The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V

by Unknown

The Republican convention took place in Chicago June 7-10. On the 6th a mass meeting was held under the auspices of the association at the Princess Theater. Speeches by Mrs. Catt and others roused the audience to great enthusiasm and the following resolution was adopted: "We, women from every State, gathered in national assembly, come to you in the name of justice, liberty and equality to ask you to incorporate in your platform a declaration favoring the extension of suffrage to the only remaining class of unenfranchised citizens, the women of our nation, and to urge you to give its protecting power and prestige to the final struggle of women for political liberty. We are not asking your endorsement of an untried theory but your recognition of a fact. The men of eleven States and Alaska have already fully enfranchised their women and Illinois has granted a large degree of suffrage, including the Presidential vote. The women of five States have gained the vote since 1912, your last convention, and have party affiliations yet to make."

A parade of 25,000 women had been planned to show the strength of the movement. A cold, heavy rain upset these plans but on June 7, 5,500 women (the others believing the demonstration would not be given) braved the storm, gathered in Grant Park and marched to the Coliseum, where the Republican Resolutions Committee was meeting. The Chicago Herald in describing that march said: "Over their heads surged a vast sea of umbrellas extending two miles down the street; under their feet swirled rivulets of water. Wind tore at their clothes and rain drenched their faces but unhesitatingly they marched in unbroken formation. Never before in the history of this city, probably of the world, has there been so impressive a demonstration of consecration to a cause." The first division reached the convention hall before five o'clock. The committee had given a hearing to the suffragists and was listening to the "antis." Just as Mrs. A. J. George of Brookline, Mass., was asserting, "there is no widespread demand for woman suffrage" hundreds of drenched and dripping women began to pour into the hall, each woman's condition bearing silent witness to the strength of her wish for the vote. Thousands of converts were made among those who witnessed the courage and devotion of the women in facing this storm.

The hearing took place before a sub-committee of the Resolutions Committee and instead of seven minutes being allotted to it, as in 1912, representatives of the National American Woman Suffrage Association had half an hour, the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage the next half hour and the Congressional Union a final half hour. Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Abbie A. Krebs of California, Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Colorado, Mrs. Grace Wilbur Trout of Illinois and Mrs. Frank M. Roessing of Pennsylvania spoke for the National Suffrage Association. They asked for the following resolution: "The Republican party reaffirming its faith in government of the people, by the people and for the people, as a measure of justice to one-half the adult people of this country, favors the extension of the suffrage to women." The speakers for the Congressional Union were Miss Anne Martin, Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch and Mrs. Sara Bard Field and they asked for an endorsement of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The "antis" were represented by their national president, Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge, and national secretary, Miss Minnie Bronson; Miss Alice Hill Chittenden, New York State president, and Mrs. George. They asked that there should be no mention of woman suffrage.

The sub-committee reported against the adoption of a suffrage plank, the vote standing five to four—Senators Lodge, Wadsworth, Oliver, and Charles Hopkins Clark, editor of the Hartford (Conn.) Courant, and former Representative Howland of Ohio opposed; Senators Borah, Sutherland and Fall and Representative Madden of Illinois in favor.

The question was then taken up in the full Committee on Resolutions. Senators Borah and Smoot led a vigorous fight for a plank; Senator Marion Butler of North Carolina headed the opposition. The strongest possible influence was brought to bear against it by the party leaders, Senators W. Murray Crane and Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts; Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania and James W. Wadsworth, Jr., of New York and Speaker Cannon of Illinois. Nevertheless it was carried by 26 to 21. Within a half hour defeat was again threatened when seven absent members of the committee came and asked for a reconsideration. After repeated parleys it was reconsidered and emerged as the last plank in the platform. The final vote was 35 to 11 but it was the result of a compromise, for it read: "The Republican party, reaffirming its faith in government of the people, by the people and for the people, as a measure of justice to one-half the adult people of this country, favors the extension of the suffrage to women but recognizes the right of each State to settle this question for itself"!

