The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 48

The Legislature in 1919, Republican by a large majority in both Houses, endorsed the Federal Amendment by a vote of 23 to 10 in the Senate, 79 to 31 in the House. When the vote was taken in the National House of Representatives, May 21, 1919, only two Ohio members voted No, one a Democrat, Warren Gard of Hamilton, one a Republican, A. E.

B. Stephens of Cincinnati. When the final vote was taken in the Senate June 4, 1919, Senator Harding voted Yes, Senator Pomerene, No.

RATIFICATION. The Legislature was so eager to ratify that it had only recessed instead of adjourning so that it could come together for that purpose whenever the amendment was submitted. Representative Reynolds had again introduced a Presidential suffrage measure, and C. H. Fouts of Morgan county, to carry out the Republican platform, had presented a full suffrage proposal. Both were held back until the fate of the National Amendment should be known. The legislators a.s.sembled to ratify on June 16 and the House vote was 76 ayes, 6 noes. In order that the women might be sure of a vote at the next election the Presidential suffrage bill was immediately pa.s.sed by a vote of 75 ayes, 5 noes. The House was in an uproar, cheering, laughing and talking. Then a committee came to the suffrage leaders who were now on the floor, always heretofore in the gallery, and escorted them to the Senate through the legislative pa.s.sage way which had always before been closed to them. The Senate ratified by a vote of 27 ayes, 3 noes.

The Presidential bill was read, debated and pa.s.sed by the Senate late that night by 27 ayes, 3 noes.

Never was there a finer example of cooperation than in this ratification of the Federal Amendment. The adoption of the joint resolution was moved by the Republican floor leader and seconded by the Democratic floor leader. The same spirit characterized the pa.s.sage of the Presidential suffrage bill. Mr. Reynolds, fearing some prejudice might attach to it if it bore his name, as he was a minority party member, proposed to the Republican leaders that the name of Speaker Kimball be subst.i.tuted. The Speaker replied: "No, you deserve to have it go through with your name attached." Mr. Reynolds then asked that the name of Mr. Fouts be added because he had introduced a full suffrage measure, and it became the Reynolds-Fouts Bill. Miss Hauser, editor of the _Bulletin_, official organ of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation, said in it: "We had just witnessed a perfect exhibition of team work and a demonstration of loyalty to a cause and to each other by members of opposing political parties that was heart warming.

We had finished the suffrage fight in Ohio as Mrs. Upton had always wanted to finish it, with love, good will and harmony in our own ranks, and, so far as we were able to judge, with nothing but good will from the men with whom we had worked since the present stage of the contest was inaugurated in 1912."

The suffragists believed the fight was over, not so the opponents.

They at once secured referendum pet.i.tions on both ratification and Presidential suffrage. In 1918 the Home Rule a.s.sociation (the liquor interests) had initiated and carried at the November election an amendment to the State const.i.tution providing that Federal amendments must be approved by the voters before the ratification of the Legislature was effective. This was designed primarily to secure a reversal of prohibition in Ohio but also to prevent ratification of the suffrage amendment.[143]

In collecting their pet.i.tions the same old tactics were employed. The personnel of the workers was largely the same, with the addition of a State Senator from Cincinnati as general manager. The money to finance the campaign came princ.i.p.ally from that city and this time members of the women's Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation were contributors. The saloons were now closed and pious instructions were given not to have the pet.i.tions circulated by saloon keepers or bar tenders. Nevertheless nearly 600 of them were circulated by men who had been connected with the saloon business, some of them now conducting soft drink establishments, and the signatures were plainly of the most illiterate elements.

The State Suffrage a.s.sociation persuaded the National American a.s.sociation to attack the const.i.tutionality of this referendum in the courts and suit was accordingly brought. Eventually it was sustained by the Supreme Court of Ohio and was carried to the U. S. Supreme Court by George Hawk, a young lawyer of Cincinnati. It rendered a decision that the power to ratify a Federal Amendment rested in the Legislature and could not be pa.s.sed on by the voters.

The Legislature in an adjourned session in 1920 gave women Primary suffrage in an amendment to the Presidential bill, but the final ratification of the Federal Amendment in August made all partial measures unnecessary, as it completely enfranchised women.[144] Thus after a struggle of seventy years those of Ohio received the suffrage at last from the national government, but they were deeply appreciative and grateful to those heroic men of the State who fought their battles through the years.

