LEGISLATIVE ACTION. Prior to 1904 it was an unheard of thing for women in Louisiana to take an active part in legislative procedure. A woman"s club, the Arena, had been instrumental in obtaining the first "age of consent" legislation, but a Unitarian minister had entirely managed the Legislature. Therefore the tyros who formed the first Legislative Committee of the Era Club showed their ignorance and enthusiasm when their program included at least twelve bills which they proposed to have enacted into law in one session.[62] Without any friends at court it was with considerable relief that they followed advice to put them all in the hands of an influential lobbyist. Reform bills were not in his line and the session was drawing to a close with nothing done when the Gordon sisters cast precedent and propriety to the winds, telegraphed to the Senator from their district for an audience, boarded a morning train for Baton Rouge and descended upon the Capitol. Article 210 of the State const.i.tution adopted in 1898 made women ineligible to serve in any official capacity. One of the first acts of the Era Club had been to try to have it amended so as to allow the appointment of a woman to fill a vacancy on the School Board. The surprised Senator met them on their arrival, learned the object of their visit and they will never know whether sympathy, amus.e.m.e.nt or curiosity actuated the Committee on Judiciary to whom he appealed for a hearing, but a few minutes after their arrival they were pleading their cause before its members. They then called on Governor Newton Blanchard, who offered to have Article 210 amended to enable the appointment of a factory inspector, but in their zeal for the larger object they declined.
1906. Wiser by two years" experience, the Legislative Committee was glad to accept Lieutenant Governor Jared Y. Sanders"s offer of an amendment for the above purpose, and Miss Jean Gordon was appointed factory inspector for the city of New Orleans. It was not long before she realized that the Child Labor law, under which she must operate, was not worth the paper on which it was written. She then studied the child labor laws of every State and selected what was best suited to southern conditions, and put it into form for submission.
1908. The legislative program was limited to the attempt to amend Article 210, pa.s.s a School suffrage bill and the Child Labor bill. The School suffrage bill, under the skillful management of Senator R. E.
Gueydan, a.s.sisted by Senators Albert Estinopal and James Brady and Lieutenant Governor Thos. C. Barrett, pa.s.sed the Senate but failed in the House. The Child Labor bill pa.s.sed the House but not the Senate.
1910. Senator Gueydan introduced the amendment of Article 210.
Representative S. O. Shattuck introduced the first resolution to strike out the word "male" from the State const.i.tution, with instructions from the women to subst.i.tute a School or Munic.i.p.al suffrage bill if a favorable report was more likely to result. By this time the women had sufficiently progressed to address a joint suffrage committee hearing in the House in the presence of an immense audience, Miss Belle Van Horn, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Douglas, Miss Gordon and labor representatives presenting suffrage arguments. The School suffrage bill was subst.i.tuted and received a unanimous favorable report, but not the necessary two-thirds vote.
1912. The amendment to Article 210 was introduced by Martin Manion in the House and William Byrnes in the Senate. In the interim between the sessions Mrs. O. W. Chamberlain, legislative chairman, had rolled up a monster pet.i.tion from all sections of the State and the favorable report of the committee was followed by the required two-thirds vote in the House. There seemed no hope in the Senate, but Miss Gordon appealed to Senator Byrnes to call it from the calendar. There was active lobbying among the opponents, but it finally pa.s.sed and was sent to the voters! In the campaign for it the Newcomb College Alumnae, the State Nurses" a.s.sociation and the Federation of Women"s Clubs were very active, but it was defeated.
An interesting phase of this year"s session in connection with the suffrage amendment was the presenting of the idea of Primary suffrage for women by Miss Gordon at the hearing. She had grown so tired of hearing from the opponents of woman suffrage that their objection rested solely upon the fact that negro women would be enfranchised, that on the part of the Legislative Committee she offered as a subst.i.tute for the full suffrage bill one limiting it to the white primary elections. This novel offer was received with great applause by the a.s.sembled members of the two Houses, but was not accepted. [See Arkansas and Texas chapters for Primary suffrage for women.]
