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 Association, 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 constitution 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 Association 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 sex, 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, classifying women in the suffrage section with illiterates, minors, felons, insane and feeble-minded. The matter was also taken up by the National Association. [See Chapter V, Volume V.] Later when bills in the Territorial Legislature for a constitutional 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 constitutional convention seemed near at hand Dr. Frances Woods of South Dakota was sent by the National Association 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 Associations and was invited to speak to a Farmers' Institute 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' institutes, 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 membership increased; over 75 papers used suffrage articles and much literature donated by the National Association 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 passed 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 constitution. He cordially promised his influence, service and financial assistance 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 Association sent Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania in October, 1906, to establish headquarters. When the constitutional 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 assistance 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 mass meeting to influence the delegates and paid for printing handsomely the Memorial which the State Suffrage Association 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 principal representative of the labor organizations, which were practically solid for a woman suffrage clause in the constitution, led the debate in its favor. A number of prominent men spoke strongly for it. Some of the opposing speeches were very coarse. 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 constitution 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 assistance 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 principally 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 assist 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 Association, came to make the principal 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 petition 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 petition. Mrs. Biggers was continued as president and Dr. Ruth A. Gay agreed to act as chairman of finance and conduct the petition work from her office in Oklahoma City, with the cooperation of Mrs. Stephens, who went personally into the counties. The National Association 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 petition 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 petition was a marvel in attainment and a monument of sacrifice. The headquarters work has never been surpassed 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 (Mass.) $400 and also lent money. Most of the women worked gratuitously and paid their own expenses. Oklahoma City was canvassed without cost. When the petition 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 petition 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 petition 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 petition.

Believing that the petition 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 principal 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 friendship 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 association 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 petition, Mrs. Gotchy assisting, 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 petition, 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 passed the House by a vote of 62 to 15 but was adversely reported by the Senate Committee.

Since 1910 Mrs. Woodworth had kept the question of woman suffrage continually before the State Federation of Women's Clubs and in all organizations of women there was an increasing interest in legislation, especially for the benefit of women and children, and they were seeing the necessity of the ballot as a means of attaining it. Meanwhile most of the States west of the Mississippi River had enfranchised their women and for months before the Legislature convened in 1917 letters and telegrams came in announcing that former foes had become friends, many of them offering to help the cause. Woman suffrage was the first subject discussed when the Legislature convened. The resolution to submit an amendment was championed in the Senate by Senators Fred Tucker of Ardmore, John Golobie of Guthrie, Walter Ferguson of Cherokee and many others. In the House among the most earnest supporters were Paul Nesbitt of McAlester and Bert C. Hodges of Okmulgee. The vote in the Senate February 2 was unanimous and in the House March 17 was 75 ayes, 12 noes.

Women over the State watched anxiously the action of the Legislature and many were in attendance. Mrs. Stephens, Mrs. Frank Mulkey of Oklahoma City and Mrs. Robert Ray of Lawton were especially active but the chief credit belongs to Mrs. Frank B. Lucas, legislative representative of the Federation of Women's Clubs, with wide experience in legislative procedure. Mrs. Woodworth and Mrs. Lucas had acted as committee for the State suffrage association, which now merged with the campaign committee.

The campaign was made particularly difficult by the fact that Governor Robert L. Williams, Attorney General S. P. Freeling and the chairman of the State Election Board, W. C. McAlester, all Democrats, were avowed and active anti-suffragists, notwithstanding the party had declared in State convention in favor of the amendment. Encouraged by eastern women an Anti-Suffrage Committee was formed with Mrs. T. H. Sturgeon chairman and Miss Maybelle Stuard press chairman and speaker, both of Oklahoma City. Other women prominent in the movement were Miss Edith Johnson, of the Daily Oklahoman and Miss Alice Robertson of Muskogee, who were very active in the distribution of the usual "anti" literature, attempting to link the suffragists with Germans and with the negro vote. Miss Charlotte Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y., representing the National Anti-Suffrage Association, remained in Oklahoma during most of the campaign but their work was scattered and ineffectual.

The election took place Nov. 8, 1918, and the amendment received a majority of 25,428 of the votes cast on it. It had a majority of 9,791 of the highest number of votes cast at the election, a record that never had been equalled in any State. After the National League of Women Voters was organized at the convention of the National American Suffrage Association in March, 1919, a State League was formed in Oklahoma with Mrs. Phil Brown of Muskogee chairman.

* * * * *

Report of Mrs. Shuler to the Board of the National American Woman Suffrage Association on the Oklahoma Campaign.

Against the advice of the National Board with conditions adverse as they were in Oklahoma the legislative committee of the State Federation of Women's Clubs and some members of the State suffrage board secured the submission of an amendment to the voters in 1917 and appealed for help to the National Association. It found that the Oklahoma association was not organized as in other States with the club as the unit but was composed of individual memberships and was not an auxiliary of the National Association, not having paid dues for several years. After obtaining the submission there seemed to be a desire on the part of the women to waive all responsibility for the campaign, but they said that if the National Association considered the winning of it a necessity to its program, it should assume the entire financial responsibility.

On Jan. 19, 1918, Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, corresponding secretary and chairman of campaigns and surveys; Mrs. T. T. Cotnam of Arkansas and Mrs. Charles H. Brooks of Kansas, directors of the National American Association, reached Oklahoma City. Several conferences were held with the State board none of whose members could give all their time to the campaign, although two would work for salary and expenses. It was evident that a Campaign Committee must be formed and new groups interested, to which the board agreed. Forty-five women met at the Lee Huckins Hotel on January 21, adopted a plan for work and agreed to raise a budget of $25,000, Mrs. Shuler stating that no financial assistance from the National Association could be given until the Board had taken action on her "survey" of conditions. Mrs. John Threadgill was elected chairman of the campaign committee with a salary of $100 a month and Mrs. Julia Woodworth, the former State secretary, was made executive secretary at a salary of $15 a week. Mrs. Frank B. Lucas, chairman of finance, agreed to raise the $25,000 necessary for the campaign with the understanding that she was to have personally 10 per cent. of the money raised. She raised a little over $2,000 and resigned April 1.

An organization of young women was formed in Oklahoma City and State and city headquarters were opened in the Terminal Arcade. Two organizers, Miss Josephine Miller who remained one week and Miss Gertrude Watkins who remained three weeks, were sent by the National Association. Miss Lola Walker came January 30, Miss Margaret Thompson, a volunteer, and Miss Edna Annette Beveridge in February, all remaining through the campaign.

Mrs. Shuler left April 6 for South Dakota and Michigan, both in amendment campaigns. While in Oklahoma she had visited twenty-seven counties out of the seventy-seven and organization had been effected in thirty-two county seats; also the passage obtained of a resolution by the Democratic and Republican State Committees not only endorsing but promising to work for the amendment. A Campaign Committee had been formed with representatives from seventeen organizations of men and women representing different groups with widely diversified interests. Ten State vice-chairmen had been selected from different sections and eleven chairmen of active committees. Headquarters had been opened in Tulsa and Muskogee and others promised in the larger cities. A canvass had been made of forty-six newspapers showing only five to be absolutely opposed. The State had been divided into ten districts and it was hoped that each might have the services later of an experienced national worker.

On April 17, 18, a meeting of the Executive Council of the National Association was held in Indianapolis. The Board took action on Oklahoma, agreeing to give organizers, press work and literature to the amount of $13,650, provided the State would put two more trained organizers in the field immediately and raise the rest of the "budget," about $11,000. Mrs. Threadgill attending this meeting and agreed to the plan.

