The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 52

1919. Upon the defeat of the Federal Amendment in the U. S. Senate February 10, Governor Sproul, who had given many proofs of his friends.h.i.+p, was consulted regarding the advisability of introducing Presidential suffrage or a referendum or both. At first he recommended both but 24 hours later word came that the former could not be pa.s.sed but the "organization" would sponsor a referendum. A resolution for this was introduced and after a public hearing, at which anti-suffrage women from New Jersey and New York spoke at length, the House pa.s.sed it on April 22 by 128 ayes, 66 noes. In the Senate on May 26 the vote stood 41 ayes, 7 noes. Mrs. William Ward, Jr., of Chester, vice-chairman of the Legislative Committee, managed a large part of the work for it.

RATIFICATION. The Legislative Committee held its organization intact awaiting the submission of the Federal Amendment, which took place June 4, 1919. Although this committee was in Harrisburg continuously from January 6 to June 24 and knew the personnel of the Legislature better than any others except some of the political leaders, members of the National Woman's Party came to Harrisburg early in June, the first time they had ever been seen there, and tried to create the impression that they inaugurated the work on ratification. A delegation from the State Suffrage a.s.sociation visited Senator Penrose in Was.h.i.+ngton on June 5. Although he was paired against the amendment he was asked to offer no opposition to ratification. He was non-committal but the committee felt that Republican opposition had been removed.

On June 8 the Legislative Committee began an intensive campaign. Mrs.

Gifford Pinchot telephoned or telegraphed Chairman Hays and all the members of the National Republican Committee; also all Republican Governors and other prominent Republicans, asking them to communicate with Governor Sproul, Senator Penrose and State Chairman Crow urging ratification as a Republican measure. All editors of influential Republican papers east of the Mississippi River received the same appeal. The Governor advised that the resolution should not be introduced in the Senate until Chairman Crow had decided to get behind it. On June 16 the latter told Mrs. Miller that the road was clear and it would come to a vote June 19. The vote stood 31 ayes, 6 noes. The House voted on June 24, giving 153 ayes, 44 noes.

Immediately after the vote in the House the work of the State a.s.sociation was recognized when Representative Robert L. Wallace, a friend in many Legislatures, moved to give its president the privilege of addressing the House from the Speaker's rostrum. This was the first time it ever was granted to any man or woman. Governor Sproul also gave a special reception to the officers of the a.s.sociation and the 500 women who had journeyed to Harrisburg for the ratification. For a number of years, the State a.s.sociation Opposed to Woman Suffrage had been represented at all sessions of the Legislature by Mrs. Horace Brock, the president, Mrs. John B. Heron and Miss Eliza Armstrong of Pittsburgh, but to Miss Armstrong, a woman of seventy, it had been left to fight the last battle on ratification and fifty legislators supported her efforts to the end.

The example of the big Republican State of Pennsylvania unquestionably aided in securing like action in a large number of other Republican States. Its prompt action may be attributed primarily to Governor Sproul's sincere interest but due credit must be given to all the brave women who toiled for more than half a century to keep the torch burning and to the leaders in the last years, especially Mrs. John O.

Miller, the president. The newspapers, from the editorial departments to the youngest reporters, were always of the greatest a.s.sistance and it was highly appreciated.

[LAWS. A complete digest of the laws relating especially to women and children accompanied this chapter, comprising about 3,600 words and including the laws for women in the industries, child labor, jurisdiction of the Juvenile Courts, property rights of wives, guardians.h.i.+p of children, divorce, mothers' pensions and others. It is a distinct loss that the decision had to be made to omit the laws from all State chapters for lack of s.p.a.ce.]

FOOTNOTES:

[153] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Harriet L.

Hubbs, executive secretary of the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation 1916-1919 and thenceforth of the State League of Women Voters and active member of Legislative Committees for both organizations.

