McCormick"s committee, introduced the new measure, which took his name, and it was favorably reported to the Senate by Senator Owen of Oklahoma in May. At this Nashville convention it was for the first time brought before the a.s.sociation. In her report Mrs. McCormick thus described the hearing which had been held before the House Judiciary Committee March 3:
The hearing was just at the time of the big blizzard and our speakers were stormbound, so that when we appeared before the committee there were only Mrs. Funk, Mrs. Booth and myself to represent the National a.s.sociation, and, as Mrs. Booth was not prepared to speak and I was chairman for the time given our committee, it left Mrs. Funk as our only speaker. We had discussed the night before the hearing the possible phases of the suffrage question Mrs. Funk could use in her speech that would be new to the Judiciary Committee. As an organization we have been conducting hearings before this committee for over forty years, and, as many of its members have served several terms, they are as familiar as we are with the suffrage arguments. We, therefore, decided to be perfectly frank with the committee and draw to their attention the fact that they possessed the power, if they wished to exercise it, to suggest to Congress some other form of legislation than had been presented to them. Mrs. Funk made this statement to them and said that in interviewing the members of the Judiciary Committee individually we found that they were convinced that woman suffrage was a question which was growing so rapidly throughout the country that it would only be a short time before the women would succeed in gaining their political freedom, but that as a committee, and because there was a majority of Democrats on it, they did not feel that they were able to report the Mondell amendment in any form.[89]
Mrs. McCormick then called on Mrs. Funk to present the Shafroth-Palmer Amendment, which had been introduced in the House by A. Mitch.e.l.l Palmer (Penn.), and the argument for it. The amendment read as follows:
Whenever any number of legal voters of any State to a number exceeding 8 per cent. of the number of legal voters at the last preceding general election held in such State, shall pet.i.tion for the submission to the legal voters of said State of the question whether women shall have equal rights with men in respect to voting at all elections to be held in such State, such question shall be so submitted, and if a majority of the legal voters of the State voting on the question shall vote in favor of granting to women such equal rights, the same shall thereupon be deemed established, anything in the const.i.tution or laws of such State to the contrary notwithstanding.
In beginning her carefully prepared "brief" Mrs. Funk said:
This amendment to the U. S. Const.i.tution must pa.s.s both branches of the national Congress by a two-thirds vote and be ratified by a majority vote of three-fourths of the State Legislatures before it becomes a law. So far it is identical with the Bristow-Mondell amendment. The difference between the two is that after the latter amendment has pa.s.sed three-fourths of the State Legislatures it completely enfranchises the women. The Shafroth-Palmer amendment, after it has pa.s.sed three-fourths of the State Legislatures, enables 8 per cent. of the voters of a State to bring the suffrage question up for the consideration of the voters at the next general election. Such a pet.i.tion may be filed at any time, not only once but indefinitely, until suffrage is won, and a majority of those voting on the question is sufficient to carry the measure. In other words, every State where the women are not at present enfranchised may be a campaign State every year. If the male voters are obliged to hear the woman suffrage question agitated and discussed at a perennial campaign, how long will it be before, in desperation and self-defense, they will vote in favor of it?
Now, why is the Shafroth-Palmer amendment easier to pa.s.s Congress than the Bristow-Mondell amendment? First of all it shifts the responsibility of actually enfranchising the women from the Senators and Representatives to the people of their respective States. Second, the State"s rights doctrine is the one objection raised to every federal issue that comes before Congress. It is primarily the greatest obstacle to federal legislation on any subject and is recognized as a valid objection by the members of Congress and particularly those from the North, who feel that they owe to the members of the South the justice of refraining from interference in matters vital to the South....
Third, the Democratic party is committed to the initiative and referendum but not to woman suffrage.... The President has endorsed the initiative and referendum and has fully convinced himself of its merit.... We are asking the Democratic party to give us, the women of the country, the initiative and referendum on the question of whether or not we shall be allowed to vote, and no State can have this question forced upon it or even settled until a majority of the voters of the State cast their ballots in favor of it.
