Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1920-08-28

When Miss Anthony began talking
in public of "woman's rights" she was
derided and Missed by the men in hel
audiences as "freak of nature" I'm
dismayed, she carried the campaign
to congress and to the states. During
the Civil war she demanded that WON
en- be given equal rights with the new.
ly enfranchised negroes. The answer
she got was: "This is the negro's
hour" For several years after THE
Civil war Miss Anthony endeavored to
secure an Interpretation of the four
teenth and fifteenth amendments
which would allow women to vote
Finally, in 1872 at Rochester, N. Y.
she tried to force an Interpretation by
voting at the polls. She was arrested
and fined. She refused to pay the
fine, but was not sent to Jail.
In 1875 Miss Anthony drafted the
amendment to the Constitution which
has now been ratified. In 1873 the
amendment was introduced in the sen
ate by Senator Sargent of California
1t was defeated in 1887 and thereafter
was not even debated in congress I'M
til 1914.
During the years the constitutional
amendment campaign was making nc
progress the women won many vic
tories in the states. They secured full
suffrage in Wyoming 1S69), Colorado
Utah and Idaho (1S94), Washington
Q91O, California (191D, Kansas. Ari
iona and Oregon G912), Montana ant
Nevada Q914, New York Q917, Ok
lahoma, South Dakota and Michigan
(191S). They won presidential suf
frage in Illinois 1913), Nebraska
Rhode Island and North Dakots
(191O, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana
Maine, Minnesota, Missouri and Ten
nessee (1919) and Kentucky (1920)
Partial suffrage prevails in many OF
the states. In Illinois, for example
women vote for candidates for all of
fees not mentioned by the state con
stitution.
The National American Woman
Suffrage association in 1912 opened
headquarters in Washington and be
gan an active campaign for the
passage of the amendment. In 1915
it established branch headquarters
there which were devoted entirely t(
the amendment campaign.
The National Woman's party, or
ganized in 1910 by Alice Paul, estab
lsshed Washington headquarters il
1913 and introduced the militant into
the campaign.
Alice Paul-the third Quakeress tt
immortalize herself-is the spectacu
lar figure of the struggle. She is g
practical politician and developed the
deadliest card index on members OF
congress that practical politics has
ever seen. Pretty soon she was serv
ing notice through the White House
pickets that the president was the
imam higher up" The arrest of near
ly 500 Of these pickets and the imposi
ton of Jail sentences had no effect
incidentally Miss Paul herself served
seven terms in Jail.
The amendment was beaten three
times in the senate and once in the
house before it was finally passed by
the Sixty-sixth congress June T. 1919
by the necessary two-thirds majority
The resumption of woman suffrage
work after the Civil war was marked
by the organization in 1869 of two ma
tional organizations: National Won
an Suffrage association, with Mrs
Stanton and Miss Anthony leaders and
headquarters in New York; American
Woman Suffrage association, with
Mary A. Livermore, Julia Ward Howe
and Lucy Stone leaders and headquar
tiers in Boston. The line of division
was this: The former wished tC
concentrate on the passage of a con
stitutional amendment; the latter
was in favor of obtaining the suf.
frage through amendments to state
constitutions. In 1890 the two organ
izations were united under the name
Of National American Woman Suf'
fage Association, and work was
pushed along both lines of endeavor
Mrs. Stanton was president until
1892. Miss Anthony served until
1900, resigning at the age of eighty
Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait was its
head, 190O-19O4. DR.. Anna Howard
Shaw, recently deceased and possibly
best loved of all the leaders-a' WON
an of transcendent gifts and elo'
quence-was president until 1915
Mrs. Gait was then again chosen
Mrs. Frank Leslie left large legacy
to Mrs. Gait to be used in the work
The National association made ar.
rangements at the st. Louis conven-
ton of 1919 to dissolve its organiZa-
ton and become the League of Won
ell Voters. These arrangements be-
came effective at the Chicago convep.
ton in February last.