The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 50

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

OREGON.[150]

The advent of 1901 found the suffrage cause in Oregon almost becalmed upon a sea of indifference. With an ultra conservative population, defeats in five previous campaigns, the existence of bitter prejudices and an utter lack of cooperation among the suffragists themselves, the outlook was almost hopeless, except for the one outstanding fact that each failure had carried the women a little nearer their goal. An inactive State organization had been maintained for years and in 1901-1904 the officers were: President, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway; vice-president-at-large, Dr. Annice Jeffreys; vice-president, Mrs. Ada Cornish Hertsche; corresponding secretary, Miss Frances Gotshall; recording secretary, Mrs. W. H. Games; treasurer, Mrs. Henry Waldo Coe. No regular conventions were held.

Mrs. Duniway, the mother of suffrage in Oregon, always advocated the "still hunt," preferring to centralize and individualize the effort through prominent men and women rather than through a large and general organization. Shortly before her death in 1915, speaking of her work she said: "Occasionally I would gather a few women together in a suffrage society but on the whole I did not find my time thus spent at all profitable. Some traveling lecturer would often come along and after speaking before the little local band of a dozen members would receive the contents of the treasury, leaving the society to ravel out for lack of funds. These experiences led me to give up organizing suffrage societies, as I had learned that lecturing, writing serial stories and editorials and correspondence afforded a more rational means of spreading the light.... The only time for general, active organization is after a few devoted workers have succeeded in using the press for getting the movement squarely before the voters in the shape of a proposed State suffrage amendment."

This will answer very largely the many criticisms that came from the National a.s.sociation and from equal suffrage States over the apathy of Oregon women from 1900 to 1904. What the result might have been, with the State and national growth of suffrage sentiment, had there been a strong, active organization is problematic, but Oregon might have had the proud distinction of being first instead of last of the Pacific Coast States to liberate her women politically. In 1905 the following officers were elected: Honorary president, Mrs. Duniway; president, Mrs. Coe; vice-president, Dr. Jeffreys Myers; secretary, Dr. Luema G.

Johnson; treasurer, Mrs. Abbie C. French; auditors, Dr. Mary Thompson, Mrs. Martha Dalton and Mrs. Frederick Aggert.

The Legislature had many times submitted the amendment but its repeated failures had discouraged the most ardent supporters in that body. The gains in the various campaigns were not sufficient, they argued, to warrant the expense of resubmission in the near future.

This reason was freely and courageously given from the Chair of the Senate by one of the staunchest friends suffrage ever had in the State, the Hon. C. W. Fulton, when he voted "no" on re-submission in the Legislature of 1899, and the defeat of 1900 intensified this feeling.

Hope revived when the Initiative and Referendum Act was adopted by the voters in 1902. The District Judges decided against its const.i.tutionality and an appeal was carried to the State Supreme Court by Attorney Ralph Duniway, whose able argument resulted in a reversal and the establishment of the legality of the new law. This decision was rendered Dec. 22, 1903, and on Jan. 2, 1904, a suffrage pet.i.tion was issued. This required the signatures of 8 per cent. of the legal voters of the State based on the highest number of votes cast at the election of 1902, in round numbers 7,200 names, and compelled the submission of the amendment. In less than three weeks 7,900 had been obtained but as only half of them had been verified and cla.s.sified before the limited time expired the work was of no avail.

During the following two years another force had been contributing indirectly to the suffrage cause through the preparations for the National Exposition which was to celebrate in Portland the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1904 the Hon. Jefferson Myers, president of the Exposition Commission, with his wife, Dr. Annice Jeffreys, attended the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., and so eloquently presented the claims of Oregon that its unanimous decision was to hold its next meeting in Portland.

Stimulated by this prospect the Legislature of 1905 yielded to pressure and submitted the amendment to be voted on in November, 1906.

It was a proud day for Oregon when the national convention was called to order on June 21, 1905, by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national president, in the First Congregational Church. The honorary president, Miss Susan B. Anthony, then 85 years old, favored every session with her gracious presence. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the vice-president; Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, the recording secretary, with her father, Henry B. Blackwell; Miss Kate Gordon, corresponding secretary, and Miss Laura Clay, auditor, were present and with Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Misses Gail Laughlin, Mary and Lucy Anthony, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, Mrs. Maud Wood Park and other well known women were heard during the convention. [See Chapter V, Volume V.]

