kas., 643;
  - in N. J., 822;
  - in N. Y., 847;
  - in Ore., 895;
  - in R. I., 909;
  - in Wash., 973.
- Amendment To National Constitution for Woman Suffrage,
  - objection to amending, advantage in securing wom. suff., xx, xxi;
  - 14th amend, and attempts of women to vote under it, 3 et seq.;
  - 15th amend., effect on wom. suff., 6;
  - effort to amend for Federal Suff. for women, 7;
  - Nat'l. Ass'n. begins[Pg 1106] work for 16th amend., 11;
  - res. for in '84, 25;
  - Miss Anthony on, 40;
  - same, 42;
  - argument for, 54;
  - sp. of Sen. Palmer, 62;
  - contrary to State's rights, 68;
  - first discussion of 16th amend. in Senate, 85;
  - 14th amend., Miss Anthony on, 152; 158;
  - Senate Com. recom. 16th in '92, 201;
  - 14th grants wom. suff., 204;
  - women appeal 25 yrs. for 16th amend., 223;
  - efforts of Nat'l Ass'n. for, 367;
  - Mrs. Catt on why one is asked for, 369;
  - Miss Anthony's plea, 373;
  - American Ass'n. declares for, 410, 417.
- Amendments to State Constitutions for Woman Suffrage,
  - laws in different States, xvi;
  - difficulty in Minn and Neb., failure of Sch. Suff. in N.J., xvi;
  - same in S.D., xvii;
  - submitted by ten States and results, xxi;
  - obstacles to securing, xxiii;
  - comparison of votes, xxix;
  - votes on, 40;
  - adopted in Col., 528;
  - in Idaho, 593;
  - school and library in Minn., 778;
  - law similar to amendment in Wis., 988.
- American Woman Suffrage Association,
  - work of after '84, Chap. XXII; 13;
  - founded, 14;
  - union with Nat'l Ass'n., 164.
- Anecdotes, 71;
  - public money for "shes," 193;
  - in Tenn., 196;
  - how men represent women, 197;
  - of Miss Willard, 215;
  - woman on throne, 229;
  - poll tax in Tenn., 241;
  - women's voices, 334;
  - woman's product, 337;
  - from Ala., 341;
  - Miss Anthony's right bower, 351;
  - early education, 354-5;
  - women who have all the rights they want, 360;
  - Miss Anthony on "antis," 384;
  - of Abigail Adams, 422;
  - influence of liquor dealers, 486;
  - Yon's vote in Col., 519;
  - a Mass. legislator, 740;
  - women's money builds State Houses, 763;
  - suff. bill in Wash., 972.
- Anti-suffrage Association,
  - advantage of, xxix;
  - same, 16;
  - they mean well, 327;
  - in Ills., 603;
  - in Mass., 716 et al.;
  - against mother's guardianship, 744;
  - in N. Y., 850 et al., 971;
  - in Aus., 1032.
- Anti-suffragists, see Remonstrants.
- Australia,
  - --South, Chapter on, 1027
  - --West, Chapter on, 1029
  - --New South Wales, Chapter on, 1029
  - --Victoria, Chapter on, 1031
  - --Queensland, Chapter on, 1032
  - --Tasmania, Chapter on, 1033
  - Enfranchises its women, xiv;
  - first country to grant them Munic. Suff., 224;
  - eminent advocates of wom. suff., 1084.

- Bazar,
  - Nat'l. Ass'n., in New York, 365;
  - Amer. Ass'n. in Boston, descrip. of, Mrs. Howe's and Mrs. Stone's addresses, 426-8.
- Bible,
  - wrong interpretation of, 65;
  - for wom. suff., 71;
  - not opp. to, 102; 106;
  - men's interpretation of, 113;
  - purpose of Creator, 119;
  - not alone respons. for subjection of woman, 146;
  - Woman's Bible, discussion of at Nat'l. conv., 263.
- Bill of Rights, woman's, 154.
- Bills,
  - for wom. suff., how treated, xxviii;
  - of Nat'l. Ass'n., W. C. T. U., Fed. of Clubs, etc., 451-3,
  - and under head of Legislative Action in State chapters, beginning 465;
  - Nat'l. Ass'n. protests against Edmunds-Tucker Bill, 26;
  - same, 71; 78;
  - res. against, 122-3;
  - committees on, 939.
- Birthdays,
  - Miss Anthony's 70th, 163;
  - her 74th, 223-4;
  - her 78th, 291;
  - greetings on, 300;
  - her 80th, vi;
  - same, 383; 385 et seq.;
  - gifts on, 389 et seq.;
  - celebration of in Lafayette Opera House, Wash't'n., 394-404;
  - trib. of Wm. Lloyd Garrison, 395,
  - of Mrs. Coonley-Ward, 401,
  - of Miss Shaw, 402;
  - greeting from Mrs. Stanton, 402;
  - Miss Anthony's response, 403;
  - letters rec'd., 403;
  - recep. in Corcoran Art Gallery, 404;
  - her portrait presented, 405;
  - her happiness, 405.
  - --Mrs. Stanton's 80th, 250.
  - --Rev. Anna Howard Shaw's, 391.
- Boards,
  - difficulty of getting women on, 462;
  - see each State chapter under Office Holding, beginning 465;
  - in Great Britain, 368, 1023.
  - --Lady Managers World's Fair, indebted to Miss Anthony, 211;
    - same, 232;
    - Act of Congress creating, 233; 609.

- California, xv;
  - Legis. refuses suff. amd't, xx;
  - Miss Shaw's acc't. of visit of Miss Anthony and herself in '95, 253;
  - work for suff. amend., 273;
  - honor to Miss Anthony, 274;
  - gift to Miss Anthony, 390.
  - See State Chapter.
- Calls,
  - for nat'l. suff. conv. of '84, 15;
  - for first Int'l. Council, 125;
  - for conv. of '89, 143;
  - for conv. of '91, 175;
  - for conv. of '94, 221;
  - for first Wom. Rights Conv., 288.
- Campaigns, for wom. suff. amdts. See Amendment Campaigns.
- [Pg 1107]Canada, Dominion of, chapter on, 1034.
- Catholics, in politics, 149;
  - attitude of clergy, 366;
  - wom. suff. in Summer Sch. at Detroit, 447;
  - coeducation, 464;
  - college for women, 575;
  - on Boston Sch. Bd., 706.
- Chivalry, specimens of, 16;
  - absurdity of, 17;
  - men and women need each other, 36, 44, 45, 49, 59;
  - Miss Willard on, 141;
  - Chivalry of Reform, Mrs. Howe on, 170;
  - injustice of, 188;
  - in Kas., 199;
  - mistakes of, 209;
  - in South, 241;
  - fear of, 382; 968.
- Church, influence on wom. suff., xxiv;
  - wom. suff. foundation of Christianity, 16;
  - relation to it, 20;
  - prayer vs. votes, 22;
  - same, 37; 41;
  - res. on creeds and dogmas, 58;
  - discussion by Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and others, 59 et seq.;
  - influence of religion over woman, 60;
  - its connect. with wom. suff., 75;
  - woman's influence in church, 96;
  - for equality of rights, Bishop Newman, 112; 121;
  - value of wom. suff. to, 149;
  - Mrs. Stanton's demand for its recog. of woman's equality, 165;
  - upholds man's headship, 176;
  - opp. to equality of woman, 177;
  - voice of God has soprano and bass, 200;
  - M. E. refuses to ordain women, 206;
  - women might vote at ch. elections, 212;
  - Miss Shaw on mission of, 229;
  - Miss Anthony's plea for relig. liberty, 264;
  - sympathy with wom. suff., 270;
  - woman's services to, 279;
  - woman's position in 292; 359; 464; 497; 708; 711; 718; 962-3; 974;
  - missionary work of women, 1057 et seq.
- Clubhouses, Women's, Wimodaughsis, 184, 188;
  - in Grand Rapids, 322-3;
  - in Calif., 508;
  - in Indpls., 627;
  - in Mich., 771;
  - in Phila., 901; 1043.
- Clubs, Women's, see last paragraph in various State chapters.
  - In Col., 302; 356;
  - in Mich., welcome Nat'l suff. conv., 324;
  - political, 150;
  - in N. Y., 872;
  - first women's clubs on record, 1042-3;
  - Gen'l Federation of, 1050;
  - Musical, Nat'l. Fed. of, 1056.
- Colleges. See Universities.
- Colorado, xxi; xxix;
  - appear. of delegates, 222;
  - Gov. Waite on wom. suff. in, 232;
  - women in Legis., 239; 252;
  - visit of Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw in '95, 253;
  - effect of wom. suff., 268;
  - same, 282;
  - distinguished testimony for, 302-3, 383, 390;
  - legis. res. in favor of, 327;
  - Mrs. Welch at conv. of '99, 327;
  - wom. suff. in, 356;
  - gift and trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 400.
  - See State Chapter; also Statistics and Testimony.
- Columbian Exposition, Lady Managers, see Boards;
  - invites Suff. Ass'n. to World's Fair, 184;
  - ass'n. arranges for booth, 185,
    - discusses res. to open gates on Sunday, 185,
    - to prohibit liquor selling, 186;
  - effect of the Fair on women, 211; 221;
  - Congress of Women all for suff., 232;
  - report of Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. Com., 232; 609.
- Commercial Schools, Fed. of, adopts wom. suff. res. and petits., 447.
- Commissions, of women demanded for Philippines, 331-2, 343;
  - U. S. Labor, Miss Laughlin on, 361;
  - for Paris expos., Mrs. Palmer on, 367.
- Committees, of American Suffrage Association, on arrangements for convs., see Chapter XXII;
  - executive of, 409;
  - on union with Nat'l. Ass'n., 164, 431.
  - --of National Suffrage Association on Int'l Council, 124;
    - on union with Am. Ass'n., 164;
    - on Columbian Expos., 232. See also 1098-9.
    - On Miss Anthony's 80th birthday celebration, 395.
  - --Congressional, on wom. suff., 31.
    - See Reports.
- Congress, power to extend suff., 7 et seq.;
  - work of Nat'l Suff. Ass'n. with, 11;
  - committee reports, discussions and speeches, 12;
  - House debate on Wom. Suff. Com. 31;
  - wom. suff. sp. of Sen. Palmer, 62;
  - first discussion of 16th amend. in Senate, 85;
  - other debates on wom. suff. in Senate, 85;
  - Blair's sp. in '87, 86 et seq.;
  - should submit amend., 93;
  - sp. of Brown, 93 et seq.;
  - Dolph favors wom. suff., 100;
  - discussion of women on juries, 104;
  - Vest opposes wom. suff., 105;
  - Hoar in favor, 109;
  - vote in Senate, 110; 112;
  - authority to enfranchise women, 118;
  - duty to submit suff. amend., 163;
  - favorable sentiment, 181;
  - way to manage a bill in, 218;
  - needs watching, 365;
  - work of Nat'l. Ass'n. for 16th amend., 367;
  - appeals to for 16th amend. to enfranch. women, 445;
  - for rights of women in new possessions, 446;
  - amusing debate on admis. of Wy., 998 et seq.
  - See Amendments and Debates.
- [Pg 1108]Congresses of Women,
  - World's Fair, 232, 609;
  - in San Fr., 253, 479, 481;
  - Atlanta expos., 263;
  - London in '99, 352-3;
  - in Los Angeles, 495;
  - in Ore., 892-3.
- Constitution, National,
  - more rigid than in other countries, xv,
  - gives women right to vote, Chapter I;
  - first appearance of "male," 2;
  - attempt of women to vote under 14th amend., 3 et seq.;
  - amend. for Federal Suff. for women, 7;
  - authority over suff., 8 et seq.;
  - provides for amending, 100;
  - vote on wom. suff. amend., 110;
  - rights of women under, 115;
  - Mrs. Stanton on its violation in case of women, 138;
  - fails to protect black men, 153;
  - Mrs. Blake's argument for wom. suff. under its provisions, 374-5.
- Constitutions, State,
  - all framed by men; different peculiarities, xv et seq.;
  - all barred women from suff., 2;
  - Utah and Wy. included wom. suff. in first, 949, 1003.
  - See State chapters under Suffrage.
- Constitutional Conventions. See Conventions.
- Constitutional Law. See Law.
- Contracts. See Laws in each State chapter.
- Conventions,
  - American Suff. Assn., from '84 to '88, 406-428;
  - early convs. in Phila., 423.
  - --National Suffrage Ass'n., first one ever called, xiii;
    - earliest ones, 14;
    - res. for Int'l. Suff. Conv., 25;
    - changed attitude of press toward, 57;
    - first suff. meeting held in Washt'n., 70;
    - conv. for '88, 137;
    - complimented by Washt'n. Star, 173;
    - convs. before the war, 205;
    - alternate ones taken out of Washt'n., Miss Anthony's protest, 218;
    - the other side, 219;
    - descript. of '94, 221;
    - Miss Anthony's method of presiding, 238;
    - descript. of '95, 236;
    - of '97, 271.
  - See Chapters II-XXI.
- Conventions,
  - work for wom. suff. in political and other conventions, Chap. XXIII.
  - See State chapters.
- Conventions, Nat'l. Political,
  - first appeal of women for suff., 435;
  - appeals in 1900, 440 et seq.
  - --Republican, record of, 435-7, 440;
    - for 1900, 443-4.
  - --Democratic, record of, 437, 440;
    - for 1900, 444.
  - --Populist, record of, 437-8, 441;
    - for 1900, 444.
  - --Prohibition, record of, 438;
    - for 1900, 444.
  - --Other Parties, record of, xviii, 438-9;
    - for 1900, 444.
  - See also Democrats, Populists, Republicans, Parties and p. 556.
  - Women delegates to nat'l. convs., 319, 438-9;
  - work of Miss Anthony and others, 439 et seq.;
  - no hope for disfranch. class, 444;
  - sentiment among delegates, 444-5.
  - For work in State political convs., see various State chapters.
- Conventions, State Constitutional,
  - attempts to secure wom. suff. amdts., 432-3; 453;
  - in Ala., 468;
  - N. D., 544;
  - S. D., 552;
  - Del., 563;
  - Ky., 669;
  - La., 680;
  - Mass., 720;
  - Miss., 786;
  - Mont., 797;
  - N. H., 815;
  - N. J., 830;
  - N. M., 835;
  - N. Y., 203, 847;
  - Utah, 944;
  - Vt., 958;
  - Wash., 969;
  - Wy., 995.
- Councils of Women, National and International,
  - first Int'l., 124 et seq.;
  - permanent Councils formed, 137, 143;
  - Nat'l. in '91, 175;
  - Miss Shaw's report of London Int'l., 352;
  - Miss Anthony's report of same, suff. pervaded all, Amer. wom. showed effects of liberty, 353;
  - Nat'l. Council, trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 396;
  - Int'l., same, 397;
  - Nat'l. Council, founding and work, 1044-5;
  - Int'l., same, 1044-5.
- Creeds. See Church.
- Criminals, at ballot box, xxvi, 37.
- Cuba,
  - Nat'l. Ass'n. demands rights for its women, 325, 330;
  - appeals to Congress for same, 446.
- Curtesy. See Laws in each State chapter.

- Debates, in Congress,
  - on Wom. Suff. Com., 31 et seq.;
  - those of former years, 85;
  - first and only debate on 16th Amend, to enfranchise women, 87 et seq.;
  - on admission of Wy., 998 et seq.
  - --in National Suffrage Conventions, on dogmas and creeds, 59 et seq.;
    - on taking wom. suff. into church, 75;
    - on migratory convs., 218;
    - on Woman's Bible, 263.
- Decisions. See Supreme Court.
- Declaration of Independence, applied to women, 102.
- Delegates, 15;
  - nat'l. conv. made delegate body, 77;
  - foreign to Int'l. Council, 135;
  - dels. to 40th anniv., 288;
  - to conv. of 1900, 350;
  - to Paris Expos., 367;
  - to polit. convs., 319, 438-9;
  - in Col., 521;
  - in Kas., 646;
  - in Mont., 801;
  - see also Utah Chap.;
  - to nat'l. suff. convs. from '84 to 1900, 1101.
  - [Pg 1109]--Fraternal,
    - to conv. of '96, 256;
    - to Wom. Press Ass'n., 291;
    - to Int'l. Council of '99, 342;
    - to suff. conv. of '99, 323;
    - to suff. conv. of 1900, 366.
- Democracy,
  - disbelief in, xxvi, 179, 277;
  - wom. suff. asked in name of, 372;
  - U. S. not a, 374.
- Democrats,
  - enfranch. workingmen, xvii; 143;
  - in Calif., 488-9;
  - in Col., 516;
  - in S. Dak., 555;
  - in Ida., 590-2;
  - in Ills., 605-6;
  - in Ind., 617;
  - in Kas., 647, 650-3;
  - in Mass., 724;
  - in Mich., 755;
  - in N. Y., 847-9, 872;
  - in Utah, 953 et seq.;
  - in Wash., 971;
  - in Congress on Wy., 978.
  - See Conventions.
- Dentistry, women in, 464; 700.
- Disfranchisement,
  - degradation of,
    - Miss Anthony on, 27; 44; 73; 83; 107;
    - Mrs. Stanton on, 133; 151; 172;
    - great sp. of Mrs. Stanton on, 176; 195; 196;
    - Mrs. Merrick on, 243; 255;
    - men wd. not endure, 373;
    - same, 375.
    - --disadvantages of, 41; 42; 45; 46; 73; 79; 138-9; 190; 195; 196;
      - to women wage-earners, 312;
      - same, 377; 359; 365; 373; 379.
- District of Columbia, gift and trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 399.
  - See chapter on D. C.
- Divorce, 68; 100; 103;
  - national law, women should have voice in, 165;
  - evolution of, 297;
  - in Wyoming, 362;
  - in Wy., S. D. and Ok., 460.
- Domestic,
  - household demands on women, 209;
  - too much housekeeping, 210;
  - future domestic service, 210;
  - effect of domestic life on women, 258;
  - home life of woman suffragists, 279;
  - what home means, 285;
  - woman's position in the home, 292;
  - husbands do not support wives, 171, 208, 311;
  - home vs. factory work, 311;
  - college women and home, 358;
  - need of trained work, 358.
  - See also Domestic under Suffrage.
- Donors,
  - to Hist. of Wom. Suff., v, vii;
  - to Int'l. Council of Wom., 126;
  - Mrs. Southworth, 257;
  - Miss Anthony, 287;
  - in Conn., 536;
  - in Ga., 582;
  - Mrs. Avery, 642;
  - in N. Y., 849.
  - --women, for education, 356;
    - in Calif., 507;
    - in La., 688;
    - in Md., 700.
- Dower. See Laws in each State chapter.
- Dress,
  - descrip. of delegates', 56;
  - of Miss Anthony at conv. of '90, 173;
  - on 80th birthday, 403-4.

- Education,
  - higher education of women, résumé of, 463,
  - and in each State chapter under head of Education, beginning 465.
  - --majority would never consent to, xxii;
    - statistics of, xxx;
    - same, 18;
    - 5,000 teachers in Ind. ask for ballot, 37;
    - educated women will not stand subjection, 44;
    - educated women deprived of ballot, 74;
    - intellectual capacity of women, 90; 101;
    - more than some Senators, 113;
    - woman senior wrangler at Cambridge, 176;
    - a century ago, 192;
    - training of girl of future, 209;
    - easily obtained, 292, 316;
    - Mrs. Sewall on Govt. no right to educate women and refuse them representation, 307;
    - its effects shown in Amer. women at Int'l. Council in London, 353;
    - woman's from beginning of century, obstacles, direful predictions, 354-6;
    - health of women graduates, 355;
    - women on Faculties, 355;
    - donations of women to, 356, 507;
    - must lead to suff., 356;
    - effect on domestic life, 357;
    - Catholic, 464;
    - same, 575;
    - in Gr. Brit., 1024.
  - See also Donors, Illiteracy, Public Schools, Universities.
- Electorate,
  - character of, xxiii;
  - elements needed, xxvi;
  - what composed of, 23, 37, 39, 68, 81, 138, 148, 195, 258, 269, 316, 324, 371, 415;
  - in Col., 514;
  - in S. D., 556;
  - in Wash., 1098.
- Enrollment, Nat'l., for wom. suff., 137; 878.
  - See Petitions.
- Equal Rights,
  - Association for, 14;
  - demand for by Int'l. Council, 136;
  - they belong to women, no thanks to men, 146;
  - crime of denying to women, Mr. Foulke on, 167.
  - See Progress of.
- Europe, wom. suff. in countries of. See chapter on, 1038.

- Federal Suffrage,
  - argument for, 6 et seq.;
  - Miss Anthony on, 10; 78;
  - Sen. Blair on, 145; 201; 218; 234.
- Federation of Women's Clubs,
  - legis. work, 452.
  - See closing paragraph in various State chapters, beginning 465, and also page 1050.
- Flags,
  - at conv. of '94, 221;
  - Col. presents one to Miss Anthony, 222-3;
  - at conv. of '95, 236;
  - flag not desecrated by four stars, 278;
  - golden flag presented to Miss A., 400.
- Foreigners. See Immigrants.
- Foreign Countries, wom. suff. in. See Chap. LXXIV.
- France,
  - wom. suff. in, 343, 1040;
  - eminent advocates, 1084.

- Georgia, curiosities in, 228;
  - nat'l.[Pg 1110] suff. conv. in Atlanta, 236;
  - illiterate vote, 246.
  - See State chapter.
- Goddess of Liberty, in N. Y. harbor, 47;
  - same, 115;
  - Miss Anthony's features, 120;
  - Wy. represents, 201;
  - on nat'l. Capitol, a mockery, 375.
- Governors of States, position on wom. suff., 212;
  - list favoring wom. suff., 1078;
  - of Wy. testify for wom. suff., 1087 et seq.
- Grand Army of the Republic, favors wom. suff., 184; 644; 893.
- Granges, favor wom. suff., 184;
  - always recognized equality of woman, 228;
  - position of woman in, 327;
  - nat'l. adopts wom. suff. res. in 1900, 447-8.
  - See various State chapters.
- Great Britain, Chap. LXXIII;
  - efforts for Parliamentary Franchise, 1012, 1020;
  - Primrose League and Liberal Federation, 1013;
  - better laws, 1021;
  - local gov't., 1022;
  - office holding, 1023;
  - education, 1024;
  - colonial progress, 1025 et seq.;
  - petits. for suff., 1015, 1017, 1020.
  - --gives local franchise to women, xiv;
    - more liberal than U. S. on socialistic questions, 167;
    - enfranch. workingmen, 305;
    - same, 311;
    - progress of wom. suff., 353;
    - Mrs. Blatch on women on boards and wom. suff. in, 368;
    - remonstrants in, 369;
    - eminent advocates of wom. suff. in, 1083.
- Guardianship, equal of children. See Laws.

- Hawaii, Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. demands rights for its women, 325;
  - injustice to them, 330;
  - resolution against "male" in its constitn., 343;
  - petitions Congress in behalf of its women, 346;
  - outrageous constitn. adopted by Congress, 346;
  - Hawaiian members object, 347;
  - Miss Anthony's work for its women, 365;
  - appeals to Congress for rights of its women, 446.
- Head of Family. See Laws and pp. 458; 945;
  - in Va., 966.
- Hearings before Congressional Committees in '84, 36, 42;
  - in '86, 78;
  - in '88, before Senate com., 137 et seq.;
  - in '89, same, 156;
  - before House, 157;
  - in '90, before Senate, 158, 162;
  - before House, 163;
  - in '92, before Senate, Mrs. Stanton on Solitude of Self, 189;
  - before House, 194;
  - in '94, before Senate and House, 235;
  - in '96, before Senate and House, 267;
  - in '98, before Senate, 305;
  - before House, 318;
  - in 1900, before Senate, 367,
  - Miss Anthony's plea at 80, 373;
  - before House, 373;
  - first appearance of "antis," 381-4.
- History of Woman Suffrage, how it was written and published. See Preface.

- Idaho, adopts wom. suff. amend., xxi;
  - welcomed by nat'l. conv., 272;
  - story of amend, camp'n., 283-4;
  - gift to Miss Anthony, 390.
  - See State chapter, also Statistics and Testimony.
- Illinois, great petits. for wom. suff., 39;
  - laws for women, 276.
  - See State chapter.
- Illiteracy, percentage of, smaller among women than men, xxii, 216;
  - in Ga., 246;
  - shut it out from electorate, 316-17;
  - not the ignorant alone opp. wom. suff., 338, 493;
  - decides fate of women, 371;
  - in S. D., 556.
- Immigrants, English view of, 23;
  - their enfranchisement, 37;
  - same, 39;
  - polit. danger of, 68-9;
  - German view, 73;
  - in Neb., 81; 82;
  - welcome to, 116;
  - enfranchised, Mrs. Stanton on, 138;
  - political rule of, American women in majority, 148;
  - placed over women, 195;
  - preferred to Amer. women, Mrs. Stanton's picture of, 269;
  - should be welcomed but not enfranch., 316, 317;
  - in Mich., 324;
  - compared to Amer. women, 415; 418.
- India, effect on its women of English laws, 330.
- Indians, preferred to women voters in S. D., 182, 557;
  - Gov't. favors over women, 213;
  - vs. American women, 313;
  - effect on women of "land in severalty," 330;
  - Gov't. grants privileges denied to white women, 374;
  - authority of their women, 1041.
- Indifference of Women, xxii;
  - same, xxiv;
  - reasons for, xxv;
  - same, xxix;
  - causes of, 20;
  - men will decide the question, 39;
  - no means of knowing, 46;
  - all women should not be punished for, 84;
  - fear to speak, 92;
  - pity for, 121;
  - women put everything before suff., 149, 150;
  - is result of disfranchis., 160;
  - does not affect the right of suff., 168;
  - Miss Blackwell on, 198;
  - women too much flattered, 208;
  - dangers of, 259;
  - always existed, 275;
  - women do not think, 285;
  - Miss Blackwell gives examples, 320;
  - parable of good Samaritan, 360;
  - natural conservatism, 372;
  - timidity and ignorance, 415;
  - selfishness, 420;
  - those who have[Pg 1111] all the rights they want, 461;
  - same in Col., 517.
- Indirect Influence, needs responsibility, 55; 96-7;
  - suff. would destroy, 107; 168; 517.
- Individuality of woman, suff. a guarantee of, 82;
  - should not be allowed to wives, 100;
  - Mrs. Stanton on right to, 189;
  - Rev. Anna Howard Shaw on, 230, 361;
  - Mrs. Spencer on, 328;
  - new civilization will recognize, 336; 418.
- Iowa, reasons for refusing suff. amd't., xxi;
  - nat'l. conv. in Des Moines, 270;
  - noted speakers before Legis., 279.
  - See State chapter.
- Ireland, wom. suff. in, 343;
  - wom. on school and poor law bds., 368.
  - See chapter on Great Britain.
- Isle of Man, wom. suff. in, 1025.

