Volume V Part 34 (1/2)
The evening closed with the president's address. The report said: Dr.
Shaw declared she had some sympathy for the anti-suffragists, as they were bound to lose. ”When the campaign for woman suffrage was begun,”
she said, ”the 'antis' had all of the earth and the suffragists had only hope of heaven but now many nations of the world and half of the United States have been converted to the cause of votes for women.”
She ridiculed the arguments of the anti-suffragists and said: ”Until you grant the right of a vote to all persons, you haven't a democracy--you have an aristocracy and the worst of all--an aristocracy of s.e.x. Soon the divine right of s.e.x here will be as obsolete as the divine right of Kings in Europe.” Answering the argument that if women have the ballot they ought also to have the musket, Dr. Shaw said in telling of the sufferings of the women during the war: ”It is said that 300,000 of the flower of Europe's manhood have been killed in the last nine weeks of the war. I can't grasp the thought of that many dead men but I can look into the face of one dead soldier and know that he had a mother. If this woman had escaped death at childbirth she had watched over him day by day until she had to look up into the eyes of her boy. And then that boy was called by his country and soon he was dead--he was in the happy peace of glory and she was facing the empty years of agony. Then they ask what a woman knows about war!... The very flower of a country perishes in a war, leaving the maimed and diseased to father the children of future generations. Women ought to have the ballot during war and during peace, for we know that if they had had it in all countries this war would not have occurred.”
The report of Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett, corresponding and executive secretary, covered much of the work of the National a.s.sociation during 1914, which was more extensive probably than in any preceding year in its history. It said in part:
This year has completely broken all records in the number of campaign States--seven in all. In four of them--Nevada, Montana, North and South Dakota--the amendment was submitted by legislative act; in three--Nebraska, Missouri and Ohio--by initiative pet.i.tion. It is noteworthy that in all of the last the suffragists consider the work of securing the requisite number of signatures, although it was exceedingly arduous, an invaluable a.s.set to the campaign, each signer being practically guaranteed to vote right on the amendment itself. In Ohio, Nevada, Montana and South Dakota, only a simple majority vote on the amendment is necessary to pa.s.s it, but in Nebraska 35 per cent. of all the votes cast at the election is required and in North Dakota and Missouri a majority of all the votes cast.
The year 1914 has been what suffragists call an ”off year,” since most of the State Legislatures meet biennially in the odd years.
Nevertheless, what acts of Legislatures there have been are of the greatest significance. Those of Ma.s.sachusetts and New Jersey submitted the suffrage amendment by overwhelming votes and in both States the suffragists are confident of the approval of the 1915 Legislatures, which is necessary before final submission to the voters. An amendment was introduced into the Legislatures of eight others. The national legislative record shows that never before has the Congressional atmosphere been so thoroughly permeated with woman suffrage. The anxiety of some members of Congress to show that they stood right with their const.i.tuents on the question and the agility of others in side-stepping every possible necessity for meeting the issue, have unerringly indicated that they all recognize the fact that the time has come when national politics must reckon with woman suffrage.
All through the year there has been the most hearty cooperation between national headquarters and the Was.h.i.+ngton and Chicago offices of our Congressional Committee.... It is impossible to mention this committee without expressing on behalf of the officers of the a.s.sociation a most thorough appreciation of the service of its chairman, Mrs. Medill McCormick, who has not only given money generously to the work but has added what is more valuable still--steady, hard, personal labor, coupled with an indefatigable good humor, frequently under most trying circ.u.mstances....
The new State a.s.sociations formed and the many suffrage organizations applying for affiliated or auxiliary members.h.i.+p were named and an account was given of the large sums of money, the vast amount of literature and the many workers supplied to the seven State campaigns of the year. These facts and the other activities of the a.s.sociation were related in part as follows:
Miss Harriet Grim of Wisconsin was sent by request to North Dakota to cover the series of Chautauqua meetings in June and July. Miss Katharine Devereux Blake of New York offered her services for only expenses for a month of campaign work in July.