The difficulties connected with the old amendment both in Congress and in many States were described and the case of New York was cited among others:
If the matter of suffrage is submitted to the State of New York in 1915 and does not carry, under the New York const.i.tution it cannot again be submitted for two years. Meantime all the energy that should be expended in directly educating the people must again be wasted trying to get a majority vote in two successive Legislatures. It is the opinion of one of the great suffrage leaders in New York, as expressed to me, that if the amendment does not carry in 1915 the people will not have an opportunity to vote upon it for another fifteen or twenty years.[90]
The early pa.s.sage of the Shafroth-Palmer amendment would eliminate the State const.i.tutional barrier and leave for the State organization only the work of ratification of this amendment, which only requires a majority vote in both branches of the Legislature. Again the legislator is able to shift the responsibility to the voters of his State. He is not voting directly on the question himself--only to submit the question to the people. You can readily see that here again this amendment is easier to ratify in the Legislatures than the Bristow-Mondell would be, because in the ratification of the latter the legislators are practically casting the final vote on the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of the women all over the country.... The simultaneous consideration of suffrage in every State at the same time would give overwhelming acc.u.mulative impetus to the movement and would increase suffrage activity inestimably. The fact that the national Congress had taken any action whatsoever in regard to the suffrage question would stamp it as a national issue, and I very much doubt whether the Democratic and Republican parties would be able to decline to put a suffrage plank in their national platforms.
This ended Mrs. Funk"s statement and Mrs. McCormick continued: "In dividing up the work of the lobby Mrs. Sherman undertook to card catalogue Congress by the same method which she used so successfully in the Illinois Legislature and a list of members was prepared who should be defeated on their record in Congress. Arthur Dunn, who had been a Washington newspaper correspondent for thirty years, was put at the head of the publicity bureau and proved to be of inestimable value because of his personal acquaintance with every member of Congress."
Charles T. Hallinan, also an experienced newspaper man, had been made chairman of the press bureau and in his report to the convention told of the introduction of the latest methods of publicity work and the signal success they had achieved. A Chicago office had been opened for organization and a system established of thorough congressional district work, a detailed account of which filled half a dozen pages of the printed Minutes. Miss Lillie Glenn and Miss Lavinia Engle had been appointed field organizers and a number of States were canva.s.sed, speeches made indoors and out in scores of counties, women"s societies visited and many suffrage clubs formed. Every kind of transportation was used, from muleback to automobiles, and many hardships were encountered. The report closed with several pages of valuable suggestions for what would be a thorough political campaign if carried out. Mrs. McCormick also gave an interesting report of her chairmanship of another committee, saying:
Early in the summer of 1914 Mrs. Desha Breckinridge advanced the valuable idea of a special campaign committee to be appointed by the National Board for the purpose of giving aid to the campaign States by establishing a speakers" bureau for their benefit and devising means for raising necessary funds, which the National Board approved. My indors.e.m.e.nt would have been less enthusiastic could I have foreseen that I would be selected as chairman. A special finance committee was appointed, Mrs. Stanley McCormick, chairman; Miss Addams, treasurer, and I, secretary. Miss Ethel M.
Smith, of Washington, D. C., spent her vacation establishing a speakers" bureau in the Chicago headquarters and it has been conducted by Mrs. Josephine Conger-Kanecko. As many national speakers have been routed through the campaign States as our finances would permit. We were faced with the discouraging fact that to do really active campaign service we would need a fund of not less than $50,000 and we had less than $13,000. We collected and distributed in cash a less amount than would be used on the campaign of a city alderman in an off year.
The plan of self-sacrifice day had been suggested to Mrs.
Breckinridge by a Wisconsin suffragist and adopted by the National Board and a general appeal went out to the women of America to sacrifice something in aid of suffrage and contribute the amount to the general fund for use in the campaign States.
[$9,854 were realized.] Mrs. Funk, while walking through the Capitol one day, observed a bride with much gold jewelry in evidence and expressed the wish that a little of the gold used for personal ornament might find its way into a treasure chest to be sold for the campaign States and so the idea of the "melting pot" was suggested.... The plan was endorsed and put into operation as follows: A carefully selected list of names of women was taken from among the various suffrage organizations, colleges, churches, etc. These women received a letter asking for a contribution to the melting pot and further urging them to accept a sub-committeeship, making themselves responsible for soliciting from at least six people a contribution and keeping track of this group until their possibilities had been exhausted.
The names of these persons were carefully scanned by the general committee and two or three out of each group of six were asked to go at the head of a further sub-committee and so something not unlike an endless chain was created. Although this was put into effect hastily and during the intense heat of a Washington summer, it was an enormous success and now at the close of the campaign contributions are still coming in and we consider that the top soil of melting pot possibilities has not been scratched.
