On Jan. 1, 1919, one of the most important receptions in Denver was given by the State Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation to the new Governor, Oliver H. Shoup (Republican) and his wife, and the retiring Governor, Julius C. Gunter (Democrat) and his wife. Both were on the board of directors of the a.s.sociation. It was held in the roof ballroom of the Adams Hotel and was a most democratic affair, all cla.s.ses being represented, as all had found a common interest in public welfare. A few months later the a.s.sociation gave a handsomely appointed luncheon at the Adams with Senator Agnes Riddle as guest of honor. Its purpose was to show appreciation of her heroic stand for women when she voted against the male appointee of the Governor of her own party to take the place of a woman expert (a member of the other party) on the Board of Charities and Correction.
In May, 1919, when it was known that the Federal Suffrage Amendment was certain to be submitted in a short time, the State a.s.sociation requested Governor Shoup to be in readiness to call a special session of the Legislature so quickly that Colorado might be the first State to ratify. It offered to supply without salary or compensation of any kind all necessary clerks, stenographers, pages and sergeants-at-arms in order that the State should be put to no expense except for the mileage of the legislators, whose salaries are paid by the year. When the amendment was finally submitted on June 4 the newspapers, which had been loyal to the cause all these years, and the men and women whose interest and support had never flagged, were overjoyed with thanksgiving and jubilation. The _Rocky Mountain Herald_ of Denver was one of the first papers to support the Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation in asking for an immediate ratification by a special session of the Legislature. The Governor promised to call one eventually but would not consent to do it at once, claiming that legislators from the farming districts asked for delay. Every possible influence was brought to bear on him but the situation remained unchanged. "For reasons" the party in power (Republican) decreed that, while of course the special session must be held, this could not be done until fall or winter. The members of the a.s.sociation, knowing the futility of further effort, proceeded to arrange for a public jubilee.
The meeting was held in the City Park of Denver on the night of June 25 in connection with a concert by the city band. Mrs. Hosmer presided and prayer was offered by Mrs. Almira Frost Hudson. Jubilant speeches were made by Mrs. Harrington, State Senator E. V. Dunkley and Captain Morrison Shafroth to an audience of about 1,500. Governor Shoup was out of the city but sent a letter to be read. The Mayor was represented by Commissioner J. W. Sharpley. At the Fourth of July celebration held under the auspices of the Colorado Patriotic League at the same place, the president of the State suffrage a.s.sociation was one of the speakers. Her subject was "Woman"s First Fourth of July"
and so this celebration also took on the nature of a rejoicing over the new women electorate of the nation.
RATIFICATION. The Legislature met in special session Dec. 8, 1919, and a resolution for ratification was introduced in Senate and House, in the latter bearing the names of the two women Representatives, Dr. May T. Bigelow and Miss Mable Ruth Baker, and that of the Senate the name of the one woman member, Senator Agnes Riddle, and as pa.s.sed it bore all three names. It requires three days for action on a resolution and the ratification was completed on the 12th, both Houses voting unanimously in favor. The day of the final pa.s.sage was made a great occasion for the Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation. Legislators referred to it in their speeches and Mrs. Walling, one of its board of directors, was escorted to a seat beside Speaker Allyn Cole. Mrs. Hosmer was out of the city. A short recess was taken that the first vice-president, Mrs. Anna M. Scott, might be heard, who made a brief but eloquent speech. When the time came for the final vote Speaker Cole surrendered his place to Representative Bigelow, so that a woman might wield the gavel when the result was announced.[21] The bill went immediately to the Governor, who signed it on the 15th. Colorado had by this ratification placed the seal of her approval on the twenty-six years of woman suffrage in the State.
During the war, the Woman"s State Council of Defense was a most efficient organization, Governor Gunter saying that he ascribed its remarkable work to the experience which the women had gained by their quarter-of-a-century of active citizenship. On June 17, 1920, the State Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation became incorporated under the name of the League of Women Voters with Mrs. Scott as chairman. A number of prominent eastern women en route to the Democratic national convention in San Francisco stopped at Denver and were guests at the banquet in celebration of the new league.
The legislative council of the State Federation of Women"s Clubs holds weekly meetings during the sessions of the Legislature and takes up bills for consideration, particularly those relating to women and children, education and public health. After discussion and study these bills are approved or not approved and the legislators, the club women and the general public are informed as to their action.