- Journalism, xxv;
  - wom. in, 154;
  - early women writers, 295;
  - women in at Paris expos., 343;
  - first, 695.
- Juries, women should serve on, 38; 45; 51;
  - in Wy., 68;
  - men's obligations, 94;
  - Senators discuss, 104, 106;
  - need of women on, 182;
  - women and jury duty in Ida., 596;
  - in Utah, 955, 1089;
  - in Wash., 422, 968, 1008, 1091;
  - in Wy., 1008.

- Kansas, grants Municipal Suff. to women, xv; xxi; xxix;
  - treatment of women, 199;
  - suff. work of Nat'l. Ass'n. in, 220;
  - descript. of nat'l. delegates, 221-2;
  - first constit'n. recognizes rights of women, 407;
  - Amer. Ass'n. meets in Topeka, 417;
  - early work in, 418, 419;
  - Mrs. Howe's plea for suff. in, 419.
  - See State chapter and Statistics.

- Labor, disabilities of women, 41;
  - relation of wom. suff. to, 70;
  - same, 79;
  - suff. has no influence on price of, 98;
  - wage-earning women should marry, 98;
  - need of ballot for working women, 115;
  - same, 122;
  - Knights of Labor indorse wom. suff., 123;
  - dignifies woman, 162;
  - immoral women come from domestic life, 162;
  - husband does not "support" wife, 171, 208, 311;
  - man's material achievements, 171;
  - not woman's curse, 171;
  - degradation of woman's labor, 177;
  - organizations favor wom. suff., 184;
  - indust. emancip. of women, by Carroll D. Wright, have not taken men's work, new economic factor, leads to suff., 213;
  - suff. demanded for working women, 216;
  - women stenographers, 228;
  - women wage-earners in Fla., 240;
  - Florence Kelley on labor unions and working woman's need of ballot, 311;
  - disfranch. women an injury to labor unions, 312;
  - Fed. of Labor greets Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n., let. from Pres. Gompers, equal pay for wom., 334;
  - ass'n. returns thanks, 344;
  - entrance of women into unions and effect on suff., 349;
  - appeal of Nat'l. Fed. for wom. suff. in '99, 359;
  - Miss Laughlin on statistics of wage-earning women, need of ballot, 360;
  - ancient opp. to, 361;
  - working woman's great disadvantage, 377;
  - wages of men and wom., 379; 425;
  - Nat'l. Fed. petit. for wom. suff. in 1900 after appeal from Miss Anthony. Nat'l. Bldg. and Trades Council, same, Int'l. Bricklayers' and Masons', same, 446;
  - organizations for wom. suff., 448;
  - K. of L. declare for, 568.
  - See Statistics.
- Labor Organizations, for wom. suff.
  - See above, also in Col., 514-16;
  - in S. D., 556;
  - in Ills., 602-4; 652;
  - in Mass., 711-14-33;
  - in Minn., 782;
  - in N. J., 821;
  - in N. Y., 850;
  - in Ore., 893;
  - in R. I., 917;
  - in Wash., 974.
- Law, first woman admitted to practice before U. S. Sup. Ct., 33;
  - second, 57;
  - contest of Mrs. Bradwell in Ills. and U. S. Sup. Ct., 152;
  - contest in Cal., 507;
  - in Ind., 626;
  - in Md., 700;
  - in Mich. to be pros. atty., 770;
  - in N. J., 833;
  - in Penn., 904;
  - Woman's Coll. of, 574;
  - first woman to apply to practice, 609;
  - first coll. to graduate a woman, 610.
  - See also State chapters under Occupations.
  - --women in, send trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 398.
  - --Common, 33; 49; 159;
    - résumé of and changes made, 454-8; 464;
    - in N. Y., 865.
  - --Constitutional, bar to wom. suff., xiv, xv; 371.
- Laws for Women, résumé of, 453-8.
  - --Property, for women, secured by a few, xxiii;
    - in Ky., 15;
    - wife is moneyless, 40;
    - inevitably one-sided, 198;
    - nine-tenths relate to property, 200;
    - uncertain for women, 255;
    - in Ills., 276;
    - women could secure good laws with suffrage, 424;
    - present status, far from just to women, 456-8;
    - Dower and Curtesy, 457;
    - Guardianship of Children, and liability of "head of family" for support, 458;
    - Divorce, and the various causes for, 459;
    - Age of Protection, 460.
  - See each State chapter under head of Legislative Action and Laws.[Pg 1112] For Great Britain, 1021.
- Legacies, Mrs. Eddy's to Miss Anthony, v;
  - to Nat'l. Ass'n., 207; 259; 275; 286; 289; 366; 900; 909.
- Legislatures, action on bills and resolutions for full and limited suffrage and other measures, under head of Legislative Action, in each State chapter, beginning 465;
  - power to grant limited suff., xv;
  - have granted much to women, 43;
  - Congress should submit wom. suff. amdt. to, 43, 64, 113;
  - work of women members in Col., 525-6;
  - work of women members in Utah, 953 et seq.
- Letters, telegrams, greetings, etc., to American suff. convs., see Chap. XXII;
  - to natn'l. suff. conv. of '84, 15 et seq.,
  - from noted English, 21-2,
  - Bishop Simpson, 24;
  - of '85, 61;
  - of '86, 75;
  - of '87, from Mrs. Stanton, 113,
  - U. S. Treas. Spinner et al., 123;
  - of '89, from Mrs. Stanton, 145;
  - of '91, 179;
  - of '93, last from Lucy Stone, 213, from Bishop Hurst, 220;
  - of '94, from Gov. Waite, Mrs. Sewall, 232;
  - of '96, 254;
  - of '97, from Miss Reed, 285;
  - of '98, from Abigail Bush, Lucinda H. Stone and others, 300-1;
  - of '99, from Samuel Gompers, 334, Mrs. Stanton, 337, 342-3;
  - of 1900, 359, 366.
  - --to Int'l. Council of '88, 135.
  - --to Miss Anthony on 70th birthday, 164;
    - on 80th, 403.
  - --to various Conventions, 447.
  - --to Governors of States and Territories, 212.
  - --to members of Congress, 35, 217, 218, 247, 287, 346.
  - --to political delegates and conventions, 440 et seq.
  - --to State constitutional conventions, 433.
- Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, iv; 2.
- Liquor Dealers, control in politics, xix;
  - attitude toward wom. suff., xix;
  - influence in Iowa, xxi;
  - in Neb., 80;
  - allied with women remonstrants, 327;
  - opposed to wom. suff., 373;
  - at Nat'l. Brewers' Convention, 447;
  - in Calif., 273, 486, 491-3, 499, 500;
  - in Idaho, 284;
  - in Ariz., 472;
  - in Col., 512, 517;
  - in S. D., 556;
  - in Kas., 650, 660;
  - in Ok., 888.
- Longevity and vitality of women, 29.
- Louisiana, Miss Anthony on women taxpayers' suff., 360.
  - See State chapter.

- Magazines. See Newspapers.
- Majority, opposed to any reform, xxii;
  - same, xxiii;
  - same, xxvi;
  - must ask for wom. suff. no argument, xxxi; xxxii;
  - never asked for anything, 38;
  - Miss Anthony on, 42;
  - wom. suff. should not wait for, 84;
  - must demand wom. suff., 92;
  - never granted anything, 275;
  - oppose every advance, Mrs. Catt on, 369-71.
- Marriage, suff. has no relation to, 90;
  - Sen. Brown's idea of, 94 et seq.;
  - in wom. suff. States, 103;
  - Sen. Vest on, 106 et seq.;
  - position of woman in, regulations made by men, obstacles to happiness, Mrs. Colby on, 151;
  - meaning of, narrowness of wives a detriment to men, Mrs. Stanton on, 161;
  - interdependence of husband and wife, Mrs. Wallace on, 171;
  - Mr. Hinckley on, 180;
  - each supports the other, 171, 208, 311;
  - of Mr. Blackwell and Lucy Stone, 226;
  - wife need not give up name, 226;
  - individuality of wife, Miss Shaw on, 230;
  - what wives want, 245.
  - See Domestic.
- Massachusetts, sentiment for wom. suff. in, 36;
  - Lucy Stone on treatment of women by its Legis., 192;
  - early education of women, 192;
  - women taxpayers, 240.
  - See State chapter.
- Matriarchate, Mrs. Spencer on evolution of family life, 328 et seq.; 1041.
- Medicine, early struggles of women to study, 296;
  - letter from Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, 301;
  - efforts of wom. in, 275, 355;
  - statistics of women physicians, 275, 355, 370;
  - first woman to graduate, 355; 463; 574;
  - first to practice, 748;
  - only woman dean of mixed college, 610;
  - Johns Hopkins Medical, 700;
  - medical societies in N. J., 833;
  - first woman's med. coll., 904;
  - tribute of women in, on Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 394.
  - See also State chapters under Occupations, and for physicians in institutions under Office Holding.
- Michigan, Munic. Suff. Bill vetoed, xv;
  - vote on suff. amend., 35;
  - Nat'l. Ass'n. meets, 322.
  - See State chapter.
- Military, argument against wom. suff., nearly obsolete, xxxi;
  - Sen. Palmer on, 64;
  - military questions must give way to economic, 69;
  - ability to bear arms not a voting test, 82;
  - Sen. Blair on military service no connection with suff., 87;
  - [Pg 1113]same on women can fight, 90;
  - Sen. Brown on women and military service, 94, 96, 100;
  - woman's record, 101, 113;
  - nation's debt to her, 115;
  - brute force passing away, 121;
  - woman's part in war, 161-2, 195;
  - fighting qualities necessary in women, 183;
  - women first to see advantage of peace, 208;
  - Miss Clay on the military argument before Senate Com., 309;
  - Miss Shaw on, 337;
  - how women would have managed Span. Am. War, 339.
- Ministers, early women, 59, 260;
  - Rev. Anna Howard Shaw on women ministers, 206;
  - tribute from, on Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 397; 464;
  - ministers in favor of wom. suff., 1079. See Sermons.
- Minnesota, difficulty of carrying wom. suff. amend., xvi;
  - Amer. Suff. Ass'n. meets in Minneapolis, 411.
  - See State chapter.
- Motherhood, xxxi;
  - needed in politics, 40;
  - not a limitation, 58;
  - Mrs. Stanton on ancient idea of, 60;
  - Sen. Blair on maternity and suff., 91;
  - Sen. Brown on, 94 et seq.;
  - Sen. Dolph on, 103;
  - Sen. Eustis on, 104;
  - Sen. Vest on, 106;
  - Miss Willard asks suff. for mothers, 142;
  - mothers should be honored equally with fathers, 194;
  - mothers should be exempt from wage-earning, 211;
  - child dearer than all else, 226;
  - Mrs. Stetson on, 266;
  - not broad enough, 277;
  - Mrs. Spencer on motherhood among primitive peoples, 328-333;
  - suff. and, 283, 303-4, 357;
  - fits women for suff., 309;
  - all wom. not fitted for, 362;
  - Congress of Mothers, 1051.
  - See also Testimony from Wom. Suff. States, beginning 1085, and State chapters for Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.
- Municipal Suffrage, in Kas., xv;
  - bill vetoed in Mich., xv; 123;
  - effect in Kas., 199;
  - Australia first country to grant, 224;
  - cities need woman's vote, 278, 420, 422;
  - in Ireland, 343;
  - how gained in Kas., 649 et seq.;
  - in Kas., 652, 664;
  - in Great Brit., 1012, 1022;
  - in New Zealand, 1025;
  - in Australia, 1027 et seq.;
  - in Canada, 1035 et seq.;
  - in other countries, 1038 et seq.

- National Suffrage Association, membership and finance, xxx;
  - contests for right to vote under 14th amend., 4;
  - abandons attempt, 6;
  - same for Federal suff., 10;
  - begins efforts for 16th amend., 11;
  - work in the States, 11;
  - work before Congress, 11;
  - effect on the franchise, 13;
  - founded in '69, 14;
  - conventions held, 14;
  - work in Washington, 15;
  - finances in '84, 27;
  - conv. of '88, 137;
  - finances in '89, 154;
  - union with American Ass'n., 164;
  - Miss Anthony declares for free platform, 169;
  - finances in '92, 185;
  - last app. of Mrs. Stanton and Lucy Stone, 186;
  - at Columb. Expos., 217;
  - freedom of platform, 224;
  - mem. serv. for Lucy Stone, 225;
  - finances in '95, org. com. established, 250;
  - finances in '96, 256;
  - headqrs. established, 257;
  - welcomes Utah, 260;
  - breadth of platf., 264;
  - finances of '97, Miss Anthony's contrib., 287;
  - reports on course of study and finance, 289;
  - demands equal rights for women in every depart., 291;
  - finances in '99, 342;
  - Washt'n Post compliments, 349;
  - advantage of meeting in capital, 351;
  - finances in 1900, 364;
  - holds Bazar, 365;
  - rec'd by Pres. McKinley in 1900, Mrs. McKinley sends flowers, 384;
  - Miss Anthony resigns presidency, action of conv., her speeches, etc., 385 et seq.;
  - her farewell, 393;
  - Mrs. Chapman Catt elected pres., 387;
  - introd. by Miss Anthony, sp. of accept., 388;
  - notices of new pres., 389;
  - love for Miss Shaw, 389;
  - celebrates Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 349 et seq.;
  - appeals to political convs. and delegates in 1900, 440-3;
  - nat'l and State work, 450;
  - work for rights of women in our new possessions, Chap. XIX;
  - synopsis of constitn., officers, committees, life members and delegates, 1098 et seq.
  - For general work, see Chaps. II-XXII.
- Nebraska, difficulty of carrying amend., xvi;
  - suff. amend, campn., 80.
  - See State chapter.
- Need, of man and woman in law and politics, 179;
  - in the home, everywhere, 180;
  - of each for other, 266;
  - same, 284;
  - of both in Gov't, 310.
- Negroes, how enfranch., xvii;
  - why disfranch., xviii;
  - placed above women, 2;
  - right to suff., 6;
  - nat'l. amend. necessary, 42;
  - women should not have suff., 105-6; 311;
  - deprived of suff. in South, compared to white women, 325;
  - women in smoking cars, 343;
  - if denied suff. should not be counted in basis of represent., 376;
  - trib. of wom. to[Pg 1114] Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 398;
  - her sympathy for, 403;
  - Nat'l. Ass'n. of Colored Women, 1051.
- New Jersey, failure of Sch. Suff. amend., xvi;
  - first State to grant wom. suff., 19;
  - account of same, 830.
  - See State chapter.
- New South Wales, chapter on, 1029.
- Newspapers and Magazines.[502]
  - Advertiser (New Decatur, Ala.), 465.
  - Arena, The, 6, 927-8.
  - Argonaut (San Francisco), 491.
  - Australian Register, 1028.
  - Australian Woman's Sphere (Melbourne), 1031.
  - Boomerang (Laramie, Wyo.), 1006.
  - Bricklayer and Mason, 446.
  - Bulletin (San Francisco), 491.
  - Call (San Francisco), 482, 487, 491, 505.
  - Chicago Law Times, 609.
  - Christian Advocate, 207.
  - Colorado Springs Gazette, 525.
  - Commercial Gazette (Cin'ti), 428.
  - Congressional Record, 110.
  - Constitution (Atlanta), 244, 246.
  - Daily Statesman (Boise, Ida.), 319, 591.
  - Daily Times (Seattle), 974.
  - Democrat (Grand Rapids), 339.
  - Democratic State Journal (Wash.), 1096.
  - Englishwoman's Review, 22, 319, 1012.
  - Enquirer (Cin'ti), 428.
  - Evening News (Washtn.), 202.
  - Evening Post (New York), 1096.
  - Examiner (San Francisco), 491.
  - Express (Los Angeles), 495.
  - Fortnightly Review, 1014-5.
  - Freemen's Labor Journal (Spokane), 974.
  - Harper's Bazar, 716.
  - Harper's Magazine, 203.
  - Herald (Boston), 732.
  - Leader (Des Moines), 271, 273.
  - Legal News, The (Chicago), 212, 609.
  - Lily (Amelia Bloomer, ed.), 250, 295.
  - Liquor Dealer (Los Angeles), 499.
  - Massachusetts papers, 711.
  - Mirror (Seattle), 1096.
  - Nevada Citizen, 811.
  - New Northwest, 975.
  - Nineteenth Century (Eng.), 1014.
  - Oregonian (Portland), 896.
  - Picayune (New Orleans), 680, 683.
  - Post (San Francisco), 491.
  - Post (Washtn.), 188, 201, 221, 236, 349, 361, 385, 387, 390-1, 393, 395, 400.
  - Post-Intelligencer (Seattle), 1096.
  - Public Ledger (Phila.), 227.
  - Record (San Francisco), 491.
  - Record-Union (Sacramento), 491.
  - Remonstrance (Boston), 512.
  - Report (San Francisco), 491.
  - Rhode Island papers, 910-11.
  - Saturday Review (Atlanta), 582.
  - Star (Richmond, Va.), 964.
  - Star (San Francisco), 491.
  - Star (Washtn.), 173, 189, 318, 388.
  - Suffrage Reveille (Kas.), 647.
  - Suffragist (Ills.), 612.
  - Sun (Baltimore), 698.
  - Sun (New York), 326, 459.
  - Sunday World (Los Angeles), 499.
  - Sunny South (Atlanta), 238.
  - Times (Leavenworth, Kas.), 645.
  - Times (London, Eng.), 1019.
  - Times (Los Angeles), 491, 499.
  - Times (New York), 364.
  - Town Talk (Los Angeles), 499.
  - Transcript (Olympia), 1096.
  - Tribune (Chicago), 93, 1009.
  - Una (Paulina Wright Davis, ed.), 294.
  - Wisconsin Citizen, 342, 987.
  - Woman's Chronicle (Ark), 475-6.
  - Woman's Column (Boston), 431, 465, 708.
  - Woman's Exponent (Utah), 936 et al.
  - Woman's Forum (Ills.), 613.
  - Woman's Journal (Boston), 221, 236, 256, 342, 350, 381-2, 392, 406, 417, 423, 426, 430, 701, 726, 734, 736, 1096.
  - Woman's Standard (Ia.), 342, 629.
  - Woman's Tribune (Washtn.), 76, 126, 164, 296, 342, 306, 575, 970.
  - Women's Suffrage Journal (Eng.), 22, 1015.
  - Young Woman's Journal, 956. See Press.
- New York, attempt to confer Sch. Suff. on women, xv;
  - women demand represent. at Centennial, 156;
  - women taxpayers, 240, 247, 313, 314;
  - report of Const'l. Conv. of '94, 247;
  - opinion of Atty. Gen. and other lawyers on Sch. Suff. and Office-Holding for women, 1094.
  - See State chapter.
- New Zealand, chapter on, 1029;
  - eminent advocates of wom. suff., 1084.

- Occupations, résumé of women in, 463;
  - [Pg 1115]entrance of women, xxii, xxiii, xxv;
  - statistics, xxx;
  - advantage of ballot, 67;
  - progress of women in, 133;
  - women first in, 208;
  - Mr. Bok on women in business, 229;
  - danger of disfranch. women in, 312;
  - statistics of wages, 379;
  - business women send trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 398.
  - See State chapters under head of Occupations, beginning p. 465;
  - also Labor and various professions, Law, etc.
- Office-Holding by women, résumé of, 462, and in each State chapter under head of Office-Holding, beginning 465;
  - Sen. Vest on, 108;
  - Sen. Hoar on, 109;
  - in Wy., 117;
  - women first employed in Gov't dept., 123;
  - in Nat'l. Gov't. depts. at present, 572;
  - in Gr. Brit, 1023;
  - in Canada, see chapter on, 1034.
- Officers, of Amer. Suff. Ass'n. in '84, 408;
  - from '84 to 1900, 428;
  - of Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. in '84, 27;
  - from 1869 to 1900, 387;
  - of Nat'l.-Amer. Ass'n. in '90, 174;
  - in '92, 186; in '94, 233;
  - in 1900, 1099.
  - --of first Nat'l. Council of Women, 137.
  - --of State Suff. Assns., listed in each State chapter, beginning p. 465.
- Opponents of wom. suff., see Church, Congress, Debates, Electorate, Indifference of Women, Liquor Dealers, Remonstrants, Reports, etc.
  - See also for arguments of, p. 93 et seq. and p. 999 et seq.
- Oregon, xxi; xxix;
  - three classes of opponents, 249;
  - Amer. Suff. Ass'n. aids, 408.
  - See State chapter.
- Organization for wom. suff.,
  - plan of, 26;
  - inadequacy of, 248;
  - nat'l. com. established, 250;
  - Mrs. Catt's work, 254;
  - her report, 256;
  - work of Utah women, 262;
  - necessity of, 273;
  - report of '97, obstacles to, 289; report of '99, 365;
  - in various States, 451.
  - See also State chapters, beginning p. 465.
- Organizations of Women, National, Chap. LXXV.
  - --Ass'n for Adv'mt of Wom., 1050.
  - --Coll. Alum., Ass'n of, 1048.
  - --Colonial Dames of Amer., 1066.
  - --Col'd Wom., Nat'l Ass'n of, 1051.
  - --Council of Women, Int'l, 1044.
  - --Council of Women, Nat'l, 1044-5.
  - --Daughters of Amer. Rev., 1065.
  - --Daughters of the Rev., 1066.
  - --Daught. of Vets., Nat'l All., 1064.
  - --Daught. of Confed., United, 1067.
  - --Daught. of 1812, Nat. Soc, 1067.
  - --Daughters of Rebekah, 1069.
  - --Eastern Star, Order of, 1068.
  - --Fed. of Clubs, General, 1050.
  - --G. A. R., Ladies of, 1064.
  - --Household Econ., Nat'l As., 1056.
  - --Indian Ass'n. Wom. Nat'l., 1053.
  - --Jewish Wom., Nat. Coun. of, 1053.
  - --Keeley Rescue League, 1056.
  - --Kindergarten Union, Nat'l., 1055.
  - --Loc. Eng'rs, Ladies' Aux., 1069.
  - --Maccabees of World, Sup. Hive, Ladies of, 1067.
  - --Missionary Societies, 1057-1062.
  - --Mothers, Nat'l. Cong. of, 1051.
  - --Mt. Vernon Ladies' Ass'n., 1065.
  - --Music. Clubs, Nat'l. Fed. of, 1056.
  - --Needlework Guild of Am., 1057.
  - --Prison Ass'n., Woman's, 1055.
  - --Railroad Cond., Ladies' Aux., 1069.
  - --Rathbone Sisters of World, Sup. Temple, 1068.
  - --Red Cross Soc., Am. Nat'l., 1048.
  - --Relief Corps, Woman's, 1064.
  - --Relief Soc., Nat'l. Wom., 1052.
  - --Sabbath Alliance, Wom., 1063.
  - --Social Purity, Christian League for, 1054.
  - --Sunshine Soc., Internat'l., 1052.
  - --Wom. Chr. Temp. Union, 1045.
  - --Women Workers, Nat'l., 1054.
  - --Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Ass'n., 1055.
  - --Y'ng Wom. Chr. Ass'n., 1063.
  - --Miscellaneous, 1069.
  - --of Men and Women, 1070.
  - --in Great Britain, Liberal Federation, Primrose League and Nat'l. Suff. Society, 1013-14.
  - --general comment on, majority would not have consented to, xxii;
    - great power of, xxv;
    - value of anti-suff., xxix;
    - working toward suff., xxx;
    - suff. organizations, rank first, 188;
    - vast increase, 396;
    - first on record and evolution of, 1042-3;
    - first temperance organ'zs., 1042;
    - during Civil War, 1043;
    - dignity of convs., 1044;
    - great scope of objects but few for suff., 1070-1;
    - all leading to it, 1071;
    - value in develop, of women, 1072;
    - number enrolled, 1072;
    - future power, 1073;
    - Gov't. must have their help, 1073.

