Volume 6 / Part 2 — LOUISIANA. PART II.[63]

LOUISIANA. PART II.[63]

Louisiana had no State organization for woman suffrage when in March, 1913, Mrs. A. B. Singletary of Baton Rouge organized there the State Equal Suffrage League,[64] and in April Mrs. John T. Meehan organized the Woman Suffrage Party of Louisiana in New Orleans.[65] Both enrolled men as well as women, affiliated with the National American Suffrage Association and worked harmoniously for the enfranchisement of Louisiana women by State and national legislation. Later the League became the Sixth District branch of the Party. When the Woman Suffrage Party was organized its platform contained only a pledge to work for an amendment to the State constitution, but after affiliating with the National Association it was pledged to work also for a Federal Suffrage Amendment, and this was fully understood by the members.

By June 15 the Party, with Mrs. Edgar M. Cahn as State chairman, had enrolled 300 members. It held open air rallies, organized by legislative districts, which are known as "parishes," and in the seventeen wards of Orleans parish congressional chairmen were appointed by the beginning of 1914. This year the Teachers' Political Equality Club and the Newcomb College Suffrage Club became branches of the Party, and the Orleans Parish Branch was organized. Delegates were sent to the national suffrage convention at Nashville in November.

The first State convention of the Party was held in April, 1915, at Baton Rouge and Mrs. Meehan was elected chairman. Throughout the summer suffragists of all groups campaigned vigorously for the recognition of woman suffrage in the State constitutional convention expected in the autumn, but the convention itself was voted down at the polls. A Men's League was formed and among its members were Dr. Henry Dickson Bruns, W. A. Kernaghan, M. J. Sanders, Solomon Wolff, Oscar Schumert, I. A. Strauss, J. J. Fineran, Lynn Dinkins, James Wilkinson, Louis J. Bryan, Captain James Dinkins, L. H. Gosserand, Rabbi Max Heller and Rabbi Emil Leipziger.

In 1916 the resolution for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the word "male" again failed to pass when introduced by Frank E. Powell of De Ridder in the Lower House, though asked for by all the suffrage organizations, which now included a new group—the Equal Rights Party—formed by Miss Florence Huberwald. Owing to the absence of Mrs. Meehan, Mrs. H. B. Myers, vice-chairman, was active head of the party most of the year. In November Mrs. Lydia Wickliffe Holmes of Baton Rouge was elected State chairman at the annual convention in New Orleans. Under her leadership all the groups in accord with the policy of the National Suffrage Association were merged before the close of 1917, so that the Woman Suffrage Party now included the Equal Suffrage League, the Equal Rights Party and the Louisiana League for Equal Suffrage, formed the winter before in New Orleans by Mrs. W. J. O'Donnell. At the annual convention in New Orleans Mrs. Holmes was re-elected.

State headquarters, known as Suffrage House, were established in New Orleans in February, 1918, a large house on St. Charles Avenue, which was furnished largely through the efforts of Mrs. O'Donnell, who was in charge. In May a resolution for a State suffrage amendment, introduced in the Upper House by Senator Leon Haas of Opelousas, was combined with one brought by Representative Powell in the House, and passed on June 18, to be submitted to the voters in November. Active campaigning for its adoption at the polls began in September under a Joint Campaign Committee of the Woman Suffrage Party and the State Suffrage Association. In spite of the influenza epidemic thousands of signatures were obtained to a petition asking Governor Ruffin G. Pleasant to issue a proclamation calling on the electors to vote for it. This he did and those in the State at large responded favorably, but their voice was nullified by the adverse votes cast in the machine-controlled wards of New Orleans at the behest of Mayor Martin Behrman, and the amendment was lost by 3,605 votes. The annual convention held at Suffrage House in New Orleans after the election chose Mrs. Holmes again for president.

In the winter of 1919 an attempt was made to secure such a modification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment before Congress as might meet the objections of southern opponents by removing the fear of federal interference with elections. An amendment was devised by Assistant Attorney General Harry Gamble and National Committeeman Robert Ewing, which would leave its enforcement to the States. They went to Washington accompanied by Mrs. Holmes and obtained the consent of the officers of the National Suffrage Association. Senator Gay of Louisiana introduced it and it was unanimously reported out of the Committee on Woman Suffrage, but the session was just closing and consent for a vote on it was refused.

