# History of Woman Suffrage/Volume 5/Chapter 22

Contents
CHAPTER XXII.
THE LEAGUE OF WOMAN VOTERS.
The League of Women Voters was first mentioned at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Washington, D. C., Dec. 12-15, 1917, when its president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, outlined a plan to unite the women of the equal suffrage States. She suggested organization committees of five women in each, these committees to be united in a central body known as the National League of Women Voters. Upon the enfranchisement of its women each State would automatically join the organization, which would provide a way to retain suffrage associations for work on the Federal Amendment and various reforms. It was voted that a committee be appointed to undertake such a plan of organization. [Handbook of convention, page 48.]
The League of Women Voters was organized at the national convention in St. Louis March 24-29, 1919, in commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the first grant of suffrage on equal terms with men in the world (in Wyoming) and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the organization of the first National Woman Suffrage Association. Women were eligible at this time to vote for President in twenty-eight States. The submission of the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment was promised by the Sixtysixth Congress and early ratification was assured, so that the object for which the association had labored through half a century of arduous sacrifice and toil was nearly attained. The natural question, therefore, was, Should the association make plans to dissolve immediately upon ratification or was there reason for continuance?
On the opening night of the convention Mrs. Catt answered ​this question and gave the purpose and aims of the new organization in her address The Nation Calls. She said in part:
The following ten points covered by Mrs. Catt in her address were adopted later as the first aims of the League of Women Voters and made the plan of work for the Committee on American Citizenship. 1. Compulsory education in every state for all children between six and sixteen during nine months of each year. 2. Education of adults by extension classes of the public schools. 3. English made the national language by having it compulsory in all public and private schools where courses in general education are conducted. 4. Higher qualifications for citizenship and more sympathetic and impressive ceremonials for naturalization. 5. Direct citizenship for women, not through marriage, as a qualification for the vote. 6. Naturalization for married women to be made possible. 7. Compulsory publica​tion in foreign language newspapers of lessons in citizenship. 8. Schools of citizenship in conjunction with the public schools, a certificate from such schools to be a qualification for naturalization and for the vote. 9. An oath of allegiance to the United States to be one qualification for the vote for every citizen native and foreign born. 10. An educational qualification for the vote in all States after a definite date to be determined.
With Mrs. Catt in the chair and Miss Katharine Pierce of Oklahoma secretary, after full discussion the League of Women Voters was launched to replace the National American Woman Suffrage Association when the work for which the latter was organized was fully accomplished. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, honorary president of the association, expressed herself as "wholeheartedly in favor of the proposed action." [Handbook of convention, page 43.] Mrs. Charles H. Brooks of Kansas was elected national chairman. The recommendations of the sub-committees on organization plans, Mrs. Raymond Brown (N. Y.) chairman, were adopted as follows: 1. The Council of the League of Women Voters will consist of the presidents of the States having full, Presidential or Primary suffrage and the chairmen of the Ratification Committees in the seven States of Montana, Idaho, Washington, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Wyoming— this Council to pass upon all policies of the league and approve the legislative programs. 2. The permanent chairman, who will also be chairman of the legislative committee, will conduct correspondence, direct organization in unorganized States and visit States with the view of stimulating organization and clarifying the objects of the league, the work for suffrage to remain in the National Congressional Committee and the State Ratification Committees. 3. The State Leagues of Women Voters will consist of individual members and organized committees with the addition of associations already established which subscribe to the principles of the league. At the regular State convention or at a special State conference to be called the object of the league will be set forth and each department presented, with publicity and advertising to bring it to the attention of the public.
Eight departments each composed of a national chairman and one woman from every State were recommended, the members of ​these departments to become familiar with all laws on the subjects under consideration, recommend legislative programs, prepare and issue literature on their subjects and work in the States through the State committees. A "budget" of $20,000 was recommended.
The program for the Women in Industry Committee presented by Mrs. Raymond Robins (Iils.) was adopted. The greatest needs for Unification and Improvement of Laws defining the Legal Status of Women were named by Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch (Ills.), such as joint guardianship of children, marriage and divorce laws, property rights, industry, civil service, morality, child welfare and elections. Education was set forth as the best means to Social Morality and Social Hygiene by Dr. Valeria Parker (Conn.). Miss Julia Lathrop (Washington, D. C.), chief of the Federal Child Welfare Bureau, spoke on present needs, saying: "Child labor and an educated community, child labor and modern democracy cannot co-exist.... Time does not wait, the child lives or dies. If he lives he takes up his life well or ill equipped, not as he chooses but as we choose for him."
