Volume V Part 55 (1/2)

In 1912 came the division in Republican ranks and the forming of the Progressive party, headed by former President Theodore Roosevelt, which made woman suffrage one of the princ.i.p.al planks in its platform, and for the first time it took a place among the other political issues. The Republican party so long in power was defeated. Woman suffrage never had received any special a.s.sistance from this party during its long regime but the entire situation had now changed. The National a.s.sociation appointed a Congressional Committee of young, energetic women headed by Miss Alice Paul, a university graduate with experience in civic work in this country and England. They arranged an immense suffrage parade in which women from many States partic.i.p.ated.

It took place in Was.h.i.+ngton March 3, 1913, the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, and the new administration entered into office with a broader idea of the strength of the movement than its predecessor had possessed. An extra session was soon called and Senate and House Resolution Number One, introduced April 7, was for a Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment. The chairmans.h.i.+p of the new Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage, instead of being filled as usual by an opponent, was given to Senator Charles S. Thomas (Dem.) of Colorado, always an ardent suffragist, and a friendly committee was appointed--Robert L. Owen (Okla.); Henry F. Ashurst (Ariz.); Joseph E.

Ransdell (La.); Henry P. Hollis, (N. H.); George Sutherland (Utah); Wesley L. Jones (Wash.); Moses E. Clapp (Minn.); Thomas B. Catron (N.

M.). There were now eighteen members of the Senate with women const.i.tuents and several million women were eligible to vote, so that it was possible to bring a pressure which had never before existed.

Many of the large newspapers were declaring that the time had come for the submission of this amendment to the State Legislatures.

On May 3 a great suffrage procession took place in New York with a ma.s.s meeting in the Metropolitan Opera House addressed by Colonel Roosevelt, who made a ringing speech in favor of votes for women. On June 13 the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage gave a unanimous favorable report, Senator Catron, the only opponent, not voting. On July 31 the resolution was discussed on the floor of the Senate, twenty-two speaking in favor and three in opposition. It had been referred to the Judiciary Committee in the Lower House, where resolutions also were introduced for the creation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage and referred to the Committee on Rules. During July pilgrimages of women came from different parts of the country and on the 31st a pet.i.tion with 200,000 signatures was presented to the Senate by 531 ”pilgrims.” Three deputations called on President Wilson asking his support of the amendment, one from the National American a.s.sociation, one from the National College Equal Suffrage League and one from the National Council of Women Voters, and in November a fourth from his own State of New Jersey. Congress remained in session all summer and ma.s.s suffrage meetings in theaters were held in Was.h.i.+ngton. The large corps of newspaper correspondents were constantly supplied with news. Countless suffrage meetings were held in Maryland, Virginia and all the way up to New York and the members were kept constantly informed of the activities in their own districts. On September 18 Senator Ashurst announced on the floor of the Senate that he would press the resolution to a vote at the earliest possible moment and Senator Andrieus A. Jones of New Mexico spoke in favor and asked for immediate action.

During the regular session in 1914 the resolution was discussed at different times and many strong speeches in favor were made. The Senate vote, which was taken on March 19, stood, ayes, 35; noes, 34; lacking eleven of a necessary two-thirds majority. Twenty Republicans, one Progressive and fourteen Democrats voted aye; twelve Republicans and twenty-two Democrats voted no; ten Republicans and sixteen Democrats were absent. For the first time southern Senators declared in favor of giving suffrage to women by amending the National Const.i.tution--Senators Owen, Ransdell, Luke Lea of Tennessee and Morris Sheppard of Texas voting in the affirmative.

For a trial vote this was considered satisfactory. The effort in the Lower House was not so successful. Its Judiciary Committee had been continuously opposed to allowing the amendment to reach the Representatives, but two favorable majority reports having been made in the thirty-six years during which the question had been before it (1883, 1890). A larger Congressional Committee had been formed by the National Suffrage a.s.sociation, of which the chairman was Mrs. Ruth Hanna McCormick, a daughter of former U. S. Senator Mark Hanna, who had inherited her father's genius for constructive politics.

Headquarters were opened in the Munsey Building in Was.h.i.+ngton and the work was divided into three departments--Lobby, Publicity and Organization. Careful and systematic effort was made and it was followed by the Senate vote recorded above. A record was compiled of the votes of every member of Congress on prohibition, child labor and various humanitarian and welfare measures and sent to the women in his district for use in urging him to vote for the suffrage amendment.

Organizers were placed where needed to hold meetings and arrange for chairmen of counties who would cooperate with the national committee in bringing pressure on members from their own const.i.tuencies.

The Federal Amendment as usual was held up in the House Judiciary Committee in 1914. The suffrage leaders had tried for years to get a House Committee on Woman Suffrage, such as the Senate had. A resolution for this purpose had been introduced by Representative Edward T. Taylor of Colorado in April, 1913, referred to the Committee on Rules, an extended hearing granted, but no action taken. Mrs.

