The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 4, 1918, Page 12

* -shortly ~ -negros just freed from Woman Suffrage Passes the House Record of Forty-two Years for Susan B. Anthony Amendment Shows Many Ups and Downs HAT woman suffrage is on the eve of being granted to all women of the United States through an amendment to the federal constitution is conceded by friends and opponents. On January 10 it passed the house of representa- tives by a vote of 274 to 136, and is to come before the senate, where it - once had a majority. Even suffragists who have been re- garding their cause as almost hope- less announced through “The Suffra- gist,” their official or- gan, “if it does not com- mand the two-thirds re- quired, success is so near at hand, that it can be delayed but little Ionger.” On the day that the house of representatives of. the TUnited States passed the amendment, the house of lords in England approved wo- man suffrage, which will enfranchise 6,000,- 000 women in that country. It is estimat- ed that there are 6,000,- 000 women voters in the United States al- ready in the 12 states where the vote has been given. The fight for woman suffrage in the United States began with the adoption - of the four- teenth amendment in 1866 which granted the right of suffrage to slavery. Woman suf- fragists, who were few in number then, consid- ered that the first clause of this amendment gave them the vote also, but by the second clause which referred specifically to “male” negroes, doubt was cast upon this construction. The United States supreme court in 1875 rendered a decision that denied the right to women, and immediately Susan B. Anthony drafted the amend- ment, which has since become famous by her name. FIGHT WAS BEGUN FORTY-TWO YEARS AGO This ‘proposed amendment to the .constitution of the United States as she then framed it, is the one just approved by the house of represent- atives, and reads as follows: “Sec. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not ~be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex. “Sec. 2. Congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation to enforce the provisiqns of this arti- cle.” It was three years before this amendment was introduced into con- gress. Then, in 1878 Senator A. A. Sargent of California introduced it and it was referred to a committee. The committee reported against it that same year, but it was introduced again the next year, and a minority of the committee reported in favor of it. The majority made no recom- © mendation, and there the matter ‘. - rested for three years more, so far as action was concerned, although the women were lobbying before con- gress in the meantime. In 1882 a senate committee again reported on the measure, this time a majority in favor of it, and a minor- ity against it, and the senate rested for two years more. The house of ‘representatives had not touched the amendment up to this time, but after this favorable majority report by a sendate committee, the house got busy and the next year, 1883, a house com- mittee thought to govthe senate ‘‘one better” by giving a favorable com- mittee report without an unfavorable minority. But neither body did anything more than listen to the reports. No action was taken. In 1884 the mat- ter was being urgently pressed and the senate gave a favorable majority report, and the house an unfavorable majority report. There were minor- ity reports in both cases. The mat- MISSOULA FAMILY FOR THE LEAGUE Mrs. Alice M. Whitaker of Missoula, Mont., and her children. among a group of 12 out of several hundred woman letter writers, Does the League Mean to You?” Mrs. Women’s Only Star of Hope Montana Farmer’s Wife Wins Honorable Mention in Leader Contest ' HAT does the Nonpartisan league mean to me? It means the only star of hope we farm women have. It means to me a new world of independ- ence and freedom from the most un- jast system of exploitation the world has ever seen. ' It means to me that we farmers’ wives who are always partners will get a more fair portion of the value of the crops we raise, and _ my city neighbors will be able to buy our produce without so much unjust profit. Then American workers, either in country or city, can obtain the conveni- ences and some of the reasonable pleasures that every American home should have. It also means more than personal profit. I see a promise of better edu- cational training, medical _attention and home life for my child?;en,_for if the state can own and operate the in- dustries, it can educate and employ the professional men, and that presents to me a vision of healthy people, well housed, well cared for, and well edu- cated, with minds and bodies well fit- ted for life’s duties. It means a pa- triotism that will be better and nobler than a patriotism raised on exploita- tion and kicks, and disecontented and discouraged people, little caring who its masters are. It also means to me a promise of a home life free from the continual slavery of women and children, and my husband’s continued nightmare of Poverty and oppression, and free from the mother’s dread of separation from her children, who, when the home gets too small, have to go into a world of brigandage and combat with forces which they can not escape or in any way control, and which will crush all manhood out of their natures, and make them mere cogs of a machine, It means to me a vision of a future state of pure democracy and actual brotherhood of man, where greed and want, oppression and disease of mind and body, will be unknown, and where the state shall enforce the law, “Thou shalt not steal” to rich and poor alike and where the worker, both in city ami country; will recognize the fact that an injury to one is the concern of all. A farmer’s wife, MRS. ALICE M. WHITAKER. 7 PAGE TWELVE Whitaker won honorable mention who answered the question, “What ter again lay dormant for two years, and then, in 1886 bcth houses got favorable majority reports without any adverse minorities. COMMITTEES IN BOTH HOUSES GIVE APPROVAL This was the first time the record shows both house committees clearly in favor of suffrage but the next year the senate voted it down 16 tc 34. The matter had been before them eight years, 20 years before the peo- ple as a definite pro- gram. Both houses drop- ped the matter for four years more. Then in " 1890 both houses again reported favorably, but did nothing more. The house again dropped the amendment for four years, but in 1892 the women got action in the senate, this time a divi- ded report, but the ma- jority with them, The senate minority was against the meas- ure, and seemingly tak- ing courage from this, ‘the anti-suffragists in the house of representa- jority report against wo- man suffrage. The pendulum had clearly swung against suffrage, and in 1896, two years after the adverse major- ity in. the house, the senate gave an adverse majority, and woman suffrage through federal amendment was killed. That is it was supposed dead by everyone,. in- cluding the women. The matter was not reported upon by any committee in congress again for 17 / vears, They went to work to get the vote by - separate state enactment, and as a result of that campaign 12 states have now given them the vote. Then in 1913 the senate again swung to wo- man suffrage with a full favorable report on the Susan B. Anthony amendment, and the next year gave it a favorable vote 35 to 34, but fail- ed to pass it for want of a two-thirds majority. The year after the senate gave this vote (1915) the house voted it down 174 to 204. But the house reported . the bill without recommendation again in 1916 and 1917. The senate gave a favorable committee report in 1917, but did not get to a vote upon it. " The ups and downs of-the measure may be briefly summarized by point- ing out that between 1878 and 1917 —29 years<—the senate had had nine majority committee reports in favor of the bill, and two against it; and had voted on the measure twice, once against and once for it, but with not enough .votes to carry. The house had given three reports in favor, three against, and "three without recommendation, and had turned it down decisively as late as 1915. There had been a period of 17 years in both houses when the amendment lay entirely dormant, tives in 1894 got a ma-