History of Woman Suffrage/Volume 6/Chapter 14

 

CHAPTER XIV.

IOWA.^[1]

The Iowa Equal Suffrage Association was still conducting in 1901 the campaign of education begun when it was organized in 1870, as fully described in Volume IV of the History of Woman Suffrage. It seemed at times a deadly dull process and there rose bolder spirits occasionally who suggested more vigorous and spectacular means of bringing the cause to the attention of the general public and of focusing the suffrage sentiment, which evidently existed, on the members of the Legislatures and putting them into a more genial attitude toward submitting a State constitutional amendment, which seemed in those years the only method of attaining the longed-for goal. Women, however, are conservative and the Iowa laws on the whole were not oppressive enough to stir the average woman to active propaganda for a share in making and administering them. Therefore the association proceeded along the beaten path — by way of education, aided by social and economic evolution, from which not even the most non-progressive woman can protect herself, much less protect her daughters. The association never missed an annual meeting and the women elected each year to carry on its work were those who knew that the cause might be delayed but could not be permanently defeated.

The convention of 1901 was held in November at Waterloo and Mrs. Adelaide Ballard was elected president, having previously served two terms. The conventions of 1902, 1903 and 1904 took place in October in Des Moines, Boone and Sheldon, and Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall was each year elected president, having held the office two years at earlier dates. The annual meeting of 1905 was held in November at Panora; that of 1906 l82 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE in September at Ida Grove, and Bertha A. Wilcox was each year elected president. The conventions of 1907 and 1908 took place in October at Des Moines and Boone and the Rev. Eleanor E. Gordon was at each elected president. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, who was present at the Boone convention, had just returned from England and was accompanied by two young English women who had campaigned for suffrage there and who took part in the con- vention. She had marched in a parade in London and was very desirous that parades should be held here. After much urging from her and the president, and with great trepidation and many misgivings on the part of the members, a procession was formed and marched through the principal streets on October 29. The Boone Daily News said : 'The members of the Equal Suffrage Association in convention, scores of the local women interested in the movement and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union united in a monster parade through the main streets. The Wilder- Yeoman Band led with the Rev. Eleanor Gordon, president, Mrs. Coggeshall, honorary president, Mrs. Julia Clark Hallam, Dr. Shaw of Philadelphia and the Misses Rendell and Costelloe of London next in the procession. From every viewpoint it was a success." This was the first or one of the first suffrage parades to be held in the United States and it required much courage to take part in it. The crowd which lined the sidewalks was most respectful and when Dr. Shaw and the English visitors spoke from an automobile there was enthusiastic response. In 1909 at the State convention held in Des Moines Mrs. Hallam was made president. In 1910, at the convention in Cory- don, Mrs. Harriet B. Evans was elected to this position. The re- port of the corresponding secretary, Mrs. Lona I. Robinson, was similar to those that had been made in many preceding years and that continued to be made for several following years. It showed that hundreds of letters were sent to the officers of local clubs, asking them to interview the candidates for the Legisla- ture on their attitude towards woman suffrage; to sign the peti- tions to Congress for a Federal Amendment, which were sent to them ; to strengthen their organization ; to increase their IOWA 183 propaganda work, for which quantities of literature were fur- nished. The report showed the activities of the State officers, meetings arranged, addresses made and legislative work done. At the annual meeting in October, 1911, at Perry, the Rev. Mary A. Safford became president. This year the Woman's Standard, a monthly newspaper published since 1886 by the association, was discontinued, as there was an ever-increasing opportunity for suffrage news and arguments in the newspapers of the State. On Dec. 22, 1911, Mrs. Coggeshall, who had been the inspiration and leader of the State suffrage work since its beginning and part of the time an officer of the National Suf- frage Association, passed away. She was the link between those who began the movement and those who finished it. Whatever the later workers in Iowa had done had been as a candle flame lighted from the torch of her faith and devotion. She was a friend of Susan B. Anthony, of Lucy Stone and of many of the other veterans. Her delightful home was open to every suf- fragist of high or low degree there were no degrees to her if a woman was a suffragist. She showed her faith in the cause not only by her gifts, her hospitality and her unceasing activity during her life but also by bequests of $5,000 to the State asso- ciation and $10,000 to the National Association. The former was used, as she would have wished