1914. The full suffrage bill was introduced by Representative Manion and a quiet committee hearing held, with representatives from the State Suffrage a.s.sociation and the Woman Suffrage Party. It received 60 ayes, 41 noes in the House, but not the necessary two-thirds.
Amending Article 210 had become a city administration measure and was slated for success. A donation towards a Tuberculosis Hospital in New Orleans had been made by Mrs. John Dibert and the gift was munic.i.p.alized by a condition which required a certain annual revenue from the city. She desired to be a member of the hospital board, but was ineligible under this article. The Era Club gave notice that it would challenge her eligibility and she supported its position. The long desired amendment was on the way to a successful pa.s.sage, but went on the rocks because of the club"s campaign against a financial measure for refunding the city debt known as the Nine Million Bond issue, in which the provisions for the public schools and the teachers" pay were totally inadequate and it was to be in effect for fifty years! The Era Club and the Mothers" Co-operative Club protested and worked against this political-financial alliance. In retaliation twenty-four hours before the election the order went to the voters to defeat the amendment to Article 210, which would have made women eligible to serve on school and charity boards, and they did so.
1918. Governor Ruffin G. Pleasant recommended in his message the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the State const.i.tution.
The State a.s.sociation had a resolution for it introduced in the House by Frank Powell; the Woman Suffrage Party one in the Senate by Leon Haas, and it pa.s.sed in both.
CAMPAIGNS. There have been two campaigns in the interest of woman suffrage in Louisiana, one for preparing for an expected const.i.tutional convention which would have met in 1915, and the other in 1918 to amend the State const.i.tution by striking out the word "male." A special session of the Legislature in 1915 proposed a convention to revise the const.i.tution and submitted the question to the voters. Immediately Miss Jean Gordon, president of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation, accompanied by Miss Lilly Richardson and Mrs.
Ida Porter Boyer, visited the various parishes and formed working committees in 40 of the 63. The enthusiastic reception wherever they went was practical testimony to the sentiment for woman suffrage that they knew existed and could be utilized if the politicians could be made to submit the amendment to the voters. The latter rejected the proposal to hold a convention, but the work done by the women laid the foundation for the campaign three years later.
In 1918 there was finally submitted for the first time the long desired amendment to the State const.i.tution to enable women to vote.
To Governor Pleasant is due a great debt of grat.i.tude, for every influence that he could bring to bear was exerted, not alone to secure its submission but also its ratification. He had particularly urged in his Message at the opening of the Legislature the great importance of the South"s realizing the danger threatened from the proposed submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The State Suffrage a.s.sociation was in the midst of opening the campaign when the Woman Suffrage Party announced that they would retire from all suffrage activity and devote themselves to Red Cross work. Robert Ewing, member of the Democratic National Committee, owner of the New Orleans _Daily States_ and Shreveport _Times_, and a political power, offered his support if the Woman Suffrage Party would unite with the State a.s.sociation and leave the Federal Amendment question entirely out of the campaign. They finally agreed to this and a joint committee was formed of the president and three capable women in each organization.
Headquarters were opened in New Orleans; the parish committees which were organized in 1915 were found to be ready for active work. A pet.i.tion to be signed was sent to each with a strong official letter from the Campaign Committee. A bitter three-cornered Senatorial fight was under way and the women were asked to delay action until after the September primaries, which they consented to do.
All was ready for beginning a whirlwind campaign on October 1, when suddenly just before that date the influenza epidemic broke out and no a.s.sembling of people was allowed. To add to the difficulties, instead of the usual dry, clear weather of this season there came a deluge of rains that lasted for six weeks and the condition of the roads made it wholly impossible to do any work in the outlying districts. Thus there was practically no campaign in the way of making personal appeals to the voters, but in New Orleans and other cities thousands received urgent letters from Miss Gordon and other leaders. Notwithstanding these adverse conditions, the majority against the amendment was only 3,600, nearly all of it in New Orleans, where it was the result of direct orders from Mayor Martin Behrman, through the ward "bosses" of a perfectly controlled "machine." From parish after parish in the State came reports of precincts not even being opened on account of the epidemic and the weather. There is no doubt that others which reported an adverse majority were really carried for the amendment. At a public meeting of protest immediately after Miss Gordon made an address recalling the glorious history of the Democratic party and comparing it with this election which had repudiated its highest principles.
