The Republican State convention met in Dover April 20 and the Equal Suffrage Association made one of the most remarkable demonstrations the State had ever seen. Every road was ablaze with decorated automobiles and hundreds of suffragists arrived on every train. They marched and they talked and in themselves they constituted the best argument that could be made for ratification. American flags and suffrage banners were used all over the town. With Mrs. Ridgely presiding, speeches were made all day on the green in front of the State House, and from an automobile in front of the Republican convention hall Miss Shuler and others spoke. Long petition sheets with the names of 20,000 Delaware women asking for ratification were exhibited. The crowning feature of the day was a parade of "suffrage children"—the children of suffragists—a long line mounted on ponies and bicycles down to the babies in the "go carts."
The speech of the permanent chairman of the convention, a staunch suffragist, Robert Houston of Georgetown, Sussexcounty, was a strong appeal for ratification and it called out the greatest outburst of enthusiasm of the day. The convention unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Legislature to ratify the amendment. On the table was a vase of jonquils, and when the president of the anti-suffrage association rushed to the platform and demanded that they be removed or that red roses be added she was met by the chairman of arrangements with the quiet answer, "We are not complimenting the 'antis' today, we are using the Republican color and that is the suffrage color." The jonquils largely outnumbered the roses on the coats of the delegates.
While no Republican could now vote against ratification without repudiating his party it was plainly evident that the majority of Democrats were opposed to it and on the day of their State convention their party leaders, including United States Senator Wolcott and the chairman, Josiah Marvel, blossomed in red, the "anti" color. Former United States Senator Saulsbury's paper printed editorials of violent opposition throughout the struggle.
The resolution to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment was called up in the Senate by Senator Walker Wednesday, May 5. Senator Gormley, Democratic leader, offered as a substitute a referendum to the voters, which was defeated by a solid Republican vote of 13 to 4. The roll was called on the resolution to ratify and it was adopted by 11 ayes, 6 noes—ten Republicans and one Democrat voting for and two Republicans and four Democrats against it. The House had adjourned when the vote was taken and the plan was to send the resolution to it Thursday morning and attempt action Friday, but Thursday morning revealed a clear intention to defeat it and it was therefore placed under lock and key in the Senate. Senator Gormley attempted to offer a motion ordering its delivery to the House but was ruled out of order by the president pro tem. J. D. Short, whose recent accession to the suffrage ranks had made the Senate victory sure.
In the House "Bull" McNabb launched an attack on those who were withholding the resolution, using freely the words "bribery," "cajoling," "threats" and much profanity. Mrs. Thompson, the anti-suffrage president, kept calling out encouragementto him until the Republican floor leader, William Lyons, had to ask her to stop.
The Senate refused to send the resolution to the House and finally the Republicans succeeded in forcing an adjournment of the Legislature until May 17, hoping to bring about a change of sentiment. Some of those who were interested in the ratification were asked to meet at the capital that day. Among those who responded were Alfred I., T. Coleman and Pierre S. du Pont, Governor Townsend, Senator Ball, Representative Layton, former United States Senator J. F. Allee, Secretary of State Johnson, Charles Warner, former Congressman Hiram R. Burton, Speaker Charles Grantland and others. These men argued and pleaded with the Republican legislators to give the 36th and final ratification of the 19th Amendment but without effect.
On May 28, twenty-three days after the resolution had passed the Senate, it was sent to the Lower House. In the interval the Labor Union of Wilmington passed resolutions unanimously calling upon their three Representatives, McNabb, Mulvena and Mulrine, to vote for ratification. President Wilson was assured that only three Democratic votes were needed and he, therefore, telegraphed these three: "May I not as a Democrat express my deep interest in the suffrage amendment and my judgment that it would be of the greatest service to the party if every Democrat in the Delaware Legislature should vote for it?" Speaker Corbit was interviewed by members of the Republican National Committee and Republican leaders from within and without the State and strongly urged to stand with his party, but to no avail. The resolution was read twice and a motion was unanimously carried that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole. Representative Lyons here offered a motion to vote on the resolution, which was defeated by 24 noes, 10 ayes. A motion was then put to adjourn until 12.30, June 2, on which day it had been previously voted to adjourn sine die at noon, and it was carried! The House thus again placed itself on record against ratification and ended all further legislative action.
The causes that led to the defeat were briefly: 1. Factional differences in the Republican party; antagonism toward Governor Townsend; half-hearted interest and even treachery on thepart of certain Republican leaders. 2. Democratic opposition either because of the negro question or for national political reasons. 3. Influence of the liquor interests. The cost of the campaign to the National American Suffrage Association was approximately $4,500. The financial cost to the suffragists of the State could not be estimated and even more impossible would be an estimate of time and labor during many months. [Long list of names of workers omitted for lack of space.]
Following the final ratification of the Federal Amendment by the Tennessee Legislature the Executive Board, which was in session at Rehoboth, on August 27, 1920, merged the State Equal Suffrage Association into the League of Women Voters and elected Mrs. Ridgely chairman. This action was confirmed at a State convention held in Wilmington September 29, 30.
Among men and women not elsewhere mentioned who have been helpful to woman suffrage are Mrs. Mary T. Challenger, Lea Pusey, George B. Miller, Lewis W. Brosius, Mrs. J. R. Milligan; the Reverends Frederick A. Hinckley, Thomas P. Holloway, Adam Stengle, Alexander T. Bowser, Joel S. Gilfillan; Mrs. John F. Thomas, Congressman Thomas W. Miller, George Carter, editorEvening Journal; Mrs. Samuel H. Derby, Frank C. Bancroft, master of the State Grange; Mrs. Samuel Bancroft, Mrs. Francis I. du Pont, Mrs. Victoria du Pont, Sr., Mrs. Philip Burnett, Sr., and others mentioned in the chapter.
State officers not named otherwise were Mrs. William L. Duggin, Mrs. Alfred D. Warner, Mrs. Willard Morse, Mrs. Mary H. Thatcher, Miss Elizabeth S. Gawthorp, Mrs. Mary Price Phillips, Mrs. Frederick L. Steinlein, Mrs. R. Barclay Spicer, Mrs. Harry Hayward, Mrs. George Newcombe, Miss Willabelle Shurter.
Legislative Action, 1913. A bill to strike from the suffrage clause of the State constitution the word "male" was for the first time presented to the Legislature. It was introduced in the Senate January 7, by David J. Reinhardt; in the House by Albert I. Swan. The members had been previously circularized by the corresponding secretary, Miss Mary R. de Vou, announcing this action in the spirit of the age, in the name of justice and democracy and for the credit of the State. On February26 a hearing was granted at a joint session, with the House chamber crowded. Mrs. Cranston introduced the speakers, headed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national president. Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a field worker sent by the National Association, spent two weeks in Dover, canvassing the legislators, assisted by members of the State association. At the Senate hearing March 14 strong speeches were made by Senators Reinhardt, John M. Walker, and a number of leading women. Senators Zachary T. Harris and Dr. George W. Marshall worked for the bill, which was endorsed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Ministerial Union, State Grange, Central Labor Union and Socialist Party, but it was lost the same day by 11 noes, 6 ayes. The bill was reported favorably by the House committee and Dr. John H. Hammond declared that it was time to quit playing politics with it and pass it but on March 19 it was defeated without debate by 23 noes, 8 ayes.
1915. A full suffrage bill was presented jointly by the State association and the Congressional Union, introduced by Senator Harris and Representative Frank M. Saulsbury. The Campaign Committee representing the two associations and headed by Mrs. Florence Bayard Hilles opened headquarters at Dover with Miss Mabel Vernon in charge. Expenses of maintenance were paid by Mrs. George Day of Connecticut, a member of the advisory council of the Union. A suffrage procession headed by Mrs. Hilles and Mrs. Victor du Pont, Jr., marched to strains of martial music from the station to headquarters on its opening day early in January and gave the stately old capital a decided innovation. Speaking followed from a gaily decorated automobile. "Suffrage fliers" (motor cars) carrying able speakers and workers, made whirlwind trips throughout the State. The anti-suffragists organized as a committee, with Mrs. Henry B. Thompson chairman and Mrs. David J. Reinhardt secretary.
On January 21, before the Revised Statutes Committee of the House, all of the Representatives and many of the Senators, a hearing was given to the suffragists. The speakers were Mrs. Cranston, Miss Leila Aaron of Dover, Miss Vernon and Mrs. Hilles, whose argument was nearly flawless. On February 3 the "antis" spoke before practically the same audience and theenthusiasm equalled that of the suffrage hearing. Thomas F. Bayard, brother of Mrs. Hilles, opened the hearing and introduced Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Grace W. Goodwin of Westfield and Mrs. Preston Lea, wife of a former Governor. On February 9 the suffragists were granted a second hearing, all members of the Senate and several of the House being present. On February 16 the House Committee reported the bill favorably. On March 8, with an hour's interval between, the House killed it by a vote of 22 noes to 8 ayes; the Senate by a vote of 11 noes to 6 ayes. Legislative friends were Senators Edward Hart, John A. Barnard and Speaker Charles H. Grantland.
Preceding the vote was a gay and colorful parade of suffragists, followed by speechmaking outside the State House. Able speakers and workers from other States had spoken during the campaign, among them United States Representatives J. A. Falconer of Washington and William Kent of California; Mrs. Kent, Mrs. Thomas R. Hepburn, president of the Connecticut Equal Suffrage Association and Miss Anne Martin, president of the Nevada association. Among local speakers were Dr. George Edward Reed, D.D., former president of Dickinson College; John S. Hamilton of Wilmington and Mrs. Cranston. On March 11, three days after the defeat, at a well-attended luncheon in Hotel du Pont, Wilmington, was opened the campaign for 1917 in true Bunker Hill spirit.
1917. A full suffrage bill was presented, the Congressional Union in charge. The State was canvassed for and against. Before the joint hearing on February 16 the bill had been reported favorably by committees of both House and Senate. It went to defeat, however, on February 23 by a vote in the House of 21 noes to 12 ayes, in the Senate on February 26 by a vote of 6 noes to 8 ayes. Among the anti-suffrage leaders were Judge George Gray, General James H. Wilson, Miss Emily P. Bissell, Mrs. George A. Elliott and Mrs. Henry P. Scott.
FOOTNOTES:[27]The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Mary R. de Vou, corresponding secretary of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association fourteen years; also treasurer and auditor.[28]The Women's College affiliated with Delaware College at Newark, the State College for men, was opened in September, 1914.[29]The History is indebted to Miss Winifred Morris, secretary of the State Equal Suffrage Association, for much of the material in this story of the effort for ratification.
[27]The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Mary R. de Vou, corresponding secretary of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association fourteen years; also treasurer and auditor.
[27]The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Mary R. de Vou, corresponding secretary of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association fourteen years; also treasurer and auditor.
[28]The Women's College affiliated with Delaware College at Newark, the State College for men, was opened in September, 1914.
[28]The Women's College affiliated with Delaware College at Newark, the State College for men, was opened in September, 1914.
[29]The History is indebted to Miss Winifred Morris, secretary of the State Equal Suffrage Association, for much of the material in this story of the effort for ratification.
[29]The History is indebted to Miss Winifred Morris, secretary of the State Equal Suffrage Association, for much of the material in this story of the effort for ratification.
While the women in the District of Columbia rejoiced with those in the States over the successful end of the long, hard fight for the Federal Suffrage Amendment their joy was tempered by the fact that they still had before them a struggle for an amendment which would enfranchise the residents of the District—one really for equal suffrage, men and women alike being without the vote. The Congress itself now has entire jurisdiction, each branch appointing a committee for the purpose.