On May 1 Miss Marjorie Shuler was sent by the National Association to take entire charge of press and political work, and, to quote from Miss Katherine Pierce's report, "to her effective work with the newspapers of the State was due in a great measure the success of the campaign." Three hundred were supplied with weekly bulletins and two-and-a-half pages of plate, and the last week 126,000 copies of a suffrage supplement sent from national headquarters in New York were circulated through the newspapers. As a unit the suffrage organization was used for the 3rd and 4th Liberty Loans, and a statewide Unconditional Surrender Club, in which nearly 100,000 members were enrolled, was organized by Miss Shuler. In the face of these activities the men paid little heed to the charges of pacifism and lack of patriotism made against the suffragists by paid "anti" speakers sent in from outside the State.

May 1 found the Campaign Committee without funds and a meeting held in Oklahoma City early in the month passed the following resolution: "On account of the unusual conditions prevailing at this time which have caused the Oklahoma State Campaign Committee to find itself unable to meet the expenses of the campaign, said committee does hereby dissolve and stands ready to cooperate in any way possible in any plans that may be evolved by the National Board, hoping for its continued aid and support and expressing warmest thanks and most earnest appreciation of the generous aid and assistance already given." This resolution was unanimously carried, the committee dissolved and Mrs. Clarence Henley was made chairman, Mrs. Frank Haskell, vice chairman, Mrs. A.. Crockett, secretary, Mrs. Blanche Hawley, treasurer, and Mrs. C. B. Ames, chairman of finance of a new one. As the State had not put in the two trained organizers, the National Board sent Mrs. Mary K. Maule in April and Misses Alice Curtis and Doris Long in June.

One of the requirements by the National Association if financial assistance were given was that States in campaign should secure signatures of women on petitions. At the meeting in January officers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union agreed to take entire charge of this work but later decided that it might injure the chances for national prohibition. Its president, however, Mrs. Abbie Hillerman of Sapulpa, served as an advisory member of the Campaign Committee and with other members rendered valuable assistance. Under the direction of Miss Curtis 58,687 signatures were obtained.

In the meantime the Oklahoma City organization, which had for officers a group of young women, was dissolved and their headquarters given up. Money was needed to maintain State headquarters, which were an absolute necessity. In June Mrs. Henley, the chairman, sent a financial plan to all county chairmen, asking for a certain sum from each county based on population, wealth, etc. Some county chairmen resigned, which was a discouragement to Mrs. Henley and to the national workers. Early in July Mrs. Henley telegraphed her resignation to the National Board, stating that the campaign must go by default unless it would assume all financial obligation. Mrs. Catt, the national president, wrote urging her not to resign and stating that the National Association would pay salary and expenses of all national organizers then in the field and would send other workers as needed, providing Oklahoma would finance its State headquarters and speakers' bureau and meet the pledge made in April to pay salary and expenses of two workers. Mrs. Henley remained chairman; Mary Parke London and Sally Fanny Gleaton were sent by the board in July; Alma Sasse in August and Isabella Sanders as headquarters secretary on September 1. Mrs. Shuler returned from New York and took over the campaign for the final two months, with headquarters in Oklahoma City.

All of the prominent suffragists in the State were doing war work.... There was a depleted treasury. The Campaign Committee was not able to pay for any workers in the field. Money was needed for rent, postage, telegrams, stenographers' salaries, etc. It became necessary for Mrs. Shuler and the organizers, in addition to the detailed work of the campaign, to assume the financial burden as well. Mrs. Shuler gave her personal check for rent for August, September and October and with the national assistants in the field and by personal appeals raised $2,433. From January 21 to November 5, 1918, there came into the State Campaign Committee's treasury $4,993 and of this amount $2,559 were spent from January to June for salaries of Mrs. Threadgill, the chairman; Mrs. Woodworth, the secretary, and headquarters expenses. These funds were checked out on warrants signed by them and the checks signed by Mrs. Hawley, treasurer. From June to November $2,433 were raised and checked out on warrants signed by Mrs. Henley and checks signed by Mrs. Hawley for headquarters expenses—not a penny going for salary or expenses of any national worker. The sum of $79.92 remaining in the treasury at the end was turned over to the Ratification Committee.

The Tulsa suffragists opened headquarters, engaged an executive secretary and financed their own campaign. They also very generously paid nearly $500 for the suffrage supplement distributed through the State. There were other counties no doubt where money was spent locally, but no record was sent to headquarters. The National Association expended nearly $20,000 in Oklahoma, the largest sum it had ever put into a State Campaign. By September 1 it was paying salaries and expenses of eleven national workers.[149]

When the epidemic regulations forbade meetings of more than twelve persons, the suffragists resorted to all manner of devices for voiceless speech and 150,000 fliers with the wording of the amendment, directions how to vote and the warning that a "silent vote" was a vote against it were distributed by hand and through the mail. Other circularization, posting of towns at a specified date and newspaper publicity were pushed. Much political help was secured. Both Republican and Democratic State conventions passed suffrage resolutions and preceding the Democratic nearly every county convention passed such a resolution.

No work which the women did in the campaign was more effective than their election day appeal. Nearly every polling place had women watchers within and women scouts without. Whenever one party in any place denied women the privilege of watching, they secured appointments as regular watchers for the other party. An amendment to the constitution of Oklahoma has to poll a majority of the highest number of votes cast in the general election. The "silent vote" is the term applied to the votes cast in the election but not on the amendment and which are counted against it. The task of arousing every man to such a degree of interest that he would remember to mark his ballot on the suffrage amendment seemed a hopeless task. Those who know the usual inattention given to any constitutional amendment by the rank and file of voters can estimate how difficult it was to get a majority of the ballots correctly marked.

Early in September it was learned that the Elections Board, claiming that the Secretary of State had failed to supply the official wording of the amendment ninety days before election, did not intend to print the suffrage amendment. Through the efforts of Judge W. H. Ledbetter of Oklahoma City, who donated his services, this obstacle was overcome, and then further to increase the difficulties, the board decided to print the suffrage amendment on a separate ballot. In October it was found that soldiers had voted in seven camps but suffrage ballots had not been furnished them and thus hundreds were prevented from voting on the amendment, yet all of these were counted as voting in the negative! The attempt to hold back the returns and to get a new ruling on the meaning of the so-called "silent vote" are matters of history.

On Friday after election it became apparent to the State Elections Board that the suffrage majority was piling up and there was every evidence that the amendment had won. On Saturday it was reported that a member of the State Elections Board in Oklahoma City had called up some chairmen of county elections boards, asking that they open the sealed returns and send a second report counting from the "stubs," which would include the mutilated and spoiled ballots, so as to increase further the number of the "silent votes." At that time the suffrage headquarters had received returns from 63 out of 77 counties, showing a majority of 21,000 of the votes cast on the amendment, about 10,000 over the "silent vote." The publication of these attested returns prevented any further attempt to get them from "stub" books. When all other resources failed, the anti-suffragists filed a protest against certification by the State Elections Board.

There were really two campaigns in Oklahoma—one to win the ballot and the other to hold it. Mrs. Shuler remained in the State until November 14. On that day the Oklahoman printed the statement by Governor Williams that on the face of the returns so far suffrage had won.

Miss Beveridge, who had charge of one of the most difficult sections of the State and had carried it, remained in Oklahoma until December 3, when Governor Williams finally called for the suffrage returns and without certification by the Elections Board, proclaimed it carried. The vote stood 106,909 ayes, 81,481 noes, a majority of 25,428 votes on the amendment and of 9,791 over the total vote cast at the election. This latter requirement had always been counted on to defeat any measure that the party "bosses" did not want carried and the politicians now asked, "But where was the 'silent vote'?" The answer came when a map of the State was shown almost obliterated with tiny red stars and they were told, "Every star represents a suffrage committee working since last January." Organization had reduced the "silent vote" to five per cent. and won the suffrage for the women of Oklahoma. [End of Mrs. Shuler's report.]

