Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/112

9 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE of the situation before T. Coleman du Pont, whose influence in the State was very great. He came to Wilmington, interviewed various men, wrote letters and then went to Dover where he worked for the amendment. Gradually there was a weakening in the opposition with the gain of a vote here and there, but the southern part of the State remained solidly opposed. On March 23 Senator Thomas F. Gormley (a "wet" Democrat) introduced a bill providing for the submission of every constitutional amendment to the electorate before ratification or rejection by the Legislature, which was defeated by 9 noes and 5 ayes. The date for the vote was finally fixed for March 31 and as its defeat seemed certain, Assemblyman Hart, who, according to the rules, must agree to have it brought up, held off heroically under political threats and intimidations of every kind and at last left the Capitol for home. After a conference with "anti" members, Representative Lloyd introduced an exact copy of the Hart resolution. Mr. Hart then brought up his resolution the next day, April I, and it was defeated by 23 noes to 9 ayes, with 2 not voting. Meanwhile the lobbying went madly on. Much of the opposition came from notable "wets" ; and many of the op- ponents were connected with the Pennsylvania railroad. The Republican State convention met in Dover April 20 and the Equal Suffrage Association made one of the most remark- able demonstrations the State had ever seen. Every road was ablaze with decorated automobiles and hundreds of suffragists arrived on every train. They marched and they talked and in themselves they constituted the best argument that could be made for ratification. American flags and suffrage banners were used all over the town. With Mrs. Ridgely presiding, speeches were made all day on the green in front of the State House, and from an automobile in front of the Republican convention hall Miss Shuler and others spoke. Long petition sheets with the names of 20,000 Delaware women asking for ratification were exhibited. The crowning feature of the day was a parade of "suffrage children" the children of suffragists a long line mounted on ponies and bicycles down to the babies in the "go carts." The speech of the permanent chairman of the convention, a staunch suffragist, Robert Houston of Georgetown, Sussex