The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1921-11-04

where she received her Master OF
Arts and Bachelor of Divinity de-
grces and finished her credits ior Ph.
d.
Suffrage and Prohibition
Illinois women have a distinguished
record IL the movement for woman
suffrage. Their record is closely III
terwoveh with the Prohibition move
ment.
In illinois the liquor interests were
the chef and practically the only OF
ponents of woman suffrage.
In l9ll during the 18th General
Assembly the United Societies, the
wet organization, sent 4 personal let
ter to each member of the legislature
asking them to defeat certain bills.
The very first bill listed in their let
ter was House Bill No. co This was
the woman suffrage bill.
In 1918 the 18Th General Assembly
passed. the Woman Suffrage la~. il
received the vote OF but two pro-
nounced wet members OF the House.
Only four who voted Tor County
Option in this session voted against
Woman Suffrage.
The Chicago American on June l..
1918 in reporting the attempt OF anti
sufragists to reconsider the vote by
which suffrage was passed in the
House said:
The wet lobby nthe Legislature
was primarily responsible for the
heroic attempts made to force a re-
consideration"
The Chicago Daily News on June
i II, 1918, said, 1T is interesting 10
observe that the fight on woman SUI
fragc at Springfield was merely a
fight by the friends OF the liquor in
terests.
Following the passage OF the Hi
nois Woman Suffrage law the vets
contested the law i'll several courts in
Southern Illinois after the women
had voted several towns dry. They
also brought a contest in the Superior
Court Of Cook county seeking an in
junction TO prevent women from vot-
ing in Cook county.
Women Helped Win Prohibition
Under limited suffrage granted by
, state Law i'll 1913, Illinois women were
permitted to vote in local option cleo
tions. In November, 1913, with the
woman voting on the saloon question
| for The first time in % southern Hill
! nois precincts the average vote OF the
woman was dry by more than tour to
one In Virginia the county seat OF
Cass county, the women voted dry
unanimously. the vote being 594 to
| nothing against the saloons. In 1916
| in ~ municipalities in which a ma
iority of the men had voted wet, the
women voted dry by majorities large
enough TO overcome the wet vote OF
the men. In subsequent elections
many ether Illinois cities in which the
men failed to cast dry majorities were
voted dry by the women.
In addition to closing thousands OF
saloons. Illinois women helped elect
law enforcement officials in many
cities formerly controlled by the law
less clements. This had remarkable
influence in favor of Prohibition en-
/ forcement.
Illinois and National Suffrage
Woman Suffrage in Illinois played
a remarkable part in the movement
I for the National Suffrage Amend
ment. The splendid record OF Illinois
women under partial suffrage helped
the suffrage movement throughout
the nation. The fact that women
voted with separate ballot boxes en-
abled them to give an exact demon
station of the effect of women's votes.
Furthermore Illinois Congressman
and Senators influenced by suffrage
in Illinois gave their support to the
amendment at Washington. Had il