In the afternoon we drove some distance to a beautiful lake where Miss Anthony spoke to 1,000 men, a Farmers' Alliance picnic. When she asked how many would vote for the suffrage amendment, all was one mighty "aye," like the deep voice of the sea. That evening we spoke in the opera house in the city. While Miss Anthony was speaking a telegram for her was handed to me, and as I arose to make the closing address I gave it to her. I had just begun when she came quickly forward, put her hand on my arm and said, "Stop a moment, I want to read this telegram." It was from Washington, saying that President Harrison had signed the bill admitting Wyoming into the Union with woman suffrage in its constitution. Before she could finish reading the great audience was on its feet, cheering and waving handkerchiefs and fans. After the enthusiasm had subsided Miss Anthony made a short but wonderful speech. The very tones of her voice changed; there were ringing notes of gladness and tender ones of thankfulness. It was the first great victory of her forty years of work. She spoke as one inspired, while the audience listened for every word, some cheering, others weeping.
When Miss Anthony was starting for South Dakota she was urged not to go, through fear of the effect of such a campaign on her health. Her reply was, "Better lose me than lose a State." A grand answer from a grander woman. And this night in South Dakota we had won a State and still had Miss Anthony with us, the central figure of the suffrage movement as she was the central figure in that never-to-be-forgotten night of great rejoicing.
As very few women were able to hire help, many were obliged to bring their babies to the meetings and, before the speaking was over, the heat and confusion generally set them all to crying. Miss Anthony was very patient and always expressed much sympathy for the overworked and tired mothers. One occasion, however, was too much for her, and Anna Shaw thus describes it:
One intensely hot Sunday afternoon, a meeting was held by the side of a sod church, which had been extended by canvas coverings from the wagons. The audience crowded up as close as they could be packed to where Miss Anthony stood on a barn door laid across some boxes. A woman with a baby sat very near the edge of this improvised platform. The child grew tired and uneasy and finally began to pinch Miss Anthony's ankles. She stepped back and he immediately commenced to scream, so she stepped forward again and he resumed his pinching. She endured it as long as she could, but at last stooped down and whispered to the mother, "I think your baby is too warm in here; take him out and give him a drink and he will feel better." The woman jerked it up and started out, exclaiming, "Well, this is the first time I have ever been insulted on account of my motherhood!" A number of men gathered around her, saying, "That is just what to expect from these old maid suffragists." Some one told Miss Anthony she had lost twenty votes by this. "Well," she replied, "if they could see the welts on my ankles where they were pinched to keep that child still, they would bring their twenty votes back."
She said to me the next day: "Now, Anna, no matter how many babies cry you must not say one word or it will be taken as an insult to motherhood." That afternoon I gave a little talk. The church was crowded and there were so many children it seemed as if every family had twins. There were at least six of them crying at the top of their lungs. The louder they cried, the louder I yelled; and the louder I yelled, the louder they cried, for they were scared. Finally a gentleman asked, "Don't you want those children taken out?" "O, no," said I, "there is nothing that inspires me so much as the music of children's voices," and although a number of men protested, I would not allow one of them taken from the room. I was bound I wouldn't lose any votes.
Among the racy anecdotes which Miss Shaw relates of that memorable campaign, is one which shows Miss Anthony's ready retort:
Many of the halls were merely rough boards and most of them had no seats. I never saw so many intemperate men as at ——, in front of the stores, on the street corners, and in the saloons, and yet they had a prohibition law! We could not get any hall to speak in—they were all in use for variety shows—and there was no church finished, but the Presbyterian was the furthest along and they let us have that, putting boards across nail kegs for seats. It was filled to overflowing and people crowded up close to the platform. One man came in so drunk he could not stand, so he sat down on the edge and leaned against the table. Miss Anthony gave her argument to prove what the ballot had done for laboring men in England and was working up to show what it would do for women in the United States, when suddenly the man roused and said: "Now look 'ere, old gal, we've heard 'nuf about Victoria; can't you tell's somethin' 'bout George Washington?" The people tried to hush him, but soon he broke out again with, "We've had 'nuf of England; can't you tell's somethin' 'bout our grand republic?" The men cried, "Put him out, put him out!" but Miss Anthony said: "No, gentlemen, he is a product of man's government, and I want you to see what sort you make."
In September Carrie Chapman Catt, one of the coolest, most logical and level-headed women who ever went into a campaign, at the request of the State executive committee gave her opinion of the situation as follows:
We have not a ghost of a show for success. Our cause can be compared with the work of prohibition, always remembering ours is the more unpopular. Last year the Methodist church led off in State conference and declared for prohibition. It was followed by every other church, except the German Lutheran and Catholic, even the Scandinavian Lutherans voting largely for it. Next the Republican, the strongest party, stood for it, because if they did not it meant a party break. The Farmers' Alliance were solid for it. The leaders were put to work, a large amount of money was collected and representative men went out in local campaigns. It was debated on the street, and men of influence converted those of weaker minds.
Now what have we? 1st.—The Lutherans, both German and Scandinavian, and the Catholics are bitterly opposed. The Methodists, our strongest friends everywhere else, are not so here. 2d.—We have one party openly and two others secretly against us. 3d.—While this county, for instance, gave $700 to prohibition, it gives $2.50 to suffrage and claims that for hall rent, the amount then not being sufficient. 4th.—When I suggested to the committee to start a vigorous county campaign and get men of influence to go out and speak, they did not know of one man willing to face the political animosities it would engender.
With the exception of the work of a few women, nothing is being done. We have opposed to us the most powerful elements in the politics of the State. Continuing as we are, we can't poll 20,000 votes. We are converting women to "want to vote" by the hundreds, but we are not having any appreciable effect upon the men. This is because men have been accustomed to take new ideas only when accompanied by party leadership with brass bands and huzzahs. We have a total lack of all. Ours is a cold, lonesome little movement, which will make our hearts ache about November 5. We must get Dakota men in the work. They are not talking woman suffrage on the street. There is an absolute indifference concerning it. We need some kind of a political mustard plaster to make things lively. We are appealing to justice for success, when it is selfishness that governs mankind....
The campaign was continued, however, with all the zeal and ability which both State and national workers could command. There were between fifteen and twenty thousand Scandinavians in the State and a woman was sent to address them in their own language—one woman! A German woman was sent among the men of that nationality. The last night before election, mass meetings were held in all the large towns, Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw being at Deadwood. In her excellent summing-up of the campaign, Elizabeth M. Wardall, State superintendent of press, gives: "Number of addresses by the national speakers, 789; by the State speakers, 707; under the auspices of the W. C. T. U., 104; total, 1,600; local and county clubs of women organized, 400. Literature sent to every voter in the State."
What was the result of all this expenditure of time, labor and money? There were 68,604 ballots cast; 22,972 for woman suffrage; 45,632 opposed; majority against, 22,660. Eight months of hard work by a large corps of the ablest women in the United States, 1,600 speeches, $8,000 in money, for less than 23,000 votes! There were 30,000 foreigners in South Dakota, Russians, Scandinavians, Poles and other nationalities. It is claimed they voted almost solidly against woman suffrage, but even if this were true they must have had the assistance of 15,000 American men. If only those men who believed in prohibition had voted for woman suffrage it would have carried, as had that measure, by 6,000 majority. The opponents of prohibition, of course, massed themselves against putting the ballot in the hands of women.