The following needed Improvements of Election Laws were named by Mrs. Ellis Meredith (Colo.): Federal—A national amendment guaranteeing women the franchise on the same terms as men; restricting the franchise to those who are citizens; repealing the Act of 1907 which disfranchises women marrying foreigners; an extension of the present five-year time after which a foreigner becomes a full citizen by virtue of having taken out two sets of papers and giving the oath of allegiance. State— Adoption of the Australian ballot; reduction of number of ballots printed to not more than 5 per cent. more than registration; for "military" and "poll tax" substitution of "election tax," to be remitted to persons voting and collected from those failing to do so when not unavoidably prevented by illness; adoption of absent voter law—Montana or Minnesota statutes recommended; discontinuance of vehicles except for sick or feeble or crippled persons; even division of Judges between major political parties, examination required, more latitude in appointment and removal ​for cause; election of judicial, legislative and educational officers at a different time from that for national and State.
Miss Jessie R. Haver, legislative representative of the National Consumers' League and executive secretary of the Consumers' League of the District of Columbia, read a paper on The Government and the Market Basket, after which she presented a resolution urging the chairman of the Senate and House Interstate Commerce Committee to re-introduce and pass the bill drafted by the Federal Trade Commission in reference to the Packers' Trust.
During the convention sectional conferences were held on the department subjects. Out of these conferences came many suggestions and two resolutions were adopted: 1. That the League of Women Voters supports the Federal Trade Commission in its efforts to secure remedial legislation in the meat-packing industry. 2. That the convention endorses the principle of federal aid to the States for the removal of adult illiteracy and the Americanization of the adult foreign born.
In June, 1919, the initial conference of the president, Mrs. Brooks, and the committee chairmen of the League of Women Voters, was held at the headquarters of the National Suffrage Association, 171 Madison Avenue, New York City, and plans were made to render the league effective throughout the United States.
The record of the action of the Official Board of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1919 on questions pertaining to the League of Women Voters is as follows: In April it was voted that the Americanization Committee and the Committee on Protection of Women in Industry of the association be united with the committees of the same name in the league. In May the following chairmen for new committees were selected, subject to endorsement of the Council of the league: Mrs. Edward P. Costigan, Washington, D. C., Food Supply and Demand; Mrs. Jacob Baur (Ills.), Improvement of Election Laws and Methods; Mrs. Percy V. Pennbacker (Tex.), Child Welfare. In July an appropriation of $200 for each of the eight departments of the league was made from the treasury of the association.
​As the National Association was the convener of the first congress of the League of Women Voters and there was no method of determining the number of delegates that any league was entitled to, the Board on December 30, in preparation for the approaching annual convention in Chicago, adopted the following resolution: i. That each State auxiliary of the association be invited to secure for the league congress, which would be held at the same time, one delegate from the State Federation of Women's Clubs, one from the State Woman's Christian Temperance Union and one from the State Women's Trade Union League; and ten delegates at large from the national organizations of each. 2. That invitations be extended to the following national bodies, asking each to send ten delegates at large: Association of Collegiate Alumnae, International Child Welfare League, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, Ladies of the Maccabees, National Council of Jewish Women, National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teachers' Associations, Federation of College Women, Florence Crittenden Mission, Women's Relief Corps, Women's Relief Society, Women's Benefit Association of the Maccabees, Women's Department National Civic Federation, United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Young Women's Christian Association. 3. That each of the ten unorganized western States be entitled to ten delegates to be secured by the chairman of ratification.
At the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the League of Women Voters in Chicago Feb. 12-18, 1920, there were present 507 delegates, 102 alternates and 89 fraternal delegates. Among the resolutions for dissolving the association recommended by its Executive Council and adopted by vote of the delegates was the following pertaining to the League of Women Voters:
Citizenship—Whereas, millions of women will become voters in 1920, and, Whereas, the low standards of citizenship found in the present electorate clearly indicate the need of education in the principles and ideals of our Government and the methods of political procedure, therefore be it resolved: 1. That the National League of Women Voters be urged to make Political Education for the new women voters (but not excluding men) its ​first duty for 1920. 2. That the nation-wide plan shall include normal schools for citizenship in each State followed by schools in each county. 3. That we urge the League of Women Voters to make every effort to have the study of citizenship required in the public schools of every State, beginning in the primary grades and continuing through the upper grades, high schools, normal schools, colleges and universities.
