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33 - Woman Suffrage and Politics by Carrie Chapman Catt, Nettie Rogers Shuler · Woman Suffrage and Politics

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty two of Woman Suffrage and Politics. This is
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Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: Recording by April six zero nine zero Woman Suffrage and Politics,
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Speaker 1: The Inner Story of the Suffrage Movement by Carrie Chapman
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Speaker 1: Cat and Nettie Rogers Schuller. The struggle for the thirty
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Speaker 1: sixth state. The National Suffrage Association now called upon the
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Speaker 1: two chairmen of the Republican and Democratic National committees to
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Speaker 1: secure the one ratification needed. The Republican leaders were determined
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Speaker 1: that their record should not be blackened at the eleventh hour,
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Speaker 1: and Democratic leaders were equally sincere in the decision that
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Speaker 1: defeat of final ratification should not be laid at their door.
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Speaker 1: So both national chairmen again issued statements and vied with
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Speaker 1: each other in efforts to influence lagging states. The Democrats
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Speaker 1: considered four states which had not yet taken action Tennessee,
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Speaker 1: North Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, from which they hoped to
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Speaker 1: secure one ratification, while the Republican Party looked to Connecticut, Vermont,
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Speaker 1: and Delaware and felt sure of one ratification out of
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Speaker 1: the three chances. In May, the Democratic National Committee and
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Speaker 1: the National Democratic Convention in San Francisco passed strong resolutions.
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Speaker 1: The one adopted by the Convention called specifically upon Tennessee,
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Speaker 1: North Carolina, and Florida to ratify the amendment. In Chicago
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Speaker 1: at the National Republican Convention June eighth, correspondingly, strong resolutions
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Speaker 1: were passed In July. The Woman's Citizen, the official organ
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Speaker 1: of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, carried an open
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Speaker 1: letter to Senator Harding, the Republican nominee for President of
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Speaker 1: the United States, in which the fact was cited that he, now,
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Speaker 1: as the executive agent and mouthpiece of the Republicans, became
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Speaker 1: responsible if the party failed to complete ratification in time
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Speaker 1: for the women to take part in the nineteen twenty elections.
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Speaker 1: At the same time, an urgent appeal was made to
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Speaker 1: the Democratic nominee for President, James M.
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Speaker 2: Cox.
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Speaker 1: President Wilson was asked for cooperation in securing a special
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Speaker 1: session in Tennessee and for assistance in North Carolina and Florida.
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Speaker 1: One more state, which would it be? Governors Marcus A.
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Speaker 1: Holcombe of Connecticut and Percival W. Clement of Vermont. Both
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Speaker 1: anti suffragists and anti prohibitionists were known to have entered
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Speaker 1: into some kind of compact not to call their legislatures.
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Speaker 1: They had been visited by deputations from the state auxiliaries
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Speaker 1: of the National American Women Suffrage Association in these states
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Speaker 1: early in the summer of nineteen nineteen, and petitions for
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Speaker 1: special sessions had been refused. In all these months of
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Speaker 1: ratification activity, neither governor had receded from the position then taken.
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Speaker 1: The pressure brought to bear from within and without the
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Speaker 1: states was unprecedented. Committees of men and women brought unquestioned
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Speaker 1: evidence of popular demand, but interviews, petitions, resolutions of political conventions,
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Speaker 1: and appeal of party leaders went unheeded.
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Speaker 2: In both state the legislatures.
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Speaker 1: Had been polled and would have ratified by large majorities
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Speaker 1: if called. In Connecticut, the petition, signed by a majority
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Speaker 1: of both houses asking for the special session was waved
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Speaker 1: aside by the governor and by the chairman of the
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Speaker 1: Republican Party in the state, John Henry Roraback. These men
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Speaker 1: had not only opposed the presidential suffrage bill proposed in
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Speaker 1: the last Connecticut legislatures, but in the days when suffragists
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Speaker 1: had begged for opportunity to get the question before the
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Speaker 1: voters of the state by a referendum. They had exerted
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Speaker 1: all their efforts to prevent action. In Vermont, the women
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Speaker 1: secured pledges from a majority of the legislatures to agree
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Speaker 1: to pay their own expenses and give their time at
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Speaker 1: a special session. Governor Clement still refused to call the session.