- Parties, see alphabetical list and also Conventions.
  - So-called Third, xviii;
  - their general attitude, 143; 425; 438-9; 441; 479; 492; 522-3-4; 554-6; 591; 600; 617; 647; 755-6; 760; 809; 963; 971-2; 974.
- [Pg 1116]Peace, Conf. at Hague, Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. expresses sympathy, 336;
  - res. for Peace services, 337; 344.
  - See War.
- Persecution, of early workers, xxviii;
  - not ended, xxxii;
  - of sex causes moral chaos, 42;
  - fate of reformers, 132.
- Petition, woman's right to, 32;
  - have exercised it many years, 33;
  - Congress must not deny, 93.
- Petitions, for wom. suff., great number, 33;
  - for many years, 36;
  - in Ills., 39;
  - in O., 46; 110;
  - national enrollment, 137;
  - million signatures, 184;
  - size of, 268;
  - Fed. of Labor for wom. suff., 334;
  - in Wy., 448;
  - in N. Y., 850.
  - See Chap. XXIII and State chapters under Legislative Action.
  - In Great Brit., 1015, 1017, 1020;
  - in N. Z., 1026;
  - in Victoria, 1032.
  - --against wom. suff., 107;
    - in Ills., 602;
    - in Mass., 723, 736 et al.;
    - in N. Y., 850;
    - in R. I., 911.
- Philippines, Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n. demands rights for their women, 325;
  - Mrs. Spencer on our duty to the women of our new possessions, 328 et seq.;
  - discussion, 331 et seq.;
  - no hope for their women, 347;
  - testimony in favor before Senate Com., 348.
  - See Chap. XIX for full statement.
- Pharmacy, in Ky., 676.
- Physical Ability, woman lacks, 99, 100, 108.
  - See Military.
- Pioneers, first work for wom. suff., xiii;
  - early conditions of women, 1;
  - at Int'l. Council, 136;
  - in the West, 148;
  - struggles of, 154;
  - work of, 188;
  - appeal for their children, 195;
  - tributes to by Miss Anthony and Fred. Douglass, 204;
  - trib. of Douglass to, 227;
  - in Utah, 261;
  - gratitude to, 290;
  - young women should continue their work, 292;
  - mem. services for, 293;
  - at conv. of '98, 298-9;
  - of '99, 336.
- Plan of Work, adopted by nat'l. suff. conv. of '84, 26, 62;
  - by conv. of '87, 122;
  - suggestions for suff. clubs, 248;
  - of Amer. Suff. Ass'n. in '84, 410.
- Police Matrons, see Office-Holding in State chapters, beginning p. 465.
- Politics, effect of women in, xix;
  - crowding in, xxx;
  - too hard for women, 94;
  - in '88, 150;
  - wom. suff. in polit. meetings, 257;
  - should advocates suff. take part in? 280 et seq.;
  - in Utah, 319;
  - in N. Y., 872;
  - anti-suffragists in, see Remonstrants.
- Politicians, object to wom. suff., xix; xx; xxi;
  - women as, 99.
  - For Politics and Politicians, see chapters for States where women vote and in which wom. suff. campaigns have been held;
  - also Parties, Conventions, Republicans, etc.
- Populists, 444;
  - in Calif., 488, 491-3;
  - in Col., xviii, 511, '13, '16, '18, '20, '23;
  - in Ida., 590, '92, '94;
  - in Kas., 642-7, 652-5, 657;
  - in Mont., 800;
  - in Wash., 971-2.
  - See Conventions and Parties.
- Porto Rico, Nat'l. Ass'n. demands rights for women in, 325;
  - appeals to Cong. for same, in 1900, 446.
- Postmasters, women, 462.
- Prayers, Mrs. McLaren on, 22;
  - Mrs. Gougar on, 37;
  - Mrs. Crooker on, 43;
  - Miss Shaw on, 134.
  - See Church.
- Presidents, of Nat'l. Suff. Ass'n., Mrs. Stanton, in '84, 15;
  - of united assn's. in '90, 174;
  - resigns and made hon. pres., 186;
  - Lucy Stone made hon. pres., 186;
  - Miss Anthony elected pres. in '92, 186;
  - resigns in 1900, 385;
  - Mrs. Chapman Catt elected, 387;
  - Miss A. made hon. pres., 389.
  - --and Vice-Presidents of U. S. favoring wom. suff., 1075.
  - --of Universities and Colleges, same, 1079.
- Presidential Suffrage, form of petition, 286;
  - bill in Kas., 655.
- Press, present attitude, xxviii;
  - on dress of delegates, 56;
  - change in tone, 57;
  - Miss Anthony against starting paper, 216;
  - report of nat'l. press work for '96, 286;
  - for '97, 288;
  - for '99, 365;
  - early comment on wom. suff., 293;
  - wom. suff. dept. in N. Y. Sun, 326;
  - need of women on press, 326;
  - report to Amer. conv. of '87, 425;
  - of '88, 431;
  - press in Calif, campn., 490, 499.
  - See Newspapers.
- Prince of India, everlasting record, 277.
- Progress of Equal Rights, reasons for, xiii;
  - present status, xxv;
  - hope for future, xxvi;
  - more rapid in future, xxxiii;
  - effect of Civil War on, 2;
  - Congress'l. Com. report, 53;
  - Sen. Palmer on, 63; 133; 134; 191;
  - Miss Anthony on, 325; 207; 242; 306;
  - in public sentiment, 349;
  - in the South, 362; 369;
  - social, educat'l, etc., Mrs. Catt on, 392;
  - [Pg 1117]as shown in treatment of Miss Anthony, 394, 398;
  - in position of advocates, 405; 412;
  - in the laws, 455-8.
- Progress of Woman Suffrage, 169; 198;
  - ears will be unstopped, 199; 290;
  - appearances of advocates, 318; 326;
  - 13 members electoral coll., 350; 405; 409; 425; 442;
  - in England, 353, 1012.
- Professions, women in, see Law, Medicine, etc., also Occupations.
- Property, Lucy Stone on laws in Mass., 192;
  - owners are one-fourth women, nine-tenths of laws made for property, 200.
  - Résumé of laws, 453 et seq.
  - See Laws, also each State chapter under Legislative Action and Laws.
- Public Schools, statistics of pupils, xxx;
  - girls formerly not admitted in Mass., 193; 464;
  - High Schools, in Del., 566;
  - in Phila., 906;
  - in Providence, 920.
  - See each State chapter under head of Education, beginning, p. 465.

- Queensland, see chapter on, 1032.

- Radicals, of each new age, xxxiii; 117, 271.
- Receptions, 15; 18; 56; 127; 175; 183; 188; 251; 262; 265; 270; 354; 384.
  - See various State chapters beginning 465.
- Reformers, Rev. Anna Howard Shaw on, 131 et seq.
- Religion, see Church.
- Reminiscences of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, iv; 250.
- Remonstrants, women against suff., xxix;
  - in politics, 16;
  - called to account, 19;
  - Mr. Foulke on, 168;
  - Mrs. Howe on, 170; 171;
  - three classes of, 249; 258;
  - Miss Blackwell on, 320;
  - allied with liquor dealers, 327;
  - satire on, 361;
  - Grace Greenwood on, 364;
  - in England, take advantage of every gain, 369;
  - Mrs. Catt on, 370;
  - against education, property laws, etc., 380;
  - before Sen. com. in 1900, 381;
  - before House com., amusing occurrences, 382;
  - in different stages of evolution, 392;
  - in Col., 512;
  - in S. D., 557;
  - in Kansas, 650;
  - in Mass., 704, 732-3, 736 et al.;
  - in N. Y., 850, 858-9, 861;
  - in Ok., 888;
  - in Ore., 895;
  - in Wash., 971;
  - in Austr., 1031.
- Reports, of Congress'l coms. on wom. suff., 12;
  - House Judic., of '84, 47 et seq., 52 et seq.;
  - of '86, 82 et seq.;
  - of '90, 163;
  - of '94, 235;
  - Senate, of '84, 47;
  - see also 93 et seq;
  - of '92, 201;
  - of '96, 207;
  - work of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Upton in securing, 366.
  - --of nat'l. suff. conv. of '84, 15;
    - of Intl. Council of '88, 127;
    - on nat'l. enrollment, 137, 154, 879;
    - of Nat'l. Council of '91, 175;
    - of Columbian Expos. Com., 232.
  - --State, to nat'l. suff. convs., 15;
    - to American suff. convs., 432.
  - --Miss Anthony's on work in conventions of 1900, 439 et seq.
- Representation, basis of, Federal Constitution on, 8;
  - women should not be counted till enfranch., 374, 376.
  - --Indirect, of women by men, 41; 46; 51; 64; 66; 86; 93; 168;
    - Miss Blackwell on, 197.
- Representatives, U. S., favoring wom. suff., 1077.
  - See State chapters under Legislative Action.
- Republicans, enfranch. negro men, xvii; 143;
  - in Calif., 485, 487, 491;
  - in Col., 516, 518, 520-5;
  - in S. D., 555;
  - in Ida., 590-2;
  - in Ills., 605-6;
  - in Ind., 617;
  - in Kas., 643-7, 649-55, 661;
  - in Mass., 712, 724, 727;
  - in Mich., 755;
  - in N. Y., 848 et seq., 872;
  - in Utah, 949, 953 et seq.;
  - in Wash., 971;
  - in Congress on Wy., 1004;
  - Nat'l. League of Clubs, 713-14.
  - See Conventions.
- Resolutions, at nat'l suff. conv. of '69, right of women to vote under 14th amend., 3;
  - at conv. of '84, 25;
  - on death of Wendell Phillips, 25;
  - for Intl. Council, 25;
  - on Anna Ella Carroll, 25;
  - on creeds and dogmas., 58;
  - memorial of '85, 61;
  - on carrying wom. suff. into church, 75;
  - for 16th amend. to Nat'l const'n., 85;
  - at conv. of '87, 122;
  - of thanks to men, ridiculed by Mrs. Stanton, 145;
  - at conv. of '89, 154;
  - on trial of Susan B. Anthony, 155;
  - on disfranch. of women in Wash. Ty., 155;
  - on represent. of wom. at N. Y. Centennial, 156;
  - by Mrs. Stanton on the church and divorce, 165;
  - memorial of '90, 174;
  - at conv. of '91, 184;
  - for Sunday opening of World's Fair, 186;
  - to prohibit sale of liquor at same, 186;
  - mem. of '93, to Geo. W. Curtis and others, 203 et seq.;
  - at conv. of '93, 216;
  - mem. of '94, 227;
  - of '95, 250;
  - of '96, 259;
  - against Woman's Bible, 263;
  - mem. of '97, 275;
  - at conv. of '98, 290;
  - mem. of '98, 293;
  - of Fed. of Labor for wom. suff. in '98, 334;
  - [Pg 1118]res. for Peace services, 337;
  - at conv. of '99, 343;
  - mem. of '99, 344;
  - of Fed. of Labor in '99, 359;
  - mem. of 1900, 366;
  - res. on wom. suff. in Col., 383;
  - on Miss Anthony's resignation, 386;
  - of Amer. suff. conv. in '84, 409;
  - mem. of Frances D. Gage and others, 409;
  - at Amer. conv. of '85, 416;
  - of '87, 425;
  - for union of two suff. societies, 426;
  - of Col. Legis., 531;
  - of Wy. Legis., 1007.
  - See also various State chapters beginning 465.
- Revolution, will it be necessary for wom. suff.? 119;
  - women will cause, 139.
- Right, Suffrage a, proved by Nat'l. Constit'n, xxxii;
  - guaranteed by it, 1, 3; 38; 45-6;
  - Rep. Maybury denies, 47;
  - Rep. Poland, 50; 52;
  - Cong. Com. report, 54;
  - Miss Eastman on, 72, 80;
  - Cong. Com. report, 82;
  - Sen. Blair on, 86, 89, 90;
  - Sen. Dolph on, 101-2-5;
  - Sen. Vest denies, 107;
  - Mrs. Gage on, 118;
  - Sen. Blair on, 145;
  - Mr. Foulke on, 167-8;
  - Mrs. Howe on, 170;
  - Mrs. Wallace on, 172;
  - Mrs. Stanton on, 189;
  - Lucy Stone on, 191;
  - Mrs. Catt on, 194;
  - Miss Blackwell on, 197;
  - Miss Reed on, 285;
  - Mr. Garrison on, 305;
  - Miss Anthony on, 325;
  - Mrs. Blake on, 374-5;
  - Chancellor Eliot on, 413; 441-2.

- School Suffrage, bills vetoed in Calif., xv;
  - experience in N. Y., xv;
  - in Wis., xv;
  - in N. J., xvi;
  - in S. D., xvi;
  - men do not exercise, 198, 541; 212;
  - in Boston, 746;
  - legality in N. Y., 1093;
  - in Great Brit., 1022;
  - in New Zeal., 1025;
  - in Canada, 1034 et seq.;
  - where possessed in U. S., 461.
  - See chapters for these States under Suffrage.
- Science and wom. suff., Mrs. Gage on, 28;
  - botanical objection, 90.
- Self-government best means of self-development, Mrs. Stanton on, 40.
- Senators, U. S., favoring wom. suff., 1076.
- Sermons, Miss Shaw on Heavenly Vision and progress of race, 128; 136; 175; 184; 185; 202;
  - Miss Shaw on Let no man take thy crown, 229;
  - minister in Atlanta opp. wom. suff., 237;
  - at Atlanta conv., 246-7; 258;
  - dean of Chichester against wom. suff., 320;
  - at conv. of '99. 337;
  - at conv. of 1900, Miss Shaw on Rights of Women, 361;
  - Cardinal Gibbons against wom. suff., 366.
- Soldiers, women as, 309-10;
  - wom. produce, 310;
  - efforts to enable to vote, 335;
  - women bear the arm-bearers, 337.
  - See Military and War.
- Solitude of Self, address by Mrs. Stanton, 189.
- South, position of women, 212; 216;
  - speakers, 222;
  - women orators of, 236; 238;
  - its women want suff., 245;
  - illiterate vote in Ga., 246;
  - tour of by nat'l. spkrs., 251; 293; 360;
  - Mrs. Young on progress in, 362;
  - Ala. and Miss. grant property rights to women, 407; 928.
- South Dakota, failure of Sch. Suff. amend., xvii; xxi; xxix;
  - Nat'l. Ass'n. raises funds for campn., 174;
  - Miss Shaw describes, 182; 183;
  - suff. bill vetoed, 414.
  - See State chapter.
- Speakers, at Int'l. Council of '88, 136;
  - at Miss Anthony's 70th birthday recep., 163;
  - at 80th birthday recep., 394-5;
  - at nat'l. suff. convs., see respective chapters, beginning p. 14;
  - before Congress'l. Coms., see chapters for even years;
  - at Amer. suff. convs., see Chap. XXIV.
  - See State chapters for State speakers.
  - --of House of Representatives favoring wom. suff., 1077.
- State Chapters, beginning 465.
- State's Rights, to grant suff., 50;
  - same, 78; 118; 144; 234.
- Statistics, of women wage-earners, xxiii, xxx;
  - of public schools, xxx;
  - of foreign vote in Wis., 148;
  - of women physicians, 275, 355;
  - health of women graduates, 355;
  - wages of women, 360, 379;
  - of woman vote in Col., 525;
  - in Ida., 595;
  - in Kas., 660;
  - in Mass., 746;
  - in Ohio, 883;
  - in Utah, 952;
  - in Wash., 412, 967;
  - in Wyo., 1010;
  - in New Zeal., 1026;
  - in S. Australia, 1028;
  - vote on wom. suff. in Kas., 647.
- Suffrage, Woman,
  - --Advantages of, 21, 41, 53, 55, 65, 66, 83, 159, 161, 162, 178, 181.
  - --Advocates, character of, xxxii, 412;
    - debt owed to, 144;
    - are not dreamers, 421;
    - list of, 1075;
    - see debates in Congress, 32 et seq., 85 et seq., 181 et seq.;
    - also various chapters and p. 1075 et seq.
  - --Bible, for and against. See Bible.
  - --Bills for. See Bills.
  - --Campaigns for. See Amendment Campaigns.
  - --Church, attitude of. See Church.
  - --Congressional Action. See Congress.
  - [Pg 1119]--Constitutional Phases of. See Constitutions.
  - --Conventions for. See Conventions.
  - --Debates on. See Congress.
  - --Decisions. See Supreme Court Decisions.
  - --Democracy of. See Democracy.
  - --Domestic, argument against wom. suff. losing force, xxxi;
    - Reagan, of Texas, on this point, 31;
    - John Quincy Adams on, 47;
    - woman's sphere, 48;
    - would break up home 49;
    - proper sphere, 53;
    - position of woman in all countries, 52, 83;
    - fear of quarrels, 92;
    - sphere of two sexes, 94;
    - woman is queen, 95;
    - would disrupt family, 99;
    - harmony not disturbed, 103;
    - embrace of female politician, 106-7-8, 117;
    - woman's sphere narrowed, 190;
    - vote of husband and wife, 198;
    - wives of great men, 206;
    - wom. suff. and home, effect where women vote, 315;
    - evolution of family life, 328;
    - college wom. and home, 357-8;
    - no relation between suff. and housekeeping, 362;
    - modern home happiest, 371;
    - domestic instincts eternal, 380;
    - effect of wom. suff. on domestic life in Colorado, 283, 356, 1087;
    - in Idaho, 595;
    - in Utah, 319, 1088;
    - in Wyoming, 117, 181, 302, 1089, 1091-2.
  - --Economics of, 308;
    - woman as economic factor, 310;
    - household economics, 357;
    - basis of wom. suff., 377.
  - --Educated, constitutional to require it, 246;
    - argument against, 258;
    - argument for, 292, 316;
    - Gov't. no right to educate women and refuse representation, 307;
    - Mrs. Stanton on, 316;
    - education must lead to suffrage, 356.
    - See Education.
  - --Ethics of, 20, 43, 69, 80, 81, 116;
    - influence of woman, 117; 119;
    - Mrs. Stanton on, 134;
    - Mrs. Wallace on, 170-1; 254-5;
    - evolution of wom. suff., Mrs. Spencer on, 308.
  - --Expediency of, xxiv; 52;
    - Sen. Vest on, 107; 167; 172;
    - Phillips on, 381.
  - --Federal. See Federal Suffrage.
  - --Illiterate. See Illiteracy.
  - --Indifference of Women. See Indifference.
  - --Justice of, 17, 74, 80, 82, 86, 102, 147, 162, 163, 167-8, 183;
    - Lucy Stone on, 191; 199, 297, 305, 358, 378, 381, 413, 415;
    - Curtis and Hoar on, 428.
  - --Labor and. See Labor.
  - --Legislative Action on. See Legislatures.
  - --Liquor Dealers and. See Liquor Dealers.
  - --Majority of women opposed. See Majority.
  - --Military argument against. See Military.
  - --Motherhood and. See Motherhood.
  - --Ministers for and against. See Ministers, Church and Sermons.
  - --Morality through, xxvi; 18, 22, 24, 39, 43, 67, 115, 120, 136, 308.
  - --Municipal. See Municipal Suffrage.
  - --Nature and, limitations of, 53;
    - Mrs. Stanton on balance of forces, 58;
    - nature opposes, 94;
    - can not reverse laws of, 100;
    - can be trusted, 168;
    - same, 247;
    - severe lessons of, 209.
  - --Need of, 46, 69, 84, 88;
    - Mrs. Wallace on, 119; 125, 134;
    - to offset foreign vote, 148; 153;
    - Senate Com. report, 156;
    - by wives and mothers, 161; 168; 193; 244;
    - by city and State, 306;
    - by home, school and municipality, 379;
    - by the Government, 429; 433.
  - --Negroes and. See Negroes.
  - --Non-partisanship of demand, 38, 80, 81, 143, 173;
    - debate at nat'l. conv. of '97, 280; 344; 409.
  - --Opposition to. See Introduction;
    - of church, State, home and society, Mrs. Stanton on, 177;
    - ignorance of, 276;
    - great obstacles, 371.
    - See also Liquor Dealers, Remonstrants, Congressional Debates and Reports.
  - --Organization for. See Organization.
  - --Petitions for. See Petitions.
  - --Philosophy of, Mrs. Colby on, 254.
    - See also Ethics.
  - --Pioneers of. See Pioneers.
  - --Progress of. See Progress of Wom. Suff. and Equal Rights.
  - --Protection of, 17;
    - Mrs. Stanton on, 41; 44-6, 51, 59, 74, 99, 107, 122, 168, 245, 378, 413;
    - Higginson on, 424; 426; 428.
  - --Qualifications for, Sen. Blair on, 87-91;
    - physical, 51; 94 et seq.
    - See also Military.
  - --Right of. See Right, Suffrage a.
  - --School. See School Suffrage.
  - --Science of, scientific aspect, by Mrs. Gage, 28.
  - --Sermons on. See Sermons.
  - --South and. See South.
  - [Pg 1120]--State's Rights and. See State's Rights.
  - --Taxation and. See Taxation and Taxpayers' Suffrage.
  - --Temperance through, xxvi; 18;
    - Bishop Simpson on, 24; 43;
    - Miss Willard's plea, 141;
    - res. against liquor selling at World's Fair, 186; 196.
  - --in Territories. See chapters on Territories.
  - --Testimony for. See Testimony.
  - --Universal, approved, xxvii;
    - Cong. Com. rep., 54;
    - same, 82;
    - Mrs. Hooker on, 115; 257; 258; 285; 369.
  - --War and. See War.
- Suffrage, Woman,
  - miscellaneous, full résumé of, see Introduction.
  - Amount now possessed and how obtained, xxvii, 34, 461.
  - See also chapters of States and Territories under head of Suffrage.
  - Why denied to woman, xiv et seq.;
  - effect on politics, xix;
  - obstacles to, xx et seq.;
  - future prospects, xxvi et seq.;
  - where taken away, xxvii, 674, 968;
  - attempt of women to vote under 14th Amend., 3 et seq.;
  - capacity for, 13;
  - evolution of, 18;
  - Mrs. Spencer on, 308;
  - scientific view of, 28, 90;
  - practical experience, see Testimony, chapters on States where women vote, also Sen. Palmer on, 68, Sen. Dolph on, 103;
  - dangers of, Sen. Brown on, 96 et seq., Sen. Vest on, 105 et seq., 999 et seq.;
  - danger of withholding, Mrs. Stanton on, 119, 139, Mrs. Wallace on, 172;
  - unequal struggle for, Mrs. Stanton on, 139, 338;
  - men's indifference to, 187;
  - peaceful effort for, 231, 245;
  - industrial emancip. leads to, Carroll D. Wright on, 215;
  - man improved by, 391;
  - immense work of a few for, 449.
  - See Vote, and Presidential, Suffrage; also chapter on Great Britain and her Colonies and Chap. LXXIV.
- Sunday Observance, Mrs. Stanton on, 166; 186; 217.
- Supreme Court Decisions, U. S.,,
  - Dred Scott case defining citizens, 4, 78;
  - on Virginia L. Minor's attempt to vote, 5;
  - Slaughter House Cases, 5;
  - Yarbrough on Federal Suff., 8;
  - on 14th amend., 79; 144; 165;
  - against right of women to practice law, 153;
  - on woman's right to vote, 153;
  - recognizing slavery, 165;
  - Justices of, favoring wom. suff., 1076.
  - --State,
    - on attempt of Miss Anthony, Mrs. Virginia L. Minor and other wom. to vote, 4 et seq.;
    - on Federal Suffrage in Kellar case (Ills), 10;
    - on property rights of women in Calif., 502;
    - on wom. suff. in Calif., 504;
    - on wom. suff. amend. in Ida., 272, 593;
    - on woman's right to vote, to practice law and to sell liquor in Ind., 621-2, 626;
    - on Munic. Suff. in Mich., 765;
    - on Sch. Suff. in N. J., 830;
    - on Sch. Suff. in N. Y., 867;
    - same in O., 883;
    - women's voting on constitn. in Utah, 948;
    - on wom. suff. in Wash., 968-9, 1096;
    - in Wis., 990;
    - Justices of, favoring wom. suff.,
      - Del., 565;
      - Ida., 593, 1089;
      - Kas., 433, 646;
      - Wy., 1090-1-2.

- Tasmania, chapter on, 1033.
- Taxation,
  - without representation, xxxi;
  - in Mass., 34; 38; 65; 66; 97; 148;
  - of women in N. Y., Mass. and Tenn., 240;
  - in Ga., 242;
  - in N. Y., 247, 313, 851;
  - of women helps pay Legislators, 374;
  - women should be relieved of until enfranch., 376;
  - Chicago Teachers' Fed. compels taxation of corporations, 611; 763;
  - in Phila., 900.
- Taxpayers' Suffrage,
  - States where possessed by women, 461.
  - See chapters for those States under Suffrage.
  - --in La., 681;
    - in Miss., 787;
    - in Mont., 799;
    - in N. Y., 869.
    - See also Iowa, 635.
- Teachers,
  - see Education, Public Schools and Universities.
- Territories,
  - demand for wom. suff. in, 417;
  - appeals to Constit'l. Convs. of Dak., Wash., Mont. and Idaho, 439;
  - Mr. Blackwell visits them in interest of wom. suff., 433;
  - have a right to control suff., 1003.
  - See Territorial chapters.
- Testimony, in favor of wom. suff.,
  - from Colorado, 239, 268, 283, 302-3, 338, 356, 383;
  - Kansas, 191;
  - Utah, 261, 283;
  - U. S. Sen. Cannon on, 304;
  - St. Sen. Martha Hughes Cannon on, 319;
  - Washington,
    - U. S. Sen. Palmer on, 68;
    - U. S. Sen. Dolph on, 103, 421, 1096-8;
  - in Wyoming,
    - U. S. Sen. Palmer on, 68,
    - U. S. Sen. Carey on, 117, 181, 200,
    - debate on admission to Statehood, 998 et seq.
  - See Statistics,
    - also Testimony from Wom. Suff. States, beginning p. 1085,
    - State chapters for Colorado, Idaho,[Pg 1121] Kansas, Utah and Wyoming and pp. 1027-1028.

