The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 38

In March, 1919, the National a.s.sociation sent one of its best organizers, Miss Edna Wright, to interest the leagues in ratification and the State a.s.sociation retained her for the remainder of the year.

Invitations for a Citizens.h.i.+p School at Durham, July 8-12, were sent out by the a.s.sociation and President Hetzel of the State College, the first time in history that a State College had cooperated with women in such an undertaking. The school was organized by Miss Wright and presided over by Mrs. Wood, with the publicity and press conference in charge of Miss Marjorie Shuler, sent by the National a.s.sociation.

RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment had been submitted by Congress to the Legislatures in June and the vital question now was ratification. A ma.s.s meeting was held in Manchester at which Governor Bartlett announced that he was willing to call a special session to ratify. Realizing from past experience that the a.s.sociation could have little influence with it, the board appointed Huntley N. Spaulding, a prominent citizen, chairman of a Men's Committee for Ratification, and he called to his aid Dwight Hall, chairman of the State Republican Committee, and Alexander Murchie, chairman of the State Democratic Committee. The Governor can not call a session without the consent of his Council, which consists of five men. It met on August 13 and the Governor arranged to have a hearing for the women. Mrs. Olive Rand Clarke, Mrs. Winfield Shaw of Manchester, Mrs. Charles Bancroft of Concord and Mrs. Vida Chase Webb of Lisbon made short speeches. After the hearing the Council voted to call a special session for September 9.

Mr. Hall and Mr. Murchie immediately got in touch with the members of the Legislature belonging to their respective parties. Under the direction of Mr. Spaulding a remarkable publicity campaign was inaugurated and the leading men of the State, many of whom had been extremely opposed to woman suffrage, gave interviews in favor of ratification. The Manchester _Union_ devoted its front pages to these interviews for three weeks. Marked copies were sent not only to members of the Legislature but to the 750 committeemen of each of the parties. James O. Lyford, dean of the Republicans, put his political knowledge at the disposal of the committee. Miss Betsy Jewett Edwards came from the National Woman's Republican Committee and did splendid work among the Republicans, who made up a large majority of both Houses. Miss Kimball, State president, gave devoted service and much financial a.s.sistance. Miss Wright had entire charge of the office work, publicity, organization, etc.

The special session met on September 9 and the Governor sent a strong message calling for ratification. The House voted on the opening day, 212 ayes to 143 noes. The real test was in the Senate, which on September 10 gave forty minutes to outside speakers. Mrs. Mary I. Wood spoke for the suffragists and Mrs. F. S. Streeter of Concord, Miss Charlotte Rowe and two Senators for the opponents. The Senate ratified by 14 to 10 and Governor Bartlett signed the bill without delay.

The last meeting of the State a.s.sociation, its work accomplished, took place in Manchester, November 21, 22, 1919. Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, national corresponding secretary, described the aims of the League of Women Voters, and, after discussion, it was decided to merge the a.s.sociation into a State League. Miss Kimball was elected chairman.

The National a.s.sociation had contributed to New Hamps.h.i.+re during the last year about $3,000.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION: 1905. A bill for Munic.i.p.al suffrage was introduced in the House by William F. Whitcher of Haverhill, a hearing granted and it was reported out of the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 7 to 2 but got no farther.

1907. The bill was introduced by Mr. Whitcher but the House Judiciary Committee reported against it 8 to 7. An attempt to have the minority report subst.i.tuted was defeated February 20 by a vote for indefinite postponement of 224 to 77.

1909. The chairman of the Legislative Committee, Mrs. Barton P. Jenks, conducted an energetic campaign for the bill and a hearing was held before the Judiciary Committee, which reported 8 to 7 against it, and in the House on the question of subst.i.tuting the minority report the vote was 86 ayes; 115 noes.

1911. Bills for Munic.i.p.al suffrage were introduced by Mr. Whitcher and George S. Sibley of Manchester. The large committee room was crowded for the hearing. The speakers were Mrs. Jenks, the Rev. John Vannevar, Mrs. Wood and Miss Chase, the latter presenting a pet.i.tion of 1,100 names headed by Governor and Mrs. Quinby and Clarence E. Carr, recent candidate for Governor. The committee reported the bill favorably but on January 26 the House voted to postpone indefinitely by 160 to 121.

1913. The a.s.sociation had two bills, one for Munic.i.p.al and one for Presidential and County suffrage. The latter, introduced by Raymond B.

Stevens of Landaff, Congressman-elect, had a hearing February 19, at which one of the chief affirmative speakers was Dean Walter T. Sumner of Chicago, later Bishop of Oregon, who was in town for the Conference of Charities and Corrections. The Judiciary Committee reported the bill favorably but six out of fifteen members signed an adverse report. The debate in the House on March 18 was particularly acrid.