RATIFICATION. With the successful closing of the campaign the county chairmen answered the call of Mrs. Shuler to meet in Oklahoma City and formed a Ratification Committee to carry on the work of ratifying the Federal Suffrage Amendment when it should be submitted to the Legislatures. This committee was composed of Miss Katherine Pierce of Oklahoma City, chairman; Mrs. A. P. Crockett of the same city, treasurer, and Miss Aloysius Larch-Miller of Shawnee, secretary, with representative women from the State at large as follows: Mrs. Frank Haskell, Tulsa; Mrs. E. E. McPherron, Durant; Mrs. Walter Ferguson, Cherokee; Mrs. Robert J. Ray, Lawton; Mrs. Hardee Russell, Paul's Valley. The county chairmen for the campaign were retained.

No active work was done until after the Conference of Governors in Salt Lake City in the summer of 1919, when the amendment had been submitted. At this conference the new Governor, J. B. A. Robertson, gave as a reason for not calling a special session to ratify, the great expense and the fear of untimely legislation but he consented to call one if these could be avoided. In September Miss Larch-Miller, assisted by Miss Marjorie Shuler, sent by the National Association, asked the legislators to sign a pledge that they would attend a special session, serve without pay, consider no other legislation and vote for ratification. Pledges were signed by a majority of both Houses and presented to the Governor who made no answer. Several weeks later he addressed the State Federation of Women's Clubs and again offered the same excuses.

In January, 1920, the Democratic Central Committee called county conventions of women to select delegates to a State convention of women to be held prior to the regular State convention. Many of these county conventions passed a resolution requesting the Governor to call a special session and it was also adopted at the State convention of about 1,500 women. A number of the regular county conventions of men and women passed it. Miss Larch-Miller attended the convention of her county, although she had been confined to her room for several days with influenza. She spoke strongly for the resolution and was opposed by the Attorney General, S. P. Freeling, one of the ablest orators in the State, but her enthusiasm and eloquence carried the day and it was adopted. The exertion proved too much for her frail body and the next night pneumonia developed and she gave her young life as the supreme sacrifice for the cause she loved.

The Democratic State convention met at Muskogee February 5 and Senator Robert L. Owen's candidacy for President of the United States had developed to such an extent that he was its dominating figure. He insisted on a special session to ratify the amendment. Governor Robertson stated to the convention that because of its interest in Senator Owen's candidacy he would call the session and he did so for February 23. President Wilson sent the following telegram on the 25th to the Speaker of the House: "May I not take the liberty of expressing my earnest hope that Oklahoma will join the other suffrage States in ratifying the Federal Suffrage Amendment, thus demonstrating anew its sense of justice and retaining its place as a leader in democracy?"

Mrs. Rufus M. Gibbs and Mrs. Mabel G. Millard, presidents of the Maryland and Iowa Anti-Suffrage Associations, sent urgent telegrams to defeat ratification, which were read to both Houses. Attorney General Freeling made a strong State's rights argument against it but the resolution was finally passed on February 27 by a vote of 84 to 12 in the House and the next day in the Senate by 25 to 13. Senators Fred Tucker of Ardmore and J. Elmer Thomas of Lawton sponsored it in the Senate and Paul Nesbitt of McAlester and Bert C. Hodges of Okmulgee in the House. Governor Robertson signed it February 28. Attorney General Freeling immediately started a petition to refer this action to the voters. The decision of the U. S. Supreme Court that there could be no referendum of Federal Amendments ended this final effort.

The Ratification Committee, with a feeling of gratitude to the National Suffrage Association for the generous assistance that had been given to Oklahoma affiliated the State with this body and it was represented at the next national convention by a delegation of eight.

In 1920 Mrs. Lamar Looney was elected to the State Senate; Miss Bessie McColque to the House and Miss Alice Robertson to the Lower House of Congress.

FOOTNOTES:

[145] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Adelia C. Stephens, president of the State Woman Suffrage Association, and Miss Katherine Pierce, chairman of the Ratification Committee.

[146] History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, page 888.

[147] The following testimonial was gratefully offered: Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer by her tact and never failing kindness not only won the love of the suffragists of Oklahoma but the respect and confidence of all others who knew her. By her tireless energy and unselfishness she did a work which contributed very largely to the final success that came later. Signed, Kate H. Biggers, president State Suffrage Association; Jence C. Feuquay, first vice-president; Adelia C. Stephens, corresponding secretary; Ruth A. Gay, chairman finance committee.

[148] Other State officers through the years were Mrs. N. M. Carter, Mrs. Julia Dunham, Dr. Edith Barber, Elizabeth Redfield, Mrs. J. R. Harris, Mrs. Narcissa Owen, Mrs. A. K. McKellop, Martha Phillips, Minnie O. Branstetter, Mrs. Roswell Johnson, Lucy G. Struble, Carrie K. Easterly, Kate Stafford, Dora Delay, Ellen McElroy, Edith Wright, Mrs. Lee Lennox, Mary Goddard, Mrs. John Threadgill, Blanche H. Hawley, Mrs. A. S. Heany, Mrs. Clarence Davis, Mrs. Carl Williams, Mrs. C. L. Daugherty, Mrs. John Leahy, Jessie Livingston Parks, Mrs. N. McCarty, Louise Boylan.

District presidents and chairmen of committees: Dora Kirkpatrick, Janet C. Broeck, Elizabeth Burt, Ethel Lewis, Mrs. H. J. Bonnell, Mrs. O. A. Mitscher, Mrs. C. C. Conlan, Effie M. Ralls, E. Irene Yeoman.

[149] Many ardent suffragists found they could not stand up against the statewide comment that the women should be doing only war work but the cooperation in many counties was splendid and there is not space enough to name those who stood by throughout the struggle. To those already mentioned should be added Judge and Mrs. D. A. McDougal of Sapulpa, Mrs. Robert Ray of Lawton, Mrs. B. W. Slagle of Shawnee, Mrs. Hardee Russell of Paul's Valley, Mrs. Lamar Looney of Hollis, Mrs. Francis Agnew of Altus, Mrs. Eugene B. Lawson of Nowata, Mrs. Annette B. Ahler of Hennessey, Mrs. Olive Snider of Tulsa. Among the men to be specially mentioned are James J. McGraw of Ponca City, member of the National Republican Committee; Tom Wade of Marlow, member of the National Democratic Committee; George L. Bowman of Kingfisher, Alger Melton of Chickasha, Colonel E. M. McPherron of Durant and Bird McGuire of Tulsa.



CHAPTER XXXVI.

OREGON.[150]

The advent of 1901 found the suffrage cause in Oregon almost becalmed upon a sea of indifference. With an ultra conservative population, defeats in five previous campaigns, the existence of bitter prejudices and an utter lack of cooperation among the suffragists themselves, the outlook was almost hopeless, except for the one outstanding fact that each failure had carried the women a little nearer their goal. An inactive State organization had been maintained for years and in 1901-1904 the officers were: President, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway; vice-president-at-large, Dr. Annice Jeffreys; vice-president, Mrs. Ada Cornish Hertsche; corresponding secretary, Miss Frances Gotshall; recording secretary, Mrs. W. H. Games; treasurer, Mrs. Henry Waldo Coe. No regular conventions were held.

Mrs. Duniway, the mother of suffrage in Oregon, always advocated the "still hunt," preferring to centralize and individualize the effort through prominent men and women rather than through a large and general organization. Shortly before her death in 1915, speaking of her work she said: "Occasionally I would gather a few women together in a suffrage society but on the whole I did not find my time thus spent at all profitable. Some traveling lecturer would often come along and after speaking before the little local band of a dozen members would receive the contents of the treasury, leaving the society to ravel out for lack of funds. These experiences led me to give up organizing suffrage societies, as I had learned that lecturing, writing serial stories and editorials and correspondence afforded a more rational means of spreading the light.... The only time for general, active organization is after a few devoted workers have succeeded in using the press for getting the movement squarely before the voters in the shape of a proposed State suffrage amendment."