- Universities and Colleges,
  - large number of women in, xxii;
  - women on faculties, 355;
  - Emma Willard's school, geometry in, 355;
  - Mt. Holyoke, Latin in, 355;
  - first Boston High School, 355;
  - President Eliot on girls in Boston Latin School and Radcliffe, 355;
  - Johns Hopkins Medical, 700;
  - Wellesley students for wom. suff., 714;
    - teachers for, 716;
    - same, 726;
  - Smith, same, 716;
  - Girton and Newnham (Eng.), same, 1015;
    - woman suffrage in, 709;
  - Radcliffe, 355, 749;
  - Columbia, 871;
  - Rochester, 871;
  - Brown, 918-20;
  - Oberlin, 884;
  - Antioch, 885;
  - State, closed to wom., 966;
  - open to women in Gr. Brit., 1024;
  - in other countries, 1038 et seq.;
  - presidents of, favoring wom. suff., 1079.
  - See also Education.
- Utah,
  - adopts wom. suff., xxi; 252;
  - visit of Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw in '95, 253;
  - welcomed by Nat'l. Ass'n., 260;
  - organiz'n for wom. suff., 262;
  - gift to Miss Anthony, 390.
  - See State chapter, also Statistics and Testimony.

- Victoria, chapter on, 1031.
- Voices, of women, 240; 334-5.
- Vote,
  - woman's, political complexion of, xviii,
  - not wanted by politicians and others, xix;
  - best women would not vote, 50;
  - they would, 97;
  - they would not, 98;
  - women do vote, 93, 117, 181;
  - first voted in N. J., 19, 830;
  - future woman will be urged to vote, 211.
  - See Statistics, Suffrage, Testimony, and chapters for Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Australia and New Zealand.
  - --of nat'l. conv. on carrying wom. suff. into church, 77;
    - on Woman's Bible, 263;
    - in U. S. Senate on amend. for wom. suff., 112.

- Wages, see Labor and Statistics.
- Wills, see p. 455 and Laws.
- War,
  - hated by women, xix, 84, 208;
  - man's part compared to woman's, 115;
  - woman's part in war, 161-2;
  - first to see advantages of peace, 208;
  - pathetic war for suff., 231, 245;
  - war should have consent of women, 335;
  - women left to fight alone, 338;
  - badly needed in Span. Am., 339;
  - women and the South African, 391.
  - See Military and Soldiers.
  - --Civil, developed woman, 2;
    - results frittered away, 159;
    - woman's part in, 195.
- Washington City,
  - plan to beautify, xxxii;
  - entertains nat'l. suff. convs. from '69, 14;
  - Miss Anthony's preference as a place for holding convs., 218, 351.
  - See accounts of nat'l. convs., Chaps. II-XXII, also chapter on District of Columbia.
- Washington Territory, xxi; xxix;
  - Sen. Dolph on enfranch. of its women, 102;
  - their disfranch. denounced, 155;
  - full account of this, 1096-8.
  - See State chapter, also Statistics and Testimony.
- Wisconsin,
  - Sch. Suff. in, xv;
  - rule of foreigners, 148.
  - See State chapter.
- Womanliness, 52; 88; 95; 106; 160;
  - Mrs. Stanton on, 165; 225; 285; 319; 1086 et seq.
- Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
  - petition for suff., 110; 123;
  - Miss Willard represents before Sen. Com. of '88, 141-2;
  - wom. suff. in '81, 215;
  - at nat'l. conv. of '97, 278.
  - For bills in Legislatures see pp. 451-2, and various State chapters under head of Legislative Action;
    - also Canada, New Zealand and Tasmania;
  - for founding and work, 1045 et seq.;
  - attitude towards wom. suff., 1070.
- Woman's Rights Conventions,
  - demands of first one nearly all granted, xiii;
  - earliest ones held, 14;
  - 40th annivers., 125; 204;
  - 50th anniv., 288;
  - descrip. of, 298-9;
  - compared to Bunker Hill, etc., 397; 1043.
- Workingmen,
  - how enfranchised, xvii, same, 305;
  - in Great Brit., 311;
  - injured by disfranch. women, 312.
  - See Labor.
- Workingwomen,
  - relation of wom. suff. to, 70;
  - Nat'l. Ass'n. demands suff. for, 216.
  - See Labor and Statistics.
- Wyoming,
  - adopts wom. suff., xxi;
  - Nat'l. Ass'n. congratulates on admission, 176;
  - gavel from, 238; 252;
  - visit of Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw, 253;
  - compared to Switzerland, 282;
  - gift and trib. to Miss Anthony on 80th birthday, 400;
  - petits. Cong. for 16th amend., 448;
  - debate in Cong. on admission, 998 et seq.
  - See State chapter, also Statistics and Testimony.

### FOOTNOTES:

[502] It has been impossible to index every paper named in the History, and only those are given of which special mention is made.

[Pg 1122]

## INDEX OF PROPER NAMES.

In order that the following Index may not be overburdened with names, it has seemed best not to include those of officers and workers in the various States unless they are listed in some capacity elsewhere. While this decision causes injustice in some cases, it will be approved when it is considered that in the Massachusetts chapter, for instance, about 600 different individuals are mentioned, some of them a score of times; in those of New York and California, over 300 each, and in that of Vermont, including only seven pages, nearly 150. With half-a-dozen exceptions the State chapters are very short and it will require only a few minutes for the reader to find any name desired. Most of the prominent State workers are mentioned elsewhere and therefore are listed. Even with this arrangement the Index contains almost 1200 names.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

- Abbott, Dr. Lyman, 742.
- Abbott, Mrs. Lyman, organizes anti-suff. soc., 850.
- Abbott, Merrie Hoover, contest for office of pros. att'y., 770.
- Aberdeen, Ishbel, Countess of, 301;
  - compliments Amer. wom., 353; 354.
- Adams, Abigail, on female education, 354;
  - courtship, 422.
- Adams, Gov. Alva, 302;
  - talks suff. to Fed. of Clubs, 530; 533;
  - on wom. suff. in Col., 1087.
- Adams, Judge Francis G., 641;
  - statistics of wom. suff. in Kas., 660.
- Adams, Pearl, 27.
- Adams, Samuel, on representation, 66.
- Addams, Jane, 608; 718.
- Adkinson, Florence M., 432; 617; 707.
- Adsit, Mrs. Allen C., 322.
- Alabama, names for, Chap. XXV.
- Alcott, Louisa M., in favor of wom. suff., 411; 431; 702.
- Alden, Cynthia Westover, 1052.
- Alderson, Mary Long, writes Mont. chap., 796.
- Aldridge, George W., 845.
- Alford, William H., 488.
- Allen, C. E., M. C., 260;
  - on wom. suff. platform, 261; 949.
- Allen, Mrs. C. E., 260.
- Allen, U. S. Sen. John B., 158;
  - favors wom. suff., 162;
  - reports in favor, 201.
- Altgeld, Gov. John P. (Ills.), 606.
- Ambrose, James Clement, 802.
- Ames, Rev. Charles G., 425;
  - in Mass., 707 et al., 712.
- Ames, Fanny B., 717.
- Ames, Gov. Oliver (Mass.), 259; 433;
  - recom. wom. suff. in message, 706;
  - same, 723; 718; 727.
- Amies, Olive Pond, 201.
- Anderson, Mrs. Garrett, M. D., (Eng.), 1015.
- Anderson, Martha Scott, 331; 774.
- Anderson, Naomi, 490; 646.
- Anderson, St. Rep. Sarah A. (Utah), 953.
- Andrews, Bishop E. G., 206.
- Andrews, Elisha Benjamin, Pres. Brown Univ.,
  - works for admis. of wom., 919.
- Andrews, St. Speaker N. L., wom. suff. in Wy., 1091.
- Anneke, Mathilde F., 61;
  - work in Wis., 987.
- Anthony, Col. Daniel Reed, 174; 645.
- Anthony, Gov. George T. (Kas.), opp. wom. suff., 649.
- Anthony, U. S. Sen. Henry B., 24;
  - rep. in favor of wom. suff., 47; 61; 89.
- Anthony Lucy E., 239; 392;
  - in Calif, camp'n., 48;, 707; 900.
- Anthony, Mary S., 298;
  - work in N. Y., 849 et al.
- Anthony, Susan B., prepares Hist. of Wom. Suff., III;
  - rec. legacy for, V;
  - purchases rights of Mrs. Stanton and Mrs. Gage and puts book in libraries, resigns presidency of Nat'l. Assn., VI;
  - secures money for[Pg 1123] Vol. IV and invites Mrs. Harper to write it, VII;
  - demands on her for inform., IX;
  - tries to prevent "male" in Nat'l. Constit., 2;
  - trial for voting, 4;
  - no faith in attempt for Fed. Suff., 11;
  - winter res. in Washt'n., 12;
  - forms Nat'l. Ass'n., 14;
  - issues call for conv. of '84, 15; 17;
  - arouses interest of Eng. wom., 21;
  - disgrace of disfranchisement, 27;
  - never wrote addresses, 28;
  - writes to 112 M. C.'s, 35; 36;
  - pleads for 16th Amend, before U. S. Senate Com., 40;
  - before House Com., 42; 56;
  - opp. relig. debate in wom. suff. conv., 59; 62;
  - describes first suff. meet. in Washt'n., 70; 71; 77;
  - on Sup. Ct. decisions, 78;
  - arrested under Fed. Law for voting, 79; 81;
  - on congress'l action on wom. suff., 112; 114;
  - world needed her, 120;
  - originates Int'l Council, 124;
  - issues call, 126;
  - edits report, 127;
  - opens Council, 133; 135; 136;
  - elected vice-pres., 137;
  - before Senate com. in '88, 140;
  - opens conv. of '89, 144; 150;
  - describes efforts to vote under 14th Amend., 152;
  - conv. res. on outrage of her trial, 155;
  - at Com. hearings, 156;
  - wom. in war, 162;
  - 70th birthday, 163;
  - demands free platform, 169;
  - as presiding officer, 173;
  - elected vice-pres. of united ass'ns., 174;
  - puts Int'l Council Report in libraries, 175;
  - opens conv. of '91, 176; 180;
  - Miss Shaw tells treatment of in S. D. Rep. Conv., 182; 184; 185;
  - elected pres. Nat'l. Am. Ass'n., 186;
  - winter home at Riggs House, 188;
  - before House Com., 189;
  - compliments Sen. Hoar, 201; 202;
  - opens memorial service of '93, 203;
  - young wom. should apprec. pioneers, 204;
  - gains of forty years, 207;
  - World's Fair Bd. Lady M'g'rs., 211;
  - on Bd. M'g'rs. N. Y. St. Indust. Sch., 213;
  - refused seat on W. C. T. U. platform in '81, 215;
  - on publishing paper, 216;
  - opp. to convs. outside of Washt'n., 218;
  - flag present, by Col. women, 222;
  - every inch of ground contested, 223;
  - Suff. Ass'n. knows no section, creed or party, 224;
  - spicy introductions, 225; 227;
  - part in securing World's Fair Bd. Lady M'g'rs., 233;
  - wom. never can vote under present Constit'n., 234;
  - introd. Kate Field, 235; 236;
  - rare qualities as presid. officer, 238;
  - examples of repartee, 239, 40, 41;
  - trib. in Atlanta conv., 241;
  - young wom. know it all, 249;
  - announces nat'l. hdqrs., 250;
  - spks. in Southern cities, 251;
  - forgets prayer at conv., 252;
  - Miss Shaw tells of their visit to Western cities, 253;
  - Miss A. jokes younger wom. on holding her bonnet, on getting crosswise with newspapers, 254; 257;
  - spks. at mem. serv. of '96, 260;
  - birthday luncheon, 262;
  - sp. on Woman's Bible, 263; 265;
  - before House Com. of '96, 267; 268;
  - at Des Moines conv. in '97, 271;
  - sp. at same, 272;
  - trib. of Leader, 273;
  - on desecrating the flag, 278; 279;
  - on partisanship, 281; 286; 287;
  - opens conv. of '98, 288;
  - birthday luncheon in '98, 291; 293;
  - with Mrs. Hooker at conv. of '98, 296; 298;
  - congrat. on 78th birthday, 300; 301; 304; 318;
  - before House com. of '98, 321;
  - sp. at conv. of '99, on wom. in our new possessions, 325; 327; 328; 331;
  - on wom. in Hawaii, 333;
  - on women's voices, 334; 335; 337;
  - a criminal, 339;
  - all wom. can help, 341; 342;
  - decides to resign presidency of Nat'l. Ass'n., 349;
  - vigor at, conv. of 1900, 350;
  - appearance and opening remarks, Miss Shaw tells of her recep. in London, and relates funny story, 351;
  - rep. as delegate to Int'l. Council of '99, 352;
  - describes recep. by Queen, value of representing something, 354;
  - introd. Mr. Blackwell, 357; 359; 360; 364;
  - clears ass'n. of debt, need to watch Congress, 365; 367;
  - sp. before Senate com. of '99, 373;
  - asks hearing for "antis," 381;
  - kindness repudiated, 382-3;
  - courtesy of Pres. and Mrs. McKinley, 384;
  - urged not to resign presidency, 385;
  - insists upon doing so, res. passed by ass'n., her response, 386;
  - always in office, 387;
  - introd. her successor, 388;
  - elected hon. pres., and presented with birthday gifts, 389;
  - Post describes occasion, 390; 391; 392;
  - introd. her old board and makes farewell sp., description by Post, 393;
  - 80th birthday celebration in Lafayette opera house, gifts and tributes, her acknowledgment, 394-404;
  - evening recep. in Corcoran Art Gallery, description of Miss Anthony, hour of triumph, 404-5; 426;
  - first app. at nat'l. polit. conv., 435;
  - at Nat'l. Repub. conv. in '92, 436;
  - at Nat'l. Popu. conv. in '92, 437;
  - vast numb. of convs. attended, 439;
  - political work in 1900, 440; 443;
  - [Pg 1124]letters to convs., 445;
  - ad. labor convs., 446;
  - trib. of Brewers' nat'l. conv., 447;
  - in Ala., 465;
  - spks. in Ark., 475;
  - at Calif. Wom. Cong., 480; 482; 486;
  - in Calif. camp'n., 487;
  - same, 489;
  - same, 490;
  - same, 500;
  - on Mexicans in Col., 514; 517;
  - visits Denver, 530;
  - in Conn., 535; 546;
  - plan of work to secure suff. amdt., 547;
  - lect. tour of S. D., 553; 554;
  - in S. D. camp'n., 555;
  - Russian voters oppose, goes before K. of L. and Farmers' Alliance, 556;
  - in Ga., 583;
  - in Ills., 598;
  - telegram to Idaho, 590;
  - in Ind., 615;
  - same, 616;
  - before Ind. Legis., 618;
  - in Iowa, 629;
  - same, 630;
  - work in Kas., 640;
  - tour of Kas., 641;
  - in Kas. camp'n., 643;
  - same, 644; 645; 646; 648; 649;
  - hears of munic. wom. suff. in Kas., 651;
  - in New Orleans, 678;
  - second visit, 679;
  - in Maine, 690;
  - in Baltimore, 695;
  - in Boston, 706; 708;
  - at Adams, 718; 755;
  - in Mich., 756;
  - same, 757;
  - in Ann Arbor, 758;
  - before Fed. of Labor in Detroit, 759;
  - before Mich. Legis., 764;
  - in Minn., 772-3;
  - in Mo., 790;
  - welcome from children in St. Louis and banq., 791-2;
  - in Neb., 802-3;
  - in Nev., 810-11;
  - pioneer work in N. Y., 839;
  - welcome home from S. D., 841;
  - defends pioneers, 843;
  - welcome home from Calif., 844;
  - face carved in N. Y. capitol, 845; 846;
  - refused by N. Y. Repubs. as delegate, 848;
  - work in N. Y. const'l. conv., 849;
  - same, 851;
  - early legis. work in N. Y., 852;
  - work for equal guardianship, 857;
  - last ap. before N. Y. legis. com., 859;
  - secures admis. of girls to Roch. Univ., 871;
  - in Ore., 892;
  - in Penn., 899;
  - in R. I., 907; 910;
  - at Pembroke Hall, Prov., 920;
  - in S. C., 922;
  - in Tenn., 926;
  - in Utah, 936;
  - welcomes Utah wom., 937;
  - in Omaha, 939;
  - teleg. to Utah, 942;
  - same, 944;
  - in Utah, 947;
  - Utah ass'n. presents silk dress, 950;
  - in Va., 964;
  - in Wis., 985-6;
  - same, 989; 995;
  - hears deb. on Wy., 1000;
  - hears of its admis., 1003;
  - requests celebration, 1004;
  - visits Wy., 1005; 1007.
- Arizona, names for, Chap. XXVI.
- Arkansas, names for, Chap. XXVII.
- Armstrong, St. Sen. W. W., for wom. suff. in N. Y. Legis., 859-61-62.
- Arthur, President Chester A., receives delegates, 18; 74.
- Ashman, Judge William N., in Del., 564;
  - work in Penn., 899; 904.
- Atchison, Prof. Rena Michaels, 606.
- Athey, Eunice Pond, 287;
  - writes Idaho chap., 589;
  - in Ore., 892.
- Atkinson, Gov. W. Y. (Ga.), 583; 587.
- Atkinson, Mrs. W. Y., 251.
- Auckland, Bishop of (N. Z.), for wom. suff., 1027.
- Auclert, Hubertine (France), 23; 27.
- Austin, Dr. Harriet N., 205.
- Australia, 1027 et seq.
- Avery, Rachel Foster, 19; 27; 61; 124;
  - arranges for Int'l. Council of Wom., 125;
  - issues call, 126; 128;
  - arranges Miss Anthony's birthday celebr., 163;
  - elected secy. united ass'ns., 174;
  - rep. of Council, 175; 218;
  - advoc. movable convs., 219;
  - rep. on Miss Anthony's efforts for Bd. of Lady Mgrs., 232;
  - opens headqrs., 257;
  - eulogy of Mr. Sewall, 259;
  - rep. of Atlanta Expos., 262;
  - ass'n. makes gift for 21 yrs. as sec'y., 387; 389; 443; 554;
  - in Del., 563;
  - at Ga. Expos., 582;
  - work for World's Fair Wom. Cong., 610;
  - in Kas., 640-1;
  - contrib. to Kas. camp'n, 642;
  - in N. J., 826; 900.
- Avery, Susan Look, 612.

B

- Babcock, Elnora Monroe, press work, 326; 342;
  - press rep., 1900, 365;
  - press work in N. Y., 844.
- Bacon, Elizabeth D., writes Conn. chap., 535; 536.
- Bagby, Fannie M., 18.
- Bagley, Frances, 345.
- Bailey, Hannah J., 201.
- Baker, B. P., 417.
- Baker, Charles S., M. C., 998.
- Balderston, William, 319;
  - writes Idaho chapter, 589;
  - trib. to, 590.
- Balfour, Hon. A. J., Premier of England, 1016; 1020.
- Balfour, Lady Frances (Eng.), pres. suff. soc., 1020.
- Balgarnie, Florence (Eng.), 179; 642; 708; 790.
- Ballard, Adelaide, 271; 279;
  - work in Iowa, 631; 803.
- Banker, George W. and Henrietta M., 366.
- Banks, Rev. Louis A., sp. at Amer. conv. of '86, 421;
  - in R. I., 910;
  - in Vt., 957.
- Barber, Gov. Amos W., on wom. suff. in Wy., 1007.
- Barrett, Mrs. L. B., 410.
- Barrows, Anna, household professions for wom., 357.
- Barrows, Isabel C., Miss Anthony as philanthropist, 354; 739.
- [Pg 1125]Barrows, Samuel J., M.C., 297; 703; 712.
- Barry, James K., 479.
- Barry, Leonora M. (See Lake).
- Barry, St. Rep. Dr. Mary F. (Col.), 523.
- Bartlett, Rev. Caroline J. (See Crane).
- Bartol, Emma J., donat. to Vol. IV Hist, of Wom. Suff., VII; 900.
- Barton, Clara, at Int'l Council of Wom., 136; 150; 205; 393;
  - trib. to Mrs. Gage, 429;
  - for wom. suff., 569; 576;
  - in Boston, 705; 895; 911;
  - pres. Red Cross Ass'n., 1048.
- Bascom, Emma C., 61; 75.
- Bates, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct., Emma (N. D.), 551.
- Bates, Lieut. Gov. John L. (Mass.), for wom. suff., 718.
- Bates, Dr. Mary H. Barker, 341.
- Bates, Octavia W., on wom. in our new possessions, 331.
- Battersea, Lady (Eng.), 354.
- Beasley, Marie Wilson, 322.
- Bebel, August (Germany), 329.
- Beck, U. S. Senator James B., opp. wom, suff., 157.
- Becker, Lydia (Eng.), 22; 1015; 1023.
- Begg, Faithfull, M. P. (Eng.), work for wom. suff., 1017; 1018.
- Begole, Gov. Josiah W. (Mich.), 755.
- Belden, Evelyn H., wom. and war, 339; 632;
  - legis. work in Iowa, 634; 774; 804.
- Belford, James B., M. C., spks. for wom. suff., 32.
- Bell, John C., M. C., on wom. suff. in Col., 390; 524.
- Benjamin, Mrs. A. S., 324.
- Bennett, Sallie Clay, 6; 16;
  - on Bible for wom. suff., 71;
  - before U. S. Sen. Com., 138;
  - same, 162; 174;
  - wom. suff. under Const'n, 234; 235; 290;
  - work in Ky., 665.
- Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury) Mrs., petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
- Besant, Annie (Eng.), 220; 709.
- Beveridge, U. S. Sen. Albert J., for wom. suff., 616.
- Bieber-Bohm, Hanna (Germany), 301.
- Biggs, Caroline Ashurst (Eng.), 22; 27; 176; 1012; 1015.
- Bingham, Chief Justice Edward F., (D. C.), 574.
- Birney, Mrs. Theodore W., 1052.
- Bissell, Emily P., fears chivalry of men, 382;
  - in Ore., 895.
- Bissell, Mrs. M. R., 323.
- Bittenbender, Ada M., 802; 808.
- Blackburn, Helen, 319; 369;
  - writes chap. for Great Britain, 1012.
- Blackstone, commentaries, 456.
- Blackwell, Alice Stone, 156; 173-4;
  - sp. before U. S. Sen. Com., 197; 218;
  - rep. of conv. of '94, 221; 235;
  - rep. of conv. of '95, 236; 243; 263; 276;
  - at conv. of '97, 281; 291;
  - before House com. of '98, 320; 357;
  - answers "remonstrants" at com. hearings, 383;
  - chap. on Amer. Suff. Ass'n., 406; 443;
  - furnishes material for Mass. chap., 701; 712 et al.;
  - in N. H., 816;
  - in N. Y., 844;
  - before N. Y. legis. com., 863; 920;
  - in Vt., 957.
- Blackwell, Rev. Antoinette Brown, 128;
  - on first Wom. Rights conv., 292; 298; 337;
  - mem. res. at conv. of '99, 344; 425; 426;
  - in Boston, 708;
  - work in N. J., 820 et al.;
  - in N. Y., 844.
- Blackwell, Dr. Elizabeth, 300; 320; 355;
  - in Eng., 1015.
- Blackwell, Dr. Emily, 707.
- Blackwell, Henry B., at conv. of '90, 169; 173; 183; 189; 205; 207;
  - reads last let. of Lucy Stone to conv. of '93, 213; 219; 226;
  - reminis. of Lucy Stone, 227;
  - opp. Fed. Suff., 234; 235;
  - wom. suff. and negro problem, 246; 259; 263; 265;
  - at conv. of '97, 280;
  - on Presidential Suff., 286; 294; 298;
  - Wom. Suff. and Home, 315;
  - on wom. in uncivilized nations, 332;
  - attraction of early convs., 357;
  - res. on Miss Anthony's resignation, 386; 408;
  - reports res., 409; 415; 417; 418; 425;
  - value of woman's vote, 429;
  - at Nat'l. Repub. conv. of '96, 439;
  - work for Ariz., 470;
  - in N. D., 545; 553;
  - in S. D. camp'n., 555;
  - in Ind., 614;
  - in Iowa, 628-9;
  - same, 630;
  - in Kas., 638;
  - same, 640;
  - in Maine, 689;
  - sec'y. N. E. and Mass. Ass'ns., 701;
  - work in Mass., 704 et al.;
  - anniv. Boston Tea Party, 913;
  - at Nat'l. Conv. Rep. Clubs in '93, 713;
  - same in '94, 714;
  - 70th birthday, 715; 720;
  - legis. work in Mass., 721;
  - in Mich., 755; 759;
  - in Minn., 772;
  - in St. Louis, 791;
  - in Mont., 797;
  - in N. H., 816;
  - in N. J., 827;
  - in N. Y., 842;
  - in Penn., 899;
  - in R. I., 907;
  - same, 910;
  - in Vt., 957-8;
  - same, 960;
  - in Wash., 969; 973.
- Blaine, U. S. Sen. James G., 325.
- Blair, U. S. Sen. Henry W., 10; 24;
  - signs fav. rep. on wom. suff., 47;
  - great sp. in U. S. Senate in favor of enfranch. wom., 86; 93;
  - in Senate debate, 110;
  - sp. on Fed. Suff. for Wom., 144;
  - debt of wom. to, 157;
  - [Pg 1126]right of wom. to suff., 162, 164,
  - in N. H., 815, 816.
- Blake, Lillie Devereux, at conv. of '84, 17,
  - before U. S. Sen. Com., 39, 57,
  - plan of work, 62,
  - Rights of Men, 114, 123, 150, 173, 182, 184, 221,
  - trib. to Lucy Stone, 226, 242, 243,
  - legislative rep., 248, 251, 263, 265, 290, 298,
  - voting of soldiers, 335,
  - legis. rep. at conv. of '99, 342,
  - const'l argument before House com., 1900, 374,
  - withdraws as candidate for pres., 387,
  - at Nat'l Repub. conv. of '96, 439,
  - in Calif., 478, 513,
  - in N. D., 546, 553,
  - in N. J., 822,
  - assists on N. Y. chap, work in N. Y., 839 et al.,
  - legis work in N. Y., 853 et al.,
  - Pilgrim Moth Dinner, 873,
  - in N. C., 874, 920,
  - in S. C., 922.
- Blanchard, Henry D. D., 689, 705.
- Blankenburg, Lucretia Longshore, 18, 227, 231,
  - in N. J., 826,
  - writes Penn. chap., work in Penn., 898 et al.,
  - work for guardianship law, 902.
- Blatch, Harriot Stanton (Eng.), 135,
  - at conv. of '90, 167,
  - before U. S. Senate com. of '98, wom. and economics, 310,
  - wom. suff. in England, 368,
  - wom. and war, 391,
  - brings her mother's greeting on Miss Anthony's birthday, 402,
  - in N. Y., 845,
  - same, 861.
- Bleckley, Chief Justice Logan E. (Ga.), 585.
- Blinn, Nellie Holbrook, 480,
  - legislative work, 484, 617.
- Bliss Gov. Aaron T. (Mich.), 770.
- Blodgett, Mrs. Delos A., 322.
- Bloomer, Amelia, 250; 295.
- Bloomer, Nevada, case for wom. suff. in Wash. 968,
  - same, 1098.
- Blount, Lucia E., 183.
- Blue, Richard W., M. C., 150,
  - for wom. suff. in Kas., 422, 649.
- Bogelot, Isabelle (France), 135.
- Bok, Edward W., 229.
- Bolles, Ellen M., 200, 711; 720;
  - work in R. I., 908 et al.
- Bowditch, Hon. William I, 23, 702, 713.
- Bowles, Rev. Ada C., 61; 128; 425, 723, 772,
  - in R. I., 910;
  - in Vt., 957.
- Boyd, Annie Caldwell, writes W. Va. chap., work in W. Va., 980 et al.
- Boyd, Gov. James E. (Neb), opp. wom. suff., 212.
- Boyden, Sarah J., 746.
- Boyer, Ida Porter, 291;
  - press work in Penn., 898.
- Boyer, Sarah A., 262.
- Brackett, Gov J. Q. A. (Mass.), 718.
- Bradford, Mary C. C., 279,
  - at conv. of '97, 282, 284,
  - effects of wom. suff. in Col., 356, 368,
  - in Col., 514,
  - in Del., 564,
  - in Ida., 592,
  - in La., 680,
  - in Md., 696,
  - in Miss., 783,
  - in St. Louis, 791,
  - in N. J., 825, 826,
  - in Penn., 899,
  - in Utah, 947.
- Bradford, Atty. Gen. S. B., 660, 762.
- Bradley Gov. William O. (Ky.), 673.
- Bradwell, Myra B., contest for right of wom. to practice law, 152, 227, 250, 295.
- Bray, Olive P., 417, 639.
- Breeden, Rev. H. O., welcomes nat'l. conv. to Des Moines, 270.
- Brehm, Mane, 619.
- Brent, Margaret, 363,
  - first wom. to ask suff., 695.
- Bright, Jacob, M. P., 22, 353, 1020.
- Bright, Mrs. Jacob, 22.
- Bristol Augusta Cooper, 617.
- Bristol, Rev. Frank M., 366.
- Broderick, Case, M. C., 231.
- Broderick, Jennie, 220.
- Brooks, Mrs. (Neb.), 77.
- Brooks, Bishop Phillips, 203;
  - for wom. suff., 704, 911.
- Brotherton, Alice Williams, 164.
- Brougham, Lord, 292.
- Brown, Corinne S., 184.
- Brown, Mrs. F. A., 1058.
- Brown, Gov. John Young (Ky.), 670.
- Brown, U. S. Senator Joseph E., rep. against wom. suff., 47, 90,
  - sp. in U. S. Senate against wom. suff., 93,
  - Mrs. Stanton's comment, 113, 157.
- Brown, Martha McClellan, 17, 173, 428.
- Brown, U. S. Dist. Atty. Melville C., wom. suff. in Wy., 994, 997, 1091.
- Brown, Rev. Olympia, 27, 61, 75,
  - sp. on Rule of Foreigners, 147, 156; 157, 164, 171, 173,
  - in S. D. camp'n, 555, 630,
  - in Minn., 772,
  - writes Wis. chap., work in Wis., 985 et al.
- Brown, Mrs. William Thayer, 610.
- Browne, Thomas M., M. C., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 52.
- Brownell, Dean Louise, 353.
- Bruce, U. S. Sen. Blanche K., for wom. suff., 231.
- Bryan, William J., 439.
- Buck, Rev. Florence, 297.
- Buckley, James M., D. D., opp. to wom. in ministry, 207;
  - opp. wom. suff. at Chautauqua, 842.
- Buckley, Dean Julia, sch. work in N. J., 834.
- Budd, Gov James H. (Cal.), 480; 486, 504.
- Buell, Caroline B., 256.
- Burns, Frances E., 324.
- [Pg 1127]Burr, Frances Ellen, rep. nat'l conv. of '85, 58; 174;
  - in Conn., 536.
- Burrows, Frances P. (Mrs. Julius C.), 322; 395; 568; 575
- Burt, Mary T., work in N. Y. camp'n., 850 et al.; 856.
- Bush, Abigail, let. to conv. of '98, 298; 345.
- Butler, Gov. Benjamin F. (Mass.), on right of wom. to vote, 204; 718.
- Butt, Hala Hammond, before House com. of 1900, 378;
  - writes Miss. chap., work in Miss., 703 et al.
- Butters, Lieut.-Gov. Archibald (Mich.), favors wom. suff., 765.
- Butterworth, Hezekiah, 717.
- Buxton, Ida M., in Mass., 703;
  - in Vt., 957.

