The History of Woman Suffrage Volume III Part 37

With cordial sympathy in all your efforts, I am, faithfully yours,

CAROLYN ASHURST BIGGS.

_To the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, in Convention a.s.sembled, at Omaha, Nebraska, September 26, 27, 28:_

DEAR FRIENDS: The most pressing work before the National Woman Suffrage Convention, is bringing all its forces to bear upon congress for the submission of a sixteenth amendment to the national const.i.tution, which shall prohibit States from disfranchising citizens of the United States, on the ground of s.e.x, or for any cause not equally applicable to all citizens.

While we of the National are glad to see an amendment to a State const.i.tution proposed, securing suffrage to woman, as is the case in Nebraska this fall, we must not be led by it to forget or neglect our legitimate work, an amendment to the national const.i.tution, which will secure suffrage at one and the same moment to the women of each State. While all action of any kind and everywhere is good because it is educational, the only real, legitimate work of the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, is upon congress. Never have our prospects been brighter than to-day. A select committee on woman suffrage having been appointed in both houses during the last session of congress, and a resolution introduced in the Senate, proposing an amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States, to secure the right of suffrage to all citizens irrespective of s.e.x, having been referred to this select committee and receiving a favorable majority report thereon, we have every reason to expect the submission of such an amendment at the next session of congress.

The work then, most necessary, is with each representative and senator; and the legislatures of the several States should be induced to pa.s.s resolutions requesting the senators and representatives from each State to give voice and vote in favor of the submission of such an amendment. This work is vitally important for the coming winter, and none the less so, even should Nebraska vote aye November 7, upon the woman suffrage amendment to its own const.i.tution. In view of the probability of the submission of a sixteenth amendment at the coming session of congress, I offer the following resolution, which I consider one of the most important of the series I have been asked to prepare for adoption by the convention:

_Resolved_, That it is the duty of every woman to work with the legislature of her own State, to secure from it the pa.s.sage of a joint resolution requesting its senators and representatives in congress to use voice and vote in favor of the submission of an amendment to the national const.i.tution which shall prohibit States from disfranchising citizens on the ground of s.e.x.

I hope the above resolution will be unanimously adopted, and that each woman will strive to carry its provisions into effect as a religious duty. With my best wishes for a grand and successful convention, and the hope that Nebraska will set itself right before the world by the adoption of the woman suffrage amendment this fall, I am,

Very truly yours, MATILDA JOSLYN GAGE.[96]

_The Republican_ in describing the closing scenes of the convention, said:

Fully 2,500 people a.s.sembled last evening to listen to the closing proceedings of the convention. The stage, which was beautifully furnished and upholstered, was completely occupied by the ladies of the a.s.sociation; and as they all were in full dress, in preparation for the reception at the Paxton Hotel, the sight was a brilliant one. As respects the audience, not only the seats, but the lobbies were crowded, and hundreds upon hundreds were turned away. Manager Boyd remarked as we pa.s.sed in, "You will see to-night the most magnificent gathering that has ever been in the Opera House," and such truly it was--the intellect, fas.h.i.+on and refinement of the city. Addresses were given by M'me Neyman, whose earnest and eloquent words were breathlessly heard; Mrs. Minor of St. Louis, whose utterances were serious and weighty; and Miss Phoebe Couzins, who touched the springs of sentiment, sympathy, pathos and humor by turns. After answering two or three objections that had not been fully touched upon, Miss Couzins fairly carried away the house, when she said in conclusion, "Miss Anthony and myself, and another who has addressed you are the only spinsters in the movement. We, indeed, expect to marry, but we don't want our husbands to marry slaves [great merriment]; we are waiting for our enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. And now, if you want Miss Anthony and myself to move into your State--" this. .h.i.t, with all it implied, set the audience into a convulsion of cheers and laughter which was quite prolonged; and after the merriment had subsided, Miss Couzins completed her sentence by saying, "We are under sailing orders to receive proposals!" whereupon the applause broke out afresh. "However,"

she added, seeing Miss Anthony shake her head, "it takes a very superior woman to be an old maid, and on this principle I think Miss Anthony will stick to her colors." Miss Couzins quoted Hawthorne as speaking through "Zen.o.bia":

"It is my belief, yea, my prophecy, that when my s.e.x shall have attained its freedom there will be ten eloquent women where there is now one eloquent man," and instanced this convention as an ill.u.s.tration of what might be expected.