This will answer very largely the many criticisms that came from the National Association and from equal suffrage States over the apathy of Oregon women from 1900 to 1904. What the result might have been, with the State and national growth of suffrage sentiment, had there been a strong, active organization is problematic, but Oregon might have had the proud distinction of being first instead of last of the Pacific Coast States to liberate her women politically. In 1905 the following officers were elected: Honorary president, Mrs. Duniway; president, Mrs. Coe; vice-president, Dr. Jeffreys Myers; secretary, Dr. Luema G. Johnson; treasurer, Mrs. Abbie C. French; auditors, Dr. Mary Thompson, Mrs. Martha Dalton and Mrs. Frederick Aggert.

The Legislature had many times submitted the amendment but its repeated failures had discouraged the most ardent supporters in that body. The gains in the various campaigns were not sufficient, they argued, to warrant the expense of resubmission in the near future. This reason was freely and courageously given from the Chair of the Senate by one of the staunchest friends suffrage ever had in the State, the Hon. C. W. Fulton, when he voted "no" on re-submission in the Legislature of 1899, and the defeat of 1900 intensified this feeling.

Hope revived when the Initiative and Referendum Act was adopted by the voters in 1902. The District Judges decided against its constitutionality and an appeal was carried to the State Supreme Court by Attorney Ralph Duniway, whose able argument resulted in a reversal and the establishment of the legality of the new law. This decision was rendered Dec. 22, 1903, and on Jan. 2, 1904, a suffrage petition was issued. This required the signatures of 8 per cent. of the legal voters of the State based on the highest number of votes cast at the election of 1902, in round numbers 7,200 names, and compelled the submission of the amendment. In less than three weeks 7,900 had been obtained but as only half of them had been verified and classified before the limited time expired the work was of no avail.

During the following two years another force had been contributing indirectly to the suffrage cause through the preparations for the National Exposition which was to celebrate in Portland the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1904 the Hon. Jefferson Myers, president of the Exposition Commission, with his wife, Dr. Annice Jeffreys, attended the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association at Washington, D. C., and so eloquently presented the claims of Oregon that its unanimous decision was to hold its next meeting in Portland. Stimulated by this prospect the Legislature of 1905 yielded to pressure and submitted the amendment to be voted on in November, 1906.

It was a proud day for Oregon when the national convention was called to order on June 21, 1905, by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national president, in the First Congregational Church. The honorary president, Miss Susan B. Anthony, then 85 years old, favored every session with her gracious presence. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the vice-president; Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, the recording secretary, with her father, Henry B. Blackwell; Miss Kate Gordon, corresponding secretary, and Miss Laura Clay, auditor, were present and with Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Misses Gail Laughlin, Mary and Lucy Anthony, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Mrs. Maud Wood Park and other well known women were heard during the convention. [See Chapter V, Volume V.]

Very significant of the changing sentiment toward women was the unveiling of the Sacajawea statue, in the exposition grounds, which had been arranged for the time when these visitors could assist the committee in the ceremonies. Miss Anthony in the opening address paid a glowing tribute to this Indian woman and exhorted the women of Oregon to lead the way to women's liberty. Dr. Shaw highly complimented those who had made this recognition of a woman's services to her country possible and hailed it as the dawning of a new day for the cause of woman. Brief words along these lines were spoken by Mrs. Catt and others. The picture will never fade from the memory of those who saw Miss Anthony and Dr. Shaw standing on the platform with the sun lighting up their silver hair like an aureole and their faces radiant with hope, as "The Star Spangled Banner" sung by an Indian boy raised a tumult of applause while the flag floated away revealing the idealized mother and babe.[151]

The national suffrage convention gave to the cause in Oregon a new birth. Some of the most prominent men in the State appeared on its platform and urged another campaign and political leaders in private conference with its officers assured them that the time was ripe for success. Encouraged by this assurance and in response to the strong appeal of the leaders among the women of the State, the National Association pledged its support. The suffragists for the most part were now fully convinced that if the amendment was to be carried in 1906 there must be state-wide, systematic organization and in answer to their request the National Board sent to assist them two of its best organizers, Miss Mary N. Chase and Miss Gail Laughlin. By the end of 1905 forty-two clubs had been formed in Portland and committees outside. Newspapers were giving full reports of meetings and the Portland Journal was publishing each Sunday articles on suffrage by Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, editor of the woman's page. At a State convention held in Portland on November 8 the attendance was so great it was necessary to adjourn to a larger hall. Mayor Harry Lane welcomed the convention and took an unequivocal position in favor of woman suffrage. Statesmanlike addresses were made by Miss Laughlin and Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky. A special Campaign Committee had been organized to cooperate with the State and national workers.[152]

The great leader of women, Susan B. Anthony, had passed away in March, 1906, her thoughts on the Oregon campaign to the very last, and, carrying out her wishes, the following group of women came at once to assist the women of the State: Dr. Shaw, Miss Clay, Miss Blackwell and Miss Gordon, national officers; her sister and niece, Miss Mary and Miss Lucy Anthony; Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania, Miss Laura Gregg of Kansas, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado. Miss Laughlin was already there. Added to the able Oregon workers a more efficient body of women never had charge of a suffrage campaign. Centrally located headquarters were at once opened in Portland, which soon became the Mecca for the suffragists from all over the State. The above trained campaigners submitted a plan to the State board and committee, which was adopted. Women who had been named as county chairmen previous to 1905 by Mrs. Duniway were used when possible as a nucleus for a county organization. Many young women who took a leading part in later campaigns got their first inspiration.

One large room at headquarters was set aside in which to prepare literature for mailing and there daily went a stream of Portland women, often swelled by women from out of the city, who worked diligently from morning till night and many of them every day. These noon hours became the social events of the campaign and many business women acquired the habit of dropping in to help a bit with the work and to enjoy the delightful companionship of the women they found there. Mrs. Coe, the State president, was out of the city several months, returning only a few weeks before the election.

Among the women outside of Portland who put their shoulders to the wheel were Mrs. Clara Waldo, Marion county; Mrs. Emma Galloway, Yamhill; Dr. Anna B. Reed, Linn; Mrs. Elizabeth Lord, Wasco; Professor Helen Crawford, Benton; Mrs. Henry Sangstacken, Coos; Mrs. Imogene Bath, Washington; Mrs. Rosemary Schenck, Lincoln; Mrs. Minnie Washburn, Lane, and Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, Clackamas.

Miss Clay, Mrs. Bradford and Miss Gregg supervised the work of State organization, going into large and small places and extending it into the remotest corners. Mrs. Boyer took up the publicity, in which she had had long experience. Miss Gordon had charge of parlor meetings in the cities and larger towns, reaching hundreds who could not have been induced to attend public rallies. Miss Laughlin appealed powerfully to the labor and fraternal organizations and conducted a series of meetings in their halls, at industrial plants and on the streets. Miss Blackwell, assisted by the Misses Mary and Lucy Anthony, remained at the headquarters and supervised the sending out of literature. Dr. Shaw, while keeping her finger on the pulse of all the work, was speaking to great crowds constantly.

The impetus given the cause by the national convention the previous summer and the activity of the national workers in the present campaign aroused the corrupt influences in politics and the upper and lower classes of anti-suffragists as never before and they jointly employed Ferdinand Reed, an experienced politician, at a high salary, as manager of a skilfully organized effort to defeat the amendment.

The Brewers' and Wholesale Liquor Dealers' Association of Oregon sent out from Portland May 21 to the retail liquor dealers and druggists the following secret circular, printed on its official paper, headed with the names of thirteen breweries and nineteen wholesale liquor houses:

Dear Sir:—Two laws are to be voted on at the election June 4, which are of vital importance to every liquor merchant in Oregon without exception. The first is woman suffrage. The second is the amendment to the local option law. The members of this association have worked hard for a long time on both these matters ... but, being few in number, they can not by themselves pass the local option amendment or defeat woman suffrage. That part of the work is up to the retailers. We write this letter earnestly to ask you to help.

