The History of Woman Suffrage Volume IV Part 90

CHAPTER XLII.

LOUISIANA.[290]

The history of woman suffrage in Louisiana must center always about the names of Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick.

In 1879, before there had been any general agitation of this question in the State, these ladies appeared before the convention which was preparing a new const.i.tution, and urged that the ballot should be granted to women on the same terms as to men. The only concession to their demands was a clause making women eligible to any office of control or management under the School Laws of the State.

Mrs. Saxon continued to create equal suffrage sentiment until her removal to another State, and Mrs. Merrick remains still a princ.i.p.al figure in the movement. Until his death in 1897 she had the earnest encouragement and a.s.sistance of her distinguished husband, Edwin T.

Merrick, for ten years Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana prior to the Civil War.

As New Orleans is the only large city and contains one-fourth of the population of a State which is among the most conservative in the Union, organized work naturally would be confined to this locality, but up to 1884 it had no active club or society of women. In this year there was a demand by the press that the women of New Orleans should organize for the promotion of the World's Cotton Centennial, to be held there in the autumn and winter of 1884-85. This was done and the Woman's Department was a conspicuous feature of the centennial. Mrs.

Julia Ward Howe of Ma.s.sachusetts was the commissioner for the Government, different States sent capable representatives and there was cordial co-operation with the women of New Orleans.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

SUSAN LOOK AVERY.

Louisville, Ky., and Chicago, Ill.

HELEN PHILLEO JENKINS.

Detroit, Mich.

LOUISA SOUTHWORTH.

Cleveland, Ohio.

MARY BENTLEY THOMAS.

Ednor, Md.

KATE M. GORDON.

New Orleans, La.

In March, 1885, Miss Susan B. Anthony visited the city for two weeks.

She was deluged with invitations for addresses, and spoke in Agricultural Hall of the exposition at the request of the Press Club, in Tulane Hall under the auspices of the city teachers, at the Girls'

High School and in half-a-dozen other places. Everywhere she was most warmly welcomed and was favorably reported in the papers, although her doctrines were new and unpopular. Mrs. Eliza J. Nicholson, owner and manager of the _Picayune_, and Mrs. M. A. Field (Catharine Cole), of its editorial staff, gave pleasant manifestations of friends.h.i.+p. One of the addresses delivered by Miss Anthony was before the Woman's Club, which had been an outgrowth of the exposition committees. Mrs.

May Wright Sewall of Indiana gave an address on this same occasion.

While this club had by no means been formed in the interests of suffrage, it was a decided innovation and the first step out of tradition and conservatism.

The work of the women of Louisiana in the Anti-Lottery campaign of 1891 is ent.i.tled to special mention. The lottery, as the great money power, controlled absolutely the politics of the State, and the leading newspapers were a unit in its support. The reform movement to prevent the renewal of its charter was without money, prestige or the influence of the press. The women came n.o.bly to the rescue of this apparently hopeless cause. They formed leagues for the collection of money, they called meetings, they a.s.sisted in every possible way to educate the public mind and awaken the public conscience. To them belongs a large share of the credit for the final overthrow at the polls of this octopus corporation, which was so long a reproach to the State.

In 1892 the Portia Club was formed, a strictly suffrage organization, with Mrs. Merrick as president.[291] Under its auspices the a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Women held its annual congress in New Orleans in 1895, during which Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., gave an address on The Philosophy of Woman Suffrage. At another time Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri lectured for the club.

In January, 1895, Miss Anthony, president of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation, accompanied by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee, came again to New Orleans. The _Picayune_ said of their first appearance:

If any one doubted the interest which Southern women feel in the all-absorbing question of the day, "Woman and her Rights," that idea would have been forever dispelled by a glance at the splendid audience a.s.sembled last night. The hall was literally packed to overflowing, not only with women but with men, prominent representatives in every walk of life.

In 1896 the Era[292] Club was organized with Miss Belle Van Horn as president. The successful work of this society has been largely due to the ability and personal influence of Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, a progressive Ma.s.sachusetts woman, professor of chemistry in Newcomb College, New Orleans, who was its second president. Miss Kate M.

Gordon was the third.

In 1896 the Era united with the Portia Club in the beginning of a State suffrage a.s.sociation, of which Mrs. Merrick was made president.

Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado gave two lectures before the new a.s.sociation this year. Those who have represented this body at the national conventions are Mrs. Merrick, Miss Katharine n.o.bles and Miss Gordon.

In 1898 a convention was held in New Orleans to prepare a new State const.i.tution. A committee composed of Mrs. Marie Garner Graham, Miss n.o.bles, Miss Gordon and Miss Jean Gordon appeared before the Suffrage Committee in support of a pet.i.tion for Full Suffrage for the educated, taxpaying women of Louisiana, which had been presented to the convention by the Hon. A. W. Faulkner. Mrs. Graham made an eloquent appeal in behalf of using the intelligence and morality embodied in the woman's vote in solving the political problem of the South. The committee further requested that Mrs. Chapman Catt be permitted to address the convention. The request was immediately granted and an official invitation courteously extended.

Mrs. Merrick, who was a delegate to the suffrage convention then in session at Was.h.i.+ngton, urged that some prominent members of the National a.s.sociation should accompany this speaker on her important mission, and Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky and Miss Mary G. Hay of New York were duly appointed. On February 24, in Tulane Hall, before the a.s.sembled convention and a large throng of listeners in the galleries, Mrs. Chapman Catt made a strong argument for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of Louisiana women.

For many days woman suffrage was seriously considered as a means to the end of securing white supremacy in the State. The following week the Athenaeum, the finest lecture hall in New Orleans, was crowded with men and women from all cla.s.ses of society anxious to hear more on this daily topic of discussion, as presented by Mrs. Chapman Catt, Miss Clay and Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama. Seats were reserved for the members of the Const.i.tutional Convention, who responded almost unanimously to the invitation to be present.

Dr. Henry d.i.c.kson Bruns, a member of the Suffrage Committee, bent every effort to secure Full Suffrage for women as the only means to effect the reform in political conditions so much desired. The majority report of the committee, however, contained only this clause: "All taxpaying women shall have the right to vote in person or by proxy on all questions of taxation."

While the women were greatly disappointed, this was really a signal victory in so conservative a State.

Those who supposed that women would make practically no use of this sc.r.a.p of suffrage were soon to be undeceived. New Orleans was at this time a city of 300,000 with absolutely no sewerage system; an inadequate water supply, and what there was of this in the hands of a monopoly; an excellent drainage system plodding along for the want of means at a rate which would have required twenty years to complete it.

The return of yellow fever, the city's arch-enemy, after a lapse of eighteen years, created consternation. Senseless quarantines prevailed on all sides; business was paralyzed; property values had fallen; commercial rivals to the right and left were pressing. A crisis was at hand, and all depended on the hygienic regeneration of the city.

The lawful limit of taxation had been reached. One of two ways alone remained--either to grant franchises to private corporations, or for the taxpayers to vote to tax themselves for the necessary improvements. Finally a plan was evolved, where, by a combination with the drainage funds, the great public necessities--water, sewerage and drainage--could be secured to the city by a tax of two mills on the dollar, covering a period of forty-two years. A similar proposition had been voted down two years before, and little hope was entertained that it would carry this time. Here was the women's opportunity. They found that one-third of the taxpayers must sign a pet.i.tion calling the election to establish its legality. This meant that from 9,000 to 10,000 signatures must be secured. They learned also that to carry the measure there must be a majority of numbers as well as of property values.

Realizing that a campaign of education was on their hands, the Era Club called a ma.s.s meeting of women, at which prominent speakers presented the necessities of the situation. At its close a resolution was adopted to form a Woman's League for Sewerage and Drainage, of which Miss Gordon was made president. The papers, which a short time before had been most vehement in their denunciation of suffrage for taxpaying women, were now unanimous in commending their public spirit and predicting ultimate victory through the women.

The first work of the league was to secure a correct list of women taxpayers, the number of whom had been variously estimated from 1,500 to 7,000. Actual count proved that the names of more than 15,000 women appeared on the roll, about one-half the taxpayers of the entire city.

Leaving a large margin for possible duplicates, foreign residents and changes by death, a conservative estimate gave at least 10,000 women eligible to vote. Few can realize the magnitude of this undertaking, for the names were without addresses but simply given as owners of such and such pieces of property in such and such boundaries.

The work of location was at last accomplished, and then came the task of securing the names of these women to the pet.i.tions. The lists were divided according to wards, with a chairman for each, who appointed lieutenants in the various precincts. Parlor meetings to interest women were held everywhere, in the homes of the rich, the poor and the middle cla.s.ses. Volunteer canva.s.sers were secured and suffrage sentiment awakened. Occasionally ma.s.s meetings of men and women together were called, and good speakers obtained to arouse the people to the necessity of voting for the tax. It was the number of women's signatures which enabled the mayor to order the election.

The law carried with it the privilege of voting by proxy, and the women who were active in this movement had the great task of gathering up the proxies of all those who had not the courage to go to the polls. These had to be made out in legal form and signed by two witnesses, and they then learned that no woman in Louisiana can legally witness a doc.u.ment, so in all these thousands of cases it was necessary to secure two men as witnesses. It made no difference whether they could read or write, whether they owned property or not, if males it was sufficient.[293]

The election was held June 6, 1899. The _Picayune_, which, with the other papers, had opposed the extension of even this bit of suffrage to women, came out the next morning with a three-quarter-page picture of a beautiful woman, labeled New Orleans, on a prancing steed named Progress, das.h.i.+ng over a chasm ent.i.tled Sanitary Neglect and Commercial Stagnation, to a bluff called A Greater City, while in one corner was a female angel with wings outspread, designated as Victory.

The two-page account began as follows:

The great election for Sewerage and Drainage has come and gone, and with it a notable chapter in the history of woman's work in New Orleans in behalf of munic.i.p.al improvement. It is unanimously conceded, as incontestably proven by facts, that but for the number of signatures of women sent to the mayor the election never would have been called. It was also conceded late yesterday afternoon that the n.o.ble work of the women had won the day in behalf of these much-needed improvements for our beloved city....

The politician has been crushed, and let the credit go where it belongs. The women of New Orleans did it, under the leaders.h.i.+p of those two active, energetic and self-sacrificing young women, the Misses Kate M. and Jean Gordon, and all the glory is theirs.

Woman plays a most important part in the politics and affairs of this city. Whenever a crisis approaches, the men on the right side appeal to her and the appeal is never in vain. She jumps into the breach, and invariably victory perches upon her banner.

All honor to the fair s.e.x! The women, or rather the few women who were in the Sewerage and Drainage League, probably did as much work for the special tax as all the men in this city put together, and they did it quietly and thoroughly....

It was the first time in the history of New Orleans that women were allowed the proud privilege of the suffrage, and it was a novel sight to see them at the polls, producing their certificates of a.s.sessment and then retiring to the booths, fixing their ballots and depositing them in the boxes.... Enough of them showed their independence of the sterner s.e.x to prove to the community that they are a deal more competent to wield the ballot than a vast majority of the male suffragans. From what some of the commissioners of election say, the women demonstrated that they had observed the instructions as to voting with a great deal more punctiliousness than the men. They had no difficulty in arranging their ballots, and knew the routine better than many men who had been in the habit of voting, not only early but often.

This paper contained also an interview with Mrs. Merrick, of which the following is a portion:

"Women are saying everywhere, Mrs. Merrick, that much of the glory of this day is due to you, for you were the first woman in the State to pin your faith to the suffrage cause."

"Without boasting," she said modestly, "the women of Louisiana, I think, do owe a little to me. For years I stood alone for their enfranchis.e.m.e.nt, especially where questions of property and taxation were concerned.... I may say I have fought, labored and almost died for suffrage. I do hope to see the women of New Orleans with the School and Munic.i.p.al Suffrage before I die. I am getting old now," she added sweetly; "I am threescore and ten; I cast my first vote to-day. It was only for sewerage and drainage; but then it was for the protection of the home from the invasion of disease, the better health of our city, the greater prosperity of our commonwealth, and I am satisfied; for it will be discovered that women hold the balance of power in all things good and true, and our votes will soon be wanted in other praiseworthy reforms."

The duties of the women did not end when they had voted for the tax.

It was necessary to have a Sewerage and Water Board of seven commissioners, and the voters were to decide whether these should be elected by the people or appointed by the mayor with the ratification of the City Council. The politicians were determined on the former method, while the business interests of the city demanded the latter.

The women almost to a unit voted for appointment, and the majority of 1,000 by which it was carried can be placed practically to the credit of the Woman's League for Sewerage and Drainage.[294] It was conceded that of the 6,000 votes cast at this election, at least one-half were those of women.