Mobilization: The mobilization of our suffrage army came April 18, 1918, with the call for the Executive Council meeting at Indianapolis. At that time Mrs. Catt, our chief, plainly stated that there could be no "go it alone" campaigns but that provincial shackles must be dropped, nation-wide plans adopted and constructive cooperation from all branches a.s.sured. Her plans were accepted unanimously. On May 14 a bulletin was issued asking for a nation-wide protest campaign against further delay in pa.s.sing the Federal Amendment. Resolutions were to be pa.s.sed by State bodies and points given to be stressed at ma.s.s meetings and in publicity. Resolutions of protest were sent from the women of the Allied countries of Europe to the President of the United States; from National Republican and Democratic Committees; General Federation of Women"s Clubs; National Women"s Trade Union League; American Collegiate Alumnae; American Nurses" a.s.sociation; National Education a.s.sociation; National Convention of Business Women; Woman"s Christian Temperance Union; American Federation of Labor. Many States responded with resolutions from State political parties, press a.s.sociations, churches, granges, labor and business organizations, political leaders and large numbers of citizens.
Our Fighting Units: From honorary president to the last director, every member of the board of the National a.s.sociation had some part in war work. Our service flag representing suffrage officials of our branches carried twenty-five stars. Dr. Shaw, Mrs. Catt and Mrs. McCormick were conscripted for the Woman"s Committee of the National Council of Defense; Mrs. Catt for the Liberty Loan"s National List; Miss Hay, Mrs. Gardener and Mrs.
Dudley for Congressional and Mrs. Brown for Oversea Hospitals work. Other members of the board were sent from time to time to various States on special missions.
Congressional Work: Mrs. Rogers went to New Jersey; Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Stilwell to Delaware and Mrs. Livermore to New Hampshire for work connected with the Federal Amendment. Mrs. Wilson attended the State suffrage conventions in Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and made a longer stay in Florida and Vermont. Mrs.
Shuler went to the three campaign States twice, spending five weeks in South Dakota, holding a suffrage school there; five weeks in Michigan and nearly five months in Oklahoma, later going to West Virginia. Others who were sent by the National a.s.sociation on special missions were Miss Louise Hall, Mrs.
Fitzgerald, Mrs. Anna C. Tillinghast and Miss Eva Potter to New Hampshire; Miss Mabel Willard to Delaware; Mrs. Cunningham, Miss Marjorie Shuler and Mrs. Mary Grey Brewer to Florida, while Mrs.
Brewer made a trip as special envoy to five of the western States. Our nineteen national organizers have been in twenty States. In eighteen part or all of the expenses have been borne by the National a.s.sociation. At present we have ten organizers in the field.
To the one who has made our victories possible, our national and international president, Mrs. Catt, women owe a debt of grat.i.tude that can never be paid. Her strength and sagacity, her unerring judgment and masterful leadership have acted as a stimulus and inspiration, not only to those of us who have been privileged to work at close range but also to the women of the entire world.
Our national suffrage headquarters have been a place of peace and happiness because of her patience, good-nature and sympathy. Her battle for the past fifteen months has been with adverse conditions and reactionary forces, which are always the hardest to combat, but not once has her courage faltered or her strength of purpose failed.
Our Ammunition: At national headquarters in New York City our work is departmentalized and functions through the Leslie Bureau of Suffrage Education under three department heads: The _Woman Citizen_, Press Bureau and Research. These cooperate with a fourth department, the National Publishing Company, and all are so closely co-ordinated that they work as one.
The _Woman Citizen_--Our National Organ. (See special report.) As you will remember, the Leslie Commission took over the Press Bureau March, 1917, and since then has paid all of its expenses.
In order to keep our official machinery moving, there are about fifty people on the two floors at 171 Madison Avenue, New York.
Circularization: The _Woman Citizen_ has been sent each week to members of Congress and on thirty different occasions they received literature prepared in the most tempting fashion for their instruction and edification. Mrs. Catt put into operation the plan for resolutions from the Legislatures calling upon the Senate to pa.s.s the Federal Suffrage Amendment. These from twenty-four States were read into the Congressional Record, and while they did not put the Federal Amendment through they were effective as showing the nation-wide urge for favorable action.
The Legislatures themselves were circularized with excellent literature.
In February, 1918, a bulletin was sent to State presidents offering one or more traveling libraries of sixty-two volumes, the Leslie Commission to pay expenses to the State and its a.s.sociation to pay them within the State. A library could be held one year. Quant.i.ties of literature have been sent to the States for distribution while requests for special literature have received prompt attention.
The activity regarding the appointment of a woman or women on the Peace Commission originated in the national office and stirred the people of the entire country. On Dec. 8, 1918, the a.s.sociation held a meeting of war workers in the National Theatre in Washington, D. C., to protest against further delay in the Senate on the Federal Amendment. Twenty-seven delegates representing the a.s.sociation attended the eight congresses held throughout the United States in the interest of the League of Nations.
Field Work. The resolution committing the National a.s.sociation to an aggressive policy was pa.s.sed at its convention of 1917. It read: "If the 65th Congress fails to submit the Federal Amendment before the next Congressional election the a.s.sociation shall select and enter into such a number of campaigns as will effect a change in both houses of Congress sufficient to insure its pa.s.sage."
October came; the November elections were approaching; the 65th Congress had failed to pa.s.s the amendment. Probabilities had to be weighed which would produce the necessary two votes if possible and it was decided to enter the campaigns in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ma.s.sachusetts and Delaware. The first two were at no time specially hopeful, as they were likely to poll Republican majorities and the Republican Senatorial candidates of both were against woman suffrage. However, as a result of the work done in New Jersey, Senator Baird fell much behind his ticket, while in New Hampshire the women and the advertising made so strong a case for the pro-suffrage candidate that for a day or two the result was in doubt, but it was finally declared that Moses had won by 1,200 votes.... The two most important and successful contests were in Ma.s.sachusetts against the Republican Senator Weeks; in Delaware against the Democratic Senator Saulsbury....
Under the sub-t.i.tle "In the trenches" Mrs. Shuler told of the three great State campaigns of the year in Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma (described in the chapters for those States) and said:
The National a.s.sociation gave to these States eighteen organizers, all of whom rendered valuable service. It gave plate matter at a cost of $4,600; 100,000 posters, 1,528,000 pieces of literature, eighteen street banners and 50,000 b.u.t.tons. It gave to South Dakota a "suffrage school," June 3-20, sessions in the daytime in seven cities and street meetings in ten of the nearby towns in the evenings. The sending of Miss Marjorie Shuler as press chairman to Oklahoma enabled it to issue 126,000 copies of a suffrage supplement and supply 300 papers with weekly bulletins, information service and two half-pages of plate. These three campaigns cost the a.s.sociation $30,720. This was the financial cost, but the immense output of time and energy by the women cannot be computed. It is safe to say that all of them as they emerged from this trench warfare again questioned the advisability of trying to secure suffrage by the State route.
Mrs. Shuler"s fine report closed with an optimistic peroration on Seeing it Through. [See Handbook of convention.]
The carefully audited report of the treasurer, Mrs. Henry Wade Rogers, showed almost incredible collections during a period when the war was making its endless calls for money. In part it was as follows: "The year 1918 has been a very remarkable one for the national suffrage treasury. The large demands of the war on every individual, both for money and work, seemed to forebode financial difficulties for us before the close of our fiscal year. Instead, the response to the needs of our treasury was never more fully met, both in the payment of pledges made at the last convention and in securing new pledges and donations. Early in the year the treasurer was asked to a.s.sume also the duties of treasurer of the a.s.sociation"s Women"s Oversea Hospitals Committee and this fund has pa.s.sed regularly through the treasury, amounting in all to $133,339. The very generous and hearty response of the State suffrage a.s.sociations to the demands of our Oversea Hospitals" war work has been most gratifying and its financing has not diminished the regular income of the a.s.sociation.... About one-third of the a.s.sociation"s income has been received from the State auxiliaries and two-thirds from individual donations. The receipts for suffrage work were $107,736; balance on hand $11,874." [The Leslie Commission contributed $20,000.]
A message to the convention from President Wilson was received conveying his greetings and best wishes for the success of the Federal Amendment. On motion of Dr. Shaw the convention sent to the President an expression of its appreciation of his support. Mrs. Philip North Moore, president of the National Council of Women, brought its fraternal greetings. Others were received from far and wide.... On motion of Mrs. Shuler a telegram of appreciation was sent to Mrs.
Helen H. Gardener of Washington, and on motion of Dr. Shaw one to Mrs.
Ida Husted Harper of New York. A message of sympathy in the loss of her husband was sent to the veteran suffragist, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert of Pasadena, formerly of Chicago. It was voted that letters from the convention should be sent to the pioneers, Dr. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Miss Rhoda Palmer, Mrs. Charlotte Pierce, Miss Emily Howland and Mrs. C. D. B. Mills.
During the convention the Legislature of Missouri pa.s.sed the bill giving Presidential suffrage to women by 21 to 12 in the Senate and 118 to 2 in the House. The convention sent a message of enthusiastic appreciation. [For full account see Missouri chapter.] Miss Anna B.
Lawther, president of the Iowa Suffrage a.s.sociation, requested the National a.s.sociation and the League of Women Voters to appeal to the Legislature of that State to pa.s.s a similar bill. Mrs. Dudley of Tennessee and Miss Mary Bulkley of Connecticut made the same request for these States and it was granted for all three. Mrs. Frederick Nathan (N. Y.) urged the suffragists to contribute to the Women"s Roosevelt Memorial a.s.sociation. Mrs. Gellhorn"s young daughter was introduced as having recently organized a Junior Suffrage League in St. Louis of thirty-two members. Mrs. Katharine Philips Edson (Cal.) announced that though it had no regular suffrage organization, Northern and Southern California each had telegraphed a contribution of $500 to the work of the National a.s.sociation.
The present policies of the a.s.sociation were endorsed. The reason given for wishing the officers to hold over until the next annual convention in 1920 was that the complete ratification of the Federal Amendment by that time was considered certain and these officers would be best fitted to close up the affairs of the a.s.sociation, which would then be merged into the League of Woman Voters. From the list of candidates the following eight directors were elected: Mrs. George Gellhorn (Mo.); Mrs. Richard E. Edwards (Ind.); Mrs. C. H. Brooks (Kans.); Mrs. Ben Hooper (Wis.); Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore (N. Y.); Mrs. J. C. Cantrill (Ky.); Miss Esther G. Ogden (N. Y.); Mrs. George A. Piersol (Penn.). Mrs. Brooks, Mrs. Livermore and Miss Ogden were re-elected.
The afternoon session of Tuesday was devoted to suffrage war work, with Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick, chairman of the War Service Department, presiding. At the meeting of the Executive Council of the National a.s.sociation in Washington, in February, 1917, just before the United States entered the war, it formed a number of committees in order that the suffragists throughout the country might do their especial work for it under the same generalship as they were accustomed to, and later chairmen of these committees were appointed to organize and superintend State branches. At the present session of the national convention these chairmen reported as follows: General Survey of War Program, Mrs. McCormick (N. Y.); Food Production, Miss Hilda Loines (N. Y.); Americanization, Mrs. Frederick P. Bagley (Ma.s.s.); Child Welfare, Mrs. Percy Pennybacker (Tex.); Industrial Protection of Women, Mrs. Gifford Pinchot (D. C.); Food Conservation, Mrs. Walter McNab Miller (Mo.); Oversea Hospitals Service, Mrs.
Charles L. Tiffany (N. Y.), chairman, and Mrs. Raymond Brown (N. Y.) director general in France.
These reports are considered at length in Mrs. McCormick"s chapter on War Work of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation and they conclusively refuted the charge publicly made again and again by the National Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation through its official organ and on the platform that the suffragists were "slackers," unpatriotic, pro-German and concerned only in getting the franchise for themselves.
This charge was frequently made by the editor of the paper and president of the a.s.sociation, Mrs. James W. Wadsworth, Jr., wife of the Republican U. S. Senator from New York, also a strong opponent of woman suffrage.
At the close of this very interesting session the convention enjoyed an automobile ride to see the beautiful city and its environs, tendered by the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League and under the auspices of Mrs. Philip B. Fouke. The "inquiry dinner" in the banquet room of the hotel in the evening, with Mrs. Catt presiding, carried out the clever idea of trying to ascertain why American women could not obtain their enfranchis.e.m.e.nt. The program was as follows: What is the matter with the United States? Women want it! Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout (Ills.); Men want it! the Rev. W. C. Bitting (Mo.); Political Parties want it! Mrs. Emma Smith De Voe (Wash.); The Press wants it! Miss Rose Young (N. Y.); The Old South wants it! Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs (Ala.); Congress wants it! Mrs. Maud Wood Park (Ma.s.s.); The Legislatures want it! Mrs. T. T. Cotnam (Ark.); All other Countries have it! Mrs. Guilford Dudley (Tenn.); Who doesn"t want it! Mrs.
Harriet Taylor Upton (Ohio); Well then what is the matter? Mrs. Arthur L. Livermore (N. Y.); Making it right next time! U. S. Senator Selden P. Spencer (Mo.).
At one business session Miss Laura Clay (Ky.) argued that the time had come to change the form of the Federal Suffrage Amendment to meet the objections of the southern members of Congress. Discussion showed a preponderance of sentiment in favor of the old amendment and the convention so voted, but at the suggestion of Mrs. Park it empowered the Congressional Committee to make any minor changes which might seem advisable. At another session there was considerable talk of merging the National American a.s.sociation into the new organization of voters and dropping its name at this convention, but Miss Hay carried the delegates with her in urging that they retain the old name until they celebrated Miss Anthony"s one-hundredth birthday and were safely through the ratification of the Federal Amendment. This decision was especially pleasing to the older members for whom the name had many endearing memories. Mrs. Catt announced that suffrage societies had been formed in Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines and it was voted to extend an official invitation to them to join the National a.s.sociation without payment of dues. Mrs. Catt called attention to the increased educational value of the convention through the many opportunities extended to the delegates for addressing bodies of various kinds in the city. These included the churches, synagogues, Ethical Society, public schools, Chamber of Commerce, Junior Chamber of Commerce, City Club, Rotary Club, Town Club, Wednesday Club, Women"s Trade Union League and other organizations.
One of the leading features of the convention was the report of Mrs.
Maud Wood Park, chairman of the Congressional Committee, which gave a complete summary of the status of the Federal Suffrage Amendment in Congress from the time of the last convention to the present. This and Mrs. Shuler"s secretary"s report offer so comprehensive a survey of the important work of the National a.s.sociation that a considerable amount of s.p.a.ce is devoted to them. The report of Mrs. Park filled over thirty pages of the Handbook of the convention and was an interesting account of the struggle of the past year and a half to secure from Congress the submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment.
A large part of it will be found in the chapter devoted to that amendment. It showed the work done at the national headquarters in New York City and Washington and also in the States and gave an idea of the tremendous effort which was necessary before the measure was sent to the Legislatures for ratification. It told of the House Judiciary Committee reporting the resolution on Dec. 11, 1917, "without recommendation," after amending it so as to limit the time for ratification to seven years, and of the determination of the opponents to force a vote on it before the appointment of a Woman Suffrage Committee for which the friends were striving. This committee was announced, however, on December 13, 1917.
All the members but three of the committee were in favor of the amendment. Chairman Raker introduced a new resolution omitting the seven-year clause and the committee gave a five-days" hearing to the National American a.s.sociation, the National Woman"s Party and the Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation, January 3-7 inclusive. The committee made a favorable report to the House on January 8. On the 9th twelve Democratic members called by appointment on President Wilson, _who advised the submission of the amendment_. Speaker Clark gave valuable a.s.sistance, as did many prominent Democrats and Republicans both in and out of Congress. A five-hours" debate took place in the House on the afternoon of Jan. 10, 1918, and the vote resulted as follows:
In Favor Opposed Republicans 165 33 Democrats 104 102 Miscellaneous 5 1 --- --- 274 136
This was a majority of less than one vote over the necessary two-thirds.
