History of Woman Suffrage/Volume 6/Chapter 33
CHAPTER XXXIII.
NORTH DAKOTA.[1]
The Equal Suffrage Association of North Dakota held its annual convention at Devil's Lake July 17, 1901, where it was a prominent feature of the Chautauqua Assembly. The auditorium was hung with huge banners reading, "Equality at the Ballot Box," "Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny," etc. Dr. Cora Smith Eaton addressed a large audience on The Status of Woman Suffrage in our Country. Officers elected were, Mrs. Flora B. Naylor, president; Mrs. Janette Hill Knox, vice-president; Mrs. Mazie Stevens, treasurer; Mrs. Katharine F. King, recording secretary.
From 1901 to 1912 there are no records of an active suffrage organization but individuals and small groups of women in different parts of the State kept alive the suffrage spirit. On Feb. 4, 1912, twenty-four men and women were invited to meet Miss Sylvia Pankhurst of England at the home of Mrs. Mary Darrow Weible in Fargo. After an informal discussion the Votes for Women League of Fargo was organized with Mrs. Clara L. Darrow president. A strong league was organized in Grand Forks by Mrs. R. M. Pollock. On June 13, at the call of the Fargo League, an earnest group of men and women from different parts of the State met at the Public Library and formed a State Votes for Women League. Officers: President, Mrs. Darrow; vice-president at large, Mrs. M. L. Ayers, Dickinson; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Alice Nelson Page, Grand Forks; recording secretary, Mrs. Kate Selby Wilder, Fargo; treasurer, Mrs. Helen de Lendrecie, Fargo; Committee on Permanent Organization, Mrs. Ayers, Mrs. James Collins, Mrs. W. J. Holbrook, N. C. McDonald, W. L. Stockwell; Resolutions, Mrs. Page, Mrs. Wilder, Mrs. W. F. Cushing; Constitution, Miss Candis Nelson, Mr. McDonald; Promotion, Mrs. C. F. Amidon. Steps were taken to affiliate with the National American Woman Suffrage Association and it was decided to introduce a resolution for the submission of a State suffrage amendment to the voters at the next session of the Legislature. Mrs. de Lendrecie gave headquarters in the de Lendrecie Building at Fargo.
The first convention was held at the Civic Center, Fargo, Oct. 18, 1913. The Promotions Committee reported the circularization of the entire press and the legislators and a number of towns organized. A woman suffrage bill had been passed by the Legislature and would be submitted to the voters on Nov. 4, 1914. With the following State officers the campaign was launched: Mrs. Darrow, president; Mrs. Weible, vice-president; Mrs. Emma S. Pierce, treasurer; Mrs. Francis S. Bolley, congressional chairman; Mrs. Elizabeth Darrow O'Neil, campaign manager.
A plan to divide the State into its judicial districts with district, county and township chairmen was only partially carried out. One hundred leagues were formed with approximately 2,000 members. Wherever there was an efficient worker she was given a free hand to get the votes in her locality in the most effective way. From four to six organizers were in the field continually; seven speakers, including Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, its president, were sent by the National Association and five were furnished by the State. Chautauquas, fairs, theaters and all kinds of meetings were everywhere utilized and there were automobile speaking tours to outlying districts; plate matter was furnished to the press and political party members were circularized. A fund of $6,000 was raised, $3,000 of which came from the National Association and other outside sources.
It was a hard and hopeless campaign because of an impossible requirement. When the framers of the constitution for statehood in 1889 refused to include woman suffrage a provision was put in the constitution whereby the Legislature at any time could submit a bill for it at the next general election. If approved by a majority of voters "voting upon the question" it became a Law. How, when or where the words "voting at the election" were substituted for "voting upon the question" no one seemed to know but they got into the constitution. They meant that the suffrage referendum must poll a majority of all the votes cast at the election and not just on the measure itself. If the ballot was not marked at all it was counted in the negative. The official returns gave the affirmative vote on suffrage 40,209; blanks and noes together 49,348, making a total of 89,557, or 251 more votes than were cast for Governor, who polled the largest number. It was generally conceded that if the unmarked ballots had not been counted against the measure it would have been carried. The entire western part of the State went for suffrage. The chief opponents were the German Russians in Emmons and surrounding counties and a handful of anti-suffragists who came from outside the State.
The same Legislature that sent this bill to the electors also submitted a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution, which would be more secure than a law. This resolution had to pass two Legislatures but it required only a majority at the polls of the votes actually cast on the question. The suffragists felt sure that the Legislature of 1915 would pass for the second time this resolution for an amendment but it refused to do so. They soon sustained a great loss in the death of Mrs. Darrow, the much loved president, on April 23, 1915. She had sacrificed her life in her ceaseless work for woman suffrage. Her husband, Dr. E. M. Darrow, a pioneer physician, two daughters and three sons ardently supported her efforts.
On account of the campaign the convention of 1914 had been postponed. It was held at Valley City in June, 1915, and Mrs. Grace Clendening of Wimbledon was elected president. Undaunted the suffragists made plans to hold together the converts won during the campaign. The organization had been of mushroom growth and they now had to strengthen it.
The annual convention was held at Minot Oct. 10, 1915, and Mrs. Clendening was re-elected. Extensive educational work was done the following year, at Chautauquas by holding "suffrage days," and through booths maintained at the Fargo and Grand Forks fairs, with a wide distribution of literature. The Votes for Women League and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union opposed Governor Hanna and Lieutenant Governor Fraine at the June primaries because they were responsible for the unfair treatment of the suffrage resolution in the Legislature and both were defeated.
The annual convention was held Oct. 13, 1916, at Valley City, the National Association sending as a representative its first vice-president, Mrs. Walter McNab Miller of Missouri. It was planned to organize the State on the lines of its three Congressional districts, which made a smaller executive board and facilitated its meetings. The following officers were elected: President, Mrs. Clendening; treasurer and press chairman, Mrs. Pierce; national and first congressional district chairman, Mrs. O'Neil; educational and second district chairman, Mrs. Charles Rathman; third district chairman, Mrs. Emma Murray; legislative chairman, Mrs. Weible; publicity chairman, Miss Aldyth Ward. An active campaign was started to influence legislators for a Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill and a constitutional amendment. The National Association sent two organizers to tour the State, arouse interest and raise money. In February, 1917, one-fifth of the newspapers of the State, representing four-fifths of the counties, published suffrage editions, and in May a 60-page suffrage edition of a Labor magazine was edited and 5,000 copies distributed. In April the headquarters were largely used for war work.
The annual convention was held at Bismarck Sept. 25-26, 1917. The Presidential and Municipal suffrage bills having passed both Houses and become law the convention decided to concentrate on the Federal Suffrage Amendment. An emergency executive committee of Fargo women was elected to cooperate from the State headquarters without delay in carrying out instructions from the National Association. The following resolution was adopted: "The North Dakota Votes for Women League, reaffirming its steadfast loyalty and support to our President and our Government, will continue to carry on the patriotic work assigned us by the Government through our National Association, and will redouble our efforts to gain enfranchisement for the women of the United States in order that we may do more effective war work." Mrs. Clendening, who was State president from 1915 to 1920, was now also vice-president of the State Committee of the Woman's Division of the National Council of Defense.
Legislative Action. From the time the convention for statehood failed to put equal suffrage into the constitution the Women's Christian Temperance Union kept up the agitation for it. In every Legislature a suffrage bill was introduced and its president, Mrs. Elizabeth Preston Anderson, attended each session. Although working separately, Mrs. Anderson and the suffrage legislative committees were always in perfect harmony. In 1911 the Union had a resolution introduced to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution. Mrs. Darrow and Mrs. de Lendrecie of the State Suffrage League lobbied for it. It was lost in the Senate by 23 to 25 votes; referred to the Committee on Woman Suffrage in the House, which recommended indefinite postponement and the report was accepted by 54 ayes, 42 noes.
1913. The Legislative Committee consisted of Mrs. Darrow, Mrs. Fannie D. Quain, Mrs. Ella C. Boise and Miss Ward. Two suffrage measures drawn up by Senator R. M. Pollock passed both Houses. The resolution for an amendment to the State constitution, which would have to pass two consecutive Legislatures before submission to the voters, received in the Senate 31 ayes, 19 noes; in the House 79 ayes, 29 noes; 5 absent. A legislative bill, which would go to the voters at the next election, received in the Senate, 27 ayes, 22 noes; I absent; in the House, 104 ayes; I no. Another bill introduced at this same session, providing that the question be submitted to a vote of the women, was passed in the Senate by 41 to 9 and indefinitely postponed in the House.
1915. Legislative Committee Mrs. Darrow, Mrs. Quain and Mrs. Weible. It is a significant fact that of the nearly 800 bills introduced every one had honest treatment, passed or failed to pass on roll call or was indefinitely postponed by vote, except the one which vitally affected the women. The concurrent resolution for a woman suffrage amendment, which had passed the Legislature of 1913 and had to be ratified by that of 1915, was passed in the Senate on February 13 by 31 ayes, 15 noes, more than two to one, and the so-called "clincher" applied to it which prevented its reconsideration by less than a two-thirds vote. The House had appeared more favorable than the Senate and it seemed certain that it would pass that body. On February 18, five days after the measure had passed the Senate, Senator Jacobson moved that it be recalled from the House, where it had had its first and second readings and been referred to the Committee on Elections. This motion was carried by 26 to 22. The opponents at once gathered their forces. Judge N. C. Young of Fargo, attorney for the Northern Pacific Railway, and Mrs. Young, president of the State Anti-Suffrage Association, arrived immediately and began lobbying, Judge Young even appearing on the floor of the Senate chamber.[2] The German vote was promised to ambitious politicians and a desired change of the county seat was offered. The Senate not having the necessary two-thirds to kill the resolution refused by a majority vote to take action upon it. It should then have gone automatically back to the House but the president of the Senate, Lieutenant Governor Fraine, withheld it until the Legislature adjourned. The chief opponents during these years were the old Republican "stand-patters," who controlled the political "machine," and Judge Young was one of the most prominent. Success came with its overthrow.
1917. The Legislative Committee consisted of Mrs. Clendening and Mrs. Weible. On January 14 Senator Oscar Lindstrom introduced a Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill, written by Senator Pollock at Mrs. Anderson's request. It was modelled on the Illinois bill and beginning with July I it entitled women to vote for Presidential electors, county surveyors and constables and for all officers of cities, villages and towns excepting police magistrates and city justices of the peace. A concurrent resolution providing for an amendment to the State constitution to give full suffrage to women was also introduced. Both were passed on January 16 by the same vote, 37 ayes, II noes in the Senate; 89 ayes, 19 noes in the House, and were the first measures signed by Governor Lynn J. Frazier, on the 23rd.
This Legislature and also the one of 1919 adopted a resolution calling upon Congress to submit the Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment. Four of the five North Dakota members were then in favor of it and in 1918 the hesitating Senator made the delegation unanimous.
The State Referendum Association and the Anti-Suffrage Association made an attempt to secure a petition for a referendum to the voters of the Presidential and Municipal suffrage bill, but although less than 11,000 names were required only a few thousand were filed with the Secretary of State and there was considerable difficulty in securing those. Affidavits were sent to the Suffrage Association proving that many names were obtained by fraud.
1919. The Legislature passed the concurrent resolution providing for an amendment to the constitution giving women full suffrage, which had gone through that of 1917. The vote in the Senate was 43 ayes, I no, with 5 absent; in the House 98 ayes, no negative, with 15 absent. It was to be voted on Nov. 2, 1920. Before that date the Federal Amendment had been submitted by Congress and ratified by thirty-seven Legislatures.
Ratification. The Legislature met in special session Dec. 2, 1919, and ratified by the following vote: Senate, 41 ayes, 4 noes with 3 absent; House 102 ayes, 6 noes. Nevertheless the vote on the State amendment had to be taken on Nov. 2, 1920, and it stood: Ayes, 129,628; noes, 68,569. Thousands of women voted at this election.
On April 1, 1920, the State Votes for Women League met and was re-organized as the League of Women Voters, with Mrs. Kate S. Wilder of Fargo chairman.
- ↑ The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Emma S. Pierce, vice-president of the State Votes for Women League.
- ↑ A field worker for a philanthropic organization, who had a room in a hotel in Bismarck, the capital, next to one occupied by the representative of the liquor interests, heard him send a long distance telephone message to Mrs. Young for her and the Judge to come on the first train, as they were needed. She heard another one say: "If the dn women get the ballot there will be no chance of re-submitting the prohibition amendment."