The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 23

At the convention of 1911 in Heptasophs Hall the California victory of October 11 was celebrated with a banquet attended by 400 men and women, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood of Was.h.i.+ngton presiding. The meeting on the next evening was addressed by Miss A. Maud Royden of London on The Economic, Spiritual and Religious Aspect of Woman Suffrage. During the year a leaflet had been issued ent.i.tled Opinions of Representative Men of Maryland on Woman Suffrage, through Miss Mary B. Dixon, chairman of publicity, and 600 suffrage posters were placed in the counties. In Baltimore they were made into double faced placards and men were employed to carry them through the business sections. Suffrage pet.i.tions and resolutions had been endorsed by the State Federation of Labor, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Ladies of the Maccabees, Grange and Jewish Council of Women.

The convention of 1912 was held in the Baltimore Business College, the afternoon devoted to discussions of plans of work, reports, etc., followed by a supper and bazar. A report was given of the organization of a Men's League for Woman Suffrage by Dr. Donald R. Hooker, Dr.

Funck, Dr. Janney, the Rev. James Gratten Mythen, Dr. Warren Lewis, Jacob M. Moses, S. Johnson Poe, Frank F. Ramey and William F. Cochran.

In the evening there was a debate on the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women by the boys of the Polytechnic Inst.i.tute, Samuel M. North, a member of the faculty and a pioneer suffragist, presiding. At the convention of 1913 the twenty-fourth anniversary of the State a.s.sociation was celebrated in Veteran Corps Hall with a supper, dance and addresses by Laura Clay of Kentucky, Clara Bewick Colby of Was.h.i.+ngton, Ella S.

Stewart of Illinois and Lucy Burns of New York. The convention of 1914 was held in the Royal Arcanum Building. The speakers were Mrs. Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, Mrs. Nathan of New York, Mrs. Louis F. Post of Illinois and Mr. Western Star. It was reported that at the great suffrage parade held the preceding March in Was.h.i.+ngton Maryland had the largest delegation.

The business session of 1915 was held in the W. C. T. U. Building and the evening session in the Universalist Church, whose pastor, the Rev.

C. Clifton Clark, spoke on the pro-suffrage side. This year a union of all the organizations in the State was effected under the name of the Woman Suffrage Party of Maryland. Mrs. Funck was elected president and served two years.

The annual meeting of 1916 was held on the lawn at the home of Elizabeth Bruce Gwynn; that of 1917 on the grounds of the Young Woman's Christian a.s.sociation; in 1918 at Tolchester Beach and in 1919 at the home of Evelyn Albaugh Tima.n.u.s. The workers during these years always were volunteers, who served without financial compensation. The a.s.sociation is indebted for the past ten years to Mary Elizabeth Ward for all stenographic work and to Margaret A. Maddox for most of the publicity work.

Among those who have represented their counties in State conventions are the following: Montgomery county, Mary Bentley Thomas, Sarah Miller, Rebecca Miller, Mary E. Moore, Mary Magruder; Baltimore county, Elizabeth Herring, Josephine E. Smith, Julia F. Abbott, Anna S. Abbott, Ella Warfield, Kate Vanhorn, Mrs. Charles Weed, Mrs. James Green, Mary C. Raspe, Ethel C. Crosby; Harford, Annie H. Hoskins, Lydia Reckord, Eliza Edell; Carroll, Maggie Mehring; Cecil, Alice Coale Simpers; Somerset, Florence Hoge; Caroline, Miss Eliza Messenger; Anne Arundel, Mrs. Wilhelmina Nichols; Howard, Miss Elizabeth B. Wilson.