McCormick's committee brought great pressure to bear and on Jan. 24, 1914, the question came before the Committee on Rules through a motion by Representative Irvine L. Lenroot (Wis.) to make a favorable report.

Eight of the eleven members were present and Martin D. Foster (Ills.), Philip P. Campbell (Kans.), and M. Clyde Kelly (Penn.) voted with Mr.

Lenroot; James C. Cantrill (Ky.), Finis J. Garrett (Tenn.), Edward W.

Pou (N. C.) and Thos. W. Hardwick (Ga.) voted in the negative, making a tie. Two of the absent members were known to be favorable and a Democratic caucus was called for February 3 to discuss the matter.

Just before it met the Democratic members of the Ways and Means Committee, who const.i.tute the ruling body of that party's members.h.i.+p, met in the office of Representative Oscar W. Underwood (Ala.).

Representative John E. Raker (Cal.) offered a resolution for the creation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage. Representative J. Thomas Heflin (Ala.) moved a subst.i.tute: ”Resolved, that it is the sense of this caucus that woman suffrage is a State and not a Federal question.” It was carried by 123 ayes, 55 noes and further action blocked.

The House Judiciary Committee, after granting a hearing to the suffragists on March 3, 1914, voted to report the resolution for a Federal Amendment ”without recommendation.” At a meeting of the Rules Committee August 27 Representative Campbell moved that an opportunity be given to the House to vote on submitting this amendment.

Representatives Pou, Garrett and Cantrill voted to adjourn; Campbell, Kelly and Goldfogle (N. Y.) against it. Chairman Robert L. Henry (Texas) gave the deciding vote to adjourn.[137]

During this year of 1914, while such heroic efforts were being made to secure favorable action by Congress on a Federal Amendment and the workers were being told that they should look to the States for the suffrage, hard campaigns were carried on for this purpose in seven States. In only two, and those the most spa.r.s.ely settled--Montana and Nevada--were they successful. Even these had their influence, however, as they added four to the U. S. Senators who were elected partly by the votes of women. The National Suffrage a.s.sociation continued Mrs.

McCormick as chairman of its Congressional Committee and she increased her forces. Although the Judiciary Committee had reported the resolution for the Federal Amendment ”without recommendation”

Representative Frank W. Mondell, who introduced it, and its other friends were determined to have a vote on it and a reluctant consent was obtained from the Committee on Rules. The Congressional Committee directed its fullest energies toward obtaining as large an affirmative vote as was possible. Through the courtesy of Speaker Champ Clark they learned who would be the probable speakers and carefully a.s.sorted literature was sent them. Thousands of letters and telegrams poured in upon the members from their const.i.tuencies. Every available pressure was used to obtain favorable votes and to have all the friends present. Mr. Mondell, the Republican leader, and Mr. Taylor, the Democratic, gave fullest support. The first debate on this amendment in the House of Representatives took place on Jan. 12, 1915, and lasted ten hours without intermission. At its conclusion the vote resulted in 174 ayes, 88 Republicans and Progressives, 86 Democrats; 204 noes, 33 Republicans and 171 Democrats. The affirmative vote was larger than expected. The suffragists had been thirty-seven years trying to secure a vote in the Lower House and they felt that this was the beginning which could have but one end.

Both the suffragists and the anti-suffragists now redoubled their efforts. The four big campaigns of 1915 in Ma.s.sachusetts New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for suffrage amendments to their State const.i.tutions attracted the attention of the whole country. All failed of success at the November election but the effects were not wholly disastrous. The announcement by President Wilson and the majority of his Cabinet that they were in favor of woman suffrage brought many doubters into the fold. The two-thirds vote of Ma.s.sachusetts in opposition set that State aside as one in which women could only hope to gain the suffrage through a Federal Amendment. In New Jersey in one county alone thousands of votes were afterwards found to have been cast illegally and there was colossal fraud throughout the State, yet the law did not permit the question to be submitted again for five years. In Pennsylvania the amendment polled over 46 per cent of the whole vote cast on it and was defeated by the notoriously dishonest election practices of Philadelphia, but by the law of that State it could not be submitted again for four years. The facts thus disclosed converted many people to a belief in the necessity for an amendment to the National Const.i.tution.

In New York the measure had received 42-1/2 per cent. of the vote cast on it; in New Jersey 42 per cent. (by the returns), and the total vote in the four States of a million and a quarter for the amendments was indisputable evidence of the large sentiment for woman suffrage. The immense cost of these campaigns in time, labor and money made it seem more than ever necessary to bring about the short cut to the universal enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women through a Federal Amendment. The Congressional Committee was strengthened and as Mrs. McCormick could no longer act as chairman it was headed by Mrs. Frank M. Roessing, the efficient president of the State a.s.sociation in the recent Pennsylvania campaign. Resolutions for the amendment were presented to the Senate on December 7 by Senators Thomas, Sutherland and Thompson (Kans.). On Jan. 8, 1916, the favorable report was made by Senator Thomas, a valuable doc.u.ment, widely circulated by the National a.s.sociation. This was the year of the Presidential campaign and there was no time when the prospect for a majority vote seemed good enough to take the risk. It was carefully considered after Judge Charles E.