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Speaker 1: In both states, the governors were in absolute control of
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Speaker 1: the situation. In Connecticut, Governor Holcombe masked his opposition to
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Speaker 1: the special session with the contention that the suffrage problem
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Speaker 1: did not present the circumstances of special emergency under which
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Speaker 1: he was authorized by the state constitution to convene the
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Speaker 1: General Assembly in special session. In Vermont, Governor Clement disguised
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Speaker 1: his opposition with the argument that if the electors of
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Speaker 1: this state are not allowed to vote upon the federal
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Speaker 1: suffrage Amendment, it seems only fair that it should be
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Speaker 1: acted upon by a general assembly selected with knowledge that
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Speaker 1: it is to be acted upon by them. Over and
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Speaker 1: over again, these men, urged by their party, the Republican,
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Speaker 1: and arraigned before the bar of public opinion by the press,
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Speaker 1: were given to understand that full response's ability rested upon
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Speaker 1: them for their policy of obstruction. Why was it so
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Speaker 1: difficult to get the thirty sixth state? Why why the
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Speaker 1: political machine that could make a president certainly could easily
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Speaker 1: whit a reactionary or determined governor into line. The National
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Speaker 1: Suffrage Association and all its state auxiliaries bent every energy
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Speaker 1: to secure the sessions. When the governor of Connecticut announced
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Speaker 1: that he was ready to receive proof of the existence
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Speaker 1: of an emergency, the Association offered its cooperation for a
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Speaker 1: demonstration of nationwide strength to furnish the proof. As a
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Speaker 1: protest against the blocking of woman's suffrage for the whole country,
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Speaker 1: it organized, at a cost of five thousand dollars in
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Speaker 1: emergency corps of forty eight women, one from each state, doctors, lawyers, scientists,
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Speaker 1: business and professional women, professors, and public officials. A group
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Speaker 1: of women which in size, prominence, and ability had never
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Speaker 1: been equalled in the United States. They met in New
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Speaker 1: York May second, and received their instructions from the President
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Speaker 1: of the Association at Hartford. They held a meeting, then,
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Speaker 1: separating into four groups of twelve each, they spoke in
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Speaker 1: the chief cities of the state, dividing again into groups
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Speaker 1: of four each. They visited many of the smaller towns
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Speaker 1: with Connecticut women, they interviewed most members of the legislature.
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Speaker 1: After a tour of thirty six towns with forty one
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Speaker 1: meetings at which resolutions were passed unanimously calling upon the
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Speaker 1: governor to convene a special session, they came on May seventh,
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Speaker 1: at eleven thirty in the morning to the capital. In
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Speaker 1: short speeches, they answered the governor's objections and emphasized the
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Speaker 1: national significance of their request. The governor replied that he
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Speaker 1: would reserve his decision until he had carefully considered their arguments.
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Speaker 1: Four days later, he announced that while the arguments proved
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Speaker 1: a strong desire for a special session, they did not
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Speaker 1: prove the existence of a special emergency, and he must decline.
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Speaker 1: As time passed on, the situation became more and more exasperating.
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Speaker 1: It seemed that these governors could not realize how the nation,
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Speaker 1: with its millions of people, regarded their attitude and the
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Speaker 1: position into which this emergency had thrust the political parties
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Speaker 1: of the country. So a campaign was organized by the
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Speaker 1: National Suffrage Association to get the voice of the people
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Speaker 1: and the voice of the party into written form. In
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Speaker 1: the result, hundreds of letters went to both governors from
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Speaker 1: prominent Republicans all over the country. The appeal was made
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Speaker 1: from the standpoint of national emergency, and all reference to
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Speaker 1: the presidential campaign was eliminated in order that the country
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Speaker 1: in general might have the facts regarding the delay in
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Speaker 1: calling the session. The president of the Connecticut Auxiliary to
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Speaker 1: the National American Woman's Suffrage Association issued a manifesto which read,
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Speaker 1: in part, who is responsible for the delay which may
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Speaker 1: keep ten million women from the vote for president and
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Speaker 1: about twenty million from the vote for members of Congress,
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Speaker 1: state officials, et cetera. Both great political parties, but the
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Speaker 1: Republican in greater degree. It lies in the power of
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Speaker 1: this party to speak the word that will fully enfranchise
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Speaker 1: the women of this country. And where there is power,
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Speaker 1: there is responsibility. You have withheld that one street which
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Speaker 1: would make just the difference between our voting or not voting.