FOOTNOTES:

[139] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, treasurer of the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation 1893-1910; president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation 1899-1908 and 1911-1920.

[140] These conventions were held in the following order: Athens, Springfield, Cleveland, Sandusky, London, Youngstown, Toledo, Warren, Columbus, Elyria, Lima, Columbus, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Lima, Dayton, Columbus (last three years).

[141] The executive officers who finished the work of the State a.s.sociation were as follows: Honorary president, Mrs. Frances M.

Cas.e.m.e.nt, Painesville; president, Mrs. Upton, Warren; first, second and third vice-presidents, Zara du Pont, Cleveland; Dora Sandoe Bachman, Columbus; Mrs. J. C. Wallace, Cincinnati; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Kent Hughes, Lima; recording secretary, Margaret J.

Brandenburg, Oxford; treasurer, Zell Hart Deming, Warren; member of the National Executive Committee, Mrs. O. F. Davisson, Dayton.

Chairmen: Organization Committee, Elizabeth J. Hauser, Girard; Finance, Miss Annie McCully, Dayton; Industrial, Rose Moriarty, Cleveland; Enrollment, Mrs. C. H. Simonds, Conneaut; member Executive Committee at Large, Mrs. Malcolm McBride, Cleveland.

[142] Miss Allen was counsel in all court cases of the Ohio suffragists from 1916 to 1920. In 1920 she was elected Judge in the Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga county (Cleveland), the first woman in the United States to fill such an office.

[143] Several years before the "wets," this time under the name of the Stability League, had initiated an amendment, which, if it had been carried, would have prohibited the submission of the same amendment oftener than once in six years. Thus the suffragists in 1916, 1917 and 1918 were in the courts for months each year.

[144] In the presidential campaign of 1920 Mrs. Upton was appointed vice-chairman of the Republican National Executive Committee, the highest political position ever held by a woman, and she had charge of the activities of women during that campaign. Her last work for woman suffrage was during the strenuous effort to obtain the 36th and final ratification of the Federal Amendment from the Tennessee Legislature in the summer of 1920, when she went to Nashville at the request of the National Republican Committee.--Ed.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

OKLAHOMA.[145]

From the time Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement in 1889 efforts were made to obtain the franchise for women, first by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and in 1895 the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation sent organizers and an auxiliary was formed. It held annual conventions and bills were presented to the Legislature but when one had been grossly betrayed in the Senate after pa.s.sing the House in 1899 no further effort was made for a number of years.[146] Finally in answer to requests sent to the National a.s.sociation, an organizer, Miss Laura Gregg of Kansas, was sent to the Territory in March, 1904. She was cordially received and spent the next eight months in speaking and organizing suffrage clubs. In December Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the national president, joined her for a two-weeks' series of conferences in the large places, in each of which a society was formed.

A convention of Oklahoma and Indian Territory delegates was called for December 15-16 in Oklahoma City. Dr. Shaw presided at the first session and delivered an address to a large audience. Over sixty members were added to the city club and from this time it was the most active in the State. Statehood was being agitated and a letter was read from Miss Susan B. Anthony, honorary president of the National a.s.sociation, which said: "No stone should be left unturned to secure suffrage for the women while Oklahoma is yet a Territory, for if it comes into the Union without this in its const.i.tution it will take a long time and a great deal of hard work to convert over one-half of the men to vote for it."

Letters expressing a strong desire for the franchise were read from women in different parts of the Territories. The Twin Territorial a.s.sociation was organized and a resolution was adopted calling for statehood and saying: "Said statehood shall never enact any law restricting the right of suffrage on account of s.e.x, race, color or previous condition of servitude." Prominent at this convention were Mrs. Kate H. Biggers, Mrs. Julia Woodworth, Mrs. Anna Laskey and Mrs.

Jence C. Feuquay. The officers elected were: president, Mrs. Biggers, Indian Territory; first vice-president, Mrs. Woodworth; second, Mrs.

Anna M. Bennett; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Laskey; recording secretary, Mrs. Louisa Boylan McLoud; treasurer, Miss Margaret Rees; auditors, Mrs. Rebecca Forney and Mrs. Mary B. Green, all of Oklahoma Territory, and Mrs. Mary C. Harvey of Indian Territory.