The recommendations were: 1. That the League of Women Voters, now a section of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, be organized as a new and independent society. 2. That the present State auxiliaries of the association, while retaining their relationship in form to the Board of Officers to be elected in this convention, shall change their names, objects and constitutions to conform to those of the league and take up the plan of work to be adopted in its first congress.
At the opening session of the congress of the League of Women Voters Saturday afternoon, February 14, Mrs. Brooks, the chairman, presiding, Mrs. Catt was made permanent chairman and Mrs. Halsey W. Wilson recording secretary for the convention. By vote of the convention the chair named the following committees and chairmen: Constitution, Mrs. Raymond Brown (N. Y.); Nominations, Mrs. George Gellhorn (Mo.); Regions, Mrs. Andreas Ueland (Wis.). The constitution was adopted defining the aims of the league—to foster education in citizenship; to urge every woman to become an enrolled voter, but as an organization the league not to be allied with or support any party.
Following are the officers elected for 1920-1921, the regional division of States and the chairmen of departments: Directors at Large—Mrs. Maud Wood Park (Mass.), Mrs. Richard E. Edwards (Ind.), Mrs. Pattie Ruffner Jacobs (Ala.). Board as Organized—Chairman, Mrs. Park; vice-chairman, Mrs. Gellhorn; treasurer, Mrs. Edwards; secretary, Mrs. Jacobs. Mrs. Catt was made honorary chairman by the board.
Regional Directors—First Region: Miss Katharine Ludington—(Conn.)—Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,) Connecticut and Rhode Island. Second: Mrs. F. Louis Slade (N. Y.)—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and) Delaware. Third: Miss Ella Dortch (Tenn.)—Virginia, Dis​trict of Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. Fourth: Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser (O.) Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Fifth: Mrs. James Paige (Minn.) Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. Sixth: Mrs. George Gellhorn (Mo.) Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri. Seventh: Mrs. C. B. Simmons (Ore.) Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California.
Chairmen of Departments. i. American Citizenship, Mrs. Frederick P. Bagley, Boston; 2. Protection of Women in Industry, Miss Mary McDowell, Chicago; 3. Child Welfare, Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker, Austin (Tex.); Social Hygiene, Dr. Valeria H. Parker, Hartford (Conn.); 5. Unification of Laws Concerning Civil Status of Women, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Chicago; 6. Improvement in Election Laws and Methods, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, New York; 7. Food Supply and Demand, Mrs. Edward P. Costigan, Washington, D. C.; 8. Research, Mrs. Mary Sumner Boyd, New York. The recommendations of the Committee on Plans for Citizenship Schools, appointed by the National Suffrage Association, Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, chairman, were adopted as follows: i. That a normal school be held in the most available large city in each State, to which every county shall be asked to send one or more representatives, the school to be open to all local people. 2. That no State shall feel that it has approached the task of training for citizenship which has not had at least one school in every county, followed by schools in as many townships and wards as possible, with the ultimate aim of reaching the women of every election district. 3. That minimum requirement of a citizenship school should include (a) the study of local, State and national government; (b) the technique of voting and election laws; (c) organization and platform of political parties; (d) the League of Women Voters its aims, its platforms, its plans of work. 4. That each State employ a director for citizenship schools to be under the direction of the national director of such schools. 5. That the States urge the assistance of State ​universities through summer schools, extension departments and active participation by professors from these departments to make the teaching of citizenship of real benefit to the State. 6. That the States invite the cooperation of local men who are experienced in public affairs and that every agency, including that of publicity, be employed which will tend to increased interest in the teaching of citizenship. 7. That the States try to make the study of citizenship compulsory in the public schools from the primary grades up.