On the social side an "inquiry" dinner dance given at the Country Club in New Orleans in May to discuss why Louisiana women were not yet enfranchised was attended by the Governor and many other prominent politicians from all parts of the State. The annual convention was held in the autumn at the headquarters, now removed to 417 Royal Street, and Mrs. Holmes was elected to her fourth term.[66]

The Woman Suffrage Party conducted a vigorous fight for ratification of the Federal amendment from the opening of the Legislature May 10, 1920, until its defeat on June 15. The final vote for ratification was given by the Legislature of Tennessee in August, which insured the complete suffrage for women in all the States. At the annual convention of the Woman Suffrage Party in New Orleans, December 8-9, its formal dissolution took place, followed immediately by the organization of the State League of Women Voters, a branch of the National League, with Mrs. Philip Weirlein as chairman. The Party's seven years of work for the enfranchisement of Louisiana women by State and national legislation were fittingly recognized at a dinner in the Restaurant de la Louisiane, at which the men and women who had aided the cause in various ways were honored. Prominent men predicted happy results of woman's political freedom. Gifts in appreciation of services were made to Martin H. Manion, Marshall Ballard and Norris C. Williamson. General Robert Georges Nivelle, the hero of Verdun, was present and congratulated the women, expressing the hope that ere long the women of France would gain their political liberty. A silver vase was presented to the retiring chairman, Mrs. Holmes, from her fellow workers, and she was unanimously chosen honorary chairman of the new league.

Ratification. On the eve of departure for the national convention in February, 1920, Mrs. Holmes, chairman of the Woman Suffrage Party, went to John M. Parker, who had just been nominated for Governor by the Democratic party, and asked: "If the thirty-sixth State ratifies the Federal Suffrage Amendment while we are in Chicago will you send Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt a telegram of congratulations?" To this he answered: "You write a message and sign my name to it—I'll stand for anything you may say." "If, however, the amendment is not ratified and it becomes necessary for Louisiana to make the fight for it," Mrs. Holmes continued, "what must I tell Mrs. Catt you will do?" "Just say to her," he replied, "that I am a suffragist, and she will understand." Mr. Parker had joined the Progressive party in 1912 and in 1916 he had made a campaign as its candidate for vice-president on a platform that strongly endorsed the Federal Suffrage Amendment, so his support of ratification was fully expected.

On their return from the convention the leaders of the Party began to line up the important men of the State by letter and by personal interviews. Beginning with the ex-Governors, they secured the endorsement of L. E. Hall, H. C. Warmoth, N. C. Blanchard, Jared Y. Sanders and W. W. Heard. Against these, however, was the present Governor, Ruffin G. Pleasant, who took an aggressive stand for State's rights, although at a public banquet eight months earlier he had told the women that 'if Louisiana women could not obtain the ballot by State enactment he would favor Federal action.' Among those who declared for ratification were J. J. Bailey, Paul Capdeville, F. R. Grace, T. R. Harris, A. V. Coco, Semmes Walmsley, Rufus E. Foster, Howell Morgan, Percy Saint, E. N. Stafford, Phanor Breazeale, Donaldson Caffery and many other men of affairs. The New Orleans Item had always advocated woman suffrage and the Federal Amendment especially; the Times-Picayune now approved ratification, as did nearly all the papers in the State. The Orleans Democratic Association, which had put Governor Parker in office, passed a resolution endorsing it. The State Central Committee chairman, Frank J. Looney, and the National Democratic Committeeman, Arsene Pujo, were in favor, and North Louisiana was almost solid for it. The opposition was chiefly in New Orleans, where certain elements under ward-boss leadership were opposed to woman suffrage in any form.