C

- Cabot, Mrs. J. Elliott, pres. anti-suff. ass'n., 741 et al.
- Caine, John T., M. C., 941.
- Caine, Margaret N., 941.
- California, names for, Chap. XXVII.
- Callanan, James C., 270.
- Callanan, Martha C., entertains Nat'l Suff. Com., 270; 629; 630.
- Campbell, Helen, 727.
- Campbell, Jane, in N. J., 822;
  - same, 826;
  - work in Penn., 899 et al.
- Campbell, Gov. John A., 994;
  - wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
- Campbell, Margaret W., 411;
  - don't class wom. with slaves, 415; 425;
  - in Iowa, 628 et al.
- Campbell, St. Sen. R. B., 784.
- Canada, names for, 1034.
- Candler, Gov. Allan C. (Ga.), 585.
- Cannon, U. S. Sen. Frank J., 260;
  - spks. for wom. suff., 261; 304; 949.
- Cannon, Mrs. Frank J., 260.
- Cannon, Cong. Del. George Q., 937; 941; 943.
- Cannon, St. Sen. Martha Hughes, 301;
  - before House com. of '98, wom. suff. in Utah, 319;
  - work in Utah Senate, 953.
- Capen, Elmer Hewett, pres. Tufts Coll., for wom. suff., 727.
- Carey, U. S. Sen. Joseph M., on wom. suff. in Wyo., 117;
  - admission as State with wom. suff., 180; 189; 207; 224; 318; 433; 710;
  - before N.Y. Constit'l. Conv., 851;
  - fight for admis. of Wy., 998-9; 1005;
  - testimony for wom. suff., 1006; 1090.
- Carey, Mrs. Joseph M., 117; 184;
  - sends petit. from Wy., 449;
  - entertains Miss Anthony, 1005; 1007.
- Carpenter, Frank G., 164.
- Carpenter, Mrs. Rathbone, 322.
- Carroll, Anna Ella, services in Civil War, 26;
  - efforts for, by Nat'l Ass'n., 183; 234; 416; 568.
- Carruth, Prof. W. H., sp. at Amer. conv. of '86, 420;
  - in Kas., 638;
  - statistics of wom. suff. in Kas., 660; 706;
  - in Boston, 715; 725;
  - in Vt., 958.
- Carruth, Mrs. W. H., 715.
- Cary, Alice, 295.
- Cary, Phoebe, 295; 400.
- Cassidy, Jessie J. (See Saunders).
- Castle, St. Sen. Miles B., 426; 612; 630.
- Caswell, Lucien B., M. C., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 84;
  - same, 163.
- Catt, Carrie Chapman, first appearance on nat'l platform, 169; 187;
  - before U. S. Sen. Com., 194; 213;
  - presents flag to Miss Anthony, 223; 229; 245;
  - rep. to conv. of '95, 248; 250; 254;
  - to conv. of '96, 256; 263;
  - sp. at conv. of '97, 274; 279; 284;
  - organiz'n. rep. to conv. of '98, 289;
  - to conv. of '99, 342; 346;
  - to conv. of 1900, 365;
  - before Senate com. of 1900, 369;
  - elected nat'l pres., 387;
  - introd. by Miss Anthony, sp. of acceptance, trib. to Miss A., 388;
  - press notices, 389;
  - presents Miss A. with birthday gifts, 389;
  - sp. on three I's, 392;
  - presides at birthday celebr., 396; 400; 443;
  - at Dem. Nat'l conv. of 1900, 444; 449;
  - in Ala., 465;
  - work in Ariz., 471:
  - rep. of work in Ariz., 472; 482; 483; 490;
  - in Colo. camp'n., 514;
  - visits Denver, 530; 535; 546; 547;
  - in S. D. camp'n., 555; 558; 563;
  - before Del. constit'l. conv., 564;
  - in Ga., 583;
  - in Idaho camp'n., 591; 592;
  - in Ills., 599; 616;
  - in Iowa, 629 et al.;
  - in Kas., 642;
  - same, 644; 645; 646; 648;
  - in Ky., 667;
  - before La. constit'l. conv., 680;
  - in Maine, 690;
  - in Md., 696; 710; 713;
  - in Mich., 757;
  - same, 758; 759;
  - in Minn., 773; 774;
  - in Miss., 783; 784;
  - in St. Louis, 791;
  - same, 792;
  - in Mont., 796;
  - same, 797;
  - in Neb., 804;
  - in Nev., 811;
  - in N. H., 816; 817;
  - in N. J., 822;
  - same, 825;
  - same, 826;
  - in N. M., 836;
  - in N. Y., 843;
  - in N. Y. camp'n., 849;
  - in N. Y., 860;
  - in O., 879;
  - same, 880;
  - in Ok., 886;
  - rep. of legis. work in Ok., 887;
  - in Penn., 899;
  - in Tenn., 926;
  - same, 927;
  - in Utah, 949;
  - in Vt., 957; 973;
  - in Wash., 976;
  - in W. Va., 980;
  - same, 981.
- Catt, George W., 262.
- Caulfield, Anna, 336.
- [Pg 1128]Chace, Elizabeth Buffum, work in R.I., 907 et al.
- Chace, U. S. Sen. Jonathan, III; rep. in favor of wom. suff., 156.
- Chamberlain, Ella C, 240; 577.
- Chanler, Margaret Livingston, work in N. Y., 843 et al.
- Channing, Dr. William Ellery, 427.
- Chant, Laura Ormiston (Eng.), 135;
  - before U. S. Sen. com., 139; 163; 169;
  - in Col., 516;
  - in Boston, 705, 711.
- Chapin, Augusta, D. D., 718.
- Chapman, Maria Weston, 227.
- Chapman, Mariana W., 240; 290;
  - before U. S. Senate com. of '98, wom. as taxpayers, 313;
  - in N. J., 825;
  - assists on N. Y. chap., 840;
  - work in N. Y., 844 et al.
- Chase, Chief Justice Salmon P., for wom. suff., 1076.
- Chase, Florence Adele, writes chapter for D. C, 567.
- Chase, Mary N., in N. H., 816;
  - in Vt., 957.
- Cheney, Ednah D., in Ky., 665;
  - work in Mass., 702; 704; 712 et al.
- Chichester, Dean of (Eng.), 320.
- Child, Lydia Maria, 227; 295.
- Childs, George W., 75;
  - trib. to, 227.
- Choate, Hon. Joseph H., defeats wom. suff. in N. Y. Constit'l. Conv., 852.
- Christiansen, Gen. C. T., 843.
- Claflin, Adelaide A., 425;
  - work in Mass., 703 et al.;
  - in R. I., 910.
- Chaflin, Gov. William (Mass.), for wom. suff., 715; 718; 727.
- Clapp, Eliza J., 286.
- Clapp, Atty.-Gen. Moses E. (Minn.), ad. suff. conv., 772.
- Clark, U. S. Sen. Clarence D., presents wom. suff. bill, 7;
  - wom. suff. in Wy., 1092.
- Clark, George W., sings at conv., 19.
- Clark, James G., 295; 415; 422; 802.
- Clark, U. S. Sen. William A., 797.
- Clarke, Alice Judah, assists on Ind., chap., 614.
- Clarke, Prof. Benjamin Franklin, of Brown Univ., 919.
- Clarke, Dr. E. H., on education, 355.
- Clarke, James Freeman, D. D., 146; 412; 431; 702;
  - petit. for wom. suff. in '57, 721.
- Clarkson, U. S. Ass't. P. M. Gen. James S., wom. suff. in Col., 1086.
- Clay, Laura, 174; 216; 219;
  - trib. to Lucy Stone, 226;
  - non-partisans, 280; 290;
  - before U. S. Senate com. of '98, wom. suff. and physical develop., 309; 430; 616; 630;
  - writes Ky. chap., 665;
  - work in Ky., 665 et al.;
  - in New Orleans, 680;
  - in N. C., 874;
  - in S. C., 922;
  - in Tenn., 927.
- Clay, Mary B., 15;
  - before House com., 44; 150; 341;
  - at Amer. conv., '84, 407; 426;
  - work in Ky., 665; 761.
- Clemmer, Mary, 295.
- Cleveland, President Grover, 123;
  - receives Intl. Council of Wom., 127; 840; 1097.
- Cleveland, Mrs. Grover, rec. Intl. Council of Wom., 127; 265.
- Clopton, Virginia Clay, 466;
  - in Tenn., 927.
- Clough, Gov. D. M. (Minn.), ad. suff. conv., 773.
- Cobbe, Frances Power (Eng.), 21; 26.
- Cobden, Jane (See Unwin).
- Cobden, Richard, for wom. suff., 21.
- Cockburn, Sir John, Premier S. Austr., for wom. suff., 1028.
- Cockrell, U. S. Sen. Francis Marion, rep. against worn, suff., 47; 90; 93;
  - ridiculed by Mrs. Stanton, 113.
- Codman, Mrs. James M., anti-suff., 716.
- Coffeen, Henry A., M. C., 231.
- Coffin, Charles Carleton, 724.
- Coggeshall, Mary J., 629; 633.
- Cohen, Elizabeth, polit. deleg., 439.
- Coke, Lord, 376.
- Colby, Clara Bewick, 6;
  - res. against creeds and dogmas, 58;
  - sp. on same, 59;
  - plan of work, 62;
  - wom. suff. and labor question, 70;
  - on the church, 76;
  - describes campn. in Neb., 80; 117; 122;
  - Wom. Trib. during Intl. Council, 126;
  - wom. in marriage, 151; 157; 162; 183; 184; 187;
  - on Wyoming, 200;
  - on Fed. Suff., 218; 219; 234; 235; 239; 240; 247;
  - mem. res. at conv. of '95, 250;
  - philos. of wom., suff., 254; 263;
  - mem. res. at conv. of '97, 275-6; 279;
  - on Wyoming, 282; 292;
  - mem. res. at conv. of '98, 293; 331; 337;
  - mem. serv. at conv. of '99, 345; 360;
  - work with Congress, 367;
  - descript. of Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 306;
  - in S. D. campn., 555; 592;
  - in Kas., 639; 640; 642;
  - in Ky, 666;
  - in New Orleans, 679; 719;
  - in Mich., 757; 759; 761;
  - work in Neb., 802 et al.;
  - in Utah, 940;
  - in Wash., 970;
  - in Wis., 986;
  - statistics from Wy., 1094.
- Colcord, Gov. Roswell K. (Nev.), recom. wom. suff. amdt, 813.
- Colfax, Vice President Schuyler, founds Daught. of Rebekah, 1069;
  - for wom., suff., 1075.
- Collins, Emily P., in R. I., 536;
  - in Mass., 706.
- [Pg 1129]Collyer, Rev. Robert, for wom. suff., 703.
- Colorado, names for, Chap. XXIX.
- Conger, Mrs. Omar D., 233.
- Conine, St. Rep. Martha A. B. (Col.), 301;
  - before House Com. of '98, 319;
  - elected, 522;
  - in Ills., 599;
  - in Iowa, 632;
  - in N. Y., 860.
- Connecticut, names for, Chap. XXX.
- Connor, Eliza Archard, 153.
- Conway, Mrs. Moncure D., 23.
- Conyers, Bennett J., 241.
- Cook, Coralie Franklin, brings greetings of colored women on Miss Anthony's birthday, 398; 404.
- Cook, Rev. Joseph, ad. suff. conv., 710;
  - before Mass. Legis., 727.
- Coolbrith, Ina D., 479.
- Cooley, Mrs. George Eliot. (See Harper.)
- Coonley, Lydia A. (See Ward.)
- Cooper, Sarah B., 253; 275; 479;
  - pres. Wom. Cong., 481;
  - work in Calif., 488 et al.;
  - in Ore., 893.
- Corbin, Caroline F., 157.
- Corey, Rev. Dr., 189.
- Corn, Assoc. Justice, wom. suff. in Wy., 1093.
- Cornwall, Amy K., 364; 509.
- Corson, Dr. Hiram, 275.
- Coudert, Frederick, signs suff. petit., 850.
- Courtney, Leonard, M. P. (Eng.), work for wom. suff., 1020.
- Couzins, Phoebe W., 18;
  - res. on Phillips and Miss Carroll, 25; 27;
  - on Goddess of Liberty, 47; 117; 163; 169; 475; 520; 695; 772; 795.
- Craigie, Mrs. C. O. H., 564.
- Crane, Rev. Caroline Bartlett, sermon at conv. of '91, 184; 764.
- Crane, Gov. W. Murray (Mass.), 744.
- Cranston, Martha S., writes Del. chap., 563; 564 et al.
- Crawford, Emily (Eng.), petit, for wom. suff., 1015.
- Cressingham, St. Rep. Clara (Col.), 521.
- Crooker, Rev. Florence Kollock, ethics of wom. suff., 20;
  - before House com., 43; 337; 407; 739.
- Cullom, U. S. Sen. Shelby M., 347.
- Cunningham, Catherine Campbell, assists on Ark. chapter, work in Ark., 475.
- Curtis, Elizabeth Burrill, 257;
  - before U. S. Senate com. of '98, are wom. represented, 314;
  - in Mass., 715;
  - work in N. Y. 843, et al.
- Curtis, George William, 23; 164;
  - mem. serv., 203; 372;
  - on wom. suff., 428.
- Cutcheon, Byron M., M. C, spks. for wom. suff., 35.
- Cutler, Hannah M. Tracy, 275; 406; 407;
  - mem. to Mrs. Gage, 410; 426; 703;
  - in Vt., 957.

D

- Dakota (North and South), names for, Chap. XXXI.
- Dall, Caroline H., 294.
- Dalton, Father W. J., 447; 760.
- Dangerfield, Henderson, 212; 964.
- Davies, Emily, Mistress of Girton (Eng.), petit, for wom. suff., 1015.
- Davies, Atty.-Gen. John C., right of wom. to office in N. Y., 1094.
- Davis, U. S. Sen. Cushman K., for wom. suff., 433.
- Davis, Edward M., 18; 60; 76;
  - work in Penn., 899.
- Davis, John C., M. C., 231; 235.
- Davis, Paulina Wright, 203; 294;
  - work in R. I., 907;
  - in Va., 964.
- Davis, Thomas, 259.
- Dawes, U. S. Sen. Henry L., 111; 164.
- Decker, Sarah Platt, 529 et al.
- De Garmo, Rhoda, 299.
- Delaware, names for, Chap. XXXII.
- Demorest, (Mme.) Louise, 75.
- Dennison, Ruth C., 27.
- Depew, Chauncey M., signs suff. petit., 850.
- Desha, Mary, 173.
- DeVoe, Emma Smith, at conv. of '96, 265; 284;
  - in S. D., 549; 555; 590; 599;
  - in Iowa, 630; 631;
  - in Kas., 644;
  - in Ky., 667;
  - in Minn., 773;
  - in Mont., 796;
  - in Nev., 810;
  - in Wis., 987.
- Dexter, Rev. Morton, ed. Congregationalist, opp. wom. suff.; 725.
- Deyo, Rev. Amanda, 128; 496.
- Dickinson, Dr. Frances, 23; 174; 184; 201.
- Dickinson, Mary Lowe, 228; 300.
- Dietrick, Ellen Battelle, 174;
  - at conv. of '91, 179;
  - sp. at conv. of '92, 208;
  - res. on religious liberty, 216; 219; 229; 234; 248;
  - memorial service, 259; 430;
  - in Ky., 666; 706;
  - work in Mass., 709 et al.; 726; 751;
  - in S. C., 922.
- Diggs, Annie L., 61; wom. suff. in Kas., 199;
  - at conv. of '94, 221; 234; 235; 248; 263; 268;
  - at conv. of 1900, 363;
  - in Ind., 617;
  - writes Kas. chap., 638; 643;
  - work in Kas. Legis., 652;
  - app. St. Librarian, 657;
  - in Md., 696;
  - in N. J., 822;
  - in W. Va., 980.
- Dilke, Mrs. Ashton, 135; 841.
- Dingley, Nelson W., M.C., 345.
- [Pg 1130]District of Columbia, names for, Chap. XXXIII.
- Doane, Bishop William Croswell, opp. wom. suff., 850; 858.
- Dodge, Mrs. Arthur M.,
  - opposes wom. suff. before U. S. Senate com. of 1900, repudiates courtesy of Miss Anthony, 382;
  - begs com. not to be moved by consideration for her, 383;
  - before N. Y. legis. com., 861;
  - same, 863.
- Doe, Chief Justice Charles (N. H.), wom. may practice law, 819.
- Doe, Mary L., at conv. of '99, 334;
  - writes Mich, chap., 755;
  - work in Mich., 756 et al.
- Doggett, Kate Newell, 61; 410.
- Dole, Sanford B. (Hawaii), 347.
- Dolph, U. S. Sen. Joseph N., 93;
  - sp. for wom. suff., 100;
  - same, 104; 218; 295.
- Donnelly, St. Sen. Ignatius, for wom. suff., 776-7.
- Dorsett, Martha Angle, 417;
  - work in Minn., 774 et al.
- Dorsheimer, William, M. C., 51.
- Doster, Chief Justice Frank (Kas.), for wom. suff., 607; 646.
- Douglass, Frederick, 136;
  - at conv. of '89, 151;
  - reminiscences, 204;
  - early suffragists, 227;
  - mem. serv., 259; 298; 403; 430;
  - in Boston, 704, 713;
  - in R. I., 907.
- Douglass, Joseph, 265; 400; 404.
- Dow, Neal, 164.
- Downs, H. Margaret, 322.
- Doyon, Amelia E. H., 259.
- Drake, Gov. Francis M. (Iowa), 270.
- Du Bose, Miriam Howard, 228; 235;
  - work in Ga., 237; 582.
- Dunbar, Mrs. (Md.), 77.
- Duniway, Abigail Scott,
  - at conv. of '84, 16; 27; 151; 156; 157; 236; 239;
  - at conv. of '95, 249;
  - of '99, 339;
  - of 1900, 363;
  - in Idaho, 589; 590;
  - in Minn., 772;
  - in N. Y., 839;
  - writes Ore. chap., work in Ore., 891 et al.;
  - in Wash., 975.
- Duniway, Clyde, 739.

E

- Eagle, Gov. James B. (Ark.), 475.
- Earnhart, Ida M., test case for sch. suff. in Ohio, 882.
- Eastman, Rev. Annis Ford, 202;
  - work in N. Y., 844.
- Eastman, Mary F., woman's right to suff., 72;
  - justice of it, 79; 118; 175;
  - work in Mass., 704 et al.;
  - legis. work, 721;
  - in N. Y., 841;
  - in R. I., 907;
  - same, 910; 920.
- Eaton, Charles H., D. D., for wom. suff., 840.
- Eaton, Dr. Cora Smith, in N. D., 545; 551;
  - assists on Minn, chap., 772;
  - work in Minn., 773 et al.
- Eddy, Eliza Jackson, legacy to Miss Anthony, V.
- Edmunds, U. S. Sen. George F., 375; 939.
- Edson, Dr. Susan A., 295; 574.
- Edwards, Amelia B., petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
- Eisenhuth, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Laura J. (N. D.), 551.
- Eliot, Charles W., pres. Harvard Univ., 266;
  - on education of wom., 355;
  - protest against wom. suff., 704;
  - inherits prejudice, 736.
- Eliot, Chancellor Wm. G. (St. Louis), suff. a right, 413; 703.
- Elkins, U. S. Sen. Stephen B., opp. wom. suff. in W. Va., 982.
- Elliott, Albert H., work in Cal., 482 et al.
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 61; 1092.
- Emerson, Mrs. Ralph Waldo, 206.
- Ernst, Hon. George A. O., work in Mass., 710 et al.
- Eskridge, Gov. C. V. (Kas.), opp. wom. suff., 645.
- Estee, Hon. Morris M., 436.
- Eustis, U. S. Sen. James B., opp. wom. suff., 104.
- Evald, Mrs. Emmy C., 298.
- Everett, Edward, 433.
- Everhard, Caroline McCullough, at conv. of '92, 185; 201;
  - work in O., 880 et al.