it to be, in the amendment campaign of 1916 and the National Association returned a large part of its bequest for use at this time. In October, 1912, the convention was held in Des Moines and the Rev. Miss Safford was re-elected president. By this time new methods of propaganda were being used. During the State Fail the City Council of Suffrage Clubs in Des Moines arranged for the photoplay Votes for Women to be shown in a river front park near a band stand where nightly concerts were given and literally thousands of people had their first education in suffrage through the speeches made there. The State convention met in October, 1913, in Boone and Miss a Dunlap was made president. An automobile trip crossing the State twice, with open air meetings in thirty (owns, had been undertaken in September. Governor George W. Clark and ITar- vey Ingham, editor of the Des Moines Register, a long time sup184 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE porter of woman suffrage, spoke at the first meeting and other prominent men, officials, editors and clergymen, joined the party for one or more days. Two reporters from Des Moines news- papers went with it and there was excellent publicity. Mrs. P. J. Mills of Des Moines managed the trip and accompanied the party with her car, Miss Evangeline Prouty, daughter of an Iowa mem- ber of Congress, acting as chauffeur. Miss Dunlap also made the entire two weeks' journey, while other workers joined for briefer periods. J. R. Hanna, Mayor of Des Moines, wrote the Mayors of all towns in which meetings were scheduled asking the courtesies of the city for the party, and this, with the Gov- ernor's opening speech, gave a helpful official sanction. The annual meeting took place in October, 1914, at Des Moines and Miss Dunlap was re-elected president. In March the Missis- sippi Valley Conference, with many interesting delegates, had been held in that city and made a very favorable impression. Miss Jane Addams and Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, president of the Ohio Suffrage Association, had spoken at a Sunday after- noon mass meeting in the largest theater. When the convention met at Des Moines in October, 1915, a woman suffrage amend- ment to the State constitution had at last been submitted by the Legislature to be passed upon by the voters in June, 1916. Miss Dunlap was again re-elected and arrangements were perfected for continuing the vigorous campaign already under way. By the time the association held its convention at Waterloo in Sep- tember, 1916, the amendment had been defeated but nevertheless the meeting was large and enthusiastic. Miss Anna B. Lawther was elected president and arrangements were made for securing as soon as possible the re-submission of the amendment. The convention of 1917 met in October at Des Moines and Miss Lawther was re-elected. The country was now in the midst of war, and, like patriotic women everywhere, Iowa suffragists turned all their attention to helping win it. Miss Lawther served on a special committee appointed by the Governor to organize the women of the State for war activities. Every woman on the suffrage board filled an important position in the various State war organizations and every county chairman and local member was active in the work of her community. The women worked IOWA 185 long, full days for the war and far into the night for suffrage. Yhen the State convention met at Cedar Rapids in September, 1918, the women were still immersed in war work. Meanwhile the Lower House of Congress had voted to submit the Federal Yoman Suffrage Amendment and for some months the efforts of the association had been centered on this amendment. It had secured pledges from all the Iowa representatives in Congress to vote for it except Harry E. Hull, who voted against it. In June a "suffrage school" had been held in Penn College, Oska- loosa, for the express purpose of educating women in the need of this amendment and the necessity of educating State legislators to the point where it would be ratified as soon as it was submitted. Miss Lawther was again re-elected but resigned the next June and Mrs. James E. Devitt, the vice-president, filled the office. In 1919 the association was in the thick of the struggle to obtain from the Legislature Primary and Presidential suffrage. The former was defeated; the latter passed both houses in April. The Federal Amendment was ratified by the Legislature July 2. The work of the Equal Suffrage Association seemed finished. The half century of agitation, education and evolution was com- pleted. The 48th and last annual convention was held Oct. 2, 1919, in Boone, which had been its hostess many times, and the association was happily dissolved by unanimous vote. The State tie of Women Voters was at once organized with Miss Flora Dunlap, chairman, and the old workers faced the new task of making political suffrage for women the privilege and blessing they always had believed it would prove to be. TIVE ACTION. A resolution to submit to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution was hired in every General Assembly beginning with 1870. In the early years petitions were sent, the number of signatures rising from 8,000 in 1884 to 100,000 in 1900, but after that v were almost entirely given up, as they had no effect. The resolution was introduced according to custom in the Legis- f 1902. Bng to custom, not always so care- fully observed, the Senate passed the resolution by 28 to 16, this