[$2,732 were realized.]
Mrs. Funk"s report of her campaign work was an excellent showing of the situation which the suffragists faced in State campaigns and had done from the beginning:
From the time I left Washington August 25, until I returned to Chicago October 27, I covered approximately 8,000 miles. After speaking three days in Indiana, where the suffragists were straining every nerve to secure a const.i.tutional convention, I spent two days in Chicago and then started into the western States. My first three days were spent in Omaha, and, although my original itinerary contemplated my coming to Nebraska for the last ten days of the campaign, this was afterwards changed and I went back to Montana a second time, so my observations regarding Nebraska refer to Omaha alone. Here existed an almost unbelievable condition of opposition. The brewers had come openly into the field against us and the brewing interests are connected with many of the big financial ventures in that city. Bankers, merchants, tailors and other business men whose wives were in suffrage were brazenly warned that the brewing deposits would be withdrawn from banks, that patronage would be taken away from merchants and tradespeople--even doctors were threatened with the loss of their clientele if their wives continued actively in the campaign. The result was a paralysis of action among many women who would naturally have been leaders and supporters of the work.
Mrs. Draper Smith was doing all that was humanly possible under the circ.u.mstances to stem the tide of opposition, but money for publicity and organizing and many speakers seemed to be a necessity. Upon my report to Mrs. McCormick all extra aid possible was given.
My trip to South Dakota was interesting in the extreme. It and North Dakota are agricultural States, the cities are small and far apart, the villages are scattered over vast areas. By far the larger percentage of population dwells in the country on farms and ranches. The two Dakotas are almost pioneer States even now, but they present the highest degree of educational advantage and of general literacy perhaps in the whole United States. Their laws are generally good and for that reason there appears to be much apathy on the part of both men and women regarding suffrage.
The States are prosperous and the people have not felt to any extent the pinch of wrong political conditions. The great problem was to reach the people and make them think, as when they think at all upon the subject they are apt to think right. I am convinced that whatever the vote against the suffrage amendment may have been in North Dakota it was the result of indifference and lack of special information and not to any extent real opposition.
I believed from what I could learn in South Dakota the liquor interests were making their last fight for State control and about the time I arrived Mrs. Pyle had ascertained that a large amount of money was being used to subsidize the State press, and simultaneously the literary efforts of the anti-suffragists, which have appeared throughout the press during the last year, came out in the leading papers, and anti-suffrage ladies at $100 a week and expenses appeared on the platform of the princ.i.p.al towns and cities. During my campaign there I spoke wherever possible out-of-doors, even though meetings were arranged for me in halls, courthouses and churches. I found that the small audiences which would a.s.semble in these places were made up of women and men already interested and that the uninstructed voter would only listen when you caught him on the street. I spent the week of the State fair at Huron with Mrs. Pyle and witnessed a wonderful demonstration of activity. As high as 50,000 people a day were in attendance and the grounds were covered with our yellow banners. Every prize-winning animal, every racing sulky, automobile and motorcycle carried our pennants. Twenty thousand yellow badges were given away in one day. The squaws from the reservation did their native dances waving suffrage banners, and the snake charmer on the midway carried a Votes for Women pennant while an enormous serpent coiled around her body. I spoke during the fair four and five times a day and held street meetings downtown in the evening. When not thus engaged I a.s.sisted Mrs.
Pyle and her committee in distributing thousands of pieces of literature and was amazed at the eagerness of the people to receive them. We investigated the fair grounds to see how much was thrown away and found almost none.
In North Dakota Mrs. Darrow had asked me to go into the untilled suffrage field. In many places they had never heard a suffrage address nor had a suffrage meeting ever been held. I zigzagged across from the southeast to the northwest corners and in Minot was arrested for making a street speech. There was no law that I could discover against my speaking in the street and I was convinced and am still that it was the result of the petty tyranny of town officials unfavorable to women. A fine of $5 imposed upon me by the justice of the peace was remitted by him.
I spent twelve days in Montana, travelling about 2,000 miles, and found more general interest than in any other State. With 118,000 voters scattered over the third largest State in the Union, with many contending elements, with an acute labor situation, with the political control of the State vested very largely in one great corporation, there was plenty to occupy the attention of a suffragist worker. Miss Rankin"s organization work had been carried to a high degree of efficiency by the most strenuous endeavor on her part. The Amalgamated Copper Company, striving to defeat the workmen"s compensation act, had joined hands with the liquor interests, working to defeat woman suffrage, and had put on the petticoat and bonnet of the organized female anti-suffragists. I spoke to thousands of people all over the State, and while on the surface all appeared well, there was an undertow of fierce opposition that could be felt but that can not be estimated until the votes are counted. [The State was carried by 3,714.]