F

- Fair, U. S. Sen. James G., opp. wom. suff., 36; 47.
- Fairbanks, Mayor (Quincy, Mass.), 712.
- Fairman, Col. Henry Clay, 238; 582.
- Fall, Anna Christy (Mrs. George H.), 741; 745
- Fall, St. Rep. George H., work in Mass., 744 et al.
- Farwell, U. S. Sen. Charles B., rep. for wom. suff., 156; 158; 162.
- Fawcett, Postmaster Gen. Henry, M. P. (Eng.), for wom. suff., 17; 61.
- Fawcett, Millicent Garrett, 17; 301;
  - wom. in India, 330;
  - suff. meet. in London, 353; 718;
  - work in Gr. Britain, 1014;
  - same, 1020.
- Fawcett, Philippa, 176.
- Faxon, Henry H., 702 et al.
- Fergusson, Cong. Del. H. B., 835.
- Fessenden, Susan S., in Col., 516;
  - [Pg 1131]in N. D., 548; work in Mass., 726
  - et al.; in N. H., 816; in Penn., 900.
- Field, Kate, for wom. suff., 235; 275.
- Fish, Sarah, 299.
- Fisher, Chief Justice, wom. suff. in Wy., 1091.
- Fisk, Mrs. Clinton D., 1057.
- Fleming, Gov. Francis P. (Fla.), opp. to wom. suff., 212.
- Flemming, William H., M. C., 586.
- Fletcher, Alice C., 183; 331.
- Flood, Cora Jane, endowment to univers., 507.
- Florida, names for, Chap. XXXIV.
- Flower, Gov. Roswell P. (N. Y.), 213; 843;
  - recom. wom. delegates, 848; 856.
- Folger, Gov. Charles J. (N. Y.), 61.
- Folsom, Mariana T., in Texas, 416; 628; 931.
- Foltz, Clara S., in Calif., 478 et al.
- Foss, Mrs. Cyrus D., 1071.
- Foster, Abby Kelly, 227.
- Foster, Judith Ellen, 19;
  - at Nat'l Repub. conv. of '96, 439;
  - same, 1900, 444;
  - in Col., 520; 569; 576;
  - in Ida., 590;
  - in Kas., 645;
  - in Mass., 705;
  - in R. I., 910;
  - in Utah, 955.
- Foster, Julia (Mrs. J. Heron), 19; 61.
- Foster, Julia T., 19; 27; 61; 126.
- Foster, Rachel G. (See Avery).
- Foulke, Hon. William Dudley, sp. at suff. conv. of '90, 167; 173; 202;
  - trib. to Lucy Stone, 225; 408; 411; 414;
  - at Amer. conv. of '86, 418;
  - value of dreamers, 421;
  - independ. of politician, 422; 423;
  - at Amer. conv. of '88, 428; 546;
  - in Ind., 614;
  - in Kas., 640;
  - in Boston, 706;
  - in Minn., 772.
- Fox, Hattie E., 222.
- Francis, Mary C., 245.
- Franklin, Benjamin, on suff., 66.
- Fray, Ellen Sully, 173.
- Frear, Associate Justice W. F. (Hawaii), 347.
- Fredericksen, Kirstine (Denm'k), 711.
- French, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Permeal (Ida.), 594.
- Friedland, Sofja Levovna (Russia), 364.
- Fuller, Gov. Levi K. (Vt), 959.
- Fyler, Lizzie Dorman, 19; 475.

G

- Gaffney, Fannie Humphreys, 396.
- Gage, Frances Dana, 61; 294;
  - mem. serv., 409-10;
  - trib. of Clara Barton, 429; 614.
- Gage, Gov. Henry T. (Cal.), 486; 506.
- Gage, Matilda Joslyn, work on Hist, of Wom. Suff., III;
  - sells rights in, VI; VII; 27;
  - feminine in science, 28; 57;
  - wom. suff. under U. S. constn., 118; 126; 136; 152; 163;
  - mem. res., 345;
  - in Dak., 552;
  - work in N. Y., 839 et al.;
  - test case for sch. suff., 867;
  - in Va., 964.
- Gallé, Margarethe, 301.
- Gallinger, U. S. Sen. Jacob H., wom. suff. in N.H., 815.
- Gamble, U. S. Sen. Robert J., for wom. suff., 559.
- Gardiner, Helen H., 146; 263; 715.
- Garfield, President James A., 295; on wom. suff., 1075.
- Garrett, Mary E., endows Johns Hopkins Med. Coll., 700.
- Garrison, Ellen Wright (Mrs. Wm. Lloyd, Jr.), 298.
- Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, Sr., 23;
  - first wom. rights petit., 720.
- Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, Jr., 61; 164; 174;
  - at conv. of '91, 183;
  - before U. S. Senate com. in '98, 305;
  - poem to Miss Anthony, 395; 433;
  - work in Mass., 705 et al.; 712;
  - in R. I., 907-8.
- Gates, George A., pres. Iowa Coll., 276;
  - for wom. suff., 629.
- Gates, Merrill E., pres. Amherst Coll., 709.
- Gates, Susa Young, 956.
- George, Mrs. A. J., opposes wom. suff., 382;
  - same, 741.
- George, U. S. Sen. J.Z., 194;
  - rep. against wom. suff., 201.
- Georgia, names for, Chap. XXXV.
- Gibbons, Abby Hopper, 207; 435;
  - work for police matrons, 856; 1055.
- Gibbons, Cardinal, opp. wom. suff., 367.
- Giddings, Joshua R., 614.
- Giddings, Mrs. W. D., 322.
- Gifford, Prof. Jennie, 235.
- Gillett, Emma M., 571; 574.
- Gladstone, Wm. Ewart, 1016.
- Gleed, J. W., 318.
- Glenesk, Lord (Eng.), for wom. suff., 1016.
- Goddard, Mary Catharine, early woman editor, 695.
- Goggin, Catharine, 611.
- Goldstein, Vida (Australia), 1031.
- Gompers, Samuel, 184;
  - letter approv. wom. suff., 334.
- Goodnight, Isaac H., M. C., 235.
- Goodrich, Sarah Knox, work in Cal., 478 et al.
- Gordon, Anna, 304.
- Gordon, Kate M., 360;
  - writes La. chap., 678;
  - work in Sewerage and Drainage League, 682.
- [Pg 1132]Gordon, Laura de Force, 57; 60; 150;
  - work in Calif., 478 et al.
- Goss, Josephine Ahnafeldt, 324.
- Gottheil, Rabbi Gustave, 840; 850.
- Gougar, Helen M., wom. before the law, 18;
  - plan of work, 26;
  - before U. S. Senate Com., 37;
  - wom. suff. and Bible, 75; 77;
  - before House Com., 80; 150;
  - in Col., 520;
  - in Ills., 599;
  - work in Ind., 615 et al.;
  - test case for suff., 621;
  - in Iowa, 628;
  - in Kas., 638 et al.;
  - in Mass., 705;
  - in Mich., 756;
  - in N. Y., 839.
- Gould, Helen, 340.
- Grannis, Elizabeth B., 1055.
- Grant, President Ulysses S., first to appoint wom. postmasters, 462.
- Grant, Mrs. Ulysses S., 262; 291.
- Gray, Almeda B., 75;
  - in Cal., 500;
  - work in Wis., 990 et al.
- Gray, St. Rep. Robert S., 714.
- Great Britain and Colonies, names for, Chap. LXXIII.
- Greene, Dr. Cordelia, donation to Hist. of Wom. Suff., VII.
- Greene, Chief Justice Roger S., 407; 412; 422;
  - work in Wash., 967;
  - wom. on juries, 1097.
- Greenhalge, Gov. Frederick T. (Mass.), 275;
  - on wom. suff. plat., 713;
  - recom. wom. suff. in message, 715; 718;
  - again recom., 729.
- Greenleaf, Jean Brooks, before U. S. Sen. Com., 196; 220;
  - at conv. of '94, 221; 224;
  - rep. at conv. of '95, 247;
  - assists on N. Y. chap., 839;
  - work in N. Y., 844 et al.; 849.
- Greenwood, Grace (Sara J. Lippincott), 231; 257; 364.
- Gregg, Laura A., 337;
  - in S. D., 557;
  - in Del., 564;
  - in Iowa, 632;
  - in Kas., 648;
  - in Md., 697;
  - in Minn., 774;
  - in Neb., 804;
  - in O., 879;
  - in Ok., 886-7;
  - in Penn., 899.
- Grenfell, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Helen M. (Col.), 523; 524.
- Grew, Mary, 275; 295; 423; 426; 712;
  - work in Penn., 898.
- Griffin, Frances A., evolut. of South. wom., 335;
  - at conv. of '99, 341;
  - in Ala., 465-6;
  - in Ark., 475;
  - in Ga., 583;
  - in La., 681;
  - in Tenn., 926-7.
- Griffing, Josephine S., 295.
- Grimké, Angelina (See Weld).
- Gripenberg, Baroness Alexandra (Finland), at Int'l Council, 139; 301;
  - in Mass., 705;
  - in N. Y., 841.
- Groesbeck, Chief Justice H. V. S., 719;
  - wom. suff. in Wy., 1092.
- Gross, Emily M., 395; 612.
- Groth, Sophia Magelsson (Norway), 136.
- Guild, Mrs. Charles E., anti-suff., 716.
- Gullen. Dr. Augusta Stowe (Canada), 301.
- Gustafson, Zadel Barnes (Eng.), 135;
  - in N. Y., 841.

H

- Hackney, Chief Justice Leonard J. (Ind.), decis. on wom. suff. and wom. lawyers, 623.
- Haggart, Mary E., at conv. of '84, 19;
  - before House com., 45; 75; 411; 425;
  - work in Ind., 614;
  - in Kas., 640;
  - in Wis., 986.
- Hale, Horace M., pres. State Univ., wom. suff. in Col., 1087.
- Hale, Gen. Irving, wom. suff. in Col., 1087.
- Hale, Gov. William, wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
- Haley, Margaret A., 611.
- Hall, Florence Howe, farce on wom, suff., 362;
  - in Mass., 718;
  - writes N. J. chap., 820;
  - work in N. J., 822 et al.;
  - in R. I., 920.
- Hall, Sir John, M. P., bill for wom. suff. in N. Z., 1026; 1034.
- Hall, Olivia B., 219;
  - in Mich., 758.
- Hamilton, Alexander, 407.
- Hamilton, Emerine J., 174.
- Hamilton, Bishop J. W., 260; 725-6.
- Hamlin, Vice-President Hannibal, for wom. suff., 1075.
- Hammond, Hon. Henry C., 244.
- Hanaford, Rev. Phebe A., at conv. of '84, 19; 61;
  - at Int'l Council, 128;
  - in N. J., 827.
- Haney, Mrs. C. S. Burnett, writes Fla. chap., 577-8.
- Hansbrough, U. S. Sen. Henry C, for wom. suff., 546.
- Harbert, Elizabeth Boynton, at conv. of '84, 17; 24;
  - before U. S. Sen. Com., 39; 115; 164; 176; 407;
  - work in Ills., 598;
  - for World's Fair, 610;
  - in N. Y., 839;
  - in Wis., 989; 991.
- Harlan, St. Sen. A. D., 423.
- Harlan, Associate Justice John Marshall, 10.
- Harper, Frances E. W., 425.
- Harper, Ida Husted, Miss Anthony asks to write Vol. IV, Hist, of Wom. Suff., VII;
  - preface, IX;
  - Author of Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, 2;
  - resolutions at conv. of '98, 290; 291;
  - dept. in N. Y. Sun, 326;
  - at conv. of 1900, 357;
  - prepares Congress'l. rep., 366; 482; 487; 488;
  - work in Calif, campn.,490;
  - work in Ind., 615 et al.;
  - monograph on work of Ind. wom., 624;
  - at Adams, 719.
- [Pg 1133]Harper, Winnifred (Cooley), 490.
- Harrah, Rev. C. C., 612.
- Harrison, President Benjamin, 436.
- Harrison, Mrs. Benjamin, receives Nat'l Council of Wom., 183.
- Harrison, Mayor Carter, 608.
- Harrison, Ella, 632; 783; 791.
- Haskell, Asst. Atty.-Gen. Ella Knowles, at conv. of '96, 262; 297;
  - in N. D., 547;
  - work in Mont., 797 et al.
- Hatch, Lavina Allen, 157; 235;
  - at conv. of '95, 240; 263;
  - writes chap., for Hist., 750;
  - work in Mass., 752 et al.
- Havens, Ruth C. D., girl of the future, 209;
  - in Md., 697;
  - in Va., 964.
- Haviland, Laura P., 344.
- Hawthorne, Rev. Dr., 237.
- Hay, Mary G., 365; 444;
  - in Ariz., 472;
  - in Cal., 482 et al.;
  - in Col., 530;
  - in S. D., 559;
  - in Del., 563;
  - in Ills., 599;
  - in Iowa, 632-4;
  - in Ky., 667;
  - in La., 680;
  - in Miss., 784;
  - in Neb., 804;
  - in N. M., 836;
  - in N. Y., 849;
  - in O., 880;
  - in Ok., 887;
  - in Penn., 900;
  - in Tenn., 927;
  - in Utah, 949;
  - in Wash., 976;
  - in W. Va., 980.
- Hayes, Prof. Ellen, 717.
- Hayes, President Rutherford B., favors wom. suff., 1075.
- Hayes, Mrs. Rutherford B., rec. Utah delegates, 937.
- Hays, Atty.-Gen. S. H., wom. suff. in Idaho, 1088.
- Hayward, Mary Smith, writes Neb. chap., 802;
  - work in Neb., 803 et al.
- Hazlett, Ida Crouch, in Cal., 487;
  - in Neb., 803;
  - in Ore., 895.
- Hearst, Phoebe A., 506;
  - endowment to Cal. Univers., 508.
- Heartz, St. Rep. Evangeline (Col.), 522; 524;
  - work in Legis., 526.
- Hedenberg, J. W., 184.
- Helmer, Bessie Bradwell, 609.
- Hemiup, Judge Norton H., 414.
- Hemphill, St. Sen. Robert R., at conv. of '95, 242;
  - in S. C. Legis., 923.
- Hemphill, Mrs. W. A., 251.
- Henderson, Mary Foote (Mrs. John B.), 366;
  - presents portrait of Miss Anthony to Corcoran Gallery, 405; 569.
- Henderson, Prof. L. F., on wom. suff. in Idaho, 595.
- Henrotin, Ellen M., 183;
  - work at World's Fair, 609.
- Henry, Josephine K., at conv. of '91, 179; 224;
  - trib. to Lucy Stone, 226; 240;
  - southern wom., wants ballot, 244;
  - legis. rep. 248;
  - on wom., and electricity, 249;
  - epigrams, 340;
  - work in Ky., 668 et al.;
  - in Tenn., 927.
- Hepburn, W. P., M. C., 84.
- Hereford, Rev. Brooke, 413;
  - opp. wom. suff., 722.
- Herring, Atty.-Gen. William (Ariz.), 470.
- Hewitt, Hon. Abram S., opp. wom. suff., 857.
- Higginson, Col. Thomas Wentworth, sp. at Amer. conv. of '87, 423;
  - in Mass., 706 et al.; 712;
  - on anti-suffragists, 716;
  - petit. for wom. suff. in '53, 720;
  - in R. I., 908.
- Hildreth, Ellen Stephens, writes Ala. chap., work in Ala., 465 et al.
- Hill, U. S. Sen. David B., 235;
  - recom. wom. delegates, 847.
- Hill, Eliza Trask, 746 et al.
- Hinckley, Rev. Frederick A., 163; 174;
  - husband and wife one, 180;
  - on divorce, 297;
  - in Mass., 705;
  - same, 726;
  - work in R. I., 908 et al.
- Hindman, Matilda, 61-2; 426;
  - in Col., 509;
  - in S. D., 555;
  - in Penn., 899;
  - in Wash., 970.
- Hirschler, Diana, at conv. of 1900, 362;
  - on Miss Anthony's birthday, 398;
  - in Del., 564;
  - in Me., 690;
  - in Vt., 957.
- Hitt, Robert R., M.C., 347.
- Hoar, U. S. Sen. George R., 12; 108;
  - spks. in Sen. for wom. suff., 109; 164;
  - report in favor, greeted by women, 201; 235; 267;
  - letter to conv. of '88, 428; 433;
  - assists wom. suff. in Mass., 704 et al.; 1003.
- Hodges, Rev. Dean, 717.
- Hoffman, Clara C., in S. D., 558;
  - in Kas., 642;
  - in La., 679;
  - work in Mo., 790 et al.;
  - in N. J., 820.
- Hooker, Isabella Beecher, const'l rights of wom., 115; 117;
  - on N. Y. Centen., 144; 156; 157; 163;
  - at conv. of '90, 169; of '91, 179;
  - before U. S. Sen. com. of '92, 189;
  - respect of children, 194;
  - at conv. of '98, 296; 298;
  - in 1900, 358;
  - work in Conn., 535 et al.;
  - in Boston, 705; 937.
- Holley, St. Rep. Carrie C., in Col. Legis., 239; 240; 521.
- Hollister, Lillian M., 256; trib. to Miss Anthony, 398.
- Holly, Myron, 204-5.
- Holly, Sally, 204-5; 227.
- Holmes, Mary E., writes Ills., chap., work in Ills., 598 et al.
- Holt, Gov. Thomas M. (N. C.), opp. wom. suff., 212.
- [Pg 1134]Holt, Judge William H., trib. to worn, in business, 676.
- Holt, Gov. Thomas M., opp. wom. suff., 212.
- Hopper, Isaac T., 207; 1055.
- Home, St. Rep. Alice Merrill, work in Utah Legis., 954.
- Horton, Chief Justice Albert H. (Kas.), 433.
- Hosmer, Harriet, 164; 795.
- Howard, H. Augusta, 201; 235;
  - entertains nat'l conv., 237; 242;
  - work in Ga., 581 et al.
- Howe, Chief Justice J. H. (Wy.), wom. on juries, 1008.
- Howe, Julia Ward, 136;
  - sp. at Int'l. Council, 140;
  - chivalry of reform, 170, 173; 179;
  - trib. to Lucy Stone, 225;
  - conv. of '94, 229; 362;
  - at Amer. conv. of '85, 411;
  - same, 414;
  - at conv. of '86, 419; 423;
  - of '87, 426;
  - bazar in Boston, 427;
  - conv. of '88, 428;
  - appeal to Constit'l. Convs., 432; 546;
  - in Kas., 640; 678;
  - in Maine, 689;
  - in Baltimore, 695;
  - pres. N. E. and Mass. Ass'ns, 701;
  - work in Mass., 702 et al.; 712; 720;
  - in Minn., 772;
  - in N. J., 821;
  - in N. Y., 842;
  - in R. I., 908 et al.;
  - in Vt., 957;
  - in Wis., 986.
- Howell, Mary Seymour, at conv. of '84, 17;
  - before U. S. Sen. Com., 39;
  - wom. present and past, 116; 149; 169;
  - the woman's war, 231;
  - at conv. of '98, 293; 358; 536;
  - in S. D. campn., 555;
  - in Kas., 642;
  - in Boston, 706;
  - in Mo., 790;
  - work in N. Y., 839 et al.;
  - legis. work, 853.
- Howells, William Dean, signs suff. petit., 850.
- Howland, Emily, 848.
- Howland, Isabel, 851.
- Hoyt, Gov. John W, 569;
  - in N. Y., 840;
  - wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
- Hoyt, Mrs. John W., 569.
- Hubbell, Mr. and Mrs. F. M., 270.
- Hubner, Major Charles H., 242.
- Hudson, Major J. K., 417;
  - at Amer. conv. of '86, 418.
- Hughes, Hon. James L., at conv. of '94, 231;
  - in Mass., 715.
- Hughes, Gov. L. C., work in Ariz., 470 et al.
- Hughes, Mrs. L. C., assists on Ariz, chap., work in Ty., 470 et al.
- Hughes, Thomas (Eng.), 321.
- Hultin, Rev. Ida C., at conv. of '91, 175; 179; 184;
  - of '94, 232; 235;
  - sp. at conv. of '97, 284;
  - of 1900, 359; 361;
  - on Miss Anthony's birthday, 397;
  - in Ills., 599;
  - in Mich., 758;
  - in Minn., 774;
  - in Neb., 804.
- Humphrey, St. Sen. Lester H., for wom. suff. in N. Y. Legis., 862-3.
- Humphrey, Gov. Lyman U. (Kas.), 433; 652; 762.
- Hunt, Gov. Frank W., wom. on juries, 596;
  - wom. suff. in Idaho, 1088.
- Hunt, Dr. Harriot K., 295;
  - in '58, 721;
  - first wom. phys., 748.
- Hunt, Jane, 294.
- Hunt, Mary H., in Ga., 585;
  - in N. Y., 859;
  - on "age of consent," 866.
- Hunt, Assoc. Justice Ward, sentences Miss Anthony for voting, 153.
- Hunting, Rev. S. S., 411; 425.
- Huntington, Arria S., 843.
- Hurd, Dr. Ethel E., 367; 772;
  - work in Minn., 774 et al.
- Husted, St. Sp'k'r. James W. (N. Y.), favors wom. suff., 853 et al.
- Huston, Sup. Judge Joseph W. (Idaho), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., 593.
- Hussey, Cornelia Collins, 417;
  - work for wom. suff., 820;
  - contributions, 827 et al.
- Hussey, Dr. Mary D., writes N. J. chap., 820;
  - work in N. J., 824 et al.;
  - forms wom. lawyers' club, 833.
- Hutchinson, Abby (See Patton).
- Hutchinson, John W., 75;
  - conv. of '98, 298;
  - sings at Miss Anthony's birthday, 396;
  - in Mass., 705.

I

- Idaho, names for, Chap. XXXVI.
- Ide, U. S. Com. Henry C, 960.
- Illinois, names for, Chap. XXXVII.
- Indiana, names for, Chap. XXXVIII.
- Ingalls, U. S. Sen. John J., opp. wom. suff., 641.
- Ingersoll, Robert J., signs suff. petit., 850.
- Iowa, names for, Chap. XXXIX.

J

- Jackson, Francis, 227.
- Jackson, Dr. James C., 205; 259.
- Jackson, Lottie Wilson, 343.
- Jackson, Dr. Mary B., 295.
- Jacobi, Dr. Mary Putnam, in Boston, 715;
  - in N. Y. camp'n., 850 et al.
- Jacobs, Judge Orange J., in Wash., 969; 976; 1096.
- James, Helen Mosher, 391; 900.
- Jenkins, Helen Philleo, 298;
  - on wom. in Philippines, 331;
  - work in Mich., 756 et al.
- Jenkins, Theresa A., 253;
  - in Col., 516;
  - part in Wy. celebration, 1004-5.
- Jenney, Julie R., 255.
- [Pg 1135]Jennings, Gov. William S. (Fla.), 579.
- Johns, Laura M., 149; 156; 164; 174;
  - on work in Kas., 220;
  - at conv. of '94, 221; 224; 248; 263;
  - in Idaho, 284;
  - conv. of 1900, 367;
  - work in Ariz., 470-1; 513;
  - in N. D., 546;
  - in S. D. camp'n., 555;
  - in Idaho camp'n., 591;
  - in Iowa, 631;
  - assists on Kas. chap., 638;
  - work in Kas., 639 et al.;
  - suggests yellow ribbon suff. badge, 640;
  - describes Mrs. Diggs' sp., 646;
  - legis. work, 650;
  - in Boston, 706; 762;
  - in Minn., 773;
  - in Mo., 790-1;
  - in N. M., 835;
  - in Ok., 887.
- Johnson, Addie M., 632;
  - writes Mo. chap., 790;
  - work in Mo., 791 et al.
- Johnson, Adelaide, 216.
- Johnson, Martin N., M. C., 189; 546.
- Johnson, Mrs. Rossiter, opposes wom. suff., 382; 863.
- Jones, J. Elizabeth, 275.
- Jones, U. S. Sen. James K., III; opp. wom. suff., 1002.
- Jones, Jenkyn Lloyd, 705.
- Jones, Gov. John P. (Nev.), recom. wom. suff. amd't, 813.
- Jones, Mrs. W. H., polit. del., 439.
- Jordan, David Starr, pres. Stanford Univ., 480;
  - for wom. suff., 483.
- Julian, George W., M. C., 23;
  - for wom. suff., 614.
- Julian, Laura Giddings, 61; 410.

K

- Kansas, names for, Chap. XL.
- Kearney, Belle, at conv. of '98, 293;
  - in Miss., 789;
  - in N. C., 874.
- Keating, Martha A., 324.
- Keefer, Bessie Starr (Canada), 136; 140.
- Keifer, J. Warren, M. C., 31;
  - sp. for wom. suff., 32.
- Keith, Mrs. William A., 479 et al.
- Kelley, Florence, 23;
  - working wom. need ballot, 311;
  - secures factory inspec. law, 604; 608.
- Kelley, William D., M. C., spks. at suff. conv., 147; 174.
- Kellogg, Atty.-Gen. L. B. (Kas.), 433; 656; 762.
- Kelly, Abby (See Foster).
- Kelsey, Mary Atwater, 323.
- Kelsey, St. Rep. Otto, for wom. suff. in N. Y. Legis., 860 et seq.
- Kent, Rev. Alexander, wom. and Hebrew scriptures, 146.
- Kentucky, names for, Chap. XLI.
- Kepley, Ada H., first wom. law grad., 610.
- Ketcham, Emily B., 235;
  - conv. of '99, 322-3;
  - work in Mich., 755 et al.
- Keyser, Harriette A., 256; 263.
- Kilgore, Carrie Burnham, contest for right to prac. law in Penn., 904.
- Kimball, Flora M., 345;
  - work in Cal., 496.
- Kimball, Sarah M., 345.
- Kimber, Helen L., 644 et al.; 774.
- King, Henrietta, largest cattle owner, 934.
- King, William H., M. C., 941.
- Kingman, Judge John W., wom. suff. in Wy., 1092.
- Kingsbury, Elizabeth A., 494.
- Klock, St. Rep. Frances S. (Col.), 521
- Knox, Dr. Janette Hill, writes chap. for N. D., 544; 551.
- Knaggs, May Stocking, at conv. of '96, 255;
  - of '99, 324;
  - writes Mich. chap., 755;
  - work in Mich., 756 et al.
- Kollock, Rev. Florence (See Crooker).
- Korany, Hanna (Syria), 221; 228.
- Krog, Gina (Norway), 1041.
- Krout, Mary H., 613.
- Kyle, U. S. Sen. James H., for wom. suff., 559.