The district is a municipal corporation, administered by a Board of three commissioners, two of whom are appointed by the President of the United States from civil life, confirmed by the Senate, the third being detailed by him from the engineer corps of the army. The argument for the citizen's franchise is that representation in Congress for the residents of the District would only give them a voice in the governing body without impairing the "exclusive jurisdiction" given to Congress by the National Constitution. It has a population greater than six of the States and pays taxes in excess of twenty-two States—each of which has two Senators and Representatives based on its population. Local self-government also is advocated by some residents but the majority are behind the movement to obtain representation in Congress and the vote for presidential electors. From the time this matter was first agitated the woman suffrage association of the District has insisted that women should have the same rights granted to men.
Although the suffragists of the District had no hope of enfranchisement from the Federal Amendment, nevertheless their interest in the cause never flagged and they gave freely of their time and money to aid the movement for it. From 1869 to1895 they assisted every year the convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association in Washington, and afterwards whenever it was held in this city. Its great celebration of Miss Susan B. Anthony's 80th birthday in February, 1900, gave a new impetus to the cause. The various societies had been organized in 1898 into the District of Columbia State Equal Suffrage Association, corresponding to those in the various States. The old parent society formed in 1868 and the first Junior Club were augmented by the Political Study Club organized in 1900, to study the origin, growth and government of cities and later agitating the question of placing women on boards of charities, schools, etc.; by the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Club, organized in 1901, to take up the study of general taxation, methods of carrying on the public schools, tariff, finance and city government; by the College Equal Suffrage League, organized in 1909 and doing excellent work, and in 1916 by the Anthony League, organized in 1911 primarily for suffrage, but taking up civic affairs. The Woman Suffrage Council was formed from these societies in 1914 to aid the Congressional Committee of the National Association at its branch headquarters in Washington. The name was afterwards changed to Equal Franchise League when it was decided to keep the organization intact for the purpose of working for suffrage in the district. Mrs. Glenna Smith Tinnin was the first chairman, followed by Mrs. George A. Mosshart and Mrs. Louis Brownlow.
The D. C. State Association held regular meetings about four times a year and some special sessions. It kept the woman suffrage sentiment active and was responsible for a great deal of progressive work. The following served as presidents: Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall, 1898; Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson, 1899; Mrs. Carrie E. Kent, 1900; Mrs. Tindall, 1901; Mrs. Kent, 1902-3; Mrs. Mary L. Talbott, 1904-5; Mrs. Jessie Waite Wright, 1906-7-8; Miss Harriette J. J. Hifton, 1909-10; Mrs. Le Droit Barber, 1911; Miss Florence Etheridge, 1912; Mrs. Nina E. Allender, 1913; Mrs. Kent, 1914; Miss Mary O'Toole, 1915 to 1920.[31]
A number of prominent women in the District were officers of the local suffrage clubs and worked under their auspices, being connected through them with the D. C. State Association. A part of the program of the latter in 1904-5 was a study of Fisk's Civil Government of the United States, Laws affecting Women and Children, taxation and other subjects of public interest. There was also discussion of bills before Congress of special interest to women and the association supported those for the protection of neglected and delinquent children, compulsory education and restriction of child labor. A bill to raise the salaries of public school teachers was strongly pressed. Among those especially active were Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, Dr. Emily Young O'Brien and Mrs. Alice Stern Gitterman. Through their efforts two truant officers were appointed, one white and one colored. During this period the work was being done which led to the establishment of a Juvenile Court with one probation officer, Mrs. Charles Darwin. In 1906 and 1907 the suffragists were active in agitating for women on the Board of Education and succeeded in having two white women and one colored woman appointed, as well as thirty women supervisors of the public playgrounds. In 1908, also as a direct result of the efforts of Mrs. Helen Rand Tindall and other members of the association, two public comfort stations were built at a cost of $35,000, with bath, rest rooms and all sanitary conveniences, the first inthe city. The association and the College Equal Suffrage League sent representatives to a hearing before the Commissioners to ask that if a referendum on the excise question should be taken women should have a vote as well as men. In 1909 the association assisted in the petition work of the national organization and paid the secretary who was in charge of their headquarters in Washington for keeping them open evenings. Under the auspices of the association lectures were given by Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst and Mrs. Ethel Snowdon of England.
In 1910 at a hearing granted to the National Association by the Judiciary Committee of Congress the District was represented by Miss Emma M. Gillett and Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine, who overheard one of its members say that if the women really wanted suffrage they should do something more than come up there to make speeches so as to have them cheaply printed and mailed without postage. Miss Gillett, who soon afterwards was made chairman of the National Congressional Committee, was so stimulated by this remark that at her request the D. C. State Association raised $100 and she herself contributed $100 and used the fund to circularize every candidate for Congress in the 1910 campaign. She appealed through theWoman's Journalfor contributions, but only $14 were received. The circular asked seven searching questions covering all forms of woman suffrage. The answers were tabulated and sent out by the Associated Press. [SeeChapter X, Volume V.]
President Seth Low, of the National Civic Federation, called a conference in Washington Jan. 17-19, 1910, of delegates to be appointed by the Governors of States and "presidents of commercial, agricultural, manufacturing, labor, financial, professional and other bodies national in extent." The program was to include discussions of "public health, pure food regulations, uniform divorce law and discrimination against married women as to the control of their children and property." The suffragists asked the Commissioners to appoint women among the twelve delegates to represent the District, but this was not done. Mr. Low in answering Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt's criticism that women delegates had not been invited, said it had not occurred to him that women would be interested but that he would placethe name of the National Suffrage Association on the list for future calls of a like character.
This year the clergymen of Washington were circularized to ascertain their position on woman suffrage and the great field of usefulness it would offer for women in moral and social reforms was pointed out. Miss Hifton and Miss Anna C. Kelton (afterwards Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley) took charge of this work and the 129 letters they sent received only eight answers, five in favor, two non-committal, one opposed. For the first time permission was obtained from the school board to post notices of the national suffrage convention in the school buildings, Miss Anna MacLaren arranging for it.