Mrs. Park gave a graphic account of the struggle to secure a favorable vote in the Senate. She described the influences brought to bear from all possible sources; the conferences with committees and individuals; the fixing and then postponing of days for a vote; the difficulty in arranging "pairs"; the "filibustering" of the opponents, the adjournments, the endless tactics for preventing a vote which for years had been employed against this amendment. She described the great five days" discussion in the Senate September 26-October 1; the appeal to President Wilson for help and his magnificent response in person on September 30 with its contemptuous treatment by the opponents; the failure of the Republican leaders to supply the thirty-three votes promised and of the Democrats to provide from their ranks the thirty-fourth, which would complete the necessary two-thirds, and she gave the summary of the result of the balloting on October 1. a.n.a.lyzed by parties and including pairs the vote stood:
Yes No Democrats 30 22 Republicans 32 12 -- -- Total 62 34
The amendment was lost by two votes. This debate, printed in full in the Congressional Record for those days, hands down to posterity the n.o.ble effort of some members of the U. S. Senate to grant to women a voice in the Government to which they were giving the most loyal and devoted service in this hour when it was joining with other nations in the greatest battle for democracy ever fought. It preserves also the determination of other U. S. Senators to deny them this citizen"s right and to continue their disfranchised condition. The _Woman Citizen_, official organ of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, in its issue of Oct. 5, 1918, gave a spirited account of the proceedings of those momentous five days.
Mrs. Park took up the story after the defeat in the Senate and said in part: "The election returns on Nov. 6, 1918, indicated that the necessary two-thirds majority in the 66th Congress had been secured.
This belief was shared by prominent Democrats, who from that time on spared no effort to make unfriendly Democratic Senators realize the folly of their position in leaving the victory for a Republican Congress. Only the stupidity of extreme conservatism or a thoroughly provincial point of view can account for their failure to yield, unless we are to suppose that more sinister forces were at work.... On the eve of his sailing for Europe December 2 President Wilson included in his address to a joint session of Congress another eloquent appeal for the submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment."[117] She described the ma.s.s meeting of the suffrage war workers on December 8 at the National Theater in Washington arranged by Miss Mabel Willard with the following program: Mrs. Catt, the national president, in the chair; Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, chairman Woman"s Committee of National Council of Defense; Mrs. William Gibbs McAdoo, chairman National Woman"s Liberty Loan Committee; Mrs. Josephus Daniels, member National War Work Council, Y. W. C. A.; Miss Jane Delano, director Department of Nursing, American Red Cross; Mrs. Charles L. Tiffany, representing Community War Work and Women"s Oversea Hospitals; Mrs. F. Louis Slade, of Young Women"s Department, Y. M. C. A.; Mrs. Raymond Robins, president National Women"s Trade Union League; Miss Hannah Black, Munitions Worker. An overflow meeting was held and strong resolutions for the amendment were adopted at both and sent to each Senator.
Resolutions calling on every Senator to vote for submission of the amendment were adopted by twenty-five State Legislatures during January and February, 1919, and the gaining of Presidential suffrage in Vermont, Indiana and Wisconsin that winter increased hope. The suffrage Democrats were desirous of taking one more vote before going out of power. Mrs. Park"s report said: "On pet.i.tion of twenty-two Senators, a Democratic caucus on suffrage was held on February 5, the first since the United States entered the war. On a motion to adjourn, the suffragists without proxies defeated the "antis," who voted proxies, by 22 to 16. On a resolution recommending that the Democratic Senators support the Federal Amendment, twenty-two voted in the affirmative and when ten had voted in the negative, those ten were allowed by Senator Thomas S. Martin (Va.), Democratic floor leader, to withdraw their votes in order that he might declare that, as the vote stood 22 to 0, a quorum had not voted and the resolution was lost!
This decision was, of course, most irregular and unfair but it afforded a good ill.u.s.tration of the kind of tactics used by the opponents.
"After the close of the morning business February 10, Senator Jones moved to take up the amendment. An extremely strong speech in its favor was made by the new Senator, William P. Pollock of South Carolina. The only other speeches were by Senator Frelinghuysen (N.
J.), on the question of individual naturalization of women and by Senator Gay (La.) in opposition to the amendment. The vote taken early in the afternoon showed 55 in favor and 29 opposed. As on October 1, all the members who were not present to vote were accounted for by pairs, so that it stood practically 63 in favor to 33 opposed. In other words the amendment was lost in the 65th Congress by one vote.
The responsibility for the defeat lies at the door of every man who voted against it. a.n.a.lyzed by parties and including pairs, the vote on February 10, was:
Yes No Democrats 30 21 Republicans 33 12 -- -- Total 63 33
"Thus the Democrats lost their last opportunity and on March 1 the resolution for the amendment was again favorably reported by the Woman Suffrage Committee of the Lower House to be acted upon by a Republican Congress." In commenting on this result Mrs. Park said: "While we are condemning the un-American stand of our opponents, we should never lose sight of the hard work done by many of the Senators who were our friends. There is not s.p.a.ce here for the record of all who helped us but special mention should be made of one, the Hon. John F. Shafroth, who will not be present to vote when victory comes in the next Congress. When our cause had only a handful of supporters in public life, he, then a member of the House, helped Miss Anthony bring the amendment forward, and from that time to the present his loyal and devoted service never flagged. Chairman Jones, Senators Ransdell, Hollis, Wesley Jones, c.u.mmins and the other members of the Woman Suffrage Committee worked in constant cooperation with your committee.
Among the others who were most frequently called on for help were Senators Curtis, Smoot, Walsh, Pittman, Lenroot, McNary, Hollis and Sheppard."
Mrs. Park spoke briefly of the hearing before the House Committee on Woman Suffrage April 29 on the bill granting to the Legislature of Hawaii the power to enfranchise its women. (See the chapter on Territories.) This bill had pa.s.sed the Senate in September, 1918. On Jan. 3, it pa.s.sed the House without a roll call.
Tribute to the a.s.sociation"s Congressional Committee and other workers in Washington was paid by Mrs. Park, who said:
During the past fifteen months there have been several changes in the personnel of the committee, chief among them the resignation in September, 1918, of Miss Ruth White, whose gratuitous service as secretary had extended more than three years. She was succeeded by Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham, but just as her marked gift for political work was making itself felt in Washington, the submission of a const.i.tutional amendment in Texas made it necessary for her to return home in January, 1919. In August, 1918, the National Board appointed as a special congressional steering committee two women of widely known political ac.u.men and experience, Miss Mary Garrett Hay of New York and Mrs. Guilford Dudley of Nashville, with Mrs. Catt and Mrs. Park ex officio. In October Mrs. Frank Roessing, who had been residing in Washington since the preceding April and thus had been able to give help from time to time, sent in her resignation. In November Miss Marjorie Shuler was added to the committee as secretary in charge of publicity, a designation that by no means expresses the varied duties which have fallen to her lot or the extent to which she has proved of service. To Mrs.
Helen H. Gardener a new t.i.tle, that of vice-chairman of the Congressional Committee, has been recently given by the National Board.... Her work can rarely be reported because of its confidential nature, but this may truly be said, that whenever a miracle has appeared to happen in our behalf, if the facts could be told they would nearly always prove that Mrs. Gardener was the worker of wonders....
Other members of the Congressional Committee who have been in Washington for the whole or a part of the period covered by this report are, in addition to its chairman, Miss Mabel Caldwell Willard, chairman of the social activities; Mrs. George Ba.s.s and Mrs. Medill McCormick, representing respectively the organizations of Democratic and Republican women affiliated with the national party committees; Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, Mrs. C.
W. McClure and Mrs. William L. McPherson. No report of the Washington headquarters would be complete without mention of the help given in innumerable ways by our house manager, Mrs.