The Suffrage daily news. [volume], November 02, 1914, Election Edition, Image 1

About The Suffrage daily news. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1914-191?

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ELECTION THE SUFFRAGE DAILY NEWS ELECTION
"Governments Derive Their Just Power From the Consent of the Governed"
BUTTE, MONTANA, \ O)NIDAY, NOVE:IMBER 2, 1914.
THE STATE CAMPAIGN
FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE
The first suffrage speech ever
delivered in Montana was deliv
ered by Miss Willard in 1883.
When the Montana state conven
tion met in 1889 to adopt the con
stitution which was later ratified
as the Constitution of the State
of Montana, an effort for equal
suffrage was made, but the suf
frage resolution was defeated by
a vote of 43 to 25. The matter
was brought up before successive
legislatures with varied success
till the suffrage bill finally passed
in 1913.
The present campaign for
Equal Suffrage in Montana,
which will, there is good reason
to hope, end tomorrow in victory
at the polls, began in January,
1911, when the Political Equal
ity Club of Missoula was organ
ized. In that year Miss Jean
nette Rankin went to the legisla
ture and succeeded in having an
equal suffrage bill introduced in
the house. The bill received a
majority vote but failed to secure
the two thirds majority necessary
for passage.
Aside from the work of a few
speakers, and the work of the
Political Equality Clubs of Mis
soula, Kalispell and Helena, lit
tle was done till August, 1912,
when political party conventions
were held in Great Falls. Miss
Rankin, with a committee of wo
men representing the existing
state suffrage organizations, se
cured at that time the endorse
ment of the Republican and Dem
nRnttltin ltjrtiexej'nI suftrsg' Later
the Progressive party came oat
in favor of equal suffrage. All
parties were thus pledged to the
passage of a suffrage bill.
During the State fair in 1912
a temporary Montana Woman
Suffrage state central committee
was formed with Miss Jeannette
Rankin chairman, Miss Ida Auer
bach secretary and Mrs. Wilbur
Smith treasurer.
At this time half the counties
of the state were visited and or
ganizations started. Candidates
for the legislature were inter
viewed, and pledges were secured
from many. After the election
hundreds of letters were sent
from all parts of the state to the
governor and lieutenant governor
asking support for the measure.
A meeting of the state central
committee was called for the first
of .lanuary, 1913, when p)erma
nent organization was effected
and Aliss Rankin was elected per
manent chairman. The committee
visited the legislature in a body
in time to hear the Governor in
his message to the Thirteenth
Legislative Assemblly recommend
the passage of the sut'frage bill.
The suffrage bill, Senate Bill
Number One, was introduced by
Senator Stout. It passed the sen
ate with only two votes against
it, those of Senators Leighton of
Jefferson county and Edwards of
Rosebud. The bill later passed
the house, also with two votes
against it, those of Representa
tives Iliggins of Missoula and
Blair of Powell. It was signed
by the governor.
By continuous agitation, organ
izations were formed in many
counties.
The second meeting of the
State Central committee was held
at Livingston in June, 1913, and
the third meeting in Butte, Sep
tember, 1913. In January, 1914,
headquarters were opened at the
Thornton hotel in Butte. The
State Central committee met at
headquarters in February, and in
June at Livingston.
At the present time every
county in the state is organized.
Montana speakers have toured
every county, and speakers from
outside the state have gone into
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: MRS. R. F. FOOTE, MRS. J. B. ELLIS, CHAIRMAN SILVER BOW
COUNTY, MRS. H. SALHOLM, MRS. A. OBERMEYER AND MRS. E. G. CLINCH, WHO, WITH
MRS. ELLIS' FORD CAR, CAMPAIGNED FOR WOMAN SUFRAGE IN FOUR COUNTIES
distributed, systematic press work
in the state has received a news
bulletin each week, hundreds of
feature stories have been sent
out, special suffrage editions of
city papers have been published,
while during the State fair in
Helena the Suffrage Daily News
was published and distributed.
One of the special features of
the campaign was the demonstra
tion on May the second, which
Governor Stewart proclaimed
Woman's day. Demonstrations
were held on that (lay in almost
every city in Montana, and in
hundreds of country schools.
During the Federation meeting
at Lewistown suffrage luncheons
and dinners were given. Open air
meetings were held in Livingston
and many other places in Fergus
county.
In July there was an encamp
ment at Billings, beginning on
the Fourth and lasting a week,
General Rosalie Jones, Colonel
Ida Craft and Miss Margaret
Ilinchey were the prominent out
side women attending.
The very successful suffrage
parade in ilelena during the
State fair in September was the
result of weeks of hard work
carried on at headquarters during
the hot summer months. A long
line of women wearing the suf
frage yellow and carrying banners
marched down Main street to the
Auditorium where Judge Cheadle
and Dr. Anna Howard Shaw de
livered very fine and inspiring
addresses.
During the State fair suffrage
headquarters were opened in
Helena, and at the Fair, and were
the source of much pleasure to
visitors.
Most people have no idea of
the vast amount of work that has
been done in this campaign.
Thousands of miles have been
traveled by speai:krs. Miss Ran
kin, alone, has traveled over 9,000
miles in Montana since January.
Letters and circulars to the num
ber of 100,000 have been sent
out since headquarters opened.
All the work done by Montana
women has been volunteer ser
Abraham Lianccin say s:
"I go for all sharing the privi
leges of government who assist
in bearing its burdens, by no
means excluding the Women."
.i m! nud ma.nv thc. sneakers I
have paiTd"all" part of their
traveling expenses. Of the
speakers from outside the state,
the services of all but two were
donated, and almost all paid their
own expenses as well.
