CHAPTER XL.
SOUTH DAKOTA.[1]
Here beginneth the last chapter of the history of woman suffrage in South Dakota. At the time this is written (1920) women have the same rights, privileges and duties politically as men except that they do not serve on juries but the law will undoubtedly be amended to permit them to do so if there is any demand for it. For many years the suffrage work was conducted by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, its officers acting for the suffrage societies and its legislative committees doing the lobbying. The activites of the two organizations are so interwoven until 1909 that the history of the W. C. T. U. is practically the history of woman suffrage. The suffrage association was inactive after the last defeat in 1898 until 1901. In that year a State Political Equality Association was organized with Mrs. Alice M. A. Pickler of Faulkton president and Mrs. Philena Everett Johnson of Highmore vice-president. She was the mother of Royal C. Johnson, now in Congress.
A State amendment for full suffrage was not again submitted until 1909 and in the interim there was a lull in active work although local clubs were formed as the nucleus of a larger organization. The suffrage lobby, usually the same as the W. C. T. U. lobby, appeared at each session of the Legislature. When a suffrage resolution was introduced it either died in committee or was reported out unfavorably and failed to pass. Always when the question was brought before either House there was a spirited debate and the suffragists then continued their campaign through literature and other means.
In October, 1902, Mrs. Pickler called a conference at Watertown which decided to take advantage of the initiative and referendum, that the State had adopted in 1897. Not realizing
- ↑ The History is indebted for this chapter to Mn. Ruth B. Hipple, member of the Legislative Committee of the State Woman Suffrage Association and editor of the South Dakota Messenger.
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