The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V

by Unknown

NATIONAL COLLEGE EQUAL SUFFRAGE LEAGUE.

While Miss Maud Wood of Boston was a senior in Radcliffe College her attention was directed to woman suffrage by the efforts of its women opponents in Cambridge to enlist the college girls on their side. Later, hearing a speech in favor of it by Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, she associated herself with the Massachusetts Suffrage Association, spoke at its next annual convention and was drawn into its work. After hearing and meeting Miss Susan B. Anthony she felt a deeper obligation of service to the cause for which Miss Anthony and her associates had sacrificed so much and she thought that college women especially should pay their debt to those who had made their education possible by helping them fight the battle for woman suffrage. In 1900, with the help of Mrs. Inez Haynes Gillmore, also a Radcliffe student, Miss Wood, now Mrs. Park, founded the Massachusetts College Equal Suffrage League and steps were at once taken to form leagues in other States. In 1906 the National American Woman Suffrage Association held its annual convention in Baltimore and under the auspices of Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr, there occurred that remarkable "college women's evening," when before an audience that filled the theater women professors from the largest Colleges for Women in the United States paid their tributes to Miss Anthony and announced their allegiance to her cause.

It was decided at this meeting that there ought to be a national association of college women, the first steps toward it were taken, and Mrs. Park was appointed to organize leagues in the States. In 1908 a Call was sent out signed by Dr. Thomas, President Mary E. Woolley of Mt. Holyoke College: Miss Mary E. Garrett, a founder of the Johns Hopkins Medical School; Mrs. Elsie Clews Parsons, Ph.D. of Barnard College; Miss Caroline E. Lexow (Barnard), president of the New York College Equal Suffrage League, and Miss Florence Garvin of the Rhode Island League, to meet for organization. The time and place selected were during the annual convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Buffalo, N. Y., October 15-21. By this time College Leagues had been formed in fifteen States extending across the country to California. On October 17, in the beautiful club house of the Woman's Twentieth Century Club, with delegates present from most of these States, the National College League was organized with the following officers: President, Dr. Thomas; Professor Sophonisba Breckinridge of Chicago University at the head of a list of five vice-presidents; secretary, Miss Lexow; treasurer, Dr. Margaret Long (Smith) of Denver; Mrs. Park was made chairman of the organization committee. The purpose of the league was announced to be "to promote equal suffrage sentiment among college women and men both before and after graduation." It became auxiliary to the National Association and its annual conventions were to be held at the same time and place as those of the association. In its early existence office space was given in the national suffrage headquarters in New York City.

For the next nine years this National College League was a vital force in the movement for woman suffrage. It soon had the largest voting delegation at the national suffrage conventions except that of New York. Dr. Thomas remained its president and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw its honorary vice-president. Miss Martha Gruening and Miss Florence Allen (now Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Cleveland, O.), were secretaries, and from 1914 Mrs. Ethel Puffer Howes (Smith) of New York City. Organizers were sent throughout the States to form new leagues and lecturers of note were engaged to address league meetings. Among the latter were Professor Frances Squire Potter of the University of Minnesota; Dr. B. O. Aylesworth and Mrs. Helen Loring Grenfell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Colorado; Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman of New York and Mrs. Philip Snowden of England. Dr. Shaw spoke a number of times. In 1915 a lecture tour among the colleges was arranged for Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst. Literature and letters were sent to colleges and to graduates. In 1914, for instance, twenty colleges in New York State were supplied and letters were sent to a thousand graduates in New Jersey, campaigns being in progress in those States. During the Iowa campaign in 1916 the colleges of that State received 12,000 leaflets. Travelling libraries of twenty-five volumes relating to suffrage were circulated among the colleges. The most important achievement of an individual league was that in California in 1911. Under the presidency of Miss Charlotte Anita Whitney the work of the league of over a thousand members was a large factor in the success of the campaign for a woman suffrage amendment. In 1917, during the second New York campaign, Miss M. Louise Grant (Columbia), under the auspices of the National and State leagues, made forty-five speeches to arouse the college women, which contributed to the victory for the suffrage amendment in November.

The gaining of the franchise in this influential State made a Federal Amendment a certainty of the not distant future and in December the following official notice was sent to the branches of the National League:

At the meeting of the annual council of the National College Equal Suffrage League, held at the New Ebbitt Hotel in Washington, D. C., on Dec. 15, 1917, it was unanimously voted on recommendation of the president and executive secretary to close its work and go out of existence. The delegates present, the officers, and many other suffragists who had been consulted were of the opinion that the objects for which the league was originally organized had been fully attained and that there was no reason for it to continue its work as a separate suffrage organization....