Very significant of the changing sentiment toward women was the unveiling of the Sacajawea statue, in the exposition grounds, which had been arranged for the time when these visitors could a.s.sist the committee in the ceremonies. Miss Anthony in the opening address paid a glowing tribute to this Indian woman and exhorted the women of Oregon to lead the way to women's liberty. Dr. Shaw highly complimented those who had made this recognition of a woman's services to her country possible and hailed it as the dawning of a new day for the cause of woman. Brief words along these lines were spoken by Mrs.

Catt and others. The picture will never fade from the memory of those who saw Miss Anthony and Dr. Shaw standing on the platform with the sun lighting up their silver hair like an aureole and their faces radiant with hope, as "The Star Spangled Banner" sung by an Indian boy raised a tumult of applause while the flag floated away revealing the idealized mother and babe.[151]

The national suffrage convention gave to the cause in Oregon a new birth. Some of the most prominent men in the State appeared on its platform and urged another campaign and political leaders in private conference with its officers a.s.sured them that the time was ripe for success. Encouraged by this a.s.surance and in response to the strong appeal of the leaders among the women of the State, the National a.s.sociation pledged its support. The suffragists for the most part were now fully convinced that if the amendment was to be carried in 1906 there must be state-wide, systematic organization and in answer to their request the National Board sent to a.s.sist them two of its best organizers, Miss Mary N. Chase and Miss Gail Laughlin. By the end of 1905 forty-two clubs had been formed in Portland and committees outside. Newspapers were giving full reports of meetings and the Portland _Journal_ was publis.h.i.+ng each Sunday articles on suffrage by Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, editor of the woman's page. At a State convention held in Portland on November 8 the attendance was so great it was necessary to adjourn to a larger hall. Mayor Harry Lane welcomed the convention and took an unequivocal position in favor of woman suffrage. Statesmanlike addresses were made by Miss Laughlin and Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky. A special Campaign Committee had been organized to cooperate with the State and national workers.[152]

The great leader of women, Susan B. Anthony, had pa.s.sed away in March, 1906, her thoughts on the Oregon campaign to the very last, and, carrying out her wishes, the following group of women came at once to a.s.sist the women of the State: Dr. Shaw, Miss Clay, Miss Blackwell and Miss Gordon, national officers; her sister and niece, Miss Mary and Miss Lucy Anthony; Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer of Pennsylvania, Miss Laura Gregg of Kansas, Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado. Miss Laughlin was already there. Added to the able Oregon workers a more efficient body of women never had charge of a suffrage campaign. Centrally located headquarters were at once opened in Portland, which soon became the Mecca for the suffragists from all over the State. The above trained campaigners submitted a plan to the State board and committee, which was adopted. Women who had been named as county chairmen previous to 1905 by Mrs. Duniway were used when possible as a nucleus for a county organization. Many young women who took a leading part in later campaigns got their first inspiration.

One large room at headquarters was set aside in which to prepare literature for mailing and there daily went a stream of Portland women, often swelled by women from out of the city, who worked diligently from morning till night and many of them every day. These noon hours became the social events of the campaign and many business women acquired the habit of dropping in to help a bit with the work and to enjoy the delightful companions.h.i.+p of the women they found there. Mrs. Coe, the State president, was out of the city several months, returning only a few weeks before the election.

Among the women outside of Portland who put their shoulders to the wheel were Mrs. Clara Waldo, Marion county; Mrs. Emma Galloway, Yamhill; Dr. Anna B. Reed, Linn; Mrs. Elizabeth Lord, Wasco; Professor Helen Crawford, Benton; Mrs. Henry Sangstacken, Coos; Mrs. Imogene Bath, Was.h.i.+ngton; Mrs. Rosemary Schenck, Lincoln; Mrs. Minnie Washburn, Lane, and Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, Clackamas.

Miss Clay, Mrs. Bradford and Miss Gregg supervised the work of State organization, going into large and small places and extending it into the remotest corners. Mrs. Boyer took up the publicity, in which she had had long experience. Miss Gordon had charge of parlor meetings in the cities and larger towns, reaching hundreds who could not have been induced to attend public rallies. Miss Laughlin appealed powerfully to the labor and fraternal organizations and conducted a series of meetings in their halls, at industrial plants and on the streets. Miss Blackwell, a.s.sisted by the Misses Mary and Lucy Anthony, remained at the headquarters and supervised the sending out of literature. Dr.

Shaw, while keeping her finger on the pulse of all the work, was speaking to great crowds constantly.

