Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/723

WISCONSIN 707 1905. A Municipal suffrage bill was passed by the Assembly; not acted upon by the Senate. 1909. A bill for a referendum to the voters passed in the Senate; defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 53 to 34. 1911. The session opened promisingly. David G. James introduced in the Senate and J. H. Kamper in the Assembly a measure providing full suffrage for Wisconsin women contingent upon the approval of a majority of the voters at the general election in November, 1912. Miss Mary Swain Wagner was the only registered lobbyist but other suffragists, notably Miss James, Mrs. George W. Peckham, Mrs. Nellie Donaldson and Mrs. Luther, worked for the measure. At a joint hearing thirteen speakers, including several from outside the State, spoke in favor of the bill and one lone Assemblyman, Carl Dorner, spoke in opposition. It passed the Senate March 31 by a vote of 16 to 4, and the Assembly April 26 by a vote of 69 to 29, and was signed by Governor Francis E. McGovern on the ground that it was a problem which should be solved by the voters. This measure was not, as generally assumed, an amendment to the constitution but was a law, the constitution providing that suffrage might be extended by statute but this must be ratified by a majority of the voters at a general election. It was defeated in 1912. 1913. Paradoxical as it may seem, legislators now became more friendly. The Legislature of 1913 passed by a large majority in both Houses another referendum bill introduced by Senator Robert Glenn but it was vetoed by Governor McGovern on the ground that the voters should not be asked so soon to pass upon a measure which they had just defeated. 1915. Three measures were introduced in 1915, one by Sena- tor Glenn and Assemblyman W. C. Bradley, providing for full suffrage by State-wide referendum; one by Senator George E. Scott and Assemblyman II. M. I>aursen, providing for Presiden- tial suffrage by action of the Legislature, and one by Senator A. Pearce Tompkins and Assemblyman Axel Johnson to permit t<> counties local option in the matter of enfranchising their women. Only the first was seriously considered and this was defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 49 to 41. A representative of the