BALTIMORE CITY CLUB. For more than twenty years this club averaged from four to twenty public meetings annually in theaters, churches and suffrage headquarters. Scores of business and executive meetings were held and sociables, suppers, lawn fetes, banquets, excursions and bazars were given. The club opened the first headquarters in 1902 at 107 West Franklin Street, one of the city's noted thoroughfares. In 1908 they were established on North Gilmore Street, West Baltimore, and in 1912 on the corner of Baltimore and Carey Streets. At both localities the plate gla.s.s windows were decorated with pictures of suffrage leaders, cartoons, platforms of political parties and literature; afternoon tea was served and public meetings held at night. It also inaugurated Sunday afternoon meetings which became very popular and it was responsible for bringing to Baltimore many men and women of national and international distinction. The first English "militant" to speak in Baltimore was Mrs. Annie Cobden Sanderson, on My Experience in an English Jail, in January, 1908, in the Christian Temple, the Rev. Peter Ainslie, the pastor, introducing the speaker, who made a profound impression. Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst came next, speaking in Osler Hall on Ideal Democracy, followed by Sylvia Pankhurst and Mrs. Philip Snowden, the latter speaking at the Seventh Baptist Church, the pastor presiding.

In 1909 at a ma.s.s meeting one Sunday afternoon in the Lyric Theater an audience of over 2,000 was present, more than half of them men, with Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Florence Kelley the speakers; Judge Jacob M.

Moses of the Juvenile Court presided and a number of men of distinction were seated on the platform. Mrs. Catt spoke at a ma.s.s meeting in the Academy of Music in March, 1913, at which Miss Eliza H.

Lord of Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., presided and Senator William E. Borah of Idaho was a guest. Other Sunday afternoon meetings were held in Ford's, Albaugh's, the Garden and the New Theaters with well known speakers. Baltimore clergymen a.s.sisting at these meetings, besides those already mentioned, were the Rev. Dr. Frank M. Ellis and the Rev.

Dr. J. W. Wills; the Reverends Kingman Handy, Henry Wharton and W. H.

Baylor of the Baptist Church; George Scholl and Thomas Beadenkoph of the Lutheran Synod; Richard W. Hogue and George W. Dame of the Episcopal, E. L. Hubbard of the Methodist and Wynne Jones of the Highlandtown Presbyterian Churches.

Through the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation and the Baltimore City Club much educational work was done from 1900 to 1910 in the way of public and parlor meetings. The pictures of suffrage leaders were placed in the public schools. The History of Woman Suffrage and the Life of Susan B. Anthony were given to public libraries. Boys and girls were trained for suffrage debates and prizes given for essays.

Subscriptions were solicited for _Progress_ and the _Woman's Journal_; press work was pushed; opportunities were sought to speak before all kinds of organizations and there was a wide distribution of suffrage literature. Handsomely engrossed resolutions were presented in 1902 to Senator Jacob M. Moses in appreciation of his having introduced the bill in the Legislature to permit women to practice law in Maryland; and to Miss Maddox, the first to be admitted to the bar, a gold pin bearing the State coat-of-arms as an expression of esteem for her onerous work in securing its pa.s.sage.

In 1906 and thereafter by specially appointed committees suffrage planks were requested in the platforms of the political parties but with no success. In 1907 a delegation appeared before the State Federation of Labor asking for its endors.e.m.e.nt of woman suffrage, which was refused.

For 1908 the slogan was, Convert the public school teachers. To this end a ma.s.s meeting was held in Baltimore with Miss Grace C. Strachan, a district superintendent of the public schools of New York; the Rev.

Olympia Brown of Wisconsin and Mrs. Emma Smith Devoe of the State of Was.h.i.+ngton as speakers. Mrs. Funck attended tri-county conventions of teachers, speaking on woman suffrage and distributing 5,000 leaflets.

Three women attended the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee of Congress in the interest of the Federal Amendment, Mrs. Funck addressing the committee. Independence Day was observed by a parade and street speaking by Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Tima.n.u.s and others.

In 1911 the first debate on woman suffrage took place before the Men's Club of the Harlem Park Methodist Church, Mrs. Funck taking the affirmative side against two members of the Anti-Suffrage Society, Mrs. Francis T. Redwood and Mrs. Haslup Adams. The following year another debate was held at the State Normal School by the pupils. In both instances the affirmative won.