In 1911 representatives of the association addressed many conventions in Washington and asked that resolutions favoring suffrage for women be passed. They were not successful but presented their cause. In 1912-13 the suffragists were busy among other things in agitating the question of having a woman as Juvenile Court Judge. President Taft practically promised the appointment, but the male incumbent was allowed to hold over another year. A meeting of women lawyers was held and a committee appointed to call on Attorney General Wickersham to urge the name of Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, then Dean of the Washington College of Law. She was endorsed by several thousand men and women, over six hundred of whom were teachers in the public schools and familiar with Mrs. Mussey's excellent work on the Board of Education, but no woman was appointed. (In 1918 Miss Kathryn Sellers, president of the College Women's Equal Suffrage League, was appointed by President Wilson.)
On March 3, the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, for the first time women marched on Pennsylvania Avenue. The parade was arranged by the Congressional Committee of the National Association, of which Miss Alice Paul was chairman. Objection being made by Superintendent of Police Sylvester to giving a permit, the women appealed to the Senate Committee for the District on the ground that as citizens and tax-payers they had the right to use the avenue, and a joint resolution was passed by Congress granting it. Adequatepolice protection, however, was not given, indeed some of the police themselves hooted and jeered with the mob which attacked the paraders. Doubtless it was composed of persons who had come from outside to the inauguration. It took three hours to march the mile from the Peace Monument to the Treasury, where tableaux were given on the steps. Finally it was necessary to call the troops from Fort Myer. The Senate ordered an investigation and the Police Superintendent resigned. It was said that this parade won thousands of friends for the cause of woman suffrage.
This year the Congressional Union was organized to work in the District and the States solely for the Federal Suffrage Amendment, with Miss Paul chairman, Miss Lucy Burns, Mrs. Crystal Eastman, Mrs. Mary Beard and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis the other officers. It had its own headquarters and was not affiliated with the National American Association.
In 1914 the suffragists protested again, this time to the Chamber of Commerce, against a constitutional amendment sponsored by it to enfranchise the residents of the District, because it did not definitely state that women should be included. This protest was also taken up in the Federation of Women's Clubs through the auxiliaries of the State Suffrage Association, which were affiliated with it. During 1915 and 1916 suffragists addressed all the civic bodies in Washington on the necessity of including women in any measure looking to the enfranchisement of the residents of the District. As a result of this continuous agitation a compromise was reached to hold the question in abeyance until a constitutional amendment was passed enabling Congress to grant suffrage to the District. The association as usual participated in commemorating the birthdays of Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony and placed wreaths on the bust of Lincoln in the rotunda of the Capitol. It joined in the contest with the school board which tried to exclude married women as teachers.
During the closing years of the long campaign for woman suffrage street meetings were held. Among those who helped in this work were Mrs. Frank Hiram Snell, Miss Florence F. Stiles, Miss Elizabeth Eggert, Miss O'Toole and Miss Sellers. Receptions were given to the "yellow flier," the automobile sentacross the continent by the National Association, and to the "prairie schooner," the car sent by the Just Government League of Maryland to tour its southern counties. Miss O'Toole travelled with the "schooner" two weeks, speaking several times a day. A delegation from the College League met it at the District line and a procession accompanied it into the city under police escort. In the evening a public reception was given at the Washington College of Law. From 1916 the association assisted the National Association at its new headquarters, 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, by serving tea afternoons and raising money through bazaars, rummage sales, card parties, etc.
During 1918 all the suffrage societies in the District devoted their energies to war work and co-operated in every possible way with the Woman's Committee of National Defense, whose headquarters were in Washington, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw chairman. They rejoiced in the submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Congress in 1919 and its ratification in 1920, although notwithstanding their many years of loyalty and assistance to the National Association they could receive no benefit from the victory.
More women hold office in Washington than in any city in the world because of their very extensive employment by the National Government. When Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage was written in 1900 an official statement gave the total number of government employees in the District as 20,109 men, 7,496 women, a total of 27,600. At the request of Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, a vice-president of the National Woman Suffrage Association and a member of the U. S. Civil Service Commission, the following information was sent in 1920 to be used in this volume, by the president of the commission, Martin A. Morrison:
In 1907 the Bureau of the Census issued a report in which it was stated that men outnumbered women in the Government service by about eleven to one in Washington, D. C., and outside. The percentage of women in the District was much larger than outside for the reason that the great bulk of the employees in field branches are in services the duties of which are not ordinarily performed by women—the mechanical forces at navy yards, ordnance establishments, engineer departments, reclamation service projects, lighthouseservice and the like; also the letter-carriers, city and rural, railway mail clerks and such classes.It is believed that the proportion of women to men in the entire service did not change materially until the beginning of the war. When the United States entered the war, there were approximately 38,000 employees in the executive civil service in the District of Columbia, approximately two-fifths of them women. The force was increased by 80,000 during the war, of whom approximately 75 per cent were women. The force has now been reduced to about 90,000, of whom approximately 50,000 are women. The proportion of women is being constantly reduced by the return of former soldiers and sailors to civilian employment, who are allowed preference under the law. The Federal Civil Service outside the District of Columbia increased by approximately 280,000 during the war period, possibly one-third of this increase made up of women. That force numbers now about 550,000 as compared with 450,000 before the war and it seems safe to say that twenty per cent. are women.These positions are open to any who pass the civil service examinations but the chiefs of the bureaus and departments are appointed by the President, and Secretaries of Departments, and they have always been men. Men have succeeded also in getting the highly paid positions under civil service.
In 1907 the Bureau of the Census issued a report in which it was stated that men outnumbered women in the Government service by about eleven to one in Washington, D. C., and outside. The percentage of women in the District was much larger than outside for the reason that the great bulk of the employees in field branches are in services the duties of which are not ordinarily performed by women—the mechanical forces at navy yards, ordnance establishments, engineer departments, reclamation service projects, lighthouseservice and the like; also the letter-carriers, city and rural, railway mail clerks and such classes.
It is believed that the proportion of women to men in the entire service did not change materially until the beginning of the war. When the United States entered the war, there were approximately 38,000 employees in the executive civil service in the District of Columbia, approximately two-fifths of them women. The force was increased by 80,000 during the war, of whom approximately 75 per cent were women. The force has now been reduced to about 90,000, of whom approximately 50,000 are women. The proportion of women is being constantly reduced by the return of former soldiers and sailors to civilian employment, who are allowed preference under the law. The Federal Civil Service outside the District of Columbia increased by approximately 280,000 during the war period, possibly one-third of this increase made up of women. That force numbers now about 550,000 as compared with 450,000 before the war and it seems safe to say that twenty per cent. are women.