Nevada was like a story in a book--a big, little State, with 80,000 inhabitants and 18,000 voters, and so thoroughly was it organized by Miss Martin that I believe she could address every voter by his first name. I felt like a fifth wheel. All the work appeared to be finished and hung aside to season by the time I arrived and I was in the unenviable position of being sandwiched between Dr. Shaw, who had just preceded me, and Miss Addams, who immediately followed me. I went over the desert, however, and into mines, and spoke in butchers" homes and at meetings that wound up with a supper and a dance and came away with the certainty that Miss Martin had two or three thousand votes tucked away in her inside pocket. [The State was carried by 3,678.] On this trip I learned of hundreds of thousands of pieces of literature sent out by our entertaining friend, the Hon. Tom Heflin of Alabama. I know now why it was that all last winter he jumped up in Congress every few minutes and read into the Congressional Record something about the horror of women voting.
He had a long business head and he was thriftily saving postage on anti-suffrage literature in the interest of the "society opposed," of the liquor interests, of organized crime and of all those forces that have taken arms against us.
The convention was deeply appreciative of the arduous and extensive work that has been done by the Congressional Committee but there was intense dissatisfaction with the so-called Shafroth Amendment, which had been freely discussed in the _Woman"s Journal_ for the last eight or nine months.[91] The debate in the convention consumed several sessions and more bitterness was shown than ever before at one of these annual meetings. The Official Board having endorsed the amendment felt obliged to stand by it, but to most of those delegates who had been in the movement for years it meant the abandonment of the object for which the a.s.sociation had been formed and for which all the founders, the pioneer workers and those down to the present day, had devoted their best efforts. Dr. Shaw was the only member of the board who had been many years connected with the a.s.sociation, and, while her judgment was opposed to the new amendment, she yielded to the earnest pleas of her younger colleagues and the optimistic members of the Congressional Committee that it should have a fair trial. Miss Blackwell, editor of the _Woman"s Journal_, strongly endorsed it and gave it the support of her paper in many long, earnest editorials. She also granted columns of s.p.a.ce to vigorous arguments on both sides by suffragists throughout the country.[92] The question had been before the State a.s.sociations for the last seven or eight months.
Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett, corresponding secretary of the National American a.s.sociation, wrote to the State presidents the first week in May, 1914: "Strange as it may seem, we find that quite a number of the members of our a.s.sociation have gotten the impression that the introduction of the Shafroth amendment means the abandoning of the old amendment which has been introduced into Congress for forty years or more, and which, as you know, has now been re-introduced and at this session will be called the Bristow-Mondell amendment. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reason for the introduction of the Shafroth amendment is to hasten the day when the pa.s.sage of the Bristow-Mondell amendment will become a possibility.... Both amendments are before Congress but only the new one stands any chance of being acted upon before adjournment.[93] We stand by the old one as a matter of principle; we push for the new one as a matter of immediate practical politics and to further the pa.s.sage of the old one." Mrs. Dennett also vigorously advocated the new amendment in the _Woman"s Journal_.
At the opening of the second session of the convention devoted to the subject Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch moved that the Shafroth amendment be not proceeded with in the next Congress and it was seconded.
Instantly Mrs. Raymond Brown, president of the New York State a.s.sociation, offered as a subst.i.tute resolution: "It is the sense of this convention that the policy of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation shall be to support by every means within its power, in the future as in the past, the amendment known as the Susan B. Anthony amendment; and further that we support such other legislation as the National Board may authorize and initiate to the end that the Susan B. Anthony resolution become a law."[94] After the discussion had lasted for hours, with the administration supporting this resolution, a motion to strike out the words "and further" and all that followed was lost and it was carried by a vote of 194 to 100.[95]
The next day an informal conference was held at which Miss Laura Clay and Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett explained a bill for Federal Suffrage, which they, with others, had long advocated, to enable women to vote for U. S. Senators and Representatives. Congress had the power to enact such a law by a simple majority vote of both houses. The a.s.sociation for many years had had a standing committee on the subject, which was finally dropped because it was believed that the law could not possibly be obtained. It found much favor at this convention, which instructed the Congressional Committee to "investigate and promote the right of women to vote for U. S.
