NORTH DAKOTA.[137]
The Equal Suffrage Association of North Dakota held its annual convention at Devil's Lake July 17, 1901, where it was a prominent feature of the Chautauqua Assembly. The auditorium was hung with huge banners reading, "Equality at the Ballot Box," "Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny," etc. Dr. Cora Smith Eaton addressed a large audience on The Status of Woman Suffrage in our Country. Officers elected were, Mrs. Flora B. Naylor, president; Mrs. Janette Hill Knox, vice-president; Mrs. Mazie Stevens, treasurer; Mrs. Katharine F. King, recording secretary.
From 1901 to 1912 there are no records of an active suffrage organization but individuals and small groups of women in different parts of the State kept alive the suffrage spirit. On Feb. 4, 1912, twenty-four men and women were invited to meet Miss Sylvia Pankhurst of England at the home of Mrs. Mary Darrow Weible in Fargo. After an informal discussion the Votes for Women League of Fargo was organized with Mrs. Clara L. Darrow president. A strong league was organized in Grand Forks by Mrs. R. M. Pollock. On June 13, at the call of the Fargo League, an earnest group of men and women from different parts of the State met at the Public Library and formed a State Votes for Women League. Officers: President, Mrs. Darrow; vice-president at large, Mrs. M. L. Ayers, Dickinson; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice Nelson Page, Grand Forks; recording secretary, Mrs. Kate Selby Wilder, Fargo; treasurer, Mrs. Helen de Lendrecie, Fargo; Committee on Permanent Organization, Mrs. Ayers, Mrs. James Collins, Mrs. W. J. Holbrook, N. C. McDonald, W. L. Stockwell; Resolutions, Mrs. Page, Mrs. Wilder, Mrs. W. F. Cushing; Constitution, Miss Candis Nelson, Mr. McDonald; Promotion, Mrs. C. F. Amidon. Steps were taken to affiliate with the National American Woman Suffrage Association and it was decided to introduce a resolution for the submission of a State suffrage amendment to the voters at the next session of the Legislature. Mrs. de Lendrecie gave headquarters in the de Lendrecie Building at Fargo.
The first convention was held at the Civic Center, Fargo, Oct. 18, 1913. The Promotions Committee reported the circularization of the entire press and the legislators and a number of towns organized. A woman suffrage bill had been passed by the Legislature and would be submitted to the voters on Nov. 4, 1914. With the following State officers the campaign was launched: Mrs. Darrow, president; Mrs. Weible, vice-president; Mrs. Emma S. Pierce, treasurer; Mrs. Francis S. Bolley, congressional chairman; Mrs. Elizabeth Darrow O'Neil, campaign manager.
A plan to divide the State into its judicial districts with district, county and township chairmen was only partially carried out. One hundred leagues were formed with approximately 2,000 members. Wherever there was an efficient worker she was given a free hand to get the votes in her locality in the most effective way. From four to six organizers were in the field continually; seven speakers, including Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, its president, were sent by the National Association and five were furnished by the State. Chautauquas, fairs, theaters and all kinds of meetings were everywhere utilized and there were automobile speaking tours to outlying districts; plate matter was furnished to the press and political party members were circularized. A fund of $6,000 was raised, $3,000 of which came from the National Association and other outside sources.
It was a hard and hopeless campaign because of an impossible requirement. When the framers of the constitution for statehood in 1889 refused to include woman suffrage a provision was put in the constitution whereby the Legislature at any time could submit a bill for it at the next general election. If approved by a majority of voters "voting upon the question" it became a Law. How, when or where the words "voting at the election" were substituted for "voting upon the question" no one seemed to know but they got into the constitution. They meant that the suffrage referendum must poll a majority of all the votes cast at the election and not just on the measure itself. If the ballot was not marked at all it was counted in the negative. The official returns gave the affirmative vote on suffrage 40,209; blanks and noes together 49,348, making a total of 89,557, or 251 more votes than were cast for Governor, who polled the largest number. It was generally conceded that if the unmarked ballots had not been counted against the measure it would have been carried. The entire western part of the State went for suffrage. The chief opponents were the German Russians in Emmons and surrounding counties and a handful of anti-suffragists who came from outside the State.
The same Legislature that sent this bill to the electors also submitted a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution, which would be more secure than a law. This resolution had to pass two Legislatures but it required only a majority at the polls of the votes actually cast on the question. The suffragists felt sure that the Legislature of 1915 would pass for the second time this resolution for an amendment but it refused to do so. They soon sustained a great loss in the death of Mrs. Darrow, the much loved president, on April 23, 1915. She had sacrificed her life in her ceaseless work for woman suffrage. Her husband, Dr. E. M. Darrow, a pioneer physician, two daughters and three sons ardently supported her efforts.
On account of the campaign the convention of 1914 had been postponed. It was held at Valley City in June, 1915, and Mrs. Grace Clendening of Wimbledon was elected president. Undaunted the suffragists made plans to hold together the converts won during the campaign. The organization had been of mushroom growth and they now had to strengthen it.
The annual convention was held at Minot Oct. 10, 1915, and Mrs. Clendening was re-elected. Extensive educational work was done the following year, at Chautauquas by holding "suffrage days," and through booths maintained at the Fargo and Grand Forks fairs, with a wide distribution of literature. The Votes for Women League and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union opposed Governor Hanna and Lieutenant Governor Fraine at the June primaries because they were responsible for the unfair treatment of the suffrage resolution in the Legislature and both were defeated.
The annual convention was held Oct. 13, 1916, at Valley City, the National Association sending as a representative its first vice-president, Mrs. Walter McNab Miller of Missouri. It was planned to organize the State on the lines of its three Congressional districts, which made a smaller executive board and facilitated its meetings. The following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Clendening; treasurer and press chairman, Mrs. Pierce; national and first congressional district chairman, Mrs. O'Neil; educational and second district chairman, Mrs. Charles Rathman; third district chairman, Mrs. Emma Murray; legislative chairman, Mrs. Weible; publicity chairman, Miss Aldyth Ward. An active campaign was started to influence legislators for a Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill and a constitutional amendment. The National Association sent two organizers to tour the State, arouse interest and raise money. In February, 1917, one-fifth of the newspapers of the State, representing four-fifths of the counties, published suffrage editions, and in May a 60-page suffrage edition of a Labor magazine was edited and 5,000 copies distributed. In April the headquarters were largely used for war work.