These positions are open to any who pass the civil service examinations but the chiefs of the bureaus and departments are appointed by the President, and Secretaries of Departments, and they have always been men. Men have succeeded also in getting the highly paid positions under civil service.
No law excludes women from the District offices. There are, of course, no elections. Some officials are appointed by the President, some by the Commissioners, and the Supreme Court of the District appoints the Board of Education, three of whose members must be women. In 1920 President Wilson appointed Miss Kathryn Sellers, a member of the District bar, to be Judge of the Juvenile Court. This was largely due to the efforts of Justice William Hitz, of the District Supreme Court. The President appointed also Mrs. Clara Sears Taylor a member of the Rent Commission, created to consider rent problems growing out of the war, and Miss Mabel T. Boardman as Commissioner of the District. The Commissioners appointed two women trustees of the public library. Formerly it was necessary to make an effort to get women on the boards of charities, hospitals, etc., but now such places are seeking the women. Within the past ten years many women graduates of the law schools have been appointed as law clerks in various departments, War Risk, Treasury, especially the income and customs divisions, and in the Solicitor's office for the State Department. The Interior Department appointed Miss Florence Etheridge, at one time president of the D. C. State Equal Suffrage Association,probate attorney for the Cherokee Indians. Miss Marie K. Saunders was the first woman appointed patent examiner, as the result of a competitive examination, and she has been advanced until the next step is that of principal examiner. Women hold important positions as secretaries of committees at the Capitol.
The Board of Commissioners appoint the Superintendent of Police and under Major Raymond J. Pullman a Woman's Bureau was established in 1918, after several women had been serving on the force. Mrs. Marian C. Spingarn was made director. When she left Washington the following year Mrs. Mina C. Van Winkle was appointed and continues to hold the position. To give her power she was made Detective Sergeant and in 1920 was promoted to a Lieutenancy, so that she might legally be in command of a precinct where the Woman's Bureau is on the first floor of the house of detention and the preventive and protective work for women and children is directed. The functions of this bureau are very wide and very important and the work of the women police covers the entire city.
The national appointments of women have attracted the attention not only of this but of other countries. They began in 1912 with the selection of Miss Julia C. Lathrop of Hull House, Chicago, by President Taft as Chief of the newly created Federal Children's Bureau, which position she still holds (1920). President Wilson appointed Mrs. Frances C. Axtell in 1916 a member of the Federal Employees' Compensation Commission; in 1920 Mrs. Helen H. Gardener a member of the Civil Service Commission; Mrs. Annette A. Adams, U. S. Attorney in San Francisco, Assistant Attorney General; Miss Mary Anderson, chief of the Women's Division of the Department of Labor.
FOOTNOTES:[30]The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Mary O'Toole, attorney and counsellor at law, president of the District of Columbia State Equal Suffrage Association from 1915 to 1920, when the Federal Amendment was ratified. Appointed Judge of the Municipal Court by President Harding, Aug. 4, 1921.[31]Vice-presidents: Justice Wendell P. Stafford, Commissioner Henry B. F. McFarland, Dr. William Tindall, Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs. Philander P. Claxton, Mrs. Wesley, M. Stoner, Mrs. Anna E. Hendley, Miss Helen Jamison, Miss Gertrude Metcalf, Miss Catharine L. Fleming, Miss Annie Goebel, Miss Bertha A. Yoder, Mrs. C. C. Farrar, Dr. Margaret S. Potter, Mrs. Monroe Hopkins, Mrs. Caleb Miller, Mrs. Henry Churchill Cooke, Mrs. Ruth B. Hensey, Mrs. George Easement. There were few years when Dr. and Mrs. Tindall did not occupy some official position.Corresponding secretaries: Miss Henrietta Morrison, Mrs. B. B. Cheshire, Mrs. Jennie L. Monroe, Mrs. L. M. Coope, Mrs. Ida Finley McCrille, Miss Lavinia H. Engle, Miss Abbie R. Knapp, Miss Helen M. Calkins, Francis Scott, Mrs. Rachel Ezekiel, Mrs. Edna V. Bryan.Recording secretaries: Miss Emma M. Gillett (8 years), Miss Mary H. Williams, Mrs. Jeannette M. Bradley, Miss Josephine Mason, Mrs. Sarah Newman, Mrs. Louis Ottenberg.Treasurers: Mrs. Kate Ward Burt (5 years), W. G. Steward, Mrs. Alice P. Rand. Mrs. Kent served in some official capacity from 1898 until her death in 1918.Auditors: George A. Warren, Miss Edith Harris, William Lee, Mrs. R. G. Whiting, Mrs. F. M. Gregory, Mrs. Jessica Penn Hunter, Miss Audrey Goss, Mrs. L. Aveihle, Miss Alice Jenkins, Mrs. Jeanne F. Brackett, Mrs. Sarah Beall, Mrs. Frank Pyle. Many of the above named also filled other offices.Among the names which appear in the records of the years as chairmen of committees, in addition to many of the above, are those of Miss Helen Varick Boswell, Dr. Clara McNaughton, Miss Nettie Lovisa White, Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine and Miss Abby T. Nicholls.
[30]The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Mary O'Toole, attorney and counsellor at law, president of the District of Columbia State Equal Suffrage Association from 1915 to 1920, when the Federal Amendment was ratified. Appointed Judge of the Municipal Court by President Harding, Aug. 4, 1921.
[30]The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Mary O'Toole, attorney and counsellor at law, president of the District of Columbia State Equal Suffrage Association from 1915 to 1920, when the Federal Amendment was ratified. Appointed Judge of the Municipal Court by President Harding, Aug. 4, 1921.
[31]Vice-presidents: Justice Wendell P. Stafford, Commissioner Henry B. F. McFarland, Dr. William Tindall, Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs. Philander P. Claxton, Mrs. Wesley, M. Stoner, Mrs. Anna E. Hendley, Miss Helen Jamison, Miss Gertrude Metcalf, Miss Catharine L. Fleming, Miss Annie Goebel, Miss Bertha A. Yoder, Mrs. C. C. Farrar, Dr. Margaret S. Potter, Mrs. Monroe Hopkins, Mrs. Caleb Miller, Mrs. Henry Churchill Cooke, Mrs. Ruth B. Hensey, Mrs. George Easement. There were few years when Dr. and Mrs. Tindall did not occupy some official position.Corresponding secretaries: Miss Henrietta Morrison, Mrs. B. B. Cheshire, Mrs. Jennie L. Monroe, Mrs. L. M. Coope, Mrs. Ida Finley McCrille, Miss Lavinia H. Engle, Miss Abbie R. Knapp, Miss Helen M. Calkins, Francis Scott, Mrs. Rachel Ezekiel, Mrs. Edna V. Bryan.Recording secretaries: Miss Emma M. Gillett (8 years), Miss Mary H. Williams, Mrs. Jeannette M. Bradley, Miss Josephine Mason, Mrs. Sarah Newman, Mrs. Louis Ottenberg.Treasurers: Mrs. Kate Ward Burt (5 years), W. G. Steward, Mrs. Alice P. Rand. Mrs. Kent served in some official capacity from 1898 until her death in 1918.Auditors: George A. Warren, Miss Edith Harris, William Lee, Mrs. R. G. Whiting, Mrs. F. M. Gregory, Mrs. Jessica Penn Hunter, Miss Audrey Goss, Mrs. L. Aveihle, Miss Alice Jenkins, Mrs. Jeanne F. Brackett, Mrs. Sarah Beall, Mrs. Frank Pyle. Many of the above named also filled other offices.Among the names which appear in the records of the years as chairmen of committees, in addition to many of the above, are those of Miss Helen Varick Boswell, Dr. Clara McNaughton, Miss Nettie Lovisa White, Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine and Miss Abby T. Nicholls.
[31]Vice-presidents: Justice Wendell P. Stafford, Commissioner Henry B. F. McFarland, Dr. William Tindall, Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley, Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs. Philander P. Claxton, Mrs. Wesley, M. Stoner, Mrs. Anna E. Hendley, Miss Helen Jamison, Miss Gertrude Metcalf, Miss Catharine L. Fleming, Miss Annie Goebel, Miss Bertha A. Yoder, Mrs. C. C. Farrar, Dr. Margaret S. Potter, Mrs. Monroe Hopkins, Mrs. Caleb Miller, Mrs. Henry Churchill Cooke, Mrs. Ruth B. Hensey, Mrs. George Easement. There were few years when Dr. and Mrs. Tindall did not occupy some official position.
Corresponding secretaries: Miss Henrietta Morrison, Mrs. B. B. Cheshire, Mrs. Jennie L. Monroe, Mrs. L. M. Coope, Mrs. Ida Finley McCrille, Miss Lavinia H. Engle, Miss Abbie R. Knapp, Miss Helen M. Calkins, Francis Scott, Mrs. Rachel Ezekiel, Mrs. Edna V. Bryan.
Recording secretaries: Miss Emma M. Gillett (8 years), Miss Mary H. Williams, Mrs. Jeannette M. Bradley, Miss Josephine Mason, Mrs. Sarah Newman, Mrs. Louis Ottenberg.
Treasurers: Mrs. Kate Ward Burt (5 years), W. G. Steward, Mrs. Alice P. Rand. Mrs. Kent served in some official capacity from 1898 until her death in 1918.
Auditors: George A. Warren, Miss Edith Harris, William Lee, Mrs. R. G. Whiting, Mrs. F. M. Gregory, Mrs. Jessica Penn Hunter, Miss Audrey Goss, Mrs. L. Aveihle, Miss Alice Jenkins, Mrs. Jeanne F. Brackett, Mrs. Sarah Beall, Mrs. Frank Pyle. Many of the above named also filled other offices.
Among the names which appear in the records of the years as chairmen of committees, in addition to many of the above, are those of Miss Helen Varick Boswell, Dr. Clara McNaughton, Miss Nettie Lovisa White, Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine and Miss Abby T. Nicholls.
With the removal from the State of Mrs. Ella C. Chamberlain in 1897 and no one found to take the leadership, the cause of woman suffrage, which was represented only by the one society at her home in Tampa, languished for years. In 1907 John Schnarr, a prominent business man of Orlando, circulated a petition to Congress for a Federal Suffrage Amendment which was sent down by the National Association and obtained numerous signatures. It is interesting to note that, from the beginning of the suffrage movement in Florida, men as well as women have been its active supporters.
As the years passed and the movement waxed strong throughout the country and important victories were won, the women of Florida imbibed the spirit of their day and generation. It became a frequent topic of discussion and women in various places began to realize the need of organization. On June 15, 1912, the Equal Franchise League was organized at Jacksonville in the home of Mrs. Herbert Anderson by herself and Mrs. Katherine Livingstone Eagan, with about thirty ladies present. Monthly meetings were held in a room in a large new office building given them for headquarters by the owners and forty-five members were enrolled. Mrs. Eagan, the president, soon went to Paris and her duties fell upon the vice-president, Mrs. Roselle C. Cooley; the secretary, Miss Frances Anderson, and the other officers. In the autumn two leading suffragists, who were attending the National Child Labor Convention, were invited to address the League, but neither the Board of Trade nor the Woman's Club would rent its auditorium for a suffrage meeting, so they had to open a door between their headquarters and an adjoining room and a large audience was present. Theleague affiliated with the National American Suffrage Association, which the next year sent a field worker to help in legislative work. In 1914 it published a special edition ofThe State, which was put into the hands of all the Florida members of Congress and the Legislature. Mrs. Medill McCormick, chairman of the National Congressional Committee, sent one of the national workers, Miss Lavinia Engle, to assist. This year Mr. Heard, president of the Heard National Bank, gave the league the use of a large front room on its first office floor.
On Feb. 13, 1913, the Political Equality Club of Lake Helen was formed with Mrs. S. A. Armstrong president and Mrs. Irene Adams secretary. On the 27th the Equal Suffrage League of Orlando was organized with the Rev. Mary A. Safford president, and in October the first demand for suffrage was made here. The Mayor issued a notice that all freeholders must register for the sewerage bond election by the 9th, and a few suffragists saw their opportunity. Very secretly and hurriedly, before the Mayor could get word of it and give notice that the election was meant for men only, Miss Emma Hainer and Mrs. Helen Starbuck gathered together several women who owned valuable property and they went to the city clerk's office and announced that they had come in response to the Mayor's call to register for the coming election. He referred them to the Mayor, who referred them to the Council, which referred them to the city attorney. He told them that the law did not permit women to register. This they knew, but their action caused a discussion of the question and disclosed a widespread belief that women should have the right to vote.
At a meeting of the executive board of the Orlando league in the home of Mrs. J. C. Patterson April 21 the question of forming a State Association was earnestly considered and Miss Safford was requested to prepare a "call" for this purpose. Soon afterwards she and Mrs. Starbuck were sent to Tallahassee by the league to aid the suffrage work being done in the Legislature. Here the great need of a State organization was very apparent, as legislators constantly asked, "Where are the suffragists from my district?"
During the summer through conversation with interestedsuffragists and correspondence with Mrs. Cooley, president of the Jacksonville league, arrangements were made for calling a convention to organize a State association at Orlando at the time of the meeting of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. This took place Nov. 4, 1913, Miss Safford was chairman, Mrs. Isabel Stanley secretary of the convention and addresses were made by women from half a dozen towns. A committee was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws which reported at an adjourned meeting on the 6th, when they were adopted and the following officers for the State Equal Suffrage Association were elected: President, Miss Safford, Orlando; first vice-president, Mrs. C. J. Huber, Webster; second, Mrs. Ella Chamberlain, Tampa; third, Miss Caroline Brevard, Tallahassee; corresponding secretary, Miss Elizabeth Askew, Tampa; recording secretary, Miss Frances B. Anderson, Jacksonville; treasurer, Mrs. John Schnarr, Orlando; auditors, Mrs. Anna Andrus, Miami, and Mrs. J. M. Thayer, Orlando.
In 1914 Miss Safford published a bulletin, showing that the State Association had auxiliaries in Jacksonville, Lake Helen, Orlando, Zellwood, Pine Castle, Winter Park, Pensacola, Milton, Miami, Tampa, and a Men's Equal Suffrage League in Orlando with Mayor E. F. Sperry as president and Justin Van Buskirk as secretary. Miss Kate M. Gordon, president of the Southern Woman's Suffrage Conference, had held a successful meeting in Jacksonville. The Orlando League had had a float in the trades' parade of the midwinter fair and a booth at the fair where the names of voters in favor of submitting a State suffrage amendment were obtained. It had had "teas" for replenishing the treasury and closed the year with a banquet complimentary to the Men's League. A committee was preparing a program on the laws of the State for the next year's work. The Pensacola league was arranging to issue a special edition of theJournaland have a booth at the tri-county fair. Most of the leagues had formed classes to study history and the duties of citizenship and had distributed literature and some of them had held a celebration on May 2, as the National Association had requested.
The first annual convention, held at Pensacola, Dec. 8-10, 1914, stressed the pledging of candidates for Congress andLegislature and securing signatures to petitions. The second, at Orlando, Feb. 3, 1915, formed congressional districts, according to the plan of the National Association. The third, at Miami, March 15-16, 1916, arranged for suffrage schools and planned to assist work outside the State. The fourth, at Tampa, Nov. 20, 1917, found the members busy with war work. The fifth, at Daytona, Nov. 19, 1918, planned to introduce a bill for Primary suffrage in the Legislature and co-operate with the Federation of Women's Clubs to secure it. The sixth, at Tampa, Oct. 30-31, 1919, was devoted to plans for ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment and citizenship.
While the State association could show no definite accomplishment, its work had been largely educational and a considerable public sentiment in favor of woman suffrage had been created. Its organization and growth center about the name of the Rev. Mary Augusta Safford, a pioneer worker in the suffrage cause in several States. She came in 1905 to make Florida her home from Des Moines, Iowa, where she had been pastor of the Unitarian church for eleven years. Her energy, enthusiasm and devotion carried all before her and but for her organization might have been delayed for years. For four years she was the untiring State president, then Mrs. Frank Stranahan served in 1917, Miss Safford again in 1918. The following, in addition to those elsewhere mentioned, are among those prominent in the suffrage work in the State: Mrs. A. E. McDavid, Miss Minnie Kehoe, Pensacola; Mrs. Susan B. Dyer, Winter Park; Mrs. H. W. Thompson, Miss C. H. Day, Milton; Mrs. S. V. Moore, Cocoanut Grove; Mrs. Kate C. Havens, Miami; Miss Pleasaunce Baker, Zellwood; Mrs. Grace Hanchett, Orlando.
From its beginning the association worked for the Federal Suffrage Amendment, although it tried also to obtain from the Legislature the submission of a State amendment to the voters. In 1915 Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the national president, assisted Miss Safford and the other workers in holding conventions in several congressional districts. Many local meetings were held, much literature distributed, resolutions secured and legislators interviewed. The Federation of Women's Clubs, the largest organization of women in the State, endorsed the movement.In 1916 Miss Safford went for a month to assist the campaign in Iowa, to which the association sent $100, and the vice-president, Mrs. Frank Tracy, directed the State work. New leagues were formed, delegates to the national presidential conventions were interviewed and Florida women attended those in Chicago and St. Louis. Dr. Shaw was present at the State convention where 550 members were reported and the distribution of 750 packages of literature. A series of meetings was held in cooperation with the Congressional Committee of the National Association and work in the Legislature was done.