Hurried arrangements were made by telegram and as the promptest, most urgent pleas came from Montana, it won her, although later she did some work in North Dakota also. Miss Shaw's special fund was the backing which provided for both tours. Miss Blake made the wonderful record of obtaining from the collections at her meetings enough to cover all her travelling and living expenses.
Miss Shaw's fund,[84] which has often seemed like the miraculous pitcher, also provided part of the expense of sending Mrs. Jennie Wells Wentworth to Ohio and Mrs. Laura Gregg Cannon to Nevada.
Miss Addams has contributed several weeks of campaigning and Dr.
Shaw herself has made an itinerary, giving ten days to each of the campaign States, starting August 27 and ending with Election Day....
Another noteworthy feature of the year's work was the establishment of Woman's Independence Day on the first Sat.u.r.day of May, initiated by Mrs. McCormick and phenomenally successful.
There was a wonderful response to the ringing call sent out by the National Board to all the suffragists of the country to meet together in every city and town at a given time and sing a suffrage hymn, declare their faith, pa.s.s a resolution and have a speech. A woman's version of the Declaration of Independence was prepared for the occasion and President Wilson was asked by Dr.
Shaw to proclaim the day a legal holiday to be celebrated in recognition of the right and necessity that the women of the United States should become citizens in fact as well as in name.
The President did not heed Dr. Shaw's request but the women of the country did. Not a State was silent, not even the equal suffrage States, and many added parades and other events to the regular program.
The story was told of the National Junior Suffrage Corps to enroll the young people, the idea of Miss Caroline Ruutz-Rees (Conn.); of the large amount of Congressional doc.u.ments distributed, among them 1,000 copies of the speech of Senator Henry F. Ashurst (Ariz.) before the Senate on the Federal Amendment, presented by him; the travelling schools organized; lists prepared of many thousand active members and an infinite variety of details. Mrs. Dennett had severed her connection with the a.s.sociation the preceding September after four years' invaluable service.
Mrs. Dennett made also the report of the Literature Committee, whose duties had now been merged in the National Woman Suffrage Publis.h.i.+ng Co. The latter reported through its chairman, Mrs. Cyrus W. Field. The greatly needed Data Department had been established under the cooperation of Miss Elinor Byrns, chairman also of the Press Department; Mrs. Frances Maule Bjorkman and Mrs. Dennett. The volunteer services of Miss Helen Raulett, like Miss Byrns a lawyer, had been obtained, and while its great need and possibilities had been demonstrated it was evident that it must be put on a paid, business basis to be effective. Miss Byrns gave an interesting account of the ramifications of the Press and Publicity Department and its important accomplishments. ”In my opinion,” she said, ”it is almost impossible to have suffrage news given out successfully by any one who is not an earnest suffragist. Knowledge of publicity does not make up for the lack of conviction and enthusiasm,” and she gave this instance: ”A few months ago a writer for one of the New York newspapers--the worst 'anti' paper we have--telephoned me, saying, 'I have been told to write an editorial on the menace of woman suffrage. Can you help me?'
I said, 'Yes, I can prove to you that the majority of the presidential electors in 1916 may represent equal suffrage States and that in all probability every political party will have to endorse woman suffrage before that time. What could be worse than that?' He agreed with me and his editorial based on the facts Dr. Shaw and I gave him has been a most successful campaign doc.u.ment for us.”
Among other valuable suggestions Miss Byrns said: ”While there are some editors who give us s.p.a.ce because they have to--that is because we are always doing something 'different' and making news which cannot be ignored--there are perhaps even more who have a real interest in the suffrage movement and are therefore eager to give us all the s.p.a.ce which the business department of their paper permits. And, by the way, one of the most valuable kinds of press work is that which can be done by every suffragist individually. Newspaper and magazine offices are most sensitive to the praise and blame of readers. Suffrage departments are sometimes stopped because no readers write their approval. Individual newspaper policies, belittling or perverting the suffrage issue, are sometimes persisted in because no readers write their disapproval. It is discouraging to an editor when a reader writes a letter complaining of one opposing news item or one cartoon although she has ignored everything which has been printed in favor of suffrage.”
Miss Jane Thompson, field secretary, told of the 8,000 miles she had travelled in the campaign States since early in April; of her experiences pleasant and unpleasant; of the excellent opportunities it had afforded of establis.h.i.+ng thorough understanding and cordial relations between the National a.s.sociation and the States. She spoke of the long and arduous work of the national president and presented the following expression of loyalty and appreciation from those who had conducted the campaigns in Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana and Nevada:
To Dr. Anna Howard Shaw:
When service of the highest type has been faithfully and loyally rendered it is the pleasure of those most benefited by that service to express, though inadequately, their deep appreciation.
We, the representatives of the Campaign States, feel that to you we owe much for the splendid way in which you and your Executive Board stood by us in our efforts, but even more do we appreciate your personal labor, your untiring, beautiful spirit. Always ready to meet whatever situation arose, regardless of fatigue, you encouraged the believers, braced up the uncertain and converted the unbelieving. Your service, in our estimation, is invaluable and cannot be dispensed with.
The legal adviser announced the settlement at last of the bequest of Mrs. Sarah J. McCall of Ohio, including 100 shares of Cincinnati Street Railway stock, worth from $5,000 to $6,000, and $705 interest; also the receipt of a legacy of $4,750, after the inheritance tax was paid, from former U. S. Senator Thomas W. Palmer of Michigan.
Miss Elizabeth Yates said in her report on Presidential suffrage: ”The favorable decision the past year by the Supreme Court of Illinois leaves no room for any further contention regarding its const.i.tutionality. It can be granted by any Legislature by a bare majority vote and this can be obtained by many States that could not secure the large vote necessary to submit a const.i.tutional amendment for full suffrage.” She strongly urged that any State contemplating a campaign for full suffrage should first secure the Presidential franchise. In her usual excellent report on Church Work, Mrs. Mary E.
Craigie told of her visits to the Methodist Ministerial a.s.sociations of Atlanta, Tampa and New Orleans with most gratifying results, as a friendly spirit towards woman suffrage was developed and the last named recommended the General Conference to give laity rights to women. In cooperation with Dr. Nina Wilson Dewey, her chairman for Iowa, arrangements were made during the Mississippi Valley Conference in Des Moines with the clergymen of eighteen Protestant churches to have their pulpits filled at some service on Sunday by women delegates and the combined audiences by actual count numbered 6,000. Four thousand copies of the annual letter asking for a mention of the need of women's influence in State affairs in their Mothers' Day sermons were sent to as many clergymen.
One of the most valuable sessions was Voters' Evening, under the auspices of the National Men's League, with its president, James Lees Laidlaw (N. Y.) in the chair. The opening address was made by U. S.
Senator Luke Lea (Tenn.), who received a great ovation when he began and the audience rose with cheers and waving handkerchiefs when he finished. He said in the course of his speech:
I am embarra.s.sed by not knowing how to address this distinguished audience.... Much as I regret it I must address you as ”my disfranchised friends,” who, in spite of your learning, your cultivation and your intelligence, under our enlightened and progressive civilization occupy the same political plane as insane persons, idiots, infants and others laboring under disabilities. To say I regret to be forced to address you thus is no mere lip service, contradictory of real sentiment and conviction, for I was one of the three Southern Senators who were sufficiently impressed with the absolute necessity of woman suffrage to step beyond the sacred portals of State rights and vote for the amendment to the const.i.tution of the United States, removing from the electoral franchise the limitation of s.e.x, and I am glad to have an opportunity to express the reasons for my faith.