The second annual convention was held Oct. 26-28, 1905, at Chickasha, Indian Territory. Mrs. Biggers, Mrs. Woodworth, Miss Rees and Mrs.

Green were re-elected. New officers were, Mrs. Minnie Keith Bailey, Mrs. Cleo Ikard Harris, Mrs. Ida Wood Norvell, Mrs. Jessie Livingston Parks and Mrs. Hattie Sherman. Vigorous protest had been made by women throughout the Territories against the bill for statehood which had been presented to Congress, cla.s.sifying women in the suffrage section with illiterates, minors, felons, insane and feeble-minded. The matter was also taken up by the National a.s.sociation. [See Chapter V, Volume V.] Later when bills in the Territorial Legislature for a const.i.tutional convention repeated this clause a conference was held with the officers of the W. C. T. U. and hundreds of letters of protest were sent.

As a const.i.tutional convention seemed near at hand Dr. Frances Woods of South Dakota was sent by the National a.s.sociation to organize in Indian Territory. With the help of Mrs. Woodworth she secured hearings before women's clubs and W. C. T. U.'s, addressed State Labor and Press a.s.sociations and was invited to speak to a Farmers' Inst.i.tute 300 miles away with her expenses paid. Miss Gregg continued the organizing in Oklahoma, addressing an audience of 6,000 at the Grand Army of the Republic encampment and speaking to teachers' inst.i.tutes, business colleges, country school house meetings and women's clubs.

One issue of the _Messenger_, the U. C. T. U. organ, was devoted to woman suffrage. The members.h.i.+p increased; over 75 papers used suffrage articles and much literature donated by the National a.s.sociation was circulated. The Oklahoma City Club, Mrs. Adelia C. Stephens, president, was especially active in having the women register for the school elections, in which they could vote for trustees, in order to defeat the school book trust, and 600 did so.

In May Dr. Woods spoke at the annual meeting of the Woman's Relief Corps in Oklahoma City and a resolution was pa.s.sed favoring woman suffrage. The Grand Army of the Republic, in session at the same time, gave her a place on an evening program at the Opera House, where she addressed a large, enthusiastic audience. Mrs. Biggers attended the annual meeting of the Twin Territories Labor Union, which unanimously adopted a resolution for woman suffrage. In Tulsa on Labor Day the "float" of the suffragists in the big procession won the prize. At Chickasha during the agricultural fair the tent of the suffrage club had the best location on the grounds. Dr. Woods and Mrs. Biggers went to Muskogee to see Robert L. Owen, a prominent lawyer, and enlist his strong influence in favor of a woman suffrage clause in the new const.i.tution. He cordially promised his influence, service and financial a.s.sistance and he made his first great suffrage speech in Oklahoma City before the convention took place. Dr. Woods left the last of May and the National a.s.sociation sent Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania in October, 1906, to establish headquarters. When the const.i.tutional convention opened in Guthrie they were transferred there, with Mrs. Biggers and Mrs. Boyer in charge. Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, a national officer, went to their a.s.sistance at her own expense and Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado did some very effective speaking. In February, 1907, a hearing was granted by the Suffrage Committee of the convention. Later Mr. Owen, former Governor Alva Adams of Colorado and Miss Clay addressed the entire convention.

Mr. Owen engaged the Opera House for a ma.s.s meeting to influence the delegates and paid for printing handsomely the Memorial which the State Suffrage a.s.sociation presented to the convention.

Mrs. Boyer said. "The woman suffrage measure caused the most heated debate of the convention. It had been arranged by the political manipulators to apply gag rule and shut off debate as soon as the opposition had exploited itself but on a motion to discuss the suffrage resolution the vote stood 41 noes, 42 ayes, and the delegates favoring it managed to secure the floor and hold it." Peter Hanraty, the princ.i.p.al representative of the labor organizations, which were practically solid for a woman suffrage clause in the const.i.tution, led the debate in its favor. A number of prominent men spoke strongly for it. Some of the opposing speeches were very coa.r.s.e. On the final vote it was lost by 50 nays to 37 ayes. Notwithstanding all that had been done and said the suffrage clause in the new const.i.tution read: "The qualified electors shall be male citizens of the State and male persons of Indian descent, who are over 21 years of age....

Specifically excepted are felons, paupers, lunatics and idiots."

