Missouri women will forever remember gratefully the 50th General Assembly, as it did all possible for it to do toward their enfranchisement. It memorialized Congress urging the passage of the Federal Suffrage Amendment; it passed the Presidential suffrage bill and it promptly ratified the Amendment.
A called convention of the State association was held October 16-18, at the Hotel Statler in St. Louis and the name was changed to the Missouri League of Women Voters. Mrs. Gellhorn was elected chairman. Every district was represented by the 122 delegates present.
Legislative Action. 1913. A petition signed by 14,000 voters of the State, of whom 8,000 were from St. Louis, was presented to the Legislature asking it to submit an amendment for woman suffrage at the election of 1914. The women who had had charge of the petition were Mrs. David O'Neil, president, Miss Mary Bulkley, Miss Charlotte Rumbold and Mrs. William C. Fordyce of the St. Louis Equal Suffrage League and Mrs. St. Clair Moss and Mrs. Rose Ingels of Columbia. A letter had been sent to every legislator saying that all he was asked to do was to help get the amendment before the voters. The resolution was introduced by Representative Thomas J. Roney and Senator Anderson Craig. It was referred to the House and Senate Committees on Constitutional Amendment and a joint hearing was set for February 6. A number of women from different parts of the State appeared before these committees and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Suffrage Association, disarmed all prejudice. There was a unanimous favorable report from the Senate Committee and only one adverse vote in the House Committee. A week later the resolution was sent to engrossment by both Houses with but five dissenting votes in the Senate while in the House the "ayes" were so overwhelming that the "noes" were not counted. The women went home feeling that the fight was won but the last week of the session the resolution was taken off the calendar, referred back to the committees and pigeon-holed.
The women then decided to resort to the newly created device of the "initiative petition," by which the amendment could be submitted without legislative action. Mrs. Walter McNab Miller was urged to take charge of the work, the St. Louis Suffrage League agreeing to look after the three most difficult congressional districts. She began the latter part of August to canvass a State that has 114 counties, in many of which there are no railroads and the other roads are almost impassable. After six weeks of constant travel and hard work she obtained only 1,000 names. The cooperation of Mrs. Nellie Burger, president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the only woman's organization in the State outside of the regular suffrage societies which had endorsed suffrage, was then secured. The St. Louis and Kansas City leagues took the most thickly populated districts and the others were apportioned among little bands of suffragists, who, under the leadership of Mrs. Miller, worked steadily for the next six months. At last the required 14,000 signatures were obtained and representatives from each district went to Jefferson City to present the petitions to Secretary of State Cornelius Roach. He received them in a most friendly manner, saying that he hoped this work, which had been done at such great cost, would bring the desired reward.
It had only begun and the task during the next six months was to induce the men to vote for the amendment, which now had an assured place on the ballot. Help came from the outside, as well as within the State. Ruth Hanna (Mrs. Medill) McCormick of Chicago, chairman of the Congressional Committee of the National Association, sent an organizer and paid her expenses for four months. From friends outside $3,264 were sent and about $1,800 were raised in various ways in the State. Dr. Shaw and Miss Jane Addams spoke in several cities and other prominent speakers were Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky, Miss Helen Todd of California, Mrs. McCormick and "General" Rosalie Jones of New York. The State and county fairs were utilized. Headquarters were rented in a big downtown building in St. Louis with Miss Rumbold as director of publicity, Miss Genevieve Tierney and Mrs. R. L. Sanford in charge of the business part, Mrs. Alice Curtis Moyer-Wing head of the speakers' bureau and Miss Bulkley treasurer. Mrs. Blair had charge of the press work for the State, Miss Clara Sommerville for St. Louis.[104] The St. Louis Times, the Kansas City Post and the Warrensburg Daily Star allowed the women to get out a special suffrage edition.
All the hard work of a year and a half was in vain. On Nov. 3, 1914, the woman suffrage amendment went down to defeat with fourteen other amendments on the ballot. More votes were cast on this one than on any other—182,257 ayes; 322,463 noes; lost by 140,206. In Kansas City the adverse majority was only 1,000. Thirteen counties were carried.
1915. It had been decided at the first State board meeting after the defeat to attempt again to have an amendment submitted by the Legislature. Mrs. Miller took charge of the work and remained six weeks in Jefferson City. The resolution was written by Judge Robert Franklin Walker, now Chief Justice of Missouri, and was introduced by Senator Craig and Representative Roney, as before. A joint hearing was arranged at which twelve Missouri women, representing various professions and occupations, spoke five minutes each. It passed the House by 88 ayes to 42 noes. Through the efforts of Senator William Phelps, who was showered with letters and telegrams from his constituents, the committee, a majority of whom were violently opposed to woman suffrage, was persuaded to report it favorably but it did not come to a vote in the Senate.
1916. As the Federal Amendment was now well advanced and the bad effect on it of the loss of a State campaign was clearly recognized, the National Board asked the officers of each State association to refrain from entering into one. Therefore it was agreed at the State convention in May, 1916, to give up the projected campaign.
1917. A bill for Presidential suffrage, which was approved by the national officers, was introduced. Headquarters were opened in the Capitol with Miss Geraldine Buchanan of California, Mo., in charge and a strong lobby of State women remained there during the session—Mrs. Leighty, Mrs. Fordyce, Mrs. O'Neil, Mrs. Passmore and Mrs. Grossman of St. Louis. Mrs. Katherine Smith, daughter of Judge Walker, and Miss Matilda Dahlmeyer of Jefferson City gave effective aid. Percy Werner, a lawyer of St. Louis, agreed to defend its legal status before the Legislature if necessary and in January it was introduced by Senator Robert J. Mitchell of Aurora and Representative Nick Cave of Fulton. It was reported favorably by the House Committee but when it came to a hearing before the Senate committee there appeared Miss Minnie Bronson from New York, secretary of the National Anti-Suffrage Association. The speaker in favor was Mrs. Fordyce, a granddaughter of the pioneer suffragist, Mrs. Beverly Allen. The House passed it by 87 to 37 but the Senate defeated it.
Missouri women now turned their attention to furthering the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The Congressional Committee appointed for this purpose worked indefatigably and early in January, armed with two large bundles of petitions for it, one from the State and one from St. Louis, aggregating 75,000 names, a delegation went to Washington. Mrs. Miller, vice-president of the National Association, arranged, with the assistance of Miss Mabel Stone, daughter of the Missouri Senator, William R. Stone, for a meeting in his office between them and the State's members of Congress. They presented their petitions and made earnest appeals for the amendment.