There is no law prohibiting women from filling any offices in the State and it has been said that a really determined effort could place a woman even in that of chief executive. The office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction has been filled by a woman since 1894 and no man has been nominated for it. Those who have held this important office are Antoinette J. Peavey, Grace Espey Patton, Helen L. Grenfell (three terms), Katharine Craig, Katharine Cook, Helen M.
Wixson (two terms), Mary C. C. Bradford from 1915 to the present time.
During her second term she was elected president of the National Education a.s.sociation. Mrs. Walling succeeded Mrs. Sarah Platt Decker as vice-president of the Civil Service Commission and served six years. In 1913 Mrs. Alice Adams Fulton became secretary and chief examiner of the commission. Mrs. Mary Wolfe Dargin was appointed register of the U. S. Land Office in 1915 and Miss Clara Ruth Mozzer to the office of a.s.sistant Attorney General in 1917. There have been women clerks, auditors, recorders and treasurers in seventy-five cities and towns, including Denver, and several aldermen. Mrs. Lydia Tague was elected judge in Eagle county. A few years ago 600 women were serving on school boards.
Prior to the year 1900 nine women had sat in the House of Representatives--three in each Legislature after the pa.s.sage of the equal suffrage law, and there have been nine or ten since then, a number of them re-elected. In 1913 Colorado"s first woman Senator, Mrs. Helen Ring Robinson, was elected. She was the second in the equal suffrage States, Mrs. Martha Hughes Cannno of Utah the first. In 1917 Mrs. Agnes Riddle was elected.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] The History is indebted for this chapter to Katherine Tipton (Mrs. George E.) Hosmer, president of the State Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation. Mrs. Hosmer wishes to express her obligation for a.s.sistance in securing data to the past presidents and executive officers of the a.s.sociation.
[20] Among those who worked in the first decade of this century were: Helen L. Grenfell, Mary C. C. Bradford, Ellis Meredith, Hattie E.
Westover, Mrs. John F. Shafroth, Minnie J. Reynolds, Gail Laughlin, Drs. Elizabeth Ca.s.sady, Jean Gale, Mary Long, Mary E. Bates, Rose Kidd Beere and Sarah Townsend; Lillian C. Kerns, Martha A. Pease, Alice Polk Hill, Mrs. A. C. Sisk, Mrs. A. L. Cooper, Bessie Lee Pogue, Helen Wixson, Anna M. Scott, Carrie Marshall, Nora B. Wright, Laura Holtzschneider, Hattie Howard, Rosetta Webb, Sarah Purchase, Helen Bedford, Inez Johnson Lewis, Eva Rinkle, Evangeline Heartz, Louisa M.
Tyler, Mary Nichols, Helen Miller, Louise Blanchard, Margaret Keating, Lillian Hartman Johnson.
[21] The day before a joint session of the two Houses had been held that they might listen to the reading of a poem written for the occasion by one of the oldest members of the a.s.sociation, Mrs. Alice Polk Hill.
CHAPTER VI.
CONNECTICUT.[22]
In 1901 the Connecticut Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation had been in existence for thirty-two years, and, except for the first two years, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, who had led the movement for its organization, had been its president. Closely a.s.sociated with her during all these years was Miss Frances Ellen Burr, who was recording secretary from 1869 to 1910. Under her leadership and with the aid of her husband, John Hooker, an eminent lawyer, legislation had been secured giving mothers equal guardianship of their children and wives full control of their property and earnings. The only concession that had been made to the steady demand of the women for suffrage was the grant of the School franchise in 1893 and eligibility to the school boards. Interest in woman suffrage was at a low ebb when the new century opened. The membership of the a.s.sociation had decreased and at the State convention in Hartford in 1901 the treasurer"s report for the year showed an expenditure of only $21.75. The report of the president and secretary said: "The work of the a.s.sociation is confined to the annual fall convention and the legislative hearing."
A convention for the revision of the State const.i.tution was to meet in Hartford at the opening of 1902, whose delegates from the towns and cities were chosen in the fall of 1901. Little was done to secure pledges from the candidates but the a.s.sociation obtained the concession of a room at the Capitol for its use. The National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation sent an organizer--Mrs. Mary Seymour Howell of New York--into the State and paid her salary for four weeks and she spent seven weeks in Hartford, living with Mrs. Hooker and giving her time to the convention. Mrs. Hooker prepared a Memorial that was presented and referred to a committee, which refused not only to grant a hearing to the suffragists but even to receive for distribution in the convention the copies of the Memorial which had been printed.