By 1918 a number of counties had been organized and the State convention, encouraged by the granting of Primary suffrage to women in Arkansas and Texas, decided to make this its legislative work for 1919, and plans were made to raise $5,000 through local conferences. A State organizer was put into the field and the National Association sent its recording secretary, Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson, a trained worker, to assist the State organization. In January, 1919, Dr. Shaw attended a conference at Orlando and $1,000 were raised; later at a conference in Tampa, $198 and at one in Miami and West Palm Beach $260. Miss Elizabeth Skinner was appointed State organizer and the National Association sent one of its most capable organizers, Mrs. Maria McMahon. The 38 county chairmen had obtained nearly 2,500 signatures to petitions to the Legislature and an active campaign was undertaken for Primary suffrage.
In January, 1919, the National Association's Congressional Committee sent its secretary, Mrs. Minnie Fisher Cunningham of Arkansas, and its press secretary, Miss Marjorie Shuler of New York, to spend several weeks in a quiet campaign to influence U. S. Senator Park Trammell to cast his vote for the Federal Suffrage Amendment, this being considered useless in the case of Senator Duncan U. Fletcher. They secured newspaper comment in favor, interviews with prominent people and resolutions from conventions, but these had no effect. At the annual convention in October the following officers were elected: President, Mrs. John T. Fuller, Orlando; first vice-president, Mrs. Edgar A. Lewis, Fort Pierce; second, Miss Elizabeth Skinner, Dunedin; third, Dr. Minerva B. Cushman, St. Petersburg;corresponding secretary, Mrs. W. R. O'Neal, Orlando; recording secretary, Mrs. C. E. Hawkins, Brooksville; treasurer, Mrs. Clara B. Worthington, Tampa; auditors, Mrs. J. W. McCollum, Mrs. J. D. Stringfellow, Gainesville; Legislative Committee, Mrs. Amos Norris, chairman, Tampa. A memorial meeting was held for Dr. Shaw, who had died July 2.
The annual meeting in 1920 took place in Orlando. Mrs. Fuller was re-elected and plans for extensive work were made but the association was not quite ready to merge into a League of Women Voters. This was done April 1, 1921, and Mrs. J. B. O'Hara was elected chairman.
Legislative Action. Before the State Association was organized the Equal Franchise League of Jacksonville decided to ask the Legislature, which met in April, 1913, to submit to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution. A bill was prepared and an appeal for assistance made to the National American Association. In response it sent its very capable field worker, Miss Jeannette Rankin, who went with the executive officers of the league to Tallahassee. Its president, Mrs. Roselle C. Cooley, said in her report: "The House of Representatives decided to hear us in a Committee of the Whole, at an evening session. In this case it meant the whole House, the whole Senate and the whole town. Seats, aisles, the steps of the Speaker's rostrum were filled, windows had people sitting in them and in the hall as far as one could see people were standing on chairs to hear the first call for the rights of women ever uttered in the Capitol of Florida. Four women and three men spoke, the vote of the committee was publicly called at the close of the speaking and the bill passed into the House of Representatives without recommendation. Weary days and weeks of waiting, time wasted on petty legislation, members going home for week-ends and not returning for Monday work kept us still anxious. At length the bill was called and the vote was 26 ayes to 38 noes.
"As we were leaving for our homes on Saturday evening a Senator said: 'If you will come into the Senate we will show those men how to treat ladies.' So we went back on Monday and were fortunate in having for our sponsor Senator Cone ofColumbia county, the leader of the Senate. He took up our bill, placed it on the special calendar and advised us in our procedure, the bill having come into the Senate with favorable recommendation from the committee. Again the weary waiting, the petty legislation, the filibustering of the 'corporation' members and the whisky men, and at last a motion to postpone indefinitely was carried by one majority, 15 to 16, the sixteenth man being one who had been with us from the first until this moment."
The Legislature meets every two years and in 1915 the State association, which had now sixteen well organized branches, was sponsor for the bill, or resolution, and a large number of legislators had promised their support. Hearings were granted by both Houses, but it was defeated.
In 1917 strenuous efforts were again made in behalf of a State constitutional amendment. Mrs. William Jennings Bryan, who now had a winter home in Florida, was among those who addressed the Legislature in favor of it, and on April 23 the resolution to submit the amendment passed the Senate by 23 to 7. The struggle was then begun in the House but the corporate and liquor interests combined with the non-progressive character of many of the members accomplished its defeat.
In April, 1919, the State Federation of Women's Clubs, which now had a suffrage chairman, co-operated with the State Equal Suffrage Association in the effort to obtain a Primary Suffrage Bill, such as had been passed by the Legislatures of Arkansas and Texas. Mrs. McMahon, a national organizer, and Miss Skinner did organizing and legislative work from March 6 to April 22. The former was sent to work for Presidential suffrage, but the State Board believed that Primary suffrage had a better chance. This, however, met with so much opposition that it was never brought up. The moment the Federal Amendment was submitted by Congress a delegation of women—Mrs. Frank Stranahan, chairman of the Legislative Committee; Dr. Safford, Mrs. W. S. Jennings, Mrs. Edgar A. Lewis—went to Tallahassee to try to have the Legislature ratify it, arriving one day before adjournment. They quickly canvassed the members and found a small majority willing to vote for it but there wasno time. Governor Sidney J. Catts could have called a special session for the next day but insisted that there was no assurance of ratification, as some of the men listed as favorable were in the habit of changing their vote, and he did not want to put the members on record. Some of them who were alleged to be supporters declared that they would not stay over even for one day. It was impossible to persuade the Governor to call a special session at any time afterwards, but in 1920 Florida women were enfranchised by this amendment.
Suffrage. By special acts of the Legislature, charters were granted to various cities giving Municipal suffrage to women and the voters accepted them. Sixteen towns had such a charter: Felsmere, Aurantia, Cocoa, Orange City, Deland, West Palm Beach, Delray, Florence Villa (where Dr. Anna Howard Shaw had a winter home for a number of years), Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Moore Haven, Orlando, Clearwater, Dunedin, St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs. Felsmere was the pioneer, receiving its charter in 1915.