In 1914 a large suffrage bazar was held under the auspices of all the clubs in the Fifth Regiment Armory with good financial results. This year the a.s.sociation entered the political arena, the logical culmination of previous years of work. Legislation and Publicity was the slogan. It specialized in ward work, besieged legislative and political leaders with telegrams and letters, visited their offices and homes, watched at the polls, worked to defeat anti-suffrage candidates; addressed shop and factory employees, spoke on street corners and at county fairs, made use of suffrage posters and unique advertis.e.m.e.nts and had parades.

The State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation has had but two presidents, Mary Bentley Thomas of Ednor, 1894-1904 and Emma Maddox Funck, 1904-1920.

The latter was president of the Baltimore City Society 1897-1920.

Others who served as State officers ten years and more were Mary Badders Holton, Evelyn Albaugh Tima.n.u.s, Etta H. Maddox, Anne Webb (Mrs. O. Edward) Janney, Pauline W. Holme, Mary Young Taylor, Edna Annette Beveridge, Nellie C. Cromwell, Florence E. Barnes, Mary E.

Moore, Margaret Smythe Clark and Annie H. Hoskins. s.p.a.ce will not permit the names of the many women who were loyal and helpful during these years. Women were not left entirely alone to fight the battle and many men besides those mentioned a.s.sisted and encouraged.

The Maryland a.s.sociation Opposed to Woman Suffrage was organized in Baltimore in 1911, opening its first headquarters in North Charles Street with Mrs. N. C. Talbott as executive secretary. Later there was some organization in the counties. The members through public meetings, legislative hearings and distribution of literature vigorously carried on their opposition to women's enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. The society was affiliated with the National Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation and was organized for the purpose of fighting the movement to enfranchise women by both Federal and State amendments. The presidents were Mrs.

John Redwood, Mrs. Oscar Leser, Mrs. Rufus Gibbs and Mrs. Robert Garrett, the last named serving until after the Federal Amendment was adopted. Other women active in opposition were Mrs. Michael Wild, Mrs.

Rosalie Strauss, Mrs. W. P. E. Wyse, Mrs. P. Lea Thom, Mrs. Coyle Haslup Adams, Mrs. George A. Frick and Mrs. William L. Marbury. This a.s.sociation gave substantial aid in money and other ways to the Maryland legislators who went to Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee to work against the ratification of the Federal Amendment by their Legislatures.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION. The Maryland Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation in connection with its suffrage activities worked in the Legislature for other progressive measures, among them the use of the public schools for social centers; equal pay for equal service; appointment of women on boards of education and on all public inst.i.tutions; the abolition of capital punishment; initiative and referendum; co-education; abolition of child labor.

1906. Legislators declined to introduce any suffrage measure and treated the request as a joke.

1907. A special committee appointed by the Legislature to revise the election laws was asked that the word "male" be stricken out. No attention was paid to the request.

1910. The resolution for submitting an amendment was framed by Etta H.

Maddox, introduced by Delegate William Harry Paire, the Republican floor leader, and referred to the Committee on Const.i.tutional Amendments. The hearing was held in the House of Delegates at Annapolis on February 24 before the committee and an audience that taxed the chamber's capacity. Miss Maddox presided and introduced the speakers--Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation; the Rev. John Roach Straton, the Rev. Peter Ainslie, Attorney John Grill, Dr. Flora Pollack, Mrs. Mary Badders Holton, Mrs.

Funck, the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin, Dr. J. William Funck and Miss Belle Kearney of Mississippi. An evening meeting also was held in the same place in the interest of the amendment. On March 24 Carville D. Benson of Baltimore county moved to lay it on the table which was done by a vote of 61 ayes, 18 noes. No action was taken by the Senate.