Charles Hopkins Clark, editor of the _Courant_, was chairman. Two suffrage resolutions were presented in the convention at the request of the State a.s.sociation, by Daniel Davenport of Bridgeport and Colonel Norris...o...b..rn of New Haven, and were defeated without debate.
In 1902 the State convention was held at Collinsville, in spite of some unwillingness of local suffragists to "shock the town" by having such a meeting there. By this time Mrs. Hooker, though still president, had largely relinquished the work to Mrs. Elizabeth D.
Bacon, the faithful vice-president. A general feeling of discouragement was perceptible in the reports to the convention of 1903, which was held at Mrs. Hooker"s home in Hartford with only 21 delegates present; also to the convention of 1904 in New Haven.
Nevertheless it was voted to ask the Legislature for Munic.i.p.al suffrage for women.
During these years the annual expenditures never amounted to $200. In 1905 at the convention in Hartford on November 1 the treasurer reported that $137 had been spent. In 1906, when the convention was held at Meriden, November 2, the disburs.e.m.e.nts were reported as $162.
There were only nine delegates and Mrs. Hooker, who had not attended the meetings for two years, was made honorary president, and Mrs.
Bacon was elected to the presidency. Mrs. Hooker died in January, 1907, at the age of 85, thus taking from the movement one of the most brilliant figures of the early period.
The convention of 1907 was held in Hartford October 29, and the following year it met in New Haven on October 1. A slightly increased membership was reported and some younger women had come into the movement, including Mrs. Jessie Adler of Hartford, who was responsible later for the candidacy of Mrs. Thomas N. Hepburn. The expenditures for 1908 were $265. In 1909 the convention was held at Meriden. It was reported that the National a.s.sociation had sent a request to Connecticut for a pet.i.tion to Congress with a quota of at least 30,000 signatures but that the number collected had fallen considerably short of 5,000. Miss Caroline Ruutz-Rees, princ.i.p.al of a flourishing girls" school in Greenwich, attended as a delegate from a newly formed Equal Franchise League in that town and several young and enthusiastic suffragists, including Mrs. Hepburn, who had lately come into the State, were in attendance with the delegation from the Equal Rights Club of Hartford.
In October Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, whose "militant" movement in England was attracting world-wide attention, spoke in Hartford. At this meeting Mrs. Hepburn met Miss Emily Pierson of Cromwell, a teacher in the Bristol High School. Both received an inspiration from Mrs. Pankhurst and they began a campaign in Hartford, organizing public meetings for which they obtained speakers of national reputation. To support this work the Hartford Political Equality League (afterwards the Equal Franchise League) was formed with a membership at first of four, all of whom were officers. It quickly attracted members and got into touch with the equally vigorous and enthusiastic young league in Greenwich.
In the fall of 1910 the State convention was held at Greenwich, with a large delegation from these leagues. These younger members had come to the decision that if any active work was to be done there must be a complete change in the management of the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, an idea that was warmly endorsed by some of the older leaders. A new "slate" of officers was presented headed by Mrs.
Hepburn, who had consented to nomination on condition that the Greenwich and the Hartford leagues should each pledge $1,000 for the work of the coming year. Miss Burr had resigned three months before the convention the secretaryship which she had held over forty years.
The treasurer, Mrs. Mary Jane Rogers, who had been in office for sixteen years, was re-elected and continued to serve until 1913. Then on her refusal to accept another term she was elected auditor and held the office until her death in 1918. In 1912 ex-presidents were put on the executive board and Mrs. Bacon regularly attended the meetings and aided the newer workers with her experience and advice until her death in 1918. The income for 1910 had been $400, the largest ever received.
The convention of 1911, held in Bridgeport, showed great advance in organization and general activity. Miss Pierson was elected State organizer and an automobile tour of one of the eight counties was undertaken in August under her spirited leadership. Thirty-one meetings were held and fourteen new leagues were formed and affiliated with the State a.s.sociation. The income was reported at the convention as having been $3,966 and the enrolled membership had increased to over 5,000. At this convention Mrs. Hepburn declined re-election on account of family duties and Mrs. William T. Hincks, president of a new and active league at Bridgeport, was chosen. Mrs. Hepburn remained a useful member of the board.
In 1912 the annual convention was held at New Haven, where after much difficulty Miss Pierson had organized a flourishing Equal Franchise League with Mrs. Carlos F. Stoddard president. A Political Equality Club had existed here from before the opening of the century but its membership was small and it made no appeal to a large number of women who were ready to come out for suffrage. It seemed better, as in Hartford in 1909, to form a new organization with younger leaders.
The annual convention in 1913 was held in Hartford. Mrs. Hincks refused re-election and Mrs. Hepburn was again chosen, with Mrs. M.
Toscan Bennett as treasurer. The work accomplished during the year, as reported at the convention, had included the collection of 18,000 names to a pet.i.tion to the Legislature for full suffrage for women, while campaigns had covered the smaller cities and towns and resulted in the organization of all the State except one county.
The convention of 1914 again took place in Hartford and Mrs. Hepburn, with practically the whole board, was re-elected. The work of the year included a "ward campaign," in which a beginning was made of organizing on the lines of a political party, automobile campaigns completing the organization of the whole State; the first suffrage parade took place in Hartford on May 2. Political work had resulted in obtaining a woman suffrage plank in the Democratic State platform. The total income for the year was $17,779.
In 1915 at the State convention in Hartford Mrs. Hepburn was again re-elected. The reports included accounts of the activities of the sixty-nine clubs and leagues affiliated with the State a.s.sociation. In the Legislature not only had the suffrage measures been turned down but almost all of those favored by the women, owing to the bitter hostility of the Republican "machine," by which it had long been dominated. This convention declared in favor of concentrating on State work, the majority opinion being that it was as yet of no use to work for the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The income for the year was reported as $19,476, this being entirely apart from the money received and spent locally by the affiliated leagues. During the year a pet.i.tion to submit a State amendment with over 43,000 names of men and women had been collected and presented to the Legislature.[23]
The convention of 1916 was held at New Haven and Mrs. Hepburn was re-elected. The reports showed that the year then ended had been the most active in the history of the a.s.sociation. In the winter of 1915-16 work had been undertaken in the counties whose Representatives had made the worst showing in the preceding Legislature. Miss Helen Todd, who had worked in California in 1911 when its victory was gained, was secured as the princ.i.p.al speaker for a campaign organized for her by Miss Catharine Flanagan of Hartford. Other organizers were Miss Alice Pierson of Cromwell, Miss Katherine Mullen of New Haven and Miss Daphne Selden of Deep River, Miss Emily Pierson remaining State organizer and directing the work. In the spring of 1916 Miss Alice Pierson married Ralph Swetman and during the summer both undertook a house to house campaign, with numerous open air meetings in the smaller towns of Hartford county. The income for the year was $27,442, nearly all of which was expended. The membership of the State a.s.sociation by careful count was 32,366 and the affiliated leagues and clubs numbered eighty-one. During the year a bulletin from headquarters was sent twice a month to each dues-paying member. In June a delegation went to Chicago and marched under the leadership of Mrs. Grace Gallatin Seton in the great parade of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation that braved the rain and wind on its way to the Coliseum, where the cause of woman suffrage was presented to the Resolutions Committee of the Republican National Convention.
The State convention of 1917 was held in Hartford November 7, 8, and the reports showed that attention had been concentrated on the three measures before the Legislature--a bill for Presidential and Munic.i.p.al suffrage; a bill for Excise suffrage (a vote in local option), and a resolution for a State const.i.tutional amendment also but both bills were defeated in House and Senate. The amendment resolution, however, secured a majority in the House and as the const.i.tution provides that the House alone shall consider an amendment on its first presentation, this victory insured that it should pa.s.s to the next Legislature for final action. Through the whole of 1917 much work also was done for the Federal Suffrage Amendment, deputations being sent to each of the U. S. Senators and Representatives from Connecticut.
The suffragists felt the urge of patriotism and Mrs. Hepburn in the name of the a.s.sociation offered its services to Governor Marcus A.
Holcomb. The offer was graciously received though not definitely accepted but requests for clerical help came to suffrage headquarters.
In response some 540 hours of work were given by volunteers. A Central War Work Committee, under the auspices of the a.s.sociation, was formed in April, immediately after the declaration of war, the chairmanship held first by Miss Ruutz-Rees, who had been a member of the executive board of the a.s.sociation from 1910. When she was made chairman of the Woman"s Division of the State Council of Defense, the chairmanship was taken by Miss Katharine Ludington and other leading suffragists gave their services. The War Work Committee had chiefly to do with food conservation and $5,350 were collected by it for this purpose.
In addition to the money contributed by suffragists for war work, the income of the a.s.sociation for the year was $29,933. At this convention Mrs. Hepburn, who had been strongly stirred by the jailing of the members of the National Woman"s Party at Washington, announced her intention of working with that organization and Mrs. Bennett refused re-election for the same reason. Miss Ludington was elected president, with Miss Mabel C. Washburn as treasurer. Mrs. Seton, who had been vice-president since 1910, retained her position and Miss Ruutz-Rees remained. Miss Ludington had shown her qualifications for the State presidency, first as president of the Old Lyme Equal Franchise League, then as chairman of New London county and during 1917 by her organizing and executive ability as chairman of the War Work Committee. At the annual convention of 1918 held at New Haven, she was re-elected. The year had been a peculiarly difficult one on account of the absorption of many women in war work but the income was $30,085, of which $1,879 had been contributed for the oversea hospitals of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation. The work of the year had been directed towards (1) the Federal Suffrage Amendment and the securing of a favorable Connecticut delegation to Congress; (2) influencing the two major parties in the State to include suffrage planks in their platforms; (3) securing the election of members of the Legislature who would be favorable to ratification.
At the jubilee convention of 1919, held at Bridgeport after the Federal Amendment had been submitted in June, a new const.i.tution was adopted, which provided for the election of five political leaders in addition to the other officers and an organization of the State by counties and districts, looking towards the forming later of a League of Women Voters. During the year there had been a financial campaign, which was carried on under the direction of Mrs. Nancy Schoonmaker, resulting in gifts and pledges amounting to $30,993, of which $25,813 were paid at the time of the convention. The total income for the year was $63,398. Miss Ludington was again elected and most of the other officers remained on the board. After thorough discussion it was resolved that the policy of the a.s.sociation for 1919-20 should be to oppose especially the small group of Republican politicians who had blocked and were persistently blocking the progress of woman suffrage. This resolution pledged the a.s.sociation to a fight against the Republican "machine," which was made with intense determination.
RATIFICATION. The final struggle came in 1920 over ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. Great efforts had been made to obtain a majority favorable to it in the Legislature that would meet in 1919 and had Congress submitted it in time to be voted on at the regular session it would doubtless have been ratified, as both parties knew it was inevitable. It was not pa.s.sed by Congress, however, until June 4, and by this time the Legislature had adjourned, not to meet again for two years unless called in special session. All that the suffragists were able to do during the winter of 1919 was to press for a Presidential suffrage bill such as had been adopted by a number of States. In support of this a pet.i.tion signed by over 98,000 women--increased afterwards to 102,000--was presented to the Legislature when the bill came up for consideration. Nevertheless, through the intense hostility of the Republican "machine," the bill was defeated by a single vote in the Senate after having received a large majority in the House.
When Congress finally sent the amendment to the Legislatures most of them had adjourned and would not meet again until 1921. If women were to vote in the general election of November, 1920, ratification would have to be by special sessions. The suffragists of Connecticut were determined that it should be one of the States to hold an extra session. Deputations from the State a.s.sociation and the National Woman"s Party waited upon Governor Holcomb in the summer of 1919 to ask that he call one in order to ratify the amendment. He refused on the ground of a const.i.tutional limitation of the Governor"s power. The State const.i.tution provides that the Governor may convene the General a.s.sembly "on special emergencies" and he held that no special emergency existed. The a.s.sociation then concentrated on the Republican State Central Committee and the other leaders whom they considered the chief opponents of suffrage. A pet.i.tion signed by 478 prominent members of the Republican party was presented to the chairman of this committee on Feb. 11, 1920, by the Men"s Ratification Committee--a committee friendly to woman suffrage and anxious for the ending of the long struggle, which had been formed with Colonel Isaac M. Ullman chairman. No effect was produced by this pet.i.tion nor by an interview with John Henry Roraback, the State chairman, by Miss Ludington, in which he was urged to put Connecticut among the 36 States necessary for ratification, in order that the women might be able to feel that suffrage had been granted them by their own State.
By March 35 Legislatures had ratified and only a group of three or four States held out any hope of the 36th and final ratification, of which Connecticut was one. Leading Republicans in and out of Congress tried to impress upon those in Connecticut that this was no longer a State but a national issue. At their State convention in March the Resolutions Committee gave a hearing to the suffragists and reported a resolution in favor of a special session, which was pa.s.sed by the convention and presented to the Governor. It then returned to power the very men who would prevent it. The Governor remained obdurate. To the first pet.i.tion he had replied that the desire of a few women did not create an emergency. Then he had argued that suffrage was not an issue when the Legislature was elected and therefore the legislators were not authorized by the voters to act upon it. A little later he gave it as his opinion that persistent appeals do not const.i.tute an emergency. Finally on April 10, in reply to a letter from Colonel Ullman, he stated that he was ready to receive proof of the existence of an emergency. The Connecticut women decided to give him the proof and the National Suffrage a.s.sociation offered its cooperation by sending women from all over the country to Connecticut to join in a great protest against the blocking of woman suffrage for the whole nation. May 3-7, 1920, was declared "emergency week" and a Suffrage Emergency Corps was organized of 46 eminent women from as many States.