The following resolutions were adopted: 1. That a copy of the legislative program as selected by the Board of Directors shall be submitted to all State presidents and presidents of national women's organizations for approval, and that a deputation from the League of Women Voters be sent to the conventions of two at least of the dominant political parties to present this program to the delegates and to chairmen of the Resolutions Committees if announced in advance, leaders of these parties having been previously interviewed or circularized. 2. That the recommendations of the standing committees as accepted by the convention be referred to the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters; after consultation with the chairmen the Board in turn to pass on its recommendations to the State chairmen with the request that they use as many of them as possible. 3. That resolutions relating to Federal legislation, after submission to the National Board, be considered binding; that resolutions affecting State legislation be considered recommendations to be submitted to States. 4. That in order to create a better understanding of the purposes of the League of Women Voters and its relation to other national organizations of women, the directors of the league make the purposes of the league exceedingly clear to local groups namely, that its function is for the purpose of fostering education in citizenship and of supporting improved legislation; that as far as possible organizations already existing and doing similar work be used and asked to cooperate in the work of educating women to an understanding of these purposes; that a Committee on Congressional Legislation be created with headquarters in Washington and that in addition to a chairman ​the committee be made up of a representative from each of the great national organizations of women.
It was moved by Mrs. John L. Pyle (S. D.), seconded by Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton (O.) and carried by the convention that, Whereas, all women citizens of the United States would today be fully enfranchised had not James W. Wadsworth, Jr., misrepresented his State and his party when continuously and repeatedly voting, working and maneuvering against the proposed 19th Amendment to the Federal Constitution, be it Resolved, That we, representing the enfranchised women of the country, extend to the women of New York our appreciation and our help in their patriotic work of determining to send to the U. S. Senate to succeed the said James W. Wadsworth, Jr., a modern-minded Senator who will be capable of comprehending the great American principles of freedom and democracy.
Before the convention opened there were eight conferences followed by dinners presided over by the chairmen of the departments. The voting members of each conference were the chairman and forty-eight State members and representatives of other agencies doing the same work. The purpose of each conference was to formulate a legislative program combining the best judgment and experience of all workers for the same cause. This program was presented to the convention of the League of Women Voters for its consideration and after adoption it became the platform to which the league was pledged. These conferences were open to visitors without speaking or voting privileges.
The program as submitted by the chairmen, approved by the conferences and amended and adopted by the convention was as follows: Women in Industry, Mrs. Raymond Robins; recommendations presented by Miss Grace Abbott (Ills.):
II. We call attention to the fact that it is still necessary for us to urge that wages should be paid on the basis of occupation and not on sex.
III. We recommend to Congress and the Federal Government: 1. The establishment in the U. S. Department of Labor of a ​permanent Women's Bureau with a woman as chief and an appropriation adequate for the investigation of all matters pertaining to wage earning women and the determination of standards and policies which will promote their welfare, improve their working conditions and increase their efficiency. 2. The appointment of women in the Mediation and Conciliation Service of the U. S. Department of Labor and on any industrial commission or tribunal which may hereafter be created. 3. The establishment of a Joint Federal and State Employment Service with women's departments under the direction of technically qualified women. 4. The adoption of a national constitutional amendment giving to Congress the power to establish minimum labor standards and the enactment by Congress of a Child Labor Law extending the application of the present Federal child labor tax laws, raising the age minimum for general employment from 14 to 15 years and the age for employment at night to 18 years. 5. Recognizing the importance of a world-wide standardization of industry we favor the participation of the United States in the International Labor Conference and the appointment of a woman delegate to the next conference.
IV. We recommend to the States legislative provision for: 1. The limitation of the hours of work for wage earning women in industrial undertakings to not more than 8 hours in any one day or 44 hours in any one week and the granting of one day's rest in seven. 2. The prohibition of night work for women in industrial undertakings. 3. The compulsory payment of a minimum wage to be fixed by a Minimum Wage Commission at an amount which will insure to the working woman a proper standard of health, comfort and efficiency. 4. Adequate appropriations for the enforcement of labor laws and the appointment of technically qualified women as factory inspectors and as heads of women in industry divisions in the State Factory Inspection Departments.
V. We urge upon the Federal Board of Vocational Education and upon State and local Boards of Commissioners of Education the necessity of giving to girls and women full opportunity for education along industrial lines, and we further recommend the appointment of women familiar with the problems of women in industry as members and agents of the Federal Board of Vocational Education and of similar State and local Boards.
VI. Recognizing that the Federal, State and Local Governments are the largest employers of labor in the United States, we urge (a) an actual merit system of appointment and promotion based on qualifications for the work to be performed, these qualifications to be determined in open competition, free from special privilege or preference of any kind and especially free from discrimination on the ground of sex; (b) A reclassification of the present Federal civil service upon this basis with a wage or salary scale determined by the skill and training required for the work to be performed and not on the basis of sex; (c) A minimum wage in Federal, State and local service which shall not be less than the cost of living as de​termined by official investigations; (d) Provisions for an equitable retirement system for superannuated public employees; (e) Enlarging of Federal and State Civil Service Commissions so as to include three groups in which men and women shall be equally represented; namely, representatives of the administrative officials, of the employees and of the general public, and (f) The delegating to such commissions of full power and responsibility for the maintenance of an impartial, non-political and efficient administration.
