Volume VI Part 41 (1/2)
SUFFRAGE. The convention to prepare a const.i.tution for statehood, which met in 1910, was the battle ground for School suffrage for women. The question was very seriously debated in the Elective Franchise Committee, which many times voted it down only to renew it upon appeal to do so. Mrs. S. F. Culberson, then county school superintendent in Roosevelt county, argued the matter before the committee, and its chairman, Nestor Montoya, cast the deciding vote for it to come before the convention. Both Democrats and Republicans rallied to its support but Jose D. Sena, Clerk of the Supreme Court, a member of the convention, strenuously opposed it and finally carried it back to be caucused upon by the Republican majority. After a stormy caucus it was returned to the convention and pa.s.sed. The president of the convention, Charles A. Spiess, spoke urgently in Committee of the Whole to save women's eligibility to the county superintendency from being eliminated. The clause gave women the right to vote for school trustees, on the issuing of bonds and in the local administration of public schools but not for county or State superintendents. It provided that ”if a majority of the qualified voters of any school district shall, not less than thirty days before any school election, present a pet.i.tion to the county commissioners against woman suffrage in that district it shall be suspended and only renewed by a pet.i.tion of the majority!”
No effort could obtain any larger extension of the franchise to women but the new State const.i.tution gave universal suffrage to men and carefully protected the right to vote of those who could not speak, read or write either the English or Spanish language. It then provided that the suffrage clause could only be amended by having the amendment submitted by a vote of three-fourths of each House of the Legislature.
In order to be carried, it must have a three-fourths majority of the highest number voting at a State election and a two-thirds majority of the highest number voting in every county. This was expressly designed to prevent woman suffrage and it destroyed all possibility of it until conferred by a Federal Amendment.
Among the women who worked for woman suffrage in addition to those mentioned in the chapter were Mesdames Margaret Cartright, S. F.
Culberson, George W. Carr, Josie Lockard, J. R. Kinyon, H. F. LaBelle, N. J. Strumquist, Margaret Medler, William J. Barker, Lansing Bloom, C. E. Mason, R. P. Donahoe, Ruth Skeen, John W. Wilson, S. C. Nutter, Catherine Patterson, Minnie Byrd, Howard Huey, Alfred Grunsfeld, Edgar L. Hewett, I. H. Elliot and I. H. Rapp.
As all women were fully enfranchised by the Federal Amendment a State branch of the National League of Women Voters was formed with Mrs.
Gerald Ca.s.sidy as chairman.
FOOTNOTES:
[121] The History is indebted for this chapter to Deane H. (Mrs.
Was.h.i.+ngton E.) Lindsey, State chairman of the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation.
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
NEW YORK.[122]
New York was the cradle of the movement for woman suffrage not only in this State but in the world, for here in 1848 was held the first Women's Rights Convention in all history. Except during the Civil War there was no year after 1850 when one or more such conventions did not take place until 1920, when all the women of the United States were enfranchised by an amendment to the National Const.i.tution. This State was the home of the two great leaders for half a century--Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The first appeal ever made to a Legislature for woman suffrage was made by these two women in 1854 and there was never a year afterwards when this appeal was not made by the women of New York except during the Civil War. The State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation was organized in 1869 and its work never ceased.
Notwithstanding this record no suffrage for women had ever been obtained in this State, except a fragment of a School franchise for those in villages and country districts, up to 1901, when this chapter begins.
The cause had gradually gained in strength, however, and a factor which had strong influence was the splendid cooperation of many other organizations. The president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union often spoke at the suffrage conventions and legislative hearings and the superintendent of franchise, Dr. Lavinia R. Davis, sent out thousands of suffrage leaflets and appeals to the women of the local unions every year. The State Grange, with its members.h.i.+p approaching 100,000, pa.s.sed favorable resolutions many times and gave the president and vice-president of the suffrage a.s.sociation, who were members, opportunities to speak at its meetings. The State Federation of Labor granted the vice-president time for an address at its convention in Troy as early as 1908 and thereafter endorsed the suffrage bills and sent speakers to the hearings on them. Women from labor unions spoke at conventions of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation, which had a Committee on Industrial Work. The Western New York Federation of Women's Clubs, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler of Buffalo, its president, was the first federation to admit suffrage clubs and a suffrage resolution was pa.s.sed at its convention in 1909, at which time it had 35,000 members.
