In 1884 there were two women county superintendents; now every county in the State has a woman in this office. The superintendent of the Helena schools is a woman. The Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes held the position of school trustee as early as 1888. Dr. Maria M. Dean has been elected three times in succession as a trustee in Helena. She is chairman of the board and has been influential in many progressive measures.
Women have served on library boards and been city librarians. Miss Lou Guthrie has been for a number of years librarian of the State Law Library, and Mrs. Laura E. Howey fills this position in the State Historical Library.
There has been a woman on the State Board of Charities since its organization in 1893, Mrs. Howey, Mrs. M. S. c.u.mmins and Mrs. Lewis Penwell having been successively elected.
Dr. Mary B. At.w.a.ter has been for over three years chairman of the Board of Health of Helena.
Women served as notaries public until a ruling of Attorney-General C.
B. Nolan (1901) declared this illegal.
In 1892, the first year the Populist party put a ticket in the field, it nominated Miss Ella Knowles for the office of Attorney-General. She made a spirited campaign, addressing more than eighty audiences, and alone organized some fourteen counties, being the first Populist to speak in them. She ran 5,000 votes ahead of her ticket, in a State which casts only about 50,000. The contest was so close that it was three weeks before it was decided who had been elected; but when the votes came in from the outlying precincts, where she was unknown, it was found that her Republican opponent, H. J. Haskell, had a majority.
Miss Knowles was then appointed a.s.sistant Attorney-General, an office which she filled for four years to the eminent satisfaction of the people. During this time she married her rival.
OCCUPATIONS: No occupation is now legally forbidden to women. Mainly through the efforts of Mrs. Haskell, a bill was pa.s.sed by the Legislature of 1889 which gave women the right to practice law. The Rev. Alice S. N. Barnes was ordained in the Congregational Church in 1896, and has preached regularly ever since. In 1889 she was chosen as moderator at the Conference of the Congregational Churches of Montana, at Helena.
EDUCATION: The educational advantages for women are the same as those accorded men. All inst.i.tutions of learning--the State University, the Agricultural College, even the School of Mines--are open to both s.e.xes.
In the public schools there are 201 men and 885 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $69.28; of the women, $48.61.
Montana women were awarded seven medals at the World"s Fair in Chicago in 1893. Their botanical exhibit was one of the most notable at the exposition. It was artistically arranged by Mrs. Jennie H. Moore, the flowers being all scientifically labeled and properly cla.s.sified. Of the $100,000 appropriated to the use of the State Commission, the men a.s.signed $10,000 to the women for their department, exercising no supervision over them. At the close of the exposition they brought back $2,800, which they turned into the State treasury, and $3,000 worth of furniture, which they presented to various State inst.i.tutions.
In 1894 there was an exciting contest over removing the location of the permanent capital and some fear that Helena would lose it. A number of her leading women, in a special car provided by the Northern Pacific R. R., visited the prominent towns in Eastern Montana, speaking and working in the interest of their city and undoubtedly gaining many votes for Helena, which was selected instead of the rival, Anaconda.
In 1896 Mrs. Haskell was made a delegate to the Populist convention of Lewis and Clarke County, which met in Helena, and also to the Populist State and National Conventions. She took a prominent part in their proceedings, and was instrumental in securing a woman suffrage plank in the Populist State platform after a hard fight on the floor of the convention. At the Populist convention in St. Louis that year she was chosen a member of the National Committee.
In the autumn of 1900 a number of prominent women of Helena appeared as representatives of the suffragists before the Lewis and Clarke County Conventions, and before the State conventions--Republican, Democrat and Populist--asking that they insert a plank in their platforms recommending the submission of the question of woman suffrage to the voters. Only the Populists adopted it. The ladies also attended the State conventions of the three parties with the same resolution; but the Populists alone indorsed it, "demanding" suffrage for women.
One of the important factors in this movement is the Woman"s Relief Corps, an organization which has grown in strength during the last decade and is making its members staunch patriots and woman suffragists. It has had an educative influence equal to that of the W.
C. T. U. but on different lines. Women are actively identified with lodges and clubs, many of the latter being members of the General Federation of Women"s Clubs.