1912. All the suffrage societies united in asking for the submission of a State amendment for full suffrage. Their best speakers appeared before the committees. A pet.i.tion was presented to both Houses, signed by 30,000 voters, but it polled only 22 affirmative votes in the House. Soon after a limited suffrage bill, sponsored by the Equal Suffrage League, failed by a vote of 16 noes, 9 ayes in the Senate.

1914. The amendment resolution was introduced in the House by Charles H. McNab of Harford county and in the Senate by William Holmead of Prince George county. It was supported by all the suffrage societies, and ably advocated but lost by 34 ayes, 60 noes in the House and defeated in the Senate. A resolution introduced in the Senate asking for the full suffrage for women with an educational and property qualification, endorsed only by the Equal Suffrage League, failed to get a hearing. One in the Senate requiring a literacy test only was not reported.

1916. The const.i.tutional amendment for full suffrage was introduced in the House by Lloyd Wilkinson (Democrat) of Baltimore and in the Senate by Sydney Mudd (Republican) of Charles county and strongly supported.

House vote was 36 ayes, 64 noes. The Senate committee reported favorably and the vote stood 17 ayes, 7 noes, William F. Chesley the only Republican who voted no. The lobbyists were Mrs. Hooker, Mrs.

Dora Ogle, Mrs. Robert Moss, Miss Lucy Branham, Miss Maddox, Miss Gwendolyn Willis, the Rev. Olympia Brown, Mrs. Charles E. Ellicott, Mrs. Ross Thompson, Miss Emma Weber, Mrs. William H. Maloy, Mrs.

Calvin Gabriel, Mrs. Tima.n.u.s, Mrs. Howard Schwartz, Mrs. Funck. This was the last time a State amendment was asked for.

1917. At the special session a bill for Presidential suffrage, supported by the State a.s.sociation and the Just Government League, pa.s.sed the Senate by a vote of 18 ayes, 6 noes, after a joint hearing held in the State House, where the outside speakers, were Dudley Field Malone, U. S. Senator Shafroth and Representative Jeannette Rankin. In the House it failed by a vote of 41 ayes, 56 noes.

1918. The Presidential suffrage bill received in the House 42 ayes, 53 noes; in the Senate 12 ayes, 13 noes.

RATIFICATION. For twenty-five years the women of Maryland tried to get some form of suffrage from their Legislature without success and it is not surprising that they felt obliged to look to a Federal Amendment for their enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. The delegation in Congress was divided on its submission, Senator Joseph I. France (Republican) voting in favor and Senator John Walter Smith (Democrat) in opposition; two Representatives in favor and five in opposition. After it had been sent to the Legislatures for ratification in June, 1919, pressure was brought to bear on Governor Emerson C. Harrington to call a special session, as it was reported that a majority in favor might be secured.

U. S. Attorney General A. Mitch.e.l.l Palmer urged it in a letter July 10, saying: "Pennsylvania has already ratified and it will be a service to our party if a Democratic State like Maryland will promptly follow suit." The Governor advised waiting till the regular session as "this Legislature was not elected with the question of this amendment before the people."

The regular session convened Jan 7, 1920, and Albert Cabell Ritchie had been elected Governor. Mrs. William Milnes Maloy was chairman of the Suffrage Campaign Committee and Mrs. Robert Moss of the legislative work in Annapolis, and the committee was composed of prominent suffragists from all the societies. A ma.s.s meeting took place on January 20 in the State Armory at Annapolis, with addresses by U. S. Senator Kenneth McKellar of Tennessee, State Senator Oliver Metzerott and Mrs. Donald R. Hooker. State Senator George Q. Bartlett read letters from Senator France advocating ratification. Many members of the Legislature were seated on the platform. At the close of the meeting Mrs. Maloy offered a resolution in favor of ratification, which was carried by a large majority.