The headquarters were returned to Oklahoma City with Mrs. Boyer and Mrs. Biggers still in charge and Miss Gregg continued her field work, as the suffragists desired to help some of their friends who were candidates. Among them at the election in October, 1907, Bird S.

McGuire was elected member of Congress, Mr. Hanraty mine inspector, Charles L. Daugherty labor commissioner, Jesse L. Dunn and M. J. Kane Justices of the Supreme Court and fourteen to the Legislature. Charles W. Haskell, who had been among the bitterest of the opponents in the convention, was elected Governor. When the first Legislature met in December, Mr. Owen was unanimously elected U. S. Senator and never thereafter failed to render a.s.sistance to both State and national suffrage for women. Unsolicited Perry A. Ballard introduced a bill in the House at the first session giving the Presidential franchise to women but it never came out of committee.

The suffrage work done in 1908 was princ.i.p.ally through the society in Oklahoma City. The State Federation of Labor at its annual convention endorsed woman suffrage and pledged its support to candidates for the Legislature who would submit the question to the voters. The Socialists also gave unqualified support. There was no official recognition by Democrats or Republicans but a considerable per cent.

of their legislative candidates declared themselves in favor of this action.

State suffrage headquarters were opened in Guthrie in January, 1909, and Mrs. Boyer took charge. Members from clubs over the State came to a.s.sist in lobbying for the amendment and pledges were secured from a majority in both Houses. Miss Kate M. Gordon of New Orleans, corresponding secretary of the National a.s.sociation, came to make the princ.i.p.al argument at the Senate hearing. One was granted also before the Committee of the Whole. Mrs. N. M. Carter presided and strong appeals were made by Mrs. Boyer, Mrs. M. A. Morrison, Mrs. Feuquay and Mrs. Bailey. A pet.i.tion of 8,000 names was presented, which had been quickly collected, but it was treated with discourtesy, one member tearing up the sheets from his district and throwing them into the waste basket. The Speaker jestingly referred it to the Committee on Geological Survey. The attendance was so great the hearing had to be adjourned to a larger room. Through every possible device and even conspiracy the measure was lost in the Senate, Governor Haskell using his influence against it.

It was already evident that the amendment could be submitted only through the Initiative and Referendum. This was a new and not well understood law, there was little money in the treasury and the women were tired and discouraged, saying, as Mrs. Woodworth expressed it: "It's of no use, for the whisky ring and the grafters will beat us every time." Nevertheless an undaunted few decided to begin the immense work of securing the initiative pet.i.tion. Mrs. Biggers was continued as president and Dr. Ruth A. Gay agreed to act as chairman of finance and conduct the pet.i.tion work from her office in Oklahoma City, with the cooperation of Mrs. Stephens, who went personally into the counties. The National a.s.sociation again sent Mrs. Boyer, who used her own room for headquarters in order to save money. She said in writing of the summer's campaign:

The women circulated the pet.i.tion and obtained nearly 38,600 signatures of voters--more than the necessary number. The State was new; there were few trolleys in cities and still fewer interurbans to make the rural communities accessible; the railroads had infrequent and uncertain schedules. That pet.i.tion was a marvel in attainment and a monument of sacrifice. The headquarters work has never been surpa.s.sed in devotion of local suffragists. Do you know of any other State where the entire campaign was carried on by but two paid workers--a manager and a stenographer? Mrs. Stephens went into the field and Mrs. Biggers remained with the office work and spent her money freely. Dr. Gay sacrificed time from her practice and pressed her father and mother into service so that literature might be addressed to the voters. Mrs. Woodworth, Mrs. Feuquay, Mrs. Burt, Mrs. Mattie Flick, Mrs. Dunham and her daughter Junia and Miss Mary Barber worked day and night in the office or the field.