Senators, Representatives and Presidential Electors through action of Congress."
There was spirited discussion of the Congressional Committee"s plan for "blacklisting" candidates for Congress whose record on woman suffrage was objectionable and it finally resulted in the pa.s.sing of a resolution that this could be done only when approved by the majority of the societies in the State concerned. It was decided that the Congressional Committee should send out information and suggestions for congressional work but that the State a.s.sociations should determine how this material should be used and that when the majority of them in a State could not agree upon some plan of cooperation the Congressional Committee should not work in said State.
The feeling aroused by the discussion of the Shafroth amendment was manifested in the election, where 315 delegates were ent.i.tled to vote and 283 votes were cast. Dr. Shaw received 192 for president and the rest were blank, as even delegates who opposed this amendment would not vote against her. Miss Jane Addams declined to serve longer as vice-president and reluctantly consented to her election as honorary vice-president but resigned before the close of the convention, as she felt that she could not be responsible for actions in which she had practically no part. Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky was re-elected second vice-president without opposition but resigned soon afterwards, although not because of any disagreement with the policy of the board. Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick of New York received 173 votes for first vice-president and Miss Jean Gordon of New Orleans 107. Dr. Katharine Bement Davis of New York was made third vice-president without opposition, nor was there any to Mrs. Orton H.
Clark of Michigan for corresponding secretary. For recording secretary Mrs. Susan W. Fitzgerald of Ma.s.sachusetts received 166 votes and Miss Anne Martin of Nevada 115. Mrs. Henry Wade Rogers of New York was almost unanimously chosen for treasurer and Mrs. Walter McNab Miller of Missouri for first auditor. For second auditor Mrs. Medill McCormick of Chicago received 177 votes and Miss Zona Gale of New York 103. Later Mrs. Nellie Nugent Somerville of Mississippi was appointed in place of Mrs. Breckinridge. The new board finally included only two members of the old one besides Dr. Shaw--Mrs. McCormick and Mrs.
Fitzgerald.
The present convention was declared by resolution to have been "one of the greatest and most delightful meetings in the history of the organization," and a long list of thanks was extended "to the city of Nashville for its broad and generous hospitality and for special courtesies." The Tennessee Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation gave a dinner, with Mrs. L. Crozier French, its president, as toast-mistress; the Women"s Press Club had a luncheon for the visiting press representatives and the College Women"s League one for its delegates.
It was a relief from the tension of the week to have the last evening of the convention devoted to entertainment. Miss Zona Gale read a charming unpublished story, Friendship Village; a musical program was given by the Fiske Jubilee Singers and the convention closed with a remarkable moving picture play, Your Girl and Mine, an offering to the a.s.sociation by Mrs. Medill McCormick.[96]
The treasurer"s report showed receipts for the year of $67,312 and expenditures $59,232. In addition a special fund for the "campaign"
States had been subscribed of $12,586, of which $11,020 had been spent. Mrs. Medill McCormick had made a personal contribution of $6,217 to the publicity work of the Washington and Chicago headquarters. Pledges of $7,500 were made by the convention.
The committee of which Mrs. Frances E. Burns (Mich.) was chairman reported resolutions that urged the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives to take up at once the amendments now pending in Congress for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women; demanded equal pay for equal work and legislation to protect the nationality of American women who married foreigners. They re-affirmed the a.s.sociation"s past policy of non-partisanship and declared that "the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation is absolutely opposed to holding any political party responsible for the opinions and acts of its individual members, or holding any individual public official or candidate responsible for the action of his party majority on the question of woman suffrage." Of the European war now in its fourth month, the resolutions said:
WHEREAS: It is our conviction that had the women of the countries of Europe, with their deep instinct of motherhood and desire for the conservation of life, possessed a voice in the councils of their governments, this deplorable war would never have been allowed to occur; therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, in convention a.s.sembled, does hereby affirm the obligation of peace and good will toward all men and further demands the inclusion of women in the government of nations of which they are a part, whose citizens they bear and rear and whose peace their political liberty would help to secure and maintain.
RESOLVED: That we commend the efforts of President Wilson to obtain peace. Sympathizing deeply with the plea of the women of fifteen nations, we ask the President of the United States and the representatives of all the other neutral nations to use their best endeavors to bring about a lasting peace founded upon democracy and world-wide disarmament.
