The History of Woman Suffrage Volume VI Part 59

The list of speakers included 1,495 names and almost no meeting or convention of any importance was held during the latter part of the three months that did not make room on its program for a talk on woman suffrage.

On the other hand every nook and corner of the State was flooded with anti-suffrage literature, a great deal of it emanating from U. S.

Senator Reed of Missouri, of such a vile, insinuating character that when placed by the "antis" upon the desks of the legislators they quickly pa.s.sed protesting resolutions with only five dissenting votes.

These called attention to the splendid work of Texas women during the war and their suffering at the absence and loss of their loved ones; declared that this literature was "nothing short of a slap in the face of these good women and of the members who pa.s.sed, by a unanimous vote, the woman suffrage amendment," and said: "Resolved that we go upon record as condemning the circulation of this character of literature and opposed to the sentiments expressed therein. We re-affirm our allegiance to the woman suffrage amendment ... and when we return to our homes we will do all in our power to secure the pa.s.sage of this amendment."

Some of the most vicious literature was from a so-called "Man's Organization Opposed to Woman Suffrage," with headquarters in Selma, Ala. Former U. S. Senator Bailey, who had been residing in New York for some years, made a speaking tour of the State, a.s.sailing the amendment in the most vindictive manner.[182]

The Women's National Anti-Suffrage a.s.sociation sent Miss Charlotte Rowe of New York, who spoke and worked against the amendment. Mrs.

James W. Wadsworth, Jr., president of this a.s.sociation, accompanied by her husband, the U. S. Senator, came into the State during the campaign and held some parlor meetings. She appointed Mrs. James B.

Wells, wife of the political "boss of the borderland" at Brownsville, to send out literature, speak where possible, etc. Mrs. Wells had headquarters in Austin with Mrs. Darden and their work was done from there. The amendment failed but not because of their feeble efforts.

It was opposed by the strongest political forces in Texas, including the liquor interests. The vote was 141,773 ayes, 166,893 noes; defeated by a majority of 25,120.

In eleven days after this defeat--on June 4--the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment was submitted by Congress to the Legislatures for ratification. Both of the Texas Senators--Charles A. Culberson and Morris Sheppard--and nine Representatives voted for it.

RATIFICATION. Governor Hobby issued a call for a second special session of the Legislature to convene June 23 to consider other matters but the opening day found the suffragists on hand ready to ask for ratification. The "antis" were on hand also and while they were holding a conference in the Driskill Hotel to devise ways and means of obtaining a hearing before the House committee, Resolution No. 1 to ratify the amendment was read the first time in the House and referred to this committee. The "antis" came in just in time to learn that the committee had held its meeting, favorably reported the resolution and it had been made the special order of business for 11 o'clock the next morning. All of this occurred before noon of the first day.

Speaker R. E. Thomason was one of the most ardent supporters of the resolution and promptly on the hour it was brought up. As a poll of the House had shown that it was safe, the leaders decided not to choose between the dozens who wanted to speak in its behalf but to let the "antis" do the talking since the "pros" had the votes. The "father of the House," Representative King of Erath, alone spoke for it but the opponents talked until 3:55 p. m., when some one moved the previous question. The vote stood 96 ayes, 20 noes. As the Senate committee hearing was set for 4 o'clock there could be no thought of lunch but only to hurry to its room in the far removed wing of the Capitol. That hearing can never be adequately described.

Ex-Congressman Robert W. Henry and State Senator J. C. McNealus, fire-eating "antis," almost came to blows over the name of former Governor Ferguson, and Miss Rowe, the New York crusader, had a difficult time with questions. The chairman was instructed to report favorably and in the Senate the real fight was on.

The opposition tried every conceivable method to defer or defeat.

Heckling, threats, fervid oratory had no effect on the favoring Senators. Filibustering continued all through Wednesday and Thursday, except when the Senate recessed to listen to Governor Brough of Arkansas, who touched on the justice of suffrage for women in an effective manner. Finally their swan song was due and came from Senator W. A. Johnston of Houston, intimate friend of ex-Senator Bailey. Senator Paul Page of Bastrop ably led the fight in behalf of the resolution. On June 27, at 7 p. m., it pa.s.sed to third reading by a vote of 18 to 9, with one pair and one absentee. That night the opposition tried to get enough Senators out of town to break the quorum but the friendly members and the women "shadowed" the pa.s.sengers on all out-going trains. On June 28 by a viva voce vote the Senate went on record as the ninth State to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment, the actual strength being 19 to 10, with one absent. Lieutenant Governor W. A. Johnson proved his friends.h.i.+p and loyalty to the cause of woman suffrage by remaining in the chair constantly during the four days' contest.

