NEW JERSEY. PART II.[120]
In December, 1911, a Joint Legislative Committee, representing the four woman suffrage organizations in New Jersey was formed with Mrs. George T. Vickers as chairman, and in January, 1912, a resolution for a submission to the voters of a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution was first introduced in the Legislature at the request of this committee.
On Oct. 25, 1912, a parade was given in Newark under the auspices of the State Suffrage Association with all four organizations represented among the marchers, who numbered about 1,000 men and women. This was followed by a well-attended mass meeting at Proctor's Theater, arranged by the Women's Political Union, at which Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National Suffrage Association, was the principal speaker.
The twenty-second annual convention of the association was held in Trenton in November, when the following officers were elected: President, Mrs. E. F. Feickert; first vice-president, Mrs. F. H. Colvin; second, Miss Elinor Gebhardt; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Charles P. Titus; recording secretary, Mrs. Charles P. Eaton; treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery; auditor, Miss Bessie Pope. Twenty-five local branches were reported with a total membership of 2,200.
In December the Legislative Committee was re-organized on the basis of equal representation for each of the four organizations. Mrs. Everett Colby was elected chairman and Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds was engaged as legislative secretary, who resigned in six months to become field organizer for the Women's Political Union. This committee continued to function until 1917, when the Women's Political Union, the Equal Franchise Society and the Men's League having disbanded and their branches having joined the State association the political work was taken over by its Legislative Committee. In 1914 Mrs. Philip McKim Garrison succeeded Mrs. Colby and she was succeeded by Mrs. Robert S. Huse in 1916. Among those who served actively were Miss Bessie Pope, who gave valuable and continuous service to the completion of suffrage work in 1920; Champlain Lord Riley, William L. Saunders, Everett Colby, Mrs. Mina C. Van Winkle, Mrs. Reynolds, Mrs R. T. Newton, Miss Belle Tiffany, Mrs. Colvin, Mrs. James Billington and Mrs. Feickert.
In June, 1913, the Women's Political Union held its first State conference, at which the following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Van Winkle; vice-presidents, Miss Julia S. Hurlbut, Mrs. E. T. Lukens, Mrs. H. R. Reed, Mrs. W. H. Gardner, Miss Edna C. Wyckoff, Mrs. R. T. Newton, Miss Louise Antrim, Mrs. Carl Vail, Miss Louise Connolly; recording secretary, Miss Sara Crowell; executive secretary, Mrs. Reynolds; financial secretary, Mrs. Amelia Moorfield; treasurer, Mrs. Stewart Hartshorne. This was the only state-wide conference held until after the referendum election in 1915 and these officers continued to serve. The Equal Franchise Society's president, Mrs. Vickers, served from 1911 until it disbanded in 1915. Other active members were Mrs. H. Otto Wittpen and Mrs. Mary B. Kinsley.
On March 25, 1913, the State association held a jubilee mass meeting in Newark to celebrate submission of a State suffrage amendment by the Legislature. This spring it held a large and successful school for suffrage workers in Newark and the expenses of two volunteer organizers were paid for several months, Mrs. U. L. Decker and Miss Dille Hastings. In August its representatives took part in the demonstration at Washington, arranged by the National Congressional Committee, when petitions were presented to the Senate asking for the immediate submission of the Federal Amendment, Mrs. Champlain Lord Riley, Mrs. Colvin, Miss Helen Lippincott, Miss Edith Abbott and Mrs. Feickert. The New Jersey petitions of several thousand names were unwillingly presented by Senator James E. Martine, who made a speech against woman suffrage at the same time.
At the annual convention held in Newark in November reports showed that the membership had more than doubled during the year, there being now 44 local branches with over 6,000 members. Three changes took place in the board, Miss Lippincott, elected second vice-president; Mrs. Edward Olmsted, treasurer and Mrs. Arthur Hunter, auditor. Just after this convention a delegation of 58 from the association and 17 from the Political Union went to Washington at the request of the National Congressional Committee to interview President Wilson in behalf of favorable action on the Federal Amendment by the House of Representatives. The committee could not arrange for a special interview but finally saw him by going to the White House at the hour set aside for the reception of the general public and made their request. The President was cordial and said that he was giving the matter careful consideration and hoped soon to take a decided stand which he thought the suffragists would find satisfactory. The speakers were its chairman, Mrs. Feickert, Mrs. Van Winkle and Miss Melinda Scott, who represented the organized working women of New Jersey.
In April, 1914, the State headquarters were transferred to Plainfield, the home of the president, who took charge of them. Board meetings were held in different sections of the State each month, followed by open conferences for suffragists from the nearby towns. Each of these was attended by from 50 to 250 and resulted in greatly increased activity in the branches. During the summer a number of county automobile tours were made, a "flying squadron" of decorated cars going from town to town, holding meetings and distributing literature. These tours were well worked up and advertised and very successful. A great deal of the work connected with them was done by Miss Florence Halsey, a volunteer field organizer.
During July a week of suffrage meetings was held in Asbury Park, the auditorium there given free on condition that there should be debates and not merely presentations of suffrage. Over a hundred columns of publicity were secured for them in the New Jersey papers and during the week the hotels of Asbury Park and nearby resorts were canvassed and thousands of leaflets and circulars given out. This year over 300,000 pieces of literature were distributed by the State association and the Political Union. A weekly press service was established by the association and news bulletins and special stories were sent regularly to over one hundred papers. The local branches of the association increased to 96 and of the Political Union to 15, with a membership of 22,000 and 4,000 respectively. At the annual convention of the association held in Camden in November the new officers elected were, second vice-president, Mrs. Robert P. Finley; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Bayard Naylor; recording secretary, Mrs. L. H. Cummings. All attention and action were centered on the approaching campaign.