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Speaker 1: An emancipator is not the man who takes the prisoner
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Speaker 1: all the way to the door and lets him look out,
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Speaker 1: but the man who actually unlocks the door and lets
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Speaker 1: him go free. At the time of the State Republican Convention,
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Speaker 1: the Hartford Corrant obligingly explained that the suffrage resolution it
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Speaker 1: passed was a pretense and it really meant nothing, a statement,
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Speaker 1: it is only fair to say, repudiated by many honorable Republicans.
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Speaker 1: Now it is Chairman Roherback, who, with happy unconsciousness that
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Speaker 1: he is exhibiting his party in a yellow light, tells
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Speaker 1: the public that the National Republican Platform should not be
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Speaker 1: taken seriously. The leaders of that party, he says, put
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Speaker 1: the suffrage plank in to please women in the voting states,
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Speaker 1: but they meant nothing by it. Are the men who
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Speaker 1: are to lead a great party as double faced and
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Speaker 1: untrustworthy as mister Roherback paints them. Were they laughing in
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Speaker 1: their sleeves as they wrote the solemn pledges in the
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Speaker 1: rest of the national platform. We wonder if Connecticut Republicans
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Speaker 1: will let mister Roherback smirch the party honor unchallenged. The
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Speaker 1: course for the State Suffrage Association is clear. We must
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Speaker 1: play our part in the sector of the national suffrage struggle,
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Speaker 1: and we must let our opponents see that they cannot
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Speaker 1: keep American citizens out of their fundamental rights with impunity.
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Speaker 1: In the meantime, Republican women in the state organized a
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Speaker 1: movement which pledged its members not to give money or
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Speaker 1: work for the Republican Party as long as women remained unenfranchised.
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Speaker 1: Three Republican women went to Columbus, Ohio, and impressed upon
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Speaker 1: the Republican Executive Committee there assembled that the sincerity of
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Speaker 1: the party in regard to women's suffrage was being questioned.
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Speaker 1: Another group waited upon Senator Harding and asked him to
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Speaker 1: request the governor of Connecticut to call a special session.
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Speaker 1: Senator Harding declined on the ground that it would be
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Speaker 1: improper for him to make any suggestion to a fellow
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Speaker 1: Republican on a great moral question. In August, when it
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Speaker 1: was found that the Republican Party was taking credit for
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Speaker 1: most of the ratifications already secured, but not bringing effective
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Speaker 1: pressure on the Republican governors of Connecticut and Vermont, thirty
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Speaker 1: women requested an audience with mister will Hayes, chairman of
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Speaker 1: the National Republican Committee, to ask him what the party
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Speaker 1: was doing to secure ratification in Connecticut. He received them
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Speaker 1: in the National Republican Headquarters, New York City. The chairman
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Speaker 1: of the Connecticut Auxiliary to the National American Woman Suffrage
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Speaker 1: Association spoke for the deputation. She said, in part, what
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Speaker 1: the women want is to vote in November. What the
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Speaker 1: parties apparently want is a good record as a talking
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Speaker 1: point in the coming campaign. What to the women is
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Speaker 1: the supremely important thing is that thirty sixth state. What
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Speaker 1: to the parties seems to be most important is to
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Speaker 1: exact their full due of gratitude from women who have
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Speaker 1: not yet received the gift that was promised. In our
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Speaker 1: own state. Where the Republican Party is responsible, the women
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Speaker 1: are actually being called upon to aid its campaign while
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Speaker 1: it is repudiating the policy and promises of the National
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Speaker 1: Party in regard to ratification. From that time when suffrage
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Speaker 1: became an issue, it has had the opposition of the
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Speaker 1: leaders of the Republican Party in this state. Since the
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Speaker 1: amendment passed Congress. They have resisted every expression of public opinion,
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Speaker 1: every plea for ratification on grounds of justice and fair play.
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Speaker 1: For a year. The suffragists have tried sincerely and patiently
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Speaker 1: to work in and with the Republican Party to overcome
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Speaker 1: the opposition, and have been cooperating with a Republican Men's
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Speaker 1: Ratification Committee formed for this purpose. But we are apparently
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Speaker 1: no nearer a special session than we were a year ago.
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Speaker 1: During all this time, we have had no evidence that
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Speaker 1: the National Republican Committee was really working in the state.
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Speaker 1: We found it very difficult to reach you personally, and
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Speaker 1: our appeals for specific help were ignored. Mister Roherback and
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Speaker 1: Major John Buckley, Secretary to the Governor, have stated that
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Speaker 1: they have never been asked by you to call a session.