L

- Lake, Leonora M. Barry, 164; 509; 516.
- Lamar, Gov. W. B. (Fla.), 578.
- Langford, Sup. Judge Wm. G. (Wash.), 1098.
- Langhorne, Orra, old-time South. wom., 212; 228;
  - work in Va., 964.
- Lapham, U. S. Sen. Elbridge G., 12; 36;
  - rep. in favor of wom. suff., 47; 89; 174.
- Laughlin, Gail, wage-earning wom., 360; 361; 739.
- Lauterbach, Hon. Edward, sp. for wom. suff., 852.
- Lawrence, Margaret Stanton, 163.
- Leach, Antoinette D., suit to practice law in Ind., 626.
- Lease, Mary E., 617; 657.
- Le Barthe, St. Rep. Eurithe (Utah), 953.
- Lee, St. Rep. Frances S. (Col.), 523.
- Leedy, Gov. John W. (Kas.), 657.
- Leggett, Lucy A., 323.
- Leonard, Clara T., 107; 721.
- Leonard, Emily J., 410.
- Levanway, Dr. Charlotte, 345.
- Lewelling, Gov. L. D. (Kas.), opp. wom. suff., 645; 657.
- Lewis, Helen Morris, 263; 696;
  - in S. C., 922.
- Lewis, Hon. Isaac C., 536.
- Lincoln, President Abraham, 305;
  - favors wom. suff., 1075.
- [Pg 1136]Lincoln, Judge Charles Z., 858; 864.
- Lind, Gov. John (Minn.), 780.
- Lindhagen, Carl, 301.
- Lindsay, U. S. Sen. William, woman's property bill in Ky., 668.
- Lippincott, Chancellor J. A., 423.
- Lippincott, Sara J. (See Greenwood).
- Livermore, Rev. Danled P., 701 et al.
- Livermore, Mary A., 407; 408; 410; 411;
  - let. to Amer. conv. of '85, 412; 426; 427;
  - appeal to Constitl. Convs., 432; 517;
  - in Maine, 689;
  - work in Mass., 704 et al.; 712;
  - golden wed., 715;
  - made LL. D., 717;
  - Sanit. Com., 719;
  - 80th birthday, 720; 732;
  - on mock referendum, 734;
  - in N. J., 821;
  - in R. I., 910; 920;
  - in Vt., 957;
  - in Wis., 985;
    - same, 986;
    - same, 989.
- Locke, Josephine E., 927.
- Lockwood, Belva A., 18;
  - admit, to Sup. Ct., 33; 75;
  - wom. journalists, 343; 569; 571; 575; 640;
  - spks. for Utah wom., 939.
- Lockwood, Mary S., wom. at Columb. Expos., 211; 254; 569; 575.
- Logan, Mrs. John A., 164.
- Logan, Millie Burtis, 298.
- Long, Secy, of the Navy John D., 346;
  - assists suff. work in Mass., 707 et al.; 727.
- Longfellow, Rev. Samuel G., 703.
- Longley, Margaret V., 494.
- Longshore, Dr. Hannah Myers, 905.
- Longshore, Dr. Joseph S., work for Wom. Med. Coll. in Phila., 905.
- Lord, Gov. and Mrs. William P. (Ore.), on suff. platform, 891.
- Lore, Chief Justice Charles B. (Del.), 565.
- Lorimer, George G., D. D., 718.
- Louisiana, names for, Chap. XLII.
- Love, Alfred H., 300.
- Low, Mayor Seth, 872.
- Lowell, Francis C., pres. anti-suff. ass'n., 735.
- Lowell, Josephine Shaw, 850; 856.
- Lozier, Dr. Abram W., 259.
- Lozier, Dr. Clemence S., 16; 146; 295;
  - work in N. Y., 840 et al.
- Lucas, Margaret Bright (Eng.), 22; 124; 174; 423.
- Lucas, W. B., M. C., 559.
- Luce, Gov. Cyrus G. (Mich.), 756.
- Lusk, Hon. Hugh H. (N. Z.), 719.
- Lux, Miranda, donat. to educat., 507.
- Lyne, Sir William, Premier N. S. W., for wom. suff., 1030.
- Lynes, J. Colton, 244.
- Lyon, Mary, 320; 355.

M

- MacDonald, Sir John, Premier of Canada, bill for wom. suff., 1034.
- Machen, August W., 297.
- Macomber, Mattie Locke, 271.
- Maddox, Etta, obtains right for wom. to prac. law in Md., 700.
- Madison, Pres. James, on Fed. Suff., 7;
  - same, 8;
  - a vote necessary, 66.
- Maguire, James G., M. C., 480; 489.
- Maine, names for, Chap. XLIII.
- Marble, Ella M. S., 157; 176; 201;
  - in Dak., 546; in N. M., 835.
- Marsh, Annie McLean, 430.
- Marshall, Dean Clara, M. D., 296; 904.
- Marshall, Marie (Paris), 711.
- Martin, E. W., M. C., 559.
- Martin, Ellen A., 600; 604; 609.
- Martin, Gov. John A. (Kas.), signs
  - munic. wom. suff. bill, 651.
- Martin, Juliet N., 417.
- Maryland, names for, Chap. XLIV.
- Mason, Evaleen L., 201.
- Mason, Prof. Otis T., 328; 331.
- Massachusetts, names for, Chap. XLV.
- Massachusetts Nat'l., names for, 750.
- Maxwell, Claudia Howard, 235;
  - entertains nat'l. conv., 237; 581; 582.
- May, Abby W., 146.
- May, Rev. Samuel J., 227; 702.
- Maybury, William C., M. C., rep. against wom. suff., 47.
- Maynard, Rev. Mila Tupper (See Tupper).
- McAdam, Chief Justice, right of wom. to hold office in N. Y., 1095.
- McAdow, Clara L., 554; work in Mont., 797.
- McCall, Samuel Walker, M. C., 712.
- McClintock, Mary Ann, 288.
- McCoid, Moses A., M. C., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 52.
- McComas, Alice Moore, 480;
  - in Ore., 893;
  - writes S. Calif, chap., 494; 495; 497.
- McConnell, Amanda, 174.
- McConnelly, Mary A., 323.
- McCulloch, Catharine Waugh, 276; 297;
  - before House com. of 1900, 378; 393; 443; 598;
  - work in Ills. Legis., 602;
    - same, 603;
  - for trustees St. Univ., 606, 607; 616; 630; 696;
  - in Wis., 989.
- McCulloch, Sec. of the Treasury Hugh, 259.
- McDiarmid, Clara A., 475.
- McDonald, Eva (Mrs. Valesh), 782.
- McGlynn, Dr. Edward, spks. for wom. suff., 843.
- McKinley, President William, appoints wom. com'r. to Paris Expos., 367;
  - courtesy to suff. ass'n and Miss Anthony, 384; 570; 1010.
- McKinley, Mrs. William, 384.
- [Pg 1137]McLaren, Priscilla Bright, wom. suff. in Eng. and America, 22;
  - for Int'l. Council, 124; 135; 301; 366.
- McLean, Mrs. John R., 262;
  - luncheon for Miss Anthony, 291.
- McLendon, Mary L., welcomes nat'l. conv., 242;
  - writes Ga. chap., 581; 583.
- McMillan, U. S. Sen. James, 571; 572.
- McPherson, Mary E., 59.
- McQuaid, Bishop, for wom. suff., 366.
- McSherry, Justice C. J. (Md.), denies right of wom. to prac. law, 700.
- McVicar, Mayor John, 270.
- Mead, Elizabeth Storrs, pres. Mt. Holyoke Coll., 709.
- Mellette, Gov. Arthur C. (S. D.), 559.
- Mendenhall, Dinah, 174.
- Meredith, Ellis, 222; 235;
  - writes Colo. chap., 509; 513 et al.;
  - in N. J., 825;
  - in Utah, 947.
- Meredith, Emily R., writes Colo. chap., 509.
- Meriwether, Elizabeth Avery, 72; 76; 79.
- Meriwether, Lee, 72.
- Meriwether, Lida A., 182; 187;
  - sp. before U. S. Senate com., 195; 242; 247; 475;
  - in Mich., 757;
  - writes Tenn. chap., work in Tenn., 926 et al.
- Merrick, Caroline E., 61; 81; 140;
  - sp. at conv. of '95, 243;
  - work in La., 678 et al.
- Merrick, Chief Justice Edwin T. (La.), 275; 678.
- Merrill, Estelle M. H., 710.
- Merritt, Dr. Salome, 730; 750.
- Michigan, names for, Chap. XLVI.
- Mill, John Stuart, 26; 1019.
- Miller, Annie Jenness, 615; 854.
- Miller, Caroline Hallowell, sp. at conv. of '84, 20; 72; 114; 147; 187; 263; 296; 391;
  - work in Md., 695.
- Miller, Elizabeth Smith, 435; 844; 861.
- Mills, C. D. B., 847.
- Mills, Harriet May, 215; 265;
  - sp. on educat'l freedom, 354;
  - in Cal., 487;
  - in Mich., 750;
  - work in N. Y., 847 et al.;
  - in O., 880.
- Minnesota, names for, Chap. XLVII.
- Minor, Francis, wom. suff. under 14th amend., 3;
  - before U. S. Sup. Ct., 5;
  - on Fed. Suff., 6; 204.
- Minor, Virginia L., vote, trial and decision, 5;
  - Sup. Ct. reference to same, 9; 17;
  - right of women to vote under Const'n., 78; 152; 153; 156; 157; 162; 250; 295;
  - work in Mo., 790 et al.
- Mississippi, names for, Chap. XLVIII.
- Missouri, names for, Chap. XLIX.
- Mitchell, U. S. Sen. John A., rep. for wom. suff., 12.
- Mitchell, Lucretia, 235.
- Mitchell, Maria, 174.
- Montana, names for, Chap. L.
- Moore, Rev. Henrietta G., 558; 563; 632; 696;
  - in O., 879;
  - in W. Va., 980.
- Moore, Laura, writes Vt. chap., work in Vt., 957 et al.
- Moore, Margaret (Ireland), 135; 703;
  - in N. Y., 840.
- Moore, Rebecca (Eng.), 705.
- Morgan, U. S. Sen. John T., 347;
  - advises wom. taxpayers' suff., 468;
  - opp. wom. suff. in Wy., 1001, 1002;
  - favors taxpayers' suff. in Ala., 1002.
- Morgan, Sup. Judge John T. (Idaho), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., 593.
- Morris, Judge Esther, first wom. justice of peace, 994;
  - presents flag to Wy., 1004.
- Morris, Gov. Luzon B. (N. J.), 537.
- Morris, Hon. Robert C., assists on Wy. chap., 994.
- Morrison, Frank, 359.
- Morrison, Mrs. (L. A.), 19.
- Morrow, Lena, 337; 792;
  - in Ore., 895.
- Morse, Elijah, M. C., 718.
- Mosher, Prof. Frances Stewart, 293.
- Mott, James, 299.
- Mott, Lucretia, 133; 205; 227;
  - truth for authority, 260; 264; 288; 294; 295; 299.
- Murdock, Mrs. W. A., 1069.
- Murphy, Claudia Quigley, 219.
- Murphy, Eliza, 275.
- Murphy, Gov. N. O. (Ariz.), recommends wom. suff., 472.
- Mussey, Dean Ellen Spencer, 569; 574; 575.

N

- Names of eminent persons in favor of wom. suff., beginning 1075.
- Nebraska, names for, Chap. LI.
- Neblett, A. Viola, 289; 922.
- Nelson, Julia Ballard, 74; 77;
  - financial side of wom. suff., 79; 547;
  - in S. D. campn., 555;
  - writes Minn. chap., work in St., 772 et al.;
  - legis. work, 775;
  - in Neb., 803;
  - in N. M., 835;
  - in Ok., 886.
- Nevada, names for, Chap. LII.
- New Hampshire, names for, Chap. LIII.
- New Jersey, names for, Chap. LIV.
- New Mexico, names for, Chap. LV.
- New York, names for, Chap. LVI.
- New South Wales, names for, 1029.
- New Zealand, names for, 1025.
- Newcomb, Josephine Louise, endows college in La., 688.
- [Pg 1138]Newell, Gov. William A. (Wash.), 967.
- Newman, Bishop John P., in fav. of wom. suff., opens conv., 112.
- Newton, Rev. Heber, signs suff. petit., 850.
- Neymann, Clara, German and Amer. independence, 73; 77;
  - before House Com., 81; 117; 187; 298;
  - in Md., 695;
  - in N. Y., 840.
- Nichol, Elizabeth Pease (Scot.), 22.
- Nichols, Clarina I. Howard, 61; 294.
- Nixon, St. Spkr. F. S., N. Y., 846; 858; 863.
- Nordhoff, Charles, 164.
- North Carolina, names for, Chap. LVII.
- Nozaleda, Archbishop, 348.
- Nye, Edgar Wilson (Bill Nye), in favor of wom. suff., 1006.

O

- Oates, William C., M. C., opp. wom. suff., 999.
- Obenchain, Lida Calvert, 927.
- Obermann, Mr., pres. Brewers' Ass'n., 448.
- Odell, Gov. Benjamin F. (N. Y.), for wom. taxpayers' suff., 862; 864.
- Ohio, names for, Chap. LVIII.
- Oklahoma, names for, Chap. LIX.
- Oliver, Rev. Anna, 23;
  - trib. of Miss Shaw, 206; 207.
- Oregon, names for, Chap. LX.
- Osborne, Eliza Wright, 298; 342; 842.
- Otis, James, 66, on virtual represent.
- Otis, Mrs. John G., 220.
- Owen, Robert Dale, 619.
- Owen, Rosamond Dale, 23.

P

- Palmer, Bertha Honoré, 184; 367;
  - at Paris Expos., 608;
  - at Columb. Expos., 609.
- Palmer, Fanny Purdy. 711; 917; 918.
- Palmer, U. S. Sen. Thomas W., 12;
  - rep. in favor of wom. suff., 47;
  - Senate sp. in favor, 62; 127; 164; 366; 554;
  - in Mich., 755; 756;
  - ad. Mich. suff. conv., 758, 762.
- Pardee, Lillie, 948-9.
- Parker, Frances Stuart, 174.
- Parker, Margaret E. (Eng.), for Int'l. Council, 124; 840.
- Parker, Theodore, 720.
- Parkes, Sir Henry, Premier N. S. W., bill for wom. suff., 1029; 1030.
- Parkman, Francis, 413;
  - opp. wom. suff., 721.
- Parnell, Delia Stewart, in N. Y., 840.
- Parrott, Lieut.-Gov. (Iowa), 279.
- Passmore, Elizabeth B., 366; 900.
- Patterson, Katherine A. G. (Mrs. Thomas M.), 515 et al.
- Patterson, U. S. Sen. Thomas M., 522; 525;
  - wom. suff. in Col., 1088.
- Patton, Abby Hutchinson, 203.
- Patton, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Grace Espy (Col.), 293.
- Paul, A. Emmagene, wom. in street-cleaning dept., 364; 608.
- Payne, U. S. Sen. Henry B., 1002.
- Peavy, St. Supt. Pub. Instruct. Antoinette J. (Col.), 521.
- Peelle, Stanton J., M. C., 426.
- Peet, Mrs. B. Sturtevant, 484.
- Peffer, U. S. Sen. William A., 231;
  - in fav. of wom. suff., 267.
- Pellew, George, 713.
- Penn, Hannah, acting Gov. of Penn., 903.
- Pennsylvania, names for, Chap. LXI.
- Pepys, Samuel, why new gown for wife, 424.
- Perkins, U. S. Sen. George C., 480; 495.
- Perkins, Sarah M., 70; 150;
  - in N. J., 820.
- Pettigrew, U. S. Sen. Richard F., 554; 559.
- Peabody, Elizabeth, 227.
- Pearson, Mrs. (Eng.), 117.
- Pence, Lafayette, M. C., 224.
- Phelps, Eliz. Stuart (See Ward).
- Philbrook, Mary, contest to practice law in N. J., 833.
- Philleo, Prudence Crandall, 174.
- Phillips, Elizabeth McClintock, 275.
- Phillips, Wendell, notifies Miss Anthony of legacy, V; 15; 19;
  - memorial res., 25; 207; 227; 345; 354;
  - expediency, 381; 410;
  - mem. serv. of Mass, ass'n., 702; 708;
  - petit. for wom. suff. in '53, 720;
  - same, 721.
- Phillips, Mrs. Wendell, trib. to, 25.
- Pickler, Alice M. A. (Mrs. J. A.), 173; 183; 235; 423; 544;
  - writes S. D. chap., 552; 554.
- Pickler, Major J. A., M. C., 75; 163; 174; 183; 189;
  - on wom. suff. bill in S. D., 414; 423;
  - efforts for wom. suff. in S. D., 543; 554.
- Pierce, Gov. Gilbert A., 74; 414; 543.
- Pike, Martha E., writes Wash. chap., 967;
  - work in Wash., 976 et al.
- Pillsbury, Mayor George A., 411.
- Pillsbury, Parker, 276;
  - conv. mem. res., 344;
  - Mrs. Stanton's trib., 345;
  - wom. suff. in N. H., 815.
- Pingree, Gov. Hazen S. (Mich.), 765.
- Platt, U. S. Sen. Orville H., on wom. suff., 1003.
- [Pg 1139]Platt, U. S. Sen. Thomas C., favors wom. suff., 864.
- Plumb, U. S. Sen. Preston B., for wom. suff., 111.
- Poland, Luke P., M. C., report against wom. suff., 50; 958.
- Pond, Cora Scott, 425; 427;
  - work in Mass., 706 et al.;
  - in R. I., 910.
- Porter, Maria G., 275.
- Post, Amalia B., 295; 942;
  - work in Wy., 994; 1004.
- Post, Amy, 174; 299.
- Potter, Bishop Henry M., signs suff. petit., 850.
- Powderly, Terence V., 164; 184.
- Powell, Aaron M., in N. J., 820;
  - mem. res., 826; 828; 843.
- Preston, Dr. Ann, 295;
  - founds Wom. Hosp. in Phila., 905.
- Price, Prof. Ellen H. E., 318; 564.
- Pruyn, Mrs. John V. L., organizes anti-suff. soc. 850.
- Pugh, Sarah, 61; 294.
- Purvis, Robert. 23; 136; 163;
  - trib. of Mrs. Stanton, 345;
  - in Penn., 900.
- Putnam, Rev. Helen G., 555.

Q

- Quarles, Sup. Judge Ralph, decis. on wom. suff. in Idaho, 1089.
- Queensland, names for, 1032.
- Quincy, St. Rep. Josiah, in Mass. Legis., 723.
- Quinton, Amelia Stone, 1054.

R

- Rainsford, Rev. W. S., 850.
- Ralph, Julian, 363.
- Ramabai, Pundita, 136; 321.
- Ranney, A. A., M. C., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 84.
- Rastall, Fannie H., 613; 641.
- Reagan, U. S. Sen. John H., sp. against wom. suff., 31; 1000.
- Reed, Charles Wesley, 488.
- Reed, Kitty, 285.
- Reed, Speaker Thomas B., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 52; 164; 710.
- Reel, Estelle, wom. suff. in Wy., 301;
  - Nat'l. Supt. Indian Sch., 1010.
- Renkes, Flora Beadle, 338.
- Rhode Island, names for, Chap. LXII.
- Rhodes, Margaret Olive, writes Ok. chap., work in Ty., 886 et al.
- Rhone, Leonard, 228.
- Rich, Gov. John T. (Mich.), signs munic. suff. bill, 764.
- Richards, Gov. De Forest (Wy.), advocates wom. suff., 1008.
- Richards, Emily S., 262; 400; 593;
  - assists on Utah chap., work in Utah, 936 et al.; 950.
- Richards, Gov. and Mrs. William A. (Wy.), 1005.
- Richer, Leon (France), 23.
- Richey, Clara M., writes Iowa chap., 628; 632.
- Ricker, Marilla M., in Calif., 478;
  - in N. H., 816.
- Riddle, Judge Albert G., sp. at conv. of '89, 144;
  - trib. to Francis Minor and B. F. Butler, 204.
- Ripley, Dr. Martha G., 417;
  - work in Minn., 772 et al.
- Ritchie, Anne Thackeray (Eng.), 1015.
- Roach, U. S. Sen. W. N., 546.
- Roberts, Brigham H. (Utah), opp. wom. suff., 946.
- Robertson, J. M. (Eng.), 719.
- Robinson, Emily, 294.
- Robinson, Gov. George D. (Mass.), opp. wom. suff., 712.
- Robinson, Harriet H., 26; 721; 750.
- Robinson, Lelia J., LL. B., 454;
  - legis. work in Mass., 722; 748.
- Rockefeller, John D., signs suff. petit., 850.
- Roe, St. Rep. Alfred S., 715; 732.
- Rogers, Caroline Gilkey, 19;
  - before U. S. Sen. com., 38; 57; 118;
  - work in N. Y., 839 et al.
- Rogers, Gov. John R. (Wash.), 973.
- Rollit, Sir Albert, M. P., work for wom. suff., 1016.
- Roosevelt, President Theodore, recom. wom. suff. to N. Y. Legis., 861; 1075.
- Root, Martha Snyder, 6; 173; 183;
  - work in Mich., 756 et al.
- Root, Melvin A., 183; 337;
  - work in Mich., 756 et al.; 757.
- Rose, Ernestine L., 23; 70; 203; 227; 294.
- Ross, Hon. John, 224.
- Routt, Eliza F. (Mrs. John L.), 224; 515; 519.
- Routt, Gov. John L., 212; 224.
- Russell, Sarah A. (Mrs. Daniel L.), writes N. C. chap., 874.
- Russell, Thomas, 382;
  - opp. wom. suff. in Mass. Legis., 733.
- Rutherford, Annie O. (Canada), 342.

S

- Sadler, Gov. Reinhold (Nev.), recom. wom. suff. amdt., 813.
- Sage, Russell, signs suff. petit., 850.
- Salisbury, Marquis of, Premier of England, for wom. suff., 1020.
- Sanborn, Frank B., 722.
- Sanders, U. S. Sen. Wilbur F., 1001.
- [Pg 1140]Sargent, U. S. Sen. Aaron A., 23; 366.
- Sargent, Ellen Clark (Mrs. Aaron A.), 287; 366;
  - assists on Calif. chap., 478; 481; 482;
  - in Calif. camp'n., 487;
  - test case for suff., 504.
- Sargent, Dr. Elizabeth C., 135; 366; 487.
- Sargent, George C., 504.
- Sartoris, Nellie Grant, 262.
- Sather, Jane Krom, donat. to Cal. Univers., 507.
- Saunders, Charles R., sec'y. anti-suff. ass'n., 735; 737.
- Saunders, Jessie Cassidy, 288; 369.
- Savage, Rev. Minot J., 703.
- Sawyer, U. S. Sen. Philetus, for wom. suff., 987.
- Saxon, Elizabeth Lyle, sp. at conv. of '93, 187; 201; 243; 583; 640;
  - work in La., 678;
  - in Neb., 802;
  - in Tenn., 926;
  - in Utah, 940;
  - in Wash., 970;
  - in Wis., 989.
- Sayers, Gov. Joseph D. (Texas), 934.
- Scatcherd, Alice (Eng.), 124; 135; 140; 705;
  - in N. Y., 841.
- Schenck, Elizabeth T., 61.
- Schofield, Martha, 923.
- Schreiner, Olive, 146; 398;
  - petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
- Scott, Francis M., opp. wom. suff., 851.
- Scott, Mrs. Francis M., organizes anti-suff. soc., 850.
- Scully, Rev. Father Thomas, 717; 740.
- Seddon, Hon. H. J., Premier N. Z., for wom. suff., 1027.
- Seelye, L. Clark, pres. Smith Coll., opp. wom. suff., 722.
- Segur, Rosa L., 219.
- Selborne, Earl of, for wom. suff., 1016.
- Semple, Gov. Eugene (Wash.), signs wom. suff. bill, 155; 968.
- Severance, Caroline M., 501.
- Severance, Sarah M., 484; 490.
- Sewall, Harriet Winslow, 174.
- Sewall, May Wright, call for conv. of '84, 15;
  - sp. at same, 19; 27;
  - equality of sexes, 36; 71;
  - sp. at conv. of '86, 74;
  - before House com., 81; 117;
  - ex. com. rep., 122;
  - arranges for Int'l. Council, 125;
  - call for same, 126;
  - permanent Council, 137;
  - wom. in camp'n. of '88, 150;
  - Miss Anthony's birthday, 163; 173; 175;
  - World's Fair rep. and wom. suff., 232; 259; 293;
  - sp. before Senate com. of '98, education and wom. suff., 307;
  - at conv. of '99, true civilization, peace conf., 336; 337;
  - at conv. of 1900, 364; 367; 387;
  - greetings from Int'l. Council of Wom. on Miss Anthony's birthday, 397;
  - at World's Fair Wom. Cong., 609; 610;
  - work in Ind., 615; 616; 617;
  - work for club-house in Indpls., 627;
  - at Cotton Centennial, 679;
  - at Adams, 718;
  - in Mich., 759;
  - in Omaha, 939;
  - in Wis., 986;
  - pres. Int'l. Council, 1045.
- Sewall, Judge Samuel E., 146; 227; 721;
  - work in Mass, for wom. suff., 722 et al.
- Sewall, Theodore Lovett, mem. service, 259.
- Seymour, Mary F., 127; 227.
- Shafer, Helen A., pres. Wellesley Coll., 726.
- Shafroth, John F., M. C., on wom. suff. in Col., 267; 303; 524.
- Shafroth, Virginia Morrison (Mrs. John F.), trib. and gift on Miss Anthony's birthday, 400.
- Shattuck, Harriette Robinson, 16;
  - at conv. of '84, 21;
  - before U. S. Sen. com., 36; 57; 59; 72; 76; 115; 149; 721; 750;
  - in N. Y., 840.
- Shaw, Rev. Anna Howard, sermon on Heavenly Vision, 128; 149; 156; 163; 170; 173; 174;
  - on S. D. camp'n., 182; 185; 186; 188; 189;
  - before U. S. Sen. com., 199;
  - trib. to Mrs. R. W. Emerson and Rev. Anna Oliver, 205; 215; 219; 223;
  - on wom. behind throne, 228;
  - sermon at conv. of '94, 229; 233; 235; 239;
  - logic and emotion of wom., 243;
  - sermon at conv. of '95, 247;
  - rep. of trip to Pacific Coast, 253;
  - Miss Anthony's comment on, 254;
  - trib. to Mrs. Dietrick, 259; 263;
  - on Pres. Eliot, 266; 267;
  - on Miss Anthony in Calif., 274;
  - no millennium till wom. vote, 278; 279; 282; 288; 304; 305;
  - at conv. of '99, pioneer women, men are women's product, 336; 337; 339;
  - closes conv. of '99, 346;
  - Miss Anthony and her right bower, 351;
  - rep. as delegate to Int'l. Council of '99, 352; 354;
  - sermon at conv. of 1900, 361; 373;
  - closes hearing before House com. of 1900, 380;
  - birthday present and response, 391;
  - trib. on Miss Anthony's 80th birthday, 402; 417; 425; 427; 431;
  - at Nat'l. Popu. conv. in '92, 437; 449;
  - at Calif. Wom. Cong., 480; 482; 486;
  - in Calif, camp'n., 487; 490;
  - visits Denver, 530;
  - in S. D. camp'n., 555;
  - in Del., 564;
  - in Ills., 599;
  - in Ind., 616;
  - in Ia., 632; 640;
  - tour of Kas., 641; 642;
  - in Kas. camp'n., 643;
  - same, 644; 645; 646;
  - [Pg 1141]in Ky., 666;
  - in Maine, 689;
  - in Md., 696;
  - in Mass., 703 et al.;
  - in Mich., 756;
  - same, 757;
  - in Ann Arbor, 758; 759; 760;
  - before Mich. Legis., 764;
  - in Minn., 773;
  - in Mo., 790; 791;
  - in Neb., 803;
  - in N. J., 825;
  - in Nev., 810;
  - in N. Y., 841;
  - debates wom. suff. with Dr. Buckley, 842;
  - in N. Y. camp'n, 849;
  - in Ohio, 879-80;
  - in Ore., 893;
  - in Penn., 899;
  - in Utah, 947;
  - in Vt., 957;
  - in W. Va., 981;
  - in Wis., 986;
  - visits Wy., 1005.
- Shaw, Helen Adelaide, 361; 719 et al.
- Shaw, Pauline Agassiz (Mrs. Quincy A.), gives $1,000 to pub. Vol. IV, Hist. of Wom. Suff., VII.
- Shaw, Gov. Leslie M. (Iowa), 636.
- Sheehan, Lieut.-Gov. William F. (N. Y.), opp. wom. suff., 854; 855; 857.
- Sheldon, Ellen H., 27; 126.
- Sherman, U. S. Sen. John, 7.
- Shippen, Rev. Rush R., 71; 117.
- Shinn, Harriet A., 228.
- Shortridge, Charles M., 487.
- Shortridge, Hon. Samuel, 480.
- Sidgwick, Mrs. Henry, principal Newnham Coll. (Eng.), petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
- Simmons, Anna R., 558; 791.
- Simpson, Jerry, M. C., 231.
- Simpson, Bishop Matthew, for wom. suff., 24; 61; 410.
- Skidmore, Marian, 259.
- Sloss, Judge M. C. (Calif.), decis. on wom. suff., 504.
- Smith, Alice, 235.
- Smith, Mrs. Clinton, 575.
- Smith, Elizabeth Oakes, 227.
- Smith, Gerrit, 203; 227.
- Smith, Hannah Whitall, 121.
- Smith, Dr. Julia Holmes, at Nat'l. Dem. conv. of '96, 439; 606; 610.
- Smith, Rev. Samuel G., 361.
- Smith, Sara Winthrop, 6; 184; 201; 218;
  - wom. suff. under Const'n., 234.
- Smith, Mrs. William Alden, 322.
- Snow, Eliza R., 1052.
- Solomon, Hannah G., 1053.
- Somerset, Lady Henry, 710; 714; 718.
- South Carolina, names for, Chap. LXIII.
- Southwick, Sarah Hussey, 275.
- Southwick, Thankful, 227.
- Southworth, Louisa, nat'l. enrollment, 137; 219; 240;
  - donat. for hdqrs. 250; 257; 286;
  - work in Ohio, 878 et al.;
  - for W. C. T. U., 879.
- Spaulding, Bishop, for wom. suff., 366.
- Spence, Catherine (Australia), 221; 224; 730.
- Spencer, Rev. Anna Garlin, 61;
  - sp. at conv. of '91, 179;
  - sp. before Senate com. of '98, moral develop. and wom. suff., 308;
  - sp. at conv. of '99, wom. in our new possessions, 328;
  - in Boston, 707;
  - same, 712, in N. Y., 855;
  - writes R. I. chap., 907;
  - work in R. I., 908 et al.; 920.
- Sperry, Mary S. (Mrs. Austin), work in Cal., 486 et al.
- Spinner, U. S. Treasurer F. E., 123.
- Spofford, Ainsworth R., 715.
- Spofford, Charles W., 15; 188;
  - hospitality to Miss Anthony, 366.
- Spofford, Jane H. (Mrs. Charles W.), 15; 27; 126; 174;
  - work for wom. suff., 188;
  - hospitality to Miss Anthony, 366; 571;
  - in Maine, 690.
- Spreckles, Claus, community property case, 502.
- Springer, William M., M. C., opp. wom. suff., 998.
- Squire, Gov. Watson C. (Wash.), testimony for wom. suff., 155; 968.
- St. John, Gov. John P. (Kas.), for wom. suff., 648.
- Stafford, St. Rep. Wendell Phillips, 713; 959.
- Stanford, Jane Lathrop (Mrs. Leland), 356;
  - endows univers., 507.
- Stanford, U. S. Sen. Leland, trib. to, 227;
  - founds univers., 507; 554.
- Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, ten yrs. work on Hist. of Wom. Suff., III;
  - sells rights in Hist. to Miss Anthony, VI;
  - mental vigor at 87, VII;
  - tries to prevent "male" in Nat'l. Consti., 2;
  - organizes Nat'l. Ass'n., 14;
  - calls conv. of '84, 15; 21; 27;
  - self-gov't. best means of self-development, 40;
  - sp. at conv. of '85, 57;
  - rights of wom. in church, 59;
  - power of relig. over wom., 60; 70;
  - res. on wom. suff. and church, 75; 112;
  - ridicules rep. of Brown and Cockrell, 113;
  - part in Int'l. Council of Wom., 124;
  - sp. at same, 133; 136; 137;
  - woman's constit'l. right to vote, 138;
  - objects to thanking men for justice, 145; 150;
  - prophecy fulfilled, 153;
  - before U. S. Sen. com. of '90, 158;
  - questioned by com., 161; 163;
  - friendship for Miss Anthony, 164;
  - great. sp. at conv. of '90, 165; 169; 174;
  - degradation of disfranchm't, 176;
  - last appearance at nat'l. conv., 186;
  - Solitude of Self, 189; 205;
  - trib. to dead, 227; 236;
  - 80th birthday, 250;
  - Woman's Bible, 263;
  - Miss Anthony defends her, 264;
  - House com. in '96, 268; 288;
  - sp. at conv. of '98, our defeats and our triumphs, 291; 299; 304;
  - [Pg 1142]before Senate com. of '98, history of ballot, 316;
  - wom. are pariahs and fight their battles alone, 337; 342;
  - trib. to Pillsbury and Purvis, 345; 353; 359;
  - appeal to House com. of 1900, 376;
  - long in office, 387; 402; 404; 415;
  - first app. at polit. conv., 435; 443; 480; 517;
  - woman's work at Centennial, 526; 715;
  - in Minn., 772;
  - in Mo., 790;
  - in Neb., 802;
  - pioneer work in N. Y., 839; 844; 846; 849;
  - early legis. work in N. Y., 852;
  - work for equal guardianship, 857;
  - in Utah, 936;
  - welcomes Utah wom., 937;
  - in Wis., 985;
  - ad. on Wy., 1004.
- Stanton, Marguerite Berry (Mrs. Theodore), 27.
- Stanton, Theodore, 23; 26.
- Starrett, Helen Ekin, trib. to Lucy Stone, 407.
- Stearns, Judge J. B., 774.
- Stearns, Sarah Burger, in Calif., 501; 630;
  - work in Minn., 774 et al.
- Stebbins, Catharine A. F., 299;
  - work in Mich., 760.
- Stebbins, Giles B., in Mich., 760.
- Stetson, Charlotte Perkins, at conv. of '96, 255;
  - same, 258; 263;
  - ballot and motherhood, 266;
  - sp. at conv. of '97, 277; 479; 647; 648;
  - in Boston, 717;
  - in Penn., 899.
- Steunenberg, Gov. Frank, on wom. suff. in Idaho, 594.
- Stevens, Lillian M. N., 438; 1048.
- Stevenson, J. O., 629.
- Stevenson, Katherine Lente, 711;
  - in R. I., 910.
- Stevenson, Dr. Sarah Hackett, 610.
- Stewart, John W., M. C., rep. against wom. suff., 82.
- Stockham, Dr. Alice B., 61.
- Stoddard, Helen M., writes Tex. chap., 931;
  - work for Girls' Indus. Sch., 934.
- Stone, Lucinda Hinsdale, on Dr. Stone's early belief in wom. suff., 299; 771.
- Stone, Lucy, 14; 136; 164;
  - letter to conv. of '90, 169; 174;
  - at Nat'l Council of '91, 178; 186; 187; 189;
  - before U. S. Sen. Com., 191;
  - conv. of '93, her last message, 213; 221;
  - mem. service, 225; 227; 236; 294; 320; 357; 387;
  - acc't of conv. of Amer. Ass'n. of '84, 406;
  - influence on Kas. laws, 407;
  - rep. as ch. ex. com. of Amer. Ass'n., '84, 408; 411;
  - sp. at conv. of '85, 415;
  - acc't. of Amer. conv. of '86, 417; 418; 423;
  - at Legislatures, 424;
  - rep. ch. ex. com., '87, 425;
  - on union of two ass'ns., 426;
  - spks. at bazar in '87, 427;
  - acc't of Amer. conv. '88, 430;
  - appeal to Constit'l. Convs., 432;
  - work for Ariz., 470; 509; 513; 514; 517; 546; 553;
  - in Ills., 598;
  - in Ind., 614;
  - in Iowa, 628;
  - same, 629;
  - in Kas., 638;
  - same, 640;
  - in Maine, 689;
  - in Baltimore, 695; 702;
  - work in Mass., 703 et al.;
  - last pub. ad., 711;
  - death and funeral, 712;
  - on Boston Tea Party, 713; 714;
  - first wom. suff. petit., yrs. in office, 720;
  - legis. work in Mass., 721;
  - for equal guardianship, 744;
  - in Mich., 755; 762;
  - in Minn., 772;
  - in N. J., 820;
  - mem. serv. in N. J., 821;
  - in R. I., 907;
  - in Vt., 957;
  - on admis. of Wy., 1004.
- Strong, Lieut. Gov. John (Mich.), favors wom. suff., 763.
- Stout, Sir Robert, Premier N. Z., for wom. suff., 1026.
- Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 275.
- Sullivan, Sup. Judge Isaac N. (Ida.), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., 593.
- Sulzer, William, M. C., 856.
- Sweet, Ada C., 71.
- Swift, Mary Wood (Mrs. John F.), work in Calif., 482 et al.; 501.
- Swisshelm, Jane Gray, 410.

T

- Taft, Hon. Alphonso, 428.
- Taft, Judge W. H., 348.
- Talbot, Gov. Thomas (Mass.), 718.
- Taney, Chief Justice Roger B., 4.
- Tanner, Gov. John R. (Ills.), 602; 607.
- Taylor, Alberta C., 238; 465.
- Taylor, Ezra B., M. C., rep. in favor wom. suff., 52;
  - same, 82;
  - same, 163; 218; 366;
  - assists in O., 877.
- Taylor, Peter A., M. P., 22; 353.
- Taylor, Mrs. Peter A., 22.
- Telford, Mary Jewett, 201; 516.
- Teller, U. S. Sen. Henry M., 235;
  - sp. at conv. of '98, 303; 433; 524;
  - approves wom. suff., 1086.
- Tennessee, names for, Chap. LXIV.
- Terrell, Mary Church, 298;
  - sp. at conv. of 1900, 358; 572.
- Texas, names for, Chap. LXV.
- Thayer, Gov. John M., wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
- Thomann, Gallus, 448.
- Thomas, Gov. Charles S., 441; 516; 531;
  - wom. suff. in Col., 1087.
- Thomas, Dean M. Carey, pres. Bryn Mawr Coll., 426;
  - helps secure Wom. Med. Coll. of Johns Hopkins, 700;
  - trustee Cornell Univ. 871; 906.
- [Pg 1143]Thomas, M. Louise, 175.
- Thomas, Mary Bentley, 239; 263;
  - writes Md. chap., 695; 696.
- Thomas, Dr. Mary F., 75; 146; 406; 407; 410; 411;
  - letter to Amer. conv. of '85, 413;
  - 70th birthday, 422; 425; 426; 431; 614; 616.
- Thomasson, John P., M. P., 22.
- Thomasson, Mrs. John P., 22.
- Thompson, Elizabeth, donation to pub. Hist. of Wom. Suff., V.
- Thompson, Ellen Powell, rep. on Congress'l work, 287;
  - trib. and gift to Miss Anthony on birthday, 399;
  - work in D. C., 568 et al.
- Thompson, Col. John, 227.
- Thompson, Martha J., 367; 774.
- Thomson (Archbishop of York) Mrs., petit. for wom. suff., 1015.
- Thomson, M. Adeline, 260; 900.
- Thorpe, Dr. Juliet, 430.
- Thurston, Sarah A., 417; 639 et al.
- Tillinghast, Elizabeth Sheldon, 377.
- Tillman, U. S. Sen. Benj. R., 925.
- Tod, Isabella M. S. (Ireland), 23; 1020.
- Todd, Mabel Loomis, 363.
- Tomlinson, William P., 417.
- Townsend, Justine V. R., 1065.
- Trimble, Dr. John, 227.
- Trygg, Alli (Finland), 705.
- Tubman, Harriet, 718; 844.
- Tupper, Rev. Mila (Maynard), 185; 201; 497.
- Turner, Sup. Judge George (Wash.), 1098.
- Turner, Sir George, Premier Victoria, bill for wom. suff., 1031.
- Tyler, Louise M., 509;
  - work in R. I., 909.

U

- Uhl, Asst. Sec. of State Edwin F., 572.
- Unwin, Jane Cobden (Eng.), 21; 711.
- Upton, Harriet Taylor, work in Cong., 218; 233; 250; 257;
  - sp. at conv. of '97, 279;
  - tells of financial help of Miss Anthony, 286;
  - rep. '98 289; 337;
  - wom. on sch. bds., 338;
  - treas. rep., 1900, 365;
  - secures Congress'l. rep., 366; 443; 616;
  - writes Ohio chap., 877;
  - work in O., 879 et al.;
  - work on sch. bd., 884.
- Utah, names for, Chap. LXVI.

V

- Vance, U. S. Sen. Zebulon B., 157; 158;
  - questions Mrs. Stanton, 161;
  - rep. against wom. suff., 201.
- Van Cleve, Charlotte O., 414.
- Vermont, names for, Chap. LXVII.
- Vest, U. S. Sen. George G., 93;
  - sp. against wom. suff., 105;
  - spks. against wom. suff. in Wy., 1000.
- Victoria (Aus.), names for, 1021.
- Victoria, Queen, compared to Amer. women, 160; 162;
  - rec. Int'l. Council, 354;
  - trib. to, 1021.
- Villard, Oswald Garrison, 739.
- Virginia, names for, Chap. LXVIII.
- Vogel, Sir Julius, Treasurer N. Z., bill for wom. suff., 1025.
- Voorhees, Gov. Foster M. (N. J.), 828.

W

- Wait, Anna C., 18;
  - welcomes conv. to Kas. in '86, 418;
  - assists on Kas. chap., 638.
- Waite, Catharine V., 609.
- Waite, Hon. Charles B., 762.
- Waite, Gov. Davis H., on wom. suff. in Col., 232;
  - signs wom. suff. bill, 513; 520; 533.
- Waite, Dr. Lucy, 184.
- Waite, Chief Justice Morrison R., U. S. has no voters, 5;
  - for wom. suff., 1076.
- Wall, Sarah, 298.
- Wallace, Catherine P., writes N. M. chap., work in Australia and New Zeal., 835;
  - in N. M., 836 et al.
- Wallace, Zerelda G., 23; 71;
  - wom. suff. necessity for Gov't., 119; 136; 150;
  - sp. on a whole humanity, 171; 430;
  - in Ills., 599; 614; 615;
  - legis. work in Ind., 618;
  - in Kas., 640, 650;
  - in Ky., 665;
  - in Boston, 706;
  - in R. I., 910;
  - in Vt., 957.
- Walworth, Rev. Clarence A., opp. wom. suff., 851.
- Ward, Eliza T., 174.
- Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, 412; 735.
- Ward, Prof. Lester F., 308.
- Ward, Lydia A. Coonley, poem on Miss Anthony's eightieth birthday, 401; 610; 612.
- Warren, U. S. Sen. Francis E., rep. in favor of wom. suff., 201; 433; 710; 1005;
  - testimony for wom. suff., 1006;
  - wom. suff. in Wy., 1090.
- Warren, Helen M. (Mrs. Francis E.), trib. and gift on Miss Anthony's birthday, 400.
- Washburn, Gov. Wm. B. (Mass.), 718.
- Washington, names for, Chap. LXIX.
- Washington, Booker T., 469; 906.
- Washington, Mrs. Booker T., 1051.
- Washington, Joseph E., M. C., opp. wom. suff., 999.
- [Pg 1144]Wattles, Esther, 300.
- Wattles, John O., 300.
- Wattles, Susan E., 294.
- Waugh, Alice, 235.
- Way, Mary Heald, 564.
- Webb, Alfred, M. P., 717.
- Webster, Prof. Helen, 733.
- Welch, Minerva C. (Mrs. A. L.), 327;
  - wom. suff. in Col., 338; 523.
- Weld, Angelina Grimké, 227.
- Weld, Theodore D., 259; 702; 709.
- Wells, Amos R., collects wom. suff. testimony, 1085.
- Wells, Emmeline B., 262; 279;
  - on wom. suff. in Utah, at conv. of '97, 283;
  - writes Utah chap., work in Utah, 936 et al.; 949.
- Wells, Gov. Heber M., 949; 951; 952;
  - wom. suff. in Utah, 1089.
- Wells, Kate Gannett, 413;
  - opp. wom. suff., 704; 721.
- Wellstood, Jessie M. (Scot.), 19.
- Wendte, Rev. C. W., 479; 701 et al.
- West, Gov. Caleb (Utah), 947.
- West Virginia, names for, Chap. LXX.
- Wheeler, Vice-President William A., for wom. suff., 1075.
- Whelan, Carrie A., assists on Calif. chapter, 478; 489.
- Whipple, Rev. A. B., 718.
- Whipple, Charles K., 708.
- White, Armenia S., 75.
- White, John D., M. C., rep. in favor wom. suff., 12;
  - sp. for same, 35.
- White, U. S. Sen. Stephen M., 495.
- Whiting, John L., 205; 702.
- Whitman, Sarah Helen, 295.
- Whitney, Adeline D. T., opp. wom. suff., 108; 157; 726.
- Whitney, Sarah Ware, 629.
- Whitney, Victoria C., 263.
- Whittier, John Greenleaf, 164; 203; 205; 703.
- Whittle, Dr. Ewing (Eng.), 23; 124.
- Widdrington, Mrs. Percy (Eng.), in N. J., 826.
- Wigham, Eliza (Scot), 19; 1020.
- Wilbour, Charlotte B., 23.
- Wilbur, Julia A., 27; 260.
- Wilbur, Sarah, 259.
- Willard, Emma, 355.
- Willard, Frances E., 110;
  - at Int'l. Council, 136;
  - sp. before U. S. Senate Com., 141; 164; 175; 183;
  - in Denver, 215;
  - death, 304; 438; 517; 610; 612; 641;
  - in Boston, 705; 710; 714;
  - in Mont., 796;
  - in N. C., 874; 886;
  - work in W. C. T. U., 1047; 1048;
  - estab. dept. franchise, 1071.
- Willcox, Albert O., 295.
- Willcox, Hon. Hamilton, 706; 856.
- Williams, Mary H., 212.
- Williamson, Frances A., 263; 483;
  - writes Nev. chap., 810;
  - work in Nev., 811 et al.
- Williamson, M. Laura, 811.
- Wilson, Edgar, M. C., 590.
- Wilson, Vice-President Henry, for wom. suff., 1075.
- Windeyer, Miss (Australia), 224.
- Winship, Dr. A. E., 741.
- Winslow, Dr. Caroline B., 275; 295; 574.
- Wisconsin, names for, Chap. LXXI.
- Wolcott, U. S. Sen. Edward O., 156; 235; 525.
- Wolcott, Lieut.-Gov. Roger (Mass.), 713.
- Wolf, John B., 59.
- Wolf, Simon, 231.
- Wollstonecraft, Mary, 147.
- Wood, Col. S. N., 407; 653.
- Wood, Mrs. S. N., 418.
- Woodall, William, M. P., work for wom. suff., 1015.
- Woodbridge, Mary A., 641.
- Woodbury, Charles J., wom. suff. in Wash., 1096.
- Woods, Dr. Frances, 592; 632;
  - in O., 880;
  - same, 893.
- Woods, Mell C., 279;
  - on wom. suff. in Ida., 283.
- Wright, Hon. Carroll D., sp. on Indust. Emancip. of Wom., 213.
- Wright, Frances, 147; 294.
- Wright, St. Rep. Harriet G. R. (Col.), 523; 524.
- Wright, Martha C., 288; 298; 842.
- Wright, Phoebe C., 235.
- Wyndham, George, M. P., 1020.
- Wyoming, names for, Chap. LXXII.

Y

- Yarbrough, Jasper, case of, 8.
- Yates, Elizabeth Upham, 213;
  - sp. at conv. of '95, 228; 242; 247; 263;
  - in Calif, campn., 487; 490; 536; 558; 696;
  - in Boston, 707;
  - in Mass., 714; 718;
  - in Miss., 783;
  - in N. J., 822;
  - in N. C., 874;
  - in Penn., 899;
  - in S. C., 922;
  - in Va., 964.
- Yates, Gov. Richard (Ills.), 603.
- Young, Virginia Durant, 222; 224; 235; 263; 293;
  - wom. suff. in South, 362; 583;
  - writes S. C. chap., work in S. C., 922 et al.
- Young, Zina D. H., 939; 1052.

Z

- Zelophehad, daughters of, 372.

Transcriber's Notes

The transcriber made changes as below indicated to the text to correct obvious errors:

       1. p. xxvi posession --> possession
       2. p.   23 Parlimentary --> Parliamentary
       3. p.   33 acomplished  --> accomplished
       4. p.   74 Disfranchisement:t: --> Disfranchisement:
       5. p.  175 preceeding --> preceding
       6. p.  250 Senaca Falls; --> Senaca Falls,
       7. p.  356 "the bottoms,'" --> "The bottoms,"
       8. p.  360 they want.'" --> they want."
       9. p.  402 unforgetable --> unforgettable
      10. p.  531 Ptolomaic --> Ptolemaic
      11. p.  643 plaform --> platform
      12. p.  709 Northen --> Northern
      13. p.  834 in $86.21 --> is $86.21
      14. p.  893 mantained --> maintained
      15. p.  896 disabilites -->disabilities
      16. p.  900 Committe --> Committee
      17. p.  974 classess -->classes (Footnote #460)
      18. p. 1020 conspicious --> conspicuous
      19. p. 1030 ocupying --> occupying
      20. p. 1081 Wald --> Waldo
      21. p. 1088 to higher plane. --> to a higher plane.
      22. p. 1091 encouragment -->encouragement
      23. p. 1094 Atorney --> Attorney
      24. p. 1096 'Whatever may be --> "Whatever may be

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