The annual conventions of the State a.s.sociation always were held in October. The thirty-third in the long series met at Oswego in the Presbyterian Church in 1901 and was welcomed by Mayor A. M. Hall.
Addresses were made by Miss Susan B. Anthony, honorary president of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation; Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, its vice-president-at-large; Alice Stone Blackwell, its recording secretary; Harriet May Mills and Julie R. Jenney of Syracuse. A memorial service was held for one of the pioneers, Charlotte A. Cleveland of Wyoming county, Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf, former State president, and Mrs. Ella Hawley Crossett, vice-president, offering testimonials of her ability and helpfulness. She left the a.s.sociation a legacy of $2,000, the first it ever had received. Mrs.
Mariana W. Chapman, president since 1896, was re-elected.
The convention of 1902 was held in Buffalo at the Church of the Messiah. The wife of the Mayor, Erastus Knight, represented him in giving a welcome from the city. Owing to the illness of Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Crossett presided. She was elected president, after having served four years as vice-president. Miss Mills was chosen for that office and they served for the next eight years.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SUSAN B. ANTHONY MEMORIAL BUILDING
At Rochester (N. Y.) University.]
In 1903 the convention was held in the Presbyterial Church at Hornellsville welcomed by Mayor C. F. Nelson and the Rev. Charles Petty, pastor of the church. Mrs. Crossett responded and gave her annual address, which showed much activity during the year. Miss Mills, chairman of the State organization committee, said that she had arranged for fifty-five meetings. Dr. Shaw had spoken in thirty different counties, the president or vice-president accompanying her and organizing clubs at many places. The chairmen of the standing committees--Organization, Press, Legislative, Industries, Work Among Children, Enrollment, School Suffrage--and also the county presidents reported effective work. The addresses of Miss Anthony, Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president, were highly appreciated by large audiences. During the summer of 1903, as in many others, Miss Anthony and Dr. Shaw attracted large gatherings at the Chautauqua and Lily Dale a.s.semblies.
The convention of 1904 met at Auburn. Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne, daughter of Martha Wright and niece of Lucretia Mott, two of those who had called the first Woman's Rights Convention, entertained the officers and many chairmen in the annex of the hotel, a stenographer, typewriter and every convenience being placed at their disposal. In her own home she had as guests Miss Anthony, Dr. Shaw, Mrs. William Lloyd Garrison (her sister), Emily Howland, Mrs. William C. Gannett, Lucy E. Anthony and others. One evening her s.p.a.cious house was thrown open for the people of the city to meet the noted suffragists. The convention was held in Music Hall, a gift of Mrs. Osborne to the city, and her son, Thomas Mott Osborne, welcomed it as Mayor.
The old Political Equality Club of Rochester, of which Miss Mary S.
Anthony was president for many years, invited the convention for 1905.
To go to the home city of the Anthony sisters was indeed a pleasure.
They opened their house one afternoon for all who desired to take a cup of tea with them. It was crowded and many expressed themselves as feeling that they were on a sacred spot. A large number went to the third story to see the rooms where Mrs. Ida Husted Harper spent several years with Miss Anthony writing her biography and Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. A reception was given at Powers Hotel attended by over 600 people. During the meetings Miss Anthony introduced a number of women who had attended the first Woman's Rights Convention, which adjourned from Seneca Falls to Rochester, Mary Hallowell, Sarah Willis, Mary S. Anthony and Maria Wilder Depuy.
The convention was held in the Universalist Church. Mayor James G.
Cutler, who welcomed the delegates, spoke very highly of his ”esteemed fellow citizen, Susan B. Anthony” and presented her with a large bouquet of American Beauty roses. Mrs. Crossett in her annual address compared the convention held at Rochester in 1890, when there were but seven local clubs in the State, with this one representing 100 local and 31 county clubs. Elnora M. Babc.o.c.k, press chairman, reported 500 papers in the State using articles favorable to woman suffrage.
The convention for 1906 met at Syracuse in the (Samuel J.) May Memorial Church. Miss Anthony had pa.s.sed away the preceding March.
Over the entrance door of the church was a large banner with the last words of the beloved leader, ”Failure is Impossible.” The afternoon meeting closed with tributes of reverence and appreciation by Mrs.