Upon motion of Miss Abbott, duly seconded, it was voted that the following resolutions be adopted: "That the report of the Women in Industry Department of the National League of Women Voters in its entirety be officially transmitted by the secretary to the congressional legislative bodies or committees thereof before which legislation on the subject is now pending and to the administrative officials who may have authority to act upon any of its recommendations; that the article concerning the establishment on a permanent basis of the Women's Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor be telegraphed tonight to Representative James W. Good and Senator Francis E. Warren, chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in Congress, and to Senator William S. Kenyon and Representative J. M. C. Smith, chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Labor before which this legislation is now pending; that the whole of the article concerning the Federal civil service be telegraphed tonight to Senator A. A. Jones, chairman of the Joint Congressional Commission on Reclassification of the Federal Service; to Senator Kenyon of the State Labor Committee; Senator Thomas Sterling and Representative Frederick R. Lehbach, chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on the Civil Service.
Food Supply and Demand, Mrs. Edward P. Costigan, chairman. Whereas, in addition to the results of inflated currency due to the war, the high cost of living in the United States is increased and the production of necessary food supplies diminished ​by unduly restrictive private control of the channels of commerce, markets and other distributing facilities by large food organizations and combinations; and, Whereas, if our civilization is to fulfil its promise, it is vital that nourishing food be brought and kept within the reach of every home and especially of all the growing children of the nation, be it
Resolved, First, that the principles and purposes of the Kenyon-Kendrick-Anderson Bills now pending in Congress for the regulation of the meat-packing industry be endorsed for prompt and effective enactment into laws and that this declaration be brought to the attention of the leading political parties in advance of an urgent request for corresponding and unqualified platform pledges; Second, that the Food Supply and Demand Committee be authorized to keep in touch with the progress of the proposed Nation and to cooperate with the National Consumers' League, the American Live Stock Association, the Farmers' National Council and other organizations of like policy in an effort to promote through legislation the realization of such principles and purposes; furthermore, that the committee be authorized to confer with the Department of Agriculture in regard to the extension of its service, with a view to establishing long-distance information to enable shippers and producers to know daily the supplies and demands of the food market; Third, that the early enactment of improved State and Federal Laws to prevent food profiteering, e and improper hoarding is urged and the strict enforcement ill such present laws is demanded; Fourth, that the various State Leagues of Women Voters are requested to consider the advisability of establishing public markets, abattoirs, milk depots and other terminal facilities; Fifth, that aid be extended to all branches of the league in spreading knowledge of the methods and :its of legitimate cooperative associations and that endorsement be given to suitable national and State legislation favoring their organization and use.
The meat packers asked for a hearing and by vote of the convention ten minutes were allowed them to present their case. This was done by Louis D. Weld, manager of the commercial research department of Swift and Company, Chicago, who during his remarks: "I believe you ladies are not prepared to pass ​on such a vital matter as this proposed legislation; it is a mighty complicated and intricate subject." A decided titter ran around the room. Women who had been making a study of the question from the home side for a number of years did not resent being told that they did not understand it but they smiled at a man's coming to tell them so. To show that they were fair, when he said that the packers did a great amount of good in carrying food in time of war he was cheered. His argument had no effect. After he had finished the league adopted the committee's recommendations and passed the resolution against which the packers had directed their efforts.
Social Hygiene, Dr. Valeria H. Parker, chairman. Resolutions recommended and adopted on the abolition of commercialized prostitution: (a) The abolition of all segregated or protected vice districts and the elimination of houses used for vicious purposes, (b) Punishment of frequenters of disorderly houses and penalization of the payment of money for prostitution as well as its receipt, (c) Heavy penalties for pimps, panderers, procurers and go-betweens, (d) Prevention of solicitation in streets and public places by men and women, (e) Elimination of system of petty fines and establishment of indeterminate sentences, (f) Strict enforcement of laws against alcohol and drug trades.