It will take 50,000 votes to defeat woman suffrage. It will take 50,000 votes to pass the amendment to the local option law. There are 2,000 retailers in Oregon. That means that every retailer must himself bring in 25 votes on election day. Every retailer can get 25 votes. Besides his employees he has his grocer, his butcher, his landlord, his laundryman and every person he does business with. If every man in the business will do this we will win.

We enclose 25 ballot tickets, showing how these two laws will appear on the ballot and how to vote. If you will personally take 25 friendly voters to the polls on election day and give each one a ticket showing how to vote, please mail this postal card back to us at once. You need not sign the card. Every card has a number and we will know who sent it in. Let us all pull together and let us all work. Let us each get 25 votes.

The election took place June 4, 1906, and resulted in an adverse majority of 10,173 in a vote of about 84,000. Besides the money raised in Oregon the National Suffrage Association expended on this campaign $18,075. Of this amount $3,768 were used in the preliminary work of 1905. All of the eastern workers except the organizers contributed their services and several defrayed their own expenses.

The women decided to go immediately into another campaign. The Legislative Assembly of 1907 refused to submit the amendment and the State Association again circulated an initiative petition to have it submitted. Miss Clay contributed $300 toward the expense of it; Mr. and Miss Blackwell also contributed liberally and the requisite number of names was secured. Mrs. Duniway in reporting this campaign said: "It was more like that of 1900, as only Oregon women took part and no large meetings were held." There were a few less votes in favor of the amendment in 1908 than in 1906 and 11,739 more against it.

The State Association filed a petition for another initiative measure immediately after this defeat. It was quite a different proposition, however, as it read: "No citizen who is a taxpayer shall be denied the right to vote on account of sex." Both men and women, many of them the staunchest suffragists, openly opposed it and it was bitterly fought by labor and fraternal organizations. No campaign was attempted except from the State president's office and there was general satisfaction when it was defeated in 1910 by a majority of 22,600.

A reorganization of the State work in 1906 after the election had resulted in Mrs. Duniway's again resuming the presidency with the following board: Vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Elizabeth Lord; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Craig; recording secretary, Miss Emma Buckman; financial secretary, Mrs. A. Bonham; treasurer, Mrs. W. E. Potter; auditors, Mrs. Frederick Eggert and Mrs. Martha Dalton; honorary president, Mrs. Coe. This board practically remained intact until 1912. In the two disastrous campaigns of 1908 and 1910, against the protest of many, the "still hunt" method was employed and no state-wide organization was attempted. With indomitable courage the board again circulated an initiative petition and had the amendment for full suffrage put on the 1912 ballot. Although it was unnecessary for the Legislature to vote for its submission it did so in order to give it more weight.

The women of the State now grew restive and began to agitate for organization for the coming campaign. During 1910 and 1911 Washington and California had enfranchised their women and Oregon remained the only "black" State on the Pacific Coast. This was a matter of great humiliation to the women who had worked for suffrage at least a score of years, as well as to the progressive young women who were beginning to fill the thinning ranks of the pioneer workers.

In December, 1911, Dr. Shaw, the national president, wrote a very strong letter to some of the women severely criticizing their apathy and lack of preparation for this campaign. This was brought to the attention of the State president, who later wrote: "Although urged from many sides and by some of the ablest women of the State to begin a campaign for 1912 in the summer of 1911, I withstood all such requests." A division of opinion arose among the women of Portland regarding the wisdom of delay and Dr. Shaw's letter was submitted to the Woman's Club, an organization which up to this time had taken no active part in work for suffrage. Now a motion prevailed to enter into the campaign and authorize the president, Mrs. A. King Wilson, to appoint a committee for this purpose. The personnel of the committee was: Mrs. Frederick Eggert, Mrs. William Fear, Mrs. George McMillan, Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy, Mrs. Grace Watt Ross, Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, chairman; Mrs. William Strandborg, secretary. This committee waited on the State president and submitted a plan whereby all the various groups of women which were forming might be co-ordinated and operate from one headquarters, the committee offering to assume all financial expense for them. The plan was not approved by her and the committee and all other groups were compelled to work independently of the State organization.

The Portland Woman's Club Committee opened headquarters in January, 1912, occupying two rooms in a centrally located office building for the entire ten months of the campaign. Dr. Shaw, through the generosity of a friend, contributed $200 a month toward their maintenance. Mrs. Strandborg, a newspaper woman of large experience, sent every two weeks a short, spicy letter to 210 papers throughout the State. Many appreciative notices were given by the press.

Almost simultaneously with the opening of headquarters by this committee a number of independent societies were formed for propaganda, which sent out organizers and by summer there were no counties and but few towns or hamlets without a suffrage society. With the assistance of Miss Anita Whitney of California and Mrs. Helen Hoy Greeley of New York the women of Oregon University organized a large college suffrage club; the State Agricultural College did the same and these were rapidly emulated by the smaller colleges and schools. The State Federation of Labor endorsed it and sent organizers into the field as did many fraternal associations.

The first concerted effort made by the State Association was at Salem Feb. 16, 1912, in the Hall of Representatives by permission of Secretary of State Ben Olcott. A large number of suffragists were present. The speakers were Governor Oswald West; Mrs. Olive English Enright; Mrs. Greeley and Miss Whitney. Mrs. Duniway became seriously ill immediately after this meeting and the work of the association fell upon Mrs. Coe, who courageously assumed the responsibility. In the secretary, Miss Buckman, she had an able assistant, and also in Mrs. L. W. Therkelsen, Mrs. H. R. Reynolds, Dr. Marie D. Equi and Dr. Victoria Hampton, close friends of Mrs. Duniway. On March 8 Mrs. Coe called a meeting at the headquarters in the Selling Building in Portland, two rooms having been generously donated by the Hon. Ben Selling to be jointly used by the State association and the College League. The State work was definitely launched by the appointment of the following committees: Finance, Mrs. J. A. Fouilhoux, Mrs. Elliott Corbet, Dr. Florence Manion; literature, Mrs. Louise Trullinger, Mrs. A. E. Clark, Miss Emma Wold, Miss Blanche Wren; ways and means, Dr. Florence Brown Cassiday, Mrs. Caroline Hepburn, Mrs. C. B. Woodruff.

In June the General Federation of Women's Clubs met in San Francisco and many of the prominent women in attendance arranged to return via Oregon, the New York special train stopping over for one day. It was met twelve miles out and escorted to Portland and met at the depot by a brass band.

In the afternoon a meeting was held in the Taylor Street Methodist Church with many unable to obtain admittance. Miss Mary Garrett Hay of New York; Mrs. H. C. Warren of New Jersey; Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky; Miss Helen Varick Boswell and Miss Mary Wood of New York, and Professor Frances Squire Potter of Minnesota University, were among the speakers. The last four remained for several days and spoke at the great Gladstone Chautauqua. One of the most noteworthy incidents of the campaign was a debate here between Mrs. Breckinridge and the Rev. Clarence True Wilson, secretary of the Committee of Temperance and Morals for the Methodist Church. The reverend gentleman was the white hope of the anti-suffragists. His exalted calling and his official position as a prohibitionist, camouflaged the relation between the two extremes of society that were working against the amendment—the liquor people and a group of society women supplemented by a group of prominent men. He had sent the challenge to the Woman's Club Committee and Mrs. Breckinridge took up the gauntlet. Three thousand people saw him, completely routed, retire from the platform while Mrs. Breckinridge and "the cause" got a tremendous ovation. Mr. Wilson and William D. Wheelwright were the only two men who took the platform against the amendment. The women "antis" were led by Mrs. A. E. Rockey, Mrs. Ralph Wilber, Mrs. Robert Lewis and the Misses Etta and May Failing.