FOOTNOTES:
[354] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Mary Long Alderson of Helena, one of the first officers of the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation.
[355] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Harriet P. Sanders; vice-president, Mrs. Martha Rolfe Pla.s.sman; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Delia A. Kellogg; recording secretary, Mrs. Mary Long Alderson; treasurer, Dr. Mary B. At.w.a.ter; auditors, Mrs. Martha E. Dunckel and Mrs. Hiram Knowles; delegate-at-large, Mrs. Mary A. Wylie. Dr. At.w.a.ter has been elected to the same office at each succeeding convention.
CHAPTER LI.
NEBRASKA.[356]
After the defeat of the const.i.tutional amendment to confer the suffrage, which was submitted to the voters of Nebraska in 1882, the women were not discouraged, but continued to hold their State conventions as usual. That of 1884 took place at York, in January, and was welcomed by Mayor Harlan.
On Jan. 16, 17, 1885, the annual meeting was held at Lincoln. Mrs. Ada M. Bittenbender was the princ.i.p.al speaker, and the convention was specially favored with music by the noted singer of ante-bellum days, James G. Clark. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, editor of the _Woman"s Tribune_, was elected president.
The convention of 1886 met at Madison, August 18, 19, and was addressed by Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon of New Orleans.
On Jan. 6-8, 1887, the convention a.s.sembled in the Hall of Representatives in Lincoln. It was fortunate in having Miss Susan B.
Anthony, who was enthusiastically received by large audiences. The chancellor postponed the opening lecture of the university course so that the students might hear her address. Mrs. Saxon again rendered valuable a.s.sistance.
The convention of 1888 met in the opera house at Omaha, December 3, 4, memorable in being honored by the presence of the two great leaders, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, president, and Miss Susan B. Anthony, vice-president-at-large of the National a.s.sociation. A reception was held at Hotel Paxton, and short speeches were made by prominent men. A notable feature was the exhibit of the rolls containing the names of 12,000 Nebraska men and women asking for equal suffrage.
The convention for 1889 took place in May, at Kearney, James Clement Ambrose being among the speakers.
Fremont claimed the tenth annual meeting, Nov. 12, 1890, Miss Anthony, and Mrs. Julia B. Nelson of Minnesota stopping off to attend it on their return from several months" campaigning in South Dakota.
The convention of 1891 was held at Hastings in October, and that of 1892 at Pender, July 1, 2. In 1893 all efforts were concentrated on the work done at the World"s Fair in Chicago, and the raising of money to a.s.sist the Colorado campaign, and the convention was omitted.
Miss Anthony, now national president, also attended the meeting of 1894, in Beatrice, November 7, 8. This time she was on her way home from a campaign in Kansas for a suffrage amendment, to which the Nebraska a.s.sociation had contributed liberally. A telegram announcing its defeat was handed her on the platform, just as she was about to begin her speech, and no one who was present ever will forget her touching account of the efforts which had been made in various States for this measure during the past twenty-seven years. The delegates were welcomed by Mayor Schultz.
David City was selected for the next convention, Oct. 30, 31, 1895; and that of 1896 was enjoyed at the summer session of the Long Pine Chautauqua a.s.sembly. Mrs. Colby had spent two months lecturing throughout the State and preparing for this meeting. Money was raised for the Idaho suffrage campaign, then in progress. Mrs. Colby and Miss Elizabeth Abbott addressed the Resolution Committee of the Populist State convention, asking for a woman suffrage plank.
The meeting of 1897, at Lincoln, September 30, was a.s.sisted by Mrs.
Ida Crouch Hazlett, a lecturer and organizer from Denver, who was engaged for State work.
In October, 1898, the convention was held in Omaha during the executive meeting of the National Council of Women, which enabled it to have addresses by Miss Anthony, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National a.s.sociation, Mrs. Adelaide Ballard of Iowa, and other prominent speakers. Mrs. Colby declining to stand for re-election, after sixteen years" service, Mrs. Mary Smith Hayward was the choice of the a.s.sociation. One hundred dollars were sent to South Dakota for amendment campaign work.
In October, 1899, the National W. S. A. sent eight organizers into the State to hold a series of forty-nine county conventions; 250 meetings were held, 18 county organizations effected and 38 local clubs formed.
