The fourth meeting was held in Big Timber February 14 and the fifth in Lewiston June 6. Miss O'Neill was made assistant chairman and press chairman; Mrs. Edith Clinch, treasurer; Miss Eloise Knowles chairman of literature.
Headquarters were opened in Butte in January, 1914. Letters were sent to granges, labor unions, women's clubs and other organizations asking them to pass resolutions in favor of the amendment and aid the campaign as far as they could. Every newspaper in the State received each week a letter of suffrage news and items from Miss O'Neill and occasionally some propaganda material. Letters were sent regularly to the county chairmen and other workers giving instructions and keeping them in touch with the campaign. Large quantities of literature were distributed with many leaflets for special occasions. A short time before election personal letters and a leaflet especially for farmers were sent to 20,000 voters in the country districts. The house-to-house canvass of the women in the towns and cities was the most effective work done. Montana women spoke in every county and women from outside the State in all but a few of the smaller ones.
In the spring Mr. and Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw of New York City stopped off en route to California and spoke in a number of places. The women were charmed with her beauty and style and some men who had considered the movement as only carried on by women were surprised that a man of Mr. Laidlaw's standing should be at the head of a National Men's Suffrage League. He organized a Montana branch of it with Wellington D. Rankin (now Attorney General) as president.
Miss Rankin in her report to the national suffrage convention of November 12-17, expressed the highest appreciation of the women who came into Montana, either sent by the National Association or at their own expense, and campaigned for weeks under the instructions of the State board. They were headed by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the national president, and included Miss Katharine Devereux Blake, Miss Ida Craft and Miss Rosalie Jones of New York; Mrs. Antoinette Funk, Miss Jane Thompson, Miss Gratia Erickson and Miss Florence Lord of Chicago; Mrs. Root of Los Angeles. During May and June Mrs. Cotterill of Seattle, and during July and August Miss Margaret Hinchey of Boston, gave their time to labor unions. A number of large demonstrations were held in various cities. Campaigning in a State of such distances and geographical formation presented great difficulties.
A precinct organization was perfected wherever possible but to the far-off places word was simply sent to the women to work to get votes for the amendment and they did so with splendid results. The usual program of party campaigning in rural districts was adopted of holding a rally followed by a dance. Miss Rankin, Miss Fligelman, Miss Grace Hellmick, Mrs. Maggie Smith Hathaway, Miss O'Neill, Dr. Dean, Mrs. Topping and many other volunteer speakers went into every little mining camp and settlement that could be reached. They spoke from the steps of the store and the audience, composed entirely of men, would listen in respectful silence, applaud a little at the close, too shy to ask questions, but on election day every vote was for suffrage. Old prospectors back in the mountains when approached and asked for their votes would say: "Do you ladies really want to vote? Well, if you do, we'll sure help all we can." Many old-timers said: "What would our State have been without the women? You bet you can count on us." The campaigners spoke in moving picture theaters, from wagons and automobiles and wherever they could obtain an audience however small. There were no rebuffs but some of the Southerners would say that it would be a bad thing for the South. All these outlying districts that could be reached gave a favorable majority. The money for the campaign was raised in many ways, by donations, food sales, dances, collections, the sale of suffrage papers on the street, etc. The loss of the funds collected for the campaign through the closing of the State bank was a heavy blow and it could not have succeeded without the help of the National Association and friends in outside States. The campaign cost about $9,000, of which over half was contributed by the association and other States.
To the women specifically mentioned the names of the following especially active in the campaign should be added: Miss Mary Stewart, Mrs. W. I. Higgins, Mrs. J. F. Kilduff, Mrs. Tyler Thompson, Jean Bishop, Mrs. Wm. Roza, Mrs. J. W. Scott, Mrs. John Duff, Mrs. Bertha Rosenberg, Mrs. Mary Tocher, Mrs. J. M. Darroch, Mrs. W. E. Cummings, Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. A. E. Richardson, Mrs. Frank D. O'Neill, Mrs. J. B. Ellis, Mrs. M. E. Hughes, Mrs. Delia Peets, Mrs. C. P. Irish, Mrs. J. R. E. Sievers, Mrs. A. P. Rooney, Mrs. Sarah M. Souders, Mrs. Sherrill, Mrs. Nathan Lloyd, Mrs. Burt Addams Tower, Mrs. Mary Meigs Atwater, Mrs. Helen Fitzgerald Sanders, Mrs. Charles N. Skillman, Mrs. Charles S. Haire, Mrs. J. M. Lewis, Mrs. H. W. Child, Miss Susan Higgins. Among the men the best friends besides those already mentioned were Miles Romney, Joseph H. Griffin, Lewis J. Duncan, W. W. McDowell, Lieutenant Governor, and the two U. S. Senators, Thomas J. Walsh and Henry L. Myers.
At the beginning of the campaign a travelling organizer of the National Anti-Suffrage Association came to Butte, and, saying that she acted officially, had an interview with the editors of the National Forum, the organ of the liquor interests. She told them their open opposition was helping the amendment, urged them to carry it on in secret and said she would return later and lay before them a plan of campaign. Afterwards when the Butte papers exposed this scheme the National Forum described the interview. Before the election the National Anti-Suffrage Association sent its executive secretary, Miss Minnie Bronson, and Mrs. J. D. Oliphant of New Jersey to campaign against the amendment. They succeeded in forming only one society in the State and that was at Butte, with a branch in the little town of Chinook. The officers were Mrs. John Noyes, president; Mrs. Theodore Symons, secretary; Mrs. W. J. Chrystie, press chairman; Mrs. David Nixon, active worker; Mrs. Oliphant challenged Miss Rankin to a debate, which was held in the old auditorium in Helena. At the meeting, which had been packed by the liquor interests, Mrs. Oliphant was noisily applauded and the confusion was appalling.
Although the speakers travelled to remote districts up to the night before election in November, the instructions from headquarters were to have loose ends gathered up by the opening of the State Fair September 25, at Helena. Headquarters were maintained a week at the fair and in the city and each day The Suffrage Daily was issued. The editors were Mrs. L. O. Edmunds, Miss O'Neill, Mrs. M. E. McKay and Miss Belle Fligelman, all newspaper women. The most picturesque and educative feature of the whole campaign and the greatest awakener was the enormous suffrage parade which took place one evening during the week. Thousands of men and women from all parts of the State marched, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw was at the head, and next, carrying banners, came Dr. Dean, the past president, and Miss Rankin, the present State chairman. A huge American flag was carried by women representing States having full suffrage; a yellow one for the States now having campaigns; a large gray banner for the partial suffrage States and a black banner for the non-suffrage States. Each county and city in the State had its banner. The Men's League marched and there were as many men as women in the parade.
During the entire campaign the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, one of the strongest organizations in the State, conducted a vigorous fight for the amendment, sending its speakers to every locality. For many years it had worked for woman suffrage.
At the election Nov. 3, 1914, the amendment received 41,302 ayes; 37,588 noes, a majority of 3,714, and women were enfranchised on equal terms with men.