The committee maintained a speakers' bureau and sent out thousands of pieces of literature. Among the first to enter the campaign was a Men's Equal Suffrage Club, organized and promoted by W. M. Davis, a prominent attorney of Portland, which soon became an active state-wide organization. Mr. Davis was the legal adviser of all the women's organizations.

Mrs. Solomon Hirsch, an early worker and one of the most liberal financial supporters of the campaign, went directly into the camp of the enemy and organized a group of society women in the Portland Equal Suffrage League. No one feature stands out more conspicuously for results than a "tea" she gave for Sir Forbes-Robertson in her palatial home, to which she invited about two hundred guests, most of whom were radical anti-suffragists, but many of them went away converts after hearing the presentation of the subject by the guest of honor. Mrs. Hirsch also brought the Rev. Charles A. Aked of San Francisco.

Dr. Coe was the first president of the Portland College League and when she had to assume the duties of the State president, Miss Emma Wold filled her place. The largest suffrage meeting up to that time was under the auspices of this league at Oaks Amusement Park, where Mrs. Sara Bard Field (Ergott) and C. E. S. Wood, a brilliant orator, addressed more than 10,000 people. Mrs. A. C. Newill established the Cooperative Civic League, which did active work with the State association. Dr. Lovejoy organized Every Body's League late in the campaign but succeeded in gathering hundreds of unattached men and women into the ranks of the workers. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union added its mighty strength and did valiant service under the able leadership of Mrs. Lucia Faxton Additon, Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden and Mrs. Ada Wallace Unruh.

On Nov. 5, 1912, the equal suffrage amendment was carried by a majority of 4,161, not by any one person or by any one organization, for no individual or single organization could have compassed the work required to put the State "over the top" with even this meagre majority in a total vote of 118,369. When the heights were reached, however, all were ready to lay the laurels at the feet of Abigail Scott Duniway, Martha A. Dalton, Charlotte M. Cartwright and Dr. Mary Thompson, the pioneers who had borne the heat and burden of the early days. Governor West paid Mrs. Duniway the compliment of inviting her to write the proclamation of woman suffrage and jointly with him to sign it, and John Coffey, the county clerk, carried the registration book to her sick room so that she might be the first woman in Oregon to register.

At the close of this arduous campaign the women folded their hands for a quiet rest until the cry for help came from other States. It was a most difficult task to gather up the broken threads of so many organizations and again rouse them to enthusiasm. Dr. Lovejoy, however, at the earnest request of Dr. Shaw, sent out a general call for a conference in March, 1915. At this meeting the State Suffrage Alliance was formed with Mrs. William Ogburn as first president. Those who followed her in the office were: Mrs. Thomas Burk, Mrs. Kelley Rees, Mrs. Elliott Corbett and Mrs. C. B. Simmons. It gave its assistance to the unenfranchised States and was ready to respond to any call from the national president.

RATIFICATION. The Alliance was largely instrumental in having a special session of the Legislature called to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment. This was done by unanimous vote in the House January 12 and in the Senate January 13, 1920, and Governor Oswald West affixed his signature on the 14th. The resolution was introduced in the lower House by Mrs. Alexander Thompson, a member.

On March 6, 1920, at a called meeting the women organized a League of Women Voters and Mrs. Charles E. Curry was elected chairman.

The Oregon chapter on suffrage was closed on Aug. 28, 1920. At noon of that day, while nearly 300 women stood at attention around the banquet table at the Benson Hotel in Portland, every bell and whistle in the city sounded forth the glad refrain of liberty and righteousness, universal suffrage for women, proclaimed by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The Mayor of Portland, George L. Baker, was there to rejoice with them. Old women who had stood in the battle-front for years were there to tell of the hard struggles they had passed through for the franchise and young women were there to promise that they would keep the faith and honor the inheritance that had come to them. The jubilee closed with the singing of a Hymn of Thanksgiving written for this meeting by Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett, the only woman living who had attended the first and last conventions of the National Suffrage Association—1869-1920.

FOOTNOTES:

[150] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, president of the State Federation of Clubs ten years; on the Child Labor Commission eighteen years and market inspector for Portland sixteen years.

[151] Sacajawea was a young Indian woman who accompanied her husband on the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast, the only woman in the party. She had been a captive from an Idaho tribe of the Shoshones and was the only person who could speak the language of the Indians that would be met on the way or who had ever been over the route to be traveled. With her baby in her arms she was the unerring guide through the almost impenetrable mountain passes and on several occasions saved not only the equipment and documents but the lives of the party. In recognition of this service the women of Oregon formed the Sacajawea Association, with the following officers: Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, president; Mrs. C. M. Cartwright, first vice-president; Mrs. M. A. Dalton, second; Mrs. J. B. Montgomery, third; Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, secretary; Mrs. A. H. Breyman, treasurer. This association secured subscriptions and erected a beautiful bronze statue on the exposition grounds, which later was transferred to a prominent place in the city park.

[152] Campaign Committee: Mrs. Henry Waldo Coe, chairman, president of the Equal Suffrage Association; Mrs. Duniway, honorary president; Dr. Annice Jeffreys Myers, its vice-president and auditor of the National Association; Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, president State Federation of Women's Clubs; Mrs. Lucia F. Additon, president Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Mrs. C. M. Cartwright, State Pioneers' Association; Mrs. Clara Waldo, State Grange; Dr. Luema G. Johnson, State Labor Organization; Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, Sacajawea Association.



CHAPTER XXXVII.

PENNSYLVANIA.[153]

Pennsylvania was a pioneer State in the movement for woman suffrage. One of the first "woman's rights" conventions in history took place in 1852 in West Chester under the auspices of the Friends, or Quakers, and Philadelphia was the home of Lucretia Mott, who joined with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1848 in calling the first "woman's rights" meeting ever held. The State Woman Suffrage Association was formed in this city in December, 1869, a few months after the founding of the National Association, and did not cease its work until the final victory in 1920.

Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of Philadelphia was reelected to the presidency in 1901 for the tenth consecutive term and was reelected annually six times thereafter, retiring in 1908 because the work then required long journeys from home. Auxiliaries had been organized in 11 counties before the convention held in Philadelphia, Nov. 26, 1901. Suffrage activities had been confined to southeastern Pennsylvania but now three extreme western counties and two central ones had organizations and offered a promising field. For the first time plans were made for extended canvassing for members. To the courageous women of that period who carried on steadfastly under severe handicaps and with little encouragement may be attributed much of the inspiration of the suffragists of later years. Miss Jane Campbell of Germantown, poet, author and orator, president for many years of the large, active Philadelphia County Society, was responsible in a great degree for the enthusiasm and spirit which sustained the pioneers.

The convention of 1902 took place in Philadelphia November 7. A report on the canvassing of one ward of Philadelphia, the 10th, showed 55 per cent. of the women in favor. Leaflets were sent to 2,184 schools during the year and a prize offered for the best essay on woman suffrage by a pupil. On December 5 the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends organized an Equal Rights Association.

A report on the canvass of the 15th ward, undertaken by the county society, the largest and most active auxiliary, was given at the annual convention held in Philadelphia, Nov. 7, 1903, and showed that of the 4,839 women interviewed nearly one-half were favorable, less than a third opposed and the rest were indifferent. This year the State Grange and the city Labor Union endorsed woman suffrage. A banquet in honor of Miss Susan B. Anthony and the other national officers took place at the New Century Club, the guests including Mayor Samuel Ashbridge and his wife. His progressiveness contrasts strongly with the fact that sixteen years later the suffragists were unable to persuade Mayor Thomas B. Smith to welcome their Fiftieth Annual Convention to the city.