The canva.s.s ended in an enthusiastic convention in the capitol building at Lincoln, with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of the national organization committee, the Rev. Ida C. Hultin of Illinois, Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden of Iowa, Miss Laura A. Gregg of Kansas and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York, among the speakers. State headquarters were opened at Omaha with Miss Gregg in charge. Her work has been so effective that it has been necessary to employ a.s.sistants to send out press articles, arrange for lectures, etc.
In 1900 a very successful annual meeting took place in Blair, October 23, 24, with a representation almost double that of the previous year and an elaborate program. Mrs. Chapman Catt was again present, there was much enthusiasm and it was resolved to continue the efforts to create a public sentiment which would insure a woman suffrage clause in the new State const.i.tution which is expected in the near future.[357]
Among the many flourishing local societies may be mentioned that of Table Rock, which is so strong an influence in the community that the need of any other club for literary or public work is not felt. It holds an annual banquet to which husbands and friends are invited, and the husbands, in turn, under the name of the H. H. (Happy Husband) Club give a reception to the suffragists, managing it entirely themselves.
The society at Chadron, under the inspiration of Mrs. Hayward, is one of the most active, and has sent money to a.s.sist campaigns in other States. A canva.s.s of the town in February, 1901, showed that 96 per cent. of the women wanted full suffrage.
Mrs. Colby organized a Club in Lincoln which has done excellent service under the leadership of Dr. Inez C. Philbrick.
Suffrage headquarters have been established at the Chautauquas held at Long Pine, Beatrice, Salem and Crete, and various Woman"s Days have been held under the auspices of the State a.s.sociation, at which speakers of national reputation have made addresses. Anthony and Stanton Birthdays have been largely observed by the suffrage clubs.
The history of the Nebraska work for the past sixteen years is interwoven with that of the president, Mrs. Colby, who has given her life and money freely to the cause. At a convention in Grand Island in May, 1883, it was voted to establish a suffrage paper at Beatrice, for which the State a.s.sociation was to be financially responsible, and Mrs. Colby was made editor. A year later, when the executive committee withdrew from the arrangement, she herself a.s.sumed the entire burden, and has edited and published the _Woman"s Tribune_ to the present time. In 1888 she issued the paper in Washington, D. C., during the sessions of the International Woman"s Council and the National W. S.
A., publishing eight editions in the two weeks, four of sixteen and four of twelve pages, each averaging daily 12,500 copies. A few years afterwards the office was permanently removed to Washington. As long as Mrs. Colby was a resident of Nebraska she stood at the head of every phase of the movement to obtain equal rights for women. Miss Mary Fairbrother, editor and proprietor of the _Woman"s Weekly_, has made her paper a valuable ally.
Miss Helen M. Goff, a lawyer, acted as corresponding secretary of the State a.s.sociation for many years, speaking for the cause in political campaigns, holding a suffrage booth at State fairs, and working in the Legislature for suffrage bills.[358]
LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In 1887 a bill for Munic.i.p.al Suffrage was introduced by Senator Snell of Fairbury, and by Representative Cole of Juniata. Mrs. Colby had secured 3,000 signatures for this measure, and with Mrs. Jennie F. Holmes, president of the State Woman"s Christian Temperance Union, worked all winter to secure its pa.s.sage.[359]
In 1893 three bills were introduced into the Legislature relating to suffrage for women, and one asking for a law providing for police matrons in cities of 25,000 or more inhabitants. Miss Goff remained at the capital all winter looking after these bills. Mrs. Colby, representing the State W. S. A., and Mrs. Zara A. Wilson the State W.
C. T. U., had charge of the Bill for Munic.i.p.al Suffrage. J. F. Kessler introduced this in the House and worked for it. It was defeated by 35 ayes, 48 noes.
The bill for Full Suffrage was introduced into the House by G. C.
Lingenfelter, and championed by W. F. Porter (now Secretary of State) and others. It was defeated by 42 ayes, 47 noes. The Populist members supported this, but considered that Munic.i.p.al Suffrage discriminated against women in the country. The bill for extended School Suffrage was introduced too late to reach a vote. The Police Matron Bill was carried.