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Speaker 1: They evidently feel and wish the public to understand that
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Speaker 1: the National Republican Committee has given them a free hand
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Speaker 1: to pursue their obstructionist course, and to confirm.
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Speaker 2: This comes President Elect harding.
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Speaker 1: Refusal to attempt to persuade Governor Holcombe. In the meantime,
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Speaker 1: we women are being told that the Republican Party cannot
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Speaker 1: be held responsible because the governor stands alone in his opposition.
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Speaker 1: We submit that so long as the official leaders of
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Speaker 1: the party in the state are in entire harmony with
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Speaker 1: him in opposing us, and the National Party keeps hands off,
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Speaker 1: they are accomplices in his opposition and must be held
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Speaker 1: responsible accordingly. And we further submit that if a National
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Speaker 1: Party is to come before the voters on the basis
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Speaker 1: of its policies and promises, then it must be held
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Speaker 1: responsible for making those promises good through its state branches.
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Speaker 1: If the Connecticut Republican leaders can play a free hand
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Speaker 1: without interference from the national Party, then the party faces
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Speaker 1: the alternative of either admitting powerlessness and disintegration, or of
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Speaker 1: being an accomplice in the state's attitude of repudiation. Governor
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Speaker 1: Holcombe still refused to call the session. In the meantime,
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Speaker 1: Vermont women had not been idle. There the same vigorous
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Speaker 1: efforts were put forth. The women conducted a remarkable campaign,
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Speaker 1: providing new and ingenuous methods of reaching Governor Clement, the
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Speaker 1: last of which was made possible by the help of
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Speaker 1: the National American Woman Suffrage Association at a cost of
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Speaker 1: one thousand dollars. It was the organization of such a
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Speaker 1: deputation as had never before been attempted by men of
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Speaker 1: the state for any cause. Twelve of the fourteen counties
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Speaker 1: were represented by four hundred women who went to the
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Speaker 1: state capital, overcoming the obstacles of long distances, almost in
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Speaker 1: passable roads, and poor train service. Many came from towns
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Speaker 1: remote from railroads, one woman walking five miles to the station.
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Speaker 1: Others plowed through deep snow and of muddy and rocky roads.
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Speaker 1: Before daylight. Reaching the capital, they marched a silent army
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Speaker 1: of loyal soldiers through a cold, drenching rain, and took
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Speaker 1: their places before the Governor's chair one by one. Any
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Speaker 1: sentence or two they presented Vermont's case. His response was
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Speaker 1: that he did not care to make a decision at once.
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Speaker 1: In addition to this demonstration, a campaign of letters and
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Speaker 1: telegrams had been arranged to proceed and follow the visit
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Speaker 1: of the delegation in sixteen hundred, communications from all parts
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Speaker 1: of the state went to the governor's desk. On June
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Speaker 1: twenty ninth, Governor Clement went to Washington, and both press
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Speaker 1: and people believed that at last he would give way.
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Speaker 1: Senator Harding, candidate of the Republican Party for President of
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Speaker 1: the United States, and the governor both acknowledged that the
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Speaker 1: call of a special session in Vermont had been discussed.
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Speaker 1: Senator Harding said he told the governor he would be
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Speaker 1: very glad to see this done, but made plain his
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Speaker 1: desire not to interfere with the governor's prerogative. On July twelfth,
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Speaker 1: an official proclamation was issued by the governor in which
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Speaker 1: he stated that the Federal Constitution in its present form
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Speaker 1: threatened the foundation a free popular government. He said, the
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Speaker 1: sixteenth Amendment providing for a federal income tax was lobbied
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Speaker 1: through Congress and state legislatures by federal agents, and the
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Speaker 1: eighteenth Amendment for a federal prohibition was forced through by
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Speaker 1: paid agents of irresponsible organizations with unlimited funds. Concerning what
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Speaker 1: he called the proposal to force through the nineteenth Amendment
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Speaker 1: for woman suffrage, in the same manner, he said, I
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Speaker 1: will never be a party to any proceeding which proposes
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Speaker 1: to change the organic law of the state without the
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Speaker 1: can of the people. The Constitution, he said, threatened free
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Speaker 1: popular government alike as it stood and as it was
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Speaker 1: interpreted by the Supreme Court. This decision leaves the people
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Speaker 1: at the mercy of any group of men who may
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Speaker 1: lobby a proposal for a change in the Federal Constitution
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Speaker 1: through Congress and then through the legislatures of the states.
