The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-09-07
THE ORGANIZATION OF PENSACOLA
EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION

The Pensacola Equal Suffrage
League was organized on the eve
ming Of March %, in the council cham
her of the city hall, Mayor A. Green
hut introducing the young national
organizer and lecturer, Miss Lavinia
Engle. Of Washington, d. c.
The organization OF the Pensacola
Equal Suffrage League was the out
come of meetings held in the city for
the purpose OF creating interest in the
movement to enfranchise women.
Pensacola women are among the
most progressive OF the South. Many
of these women have been working for
years along public lines, and have ac-
complished much for the growth of the
city, both morally and physically.
But the ballot had hardly been con-
slde<ed by most OF these women. as
q valuable instrument that might he
used in the various activities with
which they were associated. Those
who had considered the franchise at
al mad, in many instances. confused
the Inovement for equal suffrage in
the country with the militant move
Tnent In England.
PenSacola, some affiliated with cluD
life, some not members of any wo-
mans club, whose alert minds had
''Vtsioned q social ustice," and who
for the sake of the little children Of
tSis country, their own or some other
wOman's for the sake of civic right
cCusness, or for various other rea-
sons, dttepded the meetings which
were held weeks before the organi-
cation waa effected. Many of these
women had for years been interested
along some special line OF work,
some in the child labor question.
some in work for girls, some in Gre
ating a city beautiful, some in better
schools, some in better sanitation,
Many were club women, many were
business women, but most of those
who attended these meetings were
mothers.
Most of these women went to these
meetings with the traditions of the
old South back Of them, they went
interested but afraid. But their fear
was not OF themselves, not of the pub
lie, not of censure nor ridicuIe, but
OF aligning themselves with a move
ment at variance with their princi-
pies. These women were most of
them conservative, opposed to force
or violence along any line: holding
high, believing that a mothers first
duty Is to her child. and that above
all things a woman should be a home
lover and home maker. The women
who were sent out by the National
Equal Suffrage Association from head
quarters IN Washington to speak in
Pensacola were Southern women.
But. more important still, they were
American women, imbued with the
splendid spirit that is animating all
women Of the world today who are
awakened to the great moral and
civic responsibilities they are facing
and holding fast to the principles of
good government for the home and the
nation.
When Mrs. Wesley Martin Stoner
made the first equal suffrage address
ever delivered in Pensacola on Fe0ru-
airy 81, her audience was composed OF
nearly one hundred persons, about a
dozen OF whom were men. She held
her audience for over an hour, making
one of the ablest speeches ever heard
in this city.
In the first row sat three young
men. who led the applause. These
young men had been drawn to the
meeting, IN all probability by curios-
ity. They were held, not by the
force OF her eloquence-though Mrs
Stoner has eloquence-nor. by the
power OF her intelect-and she is a
woman OF splendid mental attain
ments-but more by the irrefutable
facts which she presented. Mrs
StOner remained in Pensacola as the
guest OF Mrs. May Clutter, for sew
eral days. and while here she and a
handful OF earnest women did some
notable work. These women, headed
by Miss Mary Winston Jones, chair
man pro TEN OF the tentative Pensa-
cola Equal Suffrage League, circulat-
ed q petition, which was signed by
q number OF Pensacola women, as q