Easton was the place of the convention, Nov. 3-5, 1904, where it was reported that the result of sending fraternal delegates to thirty-seven State gatherings was the adoption of woman suffrage resolutions by nineteen. The convention of 1905 was held in Philadelphia, November 14, and all auxiliaries reported large gains in membership. This year suffragists had ably assisted the City Party in a reform campaign and advanced their own cause. Kennett Square entertained the convention Nov. 6-8, 1906. An increase of 1,182 in membership had been made during the year. In 1907 the State convention was held in the western part of the State, taking place in Pittsburgh, November 6-8. A resolution was proposed for the first time to ask the political parties to put woman suffrage planks in their State platforms by Miss Charlotte Jones but it was voted down as impracticable. The State Grange, Letter Carriers' Association and State Woman's Christian Temperance Union adopted suffrage resolutions during the year. A junior suffrage auxiliary of 400 Pittsburgh girls and boys was represented.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery succeeded Mrs. Blankenburg as president at the convention held in Norristown Nov. 4-6, 1908. The proposed program of the National American Association to secure an enormous petition calling upon Congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment was undertaken cheerfully, although it was a heavy task for a small group of workers with no headquarters and limited finances. The State convention took place at Newton Nov. 22-24, 1909, and Mrs. Avery was re-elected president. The Equal Franchise Society, representing a group of prominent women of Philadelphia, had been organized in the spring as an auxiliary of the State association and the increase of work caused by advance throughout the State made the establishment of headquarters imperative. A committee was appointed to arrange for State and county headquarters in Philadelphia and a sum sufficient to sustain them for three years was pledged.

The convention of 1910 was held in Harrisburg and Mrs. Ellen H. E. Price of Philadelphia assumed the presidency. This year was organized the Equal Franchise Federation of Western Pennsylvania, later changed to Federation of Pittsburgh, its leaders destined to play a very important part in suffrage annals. Julian Kennedy was the first president, one of the very few men who served as president of a woman suffrage organization. The State Federation of Labor not only adopted resolutions endorsing woman suffrage but pledging itself to select men for offices who were committed to a belief in it. The political district plan was adopted for future work, in accordance with the recommendation of the National Association. The headquarters were opened at 208 Hale Building, Philadelphia, October 7. Street meetings were inaugurated in that city the next summer and the speakers were received with amazing cordiality. Mrs. Price was re-elected president at the convention which opened in the Mayor's reception room, City Hall, Philadelphia, Nov. 23, 1911, Mayor John E. Reyburn granting this courtesy.

Owing to the necessity of giving the work state-wide scope the convention held in Philadelphia Nov. 26, 27, 1912, recommended moving the State headquarters to Harrisburg and this change was effected in December. In March a Men's League for Woman Suffrage had been organized with Judge Dimner Beeber of Philadelphia as president and more than 100 prominent members enrolled. Fourteen new organizations were formed during the year but the larger part of the State was still unorganized. The national suffrage convention preceded the State convention and gave an impetus to the movement. An evening mass meeting in the Metropolitan Opera House made the record of the largest and most enthusiastic suffrage meeting ever held in this city. [See Chapter XII, Volume V.] The association now had 7,211 members. Mrs. Frank M. Roessing of Pittsburgh was elected president and this young, practical woman was principally responsible for changing the character of the work from purely propagandistic lines to recognized business standards.

The annual convention met in Pittsburgh, Oct. 28-30, 1913, the president's term of office was lengthened to two years and Mrs. Roessing was reelected. The State Grange and the Federation of Labor reaffirmed their suffrage resolutions and the International Brotherhood of Firemen went on record in favor. A proposition to submit the question of woman suffrage to the voters had been favorably passed on by the Legislature and waited action by a second.

Great strides were made in 1914. A press department conducted along professional lines supplied all the papers of the State with live suffrage news and there were suffrage editions of several papers. Miss Hannah J. Patterson of Pittsburgh had charge of organizing the Woman Suffrage Party along political lines out of the State association, and to Mrs. Roessing and her belongs especial credit for the strong, workable organization which was built up so carefully in preparation for the campaign year. The State convention was held in Scranton, November 19-24. There was every indication that the next Legislature would submit a constitutional amendment and the Executive Board asked for a campaign fund of $100,000, of which $30,000 were pledged at the convention. Mrs. William Thaw, Jr., of Pittsburgh offered $10,000 if the fund reached $50,000 by April 1. With this splendid foundation the State was ready to take up the actual work of the campaign in 1915. Mrs. Charles Wister Ruschenberger of Strafford announced that she would have a replica cast of the Liberty Bell to be known as the "woman's liberty bell." Later Dr. Mary M. Wolfe of Lewisburg was elected chairman of the Finance Committee and the $50,000 were raised on time.

The Legislature of 1915 submitted an amendment to be voted on at the regular election November 2. Mrs. Roessing was president of the State Association and Miss Patterson was chairman of the Woman Suffrage Party, whose plan provided for organization by political districts, recognizing every political division from that of the State unit down to the precinct and township. The State was divided into nine districts but as very few women could give sufficient time to head a division comprising from seven to ten counties, only four were supervised by chairmen—Mrs. Anna M. Orme, Mrs. E. E. Kiernan, Mrs. Maxwell K. Chapman and Miss Mary J. Norcross.

Allegheny county had four experienced organizers, Philadelphia four, Montgomery three, Bucks two, Chester, Washington, Luzerne and McKean each one. Eighteen other organizers worked under the supervision of Miss Patterson.[154] They visited every one of the 67 counties during the year, formed new organizations, stimulated those already established, conducted booths at county fairs, addressed women's clubs, teachers' institutes, Chautauquas, picnics, farmers' institutes, men's organizations, political, church, college and factory meetings. During the last three months of the campaign they conducted county tours and held open air meetings daily. They formed central organizations in 64 counties under competent chairmen. Cameron and Pike were the only counties where there were no societies but in Cameron there were active workers. In the other eleven counties central organizations were not formed but legislative districts and boroughs were organized, each with a capable chairman.[155]

To Miss Clarissa A. Moffitt, its secretary, belongs much credit for the able management of the Speakers' Bureau. During the campaign year 56 counties were supplied, involving the services of 64 speakers; 14 were men, 33 were Pennsylvanians, 14 contributed services and expenses and 27 asked expenses only. The bureau made a study of the characteristics of each county in industry, agriculture, character of population and politics. Speakers were then offered who would be acceptable to the community as well as to the particular meeting. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national president, gave 28 lectures and from every county reports came that hundreds of converts were made.

The manager of the publicity department, Charles T. Heaslip, was an expert not only in the art of journalism but also in the art of publicity. This department ultimately required the full time of three special writers. Semi-monthly a two column plate service was sent to 260 papers from February and from October 1 it was weekly, the list of papers having grown to 346. Allegheny county, in which Pittsburgh is located, conducted the most efficient county campaign. Its headquarters practically duplicated the State headquarters at Harrisburg with secretaries and organizers and it was the only one which employed its own publicity agent. A weekly news bulletin was issued to 500 papers and the regular service was supplemented by special stories. Much work was done in advance of meetings. From July to November a weekly cartoon service was undertaken, a new feature in suffrage campaign work. According to the newspaper men it comprised the best cartoons ever used in any campaign in the State and the money spent for them brought greater returns than that for any other feature. The cartoonists were C. Batchelor, Charles H. Winner and Walter A. Sinclair.

In special features the publicity department avoided sensationalism. Suffrage Flower Gardens, Good Roads Day, the Justice Bell and Supplication Day comprised practically the entire list. Attractive yellow boxes containing seeds for the old-fashioned yellow flowers were offered for sale by the State association and the flower gardens furnished a picturesque form of propaganda and long continued publicity. In Pennsylvania a day in the spring is set aside by the department of highways when all residents along country roads are asked to contribute their services for their improvement. The local suffrage organizations provided coffee and sandwiches for the laborers and got in their propaganda. On Supplication Day, the last Sunday before election, ministers were asked to preach suffrage sermons. Mrs. Ruschenberger's Bell was the best and main publicity feature and undeniably secured many thousands of votes. It visited all the counties, traveling 3,935 miles on a special truck. Hundreds of appeals by as many speakers were made from this as a stand and it was received in the rural communities with almost as much reverence and ceremony as would have been accorded the original bell. The collections and the receipts from the sale of novelties moulded in the likeness of the bell helped materially to defray the heavy expense of operating the truck, paying the speakers' expenses and providing literature.

