E. L. Carpenter, Mrs. Edmund Pennington and Mrs. Frank Reed of Minneapolis, Mrs. J. W. Straight of St. Paul and Mrs. J. L. Washburn of Duluth. Time was given to their speakers at the last three hearings granted the State Suffrage a.s.sociation by the Legislature. Miss Minnie Bronson, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation, came from New York for one.
[93] Too much credit for the final success of woman suffrage in Minnesota can not be given to Mrs. Ueland, president of the a.s.sociation for the last five years of its existence. She organized the entire State, raised large sums of money each year, induced many prominent women to join in the work, carried out the instructions of the National a.s.sociation to the letter, secured legislation, and not only took advantage of every opportunity for propaganda but created opportunities.
[94] In 1915 the Congressional Union, afterward the National Woman"s Party, formed an organization in St. Paul with Mrs. Alexander Colvin chairman. The members were recruited from the State a.s.sociation and for a few years were active in both organizations.
[95] During the twenty years covered by this chapter the Twin City suffragists never failed to keep open house during the State Fair, where speakers were heard and literature was distributed.
[96] Following are the names of State officers besides the presidents who served over three years: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Jenova Martin, four years; Mrs. David F. Simpson, three years; Mrs. H. G. Harrison, five years; Mrs. E. A. Brown, four years; Mrs. C. L. Atwood, six years; Dr.
Margaret Koch, vice-president, three years and treasurer, ten years; Dr. Ethel E. Hurd of Minneapolis served on the board in different capacities for twenty-two years, as corresponding secretary for four years and recording secretary four; Mrs. Eva W. Morse, recording secretary five years; Mrs. Victor H. Troendle, treasurer five years.
Those who served from four to ten years as directors on the State board were: Mesdames A. T. Anderson, Julia B. Nelson, Margaret K.
Rogers, E. A. Russell, C. F. Lutz, Elizabeth McClary, A. H. Bright and A. B. Jackson.
[97] Following are a few names not mentioned elsewhere in the chapter of the many devoted friends and workers during the score of years: Dr.
Cyrus Northrup, Professor Maria Sanford, Judge A. C. Hickman, Professor A. W. Rankin, Dr. Elizabeth Woodworth, Mesdames Margaret K.
Rogers, Martha A. Dorsett, May Dudley Greeley, M. A. Luley, Eva S.
Jerome, Alice Taylor, Lilla P. Clark, Milton E. Purdy, C. P. Noyes, Adelaide Lawrence, O. J. Evans, George M. Partridge, J. W. Andrews, C.
M. Stockton, Stiles Burr, J. M. Guise, J. W. Straight; Misses Ella Whitney, A. A. Connor, Nellie Merrill, Hope McDonald, Josephine Schain, Blanche Segar, Cornelia Lusk, Martha Anderson (Wyman); Messrs.
C. W. Dorsett, S. R. Child, A. H. Bright.
[98] For ten years Senator Sullivan of Stillwater, and for twenty-two years Senator W. W. Dunn, attorney for the Hamm Brewing Company of St.
Paul, worked actively against all suffrage legislation, in late years being able to defeat bills by only two or three votes.
[99] Among legislators not mentioned who were helpful during these years were Senator S. A. Stockwell and Representatives W. I. Norton, H. H. Harrison, W. I. Nolan, Sherman Child, John Sanborn and Claude Southwick.
CHAPTER XXIII.
MISSISSIPPI.[100]
From 1899 to 1906 no State convention of the Mississippi Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation was held. Mrs. Hala Hammond b.u.t.t, who was elected president at its second annual convention in Clarksdale in 1899, acted as president during this time but the editing of a weekly newspaper in addition to other duties left her little time for its trying demands at this early stage of its existence. Among the few other women consecrated in their hearts to woman suffrage some were barred from leadership by ill health, some by family cares, while others were absent from the State most of the time. No definite progress, therefore, was made during the early years of the century.
In 1901 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, gave addresses in six cities in the State, arrangements for which were made by local suffragists, and a great deal of interest was aroused. In 1903 a business conference was held in Jackson, at which Mrs. b.u.t.t and three other women were present, to consider whether anything could be done for the cause of woman suffrage. In 1904 enrollment cards were distributed in a limited and unsystematic way, letters were sent to members of the Legislature, State officials and others and literature was distributed. An inspiring feature was the visit of Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president at large of the National a.s.sociation, who spoke in three cities.