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Speaker 1: The President of the National Suffrage Association issued an open
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Speaker 1: letter to the governor, in the course of which she said,
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Speaker 1: a careful perusal of your proclamation refusing to call the
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Speaker 1: legislature of Vermont into special session impresses the most casual reader,
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Speaker 1: with the conviction that you have doubtless told the truth,
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Speaker 1: but not to the whole truth. In order that this
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Speaker 1: generation of your fellow men and posterity may not misunderstand
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Speaker 1: your position, The National American Woman Suffrage Association urges you
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Speaker 1: to supplement your your proclamation with replies to the following questions.
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Speaker 1: Do you acknowledge that the Federal Constitution is the supreme
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Speaker 1: law of this land and supersedes all state constitutions wherever
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Speaker 1: the two are in conflict? Do you challenge this fact
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Speaker 1: that has stood unchallenged for one hundred and thirty one years.
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Speaker 1: Do you know that on January tenth, seventeen ninety one,
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Speaker 1: Vermont ratified that Constitution, although she had one of her own,
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Speaker 1: and by so doing accepted the precedent of the Federal
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Speaker 1: Constitution over it, and by that act was admitted into
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Speaker 1: the Union as a member of the United States of America.
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Speaker 1: If you do know these facts of common knowledge, why
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Speaker 1: did you throw over your refusal to call a special
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Speaker 1: session the camouflage of a dissertation about the alleged conflict
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Speaker 1: between the Vermont and Federal constitutions, which has nothing whatever
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Speaker 1: to do with the calling of a special session of
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Speaker 1: your legislature. Do you not know that when a legislature
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Speaker 1: acts upon a federal constitutional amendment, it draws its authority
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Speaker 1: from the federal and not the state constitution, and that
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Speaker 1: the governor has no responsible part in the transaction except
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Speaker 1: as custodian of the amendment when it comes from the
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Speaker 1: federal Secretary of State and returns to him with the
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Speaker 1: certificate of ratification. Then why profess such a burden of
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Speaker 1: personal responsibility in the matter. You profess to fear an
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Speaker 1: invasion of states rights and take upon yourself the responsibility
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Speaker 1: of preserving the foundations of free popular government. Then why
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Speaker 1: did you veto the presidential suffrage bill passed by the
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Speaker 1: legislature of Vermont in nineteen nineteen, which was strictly a
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Speaker 1: state action and conferred the vote upon the women of
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Speaker 1: Vermont alone. Your National Party convention in nineteen twenty called
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Speaker 1: for fletion of ratification in time for women to vote
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Speaker 1: for the next president. Your party's National Committee, in the
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Speaker 1: interim of conventions took action three times, once asking the
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Speaker 1: Congress to submit the suffrage amendment, once favoring early ratification,
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Speaker 1: and once calling upon Republican governors to call special sessions
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Speaker 1: in order that ratification might proceed. Your state party conventions,
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Speaker 1: your party's state committee, your state legislature, hundreds of Vermont women,
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Speaker 1: the chairman of the National Republican Committee, and the chairman
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Speaker 1: of your State Republican Committee, the candidate for president of
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Speaker 1: your party. I'll have asked you to call a special session.
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Speaker 1: This is a very distinguished and notable group to be
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Speaker 1: dismissed with the implication that your people are at their mercy.
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Speaker 1: You owe it to the Republican Party and to the
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Speaker 1: world to explain your assumption of an authority that belongs
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Speaker 1: to your party leader. By what right do you make
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Speaker 1: this assumption? Governor Clement? Tell it all? But Governor Clement
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Speaker 1: did not call the session in Vermont. While the governors
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Speaker 1: of Connecticut and Vermont persisted in their refusals to call
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Speaker 1: the special sessions, attention was turned to Delaware, where there
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Speaker 1: was hope. The history of Delaware on constitutional amendments had
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Speaker 1: been unusual and strikingly irregular. Delaware was the first state
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Speaker 1: to ratify the Constitution, It refused to ratify the three
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Speaker 1: amendments proposed if the reconstruction period after the Civil War
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Speaker 1: did not reconsider its action until nineteen o one, when
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Speaker 1: its legislature accepted them. Delaware ratified the Income Tax Amendment,
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Speaker 1: but the seventeenth Amendment, providing for direct election of United
23:52
Speaker 1: States senators, did not meet with the approval of the legislature.
