LOUISIANA 233 for help in putting it through. Colonel William J. Bryan was one of the first to respond, urging it to help the Democratic party in the coming campaign. Senator Williamson called on the new "convert/* Mayor Behrman, and he appealed to the New Orleans "organization" Senators, but was not entirely successful. On May 13 Governor Pleasant submitted the Federal Amend- ment to both Houses, with a message which filled several columns of print, urging them not to adopt it but to pass in its stead the resolution for a State amendment. On the i6th, Senator N. C. Simmons, a former leader of the anti-suffrage forces, issued an appeal for ratification, ridiculing Governor Pleasant's "negro peril" bugaboo. This same day Mrs. George Bass, chairman of the Women's National Democratic Committee, came to Baton Rouge at the request of the Joint Ratification Committee and addressed a large meeting in the Istrouma Hotel in favor of it. John M. Parker was inaugurated Governor May 17. The next day he received a telegram from President Woodrow Wilson which said : "May I not very respectfully urge your favorable interest and influence in the matter of the Federal Suffrage Amendment? It seems to be of the deepest national significance and importance." The Governor answered that he found a great difference of opinion among the legislators, large numbers opposed to any form, and, all being Democrats, any dictation on his part v<mld be unwise. v orts made by the "antis" to force an immediate vote on the Federal Amendment failed and it was decided that all suf- c bills should take the usual course and be referred to com- mittees for hearings. Women thronged the capital. On June 2 [ousc passed the Upton bill for State suffrage by 93 ayes 7 noes. That same night a hearing before the Joint Com- mittees on Federal Relations was held, which lasted five hours, with some notable speeches. S. O. Shattuck, Phanor Breazeale,
Saint, Judge Rufus E. Foster, Congressman Jared Y.
Sanders, Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Bass, Mrs. E. J. Graham, Miss rnce Huberwald, Mrs. Joseph Devereux and Mrs. M. R. red for the Federal Amendment, while the oppo- 1 by Senator Stewart, ex-Governor Pleasant, Miss rdon, and Miss Charlotte Rowe. On June 4, the Federal VOL. VI