[154] These organizers were: Mrs. Evelyn Binz, Mrs. Laura Gregg Cannon, Mrs. Ada Mundorff, Mrs. Alice Moore Dunbar, Misses Lillian Howard, Emma MacAlarney, Ladson Hall, Helen Arny, Grace Ballard, Mary Calhoun, Louise Hall, Leona Huntzinger, Doris Long, Adella Potter, Eudora Ramsey, Jeanette Rankin, Ethel Rankin and Mary Sleichter.

[155] The list of the nearly seventy chairmen is unavoidably omitted for want of s.p.a.ce.

[156] Several of the presidents of the a.s.sociation were at first vice-presidents; others were Mrs. Mary B. Luckie, Mrs. Anna M. Orme, Mrs. William I. Hull, Dr. Ruth A. Deeter, Miss Lida Stokes Adams, Miss Mary E. Bakewell, Mrs. Maxwell K. Chapman, Mrs. Robert Mills Beach, Mrs. H. Neely Fleming, Miss Maud Ba.s.sett Gotham, Dr. M. Carey Thomas, Mrs. Lewis L. Smith, Mrs. Edward E. Kiernan, Mrs. James P. Rogers, Mrs. Edwin Linton; secretaries: Mrs. Helen M. James, Miss Lybretta Rice, Miss Jane Campbell, Mrs. Mary R. Newell, Mrs. Mary C. Morgan, Miss Katharine Collison, Miss Caroline Katzenstein, Miss Mary Norcross, Miss Helen L. McFarland, Miss Helen C. Clark, Mrs. Gifford Pinchot; treasurers: Mrs. Margaret B. Stone, Mrs. Luckie, Miss Matilda Orr Hays, Mrs. Robert K. Young, Mrs. Robert Mills Beach, Miss Martha G. Thomas; auditors: Mrs. Ellen H. Thomas, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine, Mrs. Minora F. Phillis, Miss N. M. Crumpton, Mrs. Reba Artsdalen, Mrs.

Robert Coard, Miss Ellen L. Thomas, Mrs. H. Wilfred DuPuy; directors: Mrs. Edward E. Kiernan, Miss Henrietta Baldy Lyon, Mrs. Emma H.

McCandless, Mrs. E. S. H. McCauley, Mrs. Richard S. Quigley, Mrs.

George A. Piersol, Mrs. Clifton A. Verner, Mrs. Daniel F. Ancona.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

RHODE ISLAND.[157]

The opening of the 20th Century found the Old Guard of the Rhode Island Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation still in the van. Some of those who were charter members when the organization was formed in 1868 were in active service, enriching the work by their wide experience in the past and clear vision for the future. Mrs. Ardelia Cooke Dewing, a woman of unusual ability, had taken the presidency at the death of Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace in 1899 and continued in the office until 1905. The a.s.sociation never failed to hold an annual convention in the autumn in Providence, where reside about half the population of the State. In 1901, the usual propaganda was conducted by public and parlor meetings, the circulation of literature and the May banquet, for years a regular social function. A special impetus was given this year by the presence of Miss Susan B. Anthony at the convention. The following morning she addressed the students of the Woman's College of Brown University.

On June 2, 1902, the endors.e.m.e.nt of the State Central Trades and Labor Unions was secured. Harry Parsons Cross, a leading lawyer, gave two courses of lectures on the Legal Status of Women and Parent and Child in Common Law. This year the organization met with a great loss in the removal from Rhode Island of the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, who had served the society from its inception, officially and unofficially, with signal devotion. Henry B. Blackwell gave a notable address at the annual meeting. To him, Lucy Stone and Alice Stone Blackwell the State a.s.sociation was indebted for invaluable services on many important occasions.

In 1903, at the annual meeting a letter was read from Mayor D. L. D.

Granger of Providence, heartily endorsing woman suffrage. Mrs.