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Speaker 1: Although the state of Delaware, because of the attempt of
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Speaker 1: rival candidates to influence the senatorship, had kept one of
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Speaker 1: its seats vacant one entire senatorial term. Delaware was the
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Speaker 1: ninth state to ratify the eighteenth Amendment. This record did
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Speaker 1: not tend to a favorable forecast of the fate of
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Speaker 1: the nineteenth Amendment, but there were other things which did.
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Speaker 1: Delaware was now a Republican state. In the Senate, there
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Speaker 1: were twelve Republicans and five Democrats in the House twenty
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Speaker 1: three Republicans and twelve Democrats. If the Republicans would adhere
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Speaker 1: to their expressed party policy, the amendment could be ratified
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Speaker 1: the first day of the session, and the Republican leaders
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Speaker 1: did not minimize the ratification by the legislature of Delaware
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Speaker 1: as a party asset. If Delaware failed to ratify, leaders
24:53
Speaker 1: argued their party would be held responsible for the defeat
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Speaker 1: of the amendment and reprisals at the pole might follow
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Speaker 1: in the coming campaign from the women of the thirty
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Speaker 1: one states in which they now had presidential suffrage, exclusive
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Speaker 1: of Vermont and inclusive of Kentucky, which in nineteen twenty
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Speaker 1: had been added to the list of states whose legislatures
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Speaker 1: had given presidential suffrage to women. But Delaware, governed by
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Speaker 1: provincial interests, failed to see the party importance of favorable
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Speaker 1: action on the amendment. She was in the midst of
25:29
Speaker 1: a factional fight. The Republican party in the state was
25:33
Speaker 1: divided into two groups, led by rival members of a
25:37
Speaker 1: single family. One of these was the National Committeemen. The
25:41
Speaker 1: State Republican Chairman was a follower of the other faction.
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Speaker 1: The National Republican Chairman, perceiving that the only probable chance
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Speaker 1: of a Republican ratification was in Delaware, sent favorable instructions
25:55
Speaker 1: to the Republicans of the state through the National Committeemen
25:59
Speaker 1: instead of the State Republican Chairman, which at once turned
26:03
Speaker 1: one faction against the amendment because the other was charged
26:07
Speaker 1: with its responsibility. It should also be said that had
26:11
Speaker 1: the message reached the state chairman, the other faction.
26:15
Speaker 2: Would probably have turned against it.
26:18
Speaker 1: Governor Townsend had delayed calling a special session because he
26:23
Speaker 1: feared action against the school code. A large sum had
26:28
Speaker 1: been offered to the state by Pierre DuPont for a
26:31
Speaker 1: much needed extension of Delaware's public school facilities, contingent upon
26:37
Speaker 1: a like some being raised by the state. The gift
26:40
Speaker 1: had been accepted by the legislature and the necessary taxes
26:45
Speaker 1: had been assessed. The governor was fighting hard to raise
26:49
Speaker 1: the state from its thirty second place in educational ranks,
26:53
Speaker 1: but when it became apparent that Delaware was needed to
26:57
Speaker 1: complete ratification, he laid aside his for the code and
27:01
Speaker 1: issued a proclamation calling the session for March twenty second.
27:06
Speaker 1: Since the anti Salisbury campaign, a campaign for ratification had
27:11
Speaker 1: been waged continuously in the state. The state Auxiliary to
27:15
Speaker 1: the National American Women's Suffrage Association had secured resolutions from
27:21
Speaker 1: all kinds of state organizations favoring suffrage and immediate ratification,
27:27
Speaker 1: and had interviewed the legislatures and found a majority to
27:31
Speaker 1: be favorable. The State Democratic Committee endorsed ratification on January
27:37
Speaker 1: twenty second, and the Republican State Committee at a later date.
27:42
Speaker 1: Indications were so favorable that the women were unprepared for
27:46
Speaker 1: the weeks of intrigue that followed immediately upon the convening
27:49
Speaker 1: of the legislature. The people of Sussex, the most southern county,
27:55
Speaker 1: were particularly hostile to the school code and to suffrage,
28:00
Speaker 1: as these county representatives, led by Daniel Layton, chairman of
28:03
Speaker 1: the Republican State Central Committee, former Governor Simon S. P. Pinwell,
28:09
Speaker 1: U S. Senator Wolcott, and former Senator Salisbury, who eventually
28:14
Speaker 1: blocked ratification in the House. Daniel Layton had always been
28:18
Speaker 1: known as a suffragist, but because of his personal opposition
28:22
Speaker 1: to the governor, he publicly announced that he would defeat ratification.