With the women of Texas soon to be fully enfranchised the State Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation in October, 1919, merged into the State League of Women Voters, with Mrs. Jessie Daniel Ames chairman.[183]

[LAWS. An excellent digest of the laws for women and children accompanied this chapter, showing considerable advance since a resume was given in Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. The writer of the present chapter insists that they never were so unjust as there represented. The omission of the laws from this, as from the other State chapters for lack of s.p.a.ce is a loss to the History.]

FOOTNOTES:

[177] The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Jane Y.

McCallum, member of the Executive Board of the State Equal Suffrage a.s.sociation as chairman of the Legislative Committee, the Ratification Committee and the Publicity Committee.

[178] It is a matter of much regret that the dramatic account sent of this remarkable campaign must be omitted because of the pressing lack of s.p.a.ce.--Ed.

[179] See Primary suffrage in Arkansas chapter.

[180] Judge F. G. Chambliss of the 36th District Court, who was defeated for reelection at this time, claimed that it was due to votes of women and brought suit in the 79th District Court at Corpus Christi to test the legality of the Primary Law. Judge V. M. Taylor ruled that it was unconst.i.tutional. In another case an injunction was sought to restrain the tax collector of McLennan county from issuing poll tax receipts to women. The Appellate and Supreme Courts upheld the const.i.tutionality of the law.

[181] The speech of Morris Sheppard delivered in the U. S. Senate Aug.

5, 1918, was one of the strongest arguments ever made for the Federal Suffrage Amendment.--Ed.

[182] After women got the Primary vote Mr. Bailey returned to Texas and announced himself a candidate for Governor. He was overwhelmingly defeated at the primaries and his comment was: "The women and the preachers did it."

[183] The following women besides those mentioned have held office in the a.s.sociation since 1900: Mesdames Tex Armstrong, Anna B. Cade, A.

O. Critchett, John Davis, Walter L. Fordtran, Mary Herndon Gray, Goodrich Jones, Lindley Miller Keasbey, Helen Moore, Elizabeth Stribling Maury, Jane Yelvington McCallum, Sterling Myer, Elizabeth Herndon, Dwight Edward Potter, Ella Pomeroy, E. B. Reppert, L. E.

Walker, Robert Aeneas Watt; Misses Mary Fowler Bornefield, Irelene DeWitt, Marin B. Fenwick, Kate Hunter, A. A. Stuart, Hettie D. M.

Wallis.

CHAPTER XLIII.

UTAH.[184]

The results of equal suffrage in Utah for fifty years--1870-1920--with an unavoidable interim of eight years, have demonstrated the sanity and poise of women in the exercise of their franchise. The Mormon women had had long training, for from the founding of their church by Joseph Smith in 1830 they had a vote in its affairs. Although the Territory of Wyoming was the first to give the suffrage to women--in November, 1869--the Legislature of Utah followed in January, 1870, and the bill was signed by Governor S. A. Mann February 12. Women voted at the regular election the next August and there was no election in Wyoming until September, so those of Utah had the distinction of being the pioneer women voters in the United States and there were over five times as many women in Utah as in Wyoming. The story of how their suffrage was taken away by an Act of Congress in 1887 and how it was restored in full by the men of Utah when they made their const.i.tution for statehood in 1895 and adopted it by a vote of ten to one is related in detail in Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. The women have voted since then in large numbers, filled many offices and been a recognized political influence for the benefit of the State.

The large and active Territorial Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation held annual conventions until after it succeeded in gaining the franchise.

In 1899, during a visit of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt to Salt Lake City, a meeting was called and steps taken to form a Utah Council of Women to a.s.sist the suffrage movement in other States and Mrs. Emily S.

Richards was made president. This Council, composed of Mormons and non-Mormons, continued in existence for twenty years. For the first ten years there were monthly meetings and also special and committee meetings and prominent speakers addressed the annual gatherings, eulogizing and commemorating the lives and labors of the suffrage pioneers throughout the Union. Whenever the National American Suffrage a.s.sociation called for financial aid it responded liberally. The suffrage having been gained it was hard to keep up the interest and after 1910 meetings were held only at the call of the president for the purpose of carrying out the wishes of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation, at whose conventions the Council was always represented by delegates. In 1909-10, when the a.s.sociation was collecting its monster pet.i.tion to Congress, the Council obtained 40,000 names as Utah's quota.