The impetus given the cause by the national convention the previous summer and the activity of the national workers in the present campaign aroused the corrupt influences in politics and the upper and lower cla.s.ses of anti-suffragists as never before and they jointly employed Ferdinand Reed, an experienced politician, at a high salary, as manager of a skilfully organized effort to defeat the amendment.

The Brewers' and Wholesale Liquor Dealers' a.s.sociation of Oregon sent out from Portland May 21 to the retail liquor dealers and druggists the following secret circular, printed on its official paper, headed with the names of thirteen breweries and nineteen wholesale liquor houses:

Dear Sir:--Two laws are to be voted on at the election June 4, which are of vital importance to every liquor merchant in Oregon without exception. The first is woman suffrage. The second is the amendment to the local option law. The members of this a.s.sociation have worked hard for a long time on both these matters ... but, being few in number, they can not by themselves pa.s.s the local option amendment or defeat woman suffrage. That part of the work is up to the retailers. We write this letter earnestly to ask you to help.

It will take 50,000 votes to defeat woman suffrage. It will take 50,000 votes to pa.s.s the amendment to the local option law. There are 2,000 retailers in Oregon. That means that every retailer must himself bring in 25 votes on election day. Every retailer can get 25 votes. Besides his employees he has his grocer, his butcher, his landlord, his laundryman and every person he does business with. If every man in the business will do this we will win.

We enclose 25 ballot tickets, showing how these two laws will appear on the ballot and how to vote. If you will personally take 25 friendly voters to the polls on election day and give each one a ticket showing how to vote, please mail this postal card back to us at once. You need not sign the card. Every card has a number and we will know who sent it in. Let us all pull together and let us all work. Let us each get 25 votes.

The election took place June 4, 1906, and resulted in an adverse majority of 10,173 in a vote of about 84,000. Besides the money raised in Oregon the National Suffrage a.s.sociation expended on this campaign $18,075. Of this amount $3,768 were used in the preliminary work of 1905. All of the eastern workers except the organizers contributed their services and several defrayed their own expenses.

The women decided to go immediately into another campaign. The Legislative a.s.sembly of 1907 refused to submit the amendment and the State a.s.sociation again circulated an initiative pet.i.tion to have it submitted. Miss Clay contributed $300 toward the expense of it; Mr.

and Miss Blackwell also contributed liberally and the requisite number of names was secured. Mrs. Duniway in reporting this campaign said: "It was more like that of 1900, as only Oregon women took part and no large meetings were held." There were a few less votes in favor of the amendment in 1908 than in 1906 and 11,739 more against it.

The State a.s.sociation filed a pet.i.tion for another initiative measure immediately after this defeat. It was quite a different proposition, however, as it read: "No citizen who is a taxpayer shall be denied the right to vote on account of s.e.x." Both men and women, many of them the staunchest suffragists, openly opposed it and it was bitterly fought by labor and fraternal organizations. No campaign was attempted except from the State president's office and there was general satisfaction when it was defeated in 1910 by a majority of 22,600.

A reorganization of the State work in 1906 after the election had resulted in Mrs. Duniway's again resuming the presidency with the following board: Vice-president-at-large, Mrs. Elizabeth Lord; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth Craig; recording secretary, Miss Emma Buckman; financial secretary, Mrs. A. Bonham; treasurer, Mrs. W. E. Potter; auditors, Mrs. Frederick Eggert and Mrs. Martha Dalton; honorary president, Mrs. Coe. This board practically remained intact until 1912. In the two disastrous campaigns of 1908 and 1910, against the protest of many, the "still hunt" method was employed and no state-wide organization was attempted. With indomitable courage the board again circulated an initiative pet.i.tion and had the amendment for full suffrage put on the 1912 ballot. Although it was unnecessary for the Legislature to vote for its submission it did so in order to give it more weight.

The women of the State now grew restive and began to agitate for organization for the coming campaign. During 1910 and 1911 Was.h.i.+ngton and California had enfranchised their women and Oregon remained the only "black" State on the Pacific Coast. This was a matter of great humiliation to the women who had worked for suffrage at least a score of years, as well as to the progressive young women who were beginning to fill the thinning ranks of the pioneer workers.