28:27
Speaker 1: In his message to the two houses in joint session,
28:31
Speaker 1: the governor said, woman suffrage has been a subject of
28:34
Speaker 1: public discussion for over half a century. It is not
28:38
Speaker 1: an agitation of the moment. It is a world wide
28:42
Speaker 1: question of right and wrong. Your supreme duty is to
28:46
Speaker 1: think an act for the good of your state and
28:48
Speaker 1: the nation. The responsibility is yours. Hundreds of telegrams from
28:53
Speaker 1: outside the state poured into Delaware daily. They came from
28:57
Speaker 1: the President of the United States, from Secretaries Daniels, Houston
29:02
Speaker 1: and Meredith, and Attorney General palmer of his cabinet, from
29:06
Speaker 1: Republican governors, state party chairman.
29:09
Speaker 2: And interested party leaders.
29:11
Speaker 1: Throughout the country. Governor Townsend was one governor who did
29:15
Speaker 1: everything possible to secure ratification. He was a candidate for
29:20
Speaker 1: the National Republican Convention, and antagonism to him took the
29:24
Speaker 1: form of opposing his nomination as delegate. When he was
29:28
Speaker 1: given to understand by the opposition that ratification could be
29:32
Speaker 1: obtained only at the cost of his individual political humiliation,
29:37
Speaker 1: he called a meeting of Republican members of the legislature
29:41
Speaker 1: and withdrew his candidacy. The opposition, however, after making this proposal,
29:46
Speaker 1: failed to fulfill its part of the agreement, and now
29:50
Speaker 1: signed a round robin letter declaring against ratification, which was
29:54
Speaker 1: circulated by the president of the Women's State Anti Suffrage Association,
30:00
Speaker 1: John E.
30:01
Speaker 2: Mc nabb.
30:02
Speaker 1: The Democratic floor leader, boldly ignored the telegrams from President Wilson,
30:07
Speaker 1: members of the Cabinet, Homer Cummings, chairman of the Democratic
30:11
Speaker 1: National Committee, and from other party leaders. He said that
30:15
Speaker 1: not twenty five persons in his district favored ratification, and
30:20
Speaker 1: refused to retreat from his position, even though two days
30:24
Speaker 1: later a petition from five hundred men and women of
30:26
Speaker 1: his district was handed to him. The small town of
30:30
Speaker 1: Dover was soon filled to overflowing with parties interested in
30:34
Speaker 1: the defeat of ratification. Among them were all the notable
30:38
Speaker 1: wet and railroad lobbyists of the state, reinforced by legislative
30:43
Speaker 1: workers and brewers, as representatives from other states. Prominent men
30:48
Speaker 1: in high positions worked with them. Henry Pea Scott of Wilmington,
30:52
Speaker 1: chairman of the State Republican Ways and Means Committee, widely
30:56
Speaker 1: circulated a statement which read, if the legislature will refuse
31:01
Speaker 1: to ratify the proposed amendment, and thus prevent the hysterical
31:05
Speaker 1: root of the politicians of the country to make shreds
31:08
Speaker 1: and patches of our sacred Constitution, the state of Delaware
31:12
Speaker 1: will receive in the near future the greatest possible glory.
31:16
Speaker 1: On March thirtieth, word was received that the Mississippi Senate
31:20
Speaker 1: had ratified the suffrage amendment. This was followed by a
31:24
Speaker 1: telegram to the anti ratificationists of Delaware that the Senate
31:28
Speaker 1: vote was only a flash in the pan and would
31:31
Speaker 1: be reconsidered.
31:32
Speaker 2: The Republican opponents in.
31:34
Speaker 1: Delaware telegraphed to the Speaker of the House in Mississippi,
31:38
Speaker 1: stand firm against ratification. Delaware relegislature still firm for doctrine
31:44
Speaker 1: of states rights and will not ratify. We refuse to
31:48
Speaker 1: be stampeded and whipped into line by any party lash.