Altogether $900 were raised. To this amount Miss Clay contributed $300; Henry B. and Alice Stone Blackwell (Ma.s.s.) $400 and also lent money. Most of the women worked gratuitously and paid their own expenses. Oklahoma City was canva.s.sed without cost. When the pet.i.tion was ready for filing a representative committee of women carried it to Guthrie and Secretary of State Cross complimented its excellent arrangement. So quietly had it been secured that the "machine"

politicians were astounded and dismayed when it was presented and plans were at once made to attack its validity. Senator Roddie was chosen to protest it on the ground that 5,000 of the signatures were fraudulent but he offered no proof of the charge. Three eminent lawyers, Judge J. B. A. Robertson, Democratic candidate for Governor; Judge T. L. Brown, a Republican, and P. J. Nagel, a Socialist, gave their services to the suffragists. The first argued for the justice of submitting the amendment; the second defended the legality of the pet.i.tion and the third demanded recognition of the 38,586 voters who had signed it. Secretary of State Cross announced a recess until 2 p.

m. At that hour he declared that the pet.i.tion was "in due form of law and amply sufficient in all things and that the question thereby proposed should be certified to the Governor to the end that the same may be submitted to the electors of the State as is provided by law."

Senator Roddie then appealed to the Supreme Court, which in June, 1910, sustained the pet.i.tion.

Believing that the pet.i.tion would be upheld the suffragists had opened headquarters in the Lee Huckins Hotel in Oklahoma City February 1.

There was hope of a special election for the amendment, in which case it could be carried by a majority of those voting on it. If it went to the regular election it would require a majority of the highest number of votes cast. It finally went over to the general election.

There was no money for salaries and very little for expenses. Mrs.

Boyer conducted a very efficient publicity service and was obliged to fill many appointments as a speaker, besides having all the office work in charge, making it necessary for her to toil far into the nights. Mrs. Biggers carried on the work during Mrs. Boyer's absences.

Often there was no money for postage and Dr. Gay would go out and beg a few dollars from some friend of the cause.

It being a State campaign year there were many opportunities for work at picnics and tent meetings arranged for the candidates. The Democrats were the dominant party and princ.i.p.al opposers. Among their candidates were few avowed friends or active helpers and some were openly and bitterly opposed. Women who had never made a public speech had to meet their eloquence and sophistry. Mrs. Stephens and Miss Mary Barber were sent into the most hostile part of the State and worked through the heat and dust of almost the entire summer. They spoke from boxes and wagons; in little dark school houses with only one smoky kerosene lamp, making it impossible to read their notes or see the audience; before large, unsympathetic crowds at open air meetings. It was an experience that tested endurance and loyalty almost to the breaking point.

The Socialists were always helpful but they were intensely disliked and sometimes their friends.h.i.+p only made the way more difficult. The labor unions were unusually helpful and never antagonistic. Toward the last of the campaign the secretary of the State Federation of Labor, J. Luther Langston, with Miss Gordon made a two-weeks' speaking tour through the State. The vote was taken Nov. 8, 1910, and was announced as ayes, 88,808; noes, 128,928; lost by 40,120. While the disappointment was intense yet as an education this campaign could not be overestimated.[147]

There was still a desire to keep the organization alive and be ready for the next opportunity. In 1911 Mrs. Biggers declined to stand again for the presidency, after serving seven years, and Dr. Ruth A. Gay, with a full board, was elected at the annual convention, Mrs. Biggers taking the office of treasurer. At the State meeting of 1912 Mrs.

Mattie Flick, Miss Jessie Nourse and Mrs. Mattie Cloud were added to the board. Dr. Gay held the presidency until 1913, when Mrs. Cora B.

Gotchy was elected. The State a.s.sociation became a member of the Southern Women's Conference. No further effort was made with the Legislature but the Republican party put a woman suffrage plank in its State platform and the Progressive party took steps toward another initiative pet.i.tion, Mrs. Gotchy a.s.sisting, but it did not meet with support. Mrs. Feuquay was selected for president in 1914 and helped a resolution for an amendment introduced in the Legislature by the Socialist Representatives McLemore and Pritchett, which did not come out of committee.

In 1915 Mrs. Adelia C. Stephens was elected president. The vice-president, Miss Mary Crangle, in the northeastern part of the State, and the recording secretary, Mrs. Frances A. Agnew, in the southwestern part, did active personal work to keep up the interest.

The Democratic Secretary of State, J. L. Lyon, made strenuous individual effort to start an initiative pet.i.tion, which was not successful. Suffrage resolutions were introduced by legislators independently in the session of 1915 and the special session of 1916.

Luther Harrison and Charles F. Barrett, now Adjutant General, were helpful friends in the Legislature. Mrs. Stephens was continued as president through 1916 and 1917.[148] In 1916 the resolution for a suffrage amendment pa.s.sed the House by a vote of 62 to 15 but was adversely reported by the Senate Committee.