Volume VI Part 15 (1/2)

The Legislative Council sent out 75,000 registration cards. Munic.i.p.al authorities had appointed women to places of trust. The Suffrage Board formulated a plan for the study of citizens.h.i.+p, of the United States and State const.i.tutions, methods of voting, etc., which has since been on the program of study for the local societies.

In July, 1917, Mrs. Noland and Mrs. Ray were again asked to speak at the annual meeting of the Munic.i.p.al League and the following was adopted with enthusiasm: ”Resolved; That the Munic.i.p.al League of Indiana does hereby recommend full and equal suffrage for women in both State and nation.”

By a vote of the local societies it was decided not to call a convention during the war, as every woman was engaged in war work, but monthly board meetings were held in different towns in 1917 and 1918, keeping the busy women in touch with suffrage work. During the Legislature of 1919 other organizations seemed desirous of pus.h.i.+ng the suffrage work and the a.s.sociation voted to give them a free hand. It a.s.sisted the effort for the ratification of the Federal Amendment by sending letters and having resolutions pa.s.sed by organizations. It has at this time (1920) 29 affiliated societies, 500 dues-paying members and over 6,000 non-dues-paying members.

INDIANA. PART II.[46]

During the early years of the present century there was no definite campaign for suffrage in Indiana but the partial success of repeated efforts to influence the General a.s.sembly to pa.s.s various suffrage bills showed a large body of interested if unorganized favorable opinion. The State had never been entirely organized but there were several centers where flouris.h.i.+ng a.s.sociations kept up interest. In 1901 the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation under the presidency of Mrs.

Bertha G. Wade of Indianapolis engaged chiefly in legislative work but it gradually ceased effort. There were attempts toward its re-organization in the following years, a.s.sisted by the National a.s.sociation, but interest proved to be not sufficiently keen or widespread.

The Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society, organized in 1878 under the direction of Mrs. May Wright Sewall, had never suspended activities.

Dr. Amelia R. Keller was its president in 1909 and in order to stimulate interest and give an outlet for the energy of its members, a.s.sisted by Mrs. Grace Julian Clarke, Mrs. Felix T. McWhirter, Mrs.

John F. Barnhill, Mrs. W. T. Barnes, Mrs. Winfield Scott Johnson and Dr. Rebecca Rogers George, she formed the Women's School League on October 1, ”to elect a woman to the school board and improve the schools of Indianapolis.” Dr. Keller was made president and the other officers were, vice-presidents, Dr. George and Mrs. McWhirter; secretary, Mrs. Julia C. Henderson; treasurer, Miss Harriet n.o.ble; directors, Mrs. Clarke, Mrs. Barnhill, Mrs. Arthur B. Grover, Mrs.

Johnson, Mrs. Linton A. c.o.x, Mrs. Laura Kregelo, Mrs. Edgar A.

Perkins, Dr. Mary A. Spink, Miss Belle O'Hair and Miss Tarquinia Voss.

Many of these names become familiar in the later records of suffrage work.

The first part of the league's program succeeded and a woman was elected to the school board of Indianapolis. At the same time the women of Terre Haute, where under a new law the school board was elective, made a like attempt through the Woman's Club and the local suffrage society and were also successful. These were the only places where school boards were elective. Many women showed themselves eager to work for a woman on the school board who were indifferent to the larger aspects of suffrage. It was soon clear, however, that the schools could not stand alone in munic.i.p.al affairs but where boards were not elected it would be necessary to vote for Mayor and councilmen to influence school conditions, therefore on April 21, 1911, the organization dropped the word ”school” from its t.i.tle and became the Woman's Franchise League of Indiana. Dr. Keller continued as president and a.s.sociated with her as officers were Mrs. Meredith Nicholson and Mrs. McWhirter, vice presidents; Mrs. Henderson, secretary; Mrs. Barnhill, treasurer.

A State convention of the league was held in Indianapolis April 12, 1912, and one took place annually after that date, always in the capital. At this convention Dr. Martha Griffiths of Crawfordsville and Dr. Adah McMahon of Lafayette were added to the directors. This year the league affiliated with the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation.[47] By May, 1916, there were sixty branch leagues and 3,000 members; in May, 1919, there were 300 branches and 16,000 members. Dr. Keller continued as president until the convention of 1917, when Mrs. Richard E. Edwards of Peru was elected and served two years. At the convention of 1919 Miss Helen Benbridge of Terre Haute was chosen. The Franchise League was exceedingly fortunate in its three presidents, who gave the most of their time, thought and effort to its demands without salary. Dr. Keller organized it largely through the force of her own personality and was able to gather around her other strong and determined women through whom the idea of suffrage was carried out into the State. Mrs. Edwards took up the work of more intensive organization of the State outside of Indianapolis and succeeded, with Miss Benbridge as State organizer, in multiplying the branch leagues and the members by five. Miss Benbridge's work as president was that of consolidating these gains and directing the women in the use of the vote which they thought they had won. The list is too long to be given of those who deserve special mention for years of devoted service.