As the national convention for 1914 would meet in Nashville it was necessary to have a special delegation attend the "hearing" in Washington which always was held at the first session of a new Congress. The officers of the Congressional Union arranged for one before the House Judiciary Committee for March 3, and, as it was not likely that a second would be granted, Mrs. Medill McCormick, Mrs.
Antoinette Funk and Mrs. Sherman Booth represented the National American a.s.sociation at this one, as members of its Congressional Committee. Mrs. Funk was the speaker and the main points of her address are included in Mrs. McCormick"s report in this chapter. In effect it prepared the way for the new measure afterwards called the Shafroth Amendment and she began by saying: "Ours is the oldest national suffrage a.s.sociation in the United States. It has been in existence over fifty years and comprises a membership of 462,000 enrolled women in the non-suffrage States. In addition to these I speak this morning in behalf of the 4,000,000 women voters in the ten equal suffrage States." Further on she said: "Gentlemen, the dearest wish of our hearts would be fulfilled if you would enfranchise the women. I know pretty much whether you are going to or not and you know that I know." The committee asked her a number of questions and she concluded: "We feel that this question could at least safely go to the people. It might be submitted by pet.i.tion of the voters. In addition let me make this point along the line of the States" rights argument: You see, a Legislature _per se_ has no right; it is nothing; it has no privilege--the privilege is all in the people themselves, and you could not say it would be contrary to the rights of the people in the State to take down an obstacle that was built up in front of them. So, in view of the action of the Democratic caucus in the House, we think you can at least do this much for us; you can take down this obstacle--State Legislatures."
The Federal Women"s Equality a.s.sociation also had asked for a portion of the time and its corresponding secretary, Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington and Portland, Ore., had charge of it. Although this a.s.sociation was organized twelve years before for the special purpose of obtaining a bill enabling women to vote for Senators and Representatives, it sponsored in the present Congress the same measure which the old a.s.sociation had introduced for the past thirty-five years and on this occasion its speakers discussed only the amendment.
Mrs. Colby introduced first Representative Frank W. Mondell of Wyoming, who always was ready to champion the cause of woman suffrage for every organization. He made the point among others that "as State after State grants the franchise to women the condition is reached where its denial in other States deprives American citizens of a sacred right if they have moved from one commonwealth to another."
"Our Federal Union," he said, "will be more firmly cemented the nearer we come to the point where qualifications for this right of citizenship are the same in all States." In Mrs. Colby"s comprehensive address she said:
It may be news to some of you that we have had 12 reports on the woman suffrage amendment from committees of Congress. In 1869 the first hearing was given on woman suffrage and from that time to the present every Congress has had one....
Never were there such splendid women in the records of time as those who have stood for the rights of their s.e.x and the rights of humanity.... All those women pa.s.sed on without being allowed to enter the promised land and for every one of them one hundred sprang up for whom the doors of opportunity and education had been opened by the efforts of those pioneer women. Now these also are coming to gray hairs and weariness, but for every one of these hundreds there are a thousand of the 20th century insisting that this question shall be settled now and not be pa.s.sed on to the children of tomorrow to hamper and limit them, to exhaust and consume their energy and ability.
I was present at the last hearing where Mrs. Stanton spoke before a Judiciary Committee, and she said: "I have stood before this committee for thirty years, may I be allowed to sit now?" ...
Miss Anthony before a committee in 1884 said: "This method of settling the matter by the Legislatures is just as much in the line of State"s rights as is that of the popular vote. The one question before you is: Will you insist that a majority of the individual men of every State must be converted before its women shall have the power to vote, or will you allow the matter to be settled by the representative men in the Legislatures of the several States? We are not appealing from the States to the nation. We are appealing to the States, but to the picked men of those States instead of to the ma.s.ses." She used to say when John Morrissey, champion of the prize ring, was in the New York Legislature, that it was bad enough to go and ask him to give her her birthright but it was infinitely worse to go down into the slums and ask his const.i.tuents....
Mrs. Colby closed with an extract from one of Mrs. Stanton"s eloquent speeches before the Judiciary Committee and submitted a valuable summary of Congressional hearings and reports on woman suffrage from 1869 to 1914.
Mrs. Glendower Evans of Boston presided over the hearing for the Congressional Union and introduced as the first speaker Mrs. Crystal Eastman Benedict (N. Y.) who said in part: