the congressional union was now to undertake another gigantic task—the formation of a new political party.
for this purpose, a conference of national officers, state officers, members of the advisory council of the congressional union from the unenfranchised states met at the little white house april 8 and 9, 1916. brilliant speeches were made by anne martin and lucy burns. alice paul summed the whole matter up in her usual convincingly incisive and logical way:
this is the third time we have called together the members of our advisory council and our state and national officers to lay before them a new project. the first time was at newport when we proposed a campaign against all democratic candidates for congress in the suffrage states. the second time was a year ago in new york when we proposed to convert the congressional union into a national organization with branches in the different states. today we want to lay another plan before you for your consideration—that is the organization of a political party of women voters who can go into this next election, if it is necessary to go into it, as an independent party.
i think we are all agreed on certain essential points. first—from what source our opposition comes. we are agreed that it comes from the administration. we do not have to prove that. second—we are agreed as to where our power lies—that is in the suffrage states. third—we are agreed as to the political situation. we know that the two parties are about equal, that both want to win. we know that the suffrage states are doubtful states and that every one of those states is wanted by the political parties. we know that many of the elections will be close. the state of nevada was won by only forty votes in the last senatorial election. in utah it was a week before the campaign was decided. in colorado, the same. going back over a period of twenty years it would have been necessary to have 150changed only nine per cent of the total vote cast in the presidential elections in order to have thrown the election to the other party. this gives us a position of wonderful power, a position that we have never held before and that we cannot hope to hold again for at least four years, and which we may not hold then.
we have been working for two years to effect an organization in the suffrage states and have finally completed such an organization. our last branch was formed about ten days ago in the state of washington. we now have to demonstrate to the administration, to the majority party in congress, that the organization in the suffrage states does exist and that it is a power to be feared. there are many months still remaining, probably, before congress will adjourn. if in these months we can build up so strong an organization there that it really will be dangerous to oppose it, and if we can show congress that we have such an organization, then we will have the matter in our hands.
we have sent a request to our branches in the east to select one or more representative women who will go out to the west and make a personal appeal to the women voters to stand by us even more loyally than they have before—to form a stronger organization than has ever before existed.
today we must consider what concrete plan we shall ask these envoys who go out to the west to propose to the voting women. i do not think it will do very much good to go through the voting states and simply strengthen our suffrage organizations. that will not be enough to terrify the men in congress. suffrage organizations, unfortunately, have come to stand for feebleness of action and supineness of spirit. what i want to propose is that when we go to these women voters we ask them to begin to organize an independent political party that will be ready for the elections in november. they may not have to go into these elections. if they prepare diligently enough for the elections they won’t have to go into them. the threat will be enough. we want to propose to you that we ask the women voters to come together in chicago at the time that the progressives and republicans meet there in june, to decide how they will use these four million votes that women have, in the next election.
now, if women who are republicans simply help the republican party, and if women who are democrats help the democratic party, women’s votes will not count for much. but if the political parties see before them a group of independent women 151voters who are standing together to use their vote to promote suffrage, it will make suffrage an issue—the women voters at once become a group which counts; whose votes are wanted. the parties will inevitably have to go to the women voters if the latter stand aloof and do not go to the existing political parties. the political parties will have to offer them the thing which will win their votes. to count in an election you do not have to be the biggest party; you have to be simply an independent party that will stand for one object and that cannot be diverted from that object.
four years ago there was launched a new party, the progressive party. it really did, i suppose, decide the last presidential election. we can be the same determining factor in this coming election. and if we can make congress realize that we can be the determining factor, we won’t have to go into the election at all.
what i would like to propose, in short, is that we go to the women voters and ask them to hold a convention in chicago the first week in june, and that we spend these next two months in preparation. we could not have a better opportunity for preparation than this trip of the envoys through every one of the suffrage states, calling the women together to meet in chicago, the place where the eyes of the whole country will be turned in june.
we want very much to know what you think about this plan and whether you will help us in carrying it through. it is not an easy thing to launch a new party and have it stand competition with the republican and democratic parties. if we undertake it, we must make it a success. we must make it worthy to stand beside these great parties. that is the biggest task that we have ever dreamed of since we started the congressional union.
it was unanimously decided by the conference to send an appeal to all members in the suffrage states to meet in chicago on june 5, 6, and 7, to form a woman’s party. envoys to carry this appeal to the west were elected.
mrs. w. d. ascough, harriot stanton blatch, abby scott baker, lucy burns, agnes campbell, mrs. a. r. colvin, anna constable, edith goode, jane goode, florence bayard hilles, julia hurlburt, caroline katzenstein, 152winifred mallon, mrs. cyrus mead, agnes morey, katherine morey, gertrude b. newell, mrs. percy read, ella riegel, mrs. john rogers, mrs. townsend scott, helen todd, mrs. nelson whittemore.
all of these women were chosen by state groups of the national woman’s party; they therefore went to the west as the spokesmen of the unenfranchised women of their own states. ahead of them went the organizers.
this suffrage special must not be confused with hughes’ “golden special,” which in october—six months later—toured the west and with which the national woman’s party had no connection.
five thousand people gathered in the union station at washington to see the envoys off—what the washington times describes as a “banner-carrying, flag-waving, flower-laden cheering crowd.” automobiles flying the tri-color brought the envoys to the station. two buglers sounded the assembly for the farewell. the naval gun factory band greeted them with the marseillaise, and in the half-hour before the train’s departure, it continued to play martial music. when it struck up onward christian soldiers and america, the crowd sang with them.
the envoys made a tremendous impression in the west. whenever their train arrived—purple, white, and gold decorations floating from all the windows—that arrival became an event and created excitement.
“i wish you might see some of these meetings,” abby baker wrote to the suffragist of april 29, “and see the looks of amusement of the men as our train pulls in, gay with our congressional union colors. they invariably call out, ‘here come the suffragettes,’ but very soon they are saying, ‘she’s all right,’ and ‘that’s straight lady,’ or some such approving phrase, and as the train pulls out of the station, we hear, ‘bully for you!’ ‘good luck!’ and so forth.”
“at williams, arizona,” said another letter in the same number of the suffragist, “there was nothing in sight but a water tank, a restaurant, a picture postal card shop, and yet we had a tremendous meeting.”
153at el tova, in the same state, they carried the message of the unenfranchised women of the east to the very rim of the canyon, a mile below sea level!
leaving very early in the morning, at maricopa they found a group of women waiting, who said plaintively, “oh, if you could only stop longer, so that we might drum up all the women out of the sage brush!”
it was not the people alone or the civic authorities who made this trip of the envoys so attractive. when the suffragists came to breakfast on the road from maricopa to tucson, they found that the management of the railway had decorated the breakfast tables in the dining car with purple, white, and gold—sweet peas and yellow laburnums. at tucson, eugene debs came with the crowd to meet them.
at a meeting in cheyenne, mrs. blatch was presented with a framed copy of a facsimile of the governor’s signature attached to the act enfranchising the women of wyoming when the state came into the union.
in san francisco, where there was a large meeting in the civic auditorium, presided over by gail laughlin, sara bard field spoke. at the close of the meeting, she asked if the people present who put suffrage before party affiliations would say, “i will.” the audience arose as one man, and answered roundly, “i will.”
at sacramento, california, where they were given a reception and luncheon by the chamber of commerce, the annual fruit show was in progress and the envoys were presented with an immense box of raisins and two boxes of sacramento valley cherries.
at seattle, the station was decorated with congressional union banners; the national colors; hanging baskets of flowers. a bugler called together the big crowd—including the acting mayor—which had gathered to welcome the envoys.
“ladies,” mrs. blatch ended her speech, “we are here after your votes.” a man’s voice in the audience cried: 154“you’ll get them,” and when mrs. blatch said, “men, we need yours too,” the whole crowd burst into applause.
immediately after the address, the envoys were taken on a tour of the city in a procession of a hundred and fifty automobiles, all, of course, flying the purple, white, and gold. they attended court, where seattle’s only woman judge, a member of the congressional union, presided—reah whitehead.
it was in washington state that the doctrine of suffrage first reached what the suffragist described as “the height of its career.” lucy burns, as the guest of flight lieutenant maroney of the naval militia at washington, flew to a height of fourteen hundred feet over seattle, scattering leaflets as she went. when she started, miss burns carried a congressional union banner, but the eighty-mile-an-hour gale soon tore it from her hand. when last seen, it reposed gracefully on the roof of a large seattle mill. at bellingham occurred one of the biggest out-of-door meetings the envoys had had. for a solid block, the street was packed with people from one side to the other.