Early in December, 1906, Miss Belle Kearney of Flora, formerly organizer for the Woman"s Christian Temperance Union, at this time a public lecturer, returned from an absence in Europe and on the 21st, in response to a call sent out by her, a meeting was held in the parlor of the Edwards House in Jackson. Those in attendance were Miss Kearney, Mrs. b.u.t.t, Mrs. Edward Sloan and Dr. Delia Randall. By invitation Dr. William La Prade of the First Methodist Church opened the meeting with prayer, after which he retired leaving these four women to reorganize the State Suffrage a.s.sociation. Mrs. Nellie Nugent Somerville of Greenville was in touch with the conference by telegraph and Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson of Jackson, physically unable to attend, received reports from the meeting at her telephone. In this historic hour the breath of a new life was blown into the expiring a.s.sociation and from that time it grew and thrived. The officers elected were Miss Kearney, president; Mrs. Somerville, vice-president; Mrs. Thompson, treasurer.
During the following spring Miss Kearney, lecturing in the State on sociological subjects, spoke unfailingly for suffrage and wherever possible organized clubs. Press work was taken up earnestly by the newly elected superintendent of that department, Mrs. Thompson. All of the over two hundred editors in the State were interviewed by letter in regard to their att.i.tude towards woman suffrage and s.p.a.ce was requested for suffrage items. Twenty-one agreed to publish them, only two openly declining. Among the friendly editors were L. Pink Smith of the Greenville _Democrat_, J. R. Oliphant of the Poplarville _Free Press_, Frank R. Birdsall of the Yazoo _Sentinel_, C. E. Gla.s.sco of the Cleveland _Enterprise_, Joseph Norwood of the Magnolia _Gazette_, James Faulk of the Greene County _Herald_.
Adverse articles were carefully answered and private letters were sent, the enemy quietly reasoned with and in most cases converted.
News bulletins furnished by the national press department were used but most of the matter sent out was prepared at home in the belief that an ounce of Mississippi was worth a pound of Ma.s.sachusetts.
Articles published in leaflet form and distributed broadcast were written by Mrs. Somerville, Miss Kearney, Mrs. Thompson, the Rev.
Thomas K. Mellen and the Rev. H. Walter Featherstun, Methodist ministers. One of the most valuable contributions was The Legal Status of Mississippi Women, by Robert Campbell, an attorney of Greenville.
In November, 1907, a conference lasting five days was held at Jackson in the home of Charles H. Thompson, a devoted suffragist, and his wife, Lily Wilkinson Thompson. Among those attending were Miss Kearney, Mrs. Somerville, Mrs. Harriet B. Kells, president of the State W. C. T. U. and a life-long suffragist; Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky and Miss Kate Gordon of Louisiana. The advisability of attempting to have a woman suffrage measure introduced in the next session of the Legislature was considered. Two men besides the host appeared at this conference, a reporter, who regarded the meeting as something of a joke, and the Hon. R. H. Thompson of Jackson, an eminent lawyer, who came to offer sympathetic advice. Visits were made to the Governor, James K. Vardaman, and other State officials; to the Hinds county legislators who had recently been elected and to others.
Most of these gentlemen were polite but bored and it was decided to defer legislative action. When two months later Governor Vardaman sent his farewell message to the Legislature he mentioned woman suffrage as one of the questions "pressing for solution in a National Const.i.tutional Convention."
In the spring of 1908 the State convention was held in the Governor"s Mansion at Jackson, Governor and Mrs. Edmund Favor Noel giving the parlors for the meeting. Six clubs were reported and State members at twelve places. Three or four women from outside of Jackson were present, Mrs. Pauline Alston Clark of Clarksdale having come from the greatest distance, and about fourteen were in attendance. The officers elected were: President, Mrs. Somerville; vice-presidents, Mrs.
Thompson, Mrs. Fannie Clark, Mrs. Kells; corresponding secretary, Mrs.