Hughes, the Republican candidate for President, made his declaration for the Federal Amendment but many members were absent and a vote was not deemed advisable. The planks in the Republican and Democratic national platforms demanding woman suffrage by State action deprived it of political support.

The Judiciary Committee of the House, Edwin Y. Webb (N. C.), chairman, added to its unpleasant reputation. Resolutions for the amendment were introduced in December, 1915, by five members--Representatives Mondell, Raker, Taylor, Keating of Colorado and Hayden of Arizona.

They were referred to a sub-committee which on Feb. 9, 1916, reported one of them to the main committee ”without recommendation.” On the 15th it sent the resolution back to the sub-committee to hold until the next December by a vote of 9, all Democrats, to 7, three Democrats and four Republicans. As this was done when many were absent the Congressional Committee undertook to have the Judiciary take up the resolution again when the full committee could be present. It finally agreed to do so on March 14. Twenty of the twenty-one members were present, nine opponents and eleven friends, Hunter H. Moss of West Virginia among the latter coming from a sick bed. A motion was made to reconsider the action of February 15, which Chairman Webb ruled out of order. A debate of an hour and a half followed and to relieve the parliamentary tangle unanimous consent was given to act on the amendment resolution March 28 at 10:30 a.m. Four members of the National a.s.sociation's Congressional Committee were on hand at that time but the Judiciary went at once into executive session, which barred them out. Instead of presenting the amendment resolution for consideration, which was the chairman's duty when there was a special order of business, he permitted a motion to postpone all const.i.tutional amendments indefinitely! Ten of the members present were pledged to vote for a favorable report but Representative Leonidas C. Dyer of Missouri defaulted and voted with the nine opponents and no further action in 1916 was possible.

With the whole country now aroused to the importance of the votes of women in the election of a President the suffrage leaders saw the opportune time for pus.h.i.+ng a measure which they had long advocated, namely, the granting to women by State Legislatures of the right to vote for Presidential electors. That of Illinois had been persuaded to do this in 1913; they had exercised it in 1916 and its const.i.tutionality had been established by the acceptance of the State's vote in the Electoral College. As soon as the Legislatures of the various States met in 1917 they received from the headquarters of the National American a.s.sociation in New York the opinion of Chief Justice Walter Clark of North Carolina that the Federal Const.i.tution empowered Legislatures to determine who should vote for Presidential electors, with the authorities and arguments to support it. The presidents of the State suffrage a.s.sociations affiliated with the National were prepared to take up the matter at once with their Legislatures and as a result those of North Dakota, Nebraska, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Rhode Island conferred this vote on women during the winter. That of Arkansas gave to women full suffrage in all Primaries, equivalent to a vote in regular elections, and that of Vermont gave the Munic.i.p.al franchise. The following November came the great victory in New York.

This was the situation when Congress met in December, 1917. Mrs.

Roessing could not serve longer as chairman of the Congressional Committee and the National a.s.sociation had appointed Mrs. Maud Wood Park (Ma.s.s.), a founder and organizer of the National College Women's Suffrage League, who had taken up the work in March. The a.s.sociation, whose headquarters were in New York City, had enlarged its staff in Was.h.i.+ngton and taken a large house for this committee and its work.

There on April 2 the first woman ever elected to Congress, Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, was entertained at breakfast, made a speech from an upper balcony and was escorted to the Capitol by Mrs.

Carrie Chapman Catt, national president, at the head of a cavalcade of decorated automobiles, filled with suffragists. That day the President asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. The resolution for the Federal Suffrage Amendment was to have been the first introduced in the Senate but the War Resolution took its place and it became Number Two on the calendar. Senator Thomas had given up the chairmans.h.i.+p of the Committee on Woman Suffrage and Senator Andrieus A. Jones (N. M.) had been appointed. Senators Nelson (Minn.), Johnson (S. D.) c.u.mmins (Iowa) and Johnson (Cal.) had been added to the committee and Senators Ashurst, Sutherland, Clapp and Catron had retired.

In the House the resolution was introduced by Representatives Rankin, Raker, Mondell, Taylor, Keating and Hayden. Both Houses agreed that only legislation pertaining to the war program should be considered during the extra session, which excluded the amendment, but there were some forms of work not prohibited. On April 20 the Senate Committee gave a hearing on it with Mrs. Catt in charge and very strong addresses were made by her and by Senators Shafroth (Colo.), Kendrick (Wyo.), Walsh (Mont.), Smoot (Utah), Thomas, Thompson and Representative Rankin. Thousands of copies were franked and given to the National a.s.sociation for distribution. On September 15 Chairman Jones made a unanimous favorable report to the Senate. In the House efforts were concentrated on securing a Committee on Woman Suffrage, resolutions for which had been introduced by Representatives Raker, Hayden and Keating and referred to the Committee on Rules. Mrs. Park's report said: