Volume VI Part 39 (1/2)

Riley, the local president. The Rev. Mrs. Blackwell paid a tribute to Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, who had pa.s.sed away, and after resolutions by Mrs. Colvin the ”Battle Hymn of the Republic” was sung. Mrs. Decker presented a flag to the a.s.sociation in honor of Mrs. s.e.xton, the former president. Mrs. Kinsley gave a greeting from the Equal Franchise Society. How it Works in Wyoming was told by Mrs. May Preston Slosson, Ph.D., and Dr. Edwin A. Slosson. In the evening Mayor Charles J. Fisk welcomed the convention. Professor Earl Barnes, who had resided two years in England, gave an address on The Englishwoman.

Champlain Lord Riley of Plainfield announced the organization in Newark on March 23 of the Men's League for Woman Suffrage with Dr.

William L. Saunders of Plainfield, president; Merton C. Leonard, Arlington, vice-president; Dr. Edward S. Krans, Plainfield, secretary; Edward F. Feickert, Dunellen, treasurer and 17 members.[119]

Mrs. Laddey was re-elected. Four new committees were appointed on Church Work, Mrs. Bartlett, chairman; Industrial Problems relating to Women and Children, Miss Bessie Pope; Endors.e.m.e.nt by Organizations, Mrs. Laddey; Education, Mrs. Riley. Public meetings were held in the various cities; prizes for school essays were awarded and a year book published. With the Equal Franchise Society the a.s.sociation had a hearing before the State Senate Committee on Education, Joseph S.

Frelinghuysen, chairman in behalf of a School suffrage bill. Mrs.

Laddey, Mrs. George T. Vickers, Mrs. Philip McKim Garrison, Mrs.

Frederick Merck, and Mrs. Kinsley appeared for the suffragists. The committee approved it but the Legislature rejected it.

In January, 1911, a luncheon was given by the a.s.sociation in Newark to Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds, who had returned from work in the victorious campaign in the State of Was.h.i.+ngton. At a board meeting it was decided that some plan must be adopted for enrolling non-dues-paying members similar to that of the Woman Suffrage Party of New York. This name was taken for New Jersey and an Enrollment Committee was formed with Mrs.

Lillian F. Feickert of Dunellen chairman, to organize by political districts. Over a hundred New Jersey women marched in the second New York parade on May 4. The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony was placed in libraries. The three a.s.sociations agreed to unite in work for a suffrage measure in the Legislature and Dr. Luella Morrow, Miss Laddey, Miss Grace Selden and Mrs. Howe Hall were appointed to have charge of it. Mrs. Bartlett secured the favorable opinions of twelve New Jersey clergymen and had them printed for circulation. The Equal Justice League of young women was started in Bayonne with eighty members, Miss Dorothy Frooks, president. At this time the State a.s.sociation had fourteen branches and about 500 members.

The convention of 1911 was held in Willard Hall, Pa.s.saic, in November.

All rose to greet the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell when she entered. Mayor George N. Seger in his welcome said that all women who paid taxes should vote and with the ballot women could help many needed reforms. A hundred copies of the New York _American_ with an editorial on woman suffrage in New Jersey sent by Arthur Brisbane were distributed.

It was voted to ask Governor Woodrow Wilson, as a Presidential candidate, if he favored woman suffrage. Mrs. Rheta Childe Dorr of the editorial staff of _Hampton's Magazine_ appealed for legislation in behalf of working girls. Miss Emma McCoy, president of the New Brunswick Teachers' a.s.sociation, made a plea for equal pay for women teachers. Addresses were given by Robert Elder, a.s.sistant district attorney of Kings county, N. Y.; Mrs. Raymond Brown of New York, Miss Melinda Scott of Newark, treasurer of the National Women's Trade Union League, and Judge William H. Wood of New York. Dr. Hussey told of 10,000 leaflets distributed.

Mrs. Feickert described the successful house-to-house canva.s.s in Jersey City by Miss Pope and herself, by which the members.h.i.+p had increased to 1,400. Mrs. Decker announced the opening of the first State headquarters the next week in Newark with a volunteer committee in charge, Mrs. George G. Scott, chairman. Mrs. Vernona H. Henry of Newark was elected recording secretary and no other change was made in the board, most of whom had served over ten years. With the cooperation of all the societies the meeting at the auditorium in Newark addressed by Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst of England was a great success.

This record of details, much condensed, represents the seed-sowing in the first decade of the century in preparation for the harvest which came at the end of the second decade.

NEW JERSEY. PART II.[120]

In December, 1911, a Joint Legislative Committee, representing the four woman suffrage organizations in New Jersey was formed with Mrs.

George T. Vickers as chairman, and in January, 1912, a resolution for a submission to the voters of a woman suffrage amendment to the State const.i.tution was first introduced in the Legislature at the request of this committee.

On Oct. 25, 1912, a parade was given in Newark under the auspices of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation with all four organizations represented among the marchers, who numbered about 1,000 men and women. This was followed by a well-attended ma.s.s meeting at Proctor's Theater, arranged by the Women's Political Union, at which Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation, was the princ.i.p.al speaker.

The twenty-second annual convention of the a.s.sociation was held in Trenton in November, when the following officers were elected: President, Mrs. E. F. Feickert; first vice-president, Mrs. F. H.