In December, 1911, Dr. Shaw, the national president, wrote a very strong letter to some of the women severely criticizing their apathy and lack of preparation for this campaign. This was brought to the attention of the State president, who later wrote: "Although urged from many sides and by some of the ablest women of the State to begin a campaign for 1912 in the summer of 1911, I withstood all such requests." A division of opinion arose among the women of Portland regarding the wisdom of delay and Dr. Shaw's letter was submitted to the Woman's Club, an organization which up to this time had taken no active part in work for suffrage. Now a motion prevailed to enter into the campaign and authorize the president, Mrs. A. King Wilson, to appoint a committee for this purpose. The personnel of the committee was: Mrs. Frederick Eggert, Mrs. William Fear, Mrs. George McMillan, Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy, Mrs. Grace Watt Ross, Mrs. Sarah A. Evans, chairman; Mrs. William Strandborg, secretary. This committee waited on the State president and submitted a plan whereby all the various groups of women which were forming might be co-ordinated and operate from one headquarters, the committee offering to a.s.sume all financial expense for them. The plan was not approved by her and the committee and all other groups were compelled to work independently of the State organization.

The Portland Woman's Club Committee opened headquarters in January, 1912, occupying two rooms in a centrally located office building for the entire ten months of the campaign. Dr. Shaw, through the generosity of a friend, contributed $200 a month toward their maintenance. Mrs. Strandborg, a newspaper woman of large experience, sent every two weeks a short, spicy letter to 210 papers throughout the State. Many appreciative notices were given by the press.

Almost simultaneously with the opening of headquarters by this committee a number of independent societies were formed for propaganda, which sent out organizers and by summer there were no counties and but few towns or hamlets without a suffrage society. With the a.s.sistance of Miss Anita Whitney of California and Mrs. Helen Hoy Greeley of New York the women of Oregon University organized a large college suffrage club; the State Agricultural College did the same and these were rapidly emulated by the smaller colleges and schools. The State Federation of Labor endorsed it and sent organizers into the field as did many fraternal a.s.sociations.

The first concerted effort made by the State a.s.sociation was at Salem Feb. 16, 1912, in the Hall of Representatives by permission of Secretary of State Ben Olcott. A large number of suffragists were present. The speakers were Governor Oswald West; Mrs. Olive English Enright; Mrs. Greeley and Miss Whitney. Mrs. Duniway became seriously ill immediately after this meeting and the work of the a.s.sociation fell upon Mrs. Coe, who courageously a.s.sumed the responsibility. In the secretary, Miss Buckman, she had an able a.s.sistant, and also in Mrs. L. W. Therkelsen, Mrs. H. R. Reynolds, Dr. Marie D. Equi and Dr.

Victoria Hampton, close friends of Mrs. Duniway. On March 8 Mrs. Coe called a meeting at the headquarters in the Selling Building in Portland, two rooms having been generously donated by the Hon. Ben Selling to be jointly used by the State a.s.sociation and the College League. The State work was definitely launched by the appointment of the following committees: Finance, Mrs. J. A. Fouilhoux, Mrs. Elliott Corbet, Dr. Florence Manion; literature, Mrs. Louise Trullinger, Mrs.

A. E. Clark, Miss Emma Wold, Miss Blanche Wren; ways and means, Dr.

Florence Brown Ca.s.siday, Mrs. Caroline Hepburn, Mrs. C. B. Woodruff.

In June the General Federation of Women's Clubs met in San Francisco and many of the prominent women in attendance arranged to return via Oregon, the New York special train stopping over for one day. It was met twelve miles out and escorted to Portland and met at the depot by a bra.s.s band.

In the afternoon a meeting was held in the Taylor Street Methodist Church with many unable to obtain admittance. Miss Mary Garrett Hay of New York; Mrs. H. C. Warren of New Jersey; Mrs. Desha Breckinridge of Kentucky; Miss Helen Varick Boswell and Miss Mary Wood of New York, and Professor Frances Squire Potter of Minnesota University, were among the speakers. The last four remained for several days and spoke at the great Gladstone Chautauqua. One of the most noteworthy incidents of the campaign was a debate here between Mrs. Breckinridge and the Rev. Clarence True Wilson, secretary of the Committee of Temperance and Morals for the Methodist Church. The reverend gentleman was the white hope of the anti-suffragists. His exalted calling and his official position as a prohibitionist, camouflaged the relation between the two extremes of society that were working against the amendment--the liquor people and a group of society women supplemented by a group of prominent men. He had sent the challenge to the Woman's Club Committee and Mrs. Breckinridge took up the gauntlet. Three thousand people saw him, completely routed, retire from the platform while Mrs. Breckinridge and "the cause" got a tremendous ovation. Mr.

Wilson and William D. Wheelwright were the only two men who took the platform against the amendment. The women "antis" were led by Mrs. A.

E. Rockey, Mrs. Ralph Wilber, Mrs. Robert Lewis and the Misses Etta and May Failing.

The committee maintained a speakers' bureau and sent out thousands of pieces of literature. Among the first to enter the campaign was a Men's Equal Suffrage Club, organized and promoted by W. M. Davis, a prominent attorney of Portland, which soon became an active state-wide organization. Mr. Davis was the legal adviser of all the women's organizations.

Mrs. Solomon Hirsch, an early worker and one of the most liberal financial supporters of the campaign, went directly into the camp of the enemy and organized a group of society women in the Portland Equal Suffrage League. No one feature stands out more conspicuously for results than a "tea" she gave for Sir Forbes-Robertson in her palatial home, to which she invited about two hundred guests, most of whom were radical anti-suffragists, but many of them went away converts after hearing the presentation of the subject by the guest of honor. Mrs.

Hirsch also brought the Rev. Charles A. Aked of San Francisco.

Dr. Coe was the first president of the Portland College League and when she had to a.s.sume the duties of the State president, Miss Emma Wold filled her place. The largest suffrage meeting up to that time was under the auspices of this league at Oaks Amus.e.m.e.nt Park, where Mrs. Sara Bard Field (Ergott) and C. E. S. Wood, a brilliant orator, addressed more than 10,000 people. Mrs. A. C. Newill established the Cooperative Civic League, which did active work with the State a.s.sociation. Dr. Lovejoy organized Every Body's League late in the campaign but succeeded in gathering hundreds of unattached men and women into the ranks of the workers. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union added its mighty strength and did valiant service under the able leaders.h.i.+p of Mrs. Lucia Faxton Additon, Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden and Mrs.

Ada Wallace Unruh.

On Nov. 5, 1912, the equal suffrage amendment was carried by a majority of 4,161, not by any one person or by any one organization, for no individual or single organization could have compa.s.sed the work required to put the State "over the top" with even this meagre majority in a total vote of 118,369. When the heights were reached, however, all were ready to lay the laurels at the feet of Abigail Scott Duniway, Martha A. Dalton, Charlotte M. Cartwright and Dr. Mary Thompson, the pioneers who had borne the heat and burden of the early days. Governor West paid Mrs. Duniway the compliment of inviting her to write the proclamation of woman suffrage and jointly with him to sign it, and John Coffey, the county clerk, carried the registration book to her sick room so that she might be the first woman in Oregon to register.

At the close of this arduous campaign the women folded their hands for a quiet rest until the cry for help came from other States. It was a most difficult task to gather up the broken threads of so many organizations and again rouse them to enthusiasm. Dr. Lovejoy, however, at the earnest request of Dr. Shaw, sent out a general call for a conference in March, 1915. At this meeting the State Suffrage Alliance was formed with Mrs. William Ogburn as first president. Those who followed her in the office were: Mrs. Thomas Burk, Mrs. Kelley Rees, Mrs. Elliott Corbett and Mrs. C. B. Simmons. It gave its a.s.sistance to the unenfranchised States and was ready to respond to any call from the national president.

RATIFICATION. The Alliance was largely instrumental in having a special session of the Legislature called to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment. This was done by unanimous vote in the House January 12 and in the Senate January 13, 1920, and Governor Oswald West affixed his signature on the 14th. The resolution was introduced in the lower House by Mrs. Alexander Thompson, a member.

On March 6, 1920, at a called meeting the women organized a League of Women Voters and Mrs. Charles E. Curry was elected chairman.

The Oregon chapter on suffrage was closed on Aug. 28, 1920. At noon of that day, while nearly 300 women stood at attention around the banquet table at the Benson Hotel in Portland, every bell and whistle in the city sounded forth the glad refrain of liberty and righteousness, universal suffrage for women, proclaimed by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The Mayor of Portland, George L. Baker, was there to rejoice with them. Old women who had stood in the battle-front for years were there to tell of the hard struggles they had pa.s.sed through for the franchise and young women were there to promise that they would keep the faith and honor the inheritance that had come to them.

The jubilee closed with the singing of a Hymn of Thanksgiving written for this meeting by Mrs. Helen Ekin Starrett, the only woman living who had attended the first and last conventions of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation--1869-1920.

FOOTNOTES: