[224] This certainly proved that woman suffrage had gained at least in respectful consideration among politicians since February, 1895. At that time Gov. W. Y. Atkinson refused the use of the same hall for the great National Association to hold a mass meeting on the last day of its visit to Atlanta. He declared it would be unconstitutional to allow women to use it, although white and negro men had been permitted to do so for many and varied purposes. The Hon. Charles A. Collier, a county commissioner, granted the basement of the courthouse for this meeting, which was a marked success, though held underground. Speeches were made by Miss Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry and others.
[225] Officers elected: President, Mrs. Gertrude C. Thomas; vice-presidents, Mrs. S. L. Ober Allen, Miss Sarah A. Gresham; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice Daniel; recording secretary, Mrs. Claudia Howard Maxwell; treasurer, Mrs. E. O. Archer; auditor, D. M. Allen. Mrs. McLendon, who had been in office since 1892, refused to serve longer and was made honorary president.
[226] A bill presented by Thomas J. Chappelle in 1901 to make the University co-educational was defeated in the Senate and not considered in the House. Virginia and Louisiana are the only other States which exclude women, although North Carolina admits them only to its post-graduate department.
[227] A bill providing for the teaching of the effects of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics upon the system, requiring all teachers to stand an examination on this subject, and affixing a penalty for the failure of any board of education to enforce the law, passed the Legislature of 1901—Senate, 23 ayes, 7 nays; House, 106 ayes, 28 nays. It was signed by Gov. Allan C. Candler, December 17.
This law is now in effect in every State, Georgia being the last to adopt it.
[228] The Atlanta South Side W. C. T. U. is the only one in the State to adopt the franchise department. Mrs. Isabella Webb Parks, one of the editors of the Union Signal and also a member of the city suffrage association, is its superintendent of franchise.
[229] In August, 1901, a police matron was at last appointed at a salary of $30 per month. In December one of the police commissioners stated that she was invaluable and he did not see how they ever had managed to get on without a matron.