Volume V Part 22 (1/2)
KATE M. GORDON, Corresponding Secretary.
ALICE STONE BLACKWELL, Recording Secretary.
HARRIET TAYLOR UPTON, Treasurer.
LAURA CLAY, } Auditors.
ELLA S. STEWART, }
The Call ended with the touching poem of the young Southern poet, Mrs.
Olive Tilford Dargan, ”The Lord of little children to the sleeping mothers spoke.”
[61] The resolutions declared the movement for woman suffrage to be but a part of the great struggle for human liberty; called for the enactment of initiative and referendum laws; equal pay for women and men in public and private employment; uniform State laws against child labor and for compulsory education; more industrial training for boys and girls in the public schools; more strenuous effort against the white slave traffic. They demanded that the United States should take the lead in an international movement for the limitation of armaments.
A cordial vote of thanks was given for the hospitality and courtesies of the city and the people of Seattle.
[62] See History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, page 1096.
[63] The ministers of Seattle who opened the various sessions with prayer were: Doctors A. Norman Ward, Protestant Methodist; Thomas E.
Elliott, Queen Anne Methodist; George Robert Cairns, Temple Baptist; Edward Lincoln Smith, Pilgrim Congregational; Sydney Strong, Queen Anne Congregational; the Reverends J. D. O. Powers, Unitarian; W. H.
W. Rees, First Methodist Episcopal; W. A. Major, Bethany Presbyterian; Joseph L. Garvin, First Christian; C. Lyng Hanson, Scandinavian Methodist; F. O. Iverson, Norwegian Lutheran; P. Nelson, Norwegian Congregational Missionary.
[64] Committee: Mrs. DeVoe, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, Mrs. Bessie J.
Savage, Miss Adella M. Parker, Dr. Sarah A. Kendall, Mrs. Ellen S.
Lockenby and a small army of a.s.sistants.
CHAPTER X.
NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1910.
As a national convention had not been held in Was.h.i.+ngton since 1904 the suffragists were pleased to return to that city with the Forty-second in the long list, which was held April 14-19, 1910.[65]
Three special cars were filled by delegates from New York City alone.
It had become very difficult to get a suitable place for conventions in the national capital and the experiment was made of holding this one in the large ball room of the Arlington Hotel, which proved entirely inadequate for the audiences. The convention was called to order on the first afternoon by the national president, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, and welcomed by the president of the District of Columbia suffrage a.s.sociation, Miss Harriette J. Hifton, and the president of the District branch of the College Equal Suffrage League, Miss Mabel Foster. The response for the National a.s.sociation was made by Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, one of its officers.
The report of the Committee on Church Work was read by its chairman, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, who gave a record of the accomplishments of her committees in the various States and said: ”The moral awakening of the churches to a need for more united efforts along lines of social and moral reform carries with it a great responsibility for women, who, representing two-thirds of the numerical power of the churches, are in their present disfranchised condition negative factors in those broader fields of activity which now const.i.tute church work. Women are beginning to realize that they are wasting their efforts and energies in trying to effect moral and social reforms dependent upon legislative action or law enforcement and they are asking: 'Shall we go on with the farce of attacking the constantly growing evils of intemperance, immorality and crime which menace our homes, our children and society at large, knowing that our efforts are useless and futile, or shall we take a stand which will show that we are in earnest and demand the weapon of the ballot which is necessary before we can do our part as Christian citizens in advancing the kingdom of G.o.d on earth?'”
The excellent report of the new headquarters secretary, Professor Mary Gray Peck, filled ten pages of the printed Minutes and in addition to the large collection of statistics contained many useful suggestions.
Like all of the reports from the headquarters it showed the great advantage of having them in a large center. Referring to the literature department she said: ”Local chairmen should see that tables with suffrage literature are placed in all church and charitable bazaars as far as possible and that our papers may be subscribed for at all subscription agencies; also that our publications are on the shelves and on file in the public libraries throughout the State. One of the things Mrs. Pankhurst said when she was looking over our work-room was: 'Don't give away your publications. We found we got rid of much more when we sold and now we give away nothing.' We have always given away ours with considerable freedom and been glad to have them read at our expense but at the low figure we put on them we could draw the gratis line closer without impairing our popularity.... The average daily output of literature since the opening of headquarters in New York--and this does not include the orders which continued to be filled in Warren--has been 2,742 pieces, or a growth of more than 25 per cent. over the average of last year. Our cash sales from January 1 to April 1 have amounted to $938, or an average of $312 per month as against the average of $89 per month for 1908-9. That is, our cash sales for the past three months are three and a half times greater than they were at the same time last year.”