Charlotte B. Wilbour and the Rev. Mrs. Spencer were made honorary presidents of the a.s.sociation. In 1904 and thereafter a prize of $25 from the Elizabeth Buffum Chace legacy was given for the best essay on woman suffrage written by a student of the Woman's College. Mrs.

Dewing declined re-election in 1905 and Mrs. Jeannette S. French was chosen president, serving two years. Events of the year were two lectures by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Suffrage a.s.sociation. In 1906 Mrs. Mary F. W. Homer was elected corresponding secretary and her wide experience in suffrage work in Ma.s.sachusetts was a valued contribution at a time when re-enforcements were greatly needed.

In 1907 Mrs. Rowena P. B. Tingley was elected president. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, in her 88th year, gave a remarkable address in April. The a.s.sociation secured an endors.e.m.e.nt of woman suffrage and equal pay for equal work by the United Textile Workers of America, who met in Providence. Mrs. George D. Gladding, daughter of Mrs. Dewing, was appointed chairman of the Committee on College Work and initiated the movement for the College Equal Suffrage League by securing Mrs. Maud Wood Park to address a meeting of college women at the home of Mrs.

Dewing and also to speak at the Woman's College. The league was organized December 11.

In 1908 Mrs. Tingley was re-elected president but because of ill health the duties of the office devolved largely upon Mrs. Gladding, first vice-president. The 40th anniversary of the a.s.sociation was celebrated December 11 in Churchill House, the women's club house, named for one of the distinguished suffrage pioneers, Mrs. Elizabeth Kittridge Churchill. Mrs. Tingley, Arnold B. Chace, Mr. Blackwell and the Rev. Mrs. Spencer, the speakers on this occasion, had been present when the a.s.sociation was formed and they added to the pleasure of the meeting with personal reminiscences. Miss Florence Garvin, president of the College Equal Suffrage League, spoke of the debt of the young women to the pioneer suffragists. The State a.s.sociation enrolled thousands of names for the National a.s.sociation's pet.i.tion to Congress in behalf of the Federal Amendment and used its influence to obtain for it the support of the Rhode Island members of Congress.

In 1909 at the annual meeting Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates, who had recently come to the State, was elected president. This year was marked by distinctive propaganda through the efforts of Mrs. Oliver H.

P. Belmont of New York. The lectures given at Marble Palace, her home in Newport, by Dr. Shaw and Professor Charles Zueblin interested a new and influential cla.s.s and gave a substantial impetus to suffrage work throughout the State. Increasing calls to discuss the question before clubs, granges, church societies and other organizations were an encouraging sign of a popular awakening to its importance.

In 1910 a debate on woman suffrage between Brown University and Williams College was won by the former in the affirmative. Mrs. Anne M. Jewett, who had served acceptably as recording secretary for ten years, resigned. Miss Mary M. Angell was elected at the annual meeting and gave a like term of years of devoted service. Mrs. Dewing was made honorary president. In 1911 a lecture on Woman's Ballot by Professor Henry S. Nash of Harvard University, well known as a lecturer, before the Providence Biblical Inst.i.tute, greatly strengthened the cause among conservative people. Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst gave a lecture under the auspices of the State a.s.sociation and the College League.

This year the first anti-suffrage society was organized by a group of wealthy and prominent women, among whom were Mrs. Charles Warren Lippitt, Mrs. Rowland Hazard, Miss Louise Hoppin, Mrs. Herbert Maine and Mrs. Henry T. Fowler. Miss Yates and Mrs. Lippitt were invited to hold a debate before the Jewish Women's Council.

In January, 1912, the College League and the State a.s.sociation opened headquarters in Butler Exchange at Providence and engaged Miss Louise Hall as organizer. President M. Carey Thomas of Bryn Mawr College spoke under the auspices of the State Collegiate Alumnae on the Need of Woman's Ballot and made a strong impression on this conservative university city. From May the College League a.s.sumed the office duties and the State a.s.sociation carried on the field work. This year a booth was secured at the Food Fair of the Retail Grocers' a.s.sociation, where thousands of new members were enrolled, tens of thousands of leaflets were distributed and much publicity work was done. The "suffrage map" was in evidence, showing the many States that had been won, an irrefutable argument against the emanations of the anti-suffrage booth. At no other time and place could so many cla.s.ses of persons be reached. The arduous work involved was carried on by Miss Alice F. Porter, Miss Nettie E. Bauer, Mrs. George E. Dunbar, Miss Enid Peirce, Miss Althea L. Hall, Miss Margaretha Dwight, Mrs.

Caroline Dowell, Miss Ethel Parks and a score more of like unselfish workers.[158] At the annual meeting in October Mrs. Homer, who had been the efficient corresponding secretary for six years, declined re-election and Mrs. Sara L. Fittz was elected to the office, which position she retained until the end. She served also as chairman of the Publicity Committee and was always in demand as a speaker. Miss Hall went to a.s.sist in the Ohio campaign, accompanied by Mrs. Camilla Von Klenze, president of the College League. In April Dr. Shaw addressed a large audience at Infantry Hall. In the summer suffrage headquarters were established on Franklin Street, Newport, mainly through the energy of Mrs. Belmont, a member of the Newport League, and meetings were held here every afternoon during this and other seasons.

In 1913 the work of the year opened with a lecture by Miss Mary Johnston, the novelist, on Woman in Politics and one by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt on the White Slave Traffic. Mrs. Catt also addressed a meeting in the interests of the Woman Suffrage Party, which had been organized under the leaders.h.i.+p of Mrs. Sara M. Algeo. The State a.s.sociation and the College League being dues-paying organizations there was an open field for the non-dues-paying Suffrage Party formed along political lines. Nearly all the members of the older a.s.sociations joined it and at the same time continued to maintain their own lines of propaganda. Miss Yates, the State president, was invited by the munic.i.p.al government to deliver the Fourth of July address at City Hall, Providence. Dr. Valeria H. Parker addressed the annual convention on Women as Civil Guardians.

In 1914 a series of lectures on the Modern Woman of Various Countries was given by the State a.s.sociation which called out large audiences.

The three organizations united in a celebration of "suffrage week" in May, closing with a meeting in the Casino at Roger Williams Park with Rabbi Stephen S. Wise as the princ.i.p.al speaker. Miss Yates, after serving five years, was obliged on account of other demands on her time to decline reelection and was made honorary president. No president being elected at the annual meeting, Agnes M. (Mrs. Barton P.) Jenks was chosen later by the Executive Committee to fill the vacancy and afterwards was elected and held the office until May, 1918. In December representatives of the three organizations met and formed a Cooperative Council to secure economy of effort and increased efficiency. The work of the College League had been of distinctive value in Providence, the seat of Brown University with its Woman's College. During the years of its independent existence it had been well served by its presidents, Miss Garvin, Mrs. Von Klenze, Mrs.

Algeo and Miss Helen Emerson. It presented speakers of national reputation; published special leaflets, notably What Rhode Island Women Ought to Know; conducted study clubs and gave generous cooperation in the undertakings of the other organizations.

During the winter of 1915 a special series of lectures was given for the council on political and economic subjects by professors of the University. The joint endeavors of the three organizations this winter proving successful they amalgamated under the name of the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation and the annual meeting was changed from fall to spring. Most of the officers of the State a.s.sociation were retained. Others were Miss Emerson and Mrs. Carl Barus, vice-presidents; Mrs. John A. Cross, treasurer; Mrs. Barton A. Ballou, Mrs. Gerald A. Cooper and Mrs. Gilbert C. Carpenter, auditors; Mrs.

Dunbar and Mrs. Helen Dougherty, chairman and secretary of the Woman Suffrage Party. In accordance with the plan of the National a.s.sociation, the State's members of Congress, U. S. Senators LeBaron B. Colt and Henry F. Lippitt; Representatives Walter R. Stiness, George F. O'Shaughnessy and Ambrose Kennedy, were interviewed on the Federal Amendment with encouraging results. Weekly suffrage teas were established at headquarters during the winter, followed by addresses on current topics. The a.s.sociation was especially indebted to Mrs.

Ballou, Mrs. Edward M. Harris and Miss Sarah J. Eddy for the hospitality of their homes that combined on many occasions social pleasure with excellent opportunity to present the suffrage cause.

On February 17, 1916, a luncheon and conference at the Narragansett Hotel were held in honor of Mrs. Catt, now national president. A ma.s.s meeting was held in March in Sayles Hall, where Mrs. Glendower Evans of Boston and Professor Louis J. Johnston of Harvard spoke in the interest of the Federal Amendment. In April a "suffrage shop" was opened in Providence in charge of Miss Mary B. Anthony, which proved an active center of propaganda. Rhode Island was represented in the suffrage parades during the national political conventions in Chicago and St. Louis in 1916 by Miss Yates. On election night in November a public reception was held at suffrage headquarters, where a private wire had been installed to give the returns and large numbers were present.

In 1917 Miss Yates conducted a suffrage school weekly at headquarters during February and March. The major activities of the year were given to legislative work. The granting of Presidential suffrage to women by the Legislature was celebrated at the annual meeting, at which Governor R. Livingston Beeckman, representatives of the political parties of the State and Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, national corresponding secretary, were the princ.i.p.al speakers. An invitation was accepted from Thomas W. Bicknell, one of the staunchest suffragists, to unite with the Citizens' Historical a.s.sociation, of which he was president, in a joint celebration of the Declaration of Independence by Rhode Island on May 4, 1776, and the pa.s.sage of the Presidential suffrage bill in April, 1917, and Miss Yates was chosen as speaker for the State a.s.sociation. Miss Elizabeth M. Barr was elected treasurer in 1917 and served until 1920. Miss Barr's predecessors were Miss Mary K. Wood, Mrs. Jewett, Mrs. Ballou, Mrs.

Helen N. B. Janes, Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Cross, and Mrs. George W. Parks.

During the winter of 1918, a civics course was conducted by Miss Anthony covering local and national government, Mayor Joseph H. Gainer of Providence and other city officers speaking in the course. Miss Anthony was elected State president at the annual meeting in June and brought to the office experience in public work and wide social influence that were of special value in the closing years of the a.s.sociation. Mrs. Jenks was made honorary president. On December 11 the 50th anniversary of the a.s.sociation was celebrated. An interesting historical review of the first meeting was given by Arnold Buffum Chace, who had acted as secretary on that occasion and whose mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, was president of the a.s.sociation for thirty years. The Rev. Mrs. Spencer, also a charter member, recounted the early struggles of the pioneers. Miss Yates and Mrs. Jenks gave interesting accounts of the early and later work. Mrs. Catt and Miss Blackwell were guests of honor and brought inspiring messages. This year both the Democratic and Republican parties put suffrage planks in their State platforms and sent resolutions to Congress urging the Rhode Island Senators to support the Federal Amendment.

The suffragists responded to every demand of the Government for war service. Mrs. Walter A. Peck, honorary vice-president, was State chairman of the Woman's Committee of the Liberty Loan. Miss Emerson, first vice-president, served in France with the Bryn Mawr unit. Miss Bauer, second vice-president, was a member of the executive board of the Red Cross. Miss Fittz, corresponding secretary, and Miss Yates, honorary president, received government certificates as speakers with the "four-minute men."

In 1919 Miss Frances E. Lucas, chairman of the Civics Committee, gave a course of lectures on social and political problems, which were largely attended. Miss Avis Hawkins, chairman on schools, perfected an organization throughout the State to advance the interests of both pupils and teachers. On May 27 the Woman's College and the State a.s.sociation commemorated the centenary of the birth of Julia Ward Howe, in Pembroke Hall of the college. At the annual meeting on June 4 Miss Anthony was re-elected president. Mrs. Raymond Brown, national vice-president, gave an interesting address. The occasion was made memorable by the pa.s.sing of the resolution for the Federal Amendment by the U. S. Senate while the convention was in session. The entire Rhode Island delegation in both Houses of Congress voted in favor, the only eastern State except Maine to have this record. In October Miss Anthony called a meeting of the presidents of all the women's organizations of the State in the interests of social betterment, which resulted in the foundation of the Civics Cooperative Council, and Mrs. Nancy M. Schoonmaker was engaged to give a course of lectures on Citizens.h.i.+p.[159]

THE WOMAN SUFFRAGE PARTY.

In the fall of 1915 Mrs. Sara M. Algeo re-organized the Woman Suffrage Party as an independent body and began a vigorous campaign for civic betterment and political education. Miss Mary E. McDowell of Chicago and Miss Margaret Foley of Boston addressed large audiences. Its policy was to invite the fullest cooperation of colored women and a meeting was held at which Mrs. Robert M. LaFollette spoke to a large audience of both colored and white women on their common need of full citizens.h.i.+p.

In 1916 the endors.e.m.e.nt of the State conference of Congregational Churches was secured. A civic forum was organized in Providence, holding Sunday afternoon meetings in a theater. Among the eminent speakers were Lord and Lady Aberdeen, Thomas Mott Osborne, Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett, Mary Antin and Mrs. Nellie McClung of Canada. The same line of work was followed elsewhere in the State. A suffrage cla.s.s was established at the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation. Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky gave ten days of helpful service.

In 1917 Mrs. LeBaron B. Colt of Bristol was appointed committee chairman of the Women's Oversea Hospitals conducted by the National Suffrage a.s.sociation and with the a.s.sistance of Mrs. Algeo and the party $3,000 were raised. After the pa.s.sage of the Presidential suffrage bill in 1917 the party specialized in training for citizens.h.i.+p and conducted a campaign in naturalization in conjunction with the Americanization Committee of the National a.s.sociation. In the fall under the direction of Mrs. Frederick H. Bagley of Boston, its chairman, efforts were made to secure from the Legislature an Americanization bill providing compulsory education for immigrants and also for a director of Americanization on the Board of Education, which was pa.s.sed in 1919. Mrs. Agnes M. Bacon was appointed by the Governor.

In 1919 Mrs. Algeo compiled and published Suggestions to the Women Voters of Rhode Island, of which thousands of copies were circulated.

July 1, being the first day of registration for the elections of the following year, she organized a state-wide campaign for the registration of women for using the presidential vote. It was celebrated in Providence by an imposing ceremony on the steps of the City Hall at noon, and in the evening by a banquet, at which Mrs.

Charles H. Brooks of Kansas, national chairman of the League of Women Voters, and Mrs. Charles Tiffany of New York were the princ.i.p.al speakers. This year Miss Leila P. Andrews was elected president of the Woman Suffrage Party and Mrs. Algeo president of the Providence League of Women Voters.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After the defeat of a woman suffrage amendment to the State const.i.tution in 1887 and the refusal of the Legislatures afterwards to submit it again the a.s.sociation decided to follow the advice of Henry B. Blackwell and try to obtain a vote for presidential electors, which could be granted by a law. The proposition, first made in 1892, met with practically no support among the legislators and finally further attempts to secure it were discontinued for years. At the annual meeting of 1902 an address by Mr. Blackwell resulted in a resumption of efforts to secure this law and in 1903 a pet.i.tion to the Legislature, signed by influential men and women, accompanied a bill introduced in the Senate. A hearing was given but it was not reported from committee.

In 1904 the bill was presented in the House and Senate and reported favorably but defeated in both branches.