President Seth Low, of the National Civic Federation, called a conference in Washington Jan. 17-19, 1910, of delegates to be appointed by the Governors of States and "presidents of commercial, agricultural, manufacturing, labor, financial, professional and other bodies national in extent." The program was to include discussions of "public health, pure food regulations, uniform divorce law and discrimination against married women as to the control of their children and property." The suffragists asked the Commissioners to appoint women among the twelve delegates to represent the District, but this was not done. Mr. Low in answering Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt's criticism that women delegates had not been invited, said it had not occurred to him that women would be interested but that he would place the name of the National Suffrage Association on the list for future calls of a like character.
This year the clergymen of Washington were circularized to ascertain their position on woman suffrage and the great field of usefulness it would offer for women in moral and social reforms was pointed out. Miss Hifton and Miss Anna C. Kelton (afterwards Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley) took charge of this work and the 129 letters they sent received only eight answers, five in favor, two non-committal, one opposed. For the first time permission was obtained from the school board to post notices of the national suffrage convention in the school buildings, Miss Anna MacLaren arranging for it.
In 1911 representatives of the association addressed many conventions in Washington and asked that resolutions favoring suffrage for women be passed. They were not successful but presented their cause. In 1912-13 the suffragists were busy among other things in agitating the question of having a woman as Juvenile Court Judge. President Taft practically promised the appointment, but the male incumbent was allowed to hold over another year. A meeting of women lawyers was held and a committee appointed to call on Attorney General Wickersham to urge the name of Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, then Dean of the Washington College of Law. She was endorsed by several thousand men and women, over six hundred of whom were teachers in the public schools and familiar with Mrs. Mussey's excellent work on the Board of Education, but no woman was appointed. (In 1918 Miss Kathryn Sellers, president of the College Women's Equal Suffrage League, was appointed by President Wilson.)
On March 3, the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, for the first time women marched on Pennsylvania Avenue. The parade was arranged by the Congressional Committee of the National Association, of which Miss Alice Paul was chairman. Objection being made by Superintendent of Police Sylvester to giving a permit, the women appealed to the Senate Committee for the District on the ground that as citizens and tax-payers they had the right to use the avenue, and a joint resolution was passed by Congress granting it. Adequate police protection, however, was not given, indeed some of the police themselves hooted and jeered with the mob which attacked the paraders. Doubtless it was composed of persons who had come from outside to the inauguration. It took three hours to march the mile from the Peace Monument to the Treasury, where tableaux were given on the steps. Finally it was necessary to call the troops from Fort Myer. The Senate ordered an investigation and the Police Superintendent resigned. It was said that this parade won thousands of friends for the cause of woman suffrage.
This year the Congressional Union was organized to work in the District and the States solely for the Federal Suffrage Amendment, with Miss Paul chairman, Miss Lucy Burns, Mrs. Crystal Eastman, Mrs. Mary Beard and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis the other officers. It had its own headquarters and was not affiliated with the National American Association.
In 1914 the suffragists protested again, this time to the Chamber of Commerce, against a constitutional amendment sponsored by it to enfranchise the residents of the District, because it did not definitely state that women should be included. This protest was also taken up in the Federation of Women's Clubs through the auxiliaries of the State Suffrage Association, which were affiliated with it. During 1915 and 1916 suffragists addressed all the civic bodies in Washington on the necessity of including women in any measure looking to the enfranchisement of the residents of the District. As a result of this continuous agitation a compromise was reached to hold the question in abeyance until a constitutional amendment was passed enabling Congress to grant suffrage to the District. The association as usual participated in commemorating the birthdays of Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony and placed wreaths on the bust of Lincoln in the rotunda of the Capitol. It joined in the contest with the school board which tried to exclude married women as teachers.
During the closing years of the long campaign for woman suffrage street meetings were held. Among those who helped in this work were Mrs. Frank Hiram Snell, Miss Florence F. Stiles, Miss Elizabeth Eggert, Miss O'Toole and Miss Sellers. Receptions were given to the "yellow flier," the automobile sent across the continent by the National Association, and to the "prairie schooner," the car sent by the Just Government League of Maryland to tour its southern counties. Miss O'Toole travelled with the "schooner" two weeks, speaking several times a day. A delegation from the College League met it at the District line and a procession accompanied it into the city under police escort. In the evening a public reception was given at the Washington College of Law. From 1916 the association assisted the National Association at its new headquarters, 1626 Rhode Island Avenue, by serving tea afternoons and raising money through bazaars, rummage sales, card parties, etc.
During 1918 all the suffrage societies in the District devoted their energies to war work and co-operated in every possible way with the Woman's Committee of National Defense, whose headquarters were in Washington, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw chairman. They rejoiced in the submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment by Congress in 1919 and its ratification in 1920, although notwithstanding their many years of loyalty and assistance to the National Association they could receive no benefit from the victory.
More women hold office in Washington than in any city in the world because of their very extensive employment by the National Government. When Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage was written in 1900 an official statement gave the total number of government employees in the District as 20,109 men, 7,496 women, a total of 27,600. At the request of Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, a vice-president of the National Woman Suffrage Association and a member of the U. S. Civil Service Commission, the following information was sent in 1920 to be used in this volume, by the president of the commission, Martin A. Morrison:
In 1907 the Bureau of the Census issued a report in which it was stated that men outnumbered women in the Government service by about eleven to one in Washington, D. C., and outside. The percentage of women in the District was much larger than outside for the reason that the great bulk of the employees in field branches are in services the duties of which are not ordinarily performed by women—the mechanical forces at navy yards, ordnance establishments, engineer departments, reclamation service projects, lighthouse service and the like; also the letter-carriers, city and rural, railway mail clerks and such classes.
It is believed that the proportion of women to men in the entire service did not change materially until the beginning of the war. When the United States entered the war, there were approximately 38,000 employees in the executive civil service in the District of Columbia, approximately two-fifths of them women. The force was increased by 80,000 during the war, of whom approximately 75 per cent were women. The force has now been reduced to about 90,000, of whom approximately 50,000 are women. The proportion of women is being constantly reduced by the return of former soldiers and sailors to civilian employment, who are allowed preference under the law. The Federal Civil Service outside the District of Columbia increased by approximately 280,000 during the war period, possibly one-third of this increase made up of women. That force numbers now about 550,000 as compared with 450,000 before the war and it seems safe to say that twenty per cent. are women.
These positions are open to any who pass the civil service examinations but the chiefs of the bureaus and departments are appointed by the President, and Secretaries of Departments, and they have always been men. Men have succeeded also in getting the highly paid positions under civil service.