diff options
Diffstat (limited to '3604-h/3604-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | 3604-h/3604-h.htm | 18002 |
1 files changed, 18002 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/3604-h/3604-h.htm b/3604-h/3604-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..68d2821 --- /dev/null +++ b/3604-h/3604-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18002 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Jailed for Freedom, by Doris Stevens</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Jailed for Freedom, by Doris Stevens</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Jailed for Freedom</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Doris Stevens</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 12, 2001 [eBook #3604]<br /> +[Most recently updated: July 1, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Samuel R. Brown</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAILED FOR FREEDOM ***</div> + +<h1>Jailed for Freedom</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Doris Stevens</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref01">Preface</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part01"><b>Part I. Leadership</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">Chapter1. A Militant Pioneer—Susan B. Anthony</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">Chapter 2. A Militant General—Alice Paul</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part02"><b>Part II. Political Action</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">Chapter 1. Women Invade the Capital</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">Chapter 2. Women Voters Organize</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">Chapter 3. The Last Deputation to President Wilson</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part03"><b>Part III. Militancy</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">Chapter 1. Picketing a President</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">Chapter 2. The Suffrage War Policy</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">Chapter 3. The First Arrests</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">Chapter 4. Occoquan Workhouse</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">Chapter 5. August Riots</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">Chapter 6. Prison Episodes</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">Chapter 7. An Administration Protest—Dudley Field Malone Resigns</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">Chapter 8. The Administration Yields</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">Chapter 9. Political Prisoners</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">Chapter 10. The Hunger Strike—A Weapon</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">Chapter 11. Administration Terrorism</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">Chapter 12. Alice Paul in Prison</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">Chapter 13. Administration—Lawlessness Exposed</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">Chapter 14. The Administration Outwitted</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">Chapter 15. Political Results</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">Chapter 16. An Interlude (Seven Months)</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">Chapter 17. New Attacks on the President</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">Chapter 18. The President Appeals to the Senate Too Late</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">Chapter 19. More Pressure</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap25">Chapter 20. The President Sails Away</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap26">Chapter 21. Watchfires of Freedom</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap27">Chapter 22. Burned in Effigy</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap28">Chapter 23. Boston Militants Welcome the President</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap29">Chapter 24. Democratic Congress Ends</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap30">Chapter 25. A Farewell to President Wilson</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap31">Chapter 26. President Wilson Wins the 64th Vote in Paris</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap32">Chapter 27. Republican Congress Passes Amendment</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap33">Appendices</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h2>Illustrations</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +Alice Paul<br/> +Mrs. O.H.P. Belmont<br/> +Democrats Attempt to Counteract Woman’s Party Campaign<br/> +Inez Milholland Boissevain<br/> +Scene of Memorial Service-Statuary Hall, the Capitol<br/> +Scenes on the Picket Line<br/> +Monster Picket—March 4, 1917<br/> +Officer Arrests Pickets<br/> +Women Put into Police Patrol<br/> +Suffragists in Prison Costume<br/> +Fellow Prisoners<br/> +Sewing Room at Occoquan Workhouse<br/> +Riotous Scenes on Picket Line<br/> +Dudley Field Malone<br/> +Lucy Burns<br/> +Mrs. Mary Nolan, Oldest Picket<br/> +Miss Matilda Young, Youngest Picket<br/> +Forty-One Women Face Jail<br/> +Prisoners Released<br/> +“Lafayette We Are Here”<br/> +Wholesale Arrests<br/> +Suffragists March to LaFayette Monument<br/> +Torch-Bearer, and Escorts<br/> +Some Public Men Who Protested Against Imprisonment of Suffragists<br/> +Abandoned Jail<br/> +Prisoners on Straw Pallets on Jail Floor<br/> +Pickets at Capitol<br/> +Senate Pages and Capitol Police Attack Pickets<br/> +The Urn Guarded by Miss Berthe Arnold<br/> +The Bell Which Tolled the Change of Watch<br/> +Watchfire “Legal”<br/> +Watchfire Scattered by Police-Dr. Caroline Spencer Rebuilding it<br/> +One Hundred Women Hold Public Conflagration<br/> +Pickets in Front of Reviewing Stand, Boston<br/> +Mrs. Louise Sykes Burning President Wilson’s Speech on Boston Common<br/> +Suffrage Prisoners +</p> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="center"> +To<br/> +Alice Paul +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Through Whose Brilliant and Devoted Leadership the Women of America Have Been +Able to Consummate with Gladness and Gallant Courage Their Long Struggle for +Political Liberty, This Book is Affectionately Dedicated +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p> +This book deals with the intensive campaign of the militant suffragists of +America [1913-1919] to win a solitary thing-the passage by Congress of the +national suffrage amendment enfranchising women. It is the story of the first +organized militant ,political action in America to this end. The militants +differed from the pure propagandists in the woman suffrage movement chiefly in +that they had a clear comprehension of the forces which prevail in politics. +They appreciated the necessity of the propaganda stage and the beautiful +heroism of those who had led in the pioneer agitation, but they knew that this +stage belonged to the past; these methods were no longer necessary or +effective. +</p> + +<p> +For convenience sake I have called Part II “Political Action,” and +Part III “Militancy,” although it will be perceived that the entire +campaign was one of militant political action. The emphasis, however, in Part +II is upon political action, although certainly with a militant mood. In Part +III dramatic acts of protest, such as are now commonly called militancy, are +given emphasis as they acquired a greater importance during the latter part of +the campaign. This does not mean that all militant deeds were not committed for +a specific political purpose. They were. But militancy is as much a state of +mind, an approach to a task, as it is the commission of deeds of protest. It is +the state of mind of those who is their fiery idealism do not lose sight of the +real springs of human action. +</p> + +<p> +There are two ways in which this story might be told. It might be told as a +tragic and harrowing tale of martyrdom. Or it might be told as a ruthless +enterprise of compelling a hostile administration to subject women to martyrdom +in order to hasten its surrender. The truth is, it has elements of both +ruthlessness and martyrdom. And I have tried to make them appear in a true +proportion. It is my sincere hope that you will understand and appreciate the +martyrdom involved, for it was the conscious voluntary gift of beautiful, +strong and young hearts. But it was never martyrdom for its own sake. It was +martyrdom used for a practical purpose. +</p> + +<p> +The narrative ends with the passage of the amendment by Congress. The campaign +for ratification, which extended over fourteen months, is a story in itself. +The ratification of the amendment by the 36th and last state legislature proved +as difficult to secure from political leaders as the 64th and last vote in the +United States Senate. +</p> + +<p> +This book contains my interpretations, which are of course arguable. But it is +a true record of events. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +D<small>ORIS</small> S<small>TEVENS</small>. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<i>New York, August</i>, 1920. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p> +“I do pray, and that most earnestly and constantly, for some terrific +shock to startle the women o f the nation into a self-respect which mill compel +them to, see the absolute degradation o f their present position; which will +compel them to break their yoke of bondage and give them faith in themselves; +which will make them proclaim their allegiance to women first . . . . The fact +is, women are in chains, and their servitude is all the more debasing because +they do not realize it. O to compel them to see and feel and to give them the +courage and the conscience to speak and act for their own freedom, though they +face the scorn and contempt of all the world for doing it!” +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Susan B. Anthony, 1872. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part01"></a>Part I<br/> +Leadership</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>Chapter 1<br/> +A Militant Pioneer—Susan B. Anthony</h2> + +<p> +Susan B. Anthony was the first militant suffragist. She has been so long +proclaimed only as the magnificent pioneer that few realize that she was the +first woman to defy the law for the political liberty of her sex. +</p> + +<p> +The militant spirit was in her many early protests. Sometimes these protests +were supported by one or two followers; more often they were solitary protests. +Perhaps it is because of their isolation that they stand out so strong and +beautiful in a turbulent time in our history when all those about her were +making compromises. +</p> + +<p> +It was this spirit which impelled her to keep alive the cause of the +enfranchisement of women during the passionate years of the Civil War. She held +to the last possible moment that no national exigency was great enough to +warrant abandonment of woman’s fight for independence. But one by one her +followers deserted her. She was unable to keep even a tiny handful steadfast to +this position. She became finally the only figure in the nation appealing for +the rights of women when the rights of black men were agitating the public +mind. Ardent abolitionist as she was, she could not tolerate without indignant +protest the exclusion of women in all discussions of emancipation. The suffrage +war policy of Miss Anthony can be compared to that of the militants a half +century later when confronted with the problem of this country’s entrance +into the world war. +</p> + +<p> +The war of the rebellion over and the emancipation of the negro man written +into the constitution, women contended they had a right to vote under the new +fourteenth amendment. Miss Anthony led in this agitation, urging all women to +claim the right to vote under this amendment. In the national election of 1872 +she voted in Rochester, New York, her home city, was arrested, tried and +convicted of the crime of “voting without having a lawful right to +vote.” +</p> + +<p> +I cannot resist giving a brief excerpt from the court records of this +extraordinary case, so reminiscent is it of the cases of the suffrage pickets +tried nearly fifty years later in the courts of the national capital. +</p> + +<p> +After the prosecuting attorney had presented the government’s case, Judge +Hunt read his opinion, said to have been written before the case had been +heard, and directed the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty. The jury was +dismissed without deliberation and a new trial was refused. On the following +day this scene took place in that New York court room. +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE HUNT (Ordering the defendant to stand up)-Has the prisoner anything to +say why sentence shall not be pronounced? +</p> + +<p> +Miss ANTHONY—Yes, your Honor, I have many things to say; for in your +ordered verdict of guilty, you have trampled under foot every vital principle +of our government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my +judicial rights, are all alike ignored. Robbed of the fundamental privilege of +citizenship, I am degraded from the status of a citizen to that of a subject; +and not only myself individually, but all my sex are, by your Honor’s +verdict doomed to political subjection under this so-called republican form of +government. +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE HUNT—The Court cannot. listen to a rehearsal of argument which the +prisoner’s counsel has already consumed three hours in presenting. +</p> + +<p> +Miss ANTHONY—May it please your Honor, I am not arguing the question, but +simply stating the reasons why sentence cannot in justice be pronounced against +me. Your denial of my citizen’s right to vote, is the denial of my right +of consent as one of the governed, the denial of my right of representation as +one taxed, the denial of my right to a trial by jury of my peers as an offender +against law; therefore, the denial of my sacred right to life, liberty, +property, and—— +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE HUNT—The Court cannot allow the prisoner to go on. +</p> + +<p> +Miss ANTHONY—But, your Honor will not deny me this one and only poor +privilege of protest against this highhanded outrage upon my citizen’s +rights. May it please the Court to remember that since the day of my arrest +last November this is the first time that either myself or any person of my +disfranchised class has been allowed a word of defense before judge or jury +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE HUNT—The prisoner must sit down, the Court cannot allow it. +</p> + +<p> +Miss ANTHONY—Of all my persecutors from the corner grocery politician who +entered the complaint, to the United States marshal, commissioner, district +attorney, district judge, your Honor on the bench, not one is my peer, but each +and all are my political sovereigns . . . . Precisely as no disfranchised +person is entitled to sit upon the jury and no woman is entitled to the +franchise, so none but a regularly admitted lawyer is allowed to practice in +the courts, and no woman can gain admission to the bar-hence, jury, judge, +counsel, all must be of superior class. +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE HUNT—The Court must insist-the prisoner has been tried according to +the established forms of law. +</p> + +<p> +Miss ANTHONY—Yes, your Honor, but by forms of law, all made by men, +interpreted by men, administered by men, in favor of men and against women; and +hence your Honor’s ordered verdict of guilty, against a United States +citizen for the exercise of the “citizen’s right to vote,” +simply because that citizen was a woman and not a man . . . . As then the +slaves who got their freedom had to take it over or under or through the unjust +forms of the law, precisely so now must women take it to get their right to a +voice in this government; and I have taken mine, and mean to take it at every +opportunity. +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE Hunt—The Court orders the prisoner to sit down. It will not allow +another word. +</p> + +<p> +Miss ANTHONY—When I was brought before your Honor for trial I hoped for a +broad interpretation of the constitution and its recent amendments, which +should declare all United States citizens under its protecting aegis . . . . +But failing to get this justice, failing even to get a trial by a jury-not of +my peers-I ask not leniency at your-hands but rather the full rigor of the law. +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE HUNT—The Court must insist (here the prisoner sat down). The +prisoner will stand up. (Here Miss Anthony rose again.) The sentence of the +Court is that you pay a fine of $100.00 and the costs of the prosecution. +</p> + +<p> +Miss ANTHONY—May it please your Honor, I will never pay a dollar of your +unjust penalty . . . . And I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge +all women to the practical recognition of the old Revolutionary maxim, +“Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE HUNT—Madam, the Court will not order you stand committed until the +fine is paid. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Anthony did not pay her fine and was never imprisoned. I believe the fine +stands against her to this day. +</p> + +<p> +On the heels of this sensation came another of those dramatic protests which +until the very end she always combined with political agitation. The nation was +celebrating its first centenary of the signing of the Declaration of +Independence at Independence Square, Philadelphia. After women had been refused +by all in authority a humble half moment in which to present to the Centennial +the Women’s Declaration of Rights, Miss Anthony insisted on being heard. +Immediately after the Declaration of Independence had been read by a patriot, +she led a committee of women, who with platform tickets had slipped through the +military, straight down the center aisle of the platform to address the +chairman, who pale with fright and powerless to stop the demonstration had to +accept her document. Instantly the platform, graced as it was by national +dignitaries and crowned heads, was astir. The women retired, distributing to +the gasping spectators copies of their Declaration. Miss Anthony had reminded +the nation of the hollowness of its celebration of an independence that +excluded women. +</p> + +<p> +Susan B. Anthony’s aim was the national enfranchisement of women. As soon +as she became convinced that the constitution would have to be specifically +amended to include woman suffrage, she set herself to this gigantic task. For a +quarter of a century she appealed to Congress for action and to party. +conventions for suffrage endorsement. When, however, she saw that Congress was +obdurate, as an able and intensely practical leader she temporarily directed +the main energy of the suffrage movement to trying to win individual states. +With women holding the balance of political power, she argued, the national +government will be compelled to act. She knew so well the value of power. She +went to the West to get it. +</p> + +<p> +She was a shrewd tactician; with prophetic insight, without compromise. To +those women who would yield to party expediency as advised by men, or be +diverted into support of other measures, she made answer in a spirited letter +to Lucy Stone: +</p> + +<p> +“So long as you and I and all women are political slaves, it ill becomes +us to meddle with the weightier discussions of our’ sovereign masters. It +will be quite time enough for us, with self-respect, to declare ourselves for +or against any party upon the intrinsic merit of its policy, when men shall +recognize us as their political equals . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“If all the suffragists of all the States could see eye to eye on this +point, and stand shoulder to shoulder against every party and politician not +fully and unequivocally committed to ‘Equal Rights for Women,’ we +should become at once the moral balance of power which could not fail to compel +the party of highest intelligence to proclaim woman suffrage the chief plank of +its platform . . . . Until that good day comes, I shall continue to invoke the +party in power, and each party struggling to get into power, to pledge itself +to the emancipation of our enslaved half of the people . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +She did not live to see enough states grant suffrage in the West to form a +balance of power with which to carry out this policy. She did not live to turn +this power upon an unwilling Congress. But she stood to the last, despite this +temporary change of program, the great dramatic protagonist of national freedom +for women and its achievement through rebellion and practical strategy. +</p> + +<p> +With the passing of Miss Anthony and her leadership, the movement in America +went conscientiously on endeavoring to pile up state after state in the +“free column.” Gradually her followers lost sight of her aggressive +attack and her objective-the enfranchisement of women by Congress. They did not +sustain her tactical wisdom. This reform movement, like all others when +stretched over a long period of time, found itself confined in a narrow circle +of routine propaganda. It lacked the power and initiative to extricate itself. +Though it had many eloquent agitators with devoted followings, it lacked +generalship. +</p> + +<p> +The movement also lost Miss Anthony’s militant spirit, her keen +appreciation of the fact that the attention of the nation must be focussed on +minority issues by dramatic acts of protest. +</p> + +<p> +Susan B. Anthony’s fundamental objective, her political attitude toward +attaining it, and her militant spirit were revived in suffrage history in 1913 +when Alice Paul, also of Quaker background, entered the national field as +leader of the new suffrage forces in America. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>Chapter 2<br/> +A Militant General—Alice Paul</h2> + +<p> +Most people conjure up a menacing picture when a person is called not only a +general, but a militant one. In appearance Alice Paul is anything but menacing. +Quiet, almost mouselike, this frail young Quakeress sits in silence and baffles +you with her contradictions. Large, soft, gray eyes that strike you with a +positive impact make you feel the indescribable force and power behind them. A +mass of soft brown hair, caught easily at the neck, makes the contour of her +head strong and graceful. Tiny, fragile hands that look more like an X-ray +picture of hands, rest in her lap in Quakerish pose. Her whole atmosphere when +she is not in action is one of strength and quiet determination. In action she +is swift, alert, almost panther-like in her movements. Dressed always in simple +frocks, preferably soft shades of purple, she conforms to an individual style +and taste of her own rather than to the prevailing vogue. +</p> + +<p> +I am going recklessly on to try to tell what I think about Alice Paul. It is +difficult, for when I begin to put it down on paper, I realize how little we +know about this laconic person, and yet how abundantly we feel her power, her +will and her compelling leadership. In an instant and vivid reaction, I am +either congealed or inspired; exhilarated or depressed; sometimes even +exasperated, but always <i>moved</i>. I have seen her very presence in +headquarters change in the twinkling of an eye the mood of fifty people. It is +not through their affections that she moves them, but through a naked force, a +vital force which is indefinable but of which one simply cannot be unaware. +Aiming primarily at the intellect of an audience or an individual, she almost +never fails to win an emotional allegiance. +</p> + +<p> +I shall never forget my first contact with her. I tell it here as an +illustration of what happened to countless women who came in touch with her to +remain under her leadership to the end. I had come to Washington to take part +in the demonstration on the Senate in July, 1913, en route to a muchneeded, as +I thought, holiday in the Adirondacks. +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t you stay on and help us with a hearing next week?” +said Miss Paul. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m sorry,” said I, “but I have promised to join a +party of friends in the mountains for a summer holiday and . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“Holiday?” said she, looking straight at me. Instantly ashamed at +having mentioned such a legitimate excuse, I murmured something about not +having had one since before entering college. +</p> + +<p> +“But can’t you stay?” she said. +</p> + +<p> +I was lost. I knew I would stay. As a matter of fact, I stayed through the heat +of a Washington summer, returned only long enough at the end of the summer to +close up my work in state suffrage and came back to join the group at +Washington. And it was years before I ever mentioned a holiday again. +</p> + +<p> +Frequently she achieved her end without even a single word Of retort. Soon +after Miss Paul came to Washington in 1913, ;she went to call on a suffragist +in that city to ask her to donate ;some funds toward the rent of headquarters +in the Capital. The woman sighed. “I thought when Miss Anthony +died,” she said, “that all my troubles were at an end. She used to +come to me for money for a federal amendment and I always told her it was wrong +to ask for one, and that besides we would never get it. But she kept right on +coming. Then when she died we didn’t hear any more about an amendment. +And now you come again saying the same things Miss Anthony said.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Paul listened, said she was sorry and departed. Very shortly a check +arrived at headquarters to cover a month’s rent. +</p> + +<p> +A model listener, Alice Paul has unlimited capacity for letting the other +person relieve herself of all her objections without contest. Over and over +again I have heard this scene enacted. +</p> + +<p> +“Miss Paul, I have come to tell you that you are all wrong about this +federal amendment business. I don’t believe in it. Suffrage should come +slowly but surely by the states. And although I have been a life-long +suffragist, I just want to tell you not to count on me, for feeling as I do, I +cannot give you any help.” +</p> + +<p> +A silence would follow. Then Miss Paul would say ingenuously, “Have you a +half hour to spare?” +</p> + +<p> +“I guess so,” would come slowly from the protestant. +“Why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Won’t you please sit down right here and put the stamps on these +letters? We have to get them in the mail by noon.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I don’t believe …” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that’s all right. These letters are going to women probably a +lot of whom feel as you do. But some of them will want to come to the meeting +to hear our side.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time Miss Paul would have brought a chair, and that ended the argument. +The woman would stay and humbly proceed to stick on endless stamps. Usually she +would come back, too, and before many days would be an ardent worker for the +cause against which she thought herself invincible. +</p> + +<p> +Once the state president of the conservative suffrage forces in Ohio with whom +I had worked the previous year wrote me a letter pointing out what madness it +was to talk of winning the amendment in Congress “this session,” +and adding that “nobody but a fool would ever think of it, let alone +speak of it publicly.” She was wise in politics; we were nice, eager, +young girls, but pretty ignorant—that was the gist of her remonstrance. +My vanity was aroused. Not wishing to be called “mad” or +“foolish” I sat down and answered her in a friendly spirit, with +the sole object of proving that we were wiser than she imagined. I had never +discussed this point with anybody, as I had been in Washington only a few +months and it had never occurred to me that we were not right to talk of +getting the amendment in that particular session. But I answered my patronizing +friend, in effect, that of course we were not fools, that we knew we would not +get the amendment that session, but we saw no reason for not demanding it at +once and taking it when we got it. +</p> + +<p> +When Miss Paul saw the carbon of that letter she said quietly, pointing to the +part where I had so nobly defended our sagacity, “You must never say that +again and never put it on paper.” Seeing my embarrassment, she hastened +to explain. “You see, we can get it this session if enough women care +sufficiently to demand it now.” +</p> + +<p> +Alice Paul brought back to the fight that note of immediacy which had gone with +the passing of Miss Anthony’s leadership. She called a halt on further +pleading, wheedling, proving, praying. It was as if she had bidden women stand +erect, with confidence in themselves and in their own judgments, and compelled +them to be self-respecting enough to dare to put their freedom first, and so +determine for themselves the day when they should be free. Those who had a +taste of begging under the old regime and who abandoned it for demanding, know +how fine and strong a thing it is to realize that you must take what is yours +and not waste your energy proving that you are or will some day be worthy of a +gift of power from your masters. On that glad day of discovery you have first +freed yourself to fight for freedom. Alice Paul gave to thousands of women the +essence of freedom. +</p> + +<p> +And there was something so cleansing about the way in which she renovated ideas +and processes, emotions and instincts. Her attack was so direct, so clear, so +simple and unafraid. And her resistance had such a fine quality of strength. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes it was a roaring politician who was baffled by this non-resistant +force. I have heard many an irate one come into her office in the early days to +tell her how to run the woman’s campaign, and struggle in vain to arouse +her to combat. Having begun a tirade, honor would compel him to see it through +even without help from a silent adversary. And so he would get more and more +noisy until it would seem as if one lone shout from him might be enough to blow +away the frail object of his attack. Ultimately he would be forced to retire, +perhaps in the face of a serene smile, beaten and angered that he had been able +to make so little impression. And many the delicious remark and delightful quip +afterward at his expense! +</p> + +<p> +Her gentle humor is of the highest quality. If only her opponents could have +seen her amusement at their hysteria. At the very moment they were denouncing +some plan of action and calling her “fanatical” and +“hysterical” she would fairly beam with delight to see how well her +plan had worked. Her intention had been to arouse them to just that state of +mind, and how admirably they were living up to the plan. The hysteria was all +on their side. She coolly sat back in her chair and watched their antics under +pressure. +</p> + +<p> +“But don’t you know,” would come another thundering one, +“that this will make the Democratic leaders so hostile that . . .” +</p> + +<p> +The looked-for note of surprise never came. She had counted ahead on all this +and knew almost to the last shade the reaction that would follow from both +majority and minority leaders. All this had been thoroughly gone over, first +with herself, then with her colleagues. All the “alarms” had been +rung. The male politician could not understand why his wellmeaning and +generously-offered advice caused not a ripple and not a change in plan. Such +calm unconcern he could not endure. He was accustomed to emotional panics. He +was not accustomed to a leader who had weighed every objection, every attack +and counted the cost accurately. +</p> + +<p> +Her ability to marshal arguments for keeping her own followers in line was +equally marked. A superficial observer would rush into headquarters with, +“Miss Paul, don’t you think it was a great tactical mistake to +force President Wilson at this time to state his position on the amendment? +Will it not hurt our campaign to have it known that he is against us?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is the best thing that could possibly happen to us. If he is against +us, women should know it. They will be aroused to greater action if he is not +allowed to remain silent upon something in which he does not believe. It will +make it easier for us to campaign against him when the time comes.” +</p> + +<p> +And another time a friend of the cause would suggest, “Would it not have +been better not to have tried for planks in party platforms, since we got such +weak ones?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all. We can draw the support of women with greater ease from a +party which shows a weak hand on suffrage, than from one which hides its +opposition behind silence.” +</p> + +<p> +She had always to combat the fear of the more timid ones who felt sure with +each new wave of disapproval that we would be submerged. “Now, I have +been a supporter of yours every step of the way,” a “fearful” +one would say, “but this is really going a little too far. I was in the +Senate gallery to-day when two suffrage. senators in speeches denounced the +pickets and their suffrage banners. They said that we were setting suffrage +back and that something ought to be done about it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Exactly so,” would come the ready answer from Miss Paul. +“And they will do something about it only if we continue to make them +uncomfortable enough. Of course even suffrage senators will object to our +pickets and our banners because they do not want attention called to their +failure to compel the Administration to act. They know that as friends of the +measure their responsibility is greater.” And the “fearful” +one was usually convinced and made stronger. +</p> + +<p> +I remember so well when the situation was approaching its final climax in +Washington. Men and women, both, came to Miss Paul with, “This is +terrible! Seven months’ sentence is impossible. You must stop! You cannot +keep this up!” +</p> + +<p> +With an unmistakable note of triumph in her voice Miss Paul would answer, +“Yes, it is terrible for us, but not nearly so terrible as for the +government. The Administration has fired its heaviest gun. From now on we shall +win and they will lose.” +</p> + +<p> +Most of the doubters had by this time banished their fears and had come to +believe with something akin to superstition that she could never be wrong, so +swiftly and surely, did they see her policies and her predictions on every +point vindicated before their eyes. +</p> + +<p> +She has been a master at concentration, a master strategist-a great general. +With passionate beliefs on all important social questions, she resolutely set +herself against being seduced into other paths. Far from being naturally an +ascetic, she has disciplined herself into denials and deprivations, cultural +and recreational, to pursue her objective with the least possible waste of +energy. Not that she did not want above all else to do this thing. She did. But +doing it she had to abandon the easy life of a scholar and the aristocratic +environment of a cultured, prosperous, Quaker family, of Moorestown, New +Jersey, for the rigors of a ceaseless drudgery and frequent imprisonment. A +flaming idealist, conducting the fight with the sternest kind of realism, a +mind attracted by facts, not fancies, she has led fearlessly and with +magnificent ruthlessness. Thinking, thinking day and night of her objective and +never retarding her pace a moment until its accomplishment, I know no modern +woman leader with whom to compare her. I think she must possess many of the +same qualities that Lenin does, according to authentic portraits of him-cool, +practical, rational, sitting quietly at a desk and counting the consequences, +planning the next move before the first one is finished. And if she has +demanded the ultimate of her followers, she has given it herself. Her ability +to get women to work and never to let them stop is second only to her own +unprecedented capacity for work. +</p> + +<p> +Alice Paul came to leadership still in her twenties, but with a broad cultural +equipment. Degrees from Swarthmore, the University of Pennsylvania, and special +study abroad in English universities had given her a scholarly background in +history, politics, and sociology. In these studies she had specialized, writing +her doctor’s thesis on the status of women. She also did factory work in +English industries and there acquired first hand knowledge of the industrial +position of women. In the midst of this work the English militant movement +caught her imagination and she abandoned her studies temporarily to join that +movement and go to prison with the English suffragists. +</p> + +<p> +Convinced that the English women were fighting the battle for the women of the +world, she returned to America fresh from their struggle, to arouse American +women to action. She came bringing her gifts and concentration to this one +struggle. She came with that inestimable asset, youth, and, born of youth, +indomitable courage to carry her point in spite of scorn and misrepresentation. +</p> + +<p> +Among the thousands of telegrams sent Miss Paul the day the amendment finally +passed Congress was this interesting message from Walter Clark, Chief Justice +of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, Southern Democrat, Confederate Veteran +and distinguished jurist: +</p> + +<p> +“Will you permit me to congratulate you upon the great triumph in which +you have been so important a factor? Your place in history is assured. Some +years ago when I first met you I predicted that your name would be written +‘on the dusty roll the ages keep.’ There were politicians, and a +large degree of public sentiment, which could only be won by the methods you +adopted . . . . It is certain that, but for you, success would have been +delayed for many years to come.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part02"></a>Part II<br/> +Political Action</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>Chapter 1<br/> +Women Invade the Capital</h2> + +<p> +Where are the people?” This was Woodrow Wilson’s first question as +he arrived at the Union Station in Washington the day before his first +inauguration to the Presidency in March, 1913. +</p> + +<p> +“On the Avenue watching the suffragists parade,” came the answer. +</p> + +<p> +The suffrage issue was brought oftenest to his attention from then on until his +final surrender. It lay entirely with him as to how long women would be obliged +to remind him of this issue before he willed to take a hand. +</p> + +<p> +“The people” were on the Avenue watching the suffragists parade. +The informant was quite right. It seemed to those of us who attempted to march +for our idea that day that the whole world was there—packed closely on +Pennsylvania Avenue. +</p> + +<p> +The purpose of the procession was to dramatize in numbers and beauty the fact +that women wanted to vote—that women were asking the Administration in +power in the national government to speed the day. What politicians had not +been able to get through their minds we would give them through their +eyes—often a powerful substitute. Our first task seemed +simple—actually to show that thousands of women wanted immediate action +on their long delayed enfranchisement. This we did. +</p> + +<p> +This was the first demonstration under the leadership of Alice Paul, at that +time chairman of the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman. +Suffrage Association. It was also the beginning of Woodrow Wilson’s +liberal education. +</p> + +<p> +The Administration, without intending it, played into the hands of the women +from this moment. The women had been given a permit to march. Inadequate police +protection allowed roughs to attack them and all but break up the beautiful +pageant. The fact of ten thousand women marching with banners and bands for +this idea was startling enough to wake up the government and the country, but +not so startling as ten thousand women man-handled by irresponsible crowds +because of police indifference. +</p> + +<p> +An investigation was demanded and a perfunctory one held. The police +administration was exonerated, but when the storm of protest had subsided the +Chief of Police was quietly retired to private life. +</p> + +<p> +It was no longer a secret that women wanted to vote and that they wanted the +President and Congress to act. +</p> + +<p> +A few days later the first deputation of suffragists ever to appear before a +President to enlist his support for the passage of the national suffrage +amendment waited upon President Wilson.[1] Miss Paul led the deputation. With +her were Mrs. Genevieve Stone, wife of Congressman Stone of Illinois, Mrs. +Harvey W. Wiley, Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, and Miss Mary Bartlett Dixon of +Maryland. The President received the deputation in the White House Offices. +When the women entered they found five chairs arranged in a row with one chair +in front, like a class- room. All confessed to being frightened when the +President came in and took his seat at the head of the class. The President +said he had no opinion on the subject of woman suffrage; that he had never +given it any thought;[2] and that above all it was his task to see that +Congress concentrated on the currency revision and the tariff reform. It is +recorded that the President was somewhat taken aback when Miss Paul addressed +him during the course of the interview with this query, “But Mr. +President, do you not understand that the Administration has no right to +legislate for currency, tariff, and any other reform without first getting the +consent of women to these reforms?” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] There had been individual visits to previous presidents. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] At Colorado Springs in 1911, when Mr. Wilson was Governor of New Jersey and +campaigning for the Presidential nomination, a delegation of Colorado women +asked him his position on woman suffrage. He said, “Ladies, this is a +very arguable question and my mind is in the midst of the argument.” +</p> + +<p> +“Get the consent of women?” It was evident that this course had not +heretofore occurred to him. +</p> + +<p> +“This subject will receive my most careful consideration,” was +President Wilson’s first suffrage promise. +</p> + +<p> +He was given time to “consider” and a second deputation went to +him, and still a third, asking him to include the suffrage amendment in his +message to the new Congress assembling in extra session the following month. +And still he was obsessed with the paramount considerations of +“tariff” and “currency.” He flatly said there would be +no time to consider suffrage for women. But the “unreasonable” +women kept right on insisting that the liberty of half the American people was +paramount to tariff and currency. +</p> + +<p> +President Wilson’s first session of Congress came together April 7th, +1913. The opening day was marked by the suffragists’ second mass +demonstration. This time women delegates representing every one of the 435 +Congressional Districts in the country bore petitions from the constituencies +showing that the people “back home” wanted the amendment passed. +The delegates marched on Congress and were received with a warm welcome and +their petitions presented to Congress. The same day the amendment which bears +the name of Susan B. Anthony, who drafted it in 1875, was reintroduced into +both houses of Congress. +</p> + +<p> +The month of May saw monster demonstrations in many cities and villages +throughout the country, with the direct result that in June the Senate +Committee on Suffrage made the first favorable report made by that committee in +twenty-one years, thereby placing it on the Senate calendar for action. +</p> + +<p> +Not relaxing the pressure for a day we organized the third great demonstration +on the last of July when a monster petition signed by hundreds of thousands of +citizens was brought to the Senate asking that body to pass the national +suffrage amendment. Women from all parts of the country mobilized in the +countryside of Maryland where they were met with appropriate ceremonies-by the +Senate Woman Suffrage Committee. The delegation motored in gaily decorated +automobiles to Washington and went direct to the Senate, where the entire day +was given over to suffrage discussion. +</p> + +<p> +Twenty-two senators spoke in favor of the amendment in presenting their +petitions. Three spoke against it. For the first time in twenty-six years +suffrage was actually debated in Congress. That day was historic. +</p> + +<p> +Speeches? Yes. Greetings? Yes. Present petitions from their constituencies? +Gladly. Report it from the Senate Committee? They had to concede that. But +passage of the amendment? That was beyond their contemplation. +</p> + +<p> +More pressure was necessary. We appealed to the women voters, of whom there +were then four million, to come into action. +</p> + +<p> +“Four million women voters are watching you,” we said to Congress. +We might as well have said, “There are in the South Sea Islands four +million heathens.” +</p> + +<p> +It was clear that these distant women voters had no relation in the senatorial +mind to the realism of politics. We decided to bring some of these women voters +to Washington: Having failed to get the Senate to act by August, we invited the +Council of Women Voters to hold its convention in Washington that Congress +might learn this simple lesson: women did vote; there were four million of +them; they had a voters’ organization; they cared about the +enfranchisement of all American women; they wanted the Senate to act; suffrage +was no longer a moral problem; it could be made a practical political problem +with which men and parties would have to reckon. +</p> + +<p> +Voting women made their first impression on Congress that summer. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the President’s “paramount issues”—tariff and +currency—had been disposed of. With the December Congress approaching, he +was preparing another message. We went to him again. This time it was the women +from his own home state, an influential deputation of seventy-three women, +including the suffrage leaders from all suffrage organizations in New Jersey. +The women urged him to include recommendation of the suffrage resolution in his +message to the new Congress. He replied: +</p> + +<p> +“I am pleased, indeed, to greet you and your adherents here, and I will +say to you that I was talking only yesterday with several members of Congress +in regard to a Suffrage Committee in the House. The subject is one in which I +am deeply interested, and you may rest assured that I will give it my earnest +attention.” +</p> + +<p> +In interesting himself in the formation of a special committee to sit on +suffrage in the House, the President was doing the smallest thing, to be sure, +that could be done, but he was doing something. This was a distinct advance. It +was our task to press on until all the maze of Congressional machinery had been +used to exhaustion. Then there would be nothing left to do but to pass the +amendment. +</p> + +<p> +A fourth time that year the determination of women to secure the passage of the +amendment was demonstrated. In December, the opening week of the new Congress, +the annual convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association was +held in Washington. Miss Lucy Burns, vice chairman of its Congressional +Committee and also of the Congressional Union, was applauded to the echo by the +whole convention when she said: +</p> + +<p> +“The National American Woman Suffrage Association is assembled in +Washington to ask the Democratic Party to enfranchise the women of America. +</p> + +<p> +“Rarely in the history of the country has a party been more powerful than +the Democratic Party is to-day. It controls the Executive Office, the Senate +and more than two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives. It is +in a position to give us effective and immediate help. +</p> + +<p> +“We ask the Democrats to take action now. Those who hold power are +responsible to the country for the use of it. They are responsible not only for +what they do, but for what they do not do. Inaction establishes just as clear a +record as does a policy of open hostility. +</p> + +<p> +“We have in our hands to-day not only the weapon of a just cause; we have +the support of ten enfranchised states—states comprising one-fifth of the +United States Senate, one-seventh of the House of Representatives, and +one-sixth of the electoral vote. More than 3,600,000 women have a vote in +Presidential elections. It is unthinkable that a national government which +represents women, and which appeals periodically for the suffrages of women, +should ignore the issue of the right of all women to political freedom. +</p> + +<p> +“We cannot wait until after the passage of scheduled Administration +reforms . . . . Congress is free to take action on our question in the present +session. We ask the Administration to support the woman suffrage amendment in +Congress with its whole strength.” +</p> + +<p> +This represented the attitude of the entire suffrage movement toward the +situation in the winter of 1913. At no time did the militant group deviate from +this position until the amendment was through Congress. +</p> + +<p> +It was difficult to make the Administration believe that the women meant what +they said, and that they meant to use everything in their power and +resourcefulness to see it carried out. +</p> + +<p> +Men were used to having women ask them for suffrage. But they were disconcerted +at being asked for it now; at being threatened with political chastisement if +they did not yield to the demand. +</p> + +<p> +In spite of the repeated requests to President Wilson that he include support +of the measure in his message to Congress, he delivered his message December +end while the convention was still in session, and failed to make any mention +of the suffrage amendment. He recommended self-government for Filipino men +instead. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately Miss Paul organized the entire convention into a fifth deputation +to protest against this failure and to urge support in a subsequent message. +Dr. Anna Howard Shaw led the interview. In reply to her eloquent appeal for his +assistance, the President said in part: “I am merely the spokesman of my +party . . . . I am not at liberty to urge upon Congress in messages, policies +which have not had the organic consideration of those for whom I am spokesman. +I am by my own principles shut out, in the language of the street, from +‘starting anything.’ I have to confine myself to those things which +have been embodied as promises to the people at an election.” +</p> + +<p> +I shall never forget that day. Shafts of sunlight came in at the window and +fell full and square upon the white-haired leader who was in the closing days +of her power. Her clear, deep, resonant voice, ringing with the genuine love of +liberty, was in sharp contrast to the halting, timid, little and technical +answer of the President. He stooped to utter some light pleasantry which he +thought would no doubt please the “ladies.” It did not provoke even +a faint smile. Dr. Shaw had dramatically asked, “Mr. President, if you +cannot speak for us and your party will not, who then, pray, is there to speak +for us?” +</p> + +<p> +“You seem very well able to speak for yourselves, ladies,” with a +broad smile, followed by a quick embarrassment when no one stirred. +</p> + +<p> +“We mean, Mr. President, who will speak for us with +<i>authority?</i>” came back the hot retort from Dr. Shaw. +</p> + +<p> +The President made no reply. Instead he expressed a desire to shake the hands +of the three hundred delegates. A few felt that manners compelled them to +acquiesce; the others filed out without this little political ceremony. +</p> + +<p> +Alice Paul’s report to the national convention for her year’s work +as Chairman of the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman +Suffrage Association, and as Chairman also of the Congressional Union for Woman +Suffrage, showed that a budget of twenty-seven thousand dollars had been raised +and expended under her leadership as against ten dollars spent during the +previous year on Congressional work. At the beginning of the year there was no +interest in work with Congress. It was considered hopeless. At the close of the +year 1918 it had become a practical political issue. Suffrage had entered the +national field to stay. +</p> + +<p> +At this point the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage was obliged to become +an independent body in order to continue this vigorous policy which the +conservative suffrage leaders were unwilling to follow. +</p> + +<p> +Hearings, deputations to the President, petitions to Congress, more persistent +lobbying, all these things continued during the following year under Miss +Paul’s leadership with the result that a vote in the Senate was taken, +though at ran inopportune moment,—the first vote in the Senate since +1887. The vote stood 86 to ’84-thereby failing by 11 votes of the +necessary two-thirds majority. This vote, nevertheless, indicated that a new +strength in the suffrage battle had forced Congress to take some action. +</p> + +<p> +In the House, the Rules Committee on a vote of 4 to 4 refused to create a +suffrage committee. We appealed to the Democratic caucus to see if tie party +sustained this action. We wished to establish their party responsibility, one +way or another, and by securing the necessary signatures to a petition, we +compelled the caucus to meet. By a vote of 128 to 57 the caucus declared +“ . . . that the question of woman suffrage is a state and not a federal +question,” as a substitute for the milder resolution offered, providing +for the creation of a committee on woman suffrage. If this had left any doubt +as to how the Democratic Party, as a party, stood, this doubt was conveniently +removed by Representative Underwood, the Majority Leader of the House, when he +said on the floor of the House the following day: “The Democratic Party +last night took the distinctive position that it was not in favor of this +legislation because it was in favor of the states controlling the question of +suffrage . . . . I not only said I was opposed to it, but I said the Party on +this side of the Chamber was opposed to it, and the Party that has control of +the legislation in Congress certainly has the right to say that it will not +support a measure if it is not in accordance with its principles.” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the President had said to a deputation of workingwomen who waited +upon him in February, “Until the Party, as such, has considered a matter +of this very supreme importance, and taken its position, I am not at liberty to +speak for it; and yet I am not at liberty to speak for it as an individual, for +I am not an individual.” +</p> + +<p> +“But we ask you to speak to your party, not for it,” answered Mrs. +Glendower Evans, Chairman of the deputation, amid evident presidential +embarrassment. +</p> + +<p> +Those women who had been inclined perhaps to accept the President’s words +as true to fact, entertained doubts when a .few days later he demanded of his +party in Congress the repeal of the free tolls provision in the Panama Canal +tolls act. In so doing, he not only recommended action not endorsed by his +party, but he demanded action which his party had specifically declared +against. +</p> + +<p> +It was necessary to appeal again to the nation. We called for demonstrations. +of public approval of the amendment in every state on May 2. Thousands of +resolutions were passed calling for action in Congress. These resolutions were +made the center of another great demonstration in Washington, May 9, when +thousands of women in, procession carried them to the Capitol where beautiful +and impressive ceremonies were held on the Capitol steps. The resolutions were +formally received by members of Congress and the demonstration ended +dramatically with a great chorus of women massed on the steps singing +“The March of the Women” to the thousands of spectators packed +closely together on the Capitol grounds. +</p> + +<p> +And still the President withheld his support. +</p> + +<p> +Under our auspices five hundred representative club women of the country waited +upon him in another appeal for help.[1] To them he explained his “passion +for local self-government,” which led to his conviction “that this +is a matter for settlement by the states[2] and not by the federal government . +. . .” +</p> + +<p> +Women had to face the fact that the 63rd Congress had made a distinctly hostile +record on suffrage. The President, as leader of his party, had seven times +refused all aid; the Democratic Party had recorded its opposition through an +adverse vote in the Senate and a caucus vote in the House forbidding even +consideration of the measure. +</p> + +<p> +It became clear that some form of political action would have to be adopted +which would act as an accelerator to the Administration. This feeling was +growing momentarily among many women, but it was conspicuously strong in the +mind of Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont, recognized as one of the ablest suffrage +leaders in the country. Anticipating the unfriendly record made by the +Democrats in the 63rd Congress, Mrs. Belmont had come to Miss Paul and to her +vice-chairman, Miss Lucy Burns, to urge the formulation of a plan whereby we +could strike at Administration opposition through the women voters of the West. +Miss Paul had the same idea and welcomed the support of this plan by so able a +leader. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] 7th deputation to the President, June 30, 1914. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] This amounted to virtual opposition because of the great difficulties, +(some of them almost insuperable) involved in amending many state +constitutions. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Belmont was impatient to do nationally what she had already inaugurated in +New York State suffrage work—make suffrage an election issue. She was the +first suffragist in America to be “militant” enough to wage a +campaign against office-seekers on the issue of woman suffrage. She was roundly +denounced by the opposition press, but she held her ground. It is interesting +to record that she defeated the first candidate for the New York Assembly ever +campaigned against on this issue. +</p> + +<p> +She had associated herself with the Pankhursts in England and was the first +suffrage leader here publicly to commend the tactics of the English militants. +Through her, Mrs. Pankhurst made her first visits to America, where she found a +sympathetic audience. Even among the people who understood and believed in +English tactics, the general idea here was that only in the backward country of +England was “militancy” necessary. In America, men would give women +what women wanted without a struggle. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Belmont was the one suffrage leader who foresaw a militant battle here +whenever women should determine to ask for their freedom immediately. In a +great measure she prepared the way for that battle. +</p> + +<p> +Since the movement had not even advanced to the stage of political action at +that time, however, Mrs. Belmont realized that political action would have to +be exhausted before attempting more aggressive tactics. Not knowing whether +Miss Paul had contemplated inaugurating political action in the national field, +she sought out the new leader and urged her to begin at, once to organize the +women’s power for use in the approaching national elections. +</p> + +<p> +Those interested in the woman’s movement are fairly familiar with Mrs. +Belmont’s early state suffrage work and her work with the militants in +England, but they do not know as much about her national work. It is not easy +for a woman of vast wealth to be credited with much else in America than the +fact of generosity in giving money to the cause in which she believes. Wealth +dazzles us and we look no further. Mrs. Belmont has given hundreds of thousands +of dollars to suffrage, both state and national, but she has given greater +gifts in her militant spirit, her political sagacity and a marked tactical +sense. She was practically the only leader formerly associated with the +conservative forces who had the courage to extricate herself from the old +routine propaganda and adventure into new paths. She always approached the +struggle for liberty in a wholesome revolutionary mood. She was essentially a +leader, and one who believed in action-always action. +</p> + +<p> +Until the movement in America regained its militant spirit, her heart was +primarily with the English women, because she thought their fight so +magnificent that it would bring suffrage to women in England sooner than our +slow-going methods would bring it to us. In 1910, when English militancy was at +its height, Mrs. Belmont gave out an interview in London, in which she +predicted that English women would have the suffrage before us. She even went +so far as to say that we in America would have to create an acute situation +here, probably a form of militancy, before we could win. At the same time the +President of the International Suffrage Alliance said in London: “The +suffrage movement in England- resembles a battle. It is cruel and tragic. Ours +in America is an evolution-less dramatic, slow but more sure.” Facts +sustained Mrs. Belmont’s prophecy. Facts did not sustain the other +prediction. English women got the vote in 1918. American women were not +enfranchised nationally until August, 1920. +</p> + +<p> +The following is the political theory and program approved by Mrs. Belmont and +submitted to the Congressional Union, by its chairman, Alice Paul, at a +conference of the organization at the home of Mrs. Belmont in Newport in +August, 1914: +</p> + +<p> +The dominant party (at that time the Democratic Party) is responsible for all +action and therefore for action on suffrage. +</p> + +<p> +This party’s action had been hostile to this measure. +</p> + +<p> +The dominant party in the approaching election must be convinced, and through +it all other parties, that opposition to suffrage is inexpedient. +</p> + +<p> +All parties will be convinced when they see that their opposition costs them +votes. +</p> + +<p> +Our fight is a political one. +</p> + +<p> +We must appeal for support to the constituency which is most friendly to +suffrage, that constituency being the voting women. +</p> + +<p> +An attempt must be made, no matter how small, to organize the women’s +vote. +</p> + +<p> +An appeal must be made to the women voters in the nine suffrage states to +withhold their support from the Democrats nationally, until the national +Democratic Party ceases to block the suffrage amendment. +</p> + +<p> +This is non-partisanship in the highest degree, as it calls upon women to +forego previous allegiance to a party. If they are Democrats in this instance, +they must vote against their party. If the Republican Party were in power and +pursued a similar course, we would work against that party. +</p> + +<p> +The party which sees votes falling away will change its attitude. +</p> + +<p> +After we have once affected by this means the outcome of a national election, +even though slightly, every party will hesitate to trifle with our measure any +longer. +</p> + +<p> +All candidates from suffrage states are professing suffragists, and therefore +we have nothing to lose by defeating a member of the dominant party in those +states. Another suffragist will take his place. +</p> + +<p> +Men will object to being opposed because of their party responsibility in spite +of their friendliness individually to suffrage. But women certainly have a +right to further through the ballot their wishes on the suffrage question, as +well as on other questions like currency, tariff, and what not. +</p> + +<p> +This can only be done by considering the Party record, for as the individual +record and individual pledges go, all candidates are practically equal. +</p> + +<p> +We, as a disfranchised class, consider our right to vote, preeminently over any +other issue in any party’s program. +</p> + +<p> +Political leaders will resent our injecting our issue into their campaign, but +the rank and file will be won when they see the loyalty of women to women. +</p> + +<p> +This policy will be called militant and in a sense it is, being strong, +positive and energetic. +</p> + +<p> +If it is militant to appeal to women to use their vote to bring suffrage to +this country, then it is militant to appeal to men or women to use their vote +to any good end. +</p> + +<p> +To the question of “How will we profit if another party comes in?” +our answer will be that adequate political chastisement of one party for its +bad suffrage record through a demonstration of power by women voters affecting +the result of the national election, will make it easier to get action from any +party in power +</p> + +<p> +Amidst tremendous enthusiasm this plan was accepted by the little conference of +women at Newport, and $7,000 pledged in a few moments to start it. There was a +small group of women, an infinitely small budget with which to wage a campaign +in nine states, but here was also enthusiasm and resolute determination. +</p> + +<p> +A tiny handful of women-never more than two, more often only one to a +state—journeyed forth from Washington into the nine suffrage states of +the West to put before the voting women this political theory, and to ask them +to support it. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>Chapter 2<br/> +Women Voters Organize</h2> + +<p> +It can’t be done.” “Women don’t care about +suffrage.” I “Once they’ve got it, it is a dead issue.” +“To talk of arousing the Western women to protest against the +Congressional candidates of the National Democratic Party in the suffrage +states, when every one of them is a professing suffragist, is utter +folly.” So ran the comment of the political wise acres in the autumn of +1914. +</p> + +<p> +But the women had faith in their appeal. +</p> + +<p> +It is impossible to give in a few words any adequate picture of the anger of +Democratic leaders at our entrance into the campaign. Six weeks before election +they woke up to find the issue of national suffrage injected into a campaign +which they had meant should be no more stirring than an orderly and perfunctory +endorsement of the President’s legislative program. +</p> + +<p> +The campaign became a very hot one during which most of the militancy seemed to +be on the side of the political leaders. Heavy fists came down on desks. Harsh +words were spoken. Violent threats were made. In Colorado, where I was cam- +paigning, I was invited politely but firmly by the Democratic leader to leave +the state the morning after I had arrived. “You can do no good here. I +would advise you to leave at once. Besides, your plan is impracticable and the +women will not support it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then why do you object to my being here?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“You have no right to ask women to do this . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +Some slight variation of this experience was met by every woman who took part +in this campaign. Of course, the Democratic leaders did not welcome an issue +raised unexpectedly, and one which forced them to spend an endless amount of +time apologizing for and explaining the Democratic Party’s record. Nor +did they relish spending more money publishing more literature, in short, +adding greatly to the burdens of their campaign. The candidates, a little more +suave than the party leaders, proved most eloquently that they had been +suffragists “from birth.” One candidate even claimed a suffrage +inheritance from his great-grandmother. +</p> + +<p> +This first entry of women into a national election on the suffrage amendment +was little more than a quick, brilliant dash. With all its sketchiness, +however, it had immediate political results, and when the election was over, +there came tardily a general public recognition that the Congressional Union +had made a real contribution to these results. In the nine suffrage states +women vote3 for 45 members of Congress. For 43 of these seats the Democratic +Party ran candidates. We opposed in our campaign all of these candidates. Out +of the 43 Democratic candidates running, only 9.0 were elected. While it was +not our primary aim to defeat candidates it was generally conceded that we had +contributed to these defeats. +</p> + +<p> +Our aim in this campaign was primarily to call to the attention of the public +the bad suffrage record of the Democratic Party. The effect of our campaign was +soon evident in Congress. The most backward member realized for the first time +that women had voted. Even the President perceived that the movement had gained +new strength, though he was not yet politically moved by it. He was still +“tied to a conviction”[1] which he had had all his life that +suffrage “ought to be brought about state by state.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Statement to Deputation of Democratic women (eighth deputation) at the +White House, Jan. 6, 1915. +</p> + +<p> +Enough strength and determination among women had been demonstrated to the +Administration, however, to make them want to do something “just as +good” as the thing we asked. The Shafroth-Palmer[1] Resolution was +introduced, providing for a constitutional amendment permitting a national +initiative and referendum on suffrage in the states, thereby forcing upon women +the very course we had sought to circumvent. This red herring drawn across the +path had been accepted by the conservative suff- ragists evidently in a moment +of hopelessness, and their strength put behind it, but the politicians who +persuade them to back it knew that it was merely an attempt to evade the issue. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] This resolution was introduced in the Senate by Senator Shafroth of +Colorado, Democrat; in the House by Representative A. Mitchell Palmer of +Pennsylvania, Democrat, later Attorney General in President Wilson’s +Cabinet. Both men, although avowed supporters of the original Susan B. Anthony +amendment, backed this evil compromise. +</p> + +<p> +This made necessary a tremendous campaign throughout the country by the +Congressional Union, with the result that the compromise measure was eventually +abandoned. During its life, however, politicians were happy in the opportunity +to divide their support between it and the original amendment, which was still +pending. To offset this danger and to show again in dramatic fashion the +strength and will of the women voters to act on this issue, we made political +work among the western women the principal effort of the year 1915, the year +preceding the presidential election. Taking advantage of the Panama-Pacific +Exposition in San Francisco, we opened suffrage headquarters in the Palace of +Education on the exposition grounds. From there we called the first Woman +Voters’ Convention ever held in the world for the single purpose of +attaching political strength to the movement. Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont was +chairman of the committee which signed the convention call. +</p> + +<p> +Women from all the voting states assembled in a mass convention September 14, +15 and 16. There is not time to describe the beauty of the pageantry which +surrounded that gathering, nor of the emotional quality which was at high pitch +throughout the sessions. These women from the deserts of Arizona, from the +farms of Oregon, from the valleys of California, from the mountains of Nevada +and Utah, were in deadly earnest. They had answered the call and they meant to +stay in the fight until it was won. The convention went on record unanimously +for further political action on behalf of national suffrage and for the +original amendment without compromise, and pledged itself to use all power to +this end without regard to the interests of any existing political party. +</p> + +<p> +Two emissaries, Sara Bard Field and Frances Joliffe, both of California, were +commissioned by women voters at the final session, when more than ten thousand +people were present, to go to the President and Congress bearing these +resolutions and hundreds of thousands of signatures upon a petition gathered +during the summer. They would speak directly to the President lest he should be +inclined to take lightly the women voters’ resolutions. +</p> + +<p> +The envoys, symbolic of the new strength that was to come out of the West, made +their journey across continent by automobile. They created a sensation all +along the way, received as they were by governors, by mayors, by officials high +and low, and by the populace. Thousands more added their names to the petition +and it was rolled up to gigantic proportions until in December when unrolled it +literally stretched over miles as it was borne to the Capitol with honor +escorts. +</p> + +<p> +The action of the convention scarcely cold, and the envoys mid- way across the +continent, the President hastened to New Jersey to cast his vote for suffrage +in a state referendum. He was careful to state that he did so as a private +citizen, “not as the leader of my party in the nation” He repeated +his position, putting the emphasis upon his opposition to national suffrage, +rather than on his belief in suffrage for his state. “I believe that it +(suffrage) should be settled by the states and not by the national government, +and that in no circumstances should it be made a party question; and my view +has grown stronger at every turn of the agitation.” He knew women were +asking the powerful aid of the President of the United States, not the aid of +Mr. Wilson of Princeton, New Jersey. The state amendment in New Jersey was +certain to fail, as President Wilson well knew. Casting a vote for it would +help his case with women voters, and still not bring suffrage in the East a +step nearer. +</p> + +<p> +The envoys’ reception at the Capitol was indeed dramatic. Thousands of +women escorted them amid bands and banners to the halls of Congress, where they +were received by senators and representatives and addressed with eloquent +speeches. The envoys replied by asking that their message be carried by friends +of the measure to the floor of the Senate and House, and this was done. +</p> + +<p> +The envoys waited upon the President at the White House. This visit of the +representatives of women with power marked rather an advance in the +President’s position. He listened with an eager attention to the story of +the new-found power and what women meant to do with it. For the first time on +record, he said he had “an open mind” on the question of national +suffrage, and would confer with his party colleagues. +</p> + +<p> +The Republican and Democratic National Committees heard the case of the envoys. +They were given a hearing before the Senate Suffrage Committee and before the +House Judiciary in one of the most lively and entertaining inquisitions in +which women ever participated. +</p> + +<p> +No more questions on mother and home! No swan song on the passing of charm and +womanly loveliness! Only agile scrambling by each committee member to ask with +eagerness and some heat, “Well, if this amendment has not passed Congress +by then, what will you do in the elections of 1916?” It was with +difficulty that the women were allowed to tell their story, so eager was the +Committee to jump ahead to political consequences. “Sirs, that depends +upon what you gentlemen do. We are asking a simple thing——” +But they never got any further from the main base of their interest. +</p> + +<p> +“If President Wilson comes out for it and his party does not” from +a Republican member, “will you——” +</p> + +<p> +“I object to introducing partisan discussions here,” came +shamelessly from a Democratic colleague. And so the hearing passed in something +of a verbal riot, but with no doubt as to the fact that Congressmen were +alarmed by the prospect of women voting as a protest group. +</p> + +<p> +The new year found the Senate promptly reporting the measure favorably again, +but the Judiciary Committee footballed it to its sub-committee, back to the +whole committee, postponed it, marked time, dodged defeated it. +</p> + +<p> +The problem of neutrality toward the European war was agitating the minds of +political leaders. Nothing like suffrage for women must be allowed to rock the +ship even slightly! Oh, no, indeed; it was men’s business to keep the +nation out of war. Men never had shown marked skill at keeping nations out of +war in the history of the world. But never mind! Logic must not be pressed too +hard upon the “reasoning” sex. This time, men would do it. +</p> + +<p> +The exciting national election contest was approaching. Party conventions were +scheduled to meet in June while the amendment languished at the Capitol. It was +clear that more highly organized woman-power would have to be called into +action before the national government would speed its pace. To the women voters +the Eastern women went for decisive assistance. A car known as the +“Suffrage Special,” carrying distinguished Eastern women and gifted +speakers, made an extensive tour of the West and under the banner of the +Congressional Union called again upon the women voters to come to Chicago on +June 5th to form a new party,—The Woman’s Party[1]—to serve +as long as should be necessary as the balance of power in national contests, +and thus to force action from the old parties. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Woman’s Party started with a membership of all Congressional +Union members in suffrage states. Anne Martin of Nevada was elected chairman. +</p> + +<p> +The instant response which met this appeal surpassed the most optimistic hopes. +Thousands of women assembled in Chicago for this convention, which became +epoch-making not only in .the suffrage fight but in the whole woman movement. +For the first time in history, women came together to organize their political +power into a party to free their own sex. For the first time in history +representatives of men’s political parties came to plead before these +women voters for the support of their respective parties. +</p> + +<p> +The Republican Party sent as its representatives John Hays Hammond and C. S. +Osborn, formerly Governor of Michigan. The Democrats sent their most persuasive +orator, President Wilson’s friend, Dudley Field Malone, Collector of the +Port of New York. Allan Benson, candidate for the Presidency on the Socialist +ticket, represented the Socialist Party. Edward Polling, Prohibition leader, +spoke for the Prohibition Party, arid Victor Murdock and Gifford Pinchot for +The Progressive Party. +</p> + +<p> +All laid their claims for suffrage support before the women with the result +that the convention resolved itself into another political party—The +Woman’s Party. A new party with but one plank—the immediate passage +of the federal suffrage amendment—a party determined to withhold its +support from all existing parties until women were politically free, and to +punish politically any party in power which did not use its power to free +women; a party which became a potent factor of protest in the following +national election. +</p> + +<p> +This first step towards the solidarity of women quickly brought results. The +Republican National Convention, meeting immediately. after the Woman’s +Party Convention, and the Democratic National Convention the week following, +both included suffrage planks in their national platforms for the first time in +history. To be sure, they were planks that failed to satisfy us. But the mere +hint of organized political action on suffrage had moved the two dominant +parties to advance a step. The new Woman’s Party had declared suffrage a +national political issue. The two major parties acknowledged the issue by +writing it into their party platforms. +</p> + +<p> +The Republican platform was vague and indefinite on national suffrage. The +Democratic Party made its suffrage plank specific against action by Congress. +It precisely said, “We recommend the extension of the franchise to the +women of the country by the states upon the same terms as men.” It was +openly stated at the Democratic Convention by leading Administration Democrats +that the President himself had written this suffrage plank. If the Republicans +could afford to write a vague and indefinite plank, the President and his party +could not. They as the party in power had been under fire and were forced to +take sides. They did so. The President chose the plank and his subordinates +followed his lead. It may be remarked in passing that this declaration so +solidified the opposition within the President’s party that when the +President ultimately sought to repudiate it, he met stubborn resistance. +</p> + +<p> +Protected by the President’s plank, the Democratic Congress continued to +block national suffrage. It would not permit it even to be reported from the +Judiciary Committee. The party platform was written. The President, too, found +it easy to hide behind the plank which he had himself written, counting on +women to be satisfied. To Mrs. D. E. Hooker of Richmond, Virginia, who as a +delegate from the Virginia Federation of Labor, representing 60,000 members, +went to him soon after to ask his support of the amendment, the President said, +“I am opposed by conviction and political traditions to federal action on +this question. Moreover, after the plank which was adopted in the Democratic +platform at St. Louis, I could not comply with the request contained in this +resolution even if I wished to do so.” +</p> + +<p> +President Wilson could not act because the party plank which he had written +prevented him from doing so! +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the women continued to protest. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Mabel Vernon of Delaware, beloved and gifted crusader, was the first +member of the Woman’s Party to commit a “militant” act. +President Wilson, speaking at the dedication services of the Labor Temple in +Washington, was declaring his interest in all classes and all struggles. He was +proclaiming his beliefs in the abstractions of liberty and justice, when Miss +Vernon, who was seated on the platform from which he was speaking, said in her +powerful voice, “Mr. President, if you sincerely desire to forward the +interests of all the people, why do you oppose the national enfranchisement of, +women?” Instant consternation arose, but the idea had penetrated to the +farthest corner of the huge assembly that women were protesting to the +President against the denial of their liberty. +</p> + +<p> +The President found time to answer, “That is one of the things which we +will have to take counsel over later,” and resumed his speech. Miss +Vernon repeated her question later and was ordered from the meeting by the +police. +</p> + +<p> +As the summer wore on, women realized that they would have to enter the +national contest in the autumn. Attention was focussed on the two rival +presidential candidates, Woodrow Wilson and Charles Evans Hughes, the +Republican nominee, upon whom the new Woman’s Party worked diligently for +prompt statements of their position on the national amendment. +</p> + +<p> +The next political result of the new solidarity of women was Mr. Hughes’ +declaration on August 1st, 1916: “My view is that the proposed amendment +should be submitted and ratified and the subject removed from political +discussion.” +</p> + +<p> +The Democratic Congress adjourned without even report ing the measure to that +body for a vote, and went forthwith to the country to ask reelection. +</p> + +<p> +We also went to the country. We went to the women voters to lay before them +again the Democratic Party’s record—now complete through one +Administration. We asked women voters again to withhold their support +nationally from President Wilson and his party. +</p> + +<p> +The President accepted at once the opportunity to speak before a convention of +suffragists at Atlantic City in an effort to prove his great belief in +suffrage. He said poetically, “The tide is rising to meet the moon . . . +. You can afford to wait” Whatever we may have thought of his figure of +speech, we disagreed with his conclusion. +</p> + +<p> +The campaign on, Democratic speakers throughout the West found an unexpected +organized force among women, demanding an explanation of the past conduct of +the Democratic Party and insisting on an immediate declaration by the President +in favor of the amendment. Democratic orators did their utmost to meet this +opposition. “Give the President time. He can’t do everything at +once.” “Trust him once more; he will do it for you next +term.” “He kept us out of war. He is the best friend the mothers of +the nation ever had” “He stood by you. Now you women stand by +him.” “What good will votes do you if the Germans come over here +and take your country?” And so on. Enticing doctrine to women—the +peace lovers of the human race. +</p> + +<p> +Although we entered this contest with more strength than we had had in 1914, +with a budget five times as large and with piled-up evidence of Democratic +hostility, we could rot have entered a more difficult contest. The people were +excited to an almost unprecedented pitch over the issue of peace versus war. In +spite of the difficulty of competing with this emotional issue which meant the +immediate disposal of millions of lives, it was soon evident that the two +issues were running almost neck and neck in the Western territory. +</p> + +<p> +No less skilled a campaigner than William Jennings Bryan took the stump in the +West against the Woman’s Party. At least a third of each speech was +devoted to suffrage. He urged. He exhorted. He apologized. He explained. He +pleaded. He condemned. Often he was heckled. Often he saw huge “VOTE +AGAINST WILSON! HE KEPT US OUT OF SUFFRAGE!” banners at the doors of his +meetings. One woman in Arizona, who, unable longer to listen in patience to the +glory of “a democracy where only were governed those who +consented,” interrupted him. He coldly answered, “Madam, you cannot +pick cherries before they are ripe.” By the time he got to. California, +however, the cherries had ripened considerably, for Mr. Bryan came out publicly +for the national amendment. +</p> + +<p> +What was true of Mr. Bryan was true of practically every Democratic campaigner. +Against their wills they were forced to talk about suffrage, although they had +serenely announced at the opening of the campaign that it was “not an +issue in this campaign.” Some merely apologized and explained. Others, +like Dudley Field Malone, spoke for the federal amendment, and promised to work +to put it through the next Congress, “if only you women will stand by +Wilson and return him to power.” +</p> + +<p> +Space will not permit in this book to give more than a hint of the scope and +strength of our campaign. If it were possible to give a glimpse of the speeches +made by men in that campaign, you would agree that it was not peace alone that +was the dominant issue, but peace and suffrage. It must be made perfectly clear +that the Woman’s Party did not attempt to elect Mr. Hughes. It did not +feel strong enough to back a candidate in its first battle, and did not conduct +its fight affirmatively at all. No speeches were made for Mr. Hughes and the +Republican Party. The appeal was to vote a vote of protest against Mr. Wilson +and his Congressional candidates, because he and his party had had the power to +pass the amendment through Congress and had refused to do so. That left the +women free to choose from among the Republicans, Socialists and +Prohibitionists. It was to be expected that the main strength of the vote taken +from Mr. Wilson would go to Mr. Hughes, as few women perhaps threw their votes +to the minority parties. But just as the Progressive Party’s protest had +been effective in securing progressive legislation without winning the +election, so the Woman’s Party hoped its protest would bring results in +Congress without attempting to win the election. +</p> + +<p> +History will never know in round numbers how many women voted against the +President and his party at this crisis, for there are no records kept for men +and women separately, except in one state, in Illinois. The women there voted +two to one against Mr. Wilson and for Mr. Hughes. +</p> + +<p> +Men outnumber women throughout the entire western territory; in some states, +two and three to one; in Nevada, still higher. But, whereas, in the election of +191, President Wilson got 69 electoral votes from the suffrage states, in the +1916 election, when the whole West was aflame for him because of his peace +policy, he got only 57. Enthusiasm for Mr. Hughes in the West was not +sufficiently marked to account entirely for the loss of these 12 electoral +votes. Our claim that Democratic opposition to suffrage had cost many of them +was never seriously denied. +</p> + +<p> +The Democratic Judiciary Committee of the House which had refused to report +suffrage to the House for a vote, had only one Democratic member from a +suffrage state, Mr. Taggart of Kansas, standing for reelection. This was the +only spot where women could strike out against the action of this +committee—and Mr. Taggart. They struck with success. He was defeated +almost wholly by the women’s votes. +</p> + +<p> +With a modest campaign fund of slightly over fifty thousand dollars, raised +almost entirely in small sums, the women had forced the campaign committee of +the Democratic Party to assume the defensive and to practically double +expenditure and work on this issue. As much literature was used on suffrage as +on peace in the suffrage states. +</p> + +<p> +Many Democrats although hostile to our campaign said without qualification that +the Woman’s Party protest was the only factor in the campaign which +stemmed the western tide toward Wilson, and which finally made California the +pivotal state and left his election in doubt for a week. +</p> + +<p> +Again, with more force, national suffrage had been injected into a campaign +where it was not wanted, where the leaders had hoped the single issue of +“peace” would hold the center of the stage. Again many women had +stood together on this issue and put woman suffrage first. And the actual +reelection of President Wilson had its point of advantage, too, for it enabled +us to continue the education of a man in power who had already had four years +of lively training on the woman question. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>Chapter 3<br/> +The Last Deputation to President Wilson</h2> + +<p> +Of the hundreds of women who volunteered for the last Western campaign, perhaps +the most effective in their appeal were the disfranchised Eastern women. +</p> + +<p> +The most dramatic figure of them all was Inez Milholland Boissevain, the +gallant and beloved crusader who gave her life that the day of women’s +freedom might be hastened. Her last words to the nation as she fell fainting on +the platform in California were, “Mr. President, how long must women wait +for liberty?” Her fiery challenge was never heard again. She never +recovered from the terrific strain of the campaign which had undermined her +young strength. Her death touched the heart of the nation; her sacrifice, made +so generously for liberty, lighted anew the fire of rebellion in women, and +aroused from inertia thousands never before interested in the liberation of +their own sex. +</p> + +<p> +Memorial meetings were held throughout the country at which women not only paid +radiant tribute to Inez Milholland, but reconsecrated themselves to the +struggle and called again upon the reelected President and his Congress to act. +</p> + +<p> +The most impressive of these memorials was held on Christmas Day in Washington. +In Statuary Hall under the dome of the Capitol—the scene of memorial +services for Lincoln and Garfield—filled with statues of outstanding +figures in the struggle for political and religious liberty in this country, +the first memorial service ever held in the Capitol to honor a woman, was held +for this gallant young leader. +</p> + +<p> +Boy choristers singing the magnificent hymn +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Forward through the darkness<br/> +Leave behind the night,<br/> +Forward out of error,<br/> +Forward into light” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +led into the hall the procession of young girl banner-bearers. Garbed in simple +surplices, carrying their crusading banners high above their heads, these +comrades of Inez Milholland Boissevain seemed more triumphant than sad. They +seemed to typify the spirit in which she gave her life. +</p> + +<p> +Still other young girls in white held great golden banners flanking the +laurel-covered dais, from which could be read the inscriptions: “Greater +love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend” . . +. “Without extinction is liberty; Without retrograde is equality” . +. . “As He died to make men holy let us die to make men free” . . . +</p> + +<p> +From behind the heavy velvet curtains came the music of voices and strings, and +the great organ sounded its tragic and triumphant tones. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Maud Younger of California was chosen to make the memorial address on this +occasion. She said in part: +</p> + +<p> +“We are here to pay tribute to Inez Milholland Boissevain, who was our +comrade. We are here in the nation’s capital, the seat of our democracy, +to pay tribute to one who gave up her life to realize that democracy . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“Inez Milholland walked down the path of life a radiant being. She went +into work with a song in her heart. She went into battle with a laugh on her +lips. Obstacles inspired her, discouragement urged her on. She loved work and +she loved battle. She loved life and laughter and light, and above all else she +loved liberty. With a loveliness beyond most, a kindliness, a beauty of mind +and soul, she typified always the best and noblest in womanhood. She was the +flaming torch that went ahead to light the way—the symbol of light and +freedom . . . +</p> + +<p> +“Symbol of the woman’s struggle, it was she who carried to the West +the appeal of the unenfranchised, and carrying it, made her last appeal on +earth, her last journey in life. +</p> + +<p> +“As she set out upon her last journey, she seems to have had the clearer +vision, the spiritual quality of one who has already set out for another world. +With infinite understanding and intense faith in her mission, she was as one +inspired. Her meetings were described as ‘revival meetings,’ her +audiences as ‘wild with enthusiasm.’ Thousands acclaimed her, +thousands were turned away unable to enter . . . +</p> + +<p> +“And she made her message very plain. +</p> + +<p> +“She stood for no man, no party. She stood only for woman. And standing +thus she urged: +</p> + +<p> +“‘It is women for women now and shall be until the fight is won! +Together we shall stand shoulder to shoulder for the greatest principle the +world has-ever known, the right of self-government. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Whatever the party that has ignored the claims of women we as +women must refuse to uphold it. We must refuse to uphold any party until all +women are free. +</p> + +<p> +“‘We have nothing but our spirits to rely on and the vitality of +our faith, but spirit is invincible. +</p> + +<p> +“‘It is only for a little while. Soon the fight will be over. +Victory is in sight.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Though she did not live to see that victory, it is sweet to know that +she lived to see her faith in women justified. In one of her last letters she +wrote: +</p> + +<p> +“‘Not only did we reckon accurately on women’s loyalty to +women, but we likewise realized that our appeal touched a certain spiritual, +idealistic quality in the western woman voter, a quality which is yearning to +find expression in political life. At the idealism of the Woman’s Party +her whole nature flames into enthusiasm and her response is immediate. She +gladly transforms a narrow partisan loyalty into loyalty to a principle, the +establishment of which carries with it no personal advantage to its advocate, +but merely the satisfaction of achieving one more step toward the emancipation +of mankind . . . . We are bound to win. There never has been a fight yet where +interest was pitted against principle that principle did not triumph!’ +</p> + +<p> +“ . . The trip was fraught with hardship. Speaking day and night, she +would take a train at two in the morning to arrive at eight; then a train at +midnight to arrive at five in the morning. Yet she would not change the +program; she would not leave anything out . . . +</p> + +<p> +“And so . . . her life went out in glory in the shining cause of freedom. +</p> + +<p> +“And as she had lived loving liberty, working for liberty, fighting for +liberty, so it was that with this word on her lips she fell. ‘How long +must women wait for liberty?’ she cried and fell-as surely as any soldier +upon the field of honor—as truly as any who ever gave up his life for an +ideal. +</p> + +<p> +“As in life she had been the symbol of the woman’s cause so in +death she is the symbol of its sacrifice. The whole daily sacrifice, the +pouring out of life and strength that is the toll of woman’s prolonged +struggle. +</p> + +<p> +“Inez Milholland is one around whom legends will grow up. Generations to +come will point out Mount Inez and tell of the beautiful woman who sleeps her +last sleep on its slopes. +</p> + +<p> +“They will tell of her in the West, tell of the vision of loveliness as +she flashed through on her last burning mission, flashed through to her +death—a falling star in the western heavens. +</p> + +<p> +“But neither legend nor vision is liberty, which was her life. Liberty +cannot die. No work for liberty can be lost. It lives on in the hearts of the +people, in their hopes, their aspira- tions, their activities. It becomes part +of the life of the nation. What Inez Milholland has given to the world lives on +forever. +</p> + +<p> +“We are here to-day to pay tribute to Inez Milholland Boissevain, who was +our comrade. Let our tribute be not words which pass, nor song which flies, nor +flower which fades. Let it be this: that we finish the task she could not +finish; that with new strength we take up the struggle in which fighting beside +us she fell; that with new faith we here consecrate ourselves to the cause of +woman’s freedom until that cause is won; that with new devotion we go +forth, inspired by her sacrifice, to the end that her sacrifice be not in vain, +for dying she shall bring to pass that which living she could not +achieve—full freedom for women, full democracy for the nation. +</p> + +<p> +“Let this be our tribute, imperishable, to Inez Milholland +Boissevain.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Anne Martin of Nevada, chairman of the Woman’s Party, presided over +the services. Other speakers were Honorable George Sutherland, United States +Senator from Utah, representing the United States Congress; and Honorable +Rowland S. Mahany, former member of Congress and lifelong friend of the +Milholland family. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. William Kent of California, wife of Representative Kent, presented two +resolutions which the vast audience approved by silently rising. One +resolution, a tribute of rare beauty, prepared by Zona Gale, a friend of Inez +Milholland, was a compelling appeal to all women to understand and to reverence +the ideals of this inspiring leader. The other was an appeal to the +Administration for action. +</p> + +<p> +The pageantry of surpliced choristers and the long line of girl +standard-bearers retired to the strains of the solemn recessional. The great +audience sat still with bowed heads as the voices in the distance dropped in +silence. Instantly the strains of the Marseillaise, filling the great dome with +its stirring and martial song of hope, were taken up by the organ and the +strings, and the audience was lifted to its feet singing as if in anticipation +of the triumph of liberty. +</p> + +<p> +The women were in no mood merely to mourn the loss of a comrade- leader. The +government must be shown again its share of responsibility. Another appeal must +be made to the President who, growing steadily in control over the people and +over his Congress, was the one leader powerful enough to direct his party to +accept this reform. But he was busy gathering his power to lead them elsewhere. +Again we would have to compete with pro-war anti-war sentiment. But it was no +time to relax. +</p> + +<p> +Following the holiday season a deputation of over three hundred women carried +to the White House the Christmas Day memorial for Inez Milholland and other +memorials from similar services. The President was brought face to face with +the new protest of women against the continued waste of physical and spiritual +energy in their battle. There is no better way to picture the protest than to +give you something verbatim from the speeches made that memorable day. This was +the first meeting of suffragists with the President since the campaign against +him in the previous autumn. It was only because of the peculiar character of +the appeal that he consented to hear them. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Younger presented the national memorial to him and introduced Mrs. John +Winters Brannan, who made no plea to the President but merely gave him the New +York memorial which read as follows: +</p> + +<p> +“This gathering of men and women, assembled on New Year’s day in +New York to hold a memorial service in honor of Inez Milholland Boissevain, +appeals to you, the President of the United States, to end the outpouring of +life and effort that has been made for the enfranchisement of women for more +than seventy years in this country. The death of this lovely and brave women +symbolizes the whole daily sacrifice that vast numbers of women have made and +are making for the sake of political freedom. It has made vivid the +‘constant unnoticed tragedy of, this prolonged effort for a freedom that +is acknowledged just, but still denied.’ +</p> + +<p> +“It is not given to all to be put to the supreme test and to accept that +test with such gallant gladness as she did. The struggle, however, has reached +the point where it requires such intensity of effort—relentless and +sustained—over the whole vast country, that the health of thousands of +noble women is being insidiously undermined. If this continues, and it will +continue until victory is won, we know only too surely that many women whom the +nation can ill spare will follow in the footsteps of Inez Milholland. +</p> + +<p> +“We desire to make known to you, Mr. President, our deep sense of wrong +being inflicted upon women in making them spend their health and strength and +forcing them to abandon other work that means fuller self-expression, in order +to win freedom under a government that professes to believe in democracy. +</p> + +<p> +“There is only one cause for which it is right to risk health and life. +No price is too high to pay for liberty. So long as lives of women are +required, these lives will be given. +</p> + +<p> +“But we beg of you, Mr. President, so to act that this ghastly price will +not have to be paid. Certainly it is a grim irony that a Republic should exact +it. Upon you at this moment rests a solemn responsibility; for with you it +rests to decide whether the life of this brilliant, dearly-loved woman whose +glorious death we commemorate to-day, shall be the last sacrifice of fife +demanded of American women in their struggle for self-government. +</p> + +<p> +“We ask you with all the fervor and earnestness of our souls to exert +your power over Congress in behalf of the national enfranchisement of women in +the same way you have so successfully used it on other occasions and for far +less important measures. +</p> + +<p> +“We are confident that if the President of the United States decides that +this act of justice shall be done in the present session of Congress, it will +be done. We know further that if the President does not urge it, it will not be +done. . . “ +</p> + +<p> +A fraction of a moment of silence follows, but it is long enough to feel +strongly the emotional state of mind of the President. It plainly irritates him +to be so plainly spoken to. We are conscious that his distant poise on entering +is dwindling to petty confusion. There is something inordinately cool about the +fervor of the women. This too irritates him. His irritation only serves to +awaken in every woman new strength. It is a wonderful experience to feel +strength take possession of your being in a contest of ideas. No amount of +trappings, no amount of authority, no number of plainclothes men, nor the +glamour of the gold-braided attaches, nor the vastness of the great reception +hall, nor the dazzle of the lighted crystal chandeliers, and above all not the +mind of your opponent can cut in on your slim, hard strength. You are more than +invincible. Your mind leaps ahead to the infinite liberty of which yours is +only a small part. You feel his strength in authority, his weakness in vision. +He does not follow. He feels sorrow for us. He patronizes us. He must temper +his irritation at our undoubted fanaticism and unreason. We, on the other hand, +feel so superior to him. Our strength to demand is so much greater than his +power to withhold. But he does not perceive this. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of these currents the serene and appealing voice of Sara Bard +Field came as a temporary relief to the President—but only temporary. Shy +brought tears to the eyes of the women as she said in presenting the California +memorial resolutions: +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. President, a year ago I had the honor of calling upon you with a +similar deputation. At that time we brought from my western country a great +petition from the voting women urging your assistance in the passage of the +federal amendment for suffrage. At that time you were most gracious to us. You +showed yourself to be in line with all the progressive leaders by your +statement to us that you could change your mind and would consider doing so in +connection with this amendment. We went away that day with hope in our hearts, +but neither the hope inspired by your friendly words nor the faith we had in +you as an advocate of democracy kept us from working day and night in the +interest of our cause. +</p> + +<p> +“Since that day when we came to you, Mr. President, one of our most +beautiful and beloved comrades, Inez Milholland, has paid the price of her life +for this cause. The untimely death of a young woman like this—a woman for +whom the world has such bitter need—has focussed the attention of the men +and women of the nation on the fearful waste of women which this fight for the +ballot is entailing. The same maternal instinct for the preservation of +life—whether it be the physical life of a child or the spiritual life of +a cause—is sending women into this battle for liberty with an urge which +gives them no rest night or day. Every advance of liberty has demanded its +quota of human sacrifice, but if I had time I could show you that we have paid +in a measure that is running over. In the light of Inez Milholland’s +death, as we look over the long backward trail through which we have sought our +political liberty, we are asking how long must this struggle go on. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. President, to the nation more than to women alone is this waste of +maternal force significant. In industry such a waste of money and strength +would not be permitted. The modern trend is all toward efficiency. Why is such +waste permitted in the making of a nation? +</p> + +<p> +“Sometimes I think it must be very hard to be a President, in respect to +his contacts with people as well as in the great business he must perform. The +exclusiveness necessary to a great dignitary holds him away from that democracy +of communion, necessary to a full understanding of what the people .are really +thinking and desiring. I feel that this deputation to-day fails in its mission +if, because of the dignity of your office and the formality of such an +occasion, we fail to bring you the throb of woman’s desire for freedom +and her eagerness to ally herself when once the ballot is in her hand, with all +those activities to which you, yourself, have dedicated your life. Those tasks +which this nation has set itself to do are her tasks as well as man’s. We +women who are here to-day are close to this desire of women. We cannot believe +that you are our enemy or indifferent to the fundamental righteousness of our +demand. +</p> + +<p> +“We have come here to you in your powerful office as our helper. We have +come in the name of justice, in the name of democracy, in the name of all women +who have fought and died for this cause, and in a peculiar way with our hearts +bowed in sorrow, in the name of this gallant girl who died with the word +‘liberty’ on her lips. We have come asking you this day to speak +some favorable word to us that we may know that you will use your good and +great office to end this wasteful struggle of women.” +</p> + +<p> +The highest point in the interview had been reached. Before the President began +his reply, we were aware that the high moment had gone. But we listened. +</p> + +<p> +“Ladies, I had not been apprised that you were coming here to make any +representations that would issue an appeal to me. I had been told that you were +coming to present memorial resolutions with regard to the very remarkable woman +whom your cause has lost. I, therefore, am not prepared to say anything further +than I have said on previous occasions of this sort. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not need to tell you where my own convictions and my own personal +purpose lie, and I need not tell you by what circumscriptions I am bound as +leader of a party. As the leader of a party my commands come from that party +and not from private personal convictions. +</p> + +<p> +“My personal action as a citizen, of course, comes from no source but my +own conviction. and, therefore, my position has been so frequently defined, and +I hope so candidly defined, and it is so impossible for me until the orders of +my party are changed, to do anything other than I am doing as a party leader, +that I think nothing more is necessary to be said. +</p> + +<p> +“I do want to say this: I do not see how anybody can fail to observe from +the utterances of the last campaign that the Democratic Party is more inclined +than the opposition to assist in this great cause, and it has been a matter of +surprise to me, and a matter of very great regret that so many of those who +were heart and soul for this cause seemed so greatly to misunderstand arid +misinterpret the attitude of parties. In this country, as in every other +self-governing country, it is really through the instrumentality of parties +that things can be accomplished. They are not accomplished by the individual +voice but by concerted action, and that action must come only so fast as you +can concert it. I have done my best and shall continue to do my best to concert +it in the interest of a cause in which I personally believe.” +</p> + +<p> +Dead silence. The President stands for a brief instant at the end of his words +as if waiting for some faint stir of approval which does not come. He has the +baffled air of a dis- appointed actor who has failed to “get +across.” Then he turns abruptly on his heel and the great doors swallow +him up. Silently the women file through the corridor and into the fresh air. +</p> + +<p> +The women returned to the spacious headquarters across the park all of one +mind. How little the President knew about women! How he underestimated their +intelligence and penetration of things political,! Was it possible that he +really thought these earnest champions of liberty would merely carry +resolutions of sorrow and regret to the President? +</p> + +<p> +But this was not the real irony. How lightly he had shifted the responsibility +for getting results to his party. With what coldness he had bade us +“concert opinion,” a thing which he alone could do. That was pretty +hard to bear, coming as it did when countless forms of appeal had been +exhausted by which women without sufficient power could “concert” +anything. The movement was almost at the point of languishing so universal was +the belief in the nation that suffrage for women was inevitable. And yet he and +his party remained immovable. +</p> + +<p> +The three hundred women of the memorial deputation became on their return to +headquarters a spirited protest meeting. +</p> + +<p> +Plans of action in the event the President refused to help had been under +consideration by Miss Paul and her executive committee for some time, but they +were now presented for the first time for approval. There was never a more +dramatic moment at which to ask the women if they were ready for drastic +action. +</p> + +<p> +Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a powerful +leader of women, voiced the feeling of the entire body when she said, in a +ringing call for action: +</p> + +<p> +“We have gone to Congress, we have gone to the President during the last +four years with great deputations, with small deputations. We have shown the +interest all over the country in self-government for women—something that +the President as a great Democrat ought to understand and respond to instantly. +Yet he tells us to-day that we must win his party. He said it was strange that +we did not see before election that his party was more favorable to us than the +Republican party. How did it show its favor? How did he show his favor today to +us? He says we have got to convert his party . . . Why? Never before did the +Democratic Party lie more in the hands of one man than it lies to-day in the +hands of President Wilson. Never did the Democratic Party have a greater +leader, and never was it more susceptible to the wish of that leader, than is +the Democratic Party of to-day to President Wilson. He controls his party, and +I don’t think he is too modest to know it. He can mould it as he wishes +and he has moulded it. He moulded it quickly before election in the matter of +the eight-hour law. Was that in his party platform? He had to crush and force +his party to pass that measure. Yet he is not willing to lay a finger’s +weight on his party to-day for half the people of the United States . . . . Yet +to-day he tells us that we must wait more—and more. +</p> + +<p> +“We can’t organize bigger and more influential deputations. We +can’t organize bigger processions. We can’t, women, do anything +more in that line. We have got to take a new departure. We have got to keep the +question before him all the time. We have got to begin and begin immediately. +</p> + +<p> +“Women, it rests with us. We have got to bring to the President, +individually, day by day, week in and week out, the idea that great numbers of +women want to be free, wall be free, and want to know what he is going to do +about it. +</p> + +<p> +“Won’t you come and join us in standing day after day at the gates +of the White House with banners asking, ‘What will you do, Mr. President, +for one-half the people of this nation?’ Stand there as +sentinels—sentinels of liberty, sentinels of self-government—silent +sentinels. Let us stand beside the gateway where he must pass in and out, so +that he can never fail to realize that there is a tremendous earnestness and +insistence back of this measure. Will you not show your allegiance today to +this ideal of liberty? Will you not be a silent sentinel of liberty and +self-government?” +</p> + +<p> +Deliberations continued. Details were settled. Three thousand dollars was +raised in a few minutes among these women, fresh from the President’s +rebuff. No one suggested waiting until the next Presidential campaign. No one +even mentioned the fact that time was precious, and we could wait no longer. +Every one seemed to feel these things without troubling to put them into words. +Volunteers signed up for sentinel duty and the fight was on. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part03"></a>Part III<br/> +Militancy</h2> + +<p class="poem"> +“I will write a song for the President, full of menacing signs,<br/> +And back of it all, millions of discontented eyes.” +</p> + +<p class="right"> +W<small>ALT</small> W<small>HITMAN</small> +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>Chapter 1<br/> +Picketing a President</h2> + +<p> +When all suffrage controversy has died away it will be the little army of women +with their purple, white and gold banners, going to prison for their political +freedom, that will be remembered. They dramatized to victory the long suffrage +fight in America. The challenge of the picket line roused the government out of +its half-century sleep of indifference. It stirred the country to hot +controversy. It made zealous friends and violent enemies. It produced the +sharply-drawn contest which forced the surrender of the government in the +second Administration of President Wilson. +</p> + +<p> +The day following the memorial deputation to the President, January 10th, 1917, +the first line of sentinels, a dozen in number, appeared for duty at the White +House gates. In retrospect it must seem to the most inflexible person a +reasonably mild and gentle thing to have done. But at the same time it caused a +profound stir. Columns of front page space in all the newspapers of the country +gave more or less dispassionate accounts of the main facts. Women carrying +banners were standing quietly at the White House gates “picketing” +the President; women wanted President Wilson to put his power behind the +suffrage amendment in Congress. That did not seem so shocking and only a few +editors broke out into hot condemnation. +</p> + +<p> +When, however, the women went back on the picket line the next day and the next +and the next, it began to dawn upon the excited press that such persistence was +“undesirable” . . . “unwomanly” +…“dangerous.” Gradually the people most hostile to the idea of +suffrage in any form marshaled forth the fears which accompany every departure +from the prescribed path. Partisan Democrats frowned. Partisan Republicans +chuckled. The rest remained in cautious silence to see how “others” +would take it. Following the refrain of the press, the protest-chorus grew +louder. +</p> + +<p> +“Silly women” . . . “unsexed” . . .” +pathological” . . . “They must be crazy” . . . +“Don’t they know anything about politics?” . . . “What +can Wilson do? He does not have to sign the constitutional amendment.” . +. . So ran the comment from the wise elderly gentlemen sitting buried in their +cushioned chairs at the gentlemen’s club across the Park, watching +eagerly the “shocking,” “shameless” women at the gates +of the White House. No wonder these gentlemen found the pickets irritating! +This absorbing topic of conversation, we are told, shattered many an otherwise +quiet afternoon and broke up many a quiet game. Here were American women before +their very eyes daring to shock them into having to think about liberty. And +what was worse—liberty for women. Ah well, this could not go +on,—this insult to the President. They could with impunity condemn him +and gossip about his affairs. But that women should stand at his gates asking +for liberty—that was a sin without mitigation. +</p> + +<p> +Disapproval was not confined merely to the gentlemen in their Club. I merely +mention them as an example, for they were our neighbors, and the strain on them +day by day, as our beautiful banners floated gaily out from our headquarters +was, I am told, a heavy one. +</p> + +<p> +Yet, of course, we enjoyed irritating them. Standing on the icy pavement on a +damp, wintry day in the penetrating cold of a Washington winter, knowing that +within a stone’s throw of our agony there was a greater agony than +ours—there was a joy in that! +</p> + +<p> +There were faint rumblings also in Congress, but like so many of its feelings +they were confined largely to the cloak rooms. Representative Emerson of Ohio +did demand from the floor of the House that the “suffrage guard be +withdrawn, as it is an insult to the President,” but his protest met with +no response whatever from the other members. His oratory fell on indifferent +ears. And of course there were always those in Congress who got a vicarious +thrill watching women do in their fight what they themselves had not the +courage to do in their own. Another representative, an anti-suffrage Democrat, +inconsiderately called us “Iron-jawed angels,” and hoped we would +retire. But if by these protests these congressmen hoped to arouse their +colleagues, they failed. +</p> + +<p> +We were standing at the gates of the White House because the American Congress +had become so supine that it could not or would not act without being compelled +to act by the President. They knew that if they howled at us it would only +afford an opportunity to retort—“Very well then, if you do not like +us at the gates of your leader; if you do not want us to ‘insult’ +the President, end this agitation by taking the matter into your own hands and +passing the amendment.” Such a sug- gestion would be almost as severe a +shock as our picketing. The thought of actually initiating legislation left a +loyal Demo- cratic follower transfixed. +</p> + +<p> +The heavy dignity of the Senate forbade their meddling much in this controversy +over tactics. Also they were more interested in the sporting prospect of our +going into the world war. There was no appeal to blood-lust in the +women’s fight. There were no shining rods of steel. There was no martial +music. We were not pledging precious lives and vast billions in our crusade for +liberty. The beginning of our fight did indeed seem tiny and frail by the side +of the big game of war, and so the senators were at first scarcely aware of our +presence. +</p> + +<p> +But the intrepid women stood their long vigils, day by day, at the White House +gates, through biting wind and driving rain, through sleet and snow as well as +sunshine, waiting for the President to act. Above all the challenges of their +banners rang this simple, but insistent one: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Mr. President<br/> +How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +The royal blaze of purple, white and gold-the Party’s tricolored +banners—made a gorgeous spot of color against the bare, blacklimbed +trees. +</p> + +<p> +There were all kinds of pickets and so there were all kinds of reactions to the +experience of picketing. The beautiful lady, who drove up in her limousine to +do a twenty minute turn on the line, found it thrilling, no doubt. The winter +tourist who had read about the pickets in her home paper thought it would be +“so exciting” to hold a banner for a few minutes. But there were no +illusions in the hearts of the women who stood at their posts day in and day +out. None of them will tell you that they felt exalted, ennobled, exhilarated, +possessed of any rare and exotic emotion. They were human beings before they +were pickets. Their reactions were those of any human beings called upon to set +their teeth doggedly and hang on to an unpleasant job. +</p> + +<p> +“When will that woman come to relieve me? I have stood here an hour and a +half and my feet are like blocks of ice,” was a more frequent comment +from picket to picket than “Isn’t it glorious to stand here +defiantly no matter what the stupid people say about us?” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember the thousand and one engaging things that would come to my +mind on the picket line. It seemed that anything but standing at a +President’s gate would be more diverting. But there we stood. +</p> + +<p> +And what were the reflections of a President as he saw the indomitable little +army at his gates? We can only venture to say from events which happened. At +first he seemed amused and interested. Perhaps he thought it a trifling +incident staged by a minority of the extreme “left” among +suffragists and anticipated no popular support for it. When he saw their +persistence through a cruel winnter his sympathy was touched. He ordered the +guards to invite them in for a cup of hot coffee, which they declined. He +raised his hat to them as he drove through the line. Sometimes he smiled. As +yet he was not irritated. He was fortified in his national power. +</p> + +<p> +With the country’s entrance into the war and his immediate elevation to +world leadership, the pickets began to be a serious thorn in his flesh. His own +statements of faith in democracy and the necessity for establishing it +.throughout the world left him open to attack. His refusal to pay the just bill +owed the women and demanded by them brought irritation. +</p> + +<p> +What would you do if you owed a just bill and every day some one stood outside +your gates as a quiet reminder to the whole world that you had not paid it? +</p> + +<p> +You would object. You would get terribly irritated. You would call the +insistent one all kinds of harsh names. You might even arrest him. But the +scandal would be out. +</p> + +<p> +Rightly or wrongly, your sincerity would be touched; faith in you would be +shaken a bit. Perhaps even against your will you would yield. +</p> + +<p> +But you would yield. And that was the one important fact to the women. +</p> + +<p> +This daily sight, inspiring, gallant and impressive, escaped no visitor to the +national capital. Distinguished visitors from the far corners of the earth +passed by the pickets on those days which made history. Thousands read the +compelling messages on the banners, and literally hundreds of thousands learned +the story, when the visitors got “back home.” +</p> + +<p> +Real displeasure over the sentinels by those who passed was negligible. There +was some mirth and joking, but the vast majority were filled with admiration, +either silent or expressed. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep it up.” . . . “You are on the right track.” . . . +“Congratulations.” . . . “I certainly admire your +pluck—stick to it and you will get it.” . . . This last from a +military officer . . . . “It is an outrage that you women should have to +stand here and beg for your rights. We gave it to our women in Australia long +ago:” . . . This from a charming gentleman who bowed approvingly. +</p> + +<p> +Often a lifted hat was held in sincere reverence over the heart as some +courteous gentleman passed along the picket line. Of course there were some who +came to try to argue with the pickets; who attempted to dissuade them from +their persistent course. But the serene, good humor and even temper of the +women would not allow heated arguments to break in on the military precision of +their line. If a question was asked, a picket would answer quietly. An +occasional sneer was easy to meet. That required no acknowledgment. +</p> + +<p> +A sweet old veteran of the Civil War said to one of my comrades: “Yous +all right; you gotta fight for your rights in this world, and now that we are +about to plunge into another war, I want to tell you women there’ll be no +end to it unless you women get power. We can’t save ourselves and we need +you . . . . I am 84 years old, and I have watched this fight since I was a +young man. Anything I can do to help, I want to do. I am living at the Old +Soldiers’ Home and I ain’t got mach money, but here’s +something for your campaign. It’s all I got, and God bless you, +you’ve gotta win.” He spoke the last sentence almost with +desperation as he shoved a crumpled $2.00 bill into her hand. His spirit made +it a precious gift. +</p> + +<p> +Cabinet members passed and repassed. Congressmen by the hundreds came and went. +Administration leaders tried to conceal under an. artificial indifference their +sensitiveness to our strategy. +</p> + +<p> +And domestic battles were going on inside the homes throughout the country, for +women were coming from every state in the Union, to take their place on the +line. For the first time good “suffrage-husbands” were made +uncomfortable. Had they not always believed in suffrage? Had they not always +been uncomplaining when their wife’s time was given to suffrage +campaigning? Had they not, in short, been good sports about the whole thing? +There was only one answer. They had. But it had been proved that all the things +that women had done and all the things in which their menfolk had cooperated, +were not enough. Women were called upon for more intensive action. “You +cannot go to Washington and risk your health standing in front of the White +House. I cannot have it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the time has come when we have to take risks of health or anything +else.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, if you must know, I don’t believe in it. Now I am a +reasonable man and I have stood by you all the way up to now, but I object to +this. It isn’t ladylike, and it will do the cause more harm than good. +You women lay yourselves open to ridicule.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s just it—that’s a fine beginning. As soon as men +get tired laughing at us, they will do something more about it. They +won’t find our campaign so amusing before long.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I protest. You’ve no right to go without considering +me.” +</p> + +<p> +“But if your country called you in a fight for democracy, as it is likely +to do at any moment, you’d go, wouldn’t you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, of course.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course you would. You would go to the front and leave me to struggle +on as best I could without you. That is the way you would respond to your +country’s call, whether it was a righteous cause or not. Well, I am going +to the front too. I am going to answer the women’s call to fight for +democracy. I would be ashamed of myself if I were not willing to join my +comrades. I am sorry that you object, but if you will just put yourself in my +place you will see that I cannot do otherwise.” +</p> + +<p> +It must be recorded that there were exceptional men of sensitive imaginations +who urged women against their own hesitancy. They are the handful who gave +women a hope that they would not always have to struggle alone for their +liberation. And women passed by the daily picket line as spectators, not as +participants. Occasionally a woman came forward to remonstrate, but more often +women were either too shy to advance or so enthusiastic that nothing could +restrain them. The more kind-hearted of them, inspired by the dauntless pickets +in the midst of a now freezing temperature, brought mittens, fur pieces, +golashes, wool -lined raincoats: hot bricks to stand on, coffee in thermos +bottles and what not. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the pickets became a household word in Washington, and very soon were +the subject of animated conversation in practically every corner of the nation. +The Press cartoonists, by their friendly and satirical comments, helped a great +deal in popularizing the campaign. In spite of the bitter editorial comment of +most of the press, the humor of the situation had an almost universal appeal. +</p> + +<p> +At the Washington dinner of the Gridiron Club, probably the best known press +club in the world,—a dinner at which President Wilson was a +guest,—one of the songs sung for his benefit was as follows: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“We’re camping to-night on the White House grounds<br/> +Give us a rousing cheer;<br/> +Our golden flag we hold aloft, of cops we have no fear.<br/> +Many of the pickets are weary to-night,<br/> +Wishing for the war to cease; many are the chilblains and frost- bites +too;<br/> +It is no life of ease.<br/> +Camping to-night, camping to-night,<br/> +Camping on the White House grounds.” +</p> + +<p> +The White House police on duty at the gates came to treat the picketers as +comrades. +</p> + +<p> +“I was kinds worried,” confessed one burly officer when the pickets +were five minutes late one day. “We thought perhaps you weren’t +coming and we world have to hold down this place alone.” +</p> + +<p> +The bitter-enders among the opponents of suffrage broke into such violent +criticism that they won new friends to the amendment. +</p> + +<p> +People who had never before thought of suffrage for women had to think of it, +if only to the extent of objecting to the way in which we asked for it. People +who had thought a little about suffrage were compelled to think more about it. +People who had believed in suffrage all their lives, but had never done a, +stroke of work for it, began to make speeches about it, if only for the purpose +of condemning us. +</p> + +<p> +Some politicians who had voted for it when there were not enough votes to carry +the measure loudly threatened to commit political suicide by withdrawing their +support. But it was easy to see at a glance that they would not dare to run so +great a political risk on an issue growing daily more important. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the regular picket line began to be accepted as a matter of course, +we undertook to touch it up a bit to sustain public interest. State days were +inaugurated, beginning with Maryland. The other states took up the idea with +enthusiasm. There was a College Day, when women representing 15 American +colleges stood on the line; a Teachers’ Day, which found the long line +represented by almost every state in the Union, and a Patriotic Day, when +American flags mingled with the party’s banners carried by +representatives of the Women’s Reserve Corps, Daughters of the Revolution +and other patriotic organizations. And there were professional days when women +doctors, lawyers and nurses joined the picket appeal. +</p> + +<p> +Lincoln’s birthday anniversary saw another new feature. A long line of +women took out banners bearing the slogans: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +LINCOLN STOOD FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE 60 YEARS AGO.<br/> +MR. PRESIDENT, WHY DO YOU BLOCK THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT TO-DAY?<br/> +<br/> +WHY ARE YOU BEHIND LINCOLN? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +and another: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, WOMEN ASKED FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM. THEY WERE TOLD TO +WAIT—THIS WAS THE NEGRO’S HOUR. IN 1917 AMERICAN WOMEN STILL ASK +FOR FREEDOM.<br/> +WILL YOU, MR. PRESIDENT, TELL THEM TO WAIT-THAT THIS IS THE PORTO RICANS +HOUR?[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] President Wilson had just advocated self-government for Porto Rican men. +</p> + +<p> +A huge labor demonstration on the picket line late in February brought women +wage earners from office and factory throughout the Eastern States. +</p> + +<p> +A special Susan B. Anthony Day on the anniversary of the birth of that great +pioneer, served to remind. the President who said, “You can afford to +wait,” that the women had been waiting and fighting for this legislation +to pass Congress since the year 1878. +</p> + +<p> +More than one person came forward to speak with true religious fervor of the +memory of the great Susan B. Anthony. Her name is never mentioned nor her words +quoted without finding such a response. +</p> + +<p> +In the face of heavy snow and rain, dozens of young women stood in line, +holding special banners made for this occasion. Thousands of men and women +streaming home from work in the early evening read words of hers spoken during +the Civil War, so completely applicable to the policy of the young banner- +bearers at the gates. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +WE PRESS OUR DEMAND FOR THE BALLOT AT THIS TIME IN NO NARROW, CAPIOUS OR +SELFISH SPIRIT, BUT FROM PUREST PATRIOTISM FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF EVERY +CITIZEN, FOR THE SAFETY OF THE REPUBLIC AND A3 A GLORIOUS EXAMPLE TO THE +NATIONS OF THE EARTH. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +AT THIS TIME OUR GREATEST NEED IS NOT MEN O$ MONEY, VALIANT GENERALS OR +BRILLIANT VICTORIES, BUT A CONSISTENT NATIONAL POLICY BASED UPON THE PRINCIPLE +THAT ALL GOVERNMENTS DERIVE THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE RIGHT OF SELF-GOVERNMENT FOR ONE-HALF OF ITS PEOPLE IS OF FAR MORE VITAL +CONSEQUENCE TO THE NATION THAN ANY OR ALL OTHER QUESTIONS. +</p> + +<p> +During the reunion week of the Daughters and Veterans of the Confederacy, the +picket line was the center of attraction for the sight-seeing veterans and +their families. For the first time in history the troops of the Confederacy had +crossed the Potomac and taken possession of the capital city. The streets were +lined with often tottering but still gallant old men, whitehaired and stooped, +wearing their faded badges on their gray uniforms, and carrying their tattered +flags. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to the young women on picket duty during those days that not a single +veteran had failed to pay his respects to the pickets. They came and came; and +some brought back their wives to show them the guard at the gates. +</p> + +<p> +One old soldier with tears in his dim eyes came to say, “I’ve done +sentinel duty in my time. I know what it is . . . And now it’s your turn. +You young folks have the strength and the courage to keep it up . . . . You are +going to put it through!” +</p> + +<p> +One sweet old Alabamian came shyly up to one of the pickets and said, “I +say, Miss, this is the White House, isn’t it?” +</p> + +<p> +Before she could answer, he added: “We went three times around the place +and I told the boys, the big white house in the center was the White House, but +they wasn’t believing me and I wasn’t sure, but as soon as I saw +you girls coming with your flags, to stand here, I said, ‘This must be +the White House. This is sure enough where the President lives; here are the +pickets with their banners that we read about down home.’’ A note +of triumph was in his frail voice. +</p> + +<p> +The picket smiled, and thanked him warmly, as he finished with, “You are +brave girls. You are bound to get him”—pointing his shaking finger +toward the White House. +</p> + +<p> +President Wilson’s second inauguration was rapidly approaching. Also war +clouds were gathering with all the increased emotionalism that comes at such a +crisis. Some additional demonstration of power and force must be made before +the President’s inauguration and before the excitement of our entry into +the war should plunge our agitation into obscurity. This was the strategic +moment to assemble our forces in convention in Washington. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and the Woman’s +Party, that section of the Congressional Union in suffrage states made up of +women voters, convened in Washington and decided unanimously to unite their +strength, money and political power in one organization, and called it the +National Woman’s Party. +</p> + +<p> +The following officers were unanimously elected to direct the activities of the +new organization: Chairman of the National Woman’s Party, Miss Alice +Paul, New Jersey; Vice-chairman, Miss Anne Martin, Nevada; secretary, Miss +Mabel Vernon, Nevada; treasurer, Miss Gertrude Crocker, Illinois; executive +members, Miss Lucy Burns, Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, Mrs. John Winters Brannan, New +York; Mrs. Gilson Gardner, Illinois; Mrs. Robert Baker, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. +William Kent and Miss Maud Younger, California; Mrs. Florence Bayard Hilles, +Delaware; Mrs. Donald Hooker, Maryland; Mrs. J. A. H. Hopkins, New Jersey; Mrs. +Lawrence Lewis, Pennsylvania, and Miss Doris Stevens, Nebraska. +</p> + +<p> +The convention came to a close on the eve of inauguration, culminating in the +dramatic picket line made up of one thousand delegates who sought an interview +with the President. The purpose of the interview was to carry to him the +resolutions of the convention, and further plead with him to open his second +administration with a promise to back the amendment. +</p> + +<p> +In our optimism we hoped that this glorified picket-pageant might form a climax +to our three months of picketing. The President admired persistence. He said +so. He also said he appreciated the rare tenacity shown by our women. Surely +“now” he would be convinced! No more worrying persistence would be +needed ! The combined political strength of the western women and the financial +strength of the eastern women would surely command his respect and entitle us +to a hearing. +</p> + +<p> +What actually happened? +</p> + +<p> +It was a day of high wind and stinging, icy rain, that March 4th, 1917, when a +thousand women, each bearing a banner, struggled against the gale to keep their +banners erect. It is always impressive to see a thousand people march, but the +impression was imperishable when these thousand women marched in rain-soaked +garments, hands bare, gloves roughly torn by the sticky varnish from the banner +poles and the streams of water running down the poles into the palms of their +hands. It was a sight to impress even the most hardened spectator who had seen +all the various forms of the suffrage agitation in Washington. For more than +two hours the women circled the White House—the rain never ceasing for an +instant—hoping to the last moment that at least their leaders would be +allowed to take in to the President the resolutions which they were carrying. +</p> + +<p> +Long before the appointed hour for the march to start, thousands of spectators +sheltered by umbrellas and raincoats lined the streets to watch the procession. +Two bands whose men managed to continue their spirited music in spite of the +driving rain led the march playing “Forward Be Our Watchword”; +“The Battle Hymn of the Republic”; “Onward Christian +Soldiers”; “The Pilgrim’s Chorus” from Tannhäuser; +“The Coronation March” from Le Prophète, the Russian Hymn and +“The Marsellaise” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Vida Milholland led the procession carrying her sister’s last words, +“Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?” She was +followed by Miss Beulah Amidon of North Dakota, who carried the banner that the +beloved Inez Milholland carried in her first suffrage procession in New York. +The long line of women fell in behind. +</p> + +<p> +Most extraordinary precautions had been taken about the White House. Everything +had been done except the important thing. There were almost as many police +officers as marchers. The Washington force had been augmented by a Baltimore +contingent and squads of plainclothes men. On every fifty feet of curb around +the entire White House grounds there was a policeman., About the same distance +apart on the inside of the tall picket-fence which surrounds the grounds were +as many more. +</p> + +<p> +We proceeded to the main gate. Locked! I was marshalling at the head of the +line and so heard first hand what passed between the leaders and the guards. +Miss Anne, Martin addressed the guard— +</p> + +<p> +“We have come to present some important resolutions to the President of +the United States.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have orders to keep the gates locked, Ma’am.” +</p> + +<p> +“But there must be some mistake. Surely the President does not mean to +refuse to see at least . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“Those are my only orders, Ma’am.” +</p> + +<p> +The procession continued on to the second gate on Pennsylvania Avenue. Again +locked. Before we could address the somewhat nervous policeman who stood at the +gates, he hastened to say, “You can’t come in here; the gates are +locked.” +</p> + +<p> +“But it is imperative; we are a thousand women from all States in the +Union who have come all the way to Washington to see the President and lay +before him . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“No orders, Ma’am.” +</p> + +<p> +The line made its way to the third and last gate—the gate leading to the +Executive offices. As we came up to this gate a small army of grinning clerks +and secretaries manned the windows of the Executive offices, evidently amused +at the sight of the women struggling in the wind and rain to keep their banners +intact. Miss Martin, Mrs. William Kent of California, Mrs. Florence Bayard +Hilles of Delaware, Miss Mary Patterson of Ohio, niece of John C. Patterson of +Dayton, Mrs. J. A. H. Hopkins of New Jersey, Miss Eleanor Barker of Indiana, +and Mrs. Mary Darrow Weible of North Dakota,—the leaders—stayed at +the gate, determined to get results from the guard, while the women continued +to circle the White House. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you not carry a message to the President’s Secretary asking +him to tell the President that we are here waiting to see him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t do that, Ma’am.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you then take our cards to the Secretary to the president, merely +announcing to him that we are here, so that he may send somebody to carry in +our resolutions?” +</p> + +<p> +Still the guard hesitated. Finally he left the gate and carried the message a +distance of a few rods into the Executive offices. He had scarcely got inside +when he rushed back to his post. When we sought to ascertain what had happened +to the cards—had they been given and what the answer was—he quietly +confided to us that he had been reprimanded for even attempting to bring them +in and informed us that the cards were still in his pocket. “I have +orders to answer no questions and to carry no messages. If you have anything to +leave here you might take it to the entrance below the Executive offices, +and-when I go off my beat at six o’clock I will leave it as I go by the +White House.” +</p> + +<p> +We examined this last entrance suggested. It, did not strike us as the proper +place to leave an important message for the President. +</p> + +<p> +“What is this entrance used for?” I asked the guard. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s all right, lady. If you’ve got something you’d +like to leave, leave it with me. It will be safe.” +</p> + +<p> +I retorted that we were not seeking safety for our message, but speed in +delivery. +</p> + +<p> +The guard continued: “This is the gate where Mrs. Wilson’s clothes +and other packages are left.” +</p> + +<p> +It struck us as scarcely fitting that we should leave our resolutions amongst +“Mrs. Wilson’s clothes and other packages,” so we returned to +the last locked gate to ask the guard if he had any message in the meantime for +us. He shook his head regretfully. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the women marched and marched, and the rain fell harder and as the +afternoon wore on the cold seemed almost unendurable. +</p> + +<p> +The white-haired grandmothers in the procession—there were some as old as +84—were as energetic as the young girls of 20. What was this immediate +hardship compared to eternal subjection! Women marched and waited—waited +and marched, under the sting of the biting elements and under the worse sting +of the indignities heaped upon them. It was impossible to believe that in +democratic America they could not see the President to lay before him their +grievance. +</p> + +<p> +It was only when they saw the Presidential limousine, in the late afternoon, +roll luxuriously out of the grounds, and through the gates down Pennsylvania +Avenue, that the weary marchers realized that President Wilson had deliberately +turned them away unheard! +</p> + +<p> +The car for an instant, as it came through the gates, divided the +banner-bearers on march. President and Mrs. Wilson looked straight ahead as if +the long line of purple, white and gold were invisible. +</p> + +<p> +All the women who took part in that march will tell you what was burning in +their hearts on that dreary day. Even if reasons had been offered—and +they were not—genuine reasons why the President could not see them, it +would not have cooled the women’s heat. Their passionate resentment went +deeper than any reason could possibly have gone. +</p> + +<p> +This one single incident probably did more than any other to make women +sacrifice themselves. Even something as thin as diplomacy on the part of +President Wilson might have saved him many restless hours to follow, but he did +not take the trouble to exercise even that. +</p> + +<p> +The women returned to headquarters and there wrote a letter which was +dispatched with the resolutions to President Wilson. In a letter to the +National Woman’s Party, acknowledging the receipt of them, he concluded +by saying: “May I not once more express my sincere interest in the cause +of woman suffrage?” +</p> + +<p> +Three months of picketing had not been enough. We must not only continue on +duty at his gates but also, at the gates of Congress. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>Chapter 2<br/> +The Suffrage War Policy</h2> + +<p> +President Wilson called the War Session of the Sixty-fifth Congress on April 2, +1917. +</p> + +<p> +On the opening day of Congress not only were the pickets again on duty at the +White House, but another picket line was inaugurated at the Capitol. Returning +senators and congressmen were surprised when greeted with great golden banners +reading: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +RUSSIA AND ENGLAND ARE ENFRANCHISING THEIR WOMEN IN WAR-TIME. HOW LONG MUST +AMERICAN WOMEN WAIT FOR THEIR LIBERTY +</p> + +<p> +The last desperate flurries in the pro-war and anti-war camps were focused on +the Capitol grounds that day. There swarmed about the grounds and through the +buildings pacifists from all over the country wearing white badges, and +advocates of war, wearing the national colors. Our sentinels at the Capitol +stood strangely silent, and almost aloof, strong in their dedication to +democracy, while the peace and war agitation circled about them. +</p> + +<p> +With lightning speed the President declared that a state of war existed. Within +a fortnight following, Congress declared war on Germany and President Wilson +voiced his memorable, “We shall fight for the things we have always +carried nearest our hearts—for democracy—for the right of those who +submit to authority to have a voice in their own government.” Inspiring +words indeed! The war message concluded with still another defense of the fight +for political liberty: “To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our +fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of +those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her +blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and +the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no less.” +</p> + +<p> +Now that the United States was actually involved in war, we were face to face +with the question, which we had considered at the convention the previous +month, when war was rumored, as to what position we, as an organization, should +take in this situation. +</p> + +<p> +The atmosphere of that convention had been dramatic in the extreme. Most of the +delegates assembled had been approached either before going to Washington or +upon arriving, and urged to use their influence to persuade the organization to +abandon its work for the freedom of women and turn its activities into war +channels. Although war was then only rumored, the hysterical attitude was +already prevalent. Women were asked to furl their banners and give up their +half century struggle for democracy, to forget the liberty that was most +precious to their hearts. +</p> + +<p> +“The President will turn this Imperialistic war into a crusade for +democracy.” . . . “Lay aside your own fight and help us crush +Germany, and you will find yourselves rewarded with a vote out of the +nation’s gratitude,” were some of the appeals made to our women by +government officials high and low and by the rank and file of men and women. +Never in history did a band of women stand together with more sanity and +greater solidarity than did these 1000 delegates representing thousands more +throughout the States. +</p> + +<p> +As our official organ, <i>The Suffragist</i>, pointed out editorially, in its +issue of April 21st, 1917: Our membership was made up of women who had banded +together to secure political freedom for women. We were united on no other +subject. Some would offer passive resistance to the war; others would become +devoted followers of a vigorous military policy. Between these, every shade of +opinion was represented. Each was loyal to the ideas which she held for her +country. With the character of these various ideals, the National Woman’s +Party, we maintained, had nothing to do. It was concerned only with the effort +to obtain for women the opportunity to give effective expression, through +political power, to their ideals, whatever they might be. +</p> + +<p> +The thousand delegates present at the convention, though differing widely on +the duty of the individual in war, were unanimous in voting that in the event +of war, the National Woman’s Party, as an organization, should continue +to work for political liberty for women and for that alone, believing as the +convention stated in its resolutions, that in so doing the organization +“serves the highest interest of the country.” They were also +unanimous in the opinion that all service which individuals wished to give to +war or peace should be given through groups organized for such purposes, and +not through the Woman’s Party, a body created, according to its +constitution, for one purpose only—“to secure an amendment to the +United States Constitution enfranchising women.” +</p> + +<p> +We declared officially through our organ that this held “as the policy of +the Woman’s Party, whatever turn public events may take.” +</p> + +<p> +Very few days after we were put upon a national war basis it became clear that +never was there greater need of work for internal freedom in the country. +Europe, then approaching her third year of war, was increasing democracy in the +midst of the terrible conflict. In America at that very moment women were being +told that no attempt at electoral reform had any place in the country’s +program “until the war is over.” The Democrats met in caucus and +decided that only “war measures” should be included in the +legislative program, and announced that no subjects would be considered by +them, unless the President urged them as war measures. +</p> + +<p> +Our task was, from that time on, to make national suffrage a war measure. +</p> + +<p> +We at once urged upon the Administration the wisdom of accepting this proposed +reform as a war measure, and pointed out the difficulty of waging a war for +democracy abroad while democracy was denied at home. But the government was not +willing to profit by the experience of its Allies in extending suffrage to +women, without first offering a terrible and brutal resistance. +</p> + +<p> +We must confess that the problem of dramatizing our fight for democracy in +competition with the drama of a world-war, was most perplexing. Here were we, +citizens without power and recognition, with the only weapons to which a +powerless class which does not take up arms can resort. We could not and would +not fight with men’s weapons. Compare the methods women adopted to those +men use in the pursuit of democracy,—bayonets, machine guns, poison gas, +deadly grenades, liquid fire, bombs, armored tanks, pistols, barbed wire +entanglements, submarines, mines—every known scientific device with which +to annihilate the enemy! +</p> + +<p> +What did we do? +</p> + +<p> +We continued to fight with our simple, peaceful, almost quaint device -a +banner. A little more fiery, perhaps; pertinent to the latest political +controversy, but still only a banner inscribed with militant truth! +</p> + +<p> +Just as our political strategy had been to oppose, at elections, the party in +power which had failed to use its power to free women, so now our military +strategy was based on the military doctrine of concentrating all one’s +forces on the enemy’s weakest point. To women the weakest point in the +Administration’s political lines during the war was the inconsistency +between a crusade for world democracy and the denial of democracy at home. This +was the untenable position of President Wilson and the Democratic +Administration, from which we must force them to retreat. We could force such a +retreat when we had exposed to the world this weakest point. +</p> + +<p> +Just as the bluff of a democratic crusade must be called, so must the +knight-leader of the crusade be exposed to the critical eyes of the world. Here +was the President, suddenly elevated to the position of a world leader with the +almost pathetic trust of the peoples of the world. Here was the champion of +their democratic aspirations. Here was a kind of universal Moses, expected to +lead all peoples out of bondage—no matter what the bondage, no matter of +how long standing. +</p> + +<p> +The President’s elevation to this unique pinnacle of power was at once an +advantage and a disadvantage to us. It was an advantage to us in that it made +our attack more dramatic. One supposed to be impeccable was more vulnerable. It +was a disadvantage to have to overcome this universal trust and world-wide +popularity. But this conflict of wits and brains against power only enhanced +our ingenuity. +</p> + +<p> +On the day the English mission headed by Mr. Balfour, and the French mission +headed by M. Viviani, visited the White House, we took these inscriptions to +the picket line: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +WE SHALL FIGHT FOR THE THINGS WE HAVE ALWAYS CARRIED NEAREST OUR HEARTS<br/> +DEMOCRACY SHOULD BEGIN AT HOME<br/> +WE DEMAND JUSTICE AND SELF-GOVERNMENT IN OUR OWN LAND +</p> + +<p> +Embarrassing to say these things before foreign visitors? We hoped it would be. +In our capacity to embarrass Mr. Wilson in his Administration, lay our only +hope of success. We had to keep before the country the flagrant inconsistency +of the President’s position. We intended to know why, if democracy were +so precious as to demand the nation’s blood and treasure for its +achievement abroad, its execution at home was so undesirable. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile:— +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you solemnly, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot any longer postpone +justice in these United States”—President Wilson. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t wish to sit down and let any man take care of me without +my at least having a voice in it, and if he doesn’t listen to my advice, +I am going to make it as unpleasant as I can.”—President +Wilson,—and other challenges were carried on banners to the picket line. +</p> + +<p> +Some rumblings of political action began to be heard. The Democratic majority +had appointed a Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage whose members were +overwhelmingly for federal action. The chairman, Senator Andreas Jones of New +Mexico, promised an early report to the Senate. There were scores of gains in +Congress. Representatives and Senators were tumbling over each other to +introduce similar suffrage resolutions. We actually had difficulty in choosing +the man whose name should stamp our measure. +</p> + +<p> +A minority party also was moved to act. Members of the Progressive Party met in +convention in St. Louis on April 12, 13 and 14 and adopted a suffrage plank +which demanded “the nation- wide enfranchisement of women . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +In addition to this plank they adopted a resolution calling for the +establishment of democracy at home “at a time when the United States is +entering into an international war for democracy” and instructing the +chairman of the convention “to request a committee consisting of +representatives of all liberal groups to go to Washington to present to the +President and the Congress of the United States a demand for immediate +submission of an amendment to the United States constitution enfranchising +women.” +</p> + +<p> +They appointed a committee from the convention to carry these resolutions to +the President. The committee included Mr. J. A. H. Hopkins of the Progressive +Party, as chairman; Dr. E. A. Rumley of the Progressive-Republican Party and +Vice President of the New York Evening Mail; Mr. John Spargo of the Socialist +Party; Mr. Virgil Hinshaw, chairman of the Executive Committee of the +Prohibition Party; and Miss Mabel Vernon, Secretary of the National +Woman’s Party. It was the first suffrage conference with the President +after the declaration of war, and was the last deputation on suffrage by +minority party leaders. The conference was one of the utmost informality and +friendliness. +</p> + +<p> +The President was deeply moved, indeed, almost to the point of tears, when Miss +Mabel Vernon said, “Mr. President, the feelings of many women in this +country are best expressed by your own words in your war message to Congress . +. . . To every woman who reads that message must come at once this question: If +the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own +government is so sacred a cause to foreign people as to constitute the reason +for our entering the international war in its defense, will you not, Mr. +President, give immediate aid to the measure before Congress demanding +self-government for the women of this country?” +</p> + +<p> +The President admitted that suffrage was constantly pressing upon his mind for +reconsideration. He added, however, that the program for the session was +practically complete and intimated that it did not include the enfranchisement +of women. +</p> + +<p> +He informed the Committee that he had written a letter to Mr. Pou, Chairman of +the Rules Committee of the House, expressing himself as favoring the creation +of a Woman Suffrage Committee in that body. While we had no objection to having +the House create a Suffrage Committee, we were not primarily interested in the +amplification of Congressional machinery, unless this amplification was to be +followed by the passage of the amendment. The President could as easily have +written the Senate Committee on Suffrage or the Judiciary Committee of the +House, advising an immediate report on the suffrage resolution, as have asked +for the creation of another committee to report on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +He made no mention of his state-by-state conviction, however, as he had in +previous interviews, and the Committee of Progressives understood him to have +at least tacitly accepted federal action. +</p> + +<p> +The House Judiciary Committee continued to refuse to act and the House Rules +Committee steadily refused to create a Suffrage Committee. +</p> + +<p> +Hoping to win back to the fold the wandering Progressives who had thus +demonstrated their allegiance to suffrage and seeing an opportunity to +embarrass the Administration, the, Republicans began to interest themselves in +action on the amendment. In the midst of Democratic delays, Representative +James R. Mann, Republican leader of the House, moved to discharge the Judiciary +Committee from further consideration of the suffrage amendment. No matter if +the discussion which followed did revolve about the authorization of an +expenditure of $10,000 for the erection of a monument to a dead President as a +legitimate war measure. It was clear from the partisan attitude of those who +took part in the debate that we were advancing to that position where we were +as good political material to be contested over by opposing political groups as +was a monument to a dead President. And if the Democrats could defend such an +issue as a war measure, the Republicans wanted to know why they should ignore +suffrage for women as a war measure. And it was encouraging to find ourselves +thus suddenly and spontaneously sponsored by the Republican leader. +</p> + +<p> +The Administration was aroused. It did not know how far the Republicans were +prepared to go in their drive for action, so on the day of this flurry in the +House the snail-like Rules Committee suddenly met in answer to the call of its +chairman, Mr. Pou, and by a vote of 6 to 5 decided to report favorably on the +resolution providing for a Woman Suffrage Committee in the House “after +all pending war measures have been disposed of.” +</p> + +<p> +Before the meeting, Mr. Pou made a last appeal to the Woman’s Party to +remove the pickets . . . . “We can’t possibly win as long as +pickets guard the White House and Capitol,” Mr. Pou had said. The pickets +continued their vigil and the motion carried. +</p> + +<p> +Still uncertain as to the purposes of the Republicans, the Democrats were moved +to further action. +</p> + +<p> +The Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee, meeting in +Washington a few days later, voted 4 to 9. to “officially urge upon the +President that he call the two Houses of Congress together and recommend the +immediate submission of the Susan B. Anthony amendment.” This action +which in effect reversed the plank in the Democratic platform evidently aroused +protests from powerful quarters. Also the Republicans quickly subsided when +they saw the Democrats making an advance. And so the Democratic Executive +Committee began to spread abroad the news that its act was not really official, +but merely reflected the “personal conviction” of the members +present. It extracted the official flavor, and so of course no action followed +in Congress. +</p> + +<p> +And so it went—like a great game of chess. Doubtless the politicians +believed they were moved from their own true and noble motives. The fact was +that the pickets had moved the Democrats a step. The Republicans had then +attempted to take two steps, whereupon the Democrats must continue to move more +rapidly than their opponents. Behind this matching of political wits by the two +parties stood the faithful pickets compelling them both to act. +</p> + +<p> +Simultaneously with these moves and counter-moves in political circles, the +people in all sections of this vast country began to speak their minds. +Meetings were springing up everywhere, at which resolutions were passed backing +up the picket line and urging the President and Congress to act. Even the +South, the Administration’s stronghold, sent fiery telegrams demanding +action. Alabama, South Carolina, Texas, Maryland, Mississippi, as well as the +West, Middle West, New England and the East—the stream was endless. +</p> + +<p> +Every time a new piece of legislation was passed,—the war tax bill, food +conservation or what not,—women from unexpected quarters sent to the +Government their protest against the passage of measures so vital to women +without women’s consent, coupled with an appeal for the liberation of +women. Club women, college women, federations of labor,—various kinds of +organizations sent protests to the Administration leaders. The picket line, +approaching its sixth month of duty, had aroused the country to an +unprecedented interest in suffrage; it had rallied widespread public support to +the amendment as a war measure, and had itself become almost univer- sally +accepted if not universally approved. And in the midst of picketing ands in +spite of all the prophecies and fears that “picketing” would +“set back the cause,” within one month, Michigan, Nebraska and +Rhode Island granted Presidential suffrage to women. +</p> + +<p> +The leaders were busy marshaling their forces behind the President’s war +program, which included the controversial Conscription and Espionage Bills, +then pending, and did not relish having our question so vivid in the public +mind. Even when the rank and file of Congress gave consideration to questions +not in the war program, they had to face a possible charge of inconsistency, +insincerity or bad faith. The freedom of Ireland, for example, was not in the +program. And when 132 members of the House cabled Lloyd George that nothing +would do more for American enthusiasm in the war than a settlement of the Irish +question, we took pains to ascertain the extent of the belief in liberty at +home of these easy champions of Irish liberty. When we found that of the 132 +men only 5’7 believed in liberty for American women, we were not delicate +in pointing out to the remaining “(5 that their belief in liberty for +Ireland would appear more sincere if they believed in a democratic reform such +as woman suffrage here. +</p> + +<p> +The manifestations of popular approval of suffrage, the constant stream of +protests to the Administration against its delay nationally, and the shame of +having women begging at its gates, could result in only one of two things. The +Administration had little choice. It must yield to this pressure from the +people or it must suppress the agitation which was causing such interest. It +must pass the amendment or remove the troublesome pickets. +</p> + +<p> +It decided to remove the pickets. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>Chapter 3<br/> +The First Arrests</h2> + +<p> +The Administration chose suppression. They resorted to force in an attempt to +end picketing. It was a policy doomed to failure as certainly as all resorts to +force to kill agitation have failed ultimately. This marked the beginning of +the adoption by the Administration of tactics from which they could never +extricate themselves with honor. Unfortunately for them they were entering upon +this policy toward women which savored of czarist practices, at the very moment +they were congratulating the Russians upon their liberation from the oppression +of a Czar. This fact supplied us with a fresh angle of attack. +</p> + +<p> +President Wilson sent a Mission to Russia to add America’s appeal to that +of the other Allies to keep that impoverished country in the war. Such was +our-democratic zeal to persuade Russia to continue the war and to convince her +people of its democratic purposes, and of the democratic quality of America, +that Elihu Root, one of the President’s envoys, stated in Petrograd that +he represented a republic where “universal, direct, equal and secret +suffrage obtained.” We subjected the President to attack through this +statement. +</p> + +<p> +Russia also sent a war mission to our country for purposes of coöperation. This +occasion offered us the opportunity again to expose the Administration’s +weakness in claiming complete political democracy while women were still denied +their political freedom. +</p> + +<p> +It was a beautiful June day when all Washington was agog with the visit of the +Russian diplomats to the President. As the car carrying the envoys passed +swiftly through the gates of the White House there stood on the picket line two +silent sentinels, Miss Lucy Burns of New York and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis of +Philadelphia, both members of the National Executive Committee, with a great +lettered banner which read: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +TO THE RUSSIAN ENVOYS<br/> +PRESIDENT WILSON AND ENVOY ROOT ARE DECEIVING RUSSIA WHEN THEY SAY “WE +ARE A DEMOCRACY, HELP US WIN THE WORLD WAR SO THAT DEMOCRACY MAY +SURVIVE”<br/> +WE THE WOMEN OF AMERICA TELL YOU THAT AMER ICA IS NOT A DEMOCRACY. +TWENTY-MILLION AMERI’ CAN WOMEN ARE DENIED THE RIGHT TO VOTE. PRESI DENT +WILSON IS THE CHIEF OPPONENT OF THEIR NA TIONAL ENFRANCHISEMENT.<br/> +HELP US MAKE THIS NATION REALLY FREE. TELL OUR GOVERNMENT IT MUST LIBERATE ITS +PEOPLE BEFORE IT CAN CLAIM FREE RUSSIA AS AN ALLY. +</p> + +<p> +Rumors that the suffragists would make a special demonstration before the +Russian Mission had brought a great crowd to the far gate of the White House; a +crowd composed almost entirely of men. +</p> + +<p> +Like all crowds, this crowd had its share of hoodlums and roughs who tried to +interfere with the women’s order of the day. There was a flurry of +excitement over this defiant message of truth, but nothing that could not with +the utmost ease have been settled by one policeman. +</p> + +<p> +There was the criticism in the press and on the lips of men that we were +embarrassing our Government before the eyes of foreign visitors. In answering +the criticism, Miss Paul publicly stated our position thus: “The +intolerable conditions against which we protest can be changed in the twinkling +of an eye. The responsibility for our protest is, therefore, with the +Administration and not with the women of America, if the lack of democracy at +home weakens the Administration in its fight for democracy three thousand miles +away.” +</p> + +<p> +This was too dreadful. A flurry at the gates of the Chief of the nation at such +a time would never do. Our allies in the crusade for democracy must not know +that we had a day-by-day unrest at home. Something must be done to stop this +expose at once. Had these women no manners? Had they no shame? Was the +fundamental weakness in our boast of pure and perfect democracy to be so +wantonly displayed with impunity? +</p> + +<p> +Of course it was embarrassing. We meant it to be. The truth must be told at all +costs. This was no time for manners. +</p> + +<p> +Hurried conferences behind closed doors! Summoning of the military to discuss +declaring a military zone around the White House! Women could not advance on +drawn bayonets. And if they did . . . What a picture! Common decency told the +more humane leaders that this would never do. I daresay political wisdom crept +into the reasoning of others. +</p> + +<p> +Closing the Woman’s Party headquarters was discussed. Perhaps a raid! And +all for what? Because women were holding banners asking for the precious +principle at home that men were supposed to be dying for abroad. +</p> + +<p> +Finally a decision was reached embodying the combined wisdom of all the various +conferees. The Chief of Police, Major Pullman, was detailed to +“request” us to stop “picketing” and to tell us that if +we continued to picket, we would be arrested._ +</p> + +<p> +“We have picketed for six months without interference,” said Miss +Paul. “Has the law been changed?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” was the reply, “but you must stop it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, Major Pullman, we have consulted our lawyers and know we have a +legal right to picket.” +</p> + +<p> +“I warn you, you will be arrested if you attempt to picket again.” +</p> + +<p> +The following day Miss Lucy Burns and Miss Katherine Morey of Boston carried to +the White House gates “We shall fight for the things we have always held +nearest our hearts, for democracy, for the right of those who submit to +authority to have a voice in their own government,” and were arrested. +</p> + +<p> +News had spread through the city that the pickets were to be arrested. A +moderately large crowd had gathered to see the “fun.” One has only +to come into conflict with prevailing authority, whether rightly or wrongly, to +find friendly hosts vanishing with lightning speed. To know that we were no +longer wanted at the gates of the White House and that the police were no +longer our “friends” was enough for the mob mind. +</p> + +<p> +Some members of the crowd made sport of the women. Others hurled cheap and +childish epithets at them. Small boys were allowed to capture souvenirs, shreds +of the banners torn from non-resistant women, as trophies of the sport. +</p> + +<p> +Thinking they had been mistaken in believing the pickets were to be arrested, +and having grown weary of their strenuous sport, the crowd moved on its way. +Two solitary figures remained, standing on the sidewalk, flanked by the vast +Pennsylvania Avenue, looking quite abandoned and alone, when suddenly without +any warrant in law, they were arrested on a completely deserted avenue. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Burns and Miss Morey upon arriving at the police station, insisted, to the +great surprise of all the officials, upon knowing the charge against them. +Major Pullman and his entire staff were utterly at a loss to know what to +answer. The Administration had looked ahead only as far as threatening arrest. +They doubtless thought this was all they would have to do. People could not be +arrested for picketing. Picketing is a guaranteed right under the Clayton Act +of Congress. Disorderly conduct? There had been no disorderly I conduct. +Inciting to riot? Impossible! The women had stood as silent sentinels holding +the President’s own eloquent words. +</p> + +<p> +Doors opened and closed mysteriously. Officials and subofficials passed +hurriedly to and fro. Whispered conversations were heard. The book on rules and +regulations was hopefully thumbed. Hours passed. Finally the two prisoners were +pompously told that they had “obstructed the traffic” on +Pennsylvania Avenue, were dismissed on their own recognizance, and never +brought to trial. +</p> + +<p> +The following day, June 23rd, more arrests were made; two women at the White +House, two at the Capitol. All carried banners with the same words of the +President. There was no hesitation this time. They were promptly arrested for +“obstructing the traffic.” They, too, were dismissed and their +cases never tried. It seemed clear that the Administration hoped to suppress +picketing merely by arrests. When. however. women continued to picket in the +face of arrest, the Administration quickened its advance into the venture of +suppression. It decided to bring the offenders to trial. +</p> + +<p> +On June 26, six American women were tried, judged guilty on the technical +charge of “obstructing the traffic,” warned by the court of their +“unpatriotic, almost treasonable behavior,” and sentenced to pay a +fine of twenty-five dollars or serve three days in jail. +</p> + +<p> +“Not a dollar of your fine will we pay,” was the answer of the +women. “To pay a fine would be an admission of guilt. We are +innocent.” +</p> + +<p> +The six women who were privileged to serve the first terms of imprisonment for +suffrage in this country, were Miss Katherine Morey of Massachusetts, Mrs. +Annie Arneil and Miss Mabel Vernon of Delaware, Miss Lavinia Dock of +Pennsylvania, Miss Maud Jamison of Virginia, and Miss Virginia Arnold of North +Carolina. “Privileged” in spite of the foul air, the rats, and the +mutterings of their strange comrades in jail! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Independence Day, July 4, 1917, is the occasion for two demonstrations in the +name of liberty. Champ Clark, late Democratic speaker of the House, is +declaiming to a cheering crowd behind the White House, “Governments +derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” In front of +the White House thirteen silent sentinels with banners bearing the same words, +are arrested. It would have been exceedingly droll if it had not been so +tragic. Champ Clark and his throng were not molested. The women with +practically a deserted street were arrested and served jail terms for +“obstructing traffic.” +</p> + +<p> +The trial of this group was delayed to give the jail authorities time to +“vacate and tidy up,” as one prisoner confided to Miss Joy Young. +It developed that “orders” had been received at the jail +immediately after the arrests and before the trial, “to make ready for +the suffragettes.” What did it matter that their case had not yet been +heard? To jail they must go. +</p> + +<p> +Was not the judge who tried and sentenced them a direct appointee of President +Wilson? Were not the District Commissioners who gave orders to prepare the +cells the direct appointees of President Wilson? And was not the Chief of +Police of the District of Columbia a direct appointee of these same +commissioners? And was not the jail warden who made life for the women so +unbearable in prison also a direct appointee of the commissioners? +</p> + +<p> +It was all a merry little ring and its cavalier attitude toward the law, toward +justice, and above all toward women was of no importance. The world was on fire +with a grand blaze. This tiny flame would scarcely be visible. No one would +notice a few “mad” women thrown into jail. And if the world should +find it out, doubtless public opinion would agree that the women ought to stay +there. And even if it should not agree, this little matter could all be +explained away before another election. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the President could proclaim through official channels his +disinterestedness. Observe the document, of which I give the substance, which +he caused or allowed to be published at this time, through his Committee on +Public Information. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +“OFFICIAL BULLETIN” +</p> + +<p> +“Published Daily under order of the President of the United States, by +the Committee on Public Information. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +G<small>EORGE</small> C<small>REEL</small>, Chairman. +</p> + +<p> +“Furnished without charge to all newspapers, post offices, government +officials and agencies of a public character for the dissemination of official +news of the United States Government.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"> +“Washington, July 3, 1917. No. 46-Vol. i.” +</p> + +<p> +There follows a long editorial[1] which laments the public attention which has +centered on the militant campaign, appeals to editors and reporters not to +“encourage” us in our peculiar conduct by printing defies to the +President of the United States even when “flaunted on a pretty little +purple and gold banner” and exhorts the public to control its thrills. +The official bulletin concludes with: +</p> + +<p> +“It is a fact that there remains in America one man who has known exactly +the right attitude to take and maintain toward the pickets. A whimsical smile, +slightly puckered at the roots by a sense of the ridiculous, a polite +bow—and for the rest a complete ignoring of their existence. He happens +to be the man around whom the little whirlwind whirls—the President of +the United States.” And finally with an admonition that “the +rest’ of the country … take example from him in its emotional reaction to +the picket question.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] From the Woman Citizen. +</p> + +<p> +The Administration pinned its faith on jail—that institution of +convenience to the oppressor when he is strong in power and his weapons are +effective. When the oppressor miscalculates the strength of the oppressed, jail +loses its convenience. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>Chapter 4<br/> +Occoquan Workhouse</h2> + +<p> +It is Bastille Day, July fourteenth. Inspiring scenes and tragic sacrifices for +liberty come to our minds. Sixteen women march in single file to take their own +“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” to the White House gates. It is the +middle of a hot afternoon. A thin line of curious spectators is seen in the +park opposite the suffrage headquarters. The police assemble from obscure +spots; some afoot, others on bicycles. They close in on the women and follow +them to the gates. +</p> + +<p> +The proud banner is scarcely at the gates when the leader is placed under +arrest. Her place is taken by another. She is taken. Another, and still another +steps into the breach and is arrested. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the crowd grows, attracted to the spot by the presence of the police +and the patrol wagon. Applause is heard. There are cries of “shame” +for the police, who, I must say, did not always act as if they relished +carrying out what they termed “orders from higher up.” An +occasional hoot from a small boy served to make the mood of the hostile ones a +bit gayer. But for the most part an intense silence fell upon the watchers, as +they saw not only younger women, but whitehaired grandmothers hoisted before +the public gaze into the crowded patrol, their heads erect, their eyes a little +moist and their frail hands holding tightly to the banner until wrested from +them by superior brute force. +</p> + +<p> +This is the first time most of the women have ever seen a police station, and +they are interested in, their surroundings. They are not interested in helping +the panting policeman count them over and identify them. Who arrested whom? +That becomes the gigantic question. +</p> + +<p> +“Will the ladies please tell which officer arrested them?” +</p> + +<p> +They will not. They do not intend to be a party to this outrage. Finally the +officers abandon their attempt at identification. They have the names of the +arrestees and will accept bail for their appearance Monday. +</p> + +<p> +“Well girls, I’ve never seen but one other court in my life and +that was the Court of St. James. But I must say they are not very much +alike,” was the cheery comment of Mrs. Florence Bayard Hilles,[1] as we +entered the court room on Monday. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Mrs. Hilles is the daughter of the late Thomas Bayard, formerly +America’s ambassador to Great Britain, and Secretary of State in +President Cleveland’s cabinet. +</p> + +<p> +The stuffy court room is packed to overflowing. The fat, one-eyed bailiff is +perspiring to no purpose. He cannot make the throng “sit down.” In +fact every one who has anything to do with the pickets perspires to no purpose. +Judge Mullowny takes his seat, looking at once grotesque and menacing on his +red throne. +</p> + +<p> +“Silence in the court room,” from the sinister-eyed bailiff. And a +silence. follows so heavy that it can be heard. +</p> + +<p> +Saturday night’s both black and white—are tried first. The suffrage +prisoners strain their ears to hear the pitiful pleas of these unfortunates, +most of whom come to the bar without counsel or friend. Scraps of evidence are +heard. +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE: “You say you were not quarreling, Lottie?” +</p> + +<p> +LOTTIE: “I sho’ do yo’ hono’. We wuz jes +singin’—we wuz sho’ nuf, sah.” +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE: “Singing, Lottie? Why your neighbors here testify to the fact that +you were making a great deal of noise—so much that they could not +sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +LOTTIE: “I tells yo’ honor’ we wuz jes singin’ lak we +allays do.” +</p> + +<p> +JUDGE : “What were you singing?” +</p> + +<p> +LOTTIE: “Why, hymns, sah.” +</p> + +<p> +The judge smiles cynically. +</p> + +<p> +A neatly-attired white man with a wizened face again takes the stand against +Lottie. Hymns or no hymns he could not sleep. The judge pronounces a sentence +of “six months in the workhouse,” for Lottie. +</p> + +<p> +And so it goes on. +</p> + +<p> +The suffrage prisoners are the main business of the morning. Sixteen women come +inside the railing which separates “tried” from +“untried” and take their seats. +</p> + +<p> +“Do the ladies wish the government to provide them with counsel?” +</p> + +<p> +They do not. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall speak in our own behalf. We feel that we can best represent +ourselves,” we announce. Miss Anne Martin and I act as attorneys for the +group. +</p> + +<p> +The same panting policemen who could not identify the people they had arrested +give their stereotyped, false and illiterate testimony. The judge helps them +over the hard places and so does the government’s attorney. They stumble +to an embarrassed finish and retire. +</p> + +<p> +An aged government clerk, grown infirm in the service, takes the stand and the +government attorney proves through him that there is a White House; that it has +a side-walk in front of it, and a pavement, and a hundred other overwhelming +facts. The pathetic clerk shakes his dusty frame and slinks off the stand. The +prosecuting attorney now elaborately proves that we walked, that we carried +banners, that we were arrested by the aforesaid officers while attempting to +hold our banners at the White House gates. +</p> + +<p> +Each woman speaks briefly in her own defense. She denounces the +government’s policy with hot defiance. The blame is placed squarely at +the door of the Administration, and in unmistakable terms. Miss Anne Martin +opens for the defense: +</p> + +<p> +“This is what we are doing with our banners before the White House, +petitioning the most powerful representative of the government, the President +of the United States, for a redress of grievances; we are asking him to use his +great power to secure the passage of the national suffrage amendment. +</p> + +<p> +“As long as the government and the representatives of the government +prefer to send women to jail on petty and technical charges, we will go to +jail. Persecution has always advanced the cause of justice. The right of +American women to work for democracy must be maintained . . . . We would +hinder, not help, the whole cause of freedom for women, if we weakly submitted +to persecution now. Our work for the passage of the amendment must go on. It +will go on.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. John Rogers, Jr., descendant of Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the +Declaration of Independence, speaks: “We are not guilty of any offence, +not even of infringing a police regulation. We know full well that we stand +here because the President of the United States refuses to give liberty to +American women. We believe, your Honor, that the wrong persons are before the +bar in this Court . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“I object, your Honor, to this woman making such a statement here in +Court,” says the District Attorney. +</p> + +<p> +“We believe the President is the guilty one and that we are +innocent.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your Honor, I object,” shouts the Government’s attorney. +</p> + +<p> +The prisoner continues calmly: “There are votes enough and there is time +enough to pass the national suffrage amendment through Congress at this +session. More than 200 votes in the House and more than 50 in the Senate are +pledged to this amendment. The President puts his power behind all measures in +which he takes a genuine interest. If he will say one frank word advocating +this measure it will pass as a piece of war emergency legislation.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Florence Bayard Hilles speaks in her own defense: “For generations +the men of my family have given their services to their country. For myself, my +training from childhood has been with a father who believed in democracy and +who belonged to the Democratic Party. By inheritance and connection I am a +Democrat, and to a Democratic President I went with my appeal . . . . What a +spectacle it must be to the thinking people of this country to see us urged to +go to war for democracy in a foreign land, and to see women thrown into prison +who plead for that same cause at home. +</p> + +<p> +“I stand here to affirm my innocence of the charge against me. This court +has not proven that I obstructed traffic. My presence at the White House gate +was under the constitutional right of petitioning the government for freedom or +for any other cause. During the months of January, February, March, April and +May picketing was legal. In June it suddenly becomes illegal . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“My services as an American woman are being conscripted by order of the +President of the United States to help win the world war for democracy . . . . +‘for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their +own government.’ I shall continue to plead for the political liberty of +American women-and especially do I plead to the President, since he is the one +person who . . . can end the struggles of American women to take their proper +places in a true democracy.” +</p> + +<p> +There is continuous objection from the prosecutor, eager advice from the judge, +“you had better keep to the charge of obstructing traffic” But +round on round of applause comes from the intent audience, whenever a defiant +note is struck by the prisoners, and in spite of the sharp rapping of the gavel +confusion reigns. And how utterly puny the “charge” is! If it were +true that the prisoners actually obstructed the traffic, how grotesque that +would be. The importance of their demand, the purity of their reasoning, the +nobility and gentle quality of the prisoners at the bar; all conspire to make +the charge against them, and the attorney who makes it, and the judge who hears +it, petty and ridiculous. +</p> + +<p> +But justice must proceed. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Gilson Gardner of Washington, D. C., a member of the Executive Committee +of the National Woman’s party, and the wife of Gilson Gardner, a +well-known Liberal and journalist, speaks: +</p> + +<p> +“It is impossible for me to believe that we were arrested because we were +obstructing traffic or blocking the public high- way. +</p> + +<p> +“We have been carrying on activities of a distinctly political nature, +and these political activities have seemingly disturbed certain powerful +influences. Arrests followed. I submit that these arrests are purely political +and that the charge of an unlawful assemblage and of obstructing traffic is a +political subterfuge. Even should I be sent to jail which, I could not, your +Honor, anticipate, I would be in jail, not because I obstructed traffic, but +because I have offended politically, because I have demanded of this government +freedom for women.” +</p> + +<p> +It was my task to sum up for the defense. The judge sat bored through my +statement. “We know and I believe the Court knows also,” I said, +“that President Wilson and his Administration are responsible for our +being here to-day. It is a fact that they gave the orders which caused our +arrest and appearance before this bar. +</p> + +<p> +“We know and you know, that the District Commissioners are appointed by +the President, that the present commissioners were appointed by President +Wilson. We know that you, your Honor, were appointed to the bench by President +Wilson, and that the district attorney who prosecutes us was appointed by the +President. These various officers would not dare bring us here under these +false charges without the policy having been decided upon by the responsible +leaders. +</p> + +<p> +“What is our real crime? What have these distinguished and liberty-loving +women done to bring them before this court of justice? Why, your Honor, their +crime is that they peacefully petitioned the President of the United States for +liberty. What must be the shame of our nation before the world when it becomes +known that here we throw women into jail who love liberty and attempt to +peacefully petition the President for it? These women are nearly all descended +from revolutionary ancestors or from some of the greatest libertarian statesmen +this country has produced. What would these men say now if they could see that +passion for liberty which was in their own hearts rewarded in the twentieth +century with foul and filthy imprisonment! +</p> + +<p> +“We say to you, this outrageous policy of stupid and brutal punishment +will not dampen the ardor of the women. Where sixteen of us face your judgment +to-day there will be sixty tomorrow, so great will be the indignation of our +colleagues in this fight.” +</p> + +<p> +The trial came to an end after a tense two days. The packed court-room fat in a +terrible silence awaiting the judge’s answer. +</p> + +<p> +There were distinguished men present at the trial—men who also fight for +their ideals. There was Frederic C. Howe, then Commissioner of Immigration of +the Port of New York, Frank P. Walsh, International labor leader, Dudley Field +Malone, then Collector of the Port of New York, Amos Pinchot, liberal leader, +John A. H. Hopkins, then liberal-progressive leader in New Jersey who had +turned his organization to the support of the President and become a member of +the President’s Campaign Committee, now chairman of the Committee of +Fortyeight and whose beautiful wife was among the prisoners, Allen McCurdy, +secretary of the Committee of Forty-eight and many others. One and all came +forward to protest to us during the adjournment. “This is +monstrous.” . . . “Never have I seen evidence so +disregarded.” . . . “This is a tragic farce” . . . +</p> + +<p> +“He will never dare sentence you.” +</p> + +<p> +It was reported to us that the judge used the interim to telephone to the +District building, where the District Commissioners sit. He returned to +pronounce, “Sixty days in the workhouse in default of a twenty-five +dollar fine.” +</p> + +<p> +The shock was swift and certain to all the spectators. We would not of course +pay the unjust fine imposed, for we were not guilty of any offense. +</p> + +<p> +The judge attempted persuasion. “You had better decide to pay your +fines,” he ventured. And “you will not find jail a pleasant place +to be.” It was clear that neither he nor his confreres had imagined women +would accept with equanimity so drastic a sentence. It was now their time to be +shocked. Here were “ladies”—that was perfectly +clear—“ladies” of unusual distinction. Surely they would not +face the humiliation of a workhouse sentence which involved not only +imprisonment but penal servitude! The Administration was wrong again. +</p> + +<p> +“We protest against this unjust sentence and conviction,” we said, +“but we prefer the workhouse to the payment of a fine imposed for an +offense of which we are not guilty.” We filed into the “pen,” +to join the other prisoners, and wait for the “black maria” to +carry us to prison. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +We are all taken to the District Jail, where we are put through the regular +catechism: “Were you ever in prison +before?—Age—birthplace—father—mother—religion and +what not?” We are then locked up,—two to a cell. What will happen +next? +</p> + +<p> +The sleek jailer, whose attempt to be cordial provokes a certain distrust, +comes to our corridor to “turn us over” to our next keeper-the +warden of Occoquan. We learn that the workhouse is not situated in the District +of Columbia but in Virginia. +</p> + +<p> +Other locked wagons with tiny windows up near the driver now take us, side by +side with drunks and disorderlies, prostitutes and thieves, to the Pennsylvania +Station. Here we embark for the unknown terrors of the workhouse, filing +through crowds at the station, driven on by our “keeper,” who +resembles Simon Legree, with his long stick and his pushing and shoving to +hurry us along. The crowd is quick to realize that we are prisoners, because of +our associates. Friends try to bid us a last farewell and slip us a sweet or +fruit, as we are rushed through the iron station gates to the train. +</p> + +<p> +Warden Whittaker is our keeper, thin and old, with a cruel mouth, brutal eyes +and a sinister birthmark on his temple. He guards very anxiously his +“dangerous criminals” lest they try to leap out of the train to +freedom! We chat a little and attempt to relax from the strain that we have +endured since Saturday. It is now late in the afternoon of Tuesday. +</p> + +<p> +The dusk is gathering. It is almost totally dark when we alight at a tiny +station in what seems to us a wilderness. It is a deserted country. Even the +gayest member of the party, I am sure, was struck with a little terror here. +</p> + +<p> +More locked wagons, blacker than the dusk, awaited us. The prison van jolted +and bumped along the rocky and hilly road. A cluster of lights twinkled beyond +the last hill, and we knew that we were coming to our temporary summer +residence. I can still see the long thin line of black poplars against the +smoldering afterglow. I did not know then what tragic things they concealed. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +We entered a well-lighted office. A few guards of ugly demeanor stood about. +Warden Whittaker consulted with the hard-faced matron, Mrs. Herndon, who began +the prison routine. Names were called, and each prisoner stepped to the desk to +get her number, to give up all jewelry, money, handbags, letters, eye-glasses, +traveling bags containing toilet necessities, in fact everything except the +clothes on her body. +</p> + +<p> +From there we were herded into the long bare dining room where we sat dumbly +down to a bowl of dirty sour soup. I say dumbly—for now began the rule of +silence. Prisoners are punished for speaking to one another at table. They +cannot even whisper, much less smile or laugh. They must be conscious always of +their “guilt.” Every possible thing is done to make the inmates +feel that they are and must continue to be antisocial creatures. +</p> + +<p> +We taste our soup and crust of bread. We try so hard to eat it for we are tired +and hungry, but no one of us is able to get it down. We leave the table hungry +and slightly nauseated. +</p> + +<p> +Another long march in silence through various channels into a large dormitory +and through a double line of cots! Then we stand, weary to the point of +fainting, waiting the next ordeal. This seemed to be the juncture at which we +lost all that is left us of contact with the outside world,—our clothes. +</p> + +<p> +An assistant matron, attended by negress prisoners, relieves us of our clothes. +Each prisoner is obliged to strip naked without even the protection of a sheet, +and proceed across what seems endless space, to a shower bath. A large tin +bucket stands on the floor and in this is a minute piece of dirty soap, which +is offered to us and rejected. We dare not risk the soap used by so many +prisoners. Naked, we return from the bath to receive our allotment of coarse, +hideous prison clothes, the outer garments of which consist of a bulky +mother-hubbard wrapper, of bluish gray ticking and a heavy apron of the same +dismal stuff. It takes a dominant personality indeed to survive these clothes. +The thick unbleached muslin undergarments are of designs never to be forgotten! +And the thick stockings and forlorn shoes! What torture to put on shoes that +are alike for each foot and made to fit just anybody who may happen along. +</p> + +<p> +Why are we being ordered to dress? It is long past the bed-time hour. +</p> + +<p> +Our suspense is brief. All dressed in cloth of “guilt” we are led +into what we later learn is the “recreation” room. Lined up against +its wall, we might any other time have bantered about the possibility of being +shot, but we are in no mood to jest. The door finally opens and in strides +Warden Whittaker with a stranger beside him. +</p> + +<p> +He reviews his latest criminal recruits, engaging the stranger meanwhile in +whispered conversation. There are short, uncertain laughs. There are nods of +the head and more whispers. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, ladies, I hope you are all comfortable. Now make yourselves at +home here. I think you will find it healthy here. You’ll weigh more when +you go out than when you came in. You will be allowed to write one letter a +month-to your family. Of course we open and read all letters coming in and +going out. To-morrow you will be assigned your work. I hope you will sleep +well. Good night!” +</p> + +<p> +We did not answer. We looked at each other. +</p> + +<p> +News leaked through in the morning that the stranger had been a newspaper +reporter. The papers next morning were full of the “comfort” and +“luxury” of our surroundings. The “delicious” food +sounded most reassuring to the nation. In fact no word of the truth was allowed +to appear. +</p> + +<p> +The correspondent could not know that we went back to our cots to try to sleep +side by side with negro prostitutes. Not that we shrank from these women on +account of their color, but how terrible to know that, the institution had gone +out of its way to bring these prisoners from their own wing to the white wing +in an attempt to humiliate us. There was plenty of room in the negro wing. But +prison must be made so unbearable that no more women would face it. That was +the policy attempted here. +</p> + +<p> +We tried very hard to sleep and forget our hunger and weariness. But all the +night through our dusky comrades padded by to the lavatory, and in the streak +of bright light which shot across the center of the room, startled heads could +be seen bobbing up in the direction of a demented woman in the end cot. Her +weird mutterings made us fearful. There was no sleep in this strange place. +</p> + +<p> +Our thoughts turn to the outside world. Will the women care? Will enough women +believe that through such humiliation all may win freedom? Will they believe +that through our imprisonment their slavery will be lifted the sooner? Less +philosophically, will the government be moved by public protest? Will such +protest come? +</p> + +<p> +The next morning brought us a visitor from suffrage headquarters. The +institution hoped that the visitor would use her persuasion to make us pay our +fines and leave and so she was admitted. We learned the cheering news, that +immediately after sentence had been pronounced by the Court, Dudley Field +Malone had gone direct to the White House to protest to the President. His +protest was delivered with heat. The President said that he was +“shocked” at the sixty day sentence, that he did not know it had +been done, and made other evasions. Mr. Malone’s report of his interview +with the President is given in full in a subsequent chapter. +</p> + +<p> +Following Mr. Malone, Mr. J. A. H. Hopkins went to the White House. “How +would you like to have your wife sleep in a dirty workhouse next to +prostitutes?” was his direct talk to the President. Again the President +was “shocked.” No wonder! Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins had been the +President’s dinner guests not very long before, celebrating his return to +power. They had supported him politically and financially in New Jersey. Now +Mrs. Hopkins had been arrested at his gate and thrown into prison. +</p> + +<p> +In reporting the interview, Mr. Hopkins said: +</p> + +<p> +“The President asked me for suggestions as to what might be done, and I +replied that in view of the seriousness of the present situation the only +solution lay in immediate passage of the Susan B. Anthony amendment.” +</p> + +<p> +Gilson Gardner also went to the White House to leave his hot protest. And there +were others. +</p> + +<p> +Telegrams poured in from all over the country. The press printed headlines +which could not but arouse the sympathy of thousands. Even people who did not +approve of picketing the White House said, “After all, what these women +have done is certainly not ‘bad’ enough to merit such drastic +punishment” +</p> + +<p> +And women protested. From coast to coast there poured in at our headquarters +copies of telegrams sent to Administration leaders. Of course not all women by +any means had approved this method of agitation. But the government’s +action had done more than we had been able to do for them. It had made them +feel sex-conscious. Women were being unjustly treated. Regardless of their +feelings about this particular procedure, they stood up and objected. +</p> + +<p> +For the first time, I believe, our form of agitation began to seem a little +more respectable than the Administration’s handling of it. But the +Administration did not know this fact yet. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“Everybody in line for the work-room!” +</p> + +<p> +We were thankful to leave our inedible breakfast. We were unable to drink the +greasy black coffee. The pain in the tops of our heads was acute. +</p> + +<p> +“What you all down here for?” asked a young negress, barely out of +her teens, as she casually fingered her sewing material. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, I held a purple, white and gold banner at the gates of the White +House.” +</p> + +<p> +“You don’ say so! What de odders do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Same thing. We all held banners at the White House gates asking +President Wilson to give us the vote.” +</p> + +<p> +“An’ yo’ all got sixty days fo’ dat?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. You see the President thought it would be a good idea to send us to +the workhouse for asking for the vote. You know women want to vote and have +wanted to for a long time in our country” +</p> + +<p> +“O-Yass’m, I know. I seen yo’ parades, an’ +meetin’s, an’ everythin’. I know whah yo’ all live, +right near the White House. You’s alright. I hopes yo’ git it, +fo’ women certainly do need protextion against men like Judge Mullowny. +He has us allatime picked up an’ sen’ down here. +</p> + +<p> +“They sen’ yo’ down here once, an’ then yo’ come +out without a cent, and try to look fo’ a job, an’ befo’ +yo’ can fin’ one a cop walks up an’ asks yo’ whah +yo’ live, an’ ef yo’ haven’t got a place yet, +becaus’ yo’ ain’ got a cent to ren’ one with, he says, +‘Come with me, I’ll fin’ yo’ a home,’ an’ +hustles yo’ off to the p’lice station an’ down heah again, +an’ you’re called a 4vag’ (vagrant). What chance has we +niggahs got, I ask ya? I hopes yo’ all gits a vote an’ fixes up +somethings for women!” +</p> + +<p> +“You see that young girl over there?” said another prisoner, who in +spite of an unfortunate life had kept a remnant of her early beauty. I nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Judge Mullowny gave her thirty days for her first offense, and +when he sentenced her, she cried out desperately, ‘Don’t send me +down there, Judge! If you do, I’ll kill myself!’ What do you think +he said to that?—‘I’ll give you six months in which to change +your mind!’’ +</p> + +<p> +I reflected. The judge that broke this pale-faced, silent girl was the +appointee of the President. It was the task of such a man to sentence American +women to the workhouse for demanding liberty. +</p> + +<p> +Conversing with the “regulars” was forbidden by the wardress, but +we managed, from time to time, to talk to our fellow prisoners with +stealthiness. +</p> + +<p> +“We knew somethin’ was goin’ to happen,” said one negro +girl, “because Monday the close we had on wer’ took off us +an’ we were giv’ these old patched ones. We wuz told they wanted to +take ‘stock,’ but we heard they wuz bein’ washed fo’ you-all +suff’agettes.” +</p> + +<p> +The unpleasantness at wearing the formless garments of these unfortunates made +us all wince. But the government’s calculation aroused our hot +indignation. We were not convicted until Tuesday and our prison garments were +ready Monday! +</p> + +<p> +“You must not speak against the President,” said the servile +wardress, when she discovered we were telling our story to the inmates. +“You know you will be thrashed if you say anything more about the +President; and don’t forget you’re on Government property and may +be arrested for treason if it happens again.” +</p> + +<p> +We doubted the seriousness of this threat of thrashing until one of the girls +confided to us that such outrages happened often. We afterward obtained proof +of these brutalities.[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] See affidavit of Mrs. Bovee, page 144. +</p> + + +<p> +“Old Whittaker beat up that girl over there just last week and put her in +the ‘booby’ house on bread and water for five days.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did she do?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, she an’ another girl got to scrapping in the blackberry patch +and she didn’t pick enough berries. .” +</p> + +<p> +“All put up your work, girls, and get in line.” This from the +wardress, who sped up the work in the sewing room. It was lunch time, and +though we were all hungry we dreaded going to the silence and the food in that +gray dining room with the vile odors. We were counted again as we filed out, +carrying our heavy chairs with us as is the workhouse custom. +</p> + +<p> +“Do they do this all the time?” I asked. It seemed as though +needless energy was being spent counting and recounting our little group. +</p> + +<p> +“Wouldn’t do anybody any good to try to get away from here,” +said one of the white girls. “Too many bloodhounds!” +</p> + +<p> +“Bloodhounds!” I asked in amazement, for after all these women were +not criminals but merely misdemeanants. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes. Just a little while ago, three men tried to get away and they +turned bloodhounds after them and shot them dead-and they weren’t bad men +either.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +When our untasted supper was over that night we were ordered into the square, +bare-walled “recreation” room, where we and the other prisoners +sat, and sat, and sat, our chairs against the walls, a dreary sight indeed, +waiting for the fortyfive minutes before bedtime to pass. The sight of two +negro girl prisoners combing out each other’s lice and dressing their +kinky hair in such a way as to discourage permanently a return of the vermin +did not produce in us exactly a feeling of “recreation.” But we +tried to sing. The negroes joined in, too, and soon outsang us, with their +plaintive melodies and hymns. Then back to our cells and another attempt to +sleep. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +A new ordeal the next morning! Another of the numberless +“pedigrees” is to be taken. One by one we were called to the +warden’s office. +</p> + +<p> +“Were your father or mother ever insane?” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you a confirmed drunkard, chronic or moderate drinker?” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you smoke or chew or use tobacco in any form?” +</p> + +<p> +“Married or single?” +</p> + +<p> +“Single.” +</p> + +<p> +“How many children?” +</p> + +<p> +“None.” +</p> + +<p> +“What religion do you profess?” +</p> + +<p> +“Christian.” +</p> + +<p> +“What religion do you profess?” in a higher pitched voice. +</p> + +<p> +I did not clearly comprehend. “Do you mean ‘Am I a Catholic or a +Protestant?’ I am a Christian.” +</p> + +<p> +But it was of no avail. She wrote down, “None.” +</p> + +<p> +I protested. “That is not accurate. I insist that I am a Christian, or at +least I try to be one.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must learn to be polite,” she retorted almost fiercely, and I +returned to the sewing room. +</p> + +<p> +For the hundredth time we asked to be given our toothbrushes, combs, +handkerchiefs and our own soap. The third day of imprisonment without any of +these essentials found us depressed and worried over our unsanitary condition. +We plead also for toilet paper. It was senseless to deny these necessities. It +is enough to imprison people. Why seek to degrade them utterly? +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +The third afternoon we were mysteriously summoned into the presence of +Superintendent Whittaker. He seemed warm and cordial. We were ordered drawn up +in a semi-circle. +</p> + +<p> +“Ladies, there is a rumor that you may be pardoned,” he began. +</p> + +<p> +“By whom?” asked one. +</p> + +<p> +“For what?” asked another. “We are innocent women. There is +nothing to pardon us for.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have come to ask you what you would do if the President pardoned +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“We would refuse to accept it,” came the ready response from +several. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall leave you for a while to consider this. Mind! I have not yet +received information of a pardon, but I have been asked to ascertain your +attitude.” +</p> + +<p> +Our consultation was brief. We were of one mind. We were unanimous in wishing +to reject a pardon for a crime which we had never committed. We said so with +some spirit when Mr. Whittaker returned for our decision. +</p> + +<p> +“You have no choice. You are obliged to accept a pardon.” +</p> + +<p> +That settled it, and we waited. That the protest on the outside had been strong +enough to precipitate action from the government was the subject of our +conversation. Evidently it had not been strong enough to force action on the +suffrage amendment, but it was forcing action, and that was important. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Whittaker returned triumphant. +</p> + +<p> +“Ladies, you are pardoned by the President. You are free to go as soon as +you have taken off your prison clothes and put on your own.” +</p> + +<p> +It was sad to leave the other prisoners behind. Especially pathetic were the +girls who helped us with our clothes. They whispered such eager appeals in our +ears, telling us of their drastic sentences for trifling offenses and of the +cruel punishments. It was hard to resist digressing into some effort at prison +reform. That way lay our instincts. Our reason told us that we must first +change the status of women. +</p> + +<p> +As we were leaving the workhouse to return to Washington we had an unexpected +revelation of the attitude of officialdom toward our campaign. Addressing Miss +Lucy Burns, who had arrived to assist us in getting on our way, Superintendent +Whittaker, in an almost unbelievable rage, said, “Now that you women are +going away, I have something to say and I want to say it to you. The next lot +of women who come here won’t be treated with the same consideration that +these women were.” I will show later on how he made good this terrible +threat. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Receiving a Presidential pardon through the Attorney General had its amusing +aspect. My comrades shared this amusement when I told them the following +incident. +</p> + +<p> +On the day after our arrest, I was having tea at the Chevy Chase Country Club +in Washington. Quite casually a gentleman introduced me to Mr. Gregory, the +Attorney General. +</p> + +<p> +“I see you were mixed up with the suffragettes yesterday,” was the +Attorney General’s first remark to the gentleman. And before the latter +could explain that he had settled accounts quietly but efficiently with a +hoodlum who was attempting to trip the women up on their march, the chief law +officer of the United States contributed this important suggestion: “You +know what I’d do if I was those policemen. I’d just take a hose out +with me and when the women came out with their banners, why I’d just +squirt the hose on ’em . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“But Mr. Gregory . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir! If you can just make what a woman does look ridiculous, you +can sure kill it . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“But, Mr. Attorney General, what right would the police have to assault +these or any other women?” the gentleman managed finally to interpolate. +</p> + +<p> +“Hup—hup—” denoting great surprise, came from the +Attorney General, as he looked to me for reassurance. +</p> + +<p> +His expectant look vanished when I said, “Mr. Gregory, did it ever occur +to you that it might make the government look ridiculous instead of the +women?” +</p> + +<p> +You can imagine bow the easy manner of one who is sure of his audience melted +from his face. +</p> + +<p> +“This is one of the women arrested yesterday,” continued the +gentleman, while the Attorney General smothered a “Well, I’ll be . +. .” +</p> + +<p> +“I am out on bail,” I said. “ To-morrow we go to jail. It is +all prearranged, you understand. The trial is merely a matter of form.” +</p> + +<p> +The highest law officer of the land fled gurgling. s +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +The day following our release Mrs. J. A. H. Hopkins carried a picket banner to +the gates of the White House to test the validity of the pardon. Her banner +read, “We do not ask pardon for ourselves but justice for all American +women.” A curious crowd, as large as had collected on those days when the +police arrested women for “obstructing traffic,” stood watching the +lone picket. The President passed through the gates and saluted. The police did +not interfere. +</p> + +<p> +Daily picketing was resumed and no arrests followed for the moment. +</p> + +<p> +It was now August, three months since the Senate Suffrage Committee authorized +its chairman, Mr. Jones, to report the measure to the Senate for action. Mr. +Jones said, however, that he was too busy to make a report; .that he wanted to +make a particularly brilliant one, one that would “be a contribution to +the cause”; that he did not approve of picketing, but that he would +report the measure “in a reasonable time.” So much for the +situation in the Senate! +</p> + +<p> +From the House we gathered some interesting evidence. We reminded Mr. Webb, +Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, that out of a total membership of +twenty-one men on his committee, twelve were Democrats, two-thirds of whom were +opposed to the measure; we reminded him that the Republicans on the committee +were for action. Mr. Webb wrote in answer: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The Democratic caucus passed a resolution that only war emergency +measures would be considered during this extra session, and that the President +might designate from time to time special legislation which he regarded as war +legislation, and such would be acted on by the House. The President, not having +designated woman suffrage and national prohibition so far as war measures, the +judiciary committee up to this time has not felt warranted under the caucus +rule, in reporting either of these measures. If the President should request +either or both of them as war measures, then I think the Committee would +attempt to take some action on them promptly. <i>So you see after all it is +important to your cause to make the President see that woman suffrage comes +within the rules laid down.</i>”[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Italics are mine. +</p> + +<p> +Here was a frank admission of the assumption upon which women had gone to +jail—that the President was responsible for action on the amendment. +</p> + +<p> +Now that we were again allowed to picket the White House, the Republicans +seized the opportunity legitimately to embarrass their opponents by +precipitating a bitter debate. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Cummins of Iowa, Republican member of the Suffrage Committee, moved, as +had Mr. Mann in the House at an earlier date, to discharge the Suffrage +Committee for failing to make the report authorized by the entire Committee. +Mr. Cummins said, among other things: +</p> + +<p> +“. . . I look upon the resolution as definitely and certainly a war +measure. There is nothing that this country could do which would strengthen it +more than to give the disfranchised women . . . the opportunity to vote . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“Last week . . . I went to the Chairman of the Committee and told him +that . . . we had finished the hearings, reached a conclusion and that it was +our bounden duty to make the report to the Senate . . . . I asked him if he +would not call a meeting of the Committee. He said that it would be impossible, +that he had some other engagements which would prevent a meeting of the +Committee.” +</p> + +<p> +Senator Cummins explained that he finally got the promise of the Chairman that +a meeting of the Committee would be called on a given date. When it was not +called he made his motion. +</p> + +<p> +Chairman Jones made some feeble remarks and some evasive excuses which meant +nothing, and which only further aroused Republican friends of the measure on +the Committee. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Gronna of North Dakota, Republican, interrupted him with the direct +question, “I ask the chairman of this committee why this joint resolution +has not been reported? The Senator, who is chairman of the committee, I +suppose, knows as well as I do that the people of the entire country are +anxious to have this joint resolution submitted and to be given an opportunity +to vote upon it. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Johnson of California, Republican, proposed that Chairman Jones consent +to call the Committee together to consider reporting out the bill, which +Senator Jones flatly refused to do. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Jones of Washington, another Republican member of the Committee, added: +</p> + +<p> +“I agree with the Senator from Iowa that this is a war measure and ought +to be considered as such at this time. I do not see how we can very +consistently talk democracy while disfranchising the better half of our +citizenship—I may not approve of the action of the women picketing the +White House, but neither do I approve of what I consider the lawless action +toward these women in connection with the picketing . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not want to think the chairman does not desire to call the +committee together because of some influence outside of Congress as some have +suggested . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +At this point Senator Hollis of New Hampshire, Democrat, arose to say: +</p> + +<p> +“There is a small but very active group of women suffragists who have +acted in such a way that some who are ardently in favor of woman suffrage +believe that their action should not be encouraged by making a favorable report +at this time.” +</p> + +<p> +Senator Johnson protested at this point, but Senator Hollis continued: +</p> + +<p> +“To discharge the committee would focus the attention of the country upon +the action and would give undue weight to what has been done by the active +group of woman suffragists.” +</p> + +<p> +I think that any student of psychology will acknowledge that our picketing had +stimulated action in Congress, and that what was now needed was some still more +provocative action from us. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>Chapter 5<br/> +August Riots</h2> + +<p> +Imprisoning women had met with considerable public disapproval, and attendant +political embarrassment to the Administration. That the presidential pardon +would end this embarrassment was doubtless the hope of the Administration. The +pickets, however, returned to their posts in steadily increasing numbers. Their +presence at the gates was desired by the Administration no more now than it had +been before the arrests and imprisonments. But they had found no way to rid +themselves of the pickets. And as another month of picketing drew to an end the +Administration ventured to try other ways to stop it and with it the consequent +embarrassment. Their methods became physically more brutal and politically more +stupid. Their conduct became lawless in the extreme. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the President had drafted the young men of America in their millions +to die on foreign soil for foreign democracy. He had issued a special appeal to +women to give their work, their treasure and their sons to this enterprise. At +the same time his now gigantic figure stood obstinately across the path to our +main objective. It was our daily task to keep vividly in his mind that +objective. It was our responsibility to compel decisive action from him. +</p> + +<p> +Using the return of Envoy Root from his mission to Russia as another dramatic +opportunity to speak to the President we took to the picket line these mottoes: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +TO ENVOY ROOT +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +YOU SAY THAT AMERICA MUST THROW ITS MANHOOD TO THE SUPPORT OF LIBERTY.<br/> +<br/> +WHOSE LIBERTY?<br/> +THIS NATION IS NOT FREE. TWENTY MILLION WOMEN ARE DENIED BY THE PRESIDENT OF +THE UNITED STATES THE RIGHT TO REPRESENTATION IN THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT.<br/> +<br/> +TELL THE PRESIDENT THAT HE CANNOT FIGHT AGAINST LIBERTY AT HOME WHILE HE TELLS +US TO FIGHT FOR LIBERTY ABROAD.<br/> +<br/> +TELL HIM TO MAKE AMERICA SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY BEFORE HE ASKS THE MOTHERS OF +AMERICA TO THROW THEIR SONS TO THE SUPPORT OF DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE.<br/> +<br/> +ASK HIM HOW HE CAN REFUSE LIBERTY TO AMERICAN CITIZENS WHEN HE IS FORCING +MILLIONS OF AMERICAN BOYS OUT OF THEIR COUNTRY TO DIE FOR LIBERTY. +</p> + +<p> +At no time during the entire picketing was the traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue +so completely obstructed as it was for the two hours during which this banner +made its appearance on the line. Police captains who three weeks before were +testifying that the police could not manage the crowds, placidly looked on +while these new crowds increased. +</p> + +<p> +We did not regard Mr. Wilson as our President. We felt that he had neither +political nor moral claim to our allegiance. War had been made without our +consent. The war would be finished and very likely a bad peace would be written +without our consent. Our fight was becoming increasingly difficult—I +might almost say desperate. Here we were, a band of women fighting with +banners, in the midst of a world armed to the teeth. And so it was not very +difficult to understand how high spirited women grew more resentful, unwilling +to be a party to the President’s hypocrisy, the hypocrisy so eager to +sacrifice life without stint to the vague hope of liberty abroad, while +refusing to assist in the peaceful legislative steps which would lead to +self-government in our own country. As a matter of fact the President’s +constant oratory on freedom and democracy moved them to scorn. They were stung +into a protest so militant as to shock not only the President but the public. +We inscribed on our banner what countless American women‘ had long +thought in their hearts. +</p> + +<p> +The truth was not pleasant but it had to be told. We submitted to the world, +through the picket line, this question: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +KAISER WILSON<br/> +HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN HOW YOU SYMPATHIZED WITH THE POOR GERMANS BECAUSE THEY WERE +NOT SELF GOVERNED?<br/> +20,000,000 AMERICAN WOMEN ARE NOT SELF-GOVERNED. TAKE THE BEAM OUT OF YOUR OWN +EYE. +</p> + +<p> +We did not expect public sympathy at this point. We knew that not even the +members of Congress who had occasionally in debate, but more frequently in +their cloak rooms, and often to us privately, called the President +“autocrat”—“Kaiser”—“Ruler”—“King”—“Czar”—would +approve our telling the truth publicly. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was it to be expected that eager young boys, all agog to fight Germans, +would be averse to attacking women in the meantime. They were out to fight and +such was the public hysteria that it did not exactly matter whom they fought. +</p> + +<p> +And so those excited boys of the Army and Navy attacked the women and the +banner. The banner was destroyed. Another was brought up to take its place. +This one met the same fate. Meanwhile a crowd was assembling in front of the +White House either to watch or to assist in the attacks. At the very moment +when one banner was being snatched away and destroyed, President and Mrs. +Wilson passed through the gates on their way to a military review at Fort Myer. +The President saw American women being attacked, while the police refused them +protection. +</p> + +<p> +Not a move was made by the police to control the growing crowd. Such inaction +is always a signal for more violence on the part of rowdies. As the throng +moved to and fro between the White House and our Headquarters immediately +opposite, so many banners were destroyed that finally Miss Lucy Burns, Miss +Virginia Arnold and Miss Elizabeth Stuyvesant took those remaining to the +second and third floor balconies of our building and hung them out. At this +point there was not a picket left on the street. The crowd was clearly +obstructing the traffic, but no attempt was made to move them back or to +protect the women, some of whom were attacked by sailors on their own +doorsteps. The two police officers present watched without interference while +three sailors brought a ladder from the Belasco Theater in the same block, +leaned it against the side of the Cameron House, the Headquarters, climbed up +to the second floor balcony, mounted the iron railing and tore down all banners +and the American flag. One sailor administered a severe blow in the face with +his clenched fist upon Miss Georgina Sturgis of Washington. +</p> + +<p> +“Why did you do that?” she demanded. +</p> + +<p> +The man halted for a brief instant in obvious amazement and said, “I +don’t know.” And with a violent wrench he tore the banner from her +hands and ran down the ladder. +</p> + +<p> +The narrow balcony was the scene of intense excitement. +</p> + +<p> +But for Miss Burns’ superb strength she would have been dragged over the +railing of the balcony to be plunged to the ground. The mob watched with +fascination while she swayed to and fro in her wrestle with two young sailors. +And still no attempt by the police to quell the riot! +</p> + +<p> +The climax came when in the late afternoon a bullet was fired through one of +the heavy glass windows of the second floor, embedding itself in the ceiling. +The bullet grazed past the head of Mrs. Ella Morton Dean of Montana. Captain +Flather of the 1st Precinct, with two detectives, later examined the holes and +declared they had been made by a 38 caliber revolver, but no attempt was ever +made to find the man who had drawn the revolver. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile eggs and tomatoes were hurled at our fresh banners flying from the +flag poles on the building. +</p> + +<p> +Finally police reserves were summoned and in less than five minutes the crowd +was pushed back and the street cleared. Thinking now that they could rely on +the protection of the police, the women started with their banners for the +White House. But the police looked on while all the banners were destroyed, a +few paces from Headquarters. More banners ,went out,—purple, white and +gold ones. They, too, were destroyed before they reached the White House. +</p> + +<p> +This entire spectacle was enacted on August 14, within a stone’s throw of +the White House. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Paul summed up the situation when she said: +</p> + +<p> +“The situation now existing in Washington exists because President Wilson +permits it. Orders were first handed down to the police to arrest suffragists. +The clamor over their imprisonments made this position untenable. The police +were then ordered to protect suffragists. They were then ordered to attack +suffragists. They have now been ordered to encourage irresponsible crowds to +attack suffragists. No police head would dare so to besmirch his record without +orders from his responsible chief. The responsible chief in the National +Capital is the President of the United States.” +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after the incident of the “Kaiser banner” I was speaking in +Louisville, Kentucky. The auditorium was packed and overflowing with men and +women who had come to hear the story of the pickets. +</p> + +<p> +Up to this time we had very few members in Kentucky and had anticipated in this +Southern State, part of President Wilson ,’s stronghold, that our +Committee would meet with no enthusiasm and possibly with warm hostility. +</p> + +<p> +I had related briefly the incidents leading up to the picketing and the +Government’s suppressions. I was rather cautiously approaching the +subject of the “Kaiser banner,” feeling timid and hesitant, +wondering how this vast audience of Southerners would take it. Slowly I read +the inscription on the famous banner, “Kaiser Wilson, have you forgotten +how you sympathized with the poor Germans because they were not self-governed? +Twenty million American women are not self-governed. Take the beam out of your +own eye.” +</p> + +<p> +I hardly reached the last word, still wondering what the, intensely silent +audience would do, when a terrific outburst of applause mingled with shouts of +“Good! Good! He is, he is!” came to my amazed ears. As the applause +died down there was almost universal good-natured laughter. Instead of the +painstaking and eloquent explanation which I was prepared to offer, I had only +to join in their laughter. +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes later a telegram was brought to the platform announcing further +arrests. I read: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Six more women sentenced to-day to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse.” +</p> + +<p> +Instant cries of “Shame! Shame! It’s an outrage!” Scores of +men and two women were on their feet calling for the passage of a resolution +denouncing the Administration’s policy of persecution. The motion of +condemnation was put. It seemed as if the entire audience seconded it. It went +through instantly, unanimously, and again with prolonged shouts and applause. +</p> + +<p> +The meeting continued and I shall never forget that audience. It lingered to a +late hour, almost to midnight, asking questions, making brief +“testimonials” from the floor with almost evangelical fervor. +Improvised collection baskets were piled high with bills. Women volunteered for +picket duty and certain imprisonment, and the following day a delegation left +for Washington. +</p> + +<p> +I cite this experience of mine because it was typical. Every one who went +through the country telling the story had similar experiences at this time. +Indignation was swift and hot. Our mass meetings everywhere became meetings of +protest during the entire campaign. +</p> + +<p> +And resolutions of protest which always went immediately by wire from such +meetings to the President, his cabinet and to his leaders in Congress, of +course created increasing uneasiness in Democratic circles. +</p> + +<p> +On August 15th the pickets again attempted to take their posts on the line. +</p> + +<p> +On this day one lettered banner and fifty purple, white and gold flags were +destroyed by a mob led by sailors in uniform. Alice Paul was knocked down three +times by a sailor in uniform and dragged the width of the White House sidewalk +in his frenzied attempt to tear off leer suffrage sash. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Katharine Morey of Boston was also knocked to the pavement by a sailor, +who took her flag and then darted off into the crowd. Miss Elizabeth Stuyvesant +was struck by a soldier in uniform and her blouse torn from her body. Miss Maud +Jamison of Virginia was knocked down and dragged along the sidewalk. Miss +Beulah Amidon of North Dakota was knocked down by a sailor. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of these riotous scenes, a well-known Washington correspondent was +emerging from the White House, after an interview with the President. Dr. +Cart’ Grayson, the President’s physician, accompanying him to the +door, advised: +</p> + +<p> +“You had better go out the side entrance. Those damned women are in the +front.” +</p> + +<p> +In spite of this advice the correspondent made his exit through the same gate +by which he had entered, and just in time to ward off an attack by a sailor on +one of the frailest girls in the group. +</p> + +<p> +The Administration, in its desperation, ordered the police to lawlessness. On +August 16th, fifty policemen led the mob in attacking the women. Hands were +bruised and arms twisted lit’ police officers and plainclothes men. Two +civilians who tried to rescue the women from the attacks of the police were +arrested. The police fell upon these young women with more brutality even than +the mobs they had before encouraged. Twenty-five lettered banners and 123 Party +flags were destroyed by mobs and police on this afternoon. +</p> + +<p> +As the crowd grew more dense, the police temporarily retired from the attack. +When their activities had summoned a sufficiently large and infuriated mob, +they would rest. And so the passions of the mob continued unchecked upon these +irrepressible women, and from day to day the Administration gave its orders. +</p> + +<p> +Finding that riots and mob attacks had not terrorized the pickets, the +Administration decided again to arrest the women in the hope of ending the +agitation. Having lost public sympathy through workhouse sentences, having won +it back by pardoning the women, the Administration felt it could afford to risk +losing it again, or rather felt that it had supplied itself with an appropriate +amount of stage-setting. +</p> + +<p> +And so on the third day of the riotous attacks, when it was clear that the +pickets would persist, the Chief of Police called at headquarters to announce +to Miss Paul that “orders have been changed and henceforth women carrying +banners will be arrested” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the pickets heard officers shout to civilian friends as they +passed—“Come back at four o’clock.” +</p> + +<p> +Members of the daily mob announced at the noon hour in various nearby +restaurants that “the suffs will be arrested to-day at 4 +o’clock.” +</p> + +<p> +Four o’clock is the hour the Government clerks begin to swarm homewards. +The choice of this hour by the police to arrest the women would enable them to +have a large crowd passing the White House gates to lend color to the fiction +that “pickets were blocking the traffic.” +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the earlier part of the afternoon the silent sentinels stood +unmolested, carrying these mottoes: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +ENGLAND AND RUSSIA ARE ENFRANCHISING WOMEN IN WAR-TIME. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +HOW LONG MUST WOMEN WAIT FOB LIBERTY? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE GOVERNMENT ORDERS OUR BANNERS DESTROYED BECAUSE THEY TELL THE TRUTH. +</p> + +<p> +At four o’clock the threatened arrests took place. The women arrested +were Miss Lavinia Dock of Pennsylvania, Miss Edna Dixon of Washington, D. C., a +young public school teacher; Miss Natalie Gray of Colorado, Mrs. Win. Upton +Watson and Miss Lucy Ewing of Chicago, and Miss Catherine Flanagan of +Connecticut. +</p> + +<p> +Exactly forty minutes were allowed for the trial of these six women. One police +officer testified that they were “obstructing traffic.” +</p> + +<p> +None of the facts of the hideous and cruel manhandling by the mobs and police +officers was allowed to be brought out. Nothing the women could say mattered. +The judge pronounced : “Thirty days in Occoquan workhouse in lieu of a +$10.00 fine.” +</p> + +<p> +And so this little handful of women, practically all of them tiny and frail of +physique, began the cruel sentence of 30 days in the workhouse, while their +cowardly assailants were not even reprimanded, nor were those who destroyed +over a thousand dollars’ worth of banners apprehended. +</p> + +<p> +The riots had attracted sufficient attention to cause some anxiety in +Administration circles. Protests against us and others against the rioters +pressed upon them. Congress was provoked into a little activity; activity which +reflected some doubt as to the wisdom of arresting women without some warrant +in law. +</p> + +<p> +Two attempts were made, neither of which was successful, to give the +Administration more power and more law. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Culberson of Texas, Democrat, offered a bill authorizing President +Wilson at any time to prohibit any person from approaching or entering any +place—in short blanket authority granting the President or his officials +limitless power over the actions of human beings. Realizing that this could be +used to prohibit picketing the White House we appeared before a committee +hearing on the bill and spoke against it. The committee did not have the +boldness to report such a bill. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Myers of Montana, an influential member of the Democratic majority, +introduced into the Senate a few days later a resolution making it illegal to +picket the White House. The shamelessness of admitting to the world that acts +for which women had been repeatedly sentenced to jail, and for which women were +at that moment lying in prison, were so legal as to make necessary a special +act of Congress against them, was appalling. The Administration policy seemed +to be “Let us put women in jail first—let us enact a law to keep +them there afterwards,” +</p> + +<p> +This tilt between Senator Brandegee, of Connecticut, antisuffrage Republican, +and Senator Myers, suffrage Democrat, took place when Mr. Myer’s +presented his bill: +</p> + +<p> +MR. BRANDEGEE: . . . Was there any defect in the legal proceedings by which +these trouble makers were sentenced and put in jail a few weeks ago? +</p> + +<p> +MR. MYERS: None that I know of. I am not in a position to pass upon that. I do +not believe any was claimed . . . . +</p> + +<p> +MR. BRANDEGEE: Inasmuch as the law was sufficient to land them in jail . . . I +fail to see why additional legislation is necessary on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +MR. MYERS: There seems to be a doubt in the mind of some whether the present +law is sufficient and I think it ought to be put beyond doubt. I think . . . +the laws are not stringent or severe enough . . . . +</p> + +<p> +MR. BRANDEGEE : They were stringent enough to land the malefactors in jail . . +. . +</p> + +<p> +In spite of Senator Myers’ impassioned appeal to his colleagues, be was +unable to command any support for his bill. I quote this from his speech in the +Senate August 18, 1917: +</p> + +<p> +MR. MYERS: Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about the bill I have just +introduced. It is intended for the enactment of better and more adequate +legislation to prevent the infamous, outrageous, scandalous, and, I think, +almost treasonable actions that have been going on around the White House for +months past, which President of the United States have been a gross insult to +the and to the people of the United States; I mean the so-called picketing of +the White House. . . These disgusting proceedings have been going on for +months, and if there is no adequate law to stop them, I think there ought to +be. +</p> + +<p> +“I believe the President, in the generosity of his heart, erred when he +pardoned some of the women who have been conducting these proceedings, after +they had been sentenced to 60 days in the workhouse. I believe they deserved +the sentence, and they ought to have been compelled to serve it . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“I for one am not satisfied longer to sit here idly day by day and submit +to having the President of the United States insulted with impunity before the +people of the country and before all the world. It is a shame and reproach. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope this bill . . . will receive careful consideration and that it +may be enacted into law and may be found an adequate preventive and punishment +for such conduct.” +</p> + +<p> +This bill, which died a well-deserved death, is so amusing as to warrant +reproduction. Although lamenting our comparison between the President and the +Kaiser, it will be seen that Senator Myers brought forth a thoroughly Prussian +document: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +A BILL +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +For the better protection and enforcement of peace and order and the public +welfare in the District of Columbia. +</p> + +<p> +Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives o f the United States +o f America in Congress assembled, That when the United States shall be engaged +in war it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to carry, hold, wave, +exhibit, display, or have in his or her possession in any public road, highway, +alley, street, thoroughfare, park, or other public place in the District of +Columbia, any banner, flag, streamer, sash, or other device having thereon any +words or language with reference to the President or the Vice President of the +United States, or any words or language with reference to the Constitution of +the United States, or the right of suffrage, or right of citizenship, or any +words or language with reference to the duties of any executive official or +department of the United States, or with reference to any proposed amendment to +the Constitution of the United States, or with reference to any law or proposed +law of the United States, calculated to bring the President of the United +States or the Government of the United States into contempt, or which may tend +to cause confusion, or excitement, or obstruction of the streets or sidewalks +thereof, or any passage in any public place. +</p> + +<p> +Sec. 2. That any person committing any foregoing described offense shall, upon +conviction thereof, for each offense be fined not less than $100 nor more than +$1,000 or imprisoned not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or by +both such fine and imprisonment. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Voices were raised in our behalf, also, and among them I note the following +letter written to Major Pullman by Gilson Gardner:[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The distinguished journalist who went to Africa to meet Theodore Roosevelt +and accompanied him on his return journey to America. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Mr. Raymond Pullman,<br/> +Chief of Police,<br/> +Washington, D. C. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +My dear Pullman,— +</p> + +<p> +I am writing as an old friend to urge you to get right in this matter of +arresting the suffrage pickets. Of course the only way for you to get right is +to resign. It has apparently become impossible for you to stay in office and do +your duty. The alternative is obvious. +</p> + +<p> +You must see, Pullman, that you cannot be right in what you have done in this +matter. You have given the pickets adequate protection; but you have arrested +them and had them sent to jail and the workhouse; you have permitted the crowd +to mob them, and then you have had your officers do much the same thing by +forcibly taking their banners from them. In some of the actions you must have +been wrong. If it was right to give them protection and let them stand at the +White House for five months, both before and after the war, it was not right to +do what you did later. +</p> + +<p> +You say that it was not right when you were “lenient” and gave them +protection. You cannot mean that. The rightness or wrongness must be a matter +of law, not of personal discretion, and for you to attempt to substitute your +discretion is to set up a little autocracy m place of the settled laws of the +land. This would justify a charge of “Kaiserism” right here in our +capital city. +</p> + +<p> +The truth is, Pullman, you were right when you gave these women protection. +That is what the police are for. When there are riots they are supposed to +quell them, not by quelling the “proximate cause,” but by quelling +the rioters. +</p> + +<p> +I know your police officers now quite well and know that they are most happy +when they are permitted to do their duty. They did not like the dirty business +of permitting a lot of sailors and street rifraff to rough the girls. All that +went against the grain, but when you let them protect the pickets, as you did +March third, when a thousand women marched around and around the White House, +the officers were as contented as they were efficient. +</p> + +<p> +Washington has a good police force and there has never been a minute when they +could not have scattered any group gathered at the White House gates and given +perfect protection to the women standing there. +</p> + +<p> +You know why they did not do their duty. +</p> + +<p> +In excusing what you have done, you say that the women carried banners with +“offensive” inscriptions on them. You refer to the fact that they +have addressed the President as “Kaiser Wilson.” As a matter of +fact not an arrest you have made—and the arrests now number more than +sixty—has been for carrying one of those “offensive” banners. +The women were carrying merely the suffrage colors or quotations from President +Wilson’s writings. +</p> + +<p> +But, suppose the banners were offensive. Who made you censor of banners? The +law gives you no such power. Even when you go through the farce of a police +court trial the charge is “obstructing traffic”; which shows +conclusively that you are not willing to go into court on the real issue. +</p> + +<p> +No. As Chief of Police you have no more right to complain of the sentiments of +a banner than you have of the sentiments in an editorial in the Washington +Post, and you have no more right to arrest the banner-bearer than you have to +arrest the owner of the Washington Post . . . . Congress refused to pass a +press censorship law. There are certain lingering traditions to the effect that +a people’s liberties are closely bound up with the right to talk things +out and those who are enlightened know that the only proper answer to words is +words. When force is opposed to words there is ground for the charge of +“Kaiserism.” . . +</p> + +<p> +There was just one thing for you to have done, Pullman, and that was to give +full and adequate protection to these women, no matter what banners they +carried or what ideas their banners expressed. If there is any law that can be +invoked against the wording of the banners it was the business of others in the +government to start the legal machinery which would abate them. It was not +lawful to abate them by mob violence, or by arrests. And if those in authority +over you were not willing that you thus do your duty, it was up to you to +resign. +</p> + +<p> +After all it would not be such a terrible thing, Pullman, for you to give up +being Chief of Police, particularly when you are not permitted to be chief of +police, but must yield your judgment to the district commissioners who have +yielded their judgment to the White House. Being Chief of Police under such +circumstances can hardly be worth while. You are a young man and the world is +full of places for young men with courage enough to save their self- respect at +the expense of their jobs. You did that once,-back in the Ballinger-Pinchot +days. Why not now? +</p> + +<p> +Come out and help make the fight which must be made to recover and protect the +liberties which are being filched from us here at home. There is a real fight +looming up for real democracy. You will not be alone. There are a lot of fine +young men, vigorous and patriotic, in and out of the Administration who are +preparing for this fight. Yours will not be the only resignation. But why not +be among the first? Don’t wait. Let them have your resignation. now and +let me be the first to welcome and congratulate you. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Sincerely,<br/> +(Signed) GILSON GARDNER. +</p> + +<p> +Representative John Baer of North Dakota, having witnessed for himself the +riotous scenes, immediately introduced into the House a resolution[1] demanding +an investigation of conditions in the Capital which permitted mobs to attack +women. This, too, went to certain death. Between the members who did not dare +denounce the Administration and the others who did dare denounce the women, we +had to stand quite solidly on our own program, and do our best to keep them +nervous over the next step in the agitation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] See Appendix 3 for full text of resolution. +</p> + +<p> +The press throughout the entire country at this time protested against mob +violence and the severe sentences pronounced upon the women who had attempted +to hold their banners steadfast. +</p> + +<p> +The Washington (D. C.) Herald, August 19, printed the following editorial: +</p> + +<p> +There is an echo of the President’s phrase about the “firm hand of +stern repression” in the arrest, conviction and jailing of the six +suffragists; a touch of ruthlessness in their incarceration at Occoquan along +with women of the street, pickpockets and other flotsam and jetsam. Still, the +suffragists are not looking for sympathy, and it need not be wasted upon them. +</p> + +<p> +The police have arrived at a policy, although no one knows whether it will be +sufficiently stable and consistent to last out the week . . . . Washington is +grateful that the disgraceful period of rioting and mob violence in front of +the White House is at an end, and another crisis in the militant crusade to +bring the Susan B. Anthony amendment before Congress has been reached. +</p> + +<p> +What is the next step? No one knows. Picketing doubtless will continue, or an +effort will be made to continue it; and militancy, if the police continue to +arrest, instead of giving the women protection, will pass into a new phase. The +suffragists as well as the public at large are thankful that the police +department has finally determined to arrest the pickets, instead of allowing +them to be mobbed by hoodlums . +</p> + +<p> +. . . The public eye will be on Occoquan for the next few weeks, to find out +how these women bear up under the Spartan treatment that is in store for them. +If they have deliberately sought martyrdom, as some critics have been unkind +enough to suggest, they have it now. And if their campaign, in the opinion of +perhaps the great majority of the public, has been misguided, admiration for +their pluck will not be withheld. +</p> + +<p> +The Boston Journal of August 20, 1917, said in an editorial written by Herbert +N. Pinkham, Jr.: +</p> + +<p> +That higher authorities than the Washington police were responsible for the +amazing policy of rough house employed against the suffrage pickets has been +suspected from the very beginning. Police power in Washington is sufficient to +protect a handful of women against a whole phalanx of excited or inspired +government clerks and uniformed hoodlums, if that power were used. +</p> + +<p> +. . . In our nation’s capital, women have been knocked down and dragged +through the streets by government employees—including sailors in uniform. +The police are strangely absent at such moments, as a rule, and arrive only in +time to arrest a few women . . . . +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the inscriptions on the suffrage banners were not tactful. It is +sometimes awkward indeed to quote the President’s speeches after the +speeches have “grown cold.” Also a too vigorous use of the word +“democracy” is distasteful to some government dignitaries, it +seems. But right or wrong, the suffragists at Washington are entitled to police +protection, even though in the minds of the Administration they are not +entitled to the ballot. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps, even in America, we must have a law forbidding people to carry banners +demanding what they consider their political rights. Such a law would, of +course, prohibit political parades of all kinds, public mass meetings and other +demonstrations of one set of opinions against another set. Such a law has been +proposed by Senator Myers of Montana, the author of the latest censorship and +anti-free speech bill. It may be necessary to pass the law, if it is also +necessary that the public voice be stilled and the nation become dumb and +subservient. +</p> + +<p> +But until there is such a law . . . people must be protected while their +actions remain within the law. If their opinions differ from ours, we must +refrain from smashing their faces, if a certain number of people believe that +they have the right to vote we may either grant their claim or turn them sadly +away, but we may not roll them into the gutter; if they see fit to tell us our +professions of democracy are empty, we may smile sorrowfully and murmur a +prayer for their ignorance but we may not pelt them with rotten eggs and fire a +shot through the window of their dwelling; if, denied a properly dignified +hearing, they insist upon walking through the streets with printed words on a +saucy banner, we may be amazed at their zeal and pitiful of their bad taste, +but even for the sake of keeping their accusations out of sight of our foreign +visitors (whom we have trained to believe us perfect) we may not send them to +jail . . . . +</p> + +<p> +All this suffrage shouting in Washington has as its single object the +attainment of President Wilson’s material support for equal suffrage . . +. . +</p> + +<p> +President Wilson’s word would carry the question into Congress . . . +</p> + +<p> +Would there be any harm in letting Congress vote on a suffrage resolution? That +would end the disturbance and it would make our shield of national justice +somewhat brighter. +</p> + +<p> +It looks like President Wilson’s move. +</p> + +<p> +Between these opposing currents of protest and support, the Administration +drifted helplessly. Unwilling to pass the amendment, it continued to send women +to prison. +</p> + +<p> +On the afternoon of September 4th, President Wilson led his first contingent of +drafted “soldiers of freedom” down Pennsylvania Avenue in gala +parade, on the first lap of their journey to the battlefields of France. On the +same afternoon a slender line of women—also “soldiers of +freedom”—attempted to march in Washington. +</p> + +<p> +As they attempted to take up their posts, two by two, in front of the Reviewing +Stand, opposite the White House, they were gathered in and swept away by the +police like common street criminals—their golden banners scarcely flung +to the breeze. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +MR. PRESIDENT, HOW LONG MUST WOMEN BE DENIED A VOICE IN A GOVERNMENT WHICH IS +CONSCRIPTING THEIR SONS? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +was the offensive question on the first banner carried by Miss Eleanor Calnan +of Massachusetts and Miss Edith Ainge of New York. +</p> + +<p> +The Avenue was roped off on account of the parade. There was hardly any one +passing at the time; all traffic had been temporarily suspended, so there was +none to obstruct. But the Administration’s policy must go on. A few +moments and Miss Lucy Branham of Maryland and Mrs. Pauline Adams of Virginia +marched down the Avenue, their gay banners waving joyously in the autumn sun, +to fill up the gap of the two comrades who had been arrested. They, too, were +shoved into the police automobile, their banners still high and appealing, +silhouetted against the sky as they were hurried to the police station. +</p> + +<p> +The third pair of pickets managed to cross the Avenue, but were arrested +immediately they reached the curb. Still others advanced. The crowd began to +line the ropes and to watch eagerly the line of women indomitably coming, two +by two, into the face of certain arrest. A fourth detachment was arrested in +the middle of the Avenue on the trolley tracks. But still they came. +</p> + +<p> +A few days later more women were sent to the workhouse for carrying to the +picket line this question: +</p> + +<p> +“President Wilson, what did you mean when you said: ‘We have seen a +good many singular things happen recently. We have been told there is a deep +disgrace resting upon the origin of this nation. The nation originated in the +sharpest sort of criticism of public policy. We originated, to put it in the +vernacular, in a kick, and if it be unpatriotic to kick, why then the grown man +is unlike the child. We have forgotten the very principle of our origin if we +have forgotten how to object, how to resist, how to agitate, how to pull down +and build up, even to the extent of revolutionary practices, if it be necessary +to readjust matters. I have forgotten my history, if that be not true +history.’” +</p> + +<p> +The Administration had not yet abandoned hope of removing the pickets. They +persisted in their policy of arrests and longer imprisonments. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>Chapter 6<br/> +Prison Episodes</h2> + +<p> +During all this time the suffrage prisoners were enduring the miserable and +petty tyranny of the government workhouse at Occoquan. They were kept +absolutely incommunicado. They were not allowed to see even their nearest +relatives, should any be within reach, until they had been in the institution +two weeks. +</p> + +<p> +Each prisoner was allowed to write one outgoing letter a month, which, after +being read by the warden, could be sent or withheld at his whim. +</p> + +<p> +All incoming mail and telegrams were also censored by the Superintendent and +practically all of them denied the prisoners. Superintendent Whittaker openly +boasted of holding up the suffragists’ mail: “I am boss down +here,” he said to visitors who asked to see the prisoners, or to send in +a note. “I consider the letters and telegrams these prisoners get are +treasonable. They cannot have them.” He referred to messages commending +the women for choosing prison to silence, and bidding them stand steadfast to +their program. +</p> + +<p> +Of course all this was done in the hope of intimidating not only the prisoners, +but also those who came wanting to see them. +</p> + +<p> +It was the intention of the women to abide as far as possible by the routine of +the institution, disagreeable and unreasonable as it was. They performed the +tasks assigned to them. They ate the prison food without protest. They wore the +coarse prison clothes. But at the end of the first week of detention they +became so weak from the shockingly bad food that they began to wonder if they +could endure such a system. The petty tyrannies they could endure. But the +inevitable result of a diet of sour bread, half-cooked vegetables, rancid soup +with worms in it, was serious. +</p> + +<p> +Finally the true condition of affairs trickled to the outside world through the +devious routes of prison messengers. +</p> + +<p> +Senator J. Hamilton Lewis, of Illinois, Democratic whip in the Senate, heard +alarming reports of two of his constituents, Miss Lucy Ewing, daughter of Judge +Ewing, niece of Adlai Stevenson, Vice-President in Cleveland’s +Administration, niece of James Ewing, minister to Belgium in the same +Administration, and Mrs. William Upton Watson of Chicago. He made a hurried +trip to the workhouse to see them. The fastidious Senator was +shocked—shocked at the appearance of the prisoners, shocked at the tale +they told, shocked that “ladies” should be subjected to such +indignities. “In all my years of criminal practice,” said the +Senator to Gilson Gardner, who had accompanied him to the workhouse, “I +have never seen prisoners so badly treated, either before or after +conviction.” He is a gallant gentleman who would be expected to be +uncomfortable when he actually saw ladies suffer. It was more than gallantry in +this instance, however, for he spoke in frank condemnation of the whole +“shame and outrage” of the thing. +</p> + +<p> +It is possible that he reported to other Administration officials what he had +learned during his visit to the workhouse for very soon afterwards it was +announced that an investigation of conditions in the workhouse would be held. +That was, of course, an admirable maneuver which the Administration could make. +“Is the President not a kind man? He pardoned some women. Now he +investigates the conditions under which others are imprisoned. Even though they +are lawless women, he wishes them well treated.” +</p> + +<p> +It would sound “noble” to thousands. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately the District Commissioners announced this investigation, Miss Lucy +Burns, acting on behalf of the National Woman’s Party, sent a letter to +Commissioner Brownlow. After summing up the food situation Miss Burns wrote: +</p> + +<p> +When our friends were sent to prison, they expected the food would be extremely +plain, but they also expected that . . enough eatable food would be given them +to maintain them in their ordinary state of health. This has not been the case. +</p> + +<p> +The testimony of one of the prisoners, Miss Lavinia Dock, a trained nurse, is +extremely valuable on the question of food supplied at Occoquan. Miss Dock is +Secretary of the American Federation of Nurses. She has had a distinguished +career in her profession. She assisted in the work after the Johnstown flood +and during the yellow fever epidemic in Florida. During the Spanish war she +organized the Red Cross work with Clara Barton. ‘I really thought,’ +said Miss Dock, when I last saw her, ‘that I could eat everything, but +here I have hard work choking down enough food to keep the life in me.’ +</p> + +<p> +I am sure you will agree with me that these conditions should be instantly +remedied. When these and other prisoners were sentenced to prison they were +sentenced to detention and not to starvation or semi-starvation. +</p> + +<p> +The hygienic conditions have been improved at Occoquan since a group of +suffragists were imprisoned there. But they are still bad. The water they drink +is kept in an open pail, from which it is ladled into a drinking cup. The +prisoners frequently dip the drinking cup directly into the pail. +</p> + +<p> +The same piece of soap is used for every prisoner. As the prisoners in Occoquan +are sometimes seriously afflicted with disease, this practice is appallingly +negligent. +</p> + +<p> +Concerning the general conditions of the person, I am enclosing with this +letter, affidavit of Mrs. Virginia Bovee, an ex-officer of the workhouse . . . +. The prisoners for whom I am counsel are aware that cruel practices go on at +Occoquan. On one occasion they heard Superintendent Whittaker kicking a woman +in the next room. They heard Whittaker’s voice, the sound of blows, and +the woman’s cries. +</p> + +<p> +I lay these facts before you with the knowledge that you will be glad to have +the fullest possible information given you concerning the institution for whose +administration you as Commissioner of the District of Columbia are +responsible.’ +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Very respectfully yours,<br/> +(Signed) LUCY BURNS. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Bovee, a matron, was discharged from the workhouse because she tried to be +kind to the suffrage prisoners. She also gave them warnings to guide them past +the possible contamination of hideous diseases. As soon as she was discharged +from the workhouse she went to the headquarters of the Woman’s Party and +volunteered to make an affidavit. The affidavit of Mrs. Bovee follows: +</p> + +<p> +I was discharged yesterday as an officer of Occoquan workhouse. For eight +months I acted as night officer, with no complaint as to my performance of my +duties. Yesterday Superintendent Whittaker told me I was discharged and gave me +two hours in which to get out. I demanded the charges from the matron, Mrs. +Herndon, and I was told that it was owing to something that Senator Lewis has +said. +</p> + +<p> +I am well acquainted with the conditions at Occoquan. I have had charge of all +the suffragist prisoners who have been there. I know that their mail has been +withheld from them. Mrs. Herndon, the matron, reads the mail, and often +discussed it with us at the officers’ table. She said of a letter sent to +one of the suffragist pickets now in the workhouse, “They told her to +keep her eyes open and notice everything. She will never get that +letter,” said Mrs. Herndon. ,Then she corrected herself, and added, +“Not until she goes away.” Ordinarily the mail not given the +prisoners is destroyed. The mail for the suffragists is saved for them until +they are ready to go away. I have Seen three of the women have one letter each, +but that is all. The three were Mrs. Watson, Miss Ewing, and I think Miss +Flanagan. +</p> + +<p> +The blankets now being used in the prison have been in use since December +without being washed or cleaned. Blankets are washed once a year. Officers are +warned not to touch any of the bedding. The one officer who handles it is +compelled by the regulations to wear rubber gloves while she does so. The +sheets for the ordinary prisoners are not changed completely, even when one is +gone and another takes her bed. Instead the top sheet is put on the bottom, and +one fresh sheet is given them. I was not there when these suffragists arrived, +and I do not know how their bedding was arranged. I doubt whether the +authorities would have dared to give them one soiled sheet. +</p> + +<p> +The prisoners with disease are not always isolated, by any means. In the +colored dormitory there are two women in the advanced stages of consumption. +Women suffering from, syphilis, who have open sores, are put in the hospital. +But those whose sores are temporarily healed are put in the same dormitory with +the others. There have been several such in my dormitory. +</p> + +<p> +When the prisoners come they must undress and take a shower bath. For this they +take a piece of soap from a bucket in the store room. When they are finished +they throw the soap back in the bucket. The suffragists are permitted three +showers a week and have only these pieces of soap which are common to all +inmates. There is no soap at all in wash rooms. +</p> + +<p> +The beans, hominy, rice, cornmeal (which is exceedingly coarse, like chicken +feed) and cereal have all had worms in them. Sometimes the worms float on top +of the soup. Often they are found in the cornbread. The first suffragists sent +the worms to Whittaker on a spoon. On the farm is a fine herd of Holsteins. The +cream is made into butter and sold to the tuberculosis hospital in Washington. +At the officers’ table we have very good milk. The prisoners do not have +any butter or sugar, and no milk except by order of the doctor. +</p> + +<p> +Prisoners are punished by being put on bread or water, or by being beaten. I +know of one girl who has been kept seventeen days on only water this month in +the “booby house.” The ,same was kept nineteen days on water last +year because she .beat Superintendent Whittaker when he tried to beat her. +</p> + +<p> +Superintendent Whittaker or his son are the only ones who beat the girls. +Officers are not allowed to lay a hand on them in punishment. I know of one +girl beaten until the blood had to be scrubbed from her clothing and from the +floor of the “booby house.” I have never actually seen a girl +beaten, but I have seen her afterwards and I have heard the cries and blows. +Dorothy Warfield was beaten and the suffragists heard the beating. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +(Signed) MRS. VIRGINIA BOVEE. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of disgust, 1917.<br/> +JOSEPH H. BATT, Notary Public. +</p> + +<p> +While the Administration was planning an investigation of the conditions in the +workhouse, which made it difficult for women to sustain health through a thirty +day sentence, it was, through its police court, sentencing more women to sixty +day sentences, under the same conditions. The Administration was giving some +thought to its plan of procedure, but not enough to master the simple fact that +women would not stop going to prison until something had been done which +promised passage of the amendment through Congress. +</p> + +<p> +New forms of intimidation and hardship were offered by Superintendent +Whittaker. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Frederick Kendall of Buffalo, New York, a frail and highly sensitive +woman, was put in a “punishment cell” on bread and water, under a +charge of “impudence.” Mrs. Kendall says that her impudence +consisted of “protesting to the matron that scrubbing floors on my hands +and knees was too severe work for me as I had been unable for days to eat the +prison food. My impudence further consisted in asking for lighter work.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Kendall was refused the clean clothing she should have had the day she was +put in solitary confinement and was thus forced to wear the same clothing +eleven days. She was refused a nightdress or clean linen for the cot. Her only +toilet accommodations was an open pail. For four days she was allowed no water +for toilet purposes., Her diet consisted of three thin slices of bread and +three cups of water, carried to her in a paper cup which frequently leaked out +half the meager supply before it got to Mrs. Kendall’s cell. +</p> + +<p> +Representative and Mrs. Charles Bennet Smith, of Buffalo, friends of Mrs. +Kendall, created a considerable disturbance when they learned of this cruel +treatment, with the result that Mrs. Kendall was finally given clean clothing +and taken from her confinement. When she walked from her cell to greet Mrs. +Genevieve Clark Thompson, daughter of Champ Clark, Speaker of the House, and +Miss Roberta Bradshaw, other friends, who, through the Speaker’s +influence, had obtained special permission to see Mrs. Kendall, she fell in a +dead faint. It was such shocking facts as these that the Commissioners and +their investigating board were vainly trying to keep from the country for the +sake of the reputation of the Administration. +</p> + +<p> +For attempting to spear to Mrs. Kendall through her cell door, to inquire as to +her health, while in solitary, Miss Lucy Burns was placed on a bread and water +diet. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the only woman member of Congress, was moved +by these and similar revelations to introduce a resolution[1] calling for a +Congressional investigation of the workhouse. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] For text of Miss Rankin’s resolution see Appendix 3. +</p> + +<p> +There were among the suffrage prisoners women of all shades of social opinion. +</p> + +<p> +The following letter by Miss Gvinter, the young Russian worker, was smuggled +out of the workhouse. This appeal to Meyer London was rather pathetic, since +not even he, the only Socialist member in Congress, stood up to denounce the +treatment of the pickets. +</p> + +<p> +Comrade Meyer London: +</p> + +<p> +I am eight years in this movement, three and a half years a member of the +Socialist Party, Branches 2 and 4 of the Bronx, and I have been an active +member of the Waist Makers’ Union since 1910. I am from New York, but am +now in Baltimore, where I got acquainted with the comrades who asked me to +picket the White House, and of course I expressed my willingness to help the +movement. I am now in the workhouse. I want to get out and help in the work as +I am more revolutionary than the Woman’s Party, yet conditions here are +so bad that I feel I must stay here and help women get their rights. We are +enslaved here. I am suffering very much from hunger and nearly blind from bad +nourishment. The food is chiefly soup, cereal with worms, bread just baked and +very heavy. Even this poor food, we do not get enough. I do not eat meat. When +I told the doctor that he said, “You must eat, and if you don’t +like it here, you go and tell the judge you won’t picket any more, and +then you can get out of here.” But I told him that I could not go against +my principles and my belief. He asked, “Do you believe you should break +the law?” I replied, “I have picketed whenever I had a chance for +eight years and have never broken the law. Picketing is legal.” +</p> + +<p> +Please come here as quickly as possible, as we need your help. +</p> + +<p> +Will you give the information in this letter to the newspapers? +</p> + +<p> +Please pardon this scrap of paper as I have nothing else to write on. I would +write to other comrades, to Hillquit or Paulsen, but you are in the Congress +and can do more. +</p> + +<p> +Yours for the Cause, +</p> + +<p class="right"> +(Signed) ANNA GVINTER.<br/> +OCCOQUAN WORKHOUSE, Friday, Sept. 21. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Gvinter swore to an affidavit when she came out in which she said in part: +</p> + +<p> +. . . The days that we had to stand on scaffolds and ladders to paint the +dormitories, I was so weak from lack of food I was dizzy and in constant danger +of falling. +</p> + +<p> +. . . When they told me to scrub the floors of the lavatories I refused, +because I have to work for my living and I could not afford to get any of the +awful diseases that women down there have. +</p> + +<p> +I obeyed all the rules of the institution. The only times I stopped working was +because I was too sick to work. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +(Signed) ANNA GVINTER. +</p> + +<p> +Sworn to before me and subscribed in my presence this 13th day of October, +1917. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +(Signed) C. LARIMORE KEELEY,<br/> +Notary Public, D. C. +</p> + +<p> +Half a hundred women was the government’s toll for one month:- +.Continuous arrests kept the issue hot and kept people who cared in constant +protest. It is impossible to give space to the countless beautiful messages +which were sent to the women, or the fervent protests which went to government +officials. Among the hundreds of thousands of protests was a valuable one by +Dr. Harvey Wiley, the celebrated food expert, in a letter to Dr. George M. +Kober, member of the Board in control of the jail and workhouse, and a +well-known sanitarium. Dr. Wiley wrote: +</p> + +<p class="right"> +November 3, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +Dear Dr. Kober: +</p> + +<p> +I am personally acquainted with many of the women who have been confined at +Occoquan, and at the District jail, and have heard from their own lips an +account of the nutrition and sanitary conditions prevailing at both places. +</p> + +<p> +I, therefore, feel constrained to make known to you the conditions, as they +have been told to me, and as I believe them actually to exist. +</p> + +<p> +As I understand it, there is no purpose in penal servitude of lowering the +vitality of the prisoner, or in inviting disease. Yet both of these conditions +prevail both at Occoquan and at the District jail. First of all, the food +question. The diet furnished the prisoners at Occoquan especially is of a +character to invit6 all kinds of infections that may prevail, and to lower the +vitality so that the resistance to disease is diminished. I have fortunately +come into possession of samples of the food actually given to these women. I +have kept samples of the milk religiously for over two weeks to see if I could +detect the least particle of fat, and have been unable to perceive any. The fat +of milk is universally recognized by dieticians as its most important nutritive +character. I understand that a dairy is kept on the farm at Occoquan, and yet +it is perfectly certain that no whole milk is served or ever has been served to +one of the so-called “picketers” in that jail. I have not had +enough of the sample to make a chemical analysis, but being somewhat +experienced in milk, I can truthfully say that it seems to me to be watered +skimmed milk. I also have a sample of the pea soup served. The pea grains are +coarsely broken, often more than half of a pea, being served in one piece. They +never have been cooked, but are in a perfectly raw state, and found to be +inedible by the prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +I have also samples of the corn bread which is most unattractive and repellant +to the eye and to the taste. All of these witnesses say that the white bread +apparently is of good quality, but the diet in every case is the cause of +constipation, except in the case of pea soup, which brings on diarrhea and +vomiting. As nutrition is the very foundation of sanitation, I wish to call to +your special attention, as a sanitation, the totally inadequate sustenance +given to these prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +The food at the county jail at Washington is much better than the food at +Occoquan, but still bad enough. This increased excellence of food is set off by +the miserable ventilation of the cells, in which these noble women are kept in +solitary confinement. Not only have they had a struggle to get the windows open +slightly, but also at the time of their morning meal, the sweeping is done. The +air of the cells is filled with dust and they try to cover their coffee and +other food with such articles as they can find to keep the dust out of their +food. Better conditions for promoting tuberculosis could not be found. +</p> + +<p> +I appeal to you as a well-known sanitarian to get the Board of Charities to +make such rules and regulations as would secure to prisoners of all kinds, and +especially to political prisoners, as humane an environment as possible. +</p> + +<p> +I also desire to ask that the Board of Charities would authorize me to make +inspections of food furnished to prisoners at Occoquan and at the District +Jail, and to have physical and chemical analysis made without expense to the +Board, in order to determine more fully the nutritive environment in which the +prisoners live. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Sincerely,<br/> +(Signed) HARVEY WILEY. +</p> + +<p> +This striking telegram from Richard Bennett, the distinguished actor, must have +arrested the attention of the Administration. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +September 22, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +Hon. Newton Baker,<br/> +Secretary of War,<br/> +War Department,<br/> +Washington, D. C. +</p> + +<p> +I have been asked to go to France personally, with the film of “Damaged +Goods,” as head of a lecture corps to the American army. On reliable +authority I am told that American women, because they have dared demand their +political freedom, are held in vile conditions in the Government workhouse in +Washington; are compelled to paint the negro toilets for eight hours a day; are +denied decent food and denied communication with counsel. Why should I work for +democracy in Europe when our American women are denied democracy at home? If I +am to fight for social hygiene in France, why not begin at Occoquan workhouse? +</p> + +<p class="right"> +RICHARD BENNETT. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Bennett never received a reply to this message. +</p> + +<p> +Charming companionships grew up in prison. Ingenuity at lifting the dull +monotony of imprisonment brought to light many talents for camaraderie which +amused not only the suffrage prisoners but the “regulars.” Locked +in separate cells, as in the District Jail, the suffragists could still +communicate by song. The following lively doggerel to the tune of +“Captain Kidd” was sung in chorus to the accompaniment of a hair +comb. It became a saga. Each day a new verse was added, relating the +day’s particular controversy with the prison authorities. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +We worried Woody-wood,<br/> +As we stood, as we stood,<br/> +We worried Woody-wood,<br/> +As we stood.<br/> +We worried Woody-wood,<br/> +And we worried him right good;<br/> +We worried him right good as we stood.<br/> +<br/> +We asked him for the vote,<br/> +As we stood, as we stood,<br/> +We asked him for the vote<br/> +As we stood,<br/> +We asked him for the vote,<br/> +But he’d rather write a note,<br/> +He’d rather write a note—so we stood.<br/> +<br/> +We’ll not get out on bail,<br/> +Go to jail, go to jail—<br/> +We’ll not get out on bail,<br/> +We prefer to go to jail,<br/> +We prefer to go to jail—we’re not frail.<br/> +<br/> +We asked them for a brush,<br/> +For our teeth, for our teeth,<br/> +We asked them for a brush<br/> +For our teeth.<br/> +We asked them for a brush,<br/> +They said, “There ain’t no rush,”<br/> +They said, “There ain’t no rush—darn your teeth.”<br/> +<br/> +We asked them for some air,<br/> +As we choked, as we choked,<br/> +We asked them for some air<br/> +As we choked.<br/> +We asked them for some air<br/> +And they threw us in a lair,<br/> +They threw us in a lair, so we choked.<br/> +<br/> +We asked them for our nightie,<br/> +As we froze, as we froze,<br/> +We asked them for our nightie<br/> +As we froze.<br/> +We asked them for our nightie,<br/> +And they looked—hightie-tightie—<br/> +They looked hightie-tightie—so we froze.<br/> +<br/> +Now, ladies, take the hint,<br/> +As ye stand, as ye stand,<br/> +Now, ladies, take the hint,<br/> +As ye stand.<br/> +Now, ladies, take the hint,<br/> +Don’t quote the Presidint,<br/> +Don’t quote the Presidint, as ye stand. +</p> + +<p> +Humor predominated in the poems that came out of prison. There was never any +word of tragedy. +</p> + +<p> +Not even an intolerable diet of raw salt pork, which by actual count of Miss +Margaret Potheringham, a teacher of Domestic Science and Dietetics, was served +the suffragists sixteen times in eighteen days, could break their spirit of +gayety. And when a piece of fish of unknown origin was slipped through the tiny +opening in the cell door, and a specimen carefully preserved for Dr. +Wiley—who, by the way, was unable to classify it—they were more +diverted than outraged. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes it was a “prayer” which enlivened the evening hour before +bedtime. Mary Winsor of Haverford, Pennsylvania, was the master prayer-maker. +One night it was a Baptist prayer, another a Methodist, and still another a +stern Presbyterian prayer. The prayers were most disconcerting to the matron +for the “regulars” became almost hysterical with laughter, when +they should be slipping into sleep. It was trying also to sit in the corridor +and hear your daily cruelties narrated to God and punishment asked. This is +what happened to the embarrassed warden and jail attendants if they came to +protest. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes it was the beautiful voice of Vida Milholland which rang through the +corridors of the dreary prison, with a stirring Irish ballad, a French love +song, or the Woman’s Marseillaise. +</p> + +<p> +Again the prisoners would build a song, each calling out from cell to cell, and +contributing a line. The following song to the tune of “Charlie Is My +Darling” was so written and sung with Miss Lucy Branham leading: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +SHOUT THE REVOLUTION OF WOMEN +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Shout the revolution<br/> +Of women, of women,<br/> +Shout the revolution<br/> +For liberty.<br/> +Rise, glorious women of the earth,<br/> +The voiceless and the free<br/> +United strength assures the birth<br/> +Of true democracy. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +REFRAIN +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Invincible our army,<br/> +Forward, forward,<br/> +Triumphant daughters pressing<br/> +To victory.<br/> +<br/> +Shout the revolution<br/> +of women, of women,<br/> +Shout the revolution<br/> +For liberty.<br/> +Men’s revolution born in blood,<br/> +But ours conceived in peace,<br/> +We hold a banner for a sword,<br/> +Till all oppression cease. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +REFRAIN +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Prison, death, defying,<br/> +Onward, onward,<br/> +Triumphant daughters pressing<br/> +To victory. +</p> + +<p> +The gayety was interspersed with sadness when the suffragists learned of new +cruelties heaped upon the helpless ones, those who were without influence or +friends. .. They learned of that barbarous punishment known as “the +greasy pole” used upon girl prisoners. This method of punishment +consisted of strapping girls with their hands tied behind them to a greasy pole +from which they were partly suspended. Unable to keep themselves in an upright +position, because of the grease on the pole, they slipped almost to the floor, +with their arms all but severed from the arm sockets, suffering intense pain +for long periods of time. This cruel punishment was meted out to prisoners for +slight infractions of the prison rules. +</p> + +<p> +The suffrage prisoners learned also of the race hatred which the authorities +encouraged. It was not infrequent that the jail officers summoned black girls +to attack white women, if the latter disobeyed. This happened in one instance +to the suffrage prisoners who were protesting against the warden’s +forcibly taking a suffragist from the workhouse without telling her or her +comrades whither she was being taken. Black girls were called and commanded to +physically attack the suffragists. The negresses, reluctant to do so, were +goaded to deliver blows upon the women by the warden’s threats of +punishment. +</p> + +<p> +And as a result of our having been in prison, our headquarters has never ceased +being the mecca of many discouraged “inmates,” when released. They +come for money. They come for work. They come for spiritual encouragement to +face life after the wrecking experience of imprisonment. Some regard us as +“fellow prisoners.” Others regard us as “friends at +court.” +</p> + +<p> +Occasionally we meet a prison associate in the workaday world. Long after Mrs. +Lawrence Lewis’ imprisonment, when she was working on ratification of the +amendment in Delaware, she was greeted warmly by a charming young woman who +came forward at a meeting. “Don’t you remember me?” she +asked, as Mrs. Lewis struggled to recollect. “Don’t you remember +me? I met you in Washington.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m sorry but I seem to have forgotten where I met you,” +said Mrs. Lewis apologetically. +</p> + +<p> +“In jail,” came the answer hesitantly, whereupon Mrs. Lewis +listened sympathetically while her fellow prisoner told her that she had been +in jail at the tipie Mrs. Lewis was, that her crime was bigamy and that she was +one of the traveling circus troupe then in Dover. +</p> + +<p> +“She brought up her husband, also a member of the circus,” said +Mrs. Lewis in telling of the incident, “and they both joined +enthusiastically in a warm invitation to come and see them in the +circus.” +</p> + +<p> +As each group of suffragists was released an enthusiastic welcome was given to +them at headquarters and at these times, in the midst of the warmth of +approving and appreciative comrades, some of the most beautiful speeches were +delivered. I quote a part of Katharine Fisher’s speech at a dinner in +honor of released prisoners: +</p> + +<p> +Five of us who are with you to-night have recently come out from the workhouse +into the world. A great change? Not so much of a change for women, +disfranchised women. In prison or out, American women are not free. Our lot of +physical freedom simply gives us and the public a new and vivid sense of what +our lack of political freedom really means. +</p> + +<p> +Disfranchisement is the prison of women’s power and spirit. Women have +long been classed with criminals so far as their voting rights are concerned. +And how quick the Government is to live up to its classification the minute +women determinedly insist upon these rights. Prison life epitomizes all life +under undemocratic rule. At Occoquan, as at the Capitol and the White House, we +faced hypocrisy, trickery and treachery on the part of those in power. And the +constant appeal to us to “cooperate” with the workhouse authorities +sounded wonderfully like the exhortation addressed to all women to +“support the Government.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that the law of the District of Columbia?” I asked +Superintendent Whittaker concerning a statement he had made to me. “It is +the law,” he answered, “because it is the rule I make.” The +answer of Whittaker is the answer Wilson makes to women every time the +Government, of which he is the head, enacts a law and at the same time +continues to refuse to pass the Susan B. Anthony amendment . . . . +</p> + +<p> +We seem to-day to stand before you free, but I have no sense of freedom because +I have left comrades at Occoquan and because other comrades may at any moment +join them there . . . . +</p> + +<p> +While comrades are there what is our freedom? It is as empty as the so-called +political freedom of women who have won suffrage by a state referendum. Like +them we are free only within limits . . . . +</p> + +<p> +We must not let our voice be drowned by war trumpets or cannon. If we do, we +shall find ourselves, when the war is over, with a peace that will only prolong +our struggle, a democracy that will belie its name by leaving out half the +people. +</p> + +<p> +The Administration continued to send women to the workhouse and the District +Jail for thirty and sixty day sentences. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>Chapter 7<br/> +An Administration Protest—Dudley Field Malone Resigns</h2> + +<p> +Dudley Field Malone was known to the country as sharing the intimate confidence +and friendship of President Wilson. He had known and supported the President +from the beginning of the President’s political career. He had campaigned +twice through New Jersey with Mr. Wilson as Governor; he had managed Mr. +Wilson’s campaigns in many states for the nomination before the Baltimore +Convention; he had toured the country with Mr. Wilson in 1912 ; and it was he +who led to victory President Wilson’s fight for California in 1916. +</p> + +<p> +So when Mr. Malone went to the White House in July, 1917, to protest against +the Administration’s handling of the suffrage question, he went not only +as a confirmed suffragist, but also a5 a confirmed supporter and member of the +Wilson Administration—the one who had been chosen to go to the West in +1916 to win women voters to the Democratic Party. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Malone has consented to tell for the first time, in this record of the +militant campaign, what happened at his memorable interview with President +Wilson in July, 1917, an interview which he followed up two months later with +his resignation as Collector of the Port of New York. I quote the story in his +own words: +</p> + +<p> +Frank P. Walsh, Amos Pinchot, Frederic C. Howe, J. A. H. Hopkins, Allen McCurdy +and I were present throughout the trial of the sixteen women in July. +Immediately after the police court judge had pronounced his sentence of sixty +days in the Occoquan workhouse upon these “first offenders,” on the +alleged charge of a traffic violation, I went over to Anne Martin, one of the +women’s counsel, and offered to act as attorney on the appeal of the +case. I then went to the court clerk’s office and telephoned to President +Wilson at the Whit House, asking him to see me at once. It was three +o’clock. I called a taxicab, drove direct to the executive offices and +met him. +</p> + +<p> +I began by reminding the President that in the seven years and a half of our +personal and political association we had never had a serious difference. He +was good enough to say that my loyalty to him bad been one of the happiest +circumstances of his public career. But I told him I had come to place my +resignation in his hands as I could not remain a member of any administration +which dared to send American women to prison for demanding national suffrage. I +also informed him that I had offered to act as counsel for the suffragists on +the appeal of their case. He asked me for full details of my complaint and +attitude. I told Mr. Wilson everything I had witnessed from the time we saw the +suffragists arrested in front of the White House to their sentence in the +police court. I observed that although we might not agree with the +“manners” of picketing, citizens had a right to petition the +President or any other official of the government for a redress of grievances. +He seemed to acquiesce in this view, and reminded me that the women had been +unmolested at the White House gates for over five months, adding that he had +even ordered the head usher to invite the women on cold days to come into the +White House and warm themselves and have coffee. +</p> + +<p> +“If the situation is as you describe it, it is shocking,” said the +President’. “The manhandling of the women by the police was +outrageous and the entire trial (before a judge of your own appointment) was a +perversion of justice,” I said. This seemed to annoy the President and he +replied with asperity, “Why do you come to me in this indignant fashion +for things which have been done by the police officials of the city of +Washington?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. President,” I said, “the treatment of these women is the +result of carefully laid plans made by the District Commissioners of the city +of Washington, who were appointed to office by you. Newspaper men of +unquestioned information and integrity have told me that the District +Commissioners have been in consultation with your private secretary, Mr. +Tumulty, and that the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. McAdoo, sat in at a +conference when the policy of these arrests was being determined.” +</p> + +<p> +The President asserted his ignorance of all this. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean to tell me,” he said, “that you intend to +resign, to repudiate me and my Administration and sacrifice me for your views +on this suffrage question?” +</p> + +<p> +His attitude then angered me and I said, “Mr. President, if there is any +sacrifice in this unhappy circumstance, it is I who am making the sacrifice. I +was sent twice as your spokesman in the last campaign to the Woman Suffrage +States of the West. You have since been good enough to say publicly and +privately that I did as much as any man to carry California for you. After my +first tour I had a long conference with you here at the White House on the +political situation in those states. I told you that I found your strength with +women voters lay in the fact that you had with great patience and statesmanship +kept this country out of the European war. But that your great weakness with +women voters was that you had not taken any step throughout your entire +Administration to urge the passage of the Federal Suffrage Amendment, which Mr. +Hughes was advocating and which alone can enfranchise all the women of the +nation. You asked me then how I met this situation, and I told you that I +promised the women voters of the West that if they showed the political +sagacity to choose you as against Mr. Hughes, I would do everything in my power +to get your Administration to take up and pass the suffrage amendment. You were +pleased and approved of what I had done. I returned to California and repeated +this promise, and so far as I am concerned, I must keep my part of that +obligation.” +</p> + +<p> +I reiterated to the President my earlier appeal that he assist suffrage as an +urgent war measure and a necessary part of America’s program for world +democracy, to which the President replied: “The enfranchisement of women +is not at all necessary to a program of democracy and I see nothing in the +argument that it is a war measure unless you mean that American women will not +loyally support the war unless they are given the vote.” I firmly denied +this conclusion of the President and told him that while American women with or +without the vote would support the United States Government against German +militarism, yet it seemed to me a great opportunity of his leadership to remove +this grievance which women generally felt against him and his administration. +“Mr. President,” I urged, “if you, as the leader, will +persuade the administration to pass the Federal Amendment you will release from +the suffrage fight the energies of thousands of women which will be given with +redoubled zeal to the support of your program for international justice.” +But the President absolutely refused to admit the validity of my appeal, though +it was as a “war measure” that the President some months later +demanded that the Senate pass the suffrage amendment. +</p> + +<p> +The President was visibly moved as I added, “You are the President now, +reelected to office. You ask if I am going to sacrifice you. You sacrifice +nothing by my resignation. But I lose much. I quit a political career. I give +up a powerful office in my own state. I, who have no money, sacrifice a +lucrative salary, and go back to revive my law practice. But most of all I +sever a personal association with you of the deepest affection which you know +has meant much to me these past seven years. But I cannot and will not remain +in office and see women thrown into jail because they demand their political +freedom.” +</p> + +<p> +The President earnestly urged me not to resign, saying, “What will the +people of the country think when they hear that the Collector of the Port of +New York has resigned because of an injustice done to a group of suffragists by +the police officials of the city of Washington?” +</p> + +<p> +My reply to this was, “With all respect for you, Mr. President, my +explanation to the public will not be as difficult as yours, if I am compelled +to remind the public that you have appointed to office and can remove all the +important officials of the city of Washington.” +</p> + +<p> +The President ignored this and insisted that I should not resign, saying, +“I do not question your intense conviction about this matter as I know +you have always been an ardent suffragist; and since you feel as you do I see +no reason why you should not become their counsel and take this case up on +appeal without resigning from the Administration.” +</p> + +<p> +“But,” I said, “Mr. President, that arrangement would be +impossible for two reasons; first, these women would not want me as their +counsel if I were a member of your Administration, for it would appear to the +public then as if your Administration was not responsible for the indignities +to which they have been subjected, and your Administration is responsible; and, +secondly, I cannot accept your suggestion because it may be necessary in the +course of the appeal vigorously to criticize and condemn members of your +cabinet and others close to you, and I could not adopt this policy while +remaining in office under you.” The President seemed greatly upset and +finally urged me as a personal service to him to go at once and perfect the +case on appeal for the suffragists, but not to resign until I had thought it +over for a day, and until he had had an opportunity to investigate the facts I +had presented to him. I agreed to this, and we closed the interview with the +President saying, “If you consider my personal request and do not resign, +please do not leave Washington without coming to see me.” I left the +executive offices and never saw him again. +</p> + +<p> +There was just a day and a half left to perfect the exceptions for the appeal +under the rules of procedure. No stenographic record of the trial had been +taken, which put me under the greatest legal difficulties. I was in the midst +of these preparations for appeal the next day when I learned to my surprise +that the President had pardoned the women. He had not even consulted me as +their attorney. Moreover, I was amazed that since the President had said he +considered the treatment of the women “shocking,” he had pardoned +them without stating that he did so to correct a grave injustice. I felt +certain that the high-spirited women in the workhouse would refuse to accept +the pardon as a mere “benevolent” act on the part of the President. +</p> + +<p> +I at once went down to the workhouse in Virginia. My opinion was confirmed. The +group refused to accept the President’s pardon. I advised them that as a +matter of law no one could compel them to accept the pardon, but that as a +matter of fact they would have to accept it, for the Attorney General would +have them all put out of the institution bag and baggage. So as a solution of +the difficulty and in view of the fact that the President had said to me that +their treatment was “shocking” I made public the following +statement: +</p> + +<p> +“The President’s pardon is an acknowledgment by him of the grave +injustice that has been done:” This he never denied. +</p> + +<p> +Under this published interpretation of his pardon the women at Occoquan +accepted the pardon and returned to Washington. The incident was closed. I +returned to New York. During the next two months I carefully watched the +situation. Six or eight more groups of women in that time were arrested on the +same false charges, tried and imprisoned in the same illegal way. Finally a +group of women was arrested in September under the identical circumstances as +those in July, was tried in the same lawless fashion and given the same +sentence of “sixty days in the workhouse.” The President may have +been innocent of responsibility for the first arrests, but he was personally +and politically responsible for all the arrests that occurred after his pardon +of the first, group. Under this development it seemed to me that self-respect +demanded action, so I sent my resignation to the President, publicly stated my +attitude and regretfully left his Administration.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Malone’s resignation in September, 1917, came with a sudden shock, +because the entire country and surely the Administration thought him quieted +and subdued by the President’s personal appeal to him in July. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Malone was shocked that the policy of arrests should be continued. Mr. +Wilson and his Administration were shocked that any one should care enough +about the liberty of women to resign a lucrative post in the Government. The +nation was shocked into the realization that this was not a street brawl +between women and policemen, but a controversy between suffragists and a +powerful Administration. We had said so but it would have taken months to +convince the public that the President was in any way responsible. Mr. Malone +did what we could only have done with the greatest difficulty and after more +prolonged sacrifices. He laid the responsibility squarely and dramatically +where it belonged. It is impossible to overemphasize what a tremendous +acceleration Mr. Malone’s fine, solitary and generous act gave to the +speedy break-down of the Administration’s resistance. His sacrifice +lightened ours. +</p> + +<p> +Women ought to be willing to make sacrifices for their own liberation, but for +a man to have the courage and imagination to make such a sacrifice for the +liberation of women is unparalleled. Mr. Malone called to the attention of the +nation the true cause of the obstruction and suppression. He reproached the +President and his colleagues after mature consideration, in the most honorable +and vital way,—by refusing longer to associate himself with an +Administration which backed such policies. +</p> + +<p> +And Mr. Malone’s resignation was not only welcomed by the militant group. +The conservative suffrage leaders, although they heartily disapproved of , +picketing, were as outspoken in their gratitude. +</p> + +<p> +Alice Stone Blackwell, the daughter of Lucy Stone, herself a pioneer suffrage +leader and editor, wrote to Mr. Malone: +</p> + +<p> +“May I express my appreciation and gratitude for the excellent and manly +letter that you have written to President Wilson on woman suffrage? I am sure +that I am only one of many women who feel thankful to you for it. +</p> + +<p> +“The picketing seems to me a very silly business, and I am sure it is +doing the cause harm instead of good; but the picketers are being shamefully +and illegally treated, and it is a thousand pities, for President +Wilson’s own sake, that he ever allowed the Washington authorities to +enter on this course of persecution. It was high time for some one to make a +protest, and you have made one that has been heard far and wide . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the President of the National American Woman Suffrage +Association, wrote: +</p> + +<p> +“I was in Maine when your wonderful letter announcing your resignation +came out. It was the noblest act that any man ever did on behalf of our cause. +The letter itself was a high minded appeal . . . . “ +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Norman de R. Whitehouse, the President of the New York State Woman +Suffrage Party, with which Mr. Malone had worked for years, wired: +</p> + +<p> +“Although we disagree with you on the question of picketing every +suffragist must be grateful to you for the gallant support you are giving our +cause and the great sacrifice you are making.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, Vice Chairman of the New York Suffrage Party, said: +</p> + +<p> +“No words of mine can tell you how our hearts have been lifted and our +purposes strengthened in this tremendous struggle in New York State by the +reading of your powerful and noble utterances in your letter to President +Wilson. There flashed through my mind all the memories of Knights of chivalry +and of romance that I have ever read, and they all paled before your +championship, and the sacrifice and the high-spirited leadership that it +signifies. Where you lead, I believe, thousands of other men will follow, even +though at a distance, and most inadequately . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +And from the women voters of California with whom Mr. Malone had kept faith +came the message: +</p> + +<p> +“The liberty-loving women of California greet you as one of the few men +in history who have been willing to sacrifice material interests for the +liberty of a class to which they themselves do not belong. We are thrilled by +your inspiring words. We appreciate your sympathetic understanding of the +viewpoint of disfranchised women. We are deeply grateful for the incalculable +benefit of your active assistance in the struggle of American women for +political liberty and for a real Democracy.” +</p> + +<p> +I reprint Mr. Malone’s letter of resignation which sets forth in detail +his position. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +September 7, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +The President,<br/> +The White House,<br/> +Washington, D. C. +</p> + +<p> +Dear Mr. President: +</p> + +<p> +Last autumn, as the representative of your Administration, I went into the +woman suffrage states to urge your reelection. The most difficult argument to +meet among the seven million voters was the failure of the Democratic party, +throughout four years of power, to pass the federal suffrage amendment looking +toward the enfranchisement of all the women of the country. Throughout those +states, and particularly in California, which ultimately decided the election +by the votes of women, the women voters were urged to support you, even though +Judge Hughes had already declared for the federal suffrage amendment, because +you and your party, through liberal leadership, were more likely nationally to +enfranchise the rest of the women of the country than were your opponents. +</p> + +<p> +And if the women of the West voted to reelect you, I promised them that I would +spend all my energy, at any sacrifice to myself, to get the present Democratic +Administration to pass the federal suffrage amendment. +</p> + +<p> +But the present policy of the Administration, in permitting splendid American +women to be sent to jail in Washington, not for carrying offensive banners, not +for picketing, but on the technical charge of obstructing traffic, is a denial +even of their constitutional right to petition for, and demand the passage of, +the federal suffrage amendment. It, therefore, now becomes my profound +obligation actively to keep my promise to the women of the West. +</p> + +<p> +In more than twenty states it is a practical impossibility to amend the state +constitutions; so the women of those States can only be enfranchised by the +passage of the federal suffrage amendment. Since England and Russia, in the +midst of the great war, have assured the national enfranchisement of their +women, should we not be jealous to maintain our democratic leadership in the +world by the speedy national enfranchisement of American women? +</p> + +<p> +To me, Mr. President, as I urged upon you in Washington two months ago, this is +not only a measure of justice and democracy, it is also an urgent war measure. +The women of the nation are, and always will be, loyal to the country, and the +passage of the suffrage amendment is only the first step toward their national +emancipation. But unless the government takes at least this first step toward +their enfranchisement, how can the government ask millions of American women, +educated in our schools and colleges, and millions of American women, in our +homes, or toiling for economic independence in every line of industry, to give +up by conscription their men and happiness to a war for democracy in Europe, +while these women citizens are denied the right to vote on the policies of the +Government which demands of them such sacrifice? +</p> + +<p> +For this reason many of your most ardent friends and supporters feel that the +passage of the federal suffrage amendment is a war measure which could +appropriately be urged by you at this session of Congress. It is true that this +amendment would have to come from Congress, but the present Congress shows no +earnest desire to enact this legislation for the simple reason that you, as the +leader of the party in power, have not yet suggested it. +</p> + +<p> +For the whole country gladly acknowledges, Mr. President, that no vital piece +of legislation has come through Congress these five years except by your +extraordinary and brilliant leadership. And what millions of men and women +to-day hope is that you will give the federal suffrage amendment to the women +of the country by the valor of your leadership now. It will hearten the mothers +of the nation, eliminate a just grievance, and turn the devoted energies of +brilliant women to a more hearty support of the Government in this crisis. +</p> + +<p> +As you well know, in dozens of speeches in many states I have advocated your +policies and the war. I was the first man of your Administration, nearly five +years ago, to publicly advocate preparedness, and helped to found the first +Plattsburg training camp. And if, with our troops mobilizing in France, you +will give American women this measure for their political freedom, they will +support with greater enthusiasm your hope and the hope of America for world +freedom. +</p> + +<p> +I have not approved all the methods recently adopted by women in pursuit of +their political liberty; yet, Mr. President, the Committee on Suffrage of the +United States Senate was formed in 1883, when I was one year old; this same +federal suffrage amendment was first introduced in Congress in 1878, brave +women like Susan B. Anthony were petitioning Congress for the suffrage before +the Civil War, and at the time of the Civil War men like William Lloyd +Garrison, Horace Greeley, and Wendell Phillips assured the suffrage leaders +that if they abandoned their fight for suffrage, when the war was ended the men +of the nation “out of gratitude” would enfranchise the women of +the- country. +</p> + +<p> +And if the men of this country had been peacefully demanding for over half a +century the political right or privilege to vote, and had been continuously +ignored or met with evasion by successive Congresses, as have the women, you, +Mr. President, as a lover of liberty, would be the first to comprehend and +forgive their inevitable impatience and righteous indignation. Will not this +Administration, reelected to power by the hope and faith of the women of the +West, handsomely reward that faith by taking action now for the passage of the +federal suffrage amendment? +</p> + +<p> +In the Port of New York, during the last four years, billions of dollars in the +export and import trade of the country have been handled by the men of the +customs service; their treatment of the traveling public has radically changed, +their vigilance supplied the evidence of the Lusitania note; the neutrality was +rigidly maintained; the great German fleet guarded, captured, and +repaired—substantial economies and reforms have been concluded and my +ardent industry has been given to this great office of your appointment. +</p> + +<p> +But now I wish to leave these finished tasks, to return to my profession of the +law, and to give all my leisure time to fight as hard for the political freedom +of women as I have always fought for your liberal leadership. +</p> + +<p> +It seems a long seven years, Mr. President, since I first campaigned with you +when you were running for Governor of New Jersey. In every circumstance +throughout those years I have served you with the most respectful affection and +unshadowed devotion. It is no small sacrifice now for me, as a member of your +Administration, to sever our political relationship. But I think it is high +time that men in this generation, at some cost to themselves, stood up to +battle for the national enfranchisement of American women. So in order +effectively to keep my promise made in the West and more freely to go into this +larger field of democratic effort, I hereby resign my office as Collector of +the Port of New York, to take effect at once, or at your earliest convenience. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours respectfully,<br/> +(Signed) DUDLEY FIELD MALONE. +</p> + +<p> +The President’s answer has never before been published: +</p> + +<p> +U. S. S. MAYFLOWER, 12 September, 1917. +</p> + +<h5>THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON</h5> + +<p> +My dear Mr. Collector: +</p> + +<p> +Your letter of September 7th reached me just before I left home and I have, I +am sorry to say, been unable to reply to it sooner. +</p> + +<p> +I must frankly say that I cannot regard your reasons for resigning your +position as Collector of Customs as convincing, but it is so evidently your +wish to be relieved from the duties of the office that I do not feel at liberty +to withhold my acceptance of your resignation. Indeed, I judge from your letter +that any discussion of the reasons would not be acceptable to you and that it +is your desire to be free of the restraints of public office. I, therefore, +accept your resignation, to take effect as you have wished. +</p> + +<p> +I need not say that our long association in public affairs makes me regret the +action you have taken most sincerely. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Very truly yours,<br/> +(Signed) WOODROW WILSON. +</p> + +<p> +Hon. Dudley Field Malone,<br/> +Collector of Customs,<br/> +New York City. +</p> + +<p> +To this Mr. Malone replied: +</p> + +<p> +New York, N.Y.,<br/> +September 15th, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +The President,<br/> +The White House,<br/> +Washington, D. C. +</p> + +<p> +Dear Mr. President: +</p> + +<p> +Thank you sincerely for your courtesy, for I knew you were on a well-earned +holiday and I did not expect an earlier reply to my letter of September 7th, +1917. +</p> + +<p> +After a most careful re-reading of my letter, I am unable to understand how you +could judge that any discussion by you of my reasons for resigning would not be +acceptable to me since my letter was an appeal to you on specific grounds for +action now by the Administration on the Federal Suffrage amendment. +</p> + +<p> +However, I am profoundly grateful to you for your prompt acceptance of my +resignation. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Yours respectfully,<br/> +(Signed) DUDLEY FIELD MALONE. +</p> + +<p> +It may have been accidental but it is interesting to note that the first public +statement of Mr. Byron Newton, appointed by the Administration to succeed Mr. +Malone as Collector of the Port of New York, was a bitter denunciation of all +woman suffrage whether by state or national action. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>Chapter 8<br/> +The Administration Yields</h2> + +<p> +Immediately after Mr. Malone’s sensational resignation the Administration +sought another way to remove the persistent pickets without passing the +amendment. It yielded on a point of machinery. It gave us a report in the +Senate and a committee in the House and expected us to be grateful. +</p> + +<p> +The press had turned again to more sympathetic accounts of our campaign and +exposed the prison regime we were undergoing. We were now for a moment the +object of sympathy; the Administration was the butt of considerable hostility. +Sensing their predicament and fearing any loss of prestige, they risked a +slight advance. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Jones, Chairman of the Suffrage Committee, made a visit to the +workhouse. Scarcely had the women recovered from the surprise of his visit when +the Senator, on the following day, September 15th, filed the favorable report +which had been lying with his Committee since May 15th, exactly six months. +</p> + +<p> +The Report, which he had so long delayed because he wanted [he said] to make it +a particularly brilliant and elaborate one, read: +</p> + +<p> +“The Committee on Woman Suffrage, to which was referred the joint +resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, +conferring upon women the right of suffrage, having the same under +consideration, beg leave to report it back to the Senate with the +recommendation that the joint resolution do pass.” +</p> + +<p> +This report to the Senate was immediately followed by a vote of 181 to 107 in +the House of Representatives in favor of creating a Committee on Woman Suffrage +in the House. This vote was indicative of the strength of the amendment in the +House. The resolution was sponsored by Representative Pou, Chairman of the +Rules Committee and Administration leader, himself an anti- suffragist. +</p> + +<p> +It is an interesting study in psychology to consider some of the statements +made in the peculiarly heated debate the day this vote was taken. +</p> + +<p> +Scores of Congressmen, anxious to refute the idea that the indomitable picket +had had anything to do with their action, revealed naively how surely it had. +</p> + +<p> +Of the 291 men present, not one man stood squarely up for the right of the +hundreds of women who petitioned for justice. Some indirectly and many, +inadvertently, however, paid eloquent tribute to the suffrage picket. +</p> + +<p> +From the moment Representative Pou in opening the debate spoke of the +nation-wide request for the committee, and the President’s sanction of +the committee, the accusations and counter- accusations concerning the wisdom +of appointing it in the face of the pickets were many and animated. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Meeker of Missouri, Democrat, protested against Congress “yielding to +the nagging of a certain group.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Cantrill of Kentucky, Democrat, believed that “millions of Christian +women in the nation should not be denied the right of having a Committee in the +House to study the problem of suffrage because of the mistakes of some few of +their sisters.” +</p> + +<p> +“One had as well say,” he went on, “that there should be no +police in Washington because the police force of this city permitted daily +thousands of people to obstruct the streets and impede traffic and permitted +almost the mobbing of the women without arresting the offenders. There was a +lawful and peaceful way in which the police of this city could have taken +charge of the banners of the pickets without permitting the women carrying them +to be the objects of mob violence. To see women roughly handled by rough men on +the streets of the capital of the nation is not a pleasing sight to Kentuckians +and to red-blooded Americans, and let us hope the like will never again be seen +here.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Walsh, an anti-suffrage Democrat from Massachusetts, deplored taking any +action which would seem to yield to the demand of the pickets who carried +banners which “if used by a poor workingman in an attempt to get his +rights would speedily have put him behind the bars for treason or sedition, and +these poor, bewildered, deluded creatures, after their disgusting exhibition +can thank their stars that because they wear skirts they are now incarcerated +for misdemeanors of a minor character . . . . To supinely yield to a certain +class of women picketing the gates of the official residence,—yes, even +posing with their short skirts and their short hair within the view of this +‘very capitol and our office buildings,’ with banners which would +seek to lead the people to believe that because we did not take action during +this war session upon suffrage, if you please, and grant them the right of the +ballot that we were traitors to the American Republic, would be +monstrous.” +</p> + +<p> +The subject of the creation of a committee on suffrage was almost entirely +forgotten. The Congressmen were utterly unable to shake off the ghosts of the +pickets. The pickets had not influenced their actions! The very idea was +appalling to Representative Stafford of Wisconsin, anti-suffrage Republican, +who joined in the Democratic protests. He said: +</p> + +<p> +“If a Suffrage Committee is created the militant class will exclaim, +‘Ah, see how we have driven the great House of Representatives to +recognize our rights. If we keep up this sort of practices, we will compel the +House, when they come to vote on the constitutional amendment, to surrender +obediently likewise’.” +</p> + +<p> +He spoke the truth, and finished dramatically with: +</p> + +<p> +“Gentlemen, there is only one question before the House today and that +is, if you look at it from a political aspect, whether you wish to approve of +the practices of these women who have been disgracing their cause here in +Washington for the past several months.” +</p> + +<p> +Representative Volstead, of Minnesota, Republican, came the closest of all to +real courage in his protest:— +</p> + +<p> +“In this discussion some very unfair comments have been made upon the +women who picketed the White House. While I do not approve of picketing, I +disapprove more strongly of the hoodlum methods pursued in suppressing the +practice. I gather from the press that this is what took place. Some women did +in a peaceable, and perfectly lawful manner, display suffrage banners on the +public street near the White House. To stop this the police allowed the women +to be mobbed, and then because the mob obstructed the street, the women were +arrested and fined, while the mob went scot-free . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +The Suffrage Committee in the House was appointed. The creation of this +committee, which had been pending since 1913, was now finally granted in +September, 1917. To be sure this was accomplished only after an inordinate +amount of time, money and effort had been spent on a sustained and relentless +campaign of pressure. But the Administration had yielded. +</p> + +<p> +As a means to remove the pickets, however, this yielding had failed. “We +ask no more machinery; we demand the passage of the amendment,” said the +pickets as they lengthened their line. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>Chapter 9<br/> +Political Prisoners</h2> + +<p> +Finding that a Suffrage Committee in the House and a report in the Senate had +not silenced our banners, the Administration cast about for another plan by +which to stop the picketing. This time they turned desperately to longer terms +of imprisonment. They were indeed hard pressed when they could choose such a +cruel and stupid course. +</p> + +<p> +Our answer to this policy was more women on the picket line, on the outside, +and a protest on the inside of prison. +</p> + +<p> +We decided, in the face of extended imprisonment, to demand to be treated as +political prisoners. We felt that, as a matter of principle, this was the +dignified and self-respecting thing to do, since we had offended politically, +not criminally. We believed further that a determined, organized effort to make +clear to a wider public the political nature of the offense would intensify the +Administration’s embarrassment and so accelerate their final surrender. +</p> + +<p> +It fell to Lucy Burns, vice chairman of the organization, to be the leader of +the new protest. Miss Burns is in appearance the very symbol of woman in +revolt. Her abundant and glorious red hair burns and is not consumed—a +flaming torch. Her body is strong and vital. It is said that Lucy Stone had the +“voice” of the pioneers. Lucy Burns without doubt possessed the +“voice” of the modern suffrage movement. Musical, appealing, +persuading—she could move the most resistant person. Her talent as an +orator is of the kind that makes for instant intimacy with her audience. Her +emotional quality is so powerful that her intellectual capacity, which is quite +as great, is not always at once perceived. +</p> + +<p> +I find myself wanting to talk about her as a human being rather than as a +leader of women. Perhaps it is because she has such winning, lovable qualities. +It was always difficult for her to give all of her energy and power to a +movement. She yearned to play, to read, to study, to be luxuriously indolent, +to revel in the companionship of her family, to which she is ardently devoted; +to do any one of a hundred things more pleasant than trying to reason with a +politician or an unawakened member of her own sex. But for these latter labors +she had a most gentle and persuasive genius, and she would not shrink from +hours of close argument to convince a person intellectually and emotionally. +</p> + +<p> +Unlike Miss Paul, however, her force is not nonresistant. Once in the combat +she takes delight in it; she is by nature a rebel. She is an ideal leader for +the stormy and courageous attack—reckless and yet never to the point of +unwisdom. +</p> + +<p> +From the time Miss Burns and Miss Paul met for the first time in Cannon Row +Police Station, London, they have been constant co- workers in suffrage. Both +were students abroad at the time they met. They were among the hundred women +arrested for attempting to present petitions for suffrage to Parliament. This +was the first time either of them had participated in a demonstration. But from +then on they worked together in England and Scotland organizing, speaking, +heckling members of the government, campaigning at bye- elections; going to +Holloway Prison together, where they joined the Englishwomen on hunger strike. +Miss Burns remained organizing in Scotland while Miss Paul was obliged to +return to America after serious illness following a thirty day period of +imprisonment, during all of which time she was forcibly fed. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Burns and she did not meet again until 1913—three years having +intervened—when they undertook the national work on Congress. Throughout +the entire campaign Miss Burns and Miss Paul counseled with one another on +every point of any importance. This combination of the cool strategist and +passionate rebel—each sharing some of the attributes of the other-has +been a complete and unsurpassed leadership. +</p> + +<p> +You have now been introduced, most inadequately, to Lucy Burns, who was to +start the fight inside the prison. +</p> + +<p> +She had no sooner begun to organize her comrades for protest than the officials +sensed a “plot,” and removed her at once to solitary confinement. +But they were too late. Taking the leader only hastened the rebellion. A +forlorn piece of paper was discovered, on which was written their initial +demand, It was then passed from prisoner to prisoner through holes in the wall +surrounding leaden pipes, until a finished document had been perfected and +signed by all the prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +This historic document-historic because it represents the first organized group +action ever made in America to establish the status of political +prisoners—said: +</p> + +<p> +To the Commissioners of the Distinct of Columbia: +</p> + +<p> +As political prisoners, we, the undersigned, refuse to work while in prison. We +have taken this stand as a matter of principle after careful consideration, and +from it we shall not recede. +</p> + +<p> +This action is a necessary protest against an unjust sentence. In reminding +President Wilson of his pre-election promises toward woman suffrage we were +exercising the right of peaceful petition, guaranteed by the Constitution of +the United States, which declares peaceful picketing is legal in the District +of Columbia. That we are unjustly sentenced has been well recognized—when +President Wilson pardoned the first group of suffragists who had been given +sixty days in the workhouse, and again when Judge Mullowny suspended sentence +for the last group of picketers. We wish to point out the inconsistency and +injustice of our sentences—some of us have been given sixty days, a later +group thirty days, and another group given a suspended sentence for exactly the +same action. +</p> + +<p> +Conscious, therefore, of having acted in accordance with the highest standards +of citizenship, we ask the Commissioners of the District to grant us the rights +due political prisoners. We ask that we no longer be segregated and confined +under locks and bars in small groups, but permitted to see each other, and that +Miss Lucy Burns, who is in full sympathy with this letter, be released from +solitary confinement in another building and given back to us. +</p> + +<p> +We ask exemption from prison work, that our legal right to consult counsel be +recognized, to have food sent to us from outside, to supply ourselves with +writing material for as much correspondence as we may need, to receive books, +letters, newspapers, our relatives and friends. +</p> + +<p> +Our united demand for political treatment has been delayed, because on entering +the workhouse we found conditions so very bad that before we could ask that the +suffragists be treated as political prisoners, it was necessary to make a stand +for the ordinary rights of human beings for all the inmates. Although this has +not been accomplished we now wish to bring the important question of the status +of political prisoners to the attention of the commissioners, who, we are +informed, have full authority to make what regulations they please for the +:District prison and workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +The Commissioners are requested to send us a written reply so that we may be +sure this protest has reached them. +</p> + +<p> +Signed by, +</p> + +<p> +MARY WINSOR, LUCY BRANHAM, ERNESTINE HARA, HILDA BLUMBERG, MAUD MALONE, PAULINE +F. ADAMS, ELEANOR. A. CALNAN, EDITH AINGE, ANNIE ARNEIL, DOROTHY J. BARTLETT, +MARGARET FOTHERINGHAM. +</p> + +<p> +The Commissioners’ only answer to this was a hasty transfer of the +signers and the leader, Miss Burns, to the District Jail, where they were put +in solitary confinement. The women were not only refused the privileges asked +but were denied some of the usual privileges allowed to ordinary criminals. +</p> + +<p> +Generous publicity was given to these reasonable demands, and a surprisingly +wide-spread protest followed the official denial of them. Scores of committees +went to the District Commissioners. Telegrams backing up the women’s +demand again poured in upon all responsible administrators, from President +Wilson down. Not even foreign diplomats escaped protest or appeal. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Vera Samarodin sent to the Russian Ambassador the following touching +letter, concerning her sister, which is translated from the Russian:— +</p> + +<p> +The Russian Ambassador,<br/> +Washington, D.C. +</p> + +<p> +Excellency: +</p> + +<p> +I am appealing to you to help a young Russian girl imprisoned in the workhouse +near Washington. Her name is Nina Samarodin. I have just come from one of the +two monthly visits I am allowed to make her, as a member of her family. +</p> + +<p> +The severity and cruelty of the treatment she is receiving at Occoquan are so +much greater than she would have to suffer in Russia for the simple political +offense she is accused of having committed that I hope you will be able to +intercede with the officials of this country for her. +</p> + +<p> +Her offense, aside from the fact that she infringed no law nor disturbed the +peace, had only a political aim, and was proved to be political by the words of +the judge who sentenced her, for he declared that because of the innocent +inscription on her banner he would make her sentence light. +</p> + +<p> +Since her imprisonment she has been forced to wear the dress of a criminal, +which she would not in Russia; she has had to eat only the coarse and +unpalatable food served the criminal inmates, and has not been allowed, as she +would in Russia, to have other food brought to her; nor has she, as she would +be there been under the daily care of a physician. She is not permitted to +write letters, nor to have free access to books and other implements of study. +Nina Samarodin has visibly lost in weight and strength since her imprisonment, +and she has a constant headache from hunger. +</p> + +<p> +Her motive in holding the banner by the White House, I feel, cannot but appeal +to you, Excellency, for she says it was the knowledge that her family were +fighting in Russia in this great war for democracy, and that she was cut off +from serving with them that made her desire to do what she could to help the +women of this nation achieve the freedom her own people have. +</p> + +<p> +Will you, if it is within your power, attempt to have her recognized as a +political prisoner, and relieve the severity of the treatment she is receiving +for obeying this impulse born of her love of liberty and the dictates of her +conscience? +</p> + +<p> +I have, Excellency, the honor to be, +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Respectfully, your countrywoman,<br/> +(Signed) VERA SAMARODIN,<br/> +Baltimore, Maryland. +</p> + +<p> +Another Russian, Maria Moravsky, author and poet, who had herself been +imprisoned in Czarist Russia and who was touring America at the time of this +controversy, expressed her surprise that our suffrage prisoners should be +treated as common criminals. She wrote:[1] “I have been twice in the +Russian prison; life in the solitary cell was not sweet; but I can assure you +it was better than that which American women suffragists must bear. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Reprinted from The Suffragist, Feb. 8, 1919. +</p> + +<p> +“We were permitted to read and write; we wore our own clothes; we were +not forced to mix with the criminals; we did no work. (Only a few women exiled +to Siberia for extremely serious political crimes were compelled to work.) And +our guardians and even judges respected us; they felt we were victims, because +we struggled for liberty.” +</p> + +<p> +The Commissioners, who bad to bear the responsibility of an answer to these +protests and to the demand of the prisoners, contended to all alike that +political prisoners did not exist. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall be happy to establish a precedent,” said the women. +</p> + +<p> +“But in America,” stammered the Commissioners, “there is no +need for such a thing as political prisoners.” +</p> + +<p> +“The very fact that we can be sentenced to such long terms for a +political offense shows that there does exist, in fact, a group of people who +have come into conflict with state power for dissenting from the prevailing +political system,” our representatives answered. +</p> + +<p> +We cited definitions of political offenses by eminent criminologists, +penologists, sociologists, statesmen and historians. We declared that all +authorities on political crime sustained our contention and that we clearly +came under the category of political, if any crime. We pointed as proof to +James Bryce, George Sigerson, Maurice Parmelee and even to Clemenceau, who +defined the distinction between political offenses and common law crimes thus: +“ . . . theoretically a crime committed in the interest of the criminal +is a common law crime, while an offense committed in the public interest is a +political crime.”[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Speech before the French Chamber of Deputies May 16, 1876, advocating +amnesty for those who participated in the Commune of 1871. From the Annales de +la Chambre des Députés, 1876, v. 2, pp. 44-48. +</p> + +<p> +We called to their attention the established custom of special treatment of +political prisoners in Russia, France, Italy and even Turkey.[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Those interested in the question of political prisoners and their treatment +abroad may want to read Concerning Political Prisoners, Appendix 6. +</p> + +<p> +We told them that as early as 1872 the International Prison Congress meeting in +London recommended a distinction in the treatment of political and common law +criminals and the resolution of recommendation was “agreed upon by the +representatives of all the Powers of Europe and America—with the tacit +concurrence of British and Irish officials.”[3] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Siegerson, Political Prisoners at Home and Abroad, p. 10. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. John Koren, International Prison Commissioner[4] for the United States, was +throughout this agitation making a study of this very problem. As chairman of a +Special Committee of the American Prison Association, empowered to investi- +gate the problem of political prisoners for America, he made a report at the +annual meeting of the American Prison Associ- ation in New York, October, 1919, +entitled “The Political Of fenders and their Status in Prison”[5] +in which he says: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Appointed and sponsored by the Department of State as delegate to the +International Prison Congress. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Mr. Koren discusses the political offender from the penological, not the +social, point of view. +</p> + +<p> +“The political offender . . . must be measured by a different rule, and . +. . is a creature of extraordinary and temporary conditions . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“There are times in which the tactics used in the pursuit of political +recognition may result in a technical violation of the law for which +imprisonment ensues, as witness the suffragist cases in Washington . . . . +These militants were completely out of place in a workhouse, . . . they could +not be made to submit to discipline fashioned to meet the needs of the +derelicts of society, and . . . they therefore destroyed it for the entire +institution.” +</p> + +<p> +There was no doubt in the official mind but that our claim was just. But the +Administration would not grant this demand, as such, of political prisoners. It +must continue to persuade public opinion that our offense was not of a +political nature; that it was nothing more than unpleasant and unfortunate +riotous conduct in the capital. The legend of “a few slightly mad women +seeking notoriety” must be sustained. Our demand was never granted, but +it was kept up until the last imprisonment and was soon reinforced by +additional protest tactics. Our suffrage prisoners, however, made an important +contribution toward establishing this reform which others will consummate. They +were the first in America to organize and sustain this demand over a long +period of time. In America we maintain a most backward policy in dealing with +political prisoners. We have neither regulation nor precedent for special +treatment of them. Nor have we official flexibility. +</p> + +<p> +This controversy was at its height in the press and in the public mind when +President Wilson sent the following message, through a New York State suffrage +leader, on behalf of the approaching New York referendum on state woman +suffrage: +</p> + +<p> +“May I not express to you my very deep interest in the campaign in New +York for the adoption of woman suffrage, and may I not say that I hope no voter +will be influenced in his decision with regard to the great matter by anything +the so-called pickets may have done here in Washington. However justly they may +have laid themselves open to serious criticism, their action represents, I am +sure, so small a fraction of the women of the country who are urging the +adoption of woman suffrage that it would be most unfair and argue a narrow view +to allow their actions to prejudice the cause itself. I am very anxious to see +the great state of New York set a great example in this matter.” +</p> + +<p> +This statement showed a political appreciation of the growing power of the +movement. Also it would be difficult to prove that the “small +fraction” had not shown political wisdom in injecting into the campaign +the embarrassment of a controversy which was followed by the above statement of +*the President. In the meantime he continued to imprison in Washington the +“so-called pickets” whom he hoped would not influence the decision +of the men voters of New York. It will be remembered, in passing, that the New +York voters adopted suffrage at this time, although they had rejected it two +years earlier. If the voters of New York were influenced at all by the +“so-called pickets,” could even President Wilson himself +satisfactorily prove that it had been an adverse influence? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>Chapter 10<br/> +The Hunger Strike—A Weapon</h2> + +<p> +When the Administration refused to grant the demand of the prisoners and of +that portion of the public which supported them, for the rights of political +prisoners, it was decided to resort to the ultimate protest-weapon inside +prison. A hunger strike was undertaken, not only to reinforce the verbal demand +for the rights of political prisoners, but also as a final protest against +unjust imprisonment and increasingly long sentences. This brought the +Administration face to face with a more acute embarrassment. They had to choose +between more stubborn resistance and capitulation: They continued for a while +longer on the former path. +</p> + +<p> +Little is known in this country about the weapon of the hunger strike. And so +at first it aroused tremendous indignation. “Let them starve to +death,” said the thoughtless one, who did not perceive that that was the +very thing a political administration could least afford to do. “Mad +fanatics,” said a kindlier critic. The general opinion was that the +hunger strike was “foolish.” +</p> + +<p> +Few people realize that this resort to the refusal of food is almost as old as +civilization. It has always represented a passionate desire to achieve an end. +There is not time to go into the religious use of it, which would also be +pertinent, but I will cite a few instances which have tragic and amusing +likenesses to the suffrage hunger strike. +</p> + +<p> +According to the Brehon Law,[1] which was the code of ancient Ireland by which +justice was administered under ancient Irish monarchs (from the earliest record +to the 17th century), it became the duty of an injured person, when all else +failed, to inflict punishment directly, for wrong done. “The plaintiff +‘fasted on’ the defendant.” He went to the house of the +defendant and sat upon his doorstep, remaining there without food to force the +payment of a debt, for example. The debtor was compelled by the weight of +custom and public opinion not to let the plaintiff die at his door, and +yielded. Or if he did not yield, he was practically outlawed by the community, +to the point of being driven away. A man who refused to abide by the custom not +only incurred personal danger but lost all character. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Joyce, A Social History of Ancient Ireland, Vol. I, Chapter VIII. +</p> + +<p> +If resistance to this form of protest was resorted to it had to take the form +of a counter-fast. If the victim of such a protest thought himself being +unjustly coerced, he might fast in opposition, “to mitigate or avert the +evil.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fasting on a man” was also a mode of compelling action of another +sort. St. Patrick fasted against King Trian to compel him to have compassion on +his [Trian’s] slaves.[1] He also fasted against a heretical city to +compel it to become orthodox.[2] He fasted against the pagan King Loeguire to +“constrain him to his will.”[3] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, CLXXVII, p. 218.<br/> +[2] Ibid. CLXXVII, p. 418.<br/> +[3] Ibid. CLXXVII, p. 556. +</p> + +<p> +This form of hunger strike was further used under the Brehon Law as compulsion +to obtain a request. For example, the Leinstermen on one occasion fasted on St. +Columkille till they obtained from him the promise that an extern King should +never prevail against them. +</p> + +<p> +It is interesting to note that this form of direct action was adopted because +there was no legislative machinery to enforce justice. These laws were merely a +collection of customs attaining the force of law by long usage, by hereditary +habit, and by public opinion. Our resort to this weapon grew out of the same +situation. The legislative machinery, while empowered to give us redress, +failed to function, and so we adopted the fast. +</p> + +<p> +The institution of fasting on a debtor still exists in the East. It is called +by the Hindoos “sitting dharna.” +</p> + +<p> +The hunger strike was continuously used in Russia by prisoners to obtain more +humane practices toward them. Kropotkin[1] cites an instance in which women +prisoners hunger struck to get their babies back. If a child was born to a +woman during her imprisonment the babe was immediately taken from her and not +returned. Mothers struck and got their babies returned to them. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] See In Russian and French Prisons, P. Kropotkin. +</p> + +<p> +He cites another successful example in Rharkoff prison in 1878 when six +prisoners resolved to hunger strike to death if necessary to win two +things—to be allowed exercise and to have the sick prisoners taken out of +chains. +</p> + +<p> +There are innumerable instances of hunger strikes, even to death, in Russian +prison history. But more often the demands of the strikers were won.. +Breshkovsky[2] tells of a strike by 17 women against outrage, which elicited +the desired promises from the warden. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] For Russia’s Freedom, by Ernest Poole,—An Interview with +Breshkovsky. +</p> + +<p> +As early as 1877 members of the Land and Liberty Society[3] imprisoned for +peaceful and educational propaganda, in the Schlusselburg Fortress for +political prisoners, hunger struck against inhuman prison conditions and +frightful brutalities and won their points. +</p> + +<p> +[3]See The Russian Bastille, Simon O. Pollock. +</p> + +<p> +During the suffrage campaign in England this weapon was used for the double +purpose of forcing the release of imprisoned militant suffragettes, and of +compelling the British government to act. +</p> + +<p> +Among the demonstrations was a revival of the ancient Irish custom by Sylvia +Pankhurst, who in addition to her hunger strikes within prison, “fasted +on” the doorstep of Premier Asquith to compel him to see a deputation of +women on the granting of suffrage to English women. She won. +</p> + +<p> +Irish prisoners have revived the hunger strike to compel either release or +trial of untried prisoners and have Lyon. As I write, almost a hundred Irish +prisoners detained by England for alleged nationalist activities, but not +brought to trial, hunger struck to freedom. As a direct result of this specific +hunger strike England has promised a renovation of her practices in dealing +with Irish rebels. +</p> + +<p> +And so it was that when we came to the adoption of this accelerating tactic, we +had behind us more precedents for winning our point than for losing. We were +strong in the knowledge that we could “fast on” President Wilson +and his powerful Administration, and compel him to act or “fast +back.” +</p> + +<p> +Among the prisoners who with Alice Paul led the hunger strike was a very +picturesque figure, Rose Winslow (Ruza Wenclawska) of New York, whose parents +had brought her in infancy from Poland to become a citizen of +“free” America. At eleven she was put at a loom in a Pennsylvania +mill, where she wove hosiery for fourteen hours a day until tuberculosis +claimed her at nineteen. A poet by nature she developed her mind to the full in +spite of these disadvantages, and when she was forced to abandon her loom she +became an organizer for the Consumers’ League, and later a vivid and +eloquent power in the suffrage movement. +</p> + +<p> +Her group preceded Miss Paul’s by about a week in prison. +</p> + +<p> +These vivid sketches of Rose Winslow’s impressions while in the prison +hospital were written on tiny scraps of paper and smuggled out to us, and to +her husband during her imprisonment. I reprint them in their original form with +cuts but no editing. +</p> + +<p> +“If this thing is necessary we will naturally go through with it. Force +is so stupid a weapon. I feel so happy doing my bit for decency-for our war, +which is after all, real and fundamental.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“The women are all so magnificent, so beautiful. Alice Paul is as thin as +ever, pale and large-eyed. We have been in solitary for five weeks. There is +nothing to tell but that the days go by somehow. I have felt quite feeble the +last few days—faint, so that I could hardly get my hair brushed, my arms +ached so. But to-day I am well again. Alice Paul and I talk back and forth +though we are at opposite ends of the building and, a hall door also shuts us +apart. But occasionally—thrills—we escape from behind our +iron-barred doors and visit. Great laughter and rejoicing!” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +To her husband:— +</p> + +<p> +“My fainting probably means nothing except that I am not strong after +these weeks. I know you won’t be alarmed. +</p> + +<p> +“I told about a syphilitic colored woman with one leg. The other one cut +off, having rotted so that it was alive with maggots when she came in. The +remaining one is now getting as bad. They are so short of nurses that a little +colored girl of twelve, who is here waiting to have her tonsils removed, waits +on her. This child and two others share a ward with a syphilitic child of three +or four years, whose mother refused to have it at home. It makes you absolutely +ill to see it. I am going to break all three windows as a protest against their +confining Alice Paul with these! +</p> + +<p> +“Dr. Gannon is chief of a hospital. Yet Alice Paul and I found we had +been taking baths in one of the tubs here, in which this syphilitic child, an +incurable, who has his eyes bandaged all the time, is also bathed. He has been +here a year. Into the room where he lives came yesterday two children to be +operated on for tonsillitis. They also bathed in the same tub. The syphilitic +woman has been in that room seven months. Cheerful mixing, isn’t it? The +place is alive with roaches, crawling all over the walls, everywhere. I found +one in my bed the other day . . . .” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“There is great excitement about my two syphilitics. Each nurse is being +asked whether she told me. So, as in all institutions where an unsanitary fact +is made public, no effort is made to make the wrong itself right. All hands +fall to, to find the culprit, who made it known, and he is punished.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“Alice Paul is in the psychopathic ward. She dreaded forcible feeding +frightfully, and I hate to think how she must be feeling. I had a nervous time +of it, gasping a long time afterward, and my stomach rejecting during the +process. I spent a bad, restless night, but otherwise I am all right. The poor +soul who fed me got liberally besprinkled during the process. I heard myself +making the most hideous sounds . . . . One feels so forsaken when one lies +prone and people shove a pipe down one’s stomach.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“This morning but for an astounding tiredness, I am all right. I am +waiting to see what happens when the President realizes that brutal bullying +isn’t quite a statesmanlike method for settling a demand for justice at +home. At least, if men are supine enough to endure, women—to their +eternal glory—are not. +</p> + +<p> +“They took down the boarding from Alice Paul’s window yesterday, I +heard. It is so delicious about Alice and me. Over in the jail a rumor began +that I was considered insane and would be examined. Then came Doctor White, and +said he had come to see ‘the thyroid case.’ When they left we +argued about the matter, neither of us knowing which was considered +‘suspicious.’ She insisted it was she, and, as it happened, she was +right. Imagine any one thinking Alice Paul needed to be ‘under +observation!’ The thick-headed idiots!” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“Yesterday was a bad day for me in feeding. I was vomiting continually +during the process. The tube has developed an irritation somewhere that is +painful. +</p> + +<p> +“Never was there a sentence[1] like ours for such an offense as ours, +even in England. No woman ever got it over there even for tearing down +buildings. And during all that agitation we were busy saying that never would +such things happen in the United States. The men told us they would not endure +such frightfulness.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Sentence of seven months for “obstructing traffic.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“Mary Beard and Helen Todd were allowed to stay only a minute, and I +cried like a fool. I am getting over that habit, I think. +</p> + +<p> +“I fainted again last night. I just fell flop over in the bathroom where +I was washing my hands and was led to bed when I recovered, by a nurse. I lost. +consciousness just as I got there again. I felt horribly faint until 12 +o’clock, then fell asleep for awhile.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“I was getting frantic because you seemed to think Alice was with me in +the hospital. She was in the psychopathic ward. The same doctor feeds us both, +and told me. Don’t let them tell you we take this well. Miss Paul vomits +much. I do, too, except when I’m not nervous, as I have been every time +against my will. I try to be less feeble-minded. It’s the nervous +reaction, and I can’t control it much. I don’t imagine bathing +one’s food in tears very good for one. +</p> + +<p> +“We think of the coming feeding all day. It is horrible. The doctor +thinks I take it well. I hate the thought of Alice Paul and the others if I +take it well.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +“We still get no mail; we are ‘insubordinate.’ It’s +strange, isn’t it; if you ask for food fit to eat, as we did, you are +‘insubordinate’; and if you refuse food you are +‘insubordinate.’ Amusing. I am really all right. If this continues +very long I perhaps won’t be. I am interested to see how long our +so-called ‘splendid American men’ will stand for this form of +discipline. +</p> + +<p> +“All news cheers one marvelously because it is hard to feel anything but +a bit desolate and forgotten here in this place. +</p> + +<p> +“All the officers here know we are making this hunger strike that women +fighting for liberty may be considered political prisoners; we have told them. +God knows we don’t want other women ever to have to do this over +again.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +There have been sporadic and isolated cases of hunger strikes in this country +but to my knowledge ours was the first to be organized and sustained over a +long period of time. We shall see in subsequent chapters how effective this +weapon was. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>Chapter 11<br/> +Administration Terrorism </h2> + +<p> +The Administration tried in another way to stop picketing. It sentenced the +leader, Alice Paul, to the absurd and desperate sentence of seven months in the +Washington jail for “obstructing traffic.” +</p> + +<p> +With the “leader” safely behind the bars for so long a time, the +agitation would certainly weaken! So thought the Administration! To their great +surprise, however, in the face of that reckless and extreme sentence, the +longest picket line of the entire campaign formed at the White House in the +late afternoon of November 10th. Forty-one women picketed in protest against +this wanton persecution of their leader, as well as against the delay in +passing the amendment. Face to face with an embarrassing number of prisoners +the Administration used its wits and decided to reduce the number to a +manageable size before imprisoning this group. Failing of that they tried still +another way out. They resorted to imprisonment with terrorism. +</p> + +<p> +In order to show how widely representative of the nation this group of pickets +was, I give its personnel complete: +</p> + +<p> +First Group +</p> + +<p> +New York—Mrs. John Winters Brannan, Miss Belle Sheinberg, Mrs. L. H. +Hornsby, Mrs. Paula Jakobi, Mrs. Cynthia Cohen, Miss M. Tilden Burritt, Miss +Dorothy Day, Mrs. Henry Butterworth, Miss Cora Week, Mrs. P. B. Johns, Miss +Elizabeth Hamilton, Mrs. Ella O. Guilford, New York City; Miss Amy Juengling, +Miss Hattie Kruger, Buffalo. +</p> + +<p> +Second Group +</p> + +<p> +Massachusetts—Mrs. Agnes H. Morey, Brookline; Mrs. William Bergen and +Miss Camilla Whitcomb, Worcester; Miss Ella Findeisen, Lawrence; Miss L. J. C. +Daniels, Boston.<br/> +New Jersey—Mrs. George Scott, Montclair.<br/> +Pennsylvania—Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Miss Elizabeth McShane, Miss Katherine +Lincoln, Philadelphia. +</p> + +<p> +Third Group +</p> + +<p> +California—Mrs. William Kent, Kentfield.<br/> +Oregon—Miss Alice Gram, Miss Betty Gram, Portland.<br/> +Utah—Mrs. R. B. Quay, Mrs. T. C. Robertson, Salt Lake City.<br/> +Colorado—Mrs. Eva Decker, Colorado Springs, Mrs. Genevieve Williams, +Manitou. +</