Volume IV Part 66 (1/2)

This time both men and women voted in favor and, in the face of bitter opposition, Mrs. Hanna was elected by 1,900 majority.

A bill providing that the question of full suffrage for women should be submitted to the voters at the next general election was drawn by J. Warner Mills and presented in the House early in 1893 by J. T.

Heath. On this, and all other occasions when advice or a.s.sistance was needed, Mr. Mills gave his legal services without charge.

This was indeed the golden opportunity, the tide which taken at the flood might lead on to fortune. The Populist party, which was in power, had a suffrage plank in its State platform; in both the other parties there were individuals who favored it; and, if the bill pa.s.sed, the Governor's signature was a certainty. But there are as many vicissitudes in the life of a bill as in that of an infant. It is thrown in the midst of its fellows to struggle for existence, and the outcome is not a question of the survival of the fittest but of the one that receives the best nursing. If it escapes the death that lurks in the committee room, it still may be gently crowded toward the edge until it falls into the abyss which awaits bills that never reach the third reading.

Mrs. Tyler, chairman of legislative work, gave a large share of her time during the entire session to looking after the bill in the House, and Miss Minnie J. Reynolds was equally untiring in the Senate. Three other suffrage bills were introduced that session but two yielded precedence to the one prepared by the a.s.sociation. The author of the third believed that women could obtain suffrage only through a const.i.tutional amendment, which was what his bill called for. The women received such contradictory advice on this point as to awaken much anxiety. However, they read in their meetings a copy of the statutes of Colorado, and possessing only plain common sense and not the legal ability which would have qualified them for a place in the Supreme Court, concluded that the referendum to the voters, which their bill provided for, was the proper thing to request.

The opposition came from the usual sources. After the bill was presented, the _Remonstrance_, the organ of the anti-suffrage society in Boston, soon appeared on the desk of every legislator. The liquor influence also was prominent in the lobby.

The bill was reported from the committee to the House on Jan. 24, 1893, with the recommendation that it should not pa.s.s and a minority report in favor. The former was rejected by a vote of 39 to 21. The bill was brought to a final vote on March 8. A number of the members of the suffrage club and some other women who approved their cause were present by request of the friends in the House. Some of the arguments used were peculiar. Ruth didn't vote and she married very well (at least at the second trial) nor did any of the women referred to in the Bible, so why should the women of the United States do so?

One Representative said he always attended to affairs out of doors and left those within to his wife. He thought that was the right way and didn't believe his wife would vote if she could. ”But she says she would,” declared another, who was prompted by Mrs. Tyler, and a ripple of laughter arose at the speaker's expense.

There was the customary talk about neglected homes and implied disbelief in woman's ability to use the ballot rightly, but only one man tried the weapon of insult. Robert W. Bonynge spoke so slightingly of the character of women who upheld equal suffrage that one incensed woman, not a member of the a.s.sociation and presumably ignorant of parliamentary courtesy, gave a low hiss. Immediately he a.s.sumed the denunciatory and threatened immediate expulsion of all persons not members from the House. Frank Carney then arose and referred to the fact that the anti-suffrage speakers had received repeated applause from their adherents and no notice had been taken of it, although it was equally out of place. Mr. Bonynge subsided from his position and continued his speech.[189]

The bill finally pa.s.sed by 34 ayes, 27 noes; divided politically as follows: Ayes, 22 Populists, 11 Republicans, 1 Democrat; noes, 3 Populists, 21 Republicans, 3 Democrats.

Hamilton Armstrong had introduced the bill into the Senate, where it had been tabled to await the action of the House. It pa.s.sed on April 3 by 20 ayes, 10 noes: Ayes, 12 Populists, 8 Republicans, no Democrat; noes, one Populist, 4 Republicans, 5 Democrats.

The bill received the signature of the Populist governor, Davis H.

Waite, without delay.

A general election was to be held in the fall of 1893, so that the verdict of the voters was soon to follow. At the annual meeting of the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation that spring the officers chosen were: President, Miss Martha Pease; vice-president, Mrs. Ellis Meredith; secretary, Mrs. C. S. Bradley; treasurer, Mrs. Ensley; chairman executive committee, Mrs. Tyler. On motion of Mrs. Meredith, the name of the society was changed to the Non-Partisan Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation of Colorado, as in the word ”equal” there is an appeal to justice which does not seem to exist in the word ”woman.”

The women realized the conflict before them in the near future, and Mrs. Ellis Meredith volunteered to visit the Woman's Congress, which was to meet at Chicago in May, during the World's Fair, and appeal for aid to the representatives of the National a.s.sociation who would be there. Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Lucy Stone and other notables were present and appointed a meeting to listen to appeals. These asked help for the Const.i.tutional Convention Campaign in New York and the Kansas Amendment Campaign, which were both considered very hopeful compared to what was thought in the East to be the almost hopeless campaign in Colorado. Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake presented the claims of New York, Mrs. Laura M. Johns of Kansas, and Mrs. Meredith of Colorado. ”Why was your campaign precipitated when our hands are so full?” was one of the discouraging questions. ”Are all those Mexicans dead?” asked Miss Anthony, referring to the heavy vote against equal suffrage in the first Colorado campaign of 1877. ”No,” said Mrs. Meredith, ”the Mexicans are all there yet;” but she explained that there were favorable influences now which did not then exist. In the labor unions women members voted, and this fact inclined the men belonging to them to grant the full franchise. The W. C. T. U., now organized throughout the State, had become a firm friend and advocate, and the ruling political party was favorable. Clearly this was the time to strike.

