Every registered voter was circularized at least once and many twice. Special letters and literature were prepared for picked groups of men, 198,538 letters in all, and speakers were sent to the military camps where this was permitted. The Speakers' Bureau, conducted by Mrs. Victor Morawetz, had 150 speakers on its lists and a record of 2,015 speakers placed in the State. Besides these more than 7,000 meetings were arranged independently. In New York City 58 speakers held 2,085 meetings, a total of 11,100. Senators and Representatives from the equal suffrage States were to speak in the closing days of the campaign but the war held Congress constantly in session and most of the other prominent men who had promised to speak were prevented by service for the Government.
The Publicity Section, under Mrs. John Blair, advertised the amendment in every way that human ingenuity could devise. Huge street banners exhorting men to vote for suffrage hung across the most crowded streets in New York and in all the large cities. Every kind of advertising medium was used, billboards, street cars, subway and elevated cars and stations, railroad cars and stations; large electric signs and painted illuminated signs flashed weeks before election, the slogan most often used being, "1,014,000 Women ask you to Vote for Woman Suffrage November 6."
For the last two weeks a great campaign of newspaper advertising was carried on. There appeared almost daily in 728 morning and evening papers, including many in foreign languages, pages of suffrage argument, and as a result the news columns began to be filled again with suffrage. The Press Bureau, Miss Rose Young, director, assisted by local press chairmen, continued as in the first campaign but with an increased output, news bulletins, editorial matter, special articles, material for special editions, photographs, newspaper cuts, statements from one hundred leading New York City and State men headed, Why I am for Woman Suffrage, etc. About 20,000 columns of free plate material were provided for the newspapers.
It would be impossible to give the total cost of the campaign with accuracy. As far as possible each district supported its own work. The central State treasury spent $413,353; New York City, $151,504; the counties outside of the city $127,296; a total of $692,153, besides the large amount spent locally. The raising of the central State funds was the work of the treasurer, Mrs. Ogden Mills Reid, assisted by Mrs. Whitehouse. A budget was prepared to which a group of prominent men, including several bankers, gave their endorsement, and, armed with their letter and helped by them in making appointments, Mrs. Reid and Mrs. Whitehouse called on one man and woman after another of a carefully selected list, solicited contributions, and many large amounts were given by persons who had not before been brought in touch with suffrage work. New York City led with $183,387; Yonkers came next with $41,748 and Buffalo with $30,163.
The supreme test of the organization came on election day. It was hoped to cover every polling space with women watchers and probably about 80 per cent. of the total number of election districts of the State were so covered. A total of 6,330 women served, many being on duty from 5 a. m. till midnight.
On election night all over the State suffrage headquarters were open and victory seemed in the air. Bulletin boards in New York City showed the amendment winning in every borough and wires from up-State gave encouraging reports. The State headquarters, an entire floor of the large office building at 303 Fifth Avenue, New York, and the city headquarters were thronged with happy crowds. Before midnight it seemed certain that the four years of continuous campaign had resulted in final victory for New York State, the stronghold of opposition, the key to a Federal Suffrage Amendment because of its large representation and power in Congress. When the complete returns came in it was found that suffrage had lost up-State by 1,510 votes and that it was New York City which carried the amendment by its majority of 103,863, which reduced by 1,510 left a total majority of 102,353.
There were some evidences of fraud but the change of sentiment in favor of suffrage was State-wide, and every county showed a gain. The cities gave a better vote than the rural communities. The greatest overturn was in Buffalo which changed an adverse majority of 10,822 in 1915 to a favorable one of 4,560 in 1917! The saloons of this city displayed placards, "Vote No on Woman Suffrage," some putting them on the outside of the building. Albany, in spite of the fight against the amendment made by the Barnes "machine," although lost, registered a gain of nearly fifty per cent. Rochester, which was lost, was dominated by George W. Aldrich, the Republican leader, and Monroe and adjoining counties were also influenced by their newspapers, which nearly all were anti-suffrage. In Livingston county, the home of Senator James W. Wadsworth, Jr., and his wife, who was president of the National Anti-Suffrage Association, his influence was so strong and his financial hold on the county so powerful that even men who were in sympathy with woman suffrage were afraid to vote for it. This influence materially reduced the favorable vote in adjoining counties. There were several bitter local "wet" and "dry" fights that were very bad for the suffrage vote.
The Republican Governor, Charles S. Whitman, spoke for the amendment. Herbert Parsons, the Republican National Committeeman for New York, and many individual Republicans gave valuable help but the "machine" all over the State did everything possible to defeat the amendment. A week before election, when their object was clearly apparent, the chairman of the Republican State Committee was requested by the women to write an official letter to its members reminding them of the endorsement given by the Republican party at its State convention. He refused to write it except as an individual and not as State chairman. In Rochester an anti-suffrage poster was kept on display in Republican headquarters. Among prominent members of the party who used their influence in opposition were Elihu Root, Henry L. Stimson and George Wickersham.
The two great figures of the suffrage movement, Mrs. Catt and Dr. Shaw, gave royally to the campaign. Even after Mrs. Catt became president of the National Association, she remained on the State Board of Directors and was a constant help and inspiration. Dr. Shaw contributed many weeks of speech making to the first campaign and almost as many to the second, although her time in 1917 was much occupied as chairman of the Woman's Division of the National Council of Defense. It would be impossible to give the names of the thousands of women who rendered devoted service during these campaigns and it would be equally impossible to mention the names of the men who helped. Behind many a woman who worked there was a man aiding and sustaining her with money and personal sacrifice. "Suffrage husbands" became a title of distinction.
Mrs. Whitehouse said in reviewing the causes of the failure of the first campaign, "We worked like amateurs." Such a charge could not be brought in the second, for the suffragists became an army of seasoned veterans, quick to understand and to obey orders, giving suffrage precedence over everything else except patriotic work. The amendment as adopted gave complete suffrage to women on the same terms as exercised by men and provided that "a citizen by marriage shall have been an inhabitant of the United States for five years." This simply required the same term of residence for wives as for unmarried women and all men.