31:52
Speaker 1: The date for the House vote was fixed for March
31:54
Speaker 1: thirty first, and defeat there seemed certain. But Assemblyman Heart,
31:59
Speaker 1: to whom whom as the introducer, belonged to the responsibility
32:03
Speaker 1: of bringing up the bill, left the capital for his home,
32:07
Speaker 1: thus making it impossible for action to take place. After
32:11
Speaker 1: a conference with anti members, Representative Lloyd introduced an exact
32:16
Speaker 1: copy of the Heart resolution so that its opponents might
32:20
Speaker 1: control the measure. Mister Hart brought up his resolution the
32:24
Speaker 1: next day, April first, and it was defeated. Days passed,
32:29
Speaker 1: no further action was taken. The Republican Convention met in
32:33
Speaker 1: Dover April twentieth, and the Delaware Auxiliary to the National
32:37
Speaker 1: Suffrage Association made a remarkable demonstration. Hundreds of suffragists arrived
32:43
Speaker 1: on every train and in decorated automobiles. In themselves, they
32:48
Speaker 1: constituted the best argument that could be made for ratification.
32:51
Speaker 1: Long petition sheets were exhibited with the names of twenty
32:55
Speaker 1: thousand Delaware women asking for ratification. In the convention speech
33:00
Speaker 1: of its permanent chairman, a staunch suffragist, Robert Houston of Georgetown,
33:06
Speaker 1: Sussex County, was a strong appeal for ratification, and he
33:10
Speaker 1: called forth the great outburst of enthusiasm of the day.
33:14
Speaker 1: Two weeks later, May fifth, the resolution to ratify the
33:17
Speaker 1: amendment was called up in the Senate, and a referendum
33:21
Speaker 1: to the voters, which was offered as a substitute, was
33:24
Speaker 1: defeated by a solid Republican vote of eyes, four Nays thirteen.
33:30
Speaker 1: The resolution to ratify was adopted eyes eleven Nays, six
33:35
Speaker 1: ten Republicans and one Democrat voting four and two Republicans
33:39
Speaker 1: and four Democrats against it. The expectation was that action
33:43
Speaker 1: would be taken in the House on Friday, but on
33:46
Speaker 1: Thursday morning, a clear intention to defeat the resolution was revealed,
33:51
Speaker 1: and the bill was therefore placed under lock and key
33:53
Speaker 1: in the Senate. For in Delaware, bills were known to
33:57
Speaker 1: have been stolen. Senator gormi We attempted to offer a
34:02
Speaker 1: motion ordering its delivery to the House, but was ruled
34:06
Speaker 1: out of order by the President pro tem. In the House,
34:10
Speaker 1: Bull mc nabb launched an attack on those who were
34:13
Speaker 1: withholding the resolution and freely used the words bribery, cajoling, threats,
34:19
Speaker 1: interspersed with much profanity. The president of the Anti Suffragists
34:24
Speaker 1: called out encouragement to him, and the Republican Flora leader
34:28
Speaker 1: William Lyons, had to ask her to stop in order
34:32
Speaker 1: that he might make his own speech. The Senate refused
34:35
Speaker 1: to send the resolution to the House, and in adjournment
34:38
Speaker 1: of the legislature was secured until May seventeenth. In the
34:42
Speaker 1: hope of bringing about a change of sentiment, Republican leaders
34:46
Speaker 1: interested in ratification met at the Capitol that day and
34:50
Speaker 1: pleaded with members to stand by their party, but to
34:54
Speaker 1: no avail. On May twenty eighth, three days after the
34:57
Speaker 1: resolution had passed the Senate, he was sent to the
35:00
Speaker 1: lower House read twice and a motion was unanimously carried
35:05
Speaker 1: that the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole.
35:09
Speaker 1: A motion was next put to adjourn until twelve thirty
35:14
Speaker 1: June second, and it was carried. On June's second representative
35:18
Speaker 1: Lions offered a motion that a vote be taken on
35:22
Speaker 1: the resolution. It was defeated by eyes ten nays twenty four.
35:27
Speaker 1: The House thus placed itself on record against the amendment
35:31
Speaker 1: and ended all further legislative action on it. In Delaware.
35:35
Speaker 1: The causes for defeat in Delaware were personal quarrels between
35:39
Speaker 1: party leaders, augmented by contests over local issues. This rendered
35:45
Speaker 1: the legislature particularly susceptible to the overwhelming appeals of the
35:49
Speaker 1: well organized and powerful wet and railroad lobbies. The women anties,
35:54
Speaker 1: as usual, served to hide from the public the real
35:58
Speaker 1: character of the opposition. The failure of the legislature of
36:01
Speaker 1: the state of Delaware to ratify filled party leaders with
36:05
Speaker 1: such exasperation that suffragists saw hope that out of it
36:10
Speaker 1: one or the other of the parties would yet find
36:13
Speaker 1: the thirty sixth state end of Chapter thirty seven