Pauline Clark; recording secretary, Dr. Randall; treasurer, Mrs. Sarah Summers Wilkinson. Superintendents were appointed for Press, Legislative, Enrollment, Industrial, Educational and Bible Study departments.
In the spring of 1909, the convention was held in the ladies" parlor of the Capitol at Jackson. It lasted two days, a public evening session being held in the Senate Chamber, at which Miss Kate Gordon, corresponding secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, told of the work of the Era Club of New Orleans; Miss Jean Gordon, factory inspector for that city, spoke in behalf of child labor regulations and Mrs. Thompson gave a report of the press work, which had grown to such proportions that it was considered very significant of advance in suffrage sentiment throughout the State.
The Rev. George Whitfield, a venerable Baptist minister, came from the neighboring town of Clinton and conducted devotional exercises and gave a talk on woman"s position from a Biblical standpoint. R. K.
Jayne of Jackson, an early suffragist, also spoke. At this time dues-paying members were reported from seventeen towns. Mrs.
Somerville was re-elected president.
The annual convention was held in Greenville in 1910. Dr. Shaw and Miss Ray Costello of England made addresses; Judge E. N. Thomas of Greenville presided at one of the evening meetings; John L. Hebron, a Delta planter and afterwards State Senator, made an earnest speech of endors.e.m.e.nt. It was reported that hundreds of letters were written and the a.s.sociation had gained a hold in fifty places, ranging from rural neighborhoods and plantation settlements to the largest towns.
Frederick Sullens, editor of the Jackson _Daily News_, had given s.p.a.ce for a weekly suffrage column edited by Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. J. C.
Greenley edited a similar column in the Greenville _Democrat_. Mrs.
Madge Quin Fugler supplied five papers and Mrs. Montgomery two. Miss Ida Ward of Greenville wrote articles for the papers of that town and Mrs. Mohlenhoff edited a column in the Cleveland _Enterprise_. Among other papers publishing suffrage material were the McComb City _Journal_ and the _Enterprise_ and the Magnolia _Gazette_. From the press superintendent there had gone out 1,700 articles, ranging in length from a paragraph to a half page, many of them written by her, and they were given prominence in special editions. Ten copies of the _Woman"s Journal_ which came from the national press department for years were forwarded to college, town and State libraries and to editors. How far and deep the influence of those _Journals_ reached is beyond computation.
In the fall of 1910 the State a.s.sociation joined the Tennessee Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation in a booth at the Tri-State Fair in Memphis. An interesting feature was the press exhibit, consisting of a width of canva.s.s many yards long on which had been pasted clippings from Mississippi newspapers, suffrage argument and favorable comment. The annual convention was held in Cleveland in 1911. Miss Gordon and Judge Thomas spoke at the evening session. Editor C. E. Glasco gave an earnest talk at a morning session. The department chairmen brought encouraging reports of their work. A letter was read from Colonel Clay Sharkey of Jackson, which later was published in leaflet form.
The State meeting was held at Flora in April, 1912. Mrs. Judith Hyams Douglas, president of the Era Club of New Orleans, and Omar Garwood of Colorado, secretary of the National Men"s League for Woman Suffrage, were the princ.i.p.al speakers. The president, Mrs. Somerville, recommended that the various State organizations of women be invited to unite with the suffrage a.s.sociation in forming a central committee to secure such legislation as should be agreed upon by all. This was afterwards accepted by the Federation of Women"s Clubs and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Resolutions were pa.s.sed regretting the retirement from the presidency of Mrs. Somerville, to whose good generalship during the past four years the success of the a.s.sociation was in a large part due. Mrs. Lily Wilkinson Thompson was elected president.
In response to the call to take part in the parade in Washington March 3, 1913, Mrs. Avery Harrell Thompson, temporarily residing there, was put in charge and with her husband, Harmon L. Thompson, arranged for a handsome float, on which Miss Fannie May Witherspoon, daughter of the member of Congress, represented Mississippi. Mr. Gibbs, a Mississippian, carried the purple and gold silk banner of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation and four other young Mississippians, Judge Allen Thompson and his brother, Harmon, Walter and Edward Dent, marched beside the float, preforming valiant volunteer police duty when it became necessary. During this year the enrolled membership increased four-fold. Quarterly reports, nearly a thousand, were printed for the first time instead of written. A letter from the Irish Women"s League of Dublin and one from the English Women"s Equal Rights Union to the State president indicated the world-wide spirit of fraternalism which embraced even Mississippi"s modest organization. Good work was done by the new superintendent of press work, Mrs. Dent. Not only did editors by this time willingly accept material but some of them wrote favorable editorials. The Yazoo City _Herald_, edited by N. A. Mott, was a new recruit. The _Purple and White_, a Millsaps College paper, was supplied with suffrage material by a bright senior, Janie Linfield.
