The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V

by Unknown

This was the situation when Congress met in December, 1917. Mrs. Roessing could not serve longer as chairman of the Congressional Committee and the National Association had appointed Mrs. Maud Wood Park (Mass.), a founder and organizer of the National College Women's Suffrage League, who had taken up the work in March. The association, whose headquarters were in New York City, had enlarged its staff in Washington and taken a large house for this committee and its work. There on April 2 the first woman ever elected to Congress, Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, was entertained at breakfast, made a speech from an upper balcony and was escorted to the Capitol by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, national president, at the head of a cavalcade of decorated automobiles, filled with suffragists. That day the President asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. The resolution for the Federal Suffrage Amendment was to have been the first introduced in the Senate but the War Resolution took its place and it became Number Two on the calendar. Senator Thomas had given up the chairmanship of the Committee on Woman Suffrage and Senator Andrieus A. Jones (N. M.) had been appointed. Senators Nelson (Minn.), Johnson (S. D.) Cummins (Iowa) and Johnson (Cal.) had been added to the committee and Senators Ashurst, Sutherland, Clapp and Catron had retired.

In the House the resolution was introduced by Representatives Rankin, Raker, Mondell, Taylor, Keating and Hayden. Both Houses agreed that only legislation pertaining to the war program should be considered during the extra session, which excluded the amendment, but there were some forms of work not prohibited. On April 20 the Senate Committee gave a hearing on it with Mrs. Catt in charge and very strong addresses were made by her and by Senators Shafroth (Colo.), Kendrick (Wyo.), Walsh (Mont.), Smoot (Utah), Thomas, Thompson and Representative Rankin. Thousands of copies were franked and given to the National Association for distribution. On September 15 Chairman Jones made a unanimous favorable report to the Senate. In the House efforts were concentrated on securing a Committee on Woman Suffrage, resolutions for which had been introduced by Representatives Raker, Hayden and Keating and referred to the Committee on Rules. Mrs. Park's report said:

Our first step was to get the approval of Speaker Clark, who gave us cordial support. Later, to offset the fear on the part of certain members of conflicting with President Wilson's legislative program, a letter was sent to Chairman Edward W. Pou (N. C.) of the Rules Committee by the President, who stated that he thought the creation of the committee "would be a very wise act of public policy and also an act of fairness to the best women who are engaged in the cause of woman suffrage."

A petition asking for the creation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage was signed by all members from equal suffrage States and by many of those from Presidential suffrage States, and from Arkansas. This was presented to the Rules Committee, which, on May 18, granted a hearing. On June 6, by a vote of 6 to 5, on motion of Mr. Cantrill a resolution calling for the creation of a Committee on Woman Suffrage to consist of thirteen members, to which all proposed action touching the subject of woman suffrage should be referred, was adopted by the Rules Committee, with an amendment, made by Mr. Lenroot to the effect that the resolution should not be reported in the House until the pending war legislation was out of the way.

The report of the Rules Committee, therefore, was not brought into the House until September 24, when the extremely active opposition of Chairman Webb and most of the other members of the Judiciary Committee made a hard fight inevitable. Thanks to the hearty support of Speaker Clark, the good management of Chairman Pou and the help of loyal friends of both parties in the House, as well as to the admirable work done by our own State congressional chairmen, the report was adopted by a vote of 180 yeas to 107 nays, with 3 answering present and 142 not voting. Of the favorable votes, 82 were from Democrats and 96 from Republicans. Of the unfavorable votes, 74 were from Democrats and 32 from Republicans. Of those not voting, 59 were Democrats and 81 were Republicans. These facts show that the measure was regarded, as we had hoped that it would be, as strictly non-partisan. The victory came so late in the session that the appointment of the new committee was postponed until the present session.

At the November election in 1917 occurred the greatest victory for woman suffrage ever achieved, when the voters of New York by a majority of 102,353 declared in favor of an amendment to the State constitution granting the complete franchise to women. This added 45 to the members of Congress elected partly by votes of women and presumably obligated to support a Federal Amendment. Colonel Roosevelt and other leading Republicans and Progressives were advocating it and William Jennings Bryan headed the Democratic leaders in its favor. President Wilson had not yet reached this point but he had congratulated Mrs. Catt, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw and the other leading suffragists on every victory gained. Both Republican and Democratic opponents now realized that it was inevitable and they could only hope to postpone it. After strong efforts to prevent it the Committee on Woman Suffrage was appointed in the House on December 13 with Judge Raker (Cal.) chairman. Besides himself nine of the thirteen members were openly in favor of submitting the amendment: Benjamin C. Hilliard (Colo.); James H. Mays (Utah); Christopher D. Sullivan (N. Y.); Thomas L. Blanton (Texas); Jeannette Rankin (Mont.); Frank W. Mondell (Wyo.); William H. Carter (Mass.); Edward C. Little (Kans.); Richard N. Elliott (Ind.). Three were opposed: Edward W. Saunders (Va.); Frank Clark (Fla.); Jacob E. Meeker (Mo.).

The Judiciary refused to turn over the amendment resolution to the new Committee but amended it by limiting to seven years the time in which the Legislatures could ratify it, and reported it "without recommendation" on December 11. Democratic floor leader Claude Kitchin (N. C.) announced that it would come to a vote on the 17th. He was strongly pressed to set a later date, as the required number of votes were not yet assured, but the alternative was probably a long postponement. Finally he consented to wait until January 10. At the beginning of the session, through the initiative of Mrs. Park, a "steering committee" of fifty-three friendly Republicans had been brought together with an executive composed of Mr. Hayden chairman, Mr. French (Ida.) secretary, Mr. Keating, Mr. McArthur (Ore.) and Mr. Cantrill, who had now become an ally. During all of December the National Suffrage Association had a large lobby of influential women working daily at the Capitol with the members from their States. The national suffrage convention met in Washington December 10-16, and, following a plan of Mrs. Catt, the president, Senators from about thirty States invited the Representatives to their offices to meet the women from their States who were attending the convention and many pledges of votes were obtained. In the meantime, at the suggestion of Speaker Clark and Chairman Pou, Judge Raker introduced a new amendment resolution, which went automatically to his own committee, where it was in the hands of a strong friend instead of a bitter opponent as was Mr. Webb.

The Committee on Woman Suffrage held hearings Jan. 3-7, 1918, for the National Suffrage Association, the National Woman's Party and the Anti-Suffrage Association.[138] On the 8th it reported favorably and on the 9th the Committee on Rules voted to give to it instead of the Judiciary Committee charge of the hearing.

Great efforts were made to secure the cooperation of Democratic and Republican leaders. Letters of endorsement were given out by Secretaries McAdoo, Daniels and Baker of the Cabinet among others of influence. It was now understood that President Wilson had come to favor the Federal Amendment but he had not yet spoken. Finally through the mediation of Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, vice-president of the National Suffrage Association, an appointment was made for Chairman Raker and eleven Democratic Representatives to call on the President January 9. After a conference he wrote with his own hand the following statement to be made public: "The Woman Suffrage Committee found that the President had not felt at liberty to volunteer his advice to members of Congress in this important matter but when we sought his advice he very frankly and earnestly advised us to vote for the amendment as an act of right and justice to the women of the country and of the world." This declaration had a marked effect on the Democratic members and on the party outside.