In 1920 the State Suffrage a.s.sociation stood alone in again having a resolution introduced for amending the State const.i.tution, all the other suffrage societies concentrating on the ratification of the Federal Amendment, which had been submitted by Congress on June 4. It was presented in the Lower House by L. L. Upton, in the Senate by J.
O. Stewart. They were followed immediately by Representative S. O.
Shattuck and Senator Norris C. Williamson with one to ratify the Federal Amendment. At the close of the session Miss Jean Gordon issued the following statement:
To the Friends of Woman Suffrage:
Now that the smoke of battle has cleared ... as president of the State a.s.sociation I feel that an unbiased statement of facts should be given in order that the history of woman suffrage in this State may be correctly recorded. Having been at Baton Rouge from the opening day of the Legislature until its adjournment I can give all the facts and some of the reasons for one of the most remarkable controversies ever held in Louisiana.
The proposed amendment to the State const.i.tution having been defeated in 1918 by the malevolent influences of the influenza throughout the State and Mayor Behrman in New Orleans, it was necessary to have another sent to the voters in 1920.
Congress having submitted a Federal Amendment to the Legislatures it was to be expected that men and women who believe in centralizing the voting power in Congress would work for its ratification, but that those who claimed to be ardent suffragists would work to defeat State submission after they found the sentiment for ratification amounted to almost nothing in both Houses seems incredible. The fact remains, however, that while the actual defeat of the State amendment was due primarily to personal animosity on the part of Senator Leopold of Plaquemine parish, when he realized what he had done he said that if it was possible to have it re-introduced he would vote for it, thus giving the necessary twenty-eight votes. After all arrangements for re-consideration had been made, Senator Louque, a faithful suffragist of many years" standing, provoked because one of his bills had been defeated, slipped away and it was again deprived of the one vote needed.
In the Senate Chamber were those nine Senators who proclaimed all through the session their intense belief in woman suffrage--so intense that they wanted the women enfranchised immediately and they wished to help all the women of the United States--these and many other reasons were given by them for standing firmly for a Federal Amendment but they voted against State submission, knowing the Federal Amendment had been killed overwhelmingly.
Therefore the real defeat of the State amendment must be accredited to the following nine Senators: Bagwell, Brown, Cunningham, Hood, Johnston of Bossier, Lawrason, Wear, Williamson and Wood....
Very different was the spirit among the proponents of the Federal Amendment in the House. Men who have always been suffragists voted for both Federal and State suffrage.... When Senators Craven, Johness, Johnson of Franklin and Durr saw the Federal Amendment was hopelessly defeated they voted for State submission. When Mayor Behrman caught the vision of how a Federal Amendment could help him in the September primary, he had Senators Davey, Thoele and Roberts vote for it, though it was reported that all had said no power on earth could ever make them do it. After it was defeated they continued to vote against the State amendment. The interpretation put upon their att.i.tude was that they would not help it because its success would be considered a victory for Mr. Ewing, as his _Daily States_ had been the only city paper to stand for State submission. Be it said to the credit of Senators Boyer, Butler, Clinton, Doussan, Domengeaux, Dugas, Weil and Wilbert that although avowed anti-suffragists, they worked hard to secure the submission of the State amendment while so-called ardent suffragists worked overtime for its defeat.
LOUISIANA. PART II.[63]
Louisiana had no State organization for woman suffrage when in March, 1913, Mrs. A. B. Singletary of Baton Rouge organized there the State Equal Suffrage League,[64] and in April Mrs. John T. Meehan organized the Woman Suffrage Party of Louisiana in New Orleans.[65] Both enrolled men as well as women, affiliated with the National American Suffrage a.s.sociation and worked harmoniously for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of Louisiana women by State and national legislation. Later the League became the Sixth District branch of the Party. When the Woman Suffrage Party was organized its platform contained only a pledge to work for an amendment to the State const.i.tution, but after affiliating with the National a.s.sociation it was pledged to work also for a Federal Suffrage Amendment, and this was fully understood by the members.
By June 15 the Party, with Mrs. Edgar M. Cahn as State chairman, had enrolled 300 members. It held open air rallies, organized by legislative districts, which are known as "parishes," and in the seventeen wards of Orleans parish congressional chairmen were appointed by the beginning of 1914. This year the Teachers" Political Equality Club and the Newcomb College Suffrage Club became branches of the Party, and the Orleans Parish Branch was organized. Delegates were sent to the national suffrage convention at Nashville in November.
The first State convention of the Party was held in April, 1915, at Baton Rouge and Mrs. Meehan was elected chairman. Throughout the summer suffragists of all groups campaigned vigorously for the recognition of woman suffrage in the State const.i.tutional convention expected in the autumn, but the convention itself was voted down at the polls. A Men"s League was formed and among its members were Dr.
Henry d.i.c.kson Bruns, W. A. Kernaghan, M. J. Sanders, Solomon Wolff, Oscar Schumert, I. A. Strauss, J. J. Fineran, Lynn d.i.n.kins, James Wilkinson, Louis J. Bryan, Captain James d.i.n.kins, L. H. Gosserand, Rabbi Max h.e.l.ler and Rabbi Emil Leipziger.
In 1916 the resolution for a const.i.tutional amendment to eliminate the word "male" again failed to pa.s.s when introduced by Frank E. Powell of De Ridder in the Lower House, though asked for by all the suffrage organizations, which now included a new group--the Equal Rights Party--formed by Miss Florence Huberwald. Owing to the absence of Mrs.
Meehan, Mrs. H. B. Myers, vice-chairman, was active head of the party most of the year. In November Mrs. Lydia Wickliffe Holmes of Baton Rouge was elected State chairman at the annual convention in New Orleans. Under her leadership all the groups in accord with the policy of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation were merged before the close of 1917, so that the Woman Suffrage Party now included the Equal Suffrage League, the Equal Rights Party and the Louisiana League for Equal Suffrage, formed the winter before in New Orleans by Mrs. W. J.
O"Donnell. At the annual convention in New Orleans Mrs. Holmes was re-elected.
State headquarters, known as Suffrage House, were established in New Orleans in February, 1918, a large house on St. Charles Avenue, which was furnished largely through the efforts of Mrs. O"Donnell, who was in charge. In May a resolution for a State suffrage amendment, introduced in the Upper House by Senator Leon Haas of Opelousas, was combined with one brought by Representative Powell in the House, and pa.s.sed on June 18, to be submitted to the voters in November. Active campaigning for its adoption at the polls began in September under a Joint Campaign Committee of the Woman Suffrage Party and the State Suffrage a.s.sociation. In spite of the influenza epidemic thousands of signatures were obtained to a pet.i.tion asking Governor Ruffin G.
Pleasant to issue a proclamation calling on the electors to vote for it. This he did and those in the State at large responded favorably, but their voice was nullified by the adverse votes cast in the machine-controlled wards of New Orleans at the behest of Mayor Martin Behrman, and the amendment was lost by 3,605 votes. The annual convention held at Suffrage House in New Orleans after the election chose Mrs. Holmes again for president.
In the winter of 1919 an attempt was made to secure such a modification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment before Congress as might meet the objections of southern opponents by removing the fear of federal interference with elections. An amendment was devised by a.s.sistant Attorney General Harry Gamble and National Committeeman Robert Ewing, which would leave its enforcement to the States. They went to Washington accompanied by Mrs. Holmes and obtained the consent of the officers of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation. Senator Gay of Louisiana introduced it and it was unanimously reported out of the Committee on Woman Suffrage, but the session was just closing and consent for a vote on it was refused.
On the social side an "inquiry" dinner dance given at the Country Club in New Orleans in May to discuss why Louisiana women were not yet enfranchised was attended by the Governor and many other prominent politicians from all parts of the State. The annual convention was held in the autumn at the headquarters, now removed to 417 Royal Street, and Mrs. Holmes was elected to her fourth term.[66]
The Woman Suffrage Party conducted a vigorous fight for ratification of the Federal amendment from the opening of the Legislature May 10, 1920, until its defeat on June 15. The final vote for ratification was given by the Legislature of Tennessee in August, which insured the complete suffrage for women in all the States. At the annual convention of the Woman Suffrage Party in New Orleans, December 8-9, its formal dissolution took place, followed immediately by the organization of the State League of Women Voters, a branch of the National League, with Mrs. Philip Weirlein as chairman. The Party"s seven years of work for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of Louisiana women by State and national legislation were fittingly recognized at a dinner in the Restaurant de la Louisiane, at which the men and women who had aided the cause in various ways were honored. Prominent men predicted happy results of woman"s political freedom. Gifts in appreciation of services were made to Martin H. Manion, Marshall Ballard and Norris C.
Williamson. General Robert Georges Nivelle, the hero of Verdun, was present and congratulated the women, expressing the hope that ere long the women of France would gain their political liberty. A silver vase was presented to the retiring chairman, Mrs. Holmes, from her fellow workers, and she was unanimously chosen honorary chairman of the new league.
RATIFICATION. On the eve of departure for the national convention in February, 1920, Mrs. Holmes, chairman of the Woman Suffrage Party, went to John M. Parker, who had just been nominated for Governor by the Democratic party, and asked: "If the thirty-sixth State ratifies the Federal Suffrage Amendment while we are in Chicago will you send Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt a telegram of congratulations?" To this he answered: "You write a message and sign my name to it--I"ll stand for anything you may say." "If, however, the amendment is not ratified and it becomes necessary for Louisiana to make the fight for it," Mrs.
Holmes continued, "what must I tell Mrs. Catt you will do?" "Just say to her," he replied, "that I am a suffragist, and she will understand." Mr. Parker had joined the Progressive party in 1912 and in 1916 he had made a campaign as its candidate for vice-president on a platform that strongly endorsed the Federal Suffrage Amendment, so his support of ratification was fully expected.
On their return from the convention the leaders of the Party began to line up the important men of the State by letter and by personal interviews. Beginning with the ex-Governors, they secured the endors.e.m.e.nt of L. E. Hall, H. C. Warmoth, N. C. Blanchard, Jared Y.
Sanders and W. W. Heard. Against these, however, was the present Governor, Ruffin G. Pleasant, who took an aggressive stand for State"s rights, although at a public banquet eight months earlier he had told the women that "if Louisiana women could not obtain the ballot by State enactment he would favor Federal action." Among those who declared for ratification were J. J. Bailey, Paul Capdeville, F. R.
Grace, T. R. Harris, A. V. Coco, Semmes Walmsley, Rufus E. Foster, Howell Morgan, Percy Saint, E. N. Stafford, Phanor Breazeale, Donaldson Caffery and many other men of affairs. The New Orleans _Item_ had always advocated woman suffrage and the Federal Amendment especially; the _Times-Picayune_ now approved ratification, as did nearly all the papers in the State. The Orleans Democratic a.s.sociation, which had put Governor Parker in office, pa.s.sed a resolution endorsing it. The State Central Committee chairman, Frank J. Looney, and the National Democratic Committeeman, a.r.s.ene Pujo, were in favor, and North Louisiana was almost solid for it. The opposition was chiefly in New Orleans, where certain elements under ward-boss leadership were opposed to woman suffrage in any form.
Mrs. Holmes had a number of interviews with Governor-elect Parker alone, with other women and with Marshall Ballard, editor of the _Item_, one of his valued supporters. She was always led to believe that he would help when the time for it came, although some of his strongest adherents were opposed to ratification. It was deemed best to make the fight along non-partisan lines, and so he was asked if it would be wiser to have two of his own supporters take charge of it or to have one who had opposed him in the primary campaign. He advised the latter course and Norris C. Williamson of East Carroll parish, his opponent, was selected to introduce the bill in the Senate, and S. O.
Shattuck of Calcasieu, a supporter and the introducer of the first woman suffrage bill in the Legislature in the Lower House. The day Mayor Martin Behrman came out for ratification, Mr. Parker said to Mrs. Holmes: "I have always been for woman suffrage any way it could be obtained and I have never understood a suffragist"s taking any other stand."