at spokane, they participated in an interesting and rather poignant event, the planting of a tree in memory of may arkwright hutton, pioneer suffragist of washington.
at helena, montana, a huge mass-meeting was held in the auditorium. a sand storm, which had greeted their arrival, grew worse towards night, the wind howling louder and louder. in the midst of mrs. rogers’s speech the lights suddenly went out. she did not even hesitate, and in the absolute darkness continued to urge women to stand by women. there was not a sound from the audience; they listened in perfect quiet till the end.
in one state, the governor declared the coming of the suffrage special a legal holiday. everything on wheels turned out to meet the envoys at the train, including the fire engine.
a convention at salt lake city on may 11 closed the swing of the suffrage special round the circle of the twelve 155free states, and brought the western tour to its highest stage of success. the envoys passed from the station under a great purple, white, and gold flag, through a lane of women, their arms full of spring blossoms, to a long line of waiting automobiles flying banners of purple, white, and gold.
the convention passed resolutions demanding from congress favorable action on the suffrage amendment in the present session and elected three women voters to carry these resolutions to congress.
these women accompanied the envoys to washington. there they were welcomed by a luncheon in the union station. then, in automobiles, brilliantly decorated, they drove through streets lined with huge posters which said come to the capitol. as they approached the capitol, two buglers, from the broad platforms at the top of the high, wide stairway, alternately sounded a note of triumphant welcome. a huge chorus of women in white sang america. through the aisle formed on the capitol steps by ribbons held in the hands of other women in white, the envoys passed up the steps into the rotunda. in the rotunda, they grouped themselves into a semi-circle facing another semi-circle—nearly a hundred senators and representatives. the senate had taken a recess especially to meet these women.
the envoys, elected at the salt lake city convention, then presented to the assembled congressmen the resolutions passed at that convention and speeches followed.
while the envoys were rousing the west, the congressional union was sending deputations to great political leaders in the hope of getting declarations of support which would influence the coming national political conventions. to a deputation consisting of mary beard, elizabeth gerberding, alice carpenter, and mrs. evan evans, theodore roosevelt, who had long been converted to the principle of suffrage, announced himself in favor of the federal amendment and promised his active support in the campaign. this was of 156course an encouraging episode in the story of the national amendment.
three weeks later came the next important event in the history of the congressional union—the launching of a woman’s party on july 5 at the blackstone theatre in chicago. at this time chicago was the center of publicity; the strategic point as far as the press was concerned. the woman’s party convention met before the conventions of the republicans and democrats. the reporters, gathered there and waiting in idleness for these later occasions, looked upon the woman’s party convention as a gift of the gods.
helena hill weed presented a report of the credentials committee, of which she was chairman. she said:
this is not a delegated body.
it is a mass convention of all members of the congressional union to form a woman’s party, made up of enfranchised women of the eleven full suffrage states, and of illinois, where women may vote for president of the united states.
there are two classes of delegates in this convention—members of the union in these twelve suffrage states, who have the right to speak and vote in the convention; and members of the union in the thirty-six unfree states, who may speak from the floor, but may not vote.
as registration is still going on, it is impossible to give a final vote of the number of delegates attending. over fifteen hundred delegates have already registered.
maud younger was temporary chairman of the convention and keynote speaker. she said in part:
a new force marches on to the political field. for the first time in a presidential election women are a factor to be reckoned with. four years ago, women voted in six states—today in twelve, including illinois. these states with their four million women constitute nearly one-fourth of the electoral college and more than one-third of the votes necessary to elect a president. with enough women organized in each state to hold the balance of power, the women’s votes may determine the presidency of the united states.
157the woman’s party has no candidates and but one plank, the enfranchisement of the women of america through a federal amendment.
anne martin was chosen permanent chairman of the party; ph?be a. hearst, judge mary a. bartelme, vice-chairmen; mabel vernon, secretary.
the party platform, adopted unanimously amid cheers, reads:
the national woman’s party stands for the passage of the amendment to the united states constitution known as the susan b. anthony amendment, proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states extending the right of suffrage to women:
resolved by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled (two-thirds of each house concurring therein) that the following article be proposed in the legislatures of the several states as an amendment to the constitution of the united states, which, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, shall be valid as part of such constitution, namely:
article 1, section 1. the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex.
section 2. congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the provisions of this article.
the national woman’s party, convinced that the enfranchisement of women is the paramount issue, pledges itself to use its united vote to secure the passage of the susan b. anthony amendment, irrespective of the interests of any national political party, and pledges its unceasing opposition to all who oppose this amendment.
sara bard field closed that first meeting with an eloquent invocation to the spirit of freedom, quoting from alfred wallace the words he used just before his death:
all my long life and investigations have shown me that there is one supreme force needed in the universe for growth, either material or spiritual, physical or mental—and that force is freedom.
158an evening session of the woman’s party convention, held also at the blackstone theatre, was made interesting and picturesque by the presence of representatives of all the political parties.
the convention appointed women representing the woman’s party, to speak at the republican, democratic, and progressive conventions.
incidental to the convention a big “suffrage first” luncheon was given in the auditorium hotel. so many hundreds of applicants for tickets had to be refused that finally tickets of admission for standing room were sold. every inch of steps was occupied when the luncheon began. remarkable speeches were made by rheta childe dorr, the famous publicist, and one of the early editors of the suffragist; by crystal eastman, one of the founders of the congressional union, brilliant speaker, writer, and editor; inez milholland boissevain, who, before the year was out, was to end, with such tragic abruptness, a vivid and devoted life; helen keller, whose unexampled achievement is known to the whole world.
the publicity which the woman’s party received was extraordinary. the convention lasted three days and the meetings were packed. arthur brisbane pointed out the difference between the clock-like organization of the women and the hap-hazard organization of the men.
ida m. tarbell, describing the woman’s party in the new york world of june 7 and 8, 1916, says:
the new woman’s party had permitted representation of five different political parties to appear before them and briefly present their various claims to the suffrage of women. “we do not ask you here to tell us what we can do for your parties, but what your parties can do for us,” miss martin told the speakers in a tone of exultant sweetness which sent a cheer from shore to shore of the human sea that filled the house....
“votes don’t matter,” benson shouted at them, “nothing but education matters. women, like men, don’t know how to vote. nevertheless, if you have nothing but ignorance you have a right to contribute that. as for the socialists, we shall continue to 159vote for suffrage, as we always have done, if no women vote for us.”
much as they gasped at benson’s defiance of their “power,” they took it like sports, and sent him to his seat with rounds of cheers and long waving of their lovely banners. (they have a wonderful eye for color, these new politicians.)
but when mr. hammond—confident and bland—assured them the republican party offered them protection from invaders, they jeered at him. he did not understand that they are their own protectors and war scares are not going to stampede them.
another thing that the gentlemen must have noticed—used as they are to the same game—and that was, that no amount of eloquence made the faintest scratch on the rock-ribbed determination of the women. the one and only thing they wanted to know, so the women told the men after they had gone through their ordeals, was whether or no they proposed to support the susan b. anthony amendment. that was the only possible interest they had in what the gentlemen could say. was it, yes or no?
the republican and progressive conventions began in chicago the day the woman’s party convention ended. the delegates elected by the women spoke before the resolution committee of both these conventions.
the hearing before the republicans was held in the vast coliseum. representatives of the national american woman suffrage association addressed the committee. anti-suffragists followed. in closing, their last speaker said:
“we will now leave you to the tender mercies of those who demand.”
the woman’s party then took the hearing in charge.
the hearing of the woman’s party before the progressive convention was held at eight o’clock the same evening in the south parlor of the auditorium hotel.
later, members of the woman’s party went to st. louis where the democrats were holding their convention. when they arrived they found there was no room in the hotel which could be used for headquarters. most of them, a little discouraged, went in to breakfast. while they sat at the table, a newspaper man approached. “where are your 160headquarters?” he asked. “here,” alice paul answered instantly. after breakfast she chose a table in a conspicuous part of the hotel lobby; covered it with woman’s party literature, hung a purple, white, and gold banner back of it. the hotel, seething with the activity due to the fact that democratic headquarters was there, took no notice of what she was doing. nobody said anything to her. gradually alice paul hung purple, white, and gold banners everywhere in that corner of the lobby. nobody remonstrated. perhaps by this time, the hotel authorities decided that her color scheme was decorative. at any rate, the woman’s party maintained that corner as headquarters. it was a conspicuous spot; everybody had to pass it to go to the elevator. they could not have hired a place so advantageously situated.
newspaper cartoonists began to introduce the new party into their pictures. alice paul in the figure of a little deer, big-eyed and wistful, stood timidly among a group which included the elephant, the donkey and the bull moose.
the woman’s party found every sentiment in favor of suffrage among the democratic delegates until secretary of war baker arrived from washington bringing the platform drawn up by wilson. then the atmosphere changed. newspaper men, who told the woman’s party delegates of the encouraging condition earlier, now said: “there is no chance of getting what you want.”
when later the resolutions committee met, representatives from the woman’s party waited all night outside the door in a last effort to influence the members of the committee going in and out of the committee rooms. the entire platform was accepted, with very slight changes, as it had been originally drafted in washington. it contained a recommendation that the question of woman suffrage be confined to the states.
the progressives endorsed national suffrage. this was the first time a national political party had ever endorsed the federal amendment; for although the progressives, the 161socialists, and the prohibitionists had endorsed the principle of suffrage in 1912, they had apparently never heard of the principle of federal suffrage. the platforms of the other two parties were unsatisfactory as far as the federal amendment was concerned.
the republican suffrage plank was:
the republican party, reaffirming its faith in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, as a measure of justice to one-half the adult population of this country, favors the extension of suffrage to women, but recognizes the right of each state to settle this question for itself.
the democratic suffrage plank ran:
we recommend the extension of the franchise to the women of the country by the states upon the same terms as to men.
these two planks also marked a great advance; for it was the first time the major political parties had ever mentioned suffrage.
now every effort of the woman’s party was directed to getting the presidential candidates, wilson and hughes, to come out for national suffrage.
alice paul’s campaign, conducted on hughes, was particularly vigorous. it was nation-wide in its extent. she sent telegrams all over the country asking people to urge this upon him. she sent numberless women to plead with hughes. she sent women to roosevelt and to other prominent republicans and progressives to get them to use their influence with hughes. every republican member of congress was lobbied to write to hughes or to see him.
hughes found himself bombarded. letters inundated him from all over the nation. newspapers besieged him with editorials. most important of all, alice paul herself went to him. then it was that she presented an unanswerable argument which has already been quoted.
162your party consists of two factions, the old stand-pat republicans and the progressives. now if you put a suffrage plank in your platform, you will not alienate the progressives, because the progressives have a suffrage plank and the old stand-pat republicans will not vote for a democrat, no matter what you put in your platform.
at a great mass-meeting in carnegie hall, hughes accepted the nomination. he did not, however, satisfactorily mention woman suffrage. that evening an unknown man came up to the box where alice paul was sitting and introducing himself as hughes’s representative, asked her what she thought of the program. “utterly unsatisfactory,” said alice paul; “it did not mention federal suffrage.” that night alice paul and other suffragists went early to the public reception given to hughes at the hotel astor. they told every senator, congressman, and plain individual whom they knew there: “when you congratulate mr. hughes, tell him how disappointed you were that he did not mention federal suffrage.”
in a telegram sent on august 1 to senator sutherland of utah, hughes declared himself in favor of the federal amendment. it was the first time any presidential candidate of either of the two big political parties had publicly declared the federal amendment a part of his policy.
on june 19, president wilson sent to mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association, the following letter, which is a reply to a telegram from her asking what the suffrage plank in the democratic platform meant:
my dear mrs. catt:
i was away from the city and did not get your telegram of june sixteenth promptly.
i am very glad to make my position about the suffrage plank adopted by the convention clear to you, though i had not thought that it was necessary to state again a position i have repeatedly stated with entire frankness. the plank received my entire 163approval before its adoption and i shall support its principle with sincere pleasure. i wish to join my fellow-democrats in recommending to the several states that they extend the suffrage to women upon the same terms as to men.
cordially and sincerely yours,
woodrow wilson.
