Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1916-11-22
FIRST "IDsDY CONGRESSMAN"
Montana Voters Couldn't Resist Re
publican Lady's Charms.
(New York Times }

Montana went Democratic in Tues
days election, gave President Will
son approximately $1,000 votes and
Hughes only $4,000, and elected one
Democratic Congressman; but
though Miss Jeanette Rankin, who
worked and studied for several years
in this city. ran on the Republican,
ticket in Montana, the State elected
her to be the first woman ever to sit
in Congress.
Since the late returns have shown
definitely that Miss Rankin was elect
ed kilograms Of congratulations have
been sent to her from women in this
and every other section Of the coun-
try until, according to reports from
her home town, Missoula, she has
been deluged with them. Miss RAN
kin announces in reply that she will
represent all Of the won Ell cf the
country and not only those OF her
own State.
Although Miss Rankin spent sere-
pears that she was comparatively
little known here, and many women
who have been active in suffrage
work in this city for years have been
asking during the past few days what
the Lady from Montana" is like.
how old she is, how she lives, and
what she looks like.
The fact that she was so little
known in New York is probably eX-
planned In the description OF her
characteristics given by the few per-
sons who could be found here who
had known her personally while she
was in this city. According to them,
Miss Jeantte Rankin is of the most
modest type personally, and if one
will not talk suffrage or some other
problem in which she is interested,
she will not talk of it herself When
she began to study public speaking,
according 20 her former teacher in
this subject, who is now living here,
Miss Rankin was really timid.
Got into Politics Early.
She ia about "a years old and is
about Ave teet four inches in height,
slender, with light brown hair-not
red, her friends insist-and has an
! unusual store of energy. She Is the
daughter OF one Of the best known Of
the Montana pioneers, who went West
when the State was 80 sparsely set
| tied that it resembled a wilderness,
| and she and her three sisters have
learned to trough it" in the big West
ern State, She was graduated at the
University Of Montana. became an
ardent .suffragist while a girl, and
went to Seattle to study voice culture,
| and then came to New York city to
take a course at the School of Phi
lanthropy in this city.
Miss Rankin was among the early
and most ardent workers for suffrage
In the Wcs before any States had
granted women the vote, it was said,
and fought actively FOR amendments
in Washington and California. In
these canpa gns, it is said, she went
into mines and to farms to argue
personally with men and women to
induce them to fight for suffrage. She
obtained a place as a field secretary
Of the National American Woman
Suffrage Association after leaving
New York city and went to Florida
to establish suffrage organizations
there. Then the campaign for wo-
man suffrage in her home State was
taken up and she resigned as field
secretary of the national body to be-
gin campaigning at home.
She IS credited with having done
more, perhaps, than any other wo-
man in the State to obtain suffrage
for the women Of Montana. Then
after hard fight she was nominated
for Congress by an overwhelming
vote in the primaries, and between
the primaries and election day, it is
reported, she had to fight some Of the
"old guard" Republican leaders in
her own State as we'll as the Demo-
Gratis. She did a large part of her
campaigning on horseback.
Her friends Joined her in creating
electioneering innovations. She didn't
finish her campaign until election
night, it Is said. On election day her
friends telephoned to practically
everybody in the State who had a tel
ephone, according to reports received
here and greeted whoever answered