DELAWARE.[27]
During the past twenty years the advocates of woman suffrage have continued to suffer from the handicap peculiar to Delaware—no referendum to the voters possible on constitutional amendments—and therefore it never has had the advantage of a State-wide educational campaign. An amendment must be passed by two-thirds of each branch of the Legislature at two successive sessions and it then becomes a part of the constitution. However, the State Equal Suffrage Association has held conventions every year. Many distinguished advocates from outside the State, including Miss Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Miss Mary Garrett Hay, Mrs. Beatrice Forbes Robertson Hale, Mrs. Maud Wood Park, Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip and Mrs. Borden Harriman, have been among the speakers. Prominent endorsers of woman suffrage have been the State Grange, Grand Army of the Republic, Ministerial Union, Central Labor Union and Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The last is the only leading woman's organization to give official sanction.
The annual State convention was held Nov. 6, 1901, at Newport, with three clubs—Wilmington, Newport and New Castle—under the presidency of Mrs. Martha S. Cranston. Dr. Shaw, vice-president-at-large of the National Association, was the speaker and the presence of reporters was an encouraging feature.
The convention of 1902 took place November 8 in Wilmington. Miss Jane Campbell, president of the large Philadelphia county society, and Henry W. Wilbur of the Friends' society, New York, were the speakers from outside the State. During this year the W. C. T. U. and the Wilmington District Epworth League passed suffrage resolutions. The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony was placed in travelling libraries. Women were urged to pay their taxes "under protest." The Newport Club petitioned that the word "male" be omitted from the new town charter but without success. Governor John Hunn in his Message to the Legislature said: "The time is coming when the participation of women in all our civil affairs will be voluntarily sought as an infusion of indispensable new elements into our citizenship."
The convention of 1903 was held November 28 at Newport, with Miss Harriet May Mills of New York as the chief speaker. The master of the State Grange declared his belief this year in the equality of the sexes and urged that some provisions be made for the higher education of Delaware women. The convention of 1904 was held November 22 in Wilmington with an address by Dr. Shaw and $25 were pledged to the National Association. In 1905 the convention was held November 4 in New Castle, with Dr. Shaw the speaker. A pledge of $25 was again made to the National Association and Delaware's quota to the Oregon campaign was subscribed. The State convention took place at Newport on Nov. 6, 1906. This year the G. A. R. endorsed both State and national suffrage.
The convention held Oct. 2, 1907, in Wilmington, arranged to send the State president to the congressional suffrage hearing at Washington. The outside speaker was Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts. A chairman of church work was appointed. Reports showed that much suffrage sentiment was now manifested in the State.
The convention of Nov. 12, 1908, at Newport, was addressed by Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery and Miss Lucy E. Anthony, the latter describing the great suffrage parade in London in which she had taken part. A memorial to David Ferris, a prominent friend of woman suffrage, was read by Miss Emma Worrell. The Higher Education of the Young Women of Delaware was discussed by Professor H. H. Hayward, dean of Agriculture in Delaware College.
The convention of Nov. 29, 1909, in Wilmington, was addressed by Miss Campbell and Miss Mary Winsor of Haverford, Penn. Memorials to Henry B. Blackwell and William Lloyd Garrison were read by Mrs. Gertrude W. Nields. The national petition work for a Federal Amendment was undertaken in Wilmington with Miss Mary R. de Vou and Mrs. Don P. Jones in charge; in the rest of the State by Mrs. Cranston. Legislators and the State at large were deluged with literature. Miss Perle Penfield, a national organizer, was sent for one week by courtesy of Mrs. Avery, president of the Pennsylvania association. A hearing was arranged by Professor Hayward before a Senate committee in the interest of the higher education of women in Delaware, without result.[28] A telegram and a letter were sent by the State president and corresponding secretary to President Theodore Roosevelt, asking him to remember woman suffrage in his message to Congress.
The annual convention held Nov. 10, 1910, in Wilmington, was addressed by Miss Lida Stokes Adams of Philadelphia and Frank Stephens of the Arden Colony near by. A fine tribute to Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, who had recently passed away, was given by Miss Worrell. The Newport and other clubs sent $30 for the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Fund and a contribution was made to the South Dakota campaign.
In March the society of Wilmington, the largest branch, began holding monthly meetings. In response to a letter from the National Association, Miss Mary H. Askew Mather, Miss de Vou and Miss Emma Lore were appointed to investigate the laws of Delaware affecting the status of women in regard to their property rights and the guardianship of their children. A committee was appointed to support the candidacy of Dr. Josephine M. R. White deLacour for membership on the school board of Wilmington, where women had school suffrage. This year woman suffrage in Delaware lost another friend by the death of former Chief Justice Charles B. Lore, who framed the petition to the State constitutional convention in 1897 and who stood unfailingly for the equality of men and women before the law. The State convention met Nov. 9, 1911, at Newport.