Mrs. Holmes had a number of interviews with Governor-elect Parker alone, with other women and with Marshall Ballard, editor of the Item, one of his valued supporters. She was always led to believe that he would help when the time for it came, although some of his strongest adherents were opposed to ratification. It was deemed best to make the fight along non-partisan lines, and so he was asked if it would be wiser to have two of his own supporters take charge of it or to have one who had opposed him in the primary campaign. He advised the latter course and Norris C. Williamson of East Carroll parish, his opponent, was selected to introduce the bill in the Senate, and S. O. Shattuck of Calcasieu, a supporter and the introducer of the first woman suffrage bill in the Legislature in the Lower House. The day Mayor Martin Behrman came out for ratification, Mr. Parker said to Mrs. Holmes: "I have always been for woman suffrage any way it could be obtained and I have never understood a suffragist's taking any other stand."

Early in March Governor-elect Parker told a group of suffragists that the women should get together on a program for the Legislature if they wished to be successful. Acting on this suggestion the Party publicly invited all suffrage organizations to come together and form a Joint Ratification Committee. Men and women from all parts of the State attended this meeting on April 7 and one of the speakers, Charles Rosen, pledged Parker to ratification, while Marshall Ballard vouched for the authenticity of his statement. The bodies that composed this committee were the Natchitoches Equal Rights Club, represented by Mrs. S. J. Henry; the Shreveport Suffrage Club by Mrs. J. D. and Mrs. W. A. Wilkinson; the Louisiana branch of the National Woman's Party, by Mrs. M. R. Bankston, Mrs. E. J. Graham, Mrs. Rosella Bayhi; the Woman Suffrage Party by Mrs. Joseph Devereux, Mrs. J. E. Friend. Mrs. Holmes was made chairman, headquarters were taken in Baton Rouge and 46 lobbyists were at the Capitol day and night during the session.

On reaching Baton Rouge the women saw the "anti" forces lining up with the "State's rights" advocates and witnessed the curious spectacle of women who had worked for woman suffrage for a generation allying themselves with the paid organizers of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, headed by Miss Charlotte Rowe of Yonkers, N. Y., its field secretary. Ex-Governor Pleasant and his wife came out as leaders of the opposition, assisted by the Misses Kate and Jean Gordon and other advocates of State action.[67] It was early seen that the fight for the Speakership might endanger the ratification program and the women were careful to take no part in it. R. F. Walker was chosen, an unfortunate choice for the suffragists, for he leaned strongly toward the "anti" side in his rulings, as did Lieutenant Governor Hewitt Bouanchaud.

Although in his campaign speeches in the autumn Mr. Parker had repeatedly said: "I am for suffrage; it is almost here, and we must have it," his platform as sent into some of the parishes had contained a "State's rights" plank, designed, with or without his knowledge, by some of his backers, to placate those who feared the Federal Amendment on account of its supposed effect on the negro question. This was not known to the ratification leaders and therefore he created great consternation by announcing shortly before his inauguration that he "was going to keep his hands off the suffrage fight; that it was a matter for the Legislature." After the Speakership contest was over he refused to receive a delegation of women and declined to allow any member of the Ratification Committee to approach him. On May 10, 1920, the General Assembly convened in Baton Rouge and on the 11th the rival woman suffrage bills were introduced. Representative L. L. Upton presented the State amendment in the House. The Federal amendment measure was a joint resolution. The attention of the country was centered on the fight in Louisiana. Thirty-five State Legislatures had ratified and the Republicans were claiming the credit. Democratic leaders were very desirous of having it for the final ratification. Appeals were sent out to prominent Democrats within and without the State for help in putting it through. Colonel William J. Bryan was one of the first to respond, urging it to help the Democratic party in the coming campaign. Senator Williamson called on the new "convert," Mayor Behrman, and he appealed to the New Orleans "organization" Senators, but was not entirely successful.

On May 13 Governor Pleasant submitted the Federal Amendment to both Houses, with a message which filled several columns of print, urging them not to adopt it but to pass in its stead the resolution for a State amendment. On the 16th, Senator N. C. Simmons, a former leader of the anti-suffrage forces, issued an appeal for ratification, ridiculing Governor Pleasant's "negro peril" bugaboo. This same day Mrs. George Bass, chairman of the Women's National Democratic Committee, came to Baton Rouge at the request of the Joint Ratification Committee and addressed a large meeting in the Istrouma Hotel in favor of it.

John M. Parker was inaugurated Governor May 17. The next day he received a telegram from President Woodrow Wilson which said: "May I not very respectfully urge your favorable interest and influence in the matter of the Federal Suffrage Amendment? It seems to be of the deepest national significance and importance." The Governor answered that he found a great difference of opinion among the legislators, large numbers opposed to any form, and, all being Democrats, any dictation on his part would be unwise.

Efforts made by the "antis" to force an immediate vote on the Federal Amendment failed and it was decided that all suffrage bills should take the usual course and be referred to committees for hearings. Women thronged the capital. On June 2 the House passed the Upton bill for State suffrage by 93 ayes to 17 noes. That same night a hearing before the Joint Committees on Federal Relations was held, which lasted five hours, with some notable speeches. S. O. Shattuck, Phanor Breazeale, Percy Saint, Judge Rufus E. Foster, Congressman Jared Y. Sanders, Mrs. Holmes, Mrs. Bass, Mrs. E. J. Graham, Miss Florence Huberwald, Mrs. Joseph Devereux and Mrs. M. R. Bankston appeared for the Federal Amendment, while the opposition was voiced by Senator Stewart, ex-Governor Pleasant, Miss Kate Gordon, and Miss Charlotte Rowe. On June 4, the Federal Amendment was reported favorably in the Senate. "Get suffrage out of the way" became the slogan, but neither side was ready to risk a vote. The Federal bill was passed to third reading. On June 8 former Speaker of Congress Champ Clark addressed the General Assembly and urged its ratification as an act of justice to women and a great benefit to Louisiana and the Democratic party. The next day the vote on ratification was indefinitely postponed by a vote of 22 to 19 in the Senate while the Upton bill was returned to the House calendar.

On June 14, Homer Cummings, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, wired Behrman urging his help on the ground of party advantage, to which the Mayor replied that he was doing all he could. On June 15 the ratification of the Federal Amendment was defeated in the House by a vote of 67 noes to 44 ayes, and Representative Jordan then introduced a resolution definitely rejecting it, which was passed by 60 ayes to 29 noes. The House declined to hear Congressman John E. Raker of California on the ground that they had heard enough on woman suffrage. The Upton bill for a State amendment was defeated in the Senate by 23 noes to 16 ayes on June 17.

On June 18, Representative Conrad Meyer sought to re-introduce the Federal measure but permission was refused by 61 to 18, while a motion to re-consider the Upton bill passed the Senate by 18 to 12. Every possible pressure was brought to bear by the Governor's forces to secure its passage. All kinds of tactics and tricks were employed but on July 7 it was again defeated, lacking one vote of the necessary two-thirds. Those who were making the fight for the Federal Amendment finally appealed to Governor James M. Cox of Ohio, Democratic nominee for President, to use his influence. On July 7 he sent a telegram urging the ratification and saying that "the Legislature owed such action to the Democratic party." A strong effort was made to obtain another vote but it failed by 46 ayes, 52 noes, and the Legislature adjourned on July 8 with the record of having defeated both ratification and a resolution to let the voters decide on amending the State constitution for woman suffrage. Senator Williamson issued a statement saying: "There was never a time during the entire session when Governor Parker could not have had the Federal Amendment ratified and he is the only man in the State who could have done it. He had control of both House and Senate and when he went after anything with all his force he did not fail to get it."

The last day of the session Mrs. Holmes, chairman of the Joint Ratification Committee, went to Governor Parker and told him that she would place the blame where it belonged; that the women had helped put him in office and he had not stood by them, to which he answered: "Go to it." She therefore issued a statement on July 15 saying in part: "The responsibility for the failure of this Federal Amendment to enfranchise 27,000,000 women, including those of Louisiana, rests on Governor John M. Parker. This assertion is borne out by every woman who lobbied at Baton Rouge and by all the fair-minded men. It was in his power to secure ratification the day the session opened; it was in his power the day Woodrow Wilson wired and asked his support; it was in his power when Governor Cox sent his request. The women, who, in their zeal for a broad-visioned progressive leader of clean, honest characteristics, did all in their power to elect him Governor—those are the women who in sorrow today must realize that it is the only thing he stood for that he did not 'put across.'"...

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