History of Woman Suffrage/Volume 4/Chapter 42

 

CHAPTER XLII.

LOUISIANA.^[1]

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 constitution, 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 principal figure in the movement. Until his death in 1897 she had the earnest encouragement and assistance 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 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 Massachusetts was the commissioner for the Government, different States sent capable representatives and there was cordial co-operation with the women of New Orleans.

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

SUSAN LOOK AVERY,	HELEN PHILLEO JENKINS.
Louisville, Ky., and Chicago, Ill.	Detroit, Mich.
LOUISA SOUTHWORTH,
Cleveland, Ohio.
MARY BENTLEY THOMAS,	KATE M. GORDON,
Ednor, Md.	New Orleans, La.

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 friendship. 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 entitled 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 nobly to the rescue of this apparently hopeless cause. They formed leagues for the collection of money, they called meetings, they assisted 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.^[2] Under its auspices the Association for the Advancement of Women held its annual congress in New Orleans in 1895, during which Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby of Washington, 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 Association, 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 assembled 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^[3] 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 Massachusetts 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 association, of which Mrs. Merrick was made president. Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Colorado gave two lectures before the new association this year. Those who have represented this body at the national conventions are Mrs. Merrick, Miss Katharine Nobles and Miss Gordon.

In 1898 a convention was held in New Orleans to prepare a new State constitution. A committee composed of Mrs. Marie Garner Graham, Miss Nobles, Miss Gordon and Miss Jean Gordon appeared before the Suffrage Committee in support of a petition for Full Suffrage fer 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 Washington, urged that some prominent members of the National Association 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 assembled convention and a large throng of listeners in the galleries, Mrs. Chapman Catt made a strong argument for the enfranchisement of Louislana 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 Athenæum, the finest lecture hall in New Orleans, was crowded with men and women from all classes 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 Constitutional Convention, who responded almost unanimously to the invitation to be present.

Dr. Henry Dickson 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 scrap 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 petition 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 mass 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 petitions. 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 classes. Volunteer canvassers were secured and suffrage sentiment awakened. Occasionally mass 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 document, 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.^[4]

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, dashing over a chasm entitled 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 municipal 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 noble 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 leadership 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 sex! 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 assessment and then retiring to the booths, fixing their ballots and depositing them in the boxes. .... Enough of them showed their independence of the sterner sex 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 enfranchisement, 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 Municipal 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.^[5] It was conceded that of the 6.000 votes cast at this election, at least one-half were those of women.

The tax was immediately levied, the necessary legislative and constitutional authority was obtained, the bonds were all sold and the work is now under way for a complete system of drainage, sewerage and water supply.

Legislative Action and Laws: In 1894 law was passed permitting women to receive degrees from Law and Medical Schools; also one allowing a married woman to "subscribe for, withdraw or transfer stock of building, homestead or loan associations, and to deposit funds and withdraw the same without the assistance and intervention of her husband." This law was secured by these associations to protect their own interests.

In 1896 the same privilege was extended in regard to depositing money in savings banks and withdrawing it, which a married woman could not do up to this time.

The laws of Louisiana for the most part are a survival of the Napoleonic Code:

Art. 25. Men are capable of all kinds of engagements and functions, unless disqualified by reasons and causes applying to particular individuals. Women can not be appointed to any public office, nor perform any civil functions, except those which the law specially declares them capable of exercising. Widows and unmarried women of age may bind themselves as sureties or indorsers for other persons, in the same manner and with the same validity as men who are of full age.

Art. 81. If a father has disappeared, leaving minor children born during his marriage, the mother shall take care of them, and shall exercise all the rights of her husband with respect to their education and the administration of their estate.

Art. 82. If the mother contracts a second marriage, she can not preserve her superintendence of her children, except with the consent of a family meeting composed of the relations or friends of the father. [Failing to call this family meeting, she forfeits also her right to appoint a guardian at her death.]

Art. 121. The wife can not appear in court without the authority of her husband, although she may be a public merchant,^[6] or possess her property separate from her husband.

Art. 122. The wife, even when she is separate in estate from the husband, can not alienate, grant, mortgage, acquire, either by gratuitous or encumbered title, unless her husband concurs in the act, or yields his consent in writing.

Art. 126. A married woman over the age of twenty-one years, may, by and with the authorization of her husband, and with the sanction of the Judge, borrow money or contract debts for her separate benefit and advantage, and to secure the same, grant mortgages or other securities affecting her separate estate, paraphernal or dotal.

Art. 135. The wife may make her last will without the authority of her husband.

Art. 302. The following persons can not be tutors [i. e., guardians]: 1. Minors, except the father and mother. 2. Women, except the mother or grandmother. 3. Idiots and lunatics. 4. Those whose infirmities prevent them from managing their own affairs. 5. Those whom the penal law declares incapable of holding a public office, etc.

Art. 1316. Married women, even if separated in property, can not institute a suit for partition without the authorization of their husbands or of the Judge.

Art. 1480. A married woman can not make a donation inter vivos [between living persons] without the concurrence or special consent of her husband, or unless she be authorized by the Judge. But she needs neither the consent of her husband nor any judicial authorization to dispose by donation mortis causa [in prospect of death].

