Volume IV Part 58 (1/2)

”The contents of my letters to religious and educational bodies can readily be imagined, and one which was sent to the United States Brewers' a.s.sociation, in convention at Atlantic City, N. J., may be cited as an example of the subject-matter of those to other organizations:

GENTLEMEN: As chairman of the committee appointed by our National Suffrage a.s.sociation to address letters to the large conventions held this year, allow me to bring before you the great need of the recognition of women in all of the rights, privileges and immunities of United States citizens.h.i.+p.

Though your a.s.sociation has for its princ.i.p.al object the management of the great brewing interests of this country, yet I have noted that you have adopted resolutions declaring against woman suffrage. I therefore appeal to you, since the question seems to come within the scope of your deliberations, to reverse your action this closing year of the century, and declare yourselves in favor of the practical application of the fundamental principles of our Government to all the people--women as well as men. Whatever your nationality, whatever your religious creed, whatever your political party, you are either born or naturalized citizens of the United States, and because of that are voters of the State in which you reside. Will you not, gentlemen, accord to the women of this nation, having the same citizens.h.i.+p as yourselves, precisely the same privileges and powers which you possess because of that one fact?

The only true principle--the only safe policy--of a democratic-republican government is that every cla.s.s of people shall be protected in the exercise of the right of individual representation. I pray you, therefore, to pa.s.s a resolution in favor of woman suffrage, and order your officers, on behalf of the a.s.sociation, to sign a pet.i.tion to Congress for this purpose, and thereby put the weight of your influence on the side of making this Government a genuine republic.

Should you desire to have one of our best woman suffrage speakers address your convention, if you will let me know as soon as possible, I will take pleasure in arranging for one to do so.

”This was read to the convention, and the secretary, Gallus Thomann, thus reported its action to me:

Mr. Obermann [ex-president of the a.s.sociation and one of the trustees] voicing the sentiments of the delegates, spoke as follows: ”Miss Susan B. Anthony is ent.i.tled to the respect of every man and woman in this country, whether agreeing with her theories or not. I think it but fair and courteous to her that the secretary be instructed to answer that letter, and to inform Miss Anthony that this is a body of business men; that we meet for business purposes and not for politics. Furthermore, that she is mistaken and misinformed so far as her statement is concerned that we have pa.s.sed resolutions opposing woman suffrage. _We have never taken such action at any of our conventions or on any other occasion._ I submit this as a motion.”

The motion was unanimously adopted, and that part of Mr.

Obermann's remarks which related to the respect due Miss Anthony was loudly and enthusiastically applauded.

To the sentiment thus expressed, permit me, dear Miss Anthony, to add personally the a.s.surance of my highest esteem.

”Among the results of the work with State conventions it may be mentioned that the Georgia Federation of Labor, the Minnesota Federation of Labor, the State Teachers' a.s.sociation of Was.h.i.+ngton and the New York State Grange signed the pet.i.tions and pa.s.sed the resolutions.

”As another branch of the work, copies of these two pet.i.tions were sent to each of the forty-five States and three Territories, with letters asking the suffrage presidents, where a.s.sociations existed, and prominent individuals in the few States where they did not, to make two copies of each pet.i.tion on their own official paper, sign them on behalf of the suffragists of the State, and return them to me to be sent to the members of Congress from the respective districts.

This was done almost without exception and these pet.i.tions were presented by various members, one copy in the Senate and one in the House. Of all the State pet.i.tions, the most interesting was that of Wyoming, which, in default of a suffrage a.s.sociation (none being needed) was signed by every State officer, from the Governor down, by several United States officials, and by many of the most influential men and women. With it came a letter from the wife of ex-U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey, who collected these names, saying the number was limited only by the brief s.p.a.ce of time allowed.

”In all, more than two hundred pet.i.tions for woman suffrage from various a.s.sociations were thus sent to Congress in 1900, representing millions of individuals. Many cordial responses were received from members, and promises of a.s.sistance should the question come before Congress, but there is no record of the slightest attempt by any member to bring it before that body.

”In doing this work I wrote fully a thousand letters to a.s.sociations and individuals, in all of which I placed some of our best printed literature. There was a thorough stirring up of public sentiment which must have definite results in time, for it should not be forgotten that in addressing conventions we appeal to the chosen leaders of thought and work from many cities and States, and so set in motion an ever-widening circle of agitation in countless localities.”

A most valuable means of educating public sentiment is the securing of a Woman's Day at Chautauqua a.s.semblies and State and county fairs, when good speakers present the ”woman question” in its various phases, including always the need for enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and Mrs. Chapman Catt, the leading orators of the country, have addressed Chautauquas in all parts of the United States, as well as countless other large gatherings which have no connection with suffrage, being thus enabled to propagate the principle over a vast area. It can be seen from the above resume that the ground of effort is widely extended and that the harvest is ripening, but alas, there is a constant repet.i.tion of the old, old cry, ”The laborers are few.”

One can only repeat what has often been said, that never before were such results as can be seen on every hand in the improved conditions for women and the advanced public sentiment in favor of a full equality of rights, accomplished by so small a number of workers and under such adverse conditions. Perhaps this will continue to be said even unto the end, but their labors will know neither faltering nor cessation until the original object, as announced over fifty years ago, has been attained, viz.: the full enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women.

FOOTNOTES:

[147] See Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, p. 723.

[148] For the names of the women who have addressed the National Conventions and Resolutions Committees of the various parties in the effort to obtain an indors.e.m.e.nt of woman suffrage, and for a full account of their reception, of the memorials presented and the results which followed, the reader is referred to the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. II, pp. 340 and 517; Vol. III, pp. 22 and 177; and for many personal incidents, to the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony in the chapters devoted to the years of the various presidential nominating conventions, beginning with 1868.

Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, from the National Suffrage a.s.sociation, and Henry B. Blackwell and Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, as Republicans, presented the question to the Resolutions Committee of the National Republican Convention of 1896 in St. Louis, above referred to; Dr.

Julia Holmes Smith, accompanied by a committee of ladies, to that of the National Democratic Convention in Chicago that year.

[149] Miss Anthony sent a special letter to each of these bodies worded to appeal particularly to the interests it represented.

[150] For the answer to this pet.i.tion see Chap. XIX.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN THE STATES.

The preceding chapters have been devoted princ.i.p.ally to efforts made in behalf of women by the National-American Suffrage a.s.sociation through its conventions, committees, officers, speakers, organizers and members. Contemporaneous with this line of action there has been for a number of years a similar movement in the respective States carried forward through their a.s.sociations auxiliary to the National, their committees, officers, speakers, organizers and individual members.h.i.+p. Each of the two divisions has been largely dependent upon the other, the States forming the strength of the national body, the latter extending a.s.sistance to the States whenever a special campaign has been at hand or help has been needed in organizing, convention or legislative work. The following chapters are confined wholly to the situation in the various States and are subdivided into Organization, Legislative Action, Laws, Suffrage, Office-Holding, Occupations and Education. Their object is to give a general idea of the status of woman at the close of the nineteenth century and the manifold changes of which it is the result. It is desired also to put on record the part which women themselves have had in the steady advance which will be observed.