”The propagandist part of the correspondence,” said Miss Peck, ”soon makes a wise woman of the headquarters secretary. The time for general argument and abstract appeal has largely gone by. The call now is for statistics, laws, definite citations, instances of industrial conditions, legal status of women and children, etc.... The State organizations could do no more valuable service in aiding our efficiency as an information agency than by each getting out a condensed and reliable bulletin of State laws relating to women and children; and also by collecting data as to the property held and taxes paid by women, with ill.u.s.trative instances where disfranchis.e.m.e.nt has forced these taxpayers to submit to injustice and unfair discrimination.” She told of the increasing call for woman suffrage literature from public libraries to meet the demand and urged the encouragement of debates, saying: ”If the State organizations would make a persistent effort to have suffrage debated in the schools and if they advertised the national headquarters as prepared to furnish a volume of debate material for thirty cents, suffrage would receive continuous advertising at no financial expense to us, nor would the good to the movement cease with the debate. Get the young people interested and you catch the mothers. Also by keeping a card register of the young debaters, the State organization would have the names and addresses of an ever-growing list of oncoming citizens interested in the subject. Debaters are a good deal cheaper than organizers. The State University of Wisconsin is sending out through its university extension department our suffrage literature in travelling libraries to meet the demand in the public schools for debate material. I believe most State universities would be glad to do the same for us. Many universities and colleges have discussed suffrage the past winter, notably Dartmouth, Williams and Brown in their annual intercollegiate debate, Yale in the inter-cla.s.s debate, the University of Texas against Tulane University of Louisiana, and Stanford will debate with Berkeley, April 16.” Miss Peck made many other valuable suggestions from the trained viewpoint of a university woman.
Representative A. W. Rucker was introduced as a proxy for the Colorado a.s.sociation and gave its report with a warm personal endors.e.m.e.nt of equal suffrage as it had existed in his State for seventeen years. The convention greeted with enthusiasm the mother of U. S. Senator Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma, who said she could not make a speech but would send her son to do so that evening.
Although national suffrage conventions had been held in Was.h.i.+ngton since 1869 no official recognition ever had been asked for or given by the President of the United States. The leaders thought that now the movement was of sufficient size and importance to justify them in inviting President Taft to give simply an address of welcome. The invitation was sent with the statement that its acceptance would not be regarded as committing him to an advocacy of woman suffrage and it was accepted with this understanding, although Mrs. Elihu Root presented a request from the Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation that he would not accept it. The entire country was interested and on the opening evening, when he was to speak, the auditorium was crowded and lines of people reached to the street. President Taft came in with his escort while Dr. Shaw was in the midst of her annual address but she stopped instantly and welcomed him to the platform. The audience arose and with applause and waving of handkerchiefs remained standing until he was seated. At one point in his brief address there was apparently a slight hissing in the back part of the room. The President paused; Dr.
Shaw sprang to her feet exclaiming, ”Oh, my children!” and the audience, which was excited and amazed, instantly became quiet and listened respectfully to the rest of his speech, but as he left the room, after shaking hands with Dr. Shaw, a few remained seated. As this incident attracted nation-wide comment and much criticism it seems advisable to publish the proceedings in full. The address was as follows:
I am not entirely certain that I ought to have come tonight, but your committee who invited me a.s.sured me that I should be welcome even if I did not support all the views which were here advanced.
I considered that this movement represented a sufficient part of the intelligence of the community to justify my coming here and welcoming you to Was.h.i.+ngton. The difficulty I expect to encounter is this--at least it is a difficulty that occurs to me as I judge my own feelings in causes in which I have an intense interest--to wit: that I am always a good deal more impatient with those who only go half-way with me than with those who actually oppose me.