Colvin; second, Miss Elinor Gebhardt; corresponding secretary, Mrs.

Charles P. t.i.tus; recording secretary, Mrs. Charles P. Eaton; treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery; auditor, Miss Bessie Pope.

Twenty-five local branches were reported with a total members.h.i.+p of 2,200.

In December the Legislative Committee was re-organized on the basis of equal representation for each of the four organizations. Mrs. Everett Colby was elected chairman and Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds was engaged as legislative secretary, who resigned in six months to become field organizer for the Women's Political Union. This committee continued to function until 1917, when the Women's Political Union, the Equal Franchise Society and the Men's League having disbanded and their branches having joined the State a.s.sociation the political work was taken over by its Legislative Committee. In 1914 Mrs. Philip McKim Garrison succeeded Mrs. Colby and she was succeeded by Mrs. Robert S.

Huse in 1916. Among those who served actively were Miss Bessie Pope, who gave valuable and continuous service to the completion of suffrage work in 1920; Champlain Lord Riley, William L. Saunders, Everett Colby, Mrs. Mina C. Van Winkle, Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs R. T.

Newton, Miss Belle Tiffany, Mrs. Colvin, Mrs. James Billington and Mrs. Feickert.

In June, 1913, the Women's Political Union held its first State conference, at which the following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Van Winkle; vice-presidents, Miss Julia S. Hurlbut, Mrs. E. T.

Lukens, Mrs. H. R. Reed, Mrs. W. H. Gardner, Miss Edna C. Wyckoff, Mrs. R. T. Newton, Miss Louise Antrim, Mrs. Carl Vail, Miss Louise Connolly; recording secretary, Miss Sara Crowell; executive secretary, Mrs. Reynolds; financial secretary, Mrs. Amelia Moorfield; treasurer, Mrs. Stewart Hartshorne. This was the only state-wide conference held until after the referendum election in 1915 and these officers continued to serve. The Equal Franchise Society's president, Mrs.

Vickers, served from 1911 until it disbanded in 1915. Other active members were Mrs. H. Otto Wittpen and Mrs. Mary B. Kinsley.

On March 25, 1913, the State a.s.sociation held a jubilee ma.s.s meeting in Newark to celebrate submission of a State suffrage amendment by the Legislature. This spring it held a large and successful school for suffrage workers in Newark and the expenses of two volunteer organizers were paid for several months, Mrs. U. L. Decker and Miss Dille Hastings. In August its representatives took part in the demonstration at Was.h.i.+ngton, arranged by the National Congressional Committee, when pet.i.tions were presented to the Senate asking for the immediate submission of the Federal Amendment, Mrs. Champlain Lord Riley, Mrs. Colvin, Miss Helen Lippincott, Miss Edith Abbott and Mrs.

Feickert. The New Jersey pet.i.tions of several thousand names were unwillingly presented by Senator James E. Martine, who made a speech against woman suffrage at the same time.

At the annual convention held in Newark in November reports showed that the members.h.i.+p had more than doubled during the year, there being now 44 local branches with over 6,000 members. Three changes took place in the board, Miss Lippincott, elected second vice-president; Mrs. Edward Olmsted, treasurer and Mrs. Arthur Hunter, auditor. Just after this convention a delegation of 58 from the a.s.sociation and 17 from the Political Union went to Was.h.i.+ngton at the request of the National Congressional Committee to interview President Wilson in behalf of favorable action on the Federal Amendment by the House of Representatives. The committee could not arrange for a special interview but finally saw him by going to the White House at the hour set aside for the reception of the general public and made their request. The President was cordial and said that he was giving the matter careful consideration and hoped soon to take a decided stand which he thought the suffragists would find satisfactory. The speakers were its chairman, Mrs. Feickert, Mrs. Van Winkle and Miss Melinda Scott, who represented the organized working women of New Jersey.

In April, 1914, the State headquarters were transferred to Plainfield, the home of the president, who took charge of them. Board meetings were held in different sections of the State each month, followed by open conferences for suffragists from the nearby towns. Each of these was attended by from 50 to 250 and resulted in greatly increased activity in the branches. During the summer a number of county automobile tours were made, a ”flying squadron” of decorated cars going from town to town, holding meetings and distributing literature.

These tours were well worked up and advertised and very successful. A great deal of the work connected with them was done by Miss Florence Halsey, a volunteer field organizer.

During July a week of suffrage meetings was held in Asbury Park, the auditorium there given free on condition that there should be debates and not merely presentations of suffrage. Over a hundred columns of publicity were secured for them in the New Jersey papers and during the week the hotels of Asbury Park and nearby resorts were canva.s.sed and thousands of leaflets and circulars given out. This year over 300,000 pieces of literature were distributed by the State a.s.sociation and the Political Union. A weekly press service was established by the a.s.sociation and news bulletins and special stories were sent regularly to over one hundred papers. The local branches of the a.s.sociation increased to 96 and of the Political Union to 15, with a members.h.i.+p of 22,000 and 4,000 respectively. At the annual convention of the a.s.sociation held in Camden in November the new officers elected were, second vice-president, Mrs. Robert P. Finley; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Bayard Naylor; recording secretary, Mrs. L. H. c.u.mmings. All attention and action were centered on the approaching campaign.