From the spring of 1917 to the autumn of 1918 the members of force and character were drawn upon for war service and the league suffered the temporary loss of some of its best workers, who were filling executive positions in the many war agencies. Of the directorate Miss Adah Bush worked first in Was.h.i.+ngton with the Woman's Council of National Defense and later went to France with the Young Women's Christian a.s.sociation; Mrs. Fred McCulloch was State chairman of Liberty Loans; Dr. McMahon went to France on the staff of the Women's Oversea Hospitals; Mrs. Henderson was chairman of the ”four minute speakers”

who at their own expense went over the State speaking for Liberty Loans, Red Cross, etc.

Under the able direction of Miss Benbridge the league continued to increase until there were but four counties in which it had no representation. The changed status of members from suffrage workers to voters necessitated a different sort of activity. Organizers were still employed to some extent and suffrage propaganda used in the more remote counties but the stress was laid upon teaching women to use the vote intelligently and appreciate the power it gives. A Citizens.h.i.+p School of the nature of a Normal School was held in Indianapolis in October and women from all over the State attended a five days'

session and heard talks on the nature and various functions of the government and the duties of citizens, by men and women who were experts in their various lines. They took back to their own towns the inspiration received and these schools were carried on quite generally. The State Superintendent of Education sent out a bulletin asking the teachers to give their aid and recommending that the public schools be used for this work. A monograph ent.i.tled An Aid to the Citizen in Indiana was prepared by Miss Martha Block of Terre Haute and published by the league. This movement to train the new voters commanded the respect of educators and several professors in educational inst.i.tutions offered their services as teachers in the schools of citizens.h.i.+p.

The convention of April, 1920, was the end of the Franchise League.

With the near ratification of the Federal Amendment work for suffrage seemed to be finished in Indiana. As a Presidential suffrage bill had been pa.s.sed by the General a.s.sembly the women of the State were already partial voters, so the league disbanded and in its place was formed the State League of Women Voters, with Mrs. A. H. Beardsley of Elkhart as president. The branches became auxiliaries and the leaders realized that the task of getting the vote was nearly accomplished--that of using it had just begun.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION. 1901. Through the efforts of the Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation a resolution for an amendment to the State const.i.tution to strike out the word ”male” in the suffrage section was introduced. In the Senate it was buried in committee. In the House it received a vote of 49 ayes, 33 noes--a two-thirds majority being necessary. Later it was reconsidered and pa.s.sed by a vote of 52 to 32. This vote was also reconsidered and the amendment laid on the table.

1907. Munic.i.p.al suffrage bill was defeated by the Senate.

1911. A similar measure was reported favorably out of committees but lost in the Lower House by 41 ayes, 48 noes, and no action was taken by the Senate.

1913. A resolution to submit a woman suffrage amendment was held up in committees. The Senate pa.s.sed a School suffrage bill by 27 ayes, 10 noes, but there was no action in the House.

1915. A Presidential suffrage bill pa.s.sed in the Senate by 37 ayes, 3 noes, was held up in the House.

1917. This year will long be remembered by suffrage workers as one of triumphs and defeats. The legislative session was a continued triumph and showed that public opinion was in favor of granting political rights to women. A great help was the agitation for a new const.i.tution. The present const.i.tution was adopted in 1851. An early court decision that an amendment in order to carry must have a majority of all the votes cast at the election made amending it a practical impossibility and for a long time there had been a widespread demand for a new one for the sake of many needed reforms.

The suffragists joined the agitation for it, as this seemed the only way to get the vote by State action.

The General a.s.sembly of 1917 was carefully selected to pa.s.s the Prohibition Amendment and was known to be favorable to the calling of a const.i.tutional convention. While the suffragists placed their hope in a new const.i.tution yet in order to leave no means untried the Legislative Council of Women was formed at the suggestion of Mrs.

Grace Julian Clarke, composed of representatives of eight or ten State organizations, of which the Women's Franchise League was one. Mrs.

Felix T. McWhirter was made president and it was decided to present a Presidential and Munic.i.p.al suffrage bill similar to the one pa.s.sed by the Illinois Legislature in 1913 and sustained by the courts.

The Council had quarters in the State House granted by the Governor; the Women's Franchise League immediately established a bureau there by his consent with Mrs. John F. Barnhill and Miss Alma Sickler in charge and all the women labored diligently for the success of the measure.

The work over the State was necessarily done largely by the Franchise League, as it had the local societies necessary. The Council secured the aid of Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, a lawyer of Chicago, who had been closely identified with the Illinois law. For the first time in the history of Indiana's struggle for equal suffrage there was active opposition by women. Nineteen, all of Indianapolis, appealed to the Senate Committee on Rights and Privileges, which had the bill in charge, for a hearing in order to protest.[48] This was granted but it resulted in an enthusiastic suffrage meeting. The ”nineteen,” who a.s.serted that they spoke for 90 per cent. of unorganized women in Indiana, were represented by Mrs. Lucius B. Swift, Miss Minnie Bronson, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation, and Charles McLean of Iowa, who was in its employ. Mrs. McCulloch, Meredith Nicholson, Mrs. Edward Franklin White, now president of the Council, former Mayor Charles A. Bookwalter and a number of others spoke for the bill.