Miss Couzins was followed by Mrs. Saxon, Mrs. Neyman and Miss Hindman. The resolutions,[97] which were presented by Mrs. Sewall, among their personal commendations expressed the appreciation of the a.s.sociation for the services rendered by Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, in making preparations for the convention. Mrs. Colby in making her acknowledgments said:

There was another to whom the a.s.sociation owed much for the work done which has made possible the brilliant success of the convention--one to whom, while across the water their thoughts and hearts had often turned; and she was sure that all present would gladly join in extending a welcome to the late president, and now chairman of the executive committee of the State a.s.sociation, Mrs. Harriet S. Brooks.

Mrs. Brooks came forward amid applause, and said:

That at this late hour while a speech might be silvern, silence was golden; and she would say no more than, on behalf of all the members and officers of the State a.s.sociation, and the friends of the cause in Omaha, to tender their most grateful thanks to the National a.s.sociation for "the feast of reason and the flow of soul" with which they have been favored during the last three days.

At the close of the convention the s.p.a.cious parlors of the Paxton House were crowded. Over a thousand ladies and gentlemen pa.s.sed through, shaking hands with the delegates and congratulating them on the great success of the convention.

Another enthusiastic meeting was held at Lincoln, the capital of the State, and radiating from this point in all directions these missionaries of the new gospel of woman's equality traversed the entire State, scattering tracts and holding meetings in churches, school-houses and the open air, and thus the agitation was kept up until the day of election. As it was the season for agricultural fairs, the people were more easily drawn together, and the ladies readily availed themselves, as they had opportunity, of these great gatherings. Two notable debates were held in Omaha in answer to the many challenges sent by the opposition. Miss Couzins, the first to enter the arena, was obliged to help her antagonist in his scriptural quotations, while Miss Anthony was compelled to supply hers with well-known statistics. It was evident that neither of the gentlemen had sharpened his weapons for the encounter.

To look over the list of counties visited and the immense distances traveled in public and private conveyances, enables one in a measure to appreciate the physical fatigue these ladies endured. In reading of their earnest speeches, debates, conversations at every fireside and dinner-table, in every car and carriage as they journeyed by the way or waited at the station, their untiring perseverance must command the unqualified admiration of those who know what a political campaign involves. During those six weeks of intense excitement they were alike hopeful and anxious as to the result. At last the day dawned when the momentous question of the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of 75,000 women was to be decided. Every train brought some of the speakers to their headquarters in Omaha, with cheering news from the different localities they had canva.s.sed. And now one last effort must be made, they must see what can be done at the polls. Some of the ladies went in carriages to each of the polling booths and made earnest appeals to those who were to vote for or against the woman's amendment. Others stood dispensing refreshments and the tickets they wished to see voted, all day long. And while the men sipped their coffee and ate their viands with evident relish, the women appealed to their sense of justice, to their love of liberty and republican inst.i.tutions. Vain would be the attempt to describe the patient waiting, the fond hopes, the bright visions of coming freedom, that had nerved these brave women to these untiring labors, or to shadow in colors dark enough the fears, the anxieties, the disappointments, all centered in that November election. A fitting subject for an historical picture was that group of intensely earnest women gathered there, as the last rays of the setting sun warned them that whether for weal or for woe the decisive hour had come; no word of theirs could turn defeat to victory.

The hours of anxious waiting were not long, the verdict soon came flas.h.i.+ng on every wire, from the north, the south, the west: "No!"

"No!" "No!" The mothers, wives and daughters of Nebraska must still wear the yoke of slavery; they who endured with man the hards.h.i.+ps of the early days and bravely met the dangers of a pioneer life, they who have reared two generations of boys and taught them the elements of all they know, who have stood foremost in all good works of charity and reform, who appreciate the genius of free inst.i.tutions, native-born American citizens, are still to be governed by the ignorant, vicious cla.s.ses from the old world. What a verdict was this for one of the youngest States in the American republic in the nineteenth century!

But these heroic women did not sit down in sackcloth and ashes to weep over the cruel verdict. Antic.i.p.ating victory, they had engaged the Opera House to hold their jubilee if the women of Nebraska were enfranchised; or, if the returns brought them no cause for rejoicing, they would at least exalt the educational work that had been done in the State, and dedicate themselves anew to this struggle for liberty. They had survived three defeats, in Kansas, Michigan, Colorado, and tasted the bitterness of repeated disappointments, and another could not crush them. When the hour arrived, an immense audience welcomed them in the Opera House, and from this new baptism of sorrow they spoke more eloquently than ever before. In their calm, determined manner they seemed to say with Milton's hero:

"All is not lost: the unconquerable will is ours."

A report of the Fifteenth Annual Was.h.i.+ngton Convention, Jan. 23, 24, 25, 1883, was written by Miss Jessie Waite of Chicago, and published in the _Was.h.i.+ngton Chronicle_, from which we give the following extracts:

The proceedings of the a.s.sociation were inaugurated at Lincoln Hall Monday evening by a novel lecture, ent.i.tled "Zekle's Wife,"

by Mrs. Amy Talbot Dunn of Indianapolis. The personality of Mrs.

Dunn is so entirely lost in that of Zekle's wife that it is hard to realize that the old lady of so many and so varied experiences is a happy young wife. As a character sketch Mrs. Dunn's "Zekle's Wife" stands on an equality with Denman Thompson's "Joshua Whitcomb" and with Joe Jefferson's "Rip Van Winkle." To sustain a conception so foreign to the natural characteristics of the actor without once allowing the interest of the audience to flag, requires originality of thought, independence of idea, and genius for action. Mrs. Dunn, herself the author of her sketch, possesses to a remarkable degree the power to impress upon her audience the feeling that the old lady from "Kaintuck" is before them, not only to say things for their amus.e.m.e.nt, but also to impress upon them those great truths which have presented themselves to her mind during the fifty years of her married life. "Zekle's Wife" is a keen, shrewd, warm-hearted, lovable old woman, without education or culture, yet with an innate sense of refinement and a touching undercurrent of desire "not to be too hard on Zekle." As she tells her story, which she informs us is a true one from real life, she engages the attention and wins the sympathy of all her hearers, and frequent bursts of applause evidence the satisfaction of the audience.

The convention proper opened on Tuesday morning with the appointment of various committees,[98] and reports[99] from the different States filled up most of the time during the day. May Wright Sewall said:

Women must learn that power gives power; that intelligence alone can appreciate or be influenced by intelligence; that justice alone is moved by appeals based on justice. More than anything in the course of suffrage labor does the Nebraska campaign justify the primary method of this National a.s.sociation. We have a right to expect that each legislature will be composed of the picked men of the State.

We have a right to believe that as the intelligence, wisdom and justice of the picked men of the nation are superior to the same qualities in the ma.s.s of men, so is the fitness of national and State legislators to consider the demands for the ballot.

Mrs. Mills of Was.h.i.+ngton sang, as a solo, "Barbara Fritchie," in excellent style. Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (wife of Francis Miller, esq., late a.s.sistant attorney for the District of Columbia) spoke with the greatest ease and most remarkable command of language. She is in every sense a strong woman. She said that, born and reared as she was in a Virginia town noted for its intense conservatism, where she had seen a woman stripped to the waist and brutally beaten by order of the law (her skin happened to be of a dark color) whose only crime was that of alleged impertinence, and that impertinence provoked by improper conduct on the part of a young man; that, reared in such a cradle as this, still, through the blessing of a good home, she had learned to deeply appreciate the n.o.ble efforts of women who dared to tread new paths, to break their own way through the dense forest of prejudice and ignorance. Man cannot represent woman. If woman breaks any law of man, of nature, or of G.o.d, she alone must suffer the penalty. "This fact seems to me," said Mrs. Miller, "to settle the whole question."

Miss Anthony read the following letter from Hon. Benjamin F.

Butler, who, she said, had the honor of being an advocate of this cause, in addition to being governor of Ma.s.sachusetts:

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, D. C., Jan. 23, 1883.

MY DEAR MISS ANTHONY: I received your kind note asking me to attend the National Convention of the friends of woman suffrage at Was.h.i.+ngton, for which courtesy I am obliged. My engagements, which have taken me out of the commonwealth, cover all, and more than all, of my time, and I find I am to hurry back, leaving some of them undisposed of. It will therefore be impossible for me to attend the convention.

As I have already declared my conviction that the fourteenth amendment fully covers the right of all persons to vote, and as I a.s.sume that the women of the country are persons, and very important persons to its happiness and prosperity, I never have been able to see any reason why women do not come within its provisions. I think such will be the decision of the court, perhaps quite as early as you may be able to get through congress and the legislatures of the several States another amendment. But both lines of action may well be followed, as they do not conflict with each other. This course was taken in the case of the fifteenth amendment, which was supposed to be necessary to cover the case of the negro, although many of the friends of the colored man looked coldly upon that amendment, because it seemed to be an admission that the fourteenth amendment was not sufficient. Therefore I can without inconsistency, I think, bid you "G.o.d speed" in your agitation for the sixteenth amendment. It will have the effect to enlighten the public mind as to the scope of the fourteenth amendment. I am very truly, your friend and servant,

BENJ. F. BUTLER.

Mrs. Blake presented a series of resolutions, which were laid on the table for consideration:

WHEREAS, In larger numbers than ever before the women of the United States are demanding the repeal of arbitrary restrictions which now debar them from the use of the ballot; and

WHEREAS, The recent defeat in Nebraska of a const.i.tutional amendment, giving the women of the State the right to vote, proves that failure is the natural result of an appeal to the ma.s.ses on a question which is best understood and approved by the more intelligent citizens; therefore,

_Resolved_, That we call upon this congress to pa.s.s, without delay, the sixteenth amendment to the federal const.i.tution now pending in the Senate.

_Resolved_, That all compet.i.tive examinations for places in the civil service of the United States should be open on equal terms to citizens of both s.e.xes, and that any so-called civil service reform that does not correct the existing unjust discrimination against women employes, and grade all salaries on merit and not s.e.x, is a dishonest pretense at reform.

WHEREAS, The Const.i.tution of the United States declares that no State shall be admitted to the Union unless it have a republican form of government; and whereas, no true republic can exist unless all the inhabitants are given equal civil and political rights; therefore,

_Resolved_, That we earnestly protest against the admission of Dakota as a State, unless the right of suffrage is secured on equal terms to all her citizens.

_Resolved_, That the women of these United States have not deserved the infliction of this punishment of disfranchis.e.m.e.nt, and do most earnestly demand that they be relieved from the cruelties it imposes upon them.

WHEREAS, During the war hundreds of women throughout our land entered the service of the nation as hospital nurses; and

WHEREAS, Many of these women were disabled by wounds and by disease, while many were reduced to permanent invalidism by the hards.h.i.+ps they endured; therefore,

_Resolved_, That these women should be placed on the pension list and rewarded for their services.

After the reading of the resolutions an animated discussion followed, Miss Anthony showing in scathing terms the injustice of the employment of women to do equal work with men at half the salaries, in the departments at Was.h.i.+ngton and elsewhere. An additional resolution was adopted declaring that paying Dr. Susan A. Edson for her services as attendant physician to President Garfield, $1,000 less than was paid for an equivalent service rendered by Dr. Boynton, a more recent graduate of the same college from which she received her diploma, is an unjust discrimination on account of s.e.x.

Mrs. SEWALL said men in the departments were given extra leave of absence each year to go home to vote, and suggested that women be given (until the time comes for them to vote) extra leave to meditate upon the ballot.

Miss ANTHONY said she had addressed a letter to each secretary asking that such women as desired be given permission to attend the meetings of this convention without loss of time to them. She had received but one answer, which was from Secretary Folger, who wrote: "_The condition of the public business prevents us from acceding to your request_."

Mrs. HARRIETTE R. SHATTUCK of Boston said: Tired as some of the audience must be of hearing the same old argument in favor of the ballot for women repeated from year to year, they could not possibly be more tired than the friends of the cause were of hearing the same old objections repeated from year to year. While the forty-year-old objections are raised the forty-year-old rejoinders must be given. We must continue to agitate until we force people to listen. It is like the ringing of a bell. At first no one notices it; in a little while, a few will listen; finally, the perpetual ding-dong, ding-dong, will force itself to be heard by every one. The oldest of all the old arguments is that of right and justice, and the tune which my little bell shall ring is merely this: "_It is right!_" This cry of woman for liberty and equality increases every day, and it is a cry that must some day be heard and responded to.