Space for the display of advertising cards was purchased in 5,748 street cars for August, September and October. Special suffrage editions of newspapers in all parts of the State, copy and cuts for which were prepared by the State Publicity Department, contributed considerably to propaganda and finance. Throughout the State the general lines of activity were the same—meetings of all kinds, parades, hearings before organizations to secure endorsements, booths at county fairs, exhibitions, canvassing, circularization and auto tours. The degree of success in each locality depended upon the kind and amount of work. Millions of fliers, leaflets and booklets original to Pennsylvania were issued in English, Italian, German, Polish and Hebrew and no effort or expense was spared to secure converts through the written word. During the last month of the campaign the county organizations circularized their voters twice—once with speeches of Representatives Mondell of Wyoming and Keating of Colorado in Congress and once with a personal letter written to the voter and signed by the county chairman or a suffragist in his own community. Four days before election 330,000 of these letters went to the voters.

Although a bill for woman watchers at the polls failed to pass the Legislature and the suffragists were thus denied the protection which every political party is permitted, yet in many counties the assistance of the regularly appointed watchers was secured. The Washington party and Socialist watchers were universally helpful and in many cases the Democratic and Republican watchers gave assistance. The suffrage organizations were urged to place women workers at every polling precinct. Many men favorable to suffrage advised against this plan but the result of the election showed that nothing won as many votes at the last minute as the appeal of the women at the polls. Of the 33 counties which were carried 21 had women working at the polls; of the 36 which lost only six had women there. Of the 33 counties 17 had headquarters.

Eight of the 33 counties which gave a majority are chiefly industrial; eight are equally industrial and rural and seventeen are chiefly rural. Luzerne, Lackawanna and Westmoreland are the third, fourth and fifth counties in point of population and they won by majorities of 3,139, 2,654 and 1,140. In all of them the labor vote is heavy, as mining is the chief industry. Allegheny was the first county of its size to be carried in the history of suffrage. Fayette county, the home of Republican State Chairman Crow, who never wavered in his opposition, was carried by 1,400. Every ward in Uniontown, the county seat and his home, gave a majority for the amendment. Mrs. Robert E. Umbel was county chairman. The eight Dutch counties lost by majorities ranging from 2,000 to 7,000. Rockbound conservatism had much to do with this result. Schuylkill county, where an adverse vote from 10,000 to 15,000 was predicted, lost by only 1,000. Miss Helen Beddall, the chairman, conducted a persistent campaign of education for two years.

Philadelphia had the most difficult problem to face with its large vote and political corruption. Its difficulties were increased by the duplication of suffrage organizations working independently. An added complication was the prejudice created by the efforts of the "militant" suffrage organization, then called the Congressional Union, to organize, this being the only center in the State in which they had secured a foothold. The large women's clubs of Philadelphia took no part in the constructive work of the campaign. Wilmer Atkinson of this city, editor and owner of the Farm Journal, was president of the Men's League for Woman Suffrage and gave unstintingly of his strength and means to secure victory. The vote in Philadelphia was 122,519 noes, 77,240 ayes; adverse majority, 45,279. The total vote was 826,382; in favor, 385,348; opposed, 441,034; lost by 55,686 votes, only 10,407 more than the majority in Philadelphia. The amendment received nearly 47 per cent. of the total vote cast on it.

Prior to election day all the political parties in the State had endorsed woman suffrage per se, except the Republican and that party had declared in favor of a referendum to the voters. The great weakness of the campaign was lack of money. The total State fund was $78,698, of which Allegheny county contributed 50 per cent. Many of the counties spent considerable sums in addition, Allegheny county's special "budget" being $25,000. If the association had had an additional $25,000 the lacking 3 per cent. of the voters could have been secured and the campaign would have ended in a victory.

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The State convention was held in Philadelphia Nov. 30, 1915. As amendments to the State constitution can be submitted only once in five years, the delegates reconsecrated themselves to a new campaign at the end of that time. At a conference held in Harrisburg in the spring of 1916 47 counties were represented and an inspiring address was made by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, now national president. An intercounty rally at Somerset in July was attended by 500 suffragists from ten counties and a State suffrage flag was adopted. The annual convention was held in Williamsport, November 21-24, and the delegates were unanimous in their desire to continue preparations for another campaign. Mrs. George B. Orlady was elected president.

As Philadelphia is the center of population in the State, the financial center, has the largest number of newspapers and is more accessible than Harrisburg, State headquarters were moved to that city June 1, 1917. Upon the entrance of the United States into the World War the association without a day's delay offered the services of its members and the facilities of its organization to the Government. State officers, county chairmen and suffragists in the ranks served on the Council of National Defense, on Liberty Loan Committees, in the various "drives" and wherever needed. Mrs. John O. Miller, State vice-president, was appointed by Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo a member of the National Woman's Liberty Loan Committee and also served as State Chairman. Pennsylvania contributed $20,573 to the Women's Oversea Hospitals, maintained by the National Suffrage Association, $11,397 of which were raised in Pittsburgh at an outdoor fete of which Mrs. Leonard G. Wood was chairman. The State convention was held in this city November 20-22 and Mrs. Miller was elected president. In the hope that the U. S. Senate would submit the Federal Suffrage Amendment the convention for 1918 was delayed from month to month and finally was held in Philadelphia April 9, 10, 1919. Mrs. Miller was re-elected. On November 10, 11, the amendment having been submitted, the 51st and last State convention was held in Philadelphia.[156] The historic Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association was disbanded and the League of Women Citizens was organized, to become the League of Women Voters when the women of Pennsylvania were enfranchised. This name was adopted Nov. 18, 1920, and Mrs. Miller was elected chairman for two years.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION. After a lapse of 26 years a second attempt was made in 1911 under Mrs. Anna M. Orme, as legislative chairman, to secure a resolution to refer to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution. The Joint Committee of the Judiciary, to which it was referred, after giving a hearing to the suffragists, sent it to a special commission which had been appointed to revise the election laws.

1912. Miss Lida Stokes Adams was legislative chairman when this commission gave an all day hearing March 22 at City Hall, Philadelphia, but took no action. This hearing was preceded by a mass meeting on the 20th in Witherspoon Hall. An effort was made to get an endorsement from the State political conventions. Miss Mary E. Bakewell of the Western Equal Franchise Federation appeared before the Republican convention May 1; Mrs. Mabel Cronise Jones, Miss Adams and Miss Bakewell addressed the Democratic convention May 7, and both gave approval. The Keystone and Prohibition party conventions also heard suffrage speakers and adopted favorable resolutions. For the first time all of the 880 candidates for the Legislature were interviewed by a letter as to submitting the question to the voters and 283 gave affirmative answers.

1913. This year the referendum measure passed after a bitter contest. Twice when the resolution came up in the Senate the motion to postpone was avoided on a tie vote by Lieutenant Governor Reynolds, the first time in thirteen years that the president of the Senate had voted on any question. On the final vote the majority of one was only secured by the labor leader, Steve McDonald of Lackawanna county, who forced its Senator, Walter McNichols, to represent his constituents. Senators Edwin M. Herbst, Edward E. Beidleman (later Lieutenant Governor) and James P. McNichol maintained the strongest opposition. Miss Adams, the legislative chairman, and Mrs. Roessing, the State president, did the greater part of the work at Harrisburg. The association was indebted to Representative Frank G. Rockwell and Senator A. W. Powell for their skill in handling this measure. The vote in the Lower House, February 5 was 131 ayes, 70 noes.