ing for an indorsement, presented by Judge Bangs of Rapid City, was overwhelmingly voted down. A big delegation of Russians came to this convention wearing huge yellow badges lettered, Against Woman Suffrage and Susan B. Anthony.
The greatest disappointment of the campaign was the forming of an Independent party by the Farmers' Alliance and the Knights of Labor. The Alliance at its convention the previous year, 478 delegates present, at the close of Miss Anthony's ad dress, had declared that they would do all in their power to carry the suffrage amendment, and it was principally on account of their assurances of support and on the invitation of their leaders, that she undertook the work in South Dakota. The Knights of Labor at their convention in January of the present year had adopted a resolution which said: "We will support with all our strength the amendment to be voted on at the next general election giving women the ballot .... believing this to be the first step toward securing those reforms for which all true Knights of Labor are striving."
But the following June these two organizations formed a new party and absolutely refused to put a woman suffrage plank in their platform, although Miss Anthony addressed their convention and implored them to keep their promise, assuring them that their failure to support the amendment would be its death blow. The previous summer H. L. Loucks, president of the Farmers' Alliance, had made a special journey to the State suffrage convention at Minneapolis to invite her to come to South Dakota to conduct this canvass. He was a candidate for Governor on this new party ticket and in his speech of acceptance did not mention the pending amendment. Before adjourning the convention adopted a long resolution containing seven or eight declarations, among them one that "no citizen should be disfranchised on account of sex," but so far as any party advocacy was concerned the question was a dead issue.
A bitter contest was being made between Huron and Pierre for the location of the State capital, and the woman suffrage amendment was freely used as an article of barter. There were 30,000 Russians, Poles, Scandinavians and other foreigners in the State, most of whom opposed woman suffrage. The liquor dealers and