On Friday, February 6, Governor Ritchie submitted the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment to the General a.s.sembly. Senator Metzerott (Republican) introduced a resolution for ratification in the Senate and Representative Cobourn (Democrat) in the House. It was sent to the Senate Committee on Federal Relations, Senator Grason, chairman; to the House Committee on Const.i.tutional Amendments, Mr. Roberts chairman. A hearing was set for February 11 but on being informed that most of the suffrage leaders would be in Chicago attending the national suffrage convention at that time and that others of their speakers could not be present, Senator Grason said that, with Mr.

Robert's consent, the hearing would be postponed until the 18th.

The suffragists heard no more and great was the surprise of those of the committee who were left to find on returning to Annapolis February 10, when the session reconvened, that Mr. Roberts absolutely refused to delay and the hearing would take place on February 11. A hasty canva.s.s of his committee showed that a majority was in favor of deferring it until the 18th, so the suffragists returned to their homes. The next morning the Baltimore papers announced that it would be held that day. The suffragists learned that the preceding night Speaker Tydings had transferred the suffrage amendment from the Committee on Const.i.tutional Amendments, which was favorable to it, and had put it into the Committee on Federal Relations, which was hostile!

There were of course no members of the suffrage committee present at the hearing. Mrs. Rufus Gibbs, president of the State Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation, urged the defeat of ratification. William F. Marbury made a strong argument against it. Senator Legg of Queen Anne's, who had announced that he "would do just what Governor Ritchie desired," spoke against it. Delegates Cobourn, Shartzer, Curry and the minority floor leader, Vernon Simmons, explained how the suffragists had been deceived and made an earnest plea for fair play.

It had been intended to bring the measure to a vote immediately but the feeling against this was so intense that it was finally set for the 17th. The suffragists demanded a hearing but the House committee refused it and made an adverse report on the resolution to ratify. The Senate committee granted one for the morning of the 17th. Long before the hour set suffragists from many places began to gather. At 10:30 the larger delegations arrived, heralded by Farson's band, and marched straight into the State House. Their number was so large that Chairman Grason adjourned from the committee room to the Senate Chamber. Mrs.

Hooker presented resolutions and pet.i.tions for ratification from organizations representing over 125,000 residents of Maryland. They were from many State labor a.s.sociations, patriotic societies, the Grange, Federation of Women's Clubs, Women's Trade Union League, Teachers' a.s.sociation, Graduate Nurses, Goucher College Alumnae, clubs for every conceivable purpose. She was followed by Mrs. Edward Shoemaker, chairman of the women's State branch of the National Council of Defense, who made an eloquent appeal for the proposed amendment. Judge J. Harry Covington, member of Congress, gave a strong legal and political argument, answering that of Mr. Marbury. Mrs.

Henry Zollinger represented the Women's Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation and Judge Oscar Leser spoke in opposition. The Hon. Thomas Parran summed up for the suffragists.

At twelve o'clock the suffragists went to the reception room of the Governor, who announced that he wished to give them all the time that they desired to present their case. The speakers were Mrs. Sydney M.

Cone, Mrs. Shoemaker, Miss Kate McLane, prominent in war work; Mrs.

Robert Moss, Guion Miller representing the Society of Friends; Mrs.

Robert H. Walker, the college women; Miss Hunt, the nurses; Miss Mary Dubrau, the eastern sh.o.r.e. The Governor, answering, said that the ratification was a question for the Legislature alone to determine; that the platform on which he ran pledged the Democratic party against it and that he could not ask the legislators to repudiate the platform. Mrs. Hooker in vigorous language held him wholly responsible for the action they took on it.

In the afternoon Representatives Cobourn, McBride, Shartzer, Demarco, Jones and Gambrill spoke for ratification. The vote stood 64 noes, 36 ayes. The same afternoon Senators Metzerott, Gibson, Bartlett and Robins earnestly urged ratification; Senators J. Frank Parran, McIntosh and Legg spoke against it. The vote stood 18 noes, 9 ayes, seven Republicans and two Democrats. In the House 32 of the 45 Republicans and 4 of the 56 Democrats voted in favor.

