Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/512

HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE delegates. Before the convention U. S. Senator Simmons, al- ways a strong opponent of woman suffrage, announced himself in favor of ratification on the ground of political expediency. Governor Bickett issued a similar statement and A. W. McLean, member of the Democratic National Committee, declared pub- licly for it. Clyde Hoey, member of Congress, temporary chair- man of the convention, made the key-note speech in regard to State issues, in which he said: "I hope to see our General Assembly at its special session ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment. There is no one thing you can do here that will be worth so much to the party in the nation as to recommend to the Legislature the ratification of this amendment." It was supposed that U. S. Senator Overman would fall in line but in his speech he said : "I have been and still am opposed to woman suffrage. It is fundamental with me, deep and inborn . . . but I recognize the fact that it seems inevitable." The plank in the platform, as it came from the committee, recommended that the amendment should not be ratified but a State amendment should be submitted to the voters. A minority report called for the submission to the convention of the ques- tion whether the platform should contain a plank for ratifica- tion. A second minority report was offered to eliminate all reference to woman suffrage. Never in the history of the party was there such a fight over the platform. Colonel A. D. Watts and Cameron Morrison led the opposition to ratification; W. P. Glidewell and John D. Bellamy the affirmative. Finally F. P. Hobgood, Jr., one of the earliest champions of woman suf- frage, after a fiery speech, presented the following substitute for all the reports : "This convention recommends to the Demo- cratic members of the General Assembly that at the approaching special session they vote in favor of the ratification of the pro- posed i Qth Amendment to the Federal Constitution." This was carried by a vote of 585 to 428. Mrs. John S. Cunningham, former president of the State Equal Suffrage League, was elected by a large majority as honorary delegate to the Democratic National convention and Miss Mary O. Graham as delegate. She had already been made a member of the National Committee. The attention of the country was focussed on North Caro-