For the first time suffrage headquarters were maintained at the State Fair by the Equity League of Jackson. Furnishings were loaned by Mr.
and Mrs. C. C. Warren from their beautiful home "Fairview." A rest room for mothers and babies was provided, other tired visitors were also welcomed and the suffrage booth was the most popular place on the grounds. For the first time the a.s.sociation was invited to take part on Woman"s Day at the State Fair, when representatives from the women"s State organizations held a joint meeting, and the president, Mrs. Thompson, spoke for the suffragists.
Letters were sent to the Mississippi members of Congress urging them to vote for the Federal Suffrage Amendment and to President Wilson, pleading for his favorable consideration. Motion pictures were utilized in three ways--suffrage plays were shown, local clubs selling tickets received a part of the proceeds and suffrage slogans were thrown on the slides between pictures.
The State convention was held in the Senate Chamber of the new Capitol at Jackson in April, 1913. At the evening sessions all seats on the floor were taken, the galleries filled and chairs brought from committee rooms to accommodate the audiences. Music was furnished by the Chaminade Club of Jackson. Mayor Swepson I. Taylor gave the address of welcome. Others who spoke were Mrs. Fannie S. Clark, Mrs.
E. T. Edmonds, president of the Equity League, and Mrs.
Royden-Douglas, president of the State Federation of Women"s Clubs. In her president"s address Mrs. Thompson recommended that the a.s.sociation ask the next Legislature to submit to the voters a State const.i.tutional amendment giving women the ballot, and this was unanimously adopted. The Rev. E. T. Edmonds of the First Christian Church of Jackson spoke on Woman Suffrage in New Zealand, where he had been a resident.
Letters to the president and secretary from U. S. Senators John Sharp Williams and James K. Vardaman were read in reply to appeals that they vote for the Federal Amendment. Senator Vardaman said that when the amendment came up he would "be glad to vote for it." Senator Williams said that he thought "the federal government ought not attempt to control a State in the exercise of this privilege," that he favored a "white woman"s primary, in which the women of the State might say whether they wanted the ballot or not" and that he thought women just as competent to use it as men but did not approve of "forcing it upon them." He was "inclined to woman suffrage" and believed that "with safeguards it might be made a bulwark of white supremacy in the State." The large reception planned by Governor and Mrs. Earl Brewer had to be omitted because of the sudden illness of Mrs. Brewer. On account of home demands Mrs. Thompson declined re-election and Mrs.
Dent was made president.
Under Mrs. Dent"s administration the work prospered and advanced in popular favor. In the fall "woman suffrage day" was for the first time on the calendar of the State Fair. Headquarters were again maintained, for which s.p.a.ce three times as large as that used the previous year was occupied. Mrs. Dent, a successful cotton planter, brought a bale of cotton from her plantation and presented it to the headquarters, where it afforded a unique platform for the speakers. Women from different parts of the State came to act as hostesses and take part in the speaking. This year a college contest was conducted by Mrs.
Thompson, who offered a gold medal for the best argument for woman suffrage written by a college student of the State. Six of the largest colleges were represented and the medal was won by Mrs. Pearl Powell, of the Industrial Inst.i.tute and College.
In April, 1914, the State convention was again held in Jackson. Among the speakers were Rabbi Brill of Meridian and Mrs. Alex Y. Scott of Memphis. Mrs. Dent was re-elected president. In the fall for the first time there was a suffrage section in the parade that marked the opening of the State Fair. Six women, gowned in white and wearing yellow silk Votes for Women badges marched--Mrs. Ella O. Biggs and Miss Sadie Goeber bearing a banner inscribed Women vote in twelve States, why not in Mississippi? followed by Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Avery Harrell Thompson, Mrs. Sarah C. Watts and Mrs. R. W. Durfey and they were generously cheered along the way.
In the spring of 1915 the State convention was held in Greenville. Dr.
Shaw was a guest, stopping on her way to Jackson, where under the auspices of the Equity League she spoke in the House of Representatives to a large audience, many standing throughout her address, which made a profound impression. The convention was well attended. Some of the interesting features were "an hour for men"
presided over by Congressman B. G. Humphries, with excellent speeches; a five o"clock tea, given by the Belvidere Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the presentation of the motion picture play, Your Girl and Mine. Miss Pauline V. Orr was elected president.
Miss Orr served as president for two years, widely extending the influence of the a.s.sociation through the hundreds of young women who came under her instruction at the Industrial Inst.i.tute and College, where for many years she held the chair of English.
The annual convention was held in 1916 in the city hall in Meridian, where nineteen years before the State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation was organized, and Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs of Alabama, auditor of the National a.s.sociation, made an address on the opening evening. During the following year eight new leagues were formed. The convention met in Starkville in April, 1917, and addresses were made by Dr. Shaw, Miss Margaret Hamilton Erwin, president of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation; Mrs. Walter McNab Miller, first vice-president of the National a.s.sociation; Mrs. W. H. Price, president of the Mississippi Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and Mrs. Edward F. McGehee, president of the State Federation of Women"s Clubs. Miss Orr, the president, declining re-election was succeeded by Mrs. McGehee. The United States had now entered the war and the suffragists began to concentrate on war work. As chairman of the Woman"s Committee, Mississippi Division of the National Council of Defense, she was able to help popularize woman suffrage.[101]
In April, 1918, a one-day conference was held in the Capitol at Jackson, when Mrs. Marion B. Trotter of Winona was elected president and brought a great deal of energy and enthusiasm into her office. No convention was held in 1919 but at the close of the meeting of the State Federation of Women"s Clubs in Clarksdale in November a conference of the suffragists present was called. It was there decided to organize to support the ratification of the Federal Amendment, which had been submitted by Congress and was to come before the Legislature the following January. Mrs. B. F. Saunders of Swan Lake, retiring president of the federation, was made chairman of the Ratification Committee; Mrs. Trotter, treasurer; Mrs. Somerville chairman of Pet.i.tion and Press Work; Mrs. McClurg chairman of Finance.
By request the National a.s.sociation sent into the State its organizers, Miss Watkins of Arkansas and Miss Peshakova of New York.
Mrs. Cunningham, president of the Texas Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation and a national worker, also came to a.s.sist. Pet.i.tions were circulated, leaflets published and distributed, newspapers enlisted and legislators systematically interviewed. The organization thus speedily effected worked during the session of 1920. In April of this year the convention of the State Federation, held in Gulfport, closed with a "suffrage luncheon," a brilliant affair attended by 125 prominent men and women. Speeches were made by the Hon. Barney Eaton, a lawyer of Gulfport; Mrs. S. P. Covington, its president, and others. The State League of Women Voters was organized at this time with Miss Blanche Rogers chairman.
It had been the hope for years to have an endors.e.m.e.nt of woman suffrage from the Federation of Women"s Clubs, a strong and popular organization numbering over 3,000 of the State"s leading women. During its annual meeting in 1916 Miss Orr, president of the State Suffrage a.s.sociation, had introduced a favorable resolution and with Mrs.
Somerville, Mrs. J. W. McGrath of Canton, Mrs. William Baldwin of Columbus and Mrs. W. S. Lott of Meridian led the fight for suffrage.
Mrs. William R. Wright of Jackson headed the opposition, which asked for the postponement of the question until the next year and won. At the next convention, held in Meridian in 1917, the resolution was introduced by Miss Ann Rothenberg (now Mrs. Rosenbaum) of Meridian and pa.s.sed almost unanimously. In 1919 at the annual meeting held in Clarksdale, during the presidency of Mrs. Saunders, a resolution endorsing the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment was carried with but one dissenting vote, that of Mrs. Lizzie George Henderson of Greenwood, daughter of the late U. S. Senator J. Z.