Art. 1591. The following persons are absolutely incapable of being witnesses to testaments: 1. Women of what age soever. 2. Male children who-have not attained the age of sixteen years complete. 3. Persons who are insane, deaf, dumb or blind. 4. Persons whom the criminal laws declare incapable of exercising civil functions.

Art. 1664. A married woman can not accept a testamentary executorship without the consent of her husband. If there is between them a separation of property, she may accept it with the consent of her husband, or, on his refusal, she may be authorized by the courts.

Art. 1782. All persons have the capacity to contract, except those whose incapacity is specially declared by law—these are married women, those of insane mind, those who are interdicted, and minors.

Art. 2335. The separate property of the wife is divided into dotal and extradotal. Dotal property is that which the wife brings to the husband to assist him in bearing the expenses of the marriage establishment. Extradotal property, otherwise called paraphernal property, is that which forms no part of the dowry.

Art. 2338. Whatever in the marriage contract is declared to belong to the wife, or to be given to her on account of the marriage by: other persons than the husband, is part of the dowry, unless there be a stipulation to the contrary.

Art. 2347. The dowry is given to the husband, for him to enjoy the same as long as the marriage shall last.

Art. 2349. The income or proceeds of the dowry belong to the husband, and are intended to help him support the charges of the marriage, such as the maintenance of the husband and wife, that of their children, and other expenses which he may deem proper.

Art. 2350. The husband alone has the administration of the dowry, and his wife can not deprive him of it; he may act alone in a court of justice for the preservation or recovery of the dowry, against such as either owe or detain the same, but this does not prevent the wife from remaining the owner of the effects which she brought as her dowry.

Art. 2358. The wife may, with the authorization of her husband, or, on his refusal, with the authorization of the Judge, give her dotal effects for the establishment of the children she may have had by a former marriage.

All accumulations after marriage, except by inheritance, here as in all States, are the property of the husband. Any wages the wife may earn, the very clothes she wears, belong entirely to him.

The laws of inheritance of separate property are practically the same for widow and widower.

The father is the legal guardian of the persons and property of minor children. Until 1888 the custody of children while a divorce suit was pending was given to the father, but now this is granted to the mother. The final guardianship is awarded by the Judge to the one who succeeds in obtaining the divorce.

Before 1896 no "age of protection" for girls was named in the statutes, but the penalty for rape was death. In this year, the Arena Club of New Orleans, a socio-economic society of women, secured a law fixing the age at 16 years. The penalty was changed to imprisonment, with or without labor, for a period not exceeding five years, with no minimum penalty named.

Suffrage: Since 1898 taxpaying women have the right to vote in person or by proxy on all questions of taxation.

Office Holding: The clause in the constitution of 1879 that made women eligible to school offices was inoperative on account of some technicality, which in 1894 Mrs. Helen Behrens, a member of the Portia Club, succeeded in having removed. In 1896 Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, as chairman of a committee from the Era Club, presented a petition to the City Council signed by all of the editors and many other representative men of New Orleans, asking for the appointment of a woman to an existing vacancy on the school board, but this was refused. No women ever were appointed to such positions except in a few country districts.

The office of State librarian had been held by a number of women previous to 1898. The Constitutional Convention of that year, however, which gave the taxpayer's suffrage to women, swept away every vestige of their right to hold any office by adopting a clause declaring that only qualified voters should be eligible to office. Under this ruling women can not serve as notaries public.

There are no women on the Boards of any public institutions in the State and none has a woman physician.

Four police matrons are employed by New Orleans, one-for the parish prison, one for the police jail and two for station houses.

Occupations: No profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. .

Education: The State University at Baton Rouge is one of three in the United States which do not admit women to any department. Tulane, in New Orleans, the largest university in Louisiana, admits women to post-graduate work and to the Departments of Law and Pharmacy, but the Medical Department is still closed to them. The H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for Girls is a part of Tulane University. It was endowed by Mrs. Josephine Louise Newcomb with $2,500,000 in memory of her daughter. At her death she left to it the remainder of her estate, valued at $1,500,000.

New Orleans University (white) and Leland University (colored) are co-educational. Most of the other colleges in the State are open to women.

In the public schools there are 1,991 men and 2,166 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $37; of the women, $29.70.

 

1. The History is indebted for the material for this chapter to Miss Kate M. Gordon, president of the Era Club, Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway and Mrs. Martha Gould, all of New Orleans.
2. Other presidents: Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, Miss Florence Huberwald, Mrs. Helen Behrens.
3. The clever reader between the lines will see that E. R. A.— Equal Rights Association — is concealed in this innocent appearing word
4. Miss Kate M. Gordon herself obtained and voted 300 proxies. After the election the Business Men's Association of New Orleans presented her with a gold medal. [Eds.
5. So determined were the politicians to have this board elected, instead of appointed, in order that they might get control of the $42,000,000 fund, that a bill for this purpose was passed by the Legislature of 1902 and signed by Gov. William W. Heard. The matter will be carried to the Supreme Court.
6. Certain legal processes are necessary before a woman can engage in business on her own account.