For the first time this party declared for the doctrine of State's rights, which was the chief obstacle in the way of the Federal Amendment, the goal of the National Association for nearly fifty years. Mrs. Catt knew that it would be utterly useless to ask for a plank favoring this amendment and so she asked simply for a clear-cut endorsement of the principle of woman suffrage. This was secured, after women had been appealing to national Republican conventions since 1868, and although it was weakened by the qualifying declaration, she realized that an immense gain had been made. By the press throughout the country the adoption of the plank was hailed as "a victory of supreme importance," and as guaranteeing a suffrage plank in the Democratic national platform, which could not have been obtained without it. It was adopted by the convention without opposition and with great enthusiasm.

The Democratic convention met in St. Louis June 14-16. The first day the suffragists staged their "walkless parade," which the press poetically called "the golden lane," as the 6,000 white-robed women who formed a continuous lane from the convention headquarters in the Jefferson Hotel to the Coliseum where the convention was held carried yellow parasols and wore yellow satin sashes. They gave resplendent color to the aisle through which hundreds of delegates walked to their political councils. On the steps of the Art Museum the suffragists presented a striking tableau showing Liberty, a symbolic figure effectively garbed, surrounded by three groups of women, those in black typifying the non-suffrage States; those in gray representing the partial suffrage States; those in red, white and blue the States where political equality prevailed. The suffragists had now no difficulty in obtaining a hearing and plenty of time. Representatives of the National American Association, the National Woman's Party, the Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference and the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage appeared before the sub-committee of the Resolutions Committee.

The entire Resolutions Committee met in the evening of the 15th to make the final draft of the platform. Although it was a foregone conclusion that it would have to contain a woman suffrage plank the enemies did not intend to concede it willingly. It was not reached until 3 o'clock in the morning, when platform building was suspended while a contest raged. The sleepy committeemen became wide awake and their voices rose till they could be heard in the corridors and out into the street. The unqualified endorsement of woman suffrage asked for by the National Association was defeated by a vote of 24 to 20. The approval of the Federal Amendment asked for by the National Woman's Party was rejected by a vote of 40 to 4. The plea of the "antis" not to mention the subject was defeated by 26 to 17. Finally the committee fell back on what was said to have been President Wilson's suggestion for a plank, which was adopted by 25 ayes, 20 noes. A minority report was immediately prepared by James Nugent of New Jersey, Senator Smith of South Carolina, former Representative Bartlett of Georgia, Stephen B. Fleming of Indiana, Governor Ferguson of Texas and Governor Stanley of Kentucky, in opposition.

The Resolutions Committee adjourned at 7:15 a.m. and the convention opened at 11. Senator William J. Stone of Missouri, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, brought forward the platform but confessed that he was too tired to read it, so Senators Hollis and Walsh took turns at it and when the suffrage plank was reached it was greeted with applause and cheers. Senator Stone moved the adoption of the platform and Governor Ferguson was given thirty minutes to present the minority report, which finally was signed by himself, Nugent, Bartlett and Fleming. The resolution was supported by the chairman. The young Nevada Senator, Key Pittman, handled the signers of the minority report without gloves, showed up their unsavory records and stirred the convention to a frenzy. Yells and catcalls on the floor were met with the cheers of the women who filled the gallery and waved their banners and yellow parasols. Again and again he was forced to stop until Senator John Sharp Williams took the gavel and restored a semblance of order. Senator Walsh of Montana made a powerful speech from the standpoint of political expediency and pointed out that the minority report was signed by only four of the fifty members of the Resolutions Committee. Attempts were made to howl him down and in the midst of the turmoil a terrific storm broke and flashes of lightning and roars of thunder added to the excitement. At last the vote was taken on the minority report and stood 888 noes, 181 ayes. That ended the opposition.

Senator Stone had said to the delegates: "I may say that President Wilson knows of this plank and deems it imperative to his success in November that it be inserted in the platform." The plank, which was adopted by a viva voce vote read as follows: "We favor the extension of the franchise to the women of this country, State by State, on the same terms as to the men." It transpired afterwards that President Wilson had written it.