When she arrived in the State, April 23, none of the political conventions had been held. In co-operation with the State executive board, she at once planned the suffrage mass meetings, arranged work for the corps of speakers, pushed the district organization and made speeches herself almost every night. The National-American Association sent into the State and paid the expenses of Rev. Anna Shaw, Rev. Olympia Brown, Laura M. Johns, Mary Seymour Howell, Carrie Chapman Catt, Julia B. Nelson and Clara B. Colby.[60] It also contributed over $1,000 to the office expenses of the State committee, paid $400 to the Woman's Journal and Woman's Tribune for thousands of copies to be sent to residents of South Dakota during the campaign, and flooded the State with suffrage literature. The speakers collected altogether $1,400 in South Dakota, which went toward their expenses. California, as her contribution to the national fund, raised $1,000 through a committee consisting of Hon. George C. Perkins, Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent, Mrs. Knox Goodrich, Hon. W. H. Mills, Miss Sarah C. Severance and Dr. Alida C. Avery. This was used to pay the expenses of Matilda Hindman for eight months, as one of the campaign organizers and speakers.
As Miss Anthony was on her way to a meeting June 3, she received a telegram which sent her at once to Huron, where the annual convention of the Farmers' Alliance was in session. Upon arriving she found her information had been correct, that the Alliance and the Knights of Labor had combined forces and were about to form an independent party. She was permitted to address the convention and in the most impassioned language she begged them not to take this step, as it would be death to the woman suffrage amendment. She appealed to them in the name of their wives and daughters at home, doing double duty in order that the men might attend this convention; she reminded them of their pledges to herself and the other women to stand by the amendment, and showed them that, of themselves, they would not be strong enough to carry it, and that the Republican party, unless sustained by the Alliance, would not and could not support it. Her appeals fell upon deaf ears, and the old story was repeated—the women sacrificed to party expediency.
The Alliance of 478 delegates, at its State convention the previous year, November, 1889, after Miss Anthony's speech and after she had met with its business committee, had passed this resolution:
Resolved, That we will do all in our power to aid in woman's enfranchisement in South Dakota at the next general election, by bringing it before the local Alliances for agitation and discussion, thereby educating the masses upon the subject.
The Knights of Labor, at their annual convention in Aberdeen, January, 1890, had adopted the following:
Resolved, That the Knights of Labor, in assembly convened, do hereby declare that we will support with all our strength the amendment to the State Constitution of South Dakota, to be voted on at the next general election, giving to our wives, mothers and sisters the ballot.... We believe that giving to the women of our country the ballot is the first step towards securing those reforms for which all true Knights of Labor are striving.
This action was taken by both conventions after the amendment had been submitted, and it was intended as a pledge of support. And yet the following June these two bodies formed a new political party and refused to put a woman suffrage plank in their platform! H. L. Loucks was himself a candidate for governor on this Independent ticket, and in his annual address at this time never mentioned woman suffrage. Before adjourning, the convention passed a long resolution making seven or eight declarations, among them one that "no citizen should be disfranchised on account of sex," but, during the entire campaign, as far as their party advocacy was concerned, this question was a dead issue.[61]
The State Democratic Convention met at Aberdeen the following week, and a committee of representative Dakota women was sent to present the claims of the amendment. They were invited to seats on the platform and there listened to an address by Hon. E. W. Miller, of Parker county, land receiver of the Huron district, in which, according to the press reports, "he declared that no decent, respectable woman asked for the ballot; that the women who did so were a disgrace to their homes; that when women voted men would have to suckle the babies," and used other expressions of an indecent nature, "which were received with prolonged and vigorous cheers." (Argus-Leader, June 16, 1890.)[62] Judge Bangs, of Rapid City, who had brought in a minority report in favor of a suffrage plank, supported it in an able and dignified speech, but it was overwhelmingly voted down amidst great disorder. A large delegation of Russians came to this convention wearing great yellow badges (the brewers' color in South Dakota) lettered "Against woman suffrage and Susan B. Anthony."
The Republican State Convention met in Mitchell, August 27. A suffrage mass meeting was held the two days preceding, and every possible effort made to secure a plank in the platform. Most of the national speakers and a large body of earnest and influential South Dakota men and women were present. Rev. Anna Shaw graphically relates an incident which deserves a place in history:
When the Republicans had their State convention some of the leading men promised that we should have a plank in the platform, so we went down to see it through. We requested seats in the body of the house for our delegation, which was composed of most of the national speakers and the brainiest women in South Dakota, but we were informed there was absolutely no room for us. Finally a friend secured admission for ten on the very back of the platform, where we could neither see nor hear unless we stood on our chairs. We begged a good seat for Miss Anthony but no place could be made for her. Soon after the convention opened, an announcement was made that a delegation was waiting outside and that back of this delegation would probably be 5,000 votes. It was at once moved and seconded that they be invited in, and a committee was sent to escort them to seats on the floor of the house. In a moment it returned, followed by three big, dirty Indians in blankets and moccasins. Plenty of room for Indian men, but not a seat for American women!
We asked for a chance to address the delegates, but the chairman adjourned the convention, and then announced that we might speak during the recess. That night we went back again to the hall, and the resolution committee not being ready to report, the audience called for leading speakers, but none of them dared say a word because they did not yet know what would be in the platform. Finally when no man would respond they called for me, and I went forward and said: "Gentlemen, I am not afraid to speak, for I know what is in our platform and I know also what I want you to introduce into yours."