At the time when the league began its work the subject of suffrage could scarcely be mentioned in gatherings of college students and college faculties and was forbidden even as a topic for discussion in the annual conventions of the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ, but in the nine years that have elapsed since then an overwhelming change of opinion has taken place. Many colleges in which it was planned to organize chapters have stated that there is no need for them, as practically all the members of their faculties and most of their students are already suffragists. At the last biennial convention of the Association of Collegiate Alumnæ held in Washington, D. C., in April, 1917, by a unanimous vote it not only reaffirmed its belief in woman suffrage but urged its members to win it for all American women by working for the Federal Amendment. In bringing about this revolution in educated opinion we are happy to believe that the National College Equal Suffrage League has played an important part....

There are belonging to the National League 5,000 members enrolled in over fifty State leagues and chapters and it suggests that they become "Federal Amendment Suffrage Clubs" and arrange for speakers and student debates on the amendment.... Its officers wish to make an urgent appeal to all its leagues and chapters and to every one of its individual members to put their whole force behind the drive for this amendment.... We can perform no more patriotic service for our country or for the world than to win woman suffrage while we are working with all our might to win the war.[142]

This notice contained a statement that the small dues and special gifts had never been sufficient to meet the expenses of the league and said: "With the exception of $450 lent by one of its former officers all the loans and debts of the National College League, amounting to $6,686 were paid off by its president, who stated that in thus financing its work during the past few years she believed she was making the most valuable financial contribution that she could make to the cause of woman suffrage."

FRIENDS' EQUAL RIGHTS ASSOCIATION.[143]

The Society of Friends always has held advanced views on the woman question and was for a long time the only religious body which gave women equal rights with men in the church. Women of this sect were naturally leaders in the great movement for the emancipation of women educationally, professionally and politically. Lucretia Mott stepped forth almost alone at first but soon Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone (both of Quaker ancestry) stood by her side, powerful in vision to see and will to do and dedicated to their great task.

With such heritage comes unusual responsibility, and, feeling the surge of this tremendous wave everywhere for human rights, the Society of Friends at its Biennial or General Conference (liberal branch) representing the seven Yearly Meetings of the United States and Canada—Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Genesee (western New York and Canada)—held at Chautauqua, N. Y., 8th month, 24th day, 1900, through the Union for Philanthropic Labor, created a new department to be known as Women in Government and recommended to the committees of the various Yearly Meetings that they "should work in this direction." Before the adjournment of the conference Mariana W. Chapman of Brooklyn was made superintendent of the department and the name was changed to Equal Rights for Women. This official action committed all the Yearly Meetings of this branch of Friends to the endorsement of political rights for women.

Realizing the need for increased enthusiasm and active participation in the imminent struggle for the enfranchisement of women, members of the New York Yearly Meeting organized the State Friends' Equal Rights Association, with annual membership dues to meet necessary expenses. A definite list of members was thus made, who could be called upon when opportunity for service occurred. At Westbury (Long Island) Quarterly Meeting in 1901 a proposal was approved that this association should ask to co-operate as an auxiliary with the National American Woman Suffrage Association and at the following annual convention of that body in Washington, D. C., it was represented by five delegates. In December, 1902, Mrs. Chapman, president of the New York association, addressed a meeting in Philadelphia and a branch was formed there, which in less than three months numbered about 200 members, with Susan W. Janney as president. The Baltimore Yearly Meeting quickly followed with a paid-up membership of 85, which increased the following year to 114, with Elizabeth B. Passmore president.

In 1904 the entire dues-paying membership was over 500. The New York association sent letters to members of the State Senate and Assembly bearing on woman suffrage bills and was active in all State suffrage campaigns. Much energy was devoted to public meetings and literature. The Philadelphia and Baltimore associations worked mainly along educational lines. This year the Baltimore branch sent out 4,000 leaflets—For Equal Rights. The Philadelphia association reorganized in 1905, with an enrolled instead of a paid membership. Their Yearly Meeting is a large body with a membership scattered over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland....

The associations continued their work, holding meetings and "round tables," especially at times of annual and biennial conferences, one of the most effective of these meetings being held at Saratoga in 1914, addressed by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. The subject was kept constantly under consideration by the Society of Friends at large and in local gatherings, such as monthly and quarterly meetings, where it was brought up in regular order as one of the departments of philanthropic labor or social service to be reported upon. Each branch held a meeting at the time of its Yearly Meeting. A business meeting of the whole association (branches and general membership) was always held at the Biennial Conference of the seven Yearly Meetings. Usually a fine speaker was engaged to address the conference at a public meeting numbering from 800 to 1,500. The Superintendent of the Department for Equal Rights in the General Conference was always the president of the Friends' Equal Rights Association as a whole and made the contact between the Society of Friends and the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

In 1911 Mrs. Effie L. D. McAfee, a member of the New York branch, was sent by the Friends' Equal Rights Association to the congress of the International Alliance held at Stockholm, Sweden, where, in honor of a sect so long identified with the cause of woman suffrage, she was given a place on the program and filled it most acceptably. In 1916 the Philadelphia branch returned to the regular dues-paying basis, with Rebecca Webb Holmes of Swarthmore as president. The New York branch, notwithstanding the enfranchisement of the women of that State in 1917, continued its organization in order to help the less fortunate sisters, with P. Francena Maine as president. The Illinois Yearly Meeting in 1919 added to the membership of the Friends' Equal Rights Association.

The association usually has been represented at the annual conventions of the N. A. W. S. A. Its presidents have been: Mrs. Chapman, New York; Lucy Sutton, Baltimore; Mary Bentley Thomas, Ednor, Md.; Ellen H. E. Price, Philadelphia; Anne Webb Janney, Baltimore. The specific task of the association has been to get a clear utterance on woman suffrage from the different Yearly Meetings, representing in total membership about 20,000. Invariably they have endorsed the principle and any pending legislation in favor. Affiliation with the National Association has been deeply appreciated by its members, as to be an integral part of one of the glorious world forces is a privilege not to be lightly held.

THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY CONFERENCES.[144]

For half a dozen years toward the end of the long contest for the enfranchisement of women—1912-1917 inclusive—an organization that played a considerable part in it was the Mississippi Valley Conference. From the time that the National Suffrage Association was formed in 1869 to 1895 its annual conventions were held in Washington, and from that date to 1912 nine of the seventeen were held in eastern States. Because of the expense of travel the representation of western women was very small compared to that of the eastern section of the country. All the national presidents were from the East and in order that the officers might attend board meetings and conferences most of them were eastern women. Those of the West keenly realized the need of greater opportunity of getting together, becoming acquainted, developing leadership and planning their work, as all of the suffrage campaigns at this time took place in the western States. This was felt more especially by the women of the Middle West, as many of the States in the far West had given the vote to their women.

Finally in 1912 the initiative was taken by a group of women in Chicago, headed by Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, six years president of the Illinois Suffrage Association; Miss Jane Addams, national vice president, and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, a former State and national officer, to form an organization in the central part of the country that could hold occasional conferences. They asked the presidents of the State associations in that section if they would join in a call for a meeting in Chicago for this purpose and sixteen responded in the affirmative. Mrs. Stewart, as chairman of the committee, took charge of the arrangements, assisted by Mrs. Mary R. Plummer, and prepared the program. The meeting took place in La Salle Hotel, May 21-23, with the following States represented by women prominent in the movement for woman suffrage: Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Mrs. Elvira Downey, president of the Illinois Suffrage Association, presiding. There were three sessions daily with large audiences and the Woman's Journal said: "Every session was like a great study class with teachers and students, questions, answers and discussion. It was not an occasion for a display of oratory but a practical and business-like conference." All phases of the work for suffrage were considered and especially the management of campaigns, which were now frequent. The third day a meeting was held in Milwaukee, arranged by Miss Gwendolen Brown Willis. The great need and value of such an organization was clearly apparent and the Mississippi Valley Conference was organized with Mrs. Stewart president. There was no constitution or fixed rules, it was simply decided to hold a meeting the next year and a committee to arrange for it appointed: Mrs. Stewart, chairman; Miss Kate Gordon of Louisiana and Mrs. Maud C. Stockwell of Minnesota.

The second conference met in St. Louis April 2-4, 1913, in the Buckingham Hotel, at the Call of nineteen State presidents. Mrs. George Gellhorn, president of the Missouri association, had charge of the arrangements, with a corps of committee chairmen. Mrs. Stewart presided and the conference was welcomed by Mrs. David M. O'Neil. The three daily sessions were crowded with eager, interested women. At one evening mass meeting in the Sheldon Memorial Governor Joseph K. Folk made an address. Miss Harriet E. Grim of Illinois was elected president and Mrs. Gellhorn and Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs, president of the Alabama Suffrage Association, were appointed to assist her in arranging for the next conference.