This campaign should be a suc
cessful campaign for the reason
that it has been the work not of
a few but of man:y. Its complete
history will, probably, never be
written, but equld this be done,
it would stand as a remarkable
record of unselfish effort for a
fine and ideal end. Every wo
man who has sacrificed time and
pleasure in order to do her share
may-and does--feel proud of
having been a part of this move
ment for better citizenship and
truer democracy.
The Montana Woman Suffrage
association wishes to acknowledge
indlebhledness to the National Wo
man Suffrage association for co
operation ani help in sending
speakers, in 'financial aid and in
the giving of smund advice and
encouragemelnt at critical times.
WORD FROM
JANE ADDAMS
In the eari r stages of the
mnovement for woman suffrage
great stress was laid upon two
points: that t h, woman of prop
crty should hale the power to
protect her intee.sts, and that the
woman of educt,.ion could he en
trusted with ti, vote with bene
fit to the natia..
We are in4' nuing to realize
that in askin, 0or the ballot for
women, neith,. of these limita
tions can he ,,nsidered.
The woman of property has, in
deed, just claims to the suffrage,
that she max have a voice in
those public measures which de
pend upon and imply an increase
in taxes.
The woman of education, al
ready a pow(r for good in the
community, ..,,ds the franchise,
so that when she asks for pure
food laws, for protection of infant
life, for child-labor restrictions,
she shall not h, treated as a mere
motherless theorist, but as one
THE EQUAL SUFFRAGE
CAMPAIGN IN BUTTE
who ,.aya >A0'rmine the terms
of office of the legislators with
whom they are pleading.
But if, both for their own sakes
and for the good of the republic,
women of property and women of
education should he enfranchised,
far more is the power of the bal
lot needed by the working wom
an, whose stake in the country
is represented by her life, her
health, her virtues, and the safety
and happiness of her children.
The ballot is not demanded for
her because she is good or wise, or
because she will make no mis
takes in its use. Neither good
ness nor wisdom is the sole pos
session of one class, and freedom
from mistakes is the privilege of
none. Working women need the
ballot because they must possess
some control over the conditions
of their lives and those of their
children; and, in this twentieth
century world, the .ballot box of
fers the only channel through
which they can give expression
to such legitimate control.
is it qluite by accident that
those states where women enjoy
partial or complete suffrage make
also the best showing as regards
the administration of schools, the
restriction of child labor, and the
protection of young girls? There
is probably no country in the
world where the interests of chil
dren, taking them from every
point of view, are so carefully
guarded as in Colorado, where
the women have full suffrage.
Colorado was likewise the firt
state to raise the age of protec
tion for girls to 18.
But it is not only the interests
of children which the women of
a community are especially fit
ted to guard. They are also the
natural protectors of their own
sons, who, though past childhood,
are still young, inexperienced and
in the industrial contest, utterly
helpless.
I believe I must have been horn
believing in the full rights of
women to all the privileges and
positions which nature and justice
accord to her in common with
other human beings: Perfect
equal rights; human rights. -
Clara Barton.
The campaign for equal suft
rage in Butte has been, ofi course,
only a part of the state-wide
campaign. It is, to be sure, the
part in which we are most inter
ested, but also the part about
which least needs to be said, for
we have all participated, either
as workers or merely as interest
ed onlookers.
The several local suffrage or
ganizations have worked together
intelligently and harmoniously.
We have done our best, and to
morrow will show whether or no
our best has been good enough.
It is impossible to give even a
partial list of those whose good
work has contributed to that tri
umph we confidently expect. It.
is, however, fitting and right that
we should mnention with deep ap
preciation the services of State
Chairman Miss Jeannette Rankin,
her able assistant, Miss Mary E.
O'Neill, and our county chair
man, Mrs. J. B. Ellis.
The state association has been
particularly generous to Butte in
the matter of speakers and help
of all kinds, a generosity we
thankfully acknowledge. We al
so wish to thank Mrs. Nellie Hall
Root of California for the gift
of her services during many
weeks.
Man is an individualist; his in
stinct is to compete rather than
to co-operate. Woman is es
sentially social, the center of a
family group. It is her instinct/
to make things comfortable, tlh
ing impulse. And a good half of
the business of governing is just
that; it is neither a duty nor a
privilege but an efficacious way
of making us all comfortable to
gether.
AN ODE TO AMERICAN WOMEN
(By Richard Wightman)
Our institutions change, likewise
our laws;
The program of the Season knows
its pause;
The very rivers thread along
New courses, and the lark's
blithe song
Is altered by the meadow's mood;
But every onward rood
Of the long path our fathers
chose,
Down' to the very close
Of days,-is ours to dare, elate
and free,
Clothed with that ancient loyalty
To Right which made America
the land whose name
And birthright we so proudly
claim.
And now, 0 Woman, we have
come to see
Thy hand in all our Nation's
history-
A gentle hand, maternal, clean
and kind;
And so, 0 Woman, 't is our new
er mind
To give to thee the right men
long have known-
To say thy say, by ballots never
blown
On vagrant winds for IpurLposes
un fair.
Slowly we came to this, but all
the air
Is vihrant with thy reason's just
demand
T'o share with men the 1roblems.
of our land.
Be thou exalted by this later
trust ;
Be women still, for that thou
ever must !
Thy new task is not little, but
the' shades
Of patriot mothers steal from
out the glades
Of the dim past to hearten thee
and say:
"We did our part; thine is the
greater day!"
-The Pictorial Review.