Drastic resolutions were passed for the control of venereal diseases, applying alike to men and women. Those on delinquents, minors and defectives were as follows: (a) Legal age of consent to be not less than 18 and laws to include protection of boys under 18 as well as of girls, (b) Trying cases involving sex offenses in chancery courts instead of in criminal courts is advocated, (c) Mental examination and diagnosis of all children, registration of abnormal cases, education suited to their possibilities; supervision during and after school age; custodial care for those unable to adjust to a normal environment, (d) Reformatory farms for delinquent men and women.... these institutions to have trained officers. (f) Women on governing boards of all charitable and penal institutions; as probation and parole officers; as State and local police; as protective officers; as court officials, as jurors; as physicians in institutions for women and on all State and local boards of health. The committee recom​mends the establishment of local protective homes for girls in all the larger cities, proper detention quarters for women awaiting trial and separate detention quarters for juvenile offenders, as well as Travelers' Aid agents at all large railroad stations and steamship embarkation points.
Child Welfare Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker, chairman. The resolutions adopted covered: 1. The endorsement of the Sheppard-Towner Bill for the Public Protection of Maternity and Infancy; (2) of the principle of a bill for physical education about to be introduced into Congress to be administered by the Bureau of Education of the Department of the Interior; (3) of an appropriation of $472,220 for the Children's Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor; (4) of the Gard-Curtis Bill for the regulation of child labor in the District of Columbia.
American Citizenship—Mrs. Frederick P. Bagley, chairman. Resolutions provided for: i. Compulsory education which shall include adequate training in citizenship in every State for all children between six and sixteen nine months of each year. 2. Education of adults by extension classes of the public schools. 3. English made the basic language of instruction in the common-school branches in all schools public and private. 4. Specific qualifications for citizenship and impressive ceremonials for naturalization. 5. Direct citizenship for women, not through marriage, as a qualification for the vote. 6. Naturalization for married women made possible, American women to retain their citizenship after marriage to an alien. 7. Printed citizenship instruction in the foreign languages for the use of the foreign born, as a function of the Federal Government. 8. Schools of citizenship in conjunction with the public schools, a certificate from such schools to be a qualification for the educational test for naturalization, 9. An educational qualification for the vote in all States after a sufficient period of time and ample opportunity for education have been allowed.
Laws Concerning the Legal Status of Women, Mrs. Catharine McCulloch, chairman. Following resolutions presented and adopted: 1. Independent citizenship for married women. 2. Equal interest of spouses in each other's real estate. 3. The married woman's wages and business under her sole control. ​4. Just civil service laws in all cities and States now under the spoils system; amendments to existing civil service laws to enable men and women to have equal rights in examinations and appointments. 5. Mothers' pensions with a minimum amount adequate and definite; the maximum amount left to the discretion of the administering court: the benefits of all such laws extended to necessitous cases above the age specified in the law, at the discretion of the administering body, and residence qualifications required. 6. The minimum "age of consent" eighteen years. 7. Equal guardianship by both parents of the persons and the property of children, the Utah law being a model. 8. Legal workers should read a book published by the Department of Labor entitled Illegitimacy Laws of the United States. 9. A Court should be established having original exclusive jurisdiction over all affairs pertaining to the child and his interests. 10. The marriage age for women should be eighteen years, for men twenty-one years. The State should require health certificates before issuing marriage licenses. There should be Federal legislation on marriage and divorce and statutes prohibiting the evasion of marriage laws. 11. Laws should provide that women be subject to jury service and the unit vote of jurors in civil cases should be abolished. 12. Members of committees of the League of Women Voters should not use their connection with the league to assist any political party.
On February 17 Miss Mary Garrett Hay in an appeal for funds secured pledges of $44,450. Of this sum the amount of $15,000 by the Leslie Commission was offered by Mrs. Catt as follows:
(1) The "Woman Citizen" as an organ of the league until Jan. 1, 1921, at which time we believe that it should issue a Bulletin of its own.
(2) The full use of the publicity department of the National American Woman Suffrage Association until May i, 1920.
(3) The remainder for the use of the league during the year. Following the convention Mrs. Catt conducted a School of Political Education in the Auditorium of Recital Hall, in Chicago, February 19-24. Its aim was to train women already equipped with competent knowledge of civil government and political science to teach new voters the ideals of American Citizenship, the ​processes of registering and casting a vote, the methods of making nominations and platforms, the nature of political parties and the best ways of using a vote to get what they want and to effect the general welfare of the people. Mrs. Catt urged each State to hold a similar State school to be followed by others in every election district, to carry the message to every woman that good citizens not only register and vote but know how to do so and why they do it; to set a standard of good citizenship with an "irreducible minimum" of qualifications below which no person can fall and lay claim to the title good citizen. It was planned to give certificates of endorsement to those who passed 75 per cent, in the examinations at the close.