The third conference took place in Des Moines, Iowa, March 29-31, 1914, in the Savery Hotel, with the presidents of twenty State Suffrage Associations among the delegates. It opened with a mass meeting on Sunday afternoon in Berchel Theater and an overflow meeting had to be held for the hundreds who could not gain admittance. Governor George W. Clark, Miss Jane Addams, Rabbi Mannheimer, Miss Dunlap and Mrs. Stewart were the speakers. In the morning and evening most of the pulpits in the city were filled by delegates. The conference was welcomed Monday by Miss Flora Dunlap, president of the Iowa Suffrage Association and Mrs. Marie M. Carroll, president of the Des Moines Woman's Club, and at the mass meeting in the evening by Mayor James R. Hanna. Several hundred delegates were in attendance and a valuable program of work occupied the sessions. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, president of the Ohio association, was elected president and with Miss Laura Clay and Mrs. John Pyle, presidents of the Kentucky and South Dakota Suffrage Associations, was appointed to arrange for the next conference.

The fourth conference was held at Indianapolis, March 7-9, 1915, in the Hotel Claypool, with Dr. Amelia R. Keller, president of the Equal Franchise League, chairman of the committee of arrangements. It opened with a mass meeting Sunday afternoon in Murat Theater, Dr. Keller presiding. An address of welcome was made by James A. Ogden in behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, to which Mrs. Upton responded. The principal speaker was Rosika Schwimmer of Hungary, formerly an officer of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Presidents and delegates from twenty-two State Suffrage Associations carried out the usual comprehensive program. Mrs. Florence Bennett Peterson of Chicago was elected president, with Mrs. W. E. Barkley and Miss Annette Finnegan, presidents of the Nebraska and Texas Suffrage Associations, to assist in the plans for the next meeting.

The conference of 1916 met in Minneapolis, May 7-10, four days now being none too long to carry out the important program of work. Mrs. Andreas Ueland, president of the Minnesota Suffrage Association, was chairman of the large committee of arrangements. The conference opened with a mass meeting in the Auditorium Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Ueland presiding. The invocation was pronounced by Dr. Cyrus Northrop, president emeritus of the State University. The conference was welcomed by Mayor Wallace G. Nye and Mrs. Peterson responded. Professor Maria L. Sanford of the State University; president Frank Nelson of Minnesota College; Mrs. Nellie McClung of Alberta, Can.; Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the International Suffrage Alliance and the National American Association, and others made addresses. An evening mass meeting was held in St. Paul. At a banquet attended by 500 guests Dr. George E. Vincent, president of the State University, made his first declaration in favor of woman suffrage. Twenty-six States were now members of the organization and nearly all of those who took part at this time were prominent in the activities of their various States. The Woman's Journal said: "It was a magnificent and glorified Work Conference." Mrs. Peterson was continued as president and Mrs. Ueland and Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser of the Ohio Suffrage Association were placed on her committee, the latter to act as chairman for arranging the next conference.

The sixth annual meeting of what had now become an important factor in the movement for woman suffrage took place at Columbus, O., May 12-14, 1917, in Hotel Deshler. At the Sunday afternoon mass meeting in Memorial Hall, the Hon. William Littleford of Cincinnati, president of the Ohio Men's League for Woman Suffrage, was in the chair and a number of eminent men and women were on the platform. The speakers were Governor James M. Cox and Mrs. Catt. The Governor strongly endorsed the movement and pledged his support. Mrs. Catt gave a masterly review of its progress throughout the world. Twenty-one States were represented on the program. An important feature of this, as of several preceding conferences, was the reports of what women had been able to accomplish in the many States where they were now enfranchised. Organization and political action in order to carry State amendments formed the principal theme of discussion. Mrs. John R. Leighty of Kansas was elected president with Mrs. Ueland and Mrs. Grace Julian Clarke of Indianapolis on her committee to arrange for the next conference. The shadow of war rested over the meeting, yet in all the speeches was a note of victory for woman suffrage, which evidently was not far distant.

It was planned to hold the next Conference in Sioux Falls, May 26-28, 1918, as South Dakota was in the midst of an amendment campaign, but Mrs. Catt called the Executive Council of the National Association to meet at Indianapolis during the Indiana State convention April 16-18, to plan action on the Federal Amendment, which seemed near passing. This required the attendance of its members from every State and as many of them did not wish to spare the time and money for another meeting so soon the conference was given up. In 1919 the convention of the National Association was held in St. Louis and in 1920 in Chicago, which made the conference unnecessary, and then the Federal Amendment was ratified and the long contest was ended.