Mr. Taggart. We have before us a joint suffrage resolution by Mr. Taylor of Colorado. You tried to defeat him, did you not?
Miss Paul. The suffrage amendment was not brought to a vote in the House until after we went to the West.
Mr. Taggart. You tried to defeat the man in the House who presented this resolution which you are having hearings for, did you not?
Miss Paul. What we did was to go to the Rules Committee, a Democratic committee, to ask that this measure be reported out and brought to a vote; when the committee had refused to do this we went out into the suffrage States of the West and told the women voters how the bill was being blocked at Washington. As soon as we did that they stopped blocking and the bill was brought up before the House for the first time in history.
Mr. Taggart. That was after the election?
Miss Paul. Yes.
Mr. Taggart. You are aware that more Democrats voted for it than men of any other party?
Miss Paul. We are aware that the Democrats met in caucus and decided that woman suffrage should not be brought up in the House and after we went out into the West they brought it up. We went out to tell the women voters about the way some of their Representatives were treating the matter.
Mr. Taggart. And with this result—that in the suffrage State of Colorado Senator Thomas, a Democrat, was re-elected to succeed himself; in the suffrage State of Arizona, Senator Smith, a Democrat, was re-elected to succeed himself; in the suffrage State of California a Democrat was elected to succeed a Republican; in the suffrage State of Washington the House was reinforced by one Democrat, and in the suffrage State of Utah and in the suffrage State of Kansas Democrats were elected to reinforce the party. One Democrat only, Mr. Seldomridge of Colorado, was defeated, for the reason, he says, that his district has been gerrymandered; nevertheless, he came and voted for the amendment on the floor of the House. Why should you take such an interest in defeating Democratic Congressmen and Senators?
Miss Paul persisted that all the favorable action taken by Congress after the election of 1914 was because they campaigned against the Democrats, ignoring the fact that Nevada and Montana had enfranchised their women at that election and public sentiment was veering so rapidly in favor of woman suffrage as to compel both parties to regard it as a political issue. After the opening sentences of Miss Todd's speech it became a heated dialogue between her and the members of the committee.