They a.s.sembled in New York the evening of Sunday, May 2, as dinner guests of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the national president, and received their "marching orders and field instructions" from her and Miss Ludington.
The Emergency Corps arrived in Hartford Monday morning and were guests at a luncheon given in their honor at the Golf Club, whose rooms were crowded with men and women to meet these doctors, lawyers, professors, scientists, officials, business women, presidents of organizations--a remarkable gathering. There were roll call and speeches and then they separated into four groups and departed by motors for the four largest cities, where they spoke at ma.s.s meetings in the evening. A carefully planned tour was made of thirty-six towns with a total of forty-one meetings, at which they were introduced and a.s.sisted by prominent men. Mrs. Catt spoke to a large audience in Woolsey Hall, New Haven, with Mayor Fitzgerald presiding. The object of the campaign was to show the sentiment in the State for a special session of the Legislature and a resolution calling for it was enthusiastically adopted at each meeting.
The Governor appointed Friday morning at 11:30 for the interview and the visitors and the officers and staff of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation were at the Capitol. Every possible point bearing on the case was brought out by the speakers and they pleaded with the Governor to settle this question of ratification by a stroke of his pen for the women of the whole nation. He said he would reserve his decision till he had carefully considered their arguments, and they went out to report to the ma.s.s meeting in progress on the grounds of the Capitol. The following Tuesday he made public his answer, which was that, while the arguments proved that there was a strong desire for a special session, they did not prove the existence of the "special emergency" mentioned in the const.i.tution and he felt compelled to decline.
A pet.i.tion asking for a special session was then sent to the Governor signed by a majority of both parties in both Houses of the Legislature, which had not the slightest effect. The State a.s.sociation held a meeting and resolved to try to defeat those Republican candidates who were opposed to ratification and especially the little group who composed the Republican "machine." Miss Ludington issued a manifesto giving in detail their action which had determined this policy and saying:
Our fight now is "November, 1920." One of the most important presidential elections in years is to be held then. Women are just as vitally affected by it and as deeply interested in it as men. Although 35 out of the necessary 36 States have ratified, no women can vote in this election under the Federal Amendment until the 36th State has ratified. It is curious how slow the public--women as well as men--have been to realize this. They talk of our being "almost" voters. They do not seem to understand that although Ma.s.sachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc., have ratified the amendment, the women of these States will not vote until the 36th State ratifies. Who is responsible for the delay which may keep over 10,000,000 women from the vote for President and about 20,000,000 from the vote for members of Congress, State officials, etc.? Both political parties but the Republican in greater degree.... It lies in the power of this party to speak the word that will fully enfranchise the women of this country and where there is power there is responsibility.
"But," the Republicans say, "we have given you 29 States. Think of that! You ought to be grateful to us." "Exactly," we answer, "but you have withheld that one State which would make just the difference between our voting or not voting. And by the way you didn"t "give" us those 29 States--we had to work pretty hard to get some of them!" An emanc.i.p.ator is not the man who takes the prisoner all the way to the door and lets him look out but the man who actually unlocks the door and lets him go free. Once in history the Republican party played the part of a genuine emanc.i.p.ator. Now it looks very much as if it was playing petty politics.... At the time of the last State Republican convention the Hartford _Courant_ obligingly explained that the suffrage resolution it pa.s.sed was a pretense and really meant nothing--a statement, it is only fair to say, repudiated by many honorable Republicans. Now it is Chairman Roraback, who, with happy unconsciousness that he is exhibiting his party in a "yellow"
light, tells the public that the national Republican platform should not be taken seriously.... "The leaders of the party," he says, "put in the suffrage plank to please women in the voting States but they meant nothing by it." Are the men who are to lead a great party as double-faced and untrustworthy as Mr. Roraback paints them? Were they laughing in their sleeves as they wrote the solemn pledges in the rest of the national platform? We wonder if Connecticut Republicans will let Mr. Roraback smirch the party honor unchallenged.