Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/590

574 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE panied a bill introduced in the Senate. A hearing was given but it was not reported from committee. In 1904 the bill was presented in the House and Senate and reported favorably but defeated in both branches. In 1905 there was increased activity to secure favorable action on the bill. A little paper called The Woman Citizen was issued as a campaign document and a copy of it placed on the desk of every legislator. 1 The Remonstrance, a small paper published by the Massachusetts Anti-Suffrage Association followed, protesting against it. The merits of the bill were presented at a well attended hearing but no action was taken on it. In 1906 a Senate hearing was given on the bill, addressed by Mr. Blackwell. It was reported without recommendation and ably debated. Senator Walter R. Stiness made a strong speech in its support and it passed by 29 ayes, 7 noes. In the House the bill was referred to the Committee on Special Legislation. Long petitions from prominent voters were presented asking that it be reported but General Charles R. Brayton, the Republican "boss" who for years controlled the Legislature, seeing the strong sentiment in its favor would not permit it to come to a vote. He admitted that he feared it would help the Democratic party. In 1907 the battle for the bill was renewed and among the petitioners was Governor James H. Higgins. At two largely attended hearings nearly every person gave a rising vote in favor. Mrs. Charles Warren Lippitt and Mrs. Edward Johnson protested against women's being allowed to vote for President and Rowland Hazard supported them. The bill was defeated, though not by them but by political opposition. In 1909 Mr. Blackwell appeared for the last time as the advocate of the measure. Like a seer he pleaded for it, the significance and potency of which he grasped far in advance of his contemporaries. Miss Yates was appointed his successor as the National Association's chairman of Presidential suffrage, which position he had filled for many years. In 1911 the Presidential suffrage bill was introduced in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Special Legislation, 1 The Woman Citizen was edited and published for ten years by Mrs. Jeannette French, and was a valuable contribution to the movement for woman suffrage.