Undaunted by their defeat the suffragists gathered in front of the State House and with colors flying and band playing martial airs marched two by two around the Capitol, receiving many cheers and good wishes from the spectators. A brief meeting was then held at which resolutions of appreciation were pa.s.sed for all the brave men who had fought so valiantly for democracy.

Committees of both Houses had reported a resolution of definite rejection, which the Senate pa.s.sed, and a delegation of women from the Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation, headed by Mrs. Gibbs, carried it to Was.h.i.+ngton and presented it to the Acting Secretary of State, serving formal notice that "the State of Maryland denies the lawful right and power of Congress to propose the amendment for woman suffrage and the validity of such an amendment as part of the Federal Const.i.tution even if ratified by three-fourths of the States."

The Maryland Legislature was by no means satisfied with its demonstration of State's rights in defeating the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment but it undertook to interfere with the rights of other States. On February 24 the House of Delegates voted by 54 to 44 for a joint resolution to send a delegation of seven anti-suffrage members to West Virginia to urge its General a.s.sembly to follow the course of Maryland in rejecting the amendment. This was adopted by the Senate with little delay and three of its members were appointed to accompany four selected by the House. The next day two resolutions drawn up by Mr. Marbury were introduced in the Legislature. One was to "repeal, rescind and recall the resolutions ratifying the so-called Eighteenth Amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States." The other authorized and requested the Governor to call on the national government, in behalf of the State of Maryland, to "have the so-called Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act declared null and void." The reason for his opposition to woman suffrage was clearly apparent.

On March 30 by a vote of 20 ayes, 7 noes, the Senate pa.s.sed a joint resolution introduced by George Arnold Frick authorizing and directing the Attorney General of Maryland to bring suit or suits to prevent the Secretary of State of the United States from proclaiming the Federal Amendment prior to the holding of a referendum thereon in certain States, and to test the validity, should the same be ratified by the elected Legislatures of three-fourths of the States. This also pa.s.sed in the House. The opponents thought that now they had spiked every gun but in September it was discovered that the vote on ratification had been pigeonholed instead of being sent by the Governor to the Secretary of State in Was.h.i.+ngton. Immediately there was hustling to bring it again before the two Houses and on September 22 it was rejected in the Senate by a vote of 17 to 8 and in the House by 51 to 42, nearly a month after the Federal Amendment had been proclaimed!

A Men's Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation had been formed under the name of the Maryland League for State Defense and a suit was brought by its board of managers. This was called the case of Leser vs. Garnett, Judge Leser and his a.s.sociate lawyers representing this League, Mr.

Garnett representing the Board of Registry of the 7th Precinct of the 11th Ward of Baltimore. On Oct. 12, 1920, Judge Leser challenged the registration there of Cecilia S. Waters (white) and Mary D. Randolph (colored) in order to test the validity of what the "antis" called the "alleged" 19th Amendment. The plea was that it exceeded the amending power of Article V in the Federal Const.i.tution and that it was not legally ratified by 36 States. The States arraigned as having illegally ratified were West Virginia and Missouri. The case came before the court of common pleas, Judge Heuisler presiding. Besides Mr. Marbury the attorneys for the pet.i.tioners were Thomas Cadwalader, Senator Frick and Everett P. Wheeler of New York. The defendants were represented by George M. Brady, Roger Howell, Jacob M. Moses and a.s.sistant Attorney General Lindsay C. Spencer. The case occupied four full days and the pet.i.tioners lost. Judge Heuisler ruled that the power to amend the Const.i.tution of the United States granted by the Fifth Article thereof is without limit except as to the words, "equal suffrage in the Senate." He added: "The court is further of the opinion from all the exhibits and other evidence submitted that there was due, legal and proper ratification of the amendment by the required number of State Legislatures." Mr. Wheeler contended that three-fourths of the States had not legally ratified, to which the Court answered: "There was one legal and proper ratification of the amendment by the required number of State Legislatures."