A promise of consideration and such aid as the National a.s.sociation was able to furnish was given. Later they decided to send Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and guarantee her expenses in case she was not able to raise them in the State. From her past record, they thought it likely she would not only do that but put money in the treasury, and the result justified their expectations. She was a financial help, but, much as money was needed, her eloquence and judgment were worth more, and she always will have a warm place in the hearts of Colorado women who were active in the campaign of 1893.

When that campaign opened, there were just $25 in the treasury. Lucy Stone sent a donation of $100. Iowa and California gave aid, and there were small contributions in money from members of the E. S. A. and from auxiliary clubs formed by Mrs. Chapman Catt in different parts of the State.

Besides these, others already had been organized. In Longmont a club was formed in the spring of 1893 by Mesdames Mary L. Carr, Orpha Bacon, Rosetta Webb and Jane Lincoln. They took up the study of laws relating to the property rights of women and endeavored to awaken interest in the question to be settled the following November. The majority which Longmont gave for suffrage is a testimony to the value of their work. In Colorado Springs Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford was president of a large local society which afterward became auxiliary to the State a.s.sociation, with Mrs. Ella L. C. Dwinnell as president, and did excellent work in El Paso County. In Greeley many of the workers of 1877 were still active. Mrs. Lillian Hartman Johnson organized a club in Durango and spoke for the cause. Mrs. A. Guthrie Brown formed one in Breckinridge of which Mesdames H. R. Steele, C. L. Westermann and E. G. Brown were active members.

All these clubs, large and small, scattered throughout the State, a.s.sisted in arousing public sentiment, but the situation in Denver was the one of most anxious interest. It is always in cities that reforms meet defeat, for there the opposing interests are better organized and more watchful. In no other State is the metropolis so much the center of its life as is Denver of Colorado. Through this modern Palmyra, which stands in the center of the continent and of the tide of commerce from East and West, flow all the veins and arteries of the State life. Arapahoe County, in which it is situated, contains more than one-fourth of the population of the entire State. Upon the women of Denver, therefore, was imposed a triple share of responsibility.

Besides the importance of the large vote, there rested particularly upon the members of its suffrage club the burden of having invited this contest and made it a campaign issue.

In the early fall, the City League of Denver was organized with 100 members and Mrs. John L. Routt, wife of the ex-governor, as president.

Mrs. Thomas M. Patterson and Mrs. N. P. Hill were prominent workers in this club. A Young Woman's League was formed by Misses Mary and Margaret Patterson and Miss Isabel Hill, and there were other leagues in various parts of the city. In all this work Mrs. Tyler was indefatigable.

Miss Minnie J. Reynolds, chairman of press work, enlisted the help of seventy-five per cent. of the newspapers. In some cases editorial approval and a.s.sistance were given, in others s.p.a.ce was allowed for suffrage matter. In August Mrs. Elizabeth Tabor donated the use of two rooms in the opera house block, one large enough to seat several hundred persons, the other a suitable office for the corresponding secretary. Dr. Minnie C. T. Love had acted gratuitously in that capacity and opened communication with suffragists throughout the State, but it was now deemed necessary to employ some one who could devote her entire time to the work. Miss Helen M. Reynolds was chosen and added to unusual capability the most earnest zeal. The rooms were furnished through loans of rugs, desks, chairs, etc.

Equal suffrage was indorsed by the county conventions of the Republican, Prohibition and Populist parties, and also at a called meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee. Many ministers and lawyers spoke in its favor. Among the latter were Charles S. Thomas, since governor of the State, J. Warner Mills, Judge L. C. Rockwell, Charles Hartzell, Eugene Engley and Attorney-General I. N. Stevens, who was one of the most trusted advisers.

There were also women speakers of experience: Mrs. Therese Jenkins of Wyoming, Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Ma.s.sachusetts; Mrs. Dora Phelps Buell, Mrs. Mary Jewett Telford, president of the Woman's Relief Corps in the Department of Colorado and Wyoming and also president for several terms of the State W. C. T. U., who made a five-months'

speaking tour; Mrs. Leonora Barry Lake of St. Louis, who spoke efficiently under the auspices of the Knights of Labor. Mrs. Laura Ormiston Chant of England delivered an address on her way westward.

Some women made speeches who never had been on the platform before but have since developed much oratorical ability. When needed, women who did not dare risk an unwritten address read papers. Meetings were held all over the city and State. ”I should think,” said a banker, ”from the campaign the women are running that they had a barrel of money;”

but he was a contributor to the fund and knew it was very limited. In all about $2,000 were raised, over $300 of which were spent for literature. Some of the most efficient leaflets were written by members of the a.s.sociation and printed in Denver. Nearly 150,000 of these were issued.

In the city press Mrs. Patience Mapleton represented the cause in the _Republican_; Mrs. Ellis Meredith in the _Rocky Mountain News_. There were house to house canva.s.sers, distributors of literature and others who rendered most valuable a.s.sistance and yet whose names must necessarily remain unrecorded. The most of this service was given freely, but some of the women who devoted all their time received moderate salaries, for most of the workers belonged to the wage-earning cla.s.s. The speakers asked no compensation but their expenses were frequently borne. Halls and churches had to be paid for and on several occasions opera houses were rented. When in the final report the expenses of election day were given as $17 a murmur of amus.e.m.e.nt ran through the audience.