Early in March Governor-elect Parker told a group of suffragists that the women should get together on a program for the Legislature if they wished to be successful. Acting on this suggestion the Party publicly invited all suffrage organizations to come together and form a Joint Ratification Committee. Men and women from all parts of the State attended this meeting on April 7 and one of the speakers, Charles Rosen, pledged Parker to ratification, while Marshall Ballard vouched for the authenticity of his statement. The bodies that composed this committee were the Natchitoches Equal Rights Club, represented by Mrs.
S. J. Henry; the Shreveport Suffrage Club by Mrs. J. D. and Mrs. W. A.
Wilkinson; the Louisiana branch of the National Woman"s Party, by Mrs.
M. R. Bankston, Mrs. E. J. Graham, Mrs. Rosella Bayhi; the Woman Suffrage Party by Mrs. Joseph Devereux, Mrs. J. E. Friend. Mrs. Holmes was made chairman, headquarters were taken in Baton Rouge and 46 lobbyists were at the Capitol day and night during the session.
On reaching Baton Rouge the women saw the "anti" forces lining up with the "State"s rights" advocates and witnessed the curious spectacle of women who had worked for woman suffrage for a generation allying themselves with the paid organizers of the National a.s.sociation Opposed to Woman Suffrage, headed by Miss Charlotte Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y., its field secretary. Ex-Governor Pleasant and his wife came out as leaders of the opposition, a.s.sisted by the Misses Kate and Jean Gordon and other advocates of State action.[67] It was early seen that the fight for the Speakership might endanger the ratification program and the women were careful to take no part in it. R. F. Walker was chosen, an unfortunate choice for the suffragists, for he leaned strongly toward the "anti" side in his rulings, as did Lieutenant Governor Hewitt Bouanchaud.
Although in his campaign speeches in the autumn Mr. Parker had repeatedly said: "I am for suffrage; it is almost here, and we must have it," his platform as sent into some of the parishes had contained a "State"s rights" plank, designed, with or without his knowledge, by some of his backers, to placate those who feared the Federal Amendment on account of its supposed effect on the negro question. This was not known to the ratification leaders and therefore he created great consternation by announcing shortly before his inauguration that he "was going to keep his hands off the suffrage fight; that it was a matter for the Legislature." After the Speakership contest was over he refused to receive a delegation of women and declined to allow any member of the Ratification Committee to approach him. On May 10, 1920, the General a.s.sembly convened in Baton Rouge and on the 11th the rival woman suffrage bills were introduced. Representative L. L. Upton presented the State amendment in the House. The Federal amendment measure was a joint resolution. The attention of the country was centered on the fight in Louisiana. Thirty-five State Legislatures had ratified and the Republicans were claiming the credit. Democratic leaders were very desirous of having it for the final ratification.
Appeals were sent out to prominent Democrats within and without the State for help in putting it through. Colonel William J. Bryan was one of the first to respond, urging it to help the Democratic party in the coming campaign. Senator Williamson called on the new "convert,"
Mayor Behrman, and he appealed to the New Orleans "organization"
Senators, but was not entirely successful.
On May 13 Governor Pleasant submitted the Federal Amendment to both Houses, with a message which filled several columns of print, urging them not to adopt it but to pa.s.s in its stead the resolution for a State amendment. On the 16th, Senator N. C. Simmons, a former leader of the anti-suffrage forces, issued an appeal for ratification, ridiculing Governor Pleasant"s "negro peril" bugaboo. This same day Mrs. George Ba.s.s, chairman of the Women"s National Democratic Committee, came to Baton Rouge at the request of the Joint Ratification Committee and addressed a large meeting in the Istrouma Hotel in favor of it.
John M. Parker was inaugurated Governor May 17. The next day he received a telegram from President Woodrow Wilson which said: "May I not very respectfully urge your favorable interest and influence in the matter of the Federal Suffrage Amendment? It seems to be of the deepest national significance and importance." The Governor answered that he found a great difference of opinion among the legislators, large numbers opposed to any form, and, all being Democrats, any dictation on his part would be unwise.
Efforts made by the "antis" to force an immediate vote on the Federal Amendment failed and it was decided that all suffrage bills should take the usual course and be referred to committees for hearings.