A widespread demand arose for Citizenship Schools, requests coming even from women who were indifferent or opposed to suffrage but who, now that the vote was assured, were anxious to make good and intelligent use of the ballot. Under the direction of Mrs. Gellhorn, vice-chairman of the National League of Women Voters and chairman of Organization, twenty-seven field directors were employed and schools held in thirty-five States. Missouri had 102 schools, Nebraska 30, Ohio 35. In sixteen States, the State universities cooperated with the League of Women Voters in their citizenship work. Those of Iowa and Virginia employed in their extension departments directors of citizenship schools, who, responding to calls, went to various localities and conducted courses in citizenship. That of Missouri put in a required course for every freshman, with five hours' credit. A normal training school-was conducted in St. Louis in August and a correspondence course of twelve lessons was issued and used by forty-two States. In many cases these schools made a thorough study of the fundamental principles of government.
In compliance with the instruction of the convention the Board Of Directors of the League of Women Voters at its post-convention meeting in Chicago selected from the program recommended by the standing committees the issues to be presented to the Resolution Committees of the political parties with a request that they be adopted as planks in the national platforms. Two of the Federal measures endorsed by the League in Chicago the hill for the Women's Bureau in the Department of Labor and the ​Retirement Bill for Superannuated Public Employees—were passed by Congress the following June and became law. Twelve others were grouped into six planks and later condensed into a single paragraph as follows:
"We urge Federal cooperation with the States in the protection of infant life through infancy and maternity care; the prohibition of child labor and adequate appropriation for the Children's Bureau; a Federal Department of Education; joint Federal and State aid for the removal of illiteracy and increase of teachers' salaries; instruction in citizenship for both native and foreign born; increased Federal support for vocational training in home economics and Federal regulation of the marketing and distribution of food; full representation of women on all commissions dealing with women's work and women's interests; the establishment of a joint Federal and State employment service with women's departments under the direction of technically qualified women; a reclassification of the Federal Civil Service free from discrimination on account of sex; continuance of appropriations for public education in sex hygiene; Federal legislation which shall insure that American-born women resident in the United States but married to aliens shall retain American citizenship and that the same process of naturalization shall be required of alien women as is required of alien men."
Deputations from the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters presented this program to the Resolutions Committee of the Republican party at its convention in Chicago; to that of the Democratic party in San Francisco, and to the convention of the Farmer Labor party and the Committee of Forty-eight held jointly in Chicago. The last named included the following planks: Abolition of employment of children under 16 years of age; a Federal Department of Education; Public ownership and operation of stock yards, large abattoirs, cold-storage and terminal warehouses; equal pay for equal work. Five of the planks were included in the Republican platform: Prohibition of child labor throughout the United States; instruction in citizenship for the youth of the land; increased Federal support for vocational training in home economics; equal pay for equal work; independent citizenship for married women. The Democratic ​Resolutions Committee incorporated in its platform all of the requests made by the League of Women Voters except a Federal Department of Education. The Socialist Party held its convention before the planks were sent out. The Prohibition Party adopted the full program of the League of Women Voters.
One of the important steps taken in 1920 by the League of Women Voters in support of its social welfare program was the presenting of these platform planks to the Presidential candidates of the two major parties for their approval. Its representatives with a deputation went to Marion, O., the home of Senator Harding, Republican candidate, October I and to Dayton, O., the home of Governor Cox, Democratic candidate, the following day. Each promised assistance in the event of his election.
At the call of Mrs. Park, chairman of the league, delegates representing national organizations which collectively numbered about 10,000,000 women, met in Washington on November 22. These included the National League of Women Voters, General Federation of Women's Clubs, National Council of Women, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, National Women's Trade Union League, National Consumers' League, National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teachers' Associations, Association of Collegiate Alumnæ, American Home Economics Association, National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. They formed a Woman's Joint Congressional Committee and endorsed the largest constructive, legislative program ever adopted. It was arranged that all organizations might participate to the limit of their specific field of work and purposes and at the same time all possibility was eliminated of any being involved in supporting a measure or a principle outside of its scope or contrary to its opinions.