The official personnel remained practically the same from 1900. That n.o.ble exponent of the best there is in womanhood, Mrs. Emily S.

Richards, preserved the spirit and genius of the Council, which recognized no party and whose members cast their votes for good men and measures without undue partisan bias. She was sustained by its capable and resourceful secretary, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Cohen, and both maintained a non-partisan att.i.tude in the conduct of the Council. The officers were: Emmeline B. Wells, member national executive committee; Elizabeth A. Hayward, Mrs. Ira D. Wines, Dr. Jane Skolfield and Mrs.

B. T. Pyper, vice-presidents; Anna T. Piercey, a.s.sistant secretary; Hannah S. Lapish, treasurer.

As Territory and State, every county, every town, every precinct has been served faithfully and well by women in various positions. It would be impossible to name all who have done yeoman service during the past years but the three women who have meant more than all others to the suffrage cause are Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball, who was appointed by Brigham Young and Eliza R. Snow as the standard bearer of that cause in the late '60's and who maintained her active hold upon politics until about 1885, when her able first lieutenant, Mrs. Emmeline B.

Wells, took up the work dropped by the aged hands of Mrs. Kimball. She in turn carried the banner of equal civic freedom aloft, a.s.sisted by Mrs. Richards, until she relinquished it in 1896 and Mrs. Richards became the standard bearer. Many other splendid women have labored a.s.siduously in this cause.

In legislative matters a committee from the Council has worked during every session since 1911 with a.s.sociated committees from the other large organizations of women, the powerful Relief Society, the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement a.s.sociation and the Federated Clubs leading in all good movements. Results in the enactment of welfare laws for women and children have been very gratifying. The women's committees of the various organizations meet at the State Capitol during the legislative sessions and go over very carefully every bill in which they are interested. If after investigation a bill meets with their approval it is endorsed and every effort is made to secure its pa.s.sage. From 1911 to 1917 the women's legislative committee secured copies of laws already in successful operation in other States and framed bills to meet their own needs. These were always submitted to two young lawyers, Dan B. s.h.i.+elds and Carl Badger, who corrected any flaws which might jeopardize their const.i.tutionality. Among the women who comprise these committees are Mrs. Cohen, chairman, Miss Sarah McLelland of the Relief Society; Mrs. Adella W. Eardley and Mrs. Julia Brixen of the Y. L. M. I. A.; Mrs. Richards and Mrs. Hayward of the Suffrage Council; Mrs. C. M. McMahon, president, Mrs. Peter A.

Simpkin, Mrs. A. V. Taylor and Mrs. Seldon I. Clawson, members of the Federation of Women's Clubs.

In many Legislatures since statehood there have been women members and their work has been along expected lines. In 1896, the year Utah was admitted to the Union, Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon was elected to the State Senate, the first woman in the United States to receive that honor. Several women were elected to the Lower House then and others in the years following. Needed reform measures were secured by Mrs.

Mary G. Coulter, who sat in the Lower House and was made chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 1903. There was a long interim when no women were sent to the Legislature but in 1913 four were elected, Mrs.

Annie Wells Cannon, Dr. Skolfield, Mrs. Elizabeth Ellerbeck Reid and Mrs. Annie H. King. They were instrumental in securing the Mothers'

Pension Law and the Minimum Wage Law and through Mrs. Cannon the bureau of emigration labor was provided with a woman deputy to look after the women and children workers. Utah already had an equal guardians.h.i.+p law but largely through the efforts of Mrs. Cannon it was improved and is now regarded as a model and has been copied by other States. She is a representative daughter of Mrs. Wells.

In 1915 Mrs. Elizabeth A. Hayward and Mrs. Lily C. Wolstenholme were elected and to the former the improved child labor law must be credited. In 1917 she was re-elected and Dr. Grace Stratton Airy and Mrs. Daisy C. Allen became members of the Lower House. During 1915-1917 laws raising the age of protection for girls to 18 and requiring equal pay for equal work were enacted. Mrs. Hayward, at the request of the women's Legislative Council, introduced the resolution calling on Congress to submit the Federal Amendment. In 1918 she was elected State Senator. In 1919 Dr. Airy was re-elected and Mrs. Anna G. Piercy and Mrs. Delora Blakely were elected to the Lower House.

Altogether there have been thirteen women members of the Legislature.

No State has better laws relating to women and children than Utah.

It has been difficult to persuade the women to stand for important offices. The modern furious pace set by campaigners and the severance of home ties for long periods are not alluring to wives and mothers but they find many public activities through which to exercise their executive abilities. They sit on the boards of many State and local inst.i.tutions and serve on committees for civic and educational work. A considerable number have filled and are now filling city and county offices. Mrs. L. M. Crawford has a responsible position in the office of the State Land Board. Mrs. McVickar was State Superintendent of Schools. In 1917 a new department was added to the office of the Adjutant General to secure pensions for those veterans who had served in the early Indian wars of Utah. Mrs. Elizabeth M. Cohen was given custody of the old Indian War Records and was named Commissioner of Pensions. In order to prove the claims of these men and women she cooperated with the Pension Bureau at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C. Up to date out of a possible 1,500 whose claims have merit nearly 700 pensions have been granted, bringing into the State the sum of $400,000.

When Brigham Young established those monuments to his name, the Brigham Young University of Provo and the Brigham Young College of Logan in 1874 he placed women on their boards. Mrs. Martha J. Coray of Provo served ten years for the former and Professor Ida M. Cook for the latter. Mrs. Gates was made a trustee of the university in 1891, which position she still occupies, while her sister, Mrs. Zina Young Card, has been a trustee since 1914. Mrs. Gates was on the board of the State Agricultural College 1905-1913. Mrs. A. W. McCune was on this board ten years, seven of them its vice-president. Mrs. Rebecca M. Little, Mrs. Antoinette B. Kinney and Dr. Belle A. Gummel have been regents of the university. Professor Maude May Babc.o.c.k has been dean of physical education and expression since 1892 and a trustee since 1897. Her culture and personality have left an indelible impress on the history of this State.

From the beginning women have allied themselves with the different political parties, occasionally uniting on a great issue like that of Prohibition. From the time they were enfranchised by the State const.i.tution they have received the recognition of the parties. In 1900 women were sent as delegates and alternates to both national presidential conventions and Mrs. Cohen seconded the nomination of William Jennings Bryan. A number were sent in following years. In 1908 Mrs. Margaret Zane Cherdron was a delegate and a presidential elector, carrying the vote to Was.h.i.+ngton. She was one of the two received by President Taft and was royally entertained while in the capital. Among other women who have acted as delegates and alternates since 1900 are Mrs. William H. Jones, Mrs. Hayward, Mrs. Sarah Ventrees, Mrs. Gates, Mrs. Lucy A. Clark, Mrs. B. T. Pyper, Mrs. L. M. Crawford, Mrs. Alice E. Paddison.

Women have their representation on all political committees--Mrs.

Hayward is a member of the Democratic National Committee--and their partic.i.p.ation in politics is accepted without question. There are about 10,000 more women voters than men voters. As a rule about 90 per cent. of the women vote and about 86 per cent. of the men, as some of the latter are in the mines or out of the State for various reasons.

Among the Republican leaders are Mrs. Wells, Mrs. Gates, Mrs.

Cherdron, Mrs. Jannette A. Hyde, Mrs. Cannon, Mrs. Wolstenholm, Mrs.

Loufborough, Mrs. William Spry, Mrs. Reed Smoot; Mrs. Martha B.

Keeler of Provo and Mrs. Georgina G. Marriott of Ogden. The Democratic party has had among its leading women Mrs. Richards, Mrs. Alice Merrill Horne, Mrs. Cohen, Mrs. Hayward, Gwen Lewis Little, Mrs.

Piercy, Mrs. S. S. Smith, Mrs. Annice Dee, Mrs. Inez Knight Allen and Miss Alice Reynolds.

No State exceeded Utah in the proportion of the work done by women during the World War. Mrs. Clarissa Smith Williams was the unanimous choice for chairman of the State branch of the Woman's Council of National Defense. She was eminently fitted for this position through her long experience as first counsellor to Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells, head of the Relief Society, and every demand of the Government was fully met.

RATIFICATION. At the request of the Suffrage Council and without urging, Governor Simon Bamberger called a special session of the Legislature for Sept. 30, 1919, to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment submitted the preceding June. The resolution was presented by Senator Elizabeth A. Hayward and was ratified unanimously by both Houses within thirty minutes. The Governor signed it without delay.

The women and the Legislature had helped in every possible way to secure the Amendment and the entire Utah delegation in Congress had voted for it.