The History of Woman Suffrage Volume III Part 39

MR. WHITE, from the Select Committee on Woman Suffrage, submitted the following:

_The Select Committee on Woman Suffrage, to whom was referred House Resolution No. 255, proposing an amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States to secure the right of suffrage to citizens of the United States without regard to s.e.x, having considered the same, respectfully report:_

In attempting to comprehend the vast results that could and would be attained by the adoption of the proposed article to the const.i.tution, a few considerations are presented that are claimed by the friends of woman suffrage to be worthy of the most serious attention, among which are the following:

I. There are vast interests in property vested in women, which property is affected by taxation and legislation, without the owners having voice or representation in regard to it. The adoption of the proposed amendment would remove a manifest injustice.

II. Consider the unjust discriminations made against women in industrial and educational pursuits, and against those who are compelled to earn a livelihood by work of hand or brain. By conferring upon such the right of suffrage, their condition, it is claimed, would be greatly improved by the enlargement of their influence.

III. The questions of social and family relations are of equal importance to and affect as many women as men. Giving to women a voice in the enactment of laws pertaining to divorce and the custody of children and division of property would be merely recognizing an undeniable right.

IV. Munic.i.p.al regulations in regard to houses of prost.i.tution, of gambling, of retail liquor traffic, and of all other abominations of modern society, might be shaped very differently and more perfectly were women allowed the ballot.

V. If women had a voice in legislation, the momentous question of peace and war, which may act with such fearful intensity upon women, might be settled with less bloodshed.

VI. Finally, there is no condition, status in life, of rich or poor; no question, moral or political; no interest, present or future; no ties, foreign or domestic; no issues, local or national; no phase of human life, in which the mother is not equally interested with the father, the daughter with the son, the sister with the brother.

Therefore the one should have equal voice with the other in molding the destiny of this nation.

Believing these considerations to be so important as to challenge the attention of all patriotic citizens, and that the people have a right to be heard in the only authoritative manner recognized by the const.i.tution, we report the accompanying resolution with a favorable recommendation in order that the people, through the legislatures of their respective States, may express their views:

JOINT RESOLUTION _proposing an amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States_:

_Resolved_ by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in congress a.s.sembled, (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Const.i.tution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, shall be valid as part of said const.i.tution, namely:

SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of s.e.x.

SEC. 2. The congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the provisions of this article.

Thus closed the forty-seventh congress, and although with so little promise of any substantial good for women, yet this slight recognition in legislation was encouraging to those who had so long appealed in vain for the attention of their representatives. A committee to even consider the wrongs of woman was more than had ever been secured before, and one to propose some measures of justice, sustained by the votes of a few statesmen awake to the degradation of disfranchis.e.m.e.nt, gave some faint hope of more generous action in the near future. The tone of the debates[103] in these later years even, on the nature and rights of women, is wholly unworthy the present type of developed womanhood and the age in which we live.

FOOTNOTES:

[81] During the autumn Miss Anthony, Mrs. Jones, Miss Snow and Miss Couzins, spending some weeks in Was.h.i.+ngton, asked for an audience with President Chester A. Arthur, and urged him to recommend in his first message to congress the appointment of a standing committee and the submission of a sixteenth amendment.

[82] _Yeas_--Aldrich, Allison, Anthony, Blair, Cameron of Pa., Cameron of Wis., Conger, Davis of Ill., Dawes, Edmunds, Ferry, Frye, Harrison, Hawley, Hill of Col., h.o.a.r, Jones of Fla., Jones of Nev., Kellogg, Lapham, Logan, McDill, McMillan, Miller of Cal., Mitch.e.l.l, Morrill, Platt, Plumb, Ransom, Rollins, Saunders, Sawyer, Sewell, Sherman, Windom--35.

_Nays_--Bayard, Beck, Brown, Butler, Camden, c.o.c.krell, c.o.ke, Davis of W. Va., Fair, Farley, Garland, Hampton, Hill of Ga., Jackson, Jonas, McPherson, Maxey, Saulsbury, Slater, Vance, Vest, Walker, Williams--23.

_Absent_--Call, George, Gorman, Groome, Grover, Hale, Harris, Ingalls, Johnston, Lamar, Mahone, Miller of N. Y., Morgan, Pendleton, Pugh, Teller, Van Wyck, Voorhees--18.

The members of the committee were Senators Lapham of New York, Anthony of Rhode Island, Blair of New Hamps.h.i.+re, Jackson of Tennessee, George of Mississippi, Ferry of Michigan and Fair of Nevada.

[83] _Yeas_--Aldrich, Anderson, Bayne, Beach, Belford, Bingham, Black, Bliss, Brewer, Briggs, Browne, Brumm, Buck, Burrows, Julius C., b.u.t.terworth, Calkins, Camp, Campbell, Candler, Cannon, Carpenter, Caswell, Converse, c.r.a.po, Davis, George R., Dawes, Deering, De Motte, Dezendorf, Dingley, Dwight, Farwell, Sewall S., Finley, Flower, Geddes, Grout, Hardenburgh, Harris, Henry, S., Haseltine, Haskell, Hawk, Hazelton, Heilman, Henderson, Hepburn, Hill, Hisc.o.c.k, Horr, Houk, Hubbell, Humphrey, Hutchinson, Jacobs, Jadwin, Jones, Phineas, Ka.s.son, Kelley, Ladd, Lord, Marsh, Mason, McClure, McCoid, McCook, McKinley, Miles, Miller, Moulton, Murch, Nolan, Norcross, O'Neill, Orth, Page, Parker, Paul, Payson, Poole, Pierce, Pettibone, Pound, Prescott, Ranney, Ray, Reed, Rice. Theron M., Richardson, D. P., Ritchie, Robeson, Robinson, Geo. D., Robinson, James S., Ryan, Scranton, Shallenberger, Sherwin, Skinner, Smith, A. Herr, Smith, Dietrich C., Spaulding, Spooner, Steele, Stephens, Stone, Strait, Taylor, Updegraff, J. T., Updegraff, Thomas, Valentine, Van Aernam, Walker, Watson, West, White, Williams, Chas. G., Willits--115.

_Nays_--Aiken, Atkins, Berry, Blackburn, Bland, Blount, Bragg, Buchanan, Buckner, Cabell, Caldwell, Ca.s.siday, Chapman, Clark, Clements, Cobb, Colerick, c.o.x, William R., Covington, Cravens, Culberson, Curtin, Deuster, Dibrell, Dowd, Evins, Forney, Frost, Fulkerson, Garrison, Guenther, Gunter, Hammond, N. J., Hatch, Herbert, Hewitt, G. W. Hoge, Holman, House, Jones, George W., Jones, James K., Joyce, Kenna, Klotz, Knott, Latham, Leedom, Manning, Martin, Matson, McMillin, Mills, Money, Morrison, Mutchler, Oates, Phister, Reagan, Rosecrans, Ross, Schackleford, Sh.e.l.ley, Simonton, Singleton, Jas. W., Singleton, Otho R., Sparks, Speer, Springer, Stockslager, Thompson, P. B., Thompson, Wm. G., Tillman, Tucker, Turner, Henry G., Turner, Oscar, Upson, Vance, Warner, Whittih.o.r.e, Williams, Thomas, Willis, Wilson, Wise, George D., Young--84.

[84] _Connecticut_, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Frances Ellen Burr.

_Colorado_, Mrs. Elizabeth G. Campbell, _District of Columbia_, Ellen H. Sheldon, Jane H. Spofford, Dr. Caroline B. Winslow, Ellen M. O'Conner, Eliza t.i.tus Ward, Belva A. Lockwood, Mrs. H. L.

Shephard, Martha Johnson. _Indiana_, Helen M. Gongar, May Wright Sewall, Laura Kregelo, Alexiana S. Maxwell. _Maine_, Sophronia C.

Snow. _Ma.s.sachusetts_, Mrs. Harriet H. Robinson, Harriette R.

Shattuck, Laura E. Brooks, Mary R. Brown, Emma F. Clary.

_Nebraska_, Clara B. Colby. _New Jersey_, Mrs. Stanton, Mrs.

Chandler. _New York_, Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers, Mrs. Blake, Mrs.

Gage, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Helen M. Loder. _Pennsylvania_, Mrs.

McClellan Brown, Rachel G. Foster, Emma C. Rhodes. _Rhode Island_, Rev. Frederick A Hinckley, Mrs. Burgess. _Wisconsin_, Miss Eliza Wilson and Mrs. Painter.

[85] Short speeches were made by Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Shattuck of Ma.s.sachusetts, Mrs. Sewall and Mrs. Gougar of Indiana, Mrs. Saxon of Louisiana, Mrs. Colby of Nebraska.

[86] When Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Blake of New York, Mrs.

Hooker of Connecticut and Mrs. Saxon of Louisiana, and Mrs. Sewall, by special request of the chairman, again addressed the committee.

[87] Mr. Blackburn, Mr. Robeson, and Mr. Reed were present.

[88] Mrs. Saxon, Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Sewall, Mrs. McClellan Brown, Mrs.

Colby, Miss Couzins, Miss Anthony, Edward M. Davis, Robert Purvis, Mrs. Shattuck, Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, Mrs. Robinson.

[89] Those present were Mesdames Spofford, Stanton, Robinson, Shattuck, Sewall and Saxon; Misses Thompson, Anthony, Couzins and Foster. Many pleasant ladies from the Society of Friends were there also and contributed to the dignity and interest of the occasion.

[90] The speakers in the American convention were Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, Margaret W. Campbell, Mary E. Haggart, Judge Kingman and Governor Hoyt of Wyoming, Hannah Tracy Cutler, Mary B. Clay, Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Rebecca N. Hazzard, Ada M. Bittenbender, Mrs.

O. C. Dinsmore, Matilda Hindman, Rev. W. E. Copeland, Erasmus M.

Correll.

The speakers at the National convention were Virginia L. Minor, Phoebe Couzins, Mrs. Saxon, Mrs. Bloomer, Mrs. McKinney, Mrs.

Shattuck, Mrs. Neyman, Mrs. Colby, Mrs. Sewall, Mrs. Mason, Mrs.

Brooks, Mrs. Blake, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Dinsmore, Miss Hindman, Mrs.

Gougar, Mr. Correll and Mrs. Harbert. Many of those from both a.s.sociations took part in the canva.s.s. Miss Rachel G. Foster went out in the spring and made all the arrangements for the work of the National. She studied the geography of the State, and the railroads, and mapped out all the meetings for its twelve speakers.

[91] For full reports of the American convention see the _Woman's Journal_, edited by Lucy Stone and published in Boston.

[92] For reports of the National see _Our Herald_, edited by Helen M. Gougar and published in Lafayette, Ind. The daily papers of Omaha had full reports, the most fair by the _Republican_, edited by Mr. Brooks.

[93] Their many courtesies are well summed up by Miss Foster in a letter to _Our Herald_:--DEAR HERALD: As your readers will know from the report of the executive meetings, it was decided to have a headquarters for National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation speakers at Omaha. When your editor left, the arrangements had not been completed for office-room and furnis.h.i.+ngs. It is finally decided that I, as secretary of the National Woman's Suffrage a.s.sociation, remain in charge of this Omaha office, with Mrs. C. B. Colby as my a.s.sociate, while Mrs. Bittenbender has charge of the headquarters at Lincoln, and manages the American and State speakers, these two officers of the campaign committee being in constant consultation.

I cannot too strongly express the grat.i.tude which our committee, and especially our National Woman's Suffrage a.s.sociation, owes to the kind firm of Kitchen Brothers, proprietors of the Paxton Hotel.

During our late convention their attention has been unremitting, and they now crown it by giving us, rent free, a large, well-lighted office to be occupied until election as the Omaha headquarters of our campaign committee. I was somewhat puzzled about the suitable furnis.h.i.+ngs for the room, but Mr. Kitchen told me he would attend to that himself, and through his kindness it will be made very comfortable for us to occupy for the next five weeks.

Messrs. Dewey and Stone of this city, large dealers in furniture, have given the use of a handsome and convenient desk which will enable us to bring order out of chaos. So you can imagine us, surrounded by all convenient appliances, hard at work in our new quarters a good part of every day for this last month before election. We can certainly not complain that we are not made welcome to the best the city affords by these kind citizens of Omaha. Why, we even had a special engine and car given us by the accommodating manager of the Burlington & Missouri railroad to run one of our speakers from Omaha to Lincoln to enable her to attend a meeting which would otherwise have lacked a speaker. Mr.

Montmorency, on behalf of the Burlington & Missouri railroad, extended this courtesy (and in our need at that hour it was highly appreciated) to us because of the work in which we are engaged. As all know ere this, both this road and the Union Pacific have given to our speakers and delegates generous reductions over all their lines in this State.

Mayor Boyd, owner of the Opera House, has also done his share to aid us toward success, in his great reduction of ordinary rates to us while we occupy his handsome building with our suffrage ma.s.s meetings. We have the Opera House now secured for October 4, 13, 19, 26, November 2 and 6, on which dates large meetings will be addressed by some of our princ.i.p.al speakers. The first date is to be filled by Miss Phoebe Couzins, on "The Woman Without a Country."

The full report of our proceedings at the Omaha and Lincoln conventions, with the newspaper comments upon the size and character of the audiences there a.s.sembled, as well as the courtesies which I have just mentioned, will convince our readers that we are seemingly welcome guests here in Nebraska, and I may say especially in Omaha. I will keep the _Herald_ posted from week to week upon campaign committee work.

Yours for success, RACHEL G. FOSTER.

Headquarters of Suffrage Campaign Committee, Paxton House, Omaha, October 2, 1882.