Among the speakers in favor were Levin J. Chase of Concord and Edward C. Bean of Belmont, later Secretary of State. The saloon element as usual was prominent in the opposition. The roll call showed 98 ayes; 239 noes.

1915. The bill for Munic.i.p.al suffrage was unfavorably reported by the Committee on Revision of Statutes. On March 17 when the vote to subst.i.tute the minority report was taken the State House was crowded with eager throngs from all parts of the State. Mr. Chase, Benjamin W.

Couch and James O. Lyford spoke in favor. Dr. Thomas Manley Dillingham of Roxbury represented the "antis." The vote was 121 ayes; 230 noes. A bill for Presidential suffrage had previously been killed in committee.

1917. Bills for Presidential and for County and Munic.i.p.al suffrage were introduced into both Houses. The former was favorably reported by Joseph P. Perley, Daniel J. Daley and Clarence M. Collins of the Senate Committee with a minority report by Obe G. Morrison and Michael H. Shea, which was subst.i.tuted February 7 by a vote of 16 to 7. The favorable report of eight of the fifteen members of the House Committee was submitted by John G. Winant, afterward vice-rector of St. Paul's School, Concord. The struggle came on March 7 when it was debated for several hours with galleries crowded and finally defeated by 205 to 152. On March 16 the bill for Munic.i.p.al suffrage was defeated without debate or roll call.

FOOTNOTES:

[115] The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Frances M.

Abbott, treasurer of the State College Equal Suffrage League, writer and genealogist.

[116] Mr. Drew and Mr. Moses as U. S. Senators in 1918 were able to defeat the pa.s.sage of the Federal Suffrage Amendment, which lacked just two votes. Mr. Churchill afterwards became an earnest advocate of woman suffrage.

[117] It has been impossible to obtain a complete list of those who have served as officers but the following is a partial list of those not mentioned elsewhere. Vice-presidents: Mrs. Ella H. J. Hill, Concord; Mrs. Frank Knox, Manchester; secretaries: the Rev. Olive M.

Kimball, Marlboro; Mrs. Henry F. Hollis, Concord; Dr. Alice Harvie, Concord; Mrs. Edna L. Johnston, Manchester; Mrs. Arthur F. Wheat, Manchester; treasurers: Henry H. Metcalf, Harry E. Barnard, Frank Cressy, Miss Harriet L. Huntress, all of Concord; auditors: Mrs.

Charles P. Bancroft, Concord; the Rev. H. G. Ives, Andover; members National Executive Committee: Mrs. Ida E. Everett and Dr. Sarah J.

Barney, Franklin; Witter Bynner, Cornish; Mrs. Churchill.

CHAPTER XXIX.

NEW JERSEY. PART I.[118]

The first women in the United States to vote were those of New Jersey, whose State const.i.tution of 1776 conferred the franchise on "all inhabitants worth $250." In 1790 the election law confirmed women's right to the suffrage and in 1807 the Legislature illegally deprived them of it. In 1867 Lucy Stone, then a resident of New Jersey, organized a State society, one of the first in the country, which lapsed after her removal to Ma.s.sachusetts a few years later. In 1890 a new State a.s.sociation was organized, which held annual meetings and was active thereafter, although interest diminished after women lost their School suffrage in 1897. [See New Jersey chapter Volume IV.]

Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, a daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, was president from 1893 until 1900, when she declined re-election. Mrs.

Minola Graham s.e.xton of Orange was elected president at the annual meeting in Moorestown in November. At that time there were but five local societies, which she soon increased to fifteen. With her during the five years of her presidency were the following officers: Vice-presidents, Mrs. Susan W. Lippincott of Cinnaminson; Catherine B.

Lippincott, Hartford; corresponding secretaries, Dr. Mary D. Hussey and Mrs. Bertha L. Fearey, East Orange, Mrs. f.a.n.n.y B. Downs, Orange; recording secretaries, Miss Jennie H. Morris, Moorestown, Miss Helen Lippincott, Riverton; treasurer, Mrs. Anna B. Jeffery, South Orange; auditors, Mrs. Mary C. Ba.s.sett and Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell, East Orange; Mrs. Anna R. Powell and Mrs. Louise M. Riley, Plainfield. Mrs.

Riley had started the first woman's club in the State in Orange in 1872.

The Orange Political Study Club was the first suffrage club to join the State Federation in 1901, which invited other clubs to hear Mrs.

Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Suffrage a.s.sociation, give one of her convincing lectures. Mrs. Cornelia C.

Hussey of East Orange held a meeting in her park to hear the reports of the four delegates who attended the national convention at Minneapolis. Dr. Hussey gave out suffrage leaflets to the farmers on their "salt water day" at Sea Girt and to the Congress of Mothers at Trenton. Mrs. Eliza Dutton Hutchinson, press superintendent, got some of the plate matter from the National a.s.sociation for the first time into four newspapers. Letters were sent to 400 progressive women telling them how the ballot would aid them in all good work and inviting them to join the a.s.sociation and many did so. The annual meeting was held in Newark and Mrs. Howe Hall was elected honorary president.

In July, 1902, Mrs. s.e.xton in cooperation with the National a.s.sociation, held the first of the seash.o.r.e meetings that were continued every summer as long as she was president. They were held for two days in the Tabernacle at Ocean Grove and welcomed by Bishop Fitzgerald and Dr. A. E. Ballard, heads of the Camp Meeting a.s.sociation. The speakers were Mrs. Catt, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president of the National a.s.sociation, Miss Kate Gordon, its corresponding secretary, and Miss Mary Garrett Hay, a national organizer. The Mayor and two editors became advocates of the cause. At the Friends' conference at Asbury Park in September a day was devoted to political equality and Mrs. Catt and Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, president of the New York State a.s.sociation, spoke. The annual meeting was held at Orange and a board of directors was elected: the Rev.

Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Elizabeth; Mrs. Katherine H. Browning, West Orange; Mrs. Phebe C. Wright, Sea Girt; Mrs. Joanna Hartshorn, Short Hills; Miss Susan W. Lippincott and Mrs. Elizabeth Vail, East Orange. Memorials were read for Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mrs.

Cornelia C. Hussey and Mrs. s.e.xton told of the $10,000 Mrs. Hussey had left the National a.s.sociation and of her constant generosity to the suffrage work in New Jersey for many years. Mrs. Howe Hall and Henry B. Blackwell gave addresses. Women's clubs were urged to devote a meeting to the discussion of woman suffrage and the Woman's Club of Orange, the largest in the State, heard Mrs. Catt and the Outlook Club of Montclair heard Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Mrs. Florence Fenwick Miller of England addressed a number of leagues. Miss Susan B.

Anthony was heard early in May at the Political Study Club of Orange.

In 1903 large audiences again attended the two-day suffrage rally under the auspices of the Camp Meeting at Ocean Grove. Dr. Shaw, Mrs.

Hall, Miss Harriet May Mills of New York and Mrs. Lucretia L.

Blankenburg of Philadelphia were the speakers and the interest resulted in the starting of several leagues along the coast. With the help of the National a.s.sociation Miss Mills was engaged for a month, during which she formed ten new leagues, speaking twenty-four times in nineteen places. The leagues studied local government and found that women paid about one-third of the taxes. Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Denver, Mrs. Stanton Blatch of New York and Miss Alice Stone Blackwell of Boston were heard by different leagues. The convention this year was held for the first time in Trenton.

In 1904 a special effort was made to bring the question of woman suffrage before other organizations and Mrs. s.e.xton spoke to the Federation of Women's Clubs, the Conference of Charities and Corrections and the State W. C. T. U.; Dr. Hussey spoke before the convention of the Epworth League and the subject was presented to the State Grange. At the Ocean Grove meeting Mrs. Emma Bourne brought greetings from the State's 8,000 white ribb.o.n.e.rs. Mrs. s.e.xton and Miss Mills spoke at seaside meetings and five new leagues were formed. The State convention was held in the public library in Jersey City and welcomed by Dr. Medina F. DeHart, president of the Political Study Club; Miss Cornelia F. Bradford, head worker of Whittier House; Mrs.

Spencer Wiart, president of the Woman's Club and Mrs. Andrew J.

Newberry, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs.

At the Ocean Grove meeting in 1905 resolutions were adopted in memory of Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. The State convention was held in Orange.

Mrs. Emma L. Blackwell, a niece of Lucy Stone, was elected president and the other officers were re-elected. In 1906 Miss Anthony pa.s.sed away and many leagues held memorial meetings. The Woman's Club of Orange joined the suffrage a.s.sociation in holding one addressed by Dr.

Shaw, preceding the State convention held there in Union Hall in November. Henry B. Blackwell traced the history of woman suffrage in New Jersey from 1776 and made a plea for the Presidential franchise for women, for which a committee was appointed. Resolutions thanking the American Federation of Labor for its stand on woman suffrage and expressing sympathy with the imprisoned "suffragettes" in England were pa.s.sed.

In 1907 little suffrage work was done by the a.s.sociation owing to the absence of the president from the State. The leagues worked along many lines, for police matrons; for "school cities"; studied the lives of the pioneers and the const.i.tution and laws of the State and held public meetings with good speakers. The annual convention met in the public library in Newark and it was voted to pet.i.tion Congress for a Federal Suffrage Amendment. Dr. DeHart was elected president and the other new officers were Mrs. Ella A. Kilborn and Miss Mary D.

Campbell, secretaries. Miss Mary Willits and Mrs. Mary B. Kinsley were the only other officers who had been added in the past seven years.

In 1908 at the State convention in Bayonne Mrs. Clara S. Laddey of Arlington was elected president and Miss Emma L. Richards of Newark recording secretary. Dr. Hussey was made chairman of the Committee on Literature and Pet.i.tions and the Rev. Mrs. Blackwell was appointed to write to President Roosevelt in behalf of the Federal Suffrage Amendment, as requested by the National a.s.sociation. Public lectures by Dr. Shaw, Miss Janet Richards of Was.h.i.+ngton and others were arranged for Newark. Dr. Emily Blackwell, of the New York Infirmary for Women, was made honorary president.

Mrs. Laddey visited all the leagues and spoke before many societies, including the large German Club at Hoboken. With Dr. Hussey she attended the State convention of the Federation of Labor and obtained its endors.e.m.e.nt of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. She put new life into the a.s.sociation and was re-elected at the State convention in 1909 at Newark. Over fifty delegates were present and it was reported that 5,000 names were on the pet.i.tion to Congress which the Socialists, Granges, W. C. T. U.'s and Trade Unions had helped secure, and they had given an opportunity for much educational work.

Committees on legislation and organization were formed. Mrs. s.e.xton was elected honorary president; Mrs. Elizabeth T. Bartlett of Arlington was made historian and Mrs. Mary L. Colvin of East Orange, corresponding secretary. Resolutions were adopted in memory of Henry B. Blackwell and William Lloyd Garrison. Professor Francis Squire Potter, corresponding secretary of the National a.s.sociation, delivered a very able address.

In the fall of 1909 two young women in East Orange, Dr. Emma O. Gantz and Miss Martha Klatschken, started the Progressive Woman Suffrage Society and held the first open air meetings in the State. The first one took place on a Sat.u.r.day night at the corner of Main and Day streets in Orange, the speakers Mrs. J. Borrman Wells of England, Miss Klatschken and Miss Helen Murphy of New York. The next was in Newark.

The crowds were always respectful, listened and asked questions. Much literature was given out. A Political Equality League of Self Supporting Women, a branch of the one in New York organized by Mrs.

Stanton Blatch, was formed by Mrs. Mina Van Winkle, later called Women's Political Union.

At the January board meeting in 1910 Mrs. Ulilla L. Decker was made chairman of organization and Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds of the press committee. Mrs. Laddey reported having received an invitation to bring greetings to a meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Stevens at Castle Point, Hoboken, to form a New Jersey branch of the Equal Franchise League which Mrs. Clarence Mackay had organized in New York.

At an adjourned meeting on February 3 Mrs. Decker reported having consulted Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw, Miss Mary Garrett Hay and others in New York and also in New Jersey about the proposed new league. Mrs. Laddey urged harmony among all workers and she, Dr. Hussey, Miss Emma L.

Richards and others attended the meeting at Castle Point. The Equal Franchise Society of New Jersey was formed there with Mrs. Thomas S.

Henry of Jersey City president; Mrs. Caroline B. Alexander, Hoboken, Mrs. Everett Colby, West Orange, Mrs. George Harvey, Deal, and Miss Alice Lakey, Cranford, vice-presidents; Mrs. Harry Campton, Newark, corresponding secretary; Miss Richards, Newark, recording secretary; Mrs. Charles Campbell, Hoboken, treasurer.

The delegation of the State a.s.sociation to the national convention in Was.h.i.+ngton in April rode in the procession to the Capitol and presented a pet.i.tion to Congress for a Federal Amendment containing over 9,000 signatures from New Jersey. At the great parade held in New York on the last Sat.u.r.day in May it was represented by its president and seven members. Its first experience with street speaking was in Military Park in June with Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff of Brooklyn as the speaker and a respectful audience. Open air meetings were also held in Asbury Park at which Mrs. Laddey and Mrs. Emma Fisk spoke.

Miss Richards took charge of a booth at the Olympic Park Fair, a.s.sisted by Mrs. Campton. Charles C. Mason was thanked for reviewing the laws of the State relating to women compiled by Miss Laddey. Lucy Stone's birthday was celebrated August 13 in six places in memory of her pioneer work in the State. Mrs. Laddey organized leagues in Montclair and Asbury Park and spoke at seven public meetings. Money was contributed to the South Dakota, Was.h.i.+ngton and Oklahoma campaigns and to the national treasury. Congressmen were questioned as to their stand on woman suffrage. Dr. Shaw was heard at the Conference of Governors at Spring Lake.

The convention of 1910 was held in Plainfield welcomed by Mrs. C. R.