the Senate's year for this courtesy, and the House accepted

the report recommending indefinite postponement. YOU Yl l86 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE In 1904 the resolution was defeated in the House and did not emerge from the Senate committee. In 1906 this program was repeated. The meeting of the Legislature was now changed to the odd years and in 1907 the above program was reversed. After this year the members omitted even the customary gra- ciousness of an understanding that one body would pass it and the other kill it, thus keeping the women friendly and dividing the responsibility for the defeat, and both Houses in 1909 rejected it. In 1911 the Senate treated the resolution in a most contemptu- ous manner by voting to strike out the enacting clause and then passing it. This was the last time it was defeated. The tide was changing and even the most confirmed opponents knew that it was a rising and not a falling tide. Fortunately most of the active workers who sat through that humiliating experience lived to see the men who were responsible for it either retired entirely from public life or so changed in sentiment as to claim a place among those who "always believed in woman suffrage.*' The neighboring State of Kansas fully enfranchised its women in 1912, as did several other western States, and favorable pres- sure was growing very strong. In 1913 the resolution to submit the amendment passed in the House on February 20 by a vote of 81 to 26 and in the Senate on March 7 by a vote of 31 to 15. The deadlock was broken and every suffragist rejoiced. The resolution had to pass two Legislatures and in July, 1914, the Republican State convention strongly urged the next one to pass it. In 1915 this was done, by the Senate on February 12 by a vote of 38 to 1 1, and by the House on the 23rd by one of 84 to 19. The date for the referendum to the voters was set at the time of the primary elections, June 5, 1916, over three years from the time the resolution was first passed. After forty-five years thus far had the workers for woman suffrage arrived. The activities of the State association were at once turned to the education of the voters. It had been long thought by both State and national leaders that if the amendment could be brought before them they would give a large majority for it. Probably no State ever went into a campaign under more favorable aus- pices and until the last few weeks it seemed that victory was cerIOWA 187 tain and the women had learned that it was not entirely a State matter but one of national interest. The national president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, gave six weeks of time to the campaign and liberal contributions of money, as she considered Iowa her State, having spent a large part of her life there. The honorary president, Dr. Shaw, other national officers, State presidents and men and women suffragists from many other States rendered valuable help in time, money and service of all sorts. Large num- bers of Iowa women who had never helped before now did effec- tive work. The long-time suffragists devoted themselves wholly to the campaign. Many Iowa men gave great assistance. A Men's League for Woman Suffrage, John H. Denison, president, was organized with headquarters at Des Moines and branches in all the large cities, forty altogether. These leagues not only assisted with counsel but raised funds, placed speakers and helped get out the vote. O. G. Geyer was the executive secretary and the State offices of the League adjoined those of the State Suf- frage Association. There were the closest cooperation and the greatest harmony in the work of the two organizations. An un- usually well-conducted press campaign was carried on with Mrs. Rose Lawless Geyer at the head of the press department and she and Miss Alice B. Curtis, executive secretary, gave long hours and invaluable service to the campaign. Five-sixths of the news- papers not only used plate matter and a weekly press letter but supported the cause editorially and some of them refused the paid advertising of the "antis." Dr. Effie McCollum Jones was finance secretary; Miss Mabel Lodge was the first organizer in the field and there is a long list "f men and women whose names deserve mention for the abun- dant time and unstinted devotion they gave to the campaign, In some of the counties along the Mississippi River, where the situa- tion was the most difficult, were strong groups of men and women workers. Miss Anna B. Lawther of Dubuque headed f the most active and the record of the river counties would have been even blacker than it was but for the herculean work that they did. In Keokuk. the most southern city on the river, this was so effective that it alone was a white spot in the long, black line when the election returns came in. Each of the 1 88 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE eleven Congressional districts had an organizer in charge from January until election day. In every one of the ninety counties there was organization. Nine-tenths of them opened headquar- ters from one to three months before the end of the campaign and 2,000 precinct workers were enrolled. The whole State was cov- ered by auto-trips in the last month. Approximately 5,000,000 pieces of literature were distributed, much of it especially printed to meet local needs and the false statements circulated by the opposition. One cent postage for one circularization of the voters of Iowa cost $5,000. As suffragists throughout the nation gave their help, so the opponents outside the State tried to defeat the amendment. The women's National Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage sent a number of its paid workers and a consider- able sum of money into the State. There was a small anti- suffrage organization in Iowa during the campaign affiliated with this national association, with branches in Des Moines, Daven- port, Clinton, Sioux City and a few other places. Mrs. Simon Casady of Des Moines was State president. John P. Irish, a former resident, came from California under its auspices to work against the amendment but the press department widely circu- lated his favorable declarations for woman suffrage in early years and reprinted his editorials written during the Civil War, in which his disloyalty to Lincoln and to the Union was shown. He was much disturbed by this publicity concerning his past and soon left the State. The women's anti-suffrage association did no particular harm but the forces of evil with which it was allied did great damage and in the end defeated the amendment. Iowa women had believed that their men were free from entanglements with these forces but they learned that no State line bars out the elements which work against democracy and the influence of women in government. In spite of these opposing forces the amendment would have won but for political complications which arose during the last few weeks of the campaign. It became necessary for the Repub- lican party to sacrifice woman suffrage to its "wet" candidate for Governor, as it felt sure that he could not be elected in NovemIOWA 189 her if the vote should be given to women in June. A prominent supporter said openly: "We had to do it in self-defense." The special election and the primary election were held on June 5, 1916, and after several days of waiting the final returns showed that the amendment was defeated ayes, 162,683; noes, 173,024 lost by 10,341 votes. The adverse vote was almost entirely in the counties along the Mississippi River. They were in revolt against the State prohi- bition law and there was constant evasion of it and agitation for its repeal. Naturally those opposed to prohibition were also op- posed to woman suffrage. The vote in these counties was large enough to overcome the vote in the central and western counties where the sentiment was generally "dry." Des Moines, the capi* tal and largest city in the State, voted in favor; Sioux City, the second largest, recorded a small adverse vote; Council Bluffs on the western border returned a favorable majority; Keokuk on the river in the southeastern corner of the State was carried, but all the other cities on the eastern border voted "wet." The river counties of Dubuque, Scott and Clinton gave 9,383 of the 10,341 adverse majority. They were the stronghold for the commercial liquor interests of the State. The Republican can- didate for Governor received a majority of 126,754 and this party could easily have carried the amendment. It was evident that there were many irregularities in the elec- tion and the board of the State Suffrage Association conferred with competent attorneys but after much consultation it was de- cided that it would not be practical to contest it. The defeat of the amendment was a serious disappointment to the temperance s and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union determined to have the returns canvassed and if possible discover the cause. The election proceedings and officials returns were investigated in 44 counties and the report in affidavit form consisted of 200 !y typewritten pages. The Des Moines Register of Oct. 15, nid of this report: The im vcral Mran^e conditions. The records in the Secretary of State's office d : at there were 29,341 more on the equal suffrage amendment than the total* cast for all candidates for Governor by all parties. The canvass in these 44 IQO HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE counties, however, shows that there were 13,609 more names listed as voting, as shown by the poll books, than there were suffrage ballots. Add to this the 2,289 votes where certain precincts show more votes on the amendment than names recorded in the poll books and altogether 1 5,898 more names are found on the poll books than there were ballots cast on woman suffrage. If this proportion is main- tained in the other fifty-five counties, there would be approximately 30,000 more voters listed than there were votes on the amendment. The question the investigator raises is : "Did 60,000 men go to the polls and fail to vote a primary ballot, and did 30,000 of these fail to vote on the amendment? Did 30,000 go to the polls and fail td vote for anybody or anything ?" The W. C. T. U. can draw but one conclusion from this condition, namely, that they were defrauded out of their right to the ballot. The investigators found that in the 44 counties . . . 4,743 ballots, shown to have been cast by the list of voters, are absolutely unac- counted for. ... In 15 counties it was found that in certain pre- cincts 2,239 more ballots were certified than there were names on the list of voters. ... In 15 counties there were 8,067 more ballots on the amendment than there were voters checked as having voted. In 30 counties where the combination poll books were used no voter was checked as having voted, but the certificates show that 55,107 votes were cast on the amendment. In 27 cities canvassed, a total disregard or ignorance of the registration laws in nearly all precints appears and in many of these the violations are most flagrant. The law requires that the judges and clerks of election shall make out a certificate showing the total number of votes cast, the number voting "yes" or "no" or "rejected." A total of 9,320 votes in these counties are not properly certified to and the "true return" is not signed in many instances by any of the clerks or judges and in others not by all. In this class 27,362 votes were affected. In six counties certificates properly signed by the clerks and judges had been changed by a different hand and in some cases several different precincts had been changed by the same hand. . . . Many other instances were given of incompetence and dis- honesty beyond question, but, notwithstanding this positive evi- dence, the legal requirements and restrictions were such as made any effort for a recount or another election of no avail. 1 A conference of the suffrage leaders was held in Des Moines the next month after the election. Every one was sad but no one was resigned and those who had worked the hardest and sacrificed the most were the first to renew their pledges for fur- ther effort. It was decided that while their forces were well 1 Space is given to this report because it is a fair illustration of the conditions under which woman suffrage amendments were defeated again and again in different States. IOWA 191 organized they should at once begin another campaign. The half -century-old resolution was presented to the General Assem- bly of 1917, and, though there were arguments that the voters had just spoken and that the question ought not again be sub- mitted in so brief a time, the resolution passed by a vote of 35 ayes, 13 noes in the Senate and 85 ayes, 20 noes in the House. The women continued their work for the second vote, which must be given by the Legislature of 1919. When it convened the discovery was made that the Secretary of State, William S. Allen, did not publish notice of the passage of the resolution the first time, as required by law and it had to be voted on again as if the first time. It passed with but one dissenting voice in each House but the second vote could not be taken till 1921. A bill for Primary suffrage passed the Lower House in 1919 by 86 ayes, 15 noes, but met with great opposition in the Senate even from men posing as friends of woman suffrage. In a one- party State, as Iowa had been for many years, the dominant party hardly could feel that its supremacy would be threatened by women's votes in the primary, but, as one speaker naively dis- closed in the debate, the "machine" might be thrown entirely out of gear. "Why," said he dramatically to the listening Senate, "the Republican party would be in hopeless confusion. Nobody could tell in advance what candidate the women might nominate in the primary!" The bill was postponed by 31 ayes, 17 noes. The next step was to have a bill introduced to give women a vote for Presidential electors. One of the contributing factors to its success was the ever-increasing number of victories for sim- ilar bills in other States, particularly the recent victory in Mis- i, which had completed the circle of "white" States surround- ing Iowa. One of the features of the debate in the Senate was

he reading of a letter from John T, Adams, vice-chairman of

' Mational Republican Committee, beret. .fore an anti-suffra- gist, by Senator Eugene Schaffter, tlu- sponsor of the bill, in which be impressed upon the Republicans the political urgency of ting the Presidential franchise to women. After a hard cam- ) by tin- itivc Committee of the State Suffrage Asso- 11, with Mrs. I-Ynnk V. Dodson of Des Moines as chairman, the Iowa legislators joined the procession and on April 4, 1919, HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 38 ayes, 8 noes, the House following on April 19 with a vote of 84 ayes, 2 noes. RATIFICATION. When the Federal Amendment went to the last vote in Congress, the Iowa delegation maintained its record on each vote that had been taken, both Senators and ten of the eleven Representatives all but Harry E. Hull casting their votes in the affirmative. Immediately Mrs. Devitt of Oskaloosa, acting president, and Mrs. Fred B. Crowley of Des Moines, corresponding secretary of the State association, requested Gov- ernor William L. Harding to call a special session of the Legis- lature to ratify it. It met on July 2 in special session for this sole purpose. Men and women had made their way early to the Capitol, filling the galleries and the rear of the chambers. The legislators, too, were apparently as happy as boys, with a new idea of real democracy in Iowa. It seemed like a gathering of great-hearted, honest-of -purpose men who were eager to do an act of justice. The joyous expressions of these men, who had taken hot, dusty rides on day trains from their farms and stores in the scorching July weather to come and cast their votes for ratification, assured the women of victory. It was a wonderful moment. After a joint session at 10 a. m., to hear the reading of the Governor's message, by n 140 the vote had been taken in both Houses. Every Senator but two was present and was re- corded in the affirmative; the vote in the House was 96 ayes, 5 noes; E. H. Knickerbocker, Linn county; T. J. O'Donnell, Du- buque; C. A. Quick and George A. Smith, Clinton; W. H. Vance, Madison. Senators J. D. Buser of Conesville and D. W. Kimberly of Davenport were absent. The former had voted against Presidential suffrage and the latter had not voted. An informal luncheon followed in one of the Des Moines tea rooms which had often housed the suffragists in times of desola- tion and it was turned into a jollification meeting. Three former State presidents and other women spoke and there were many present for whom the occasion meant the fulfillment of an idea to which they had given years of devoted service.

 

1. The History is indebted for this chapter to Miss Flora Dunlap. president of the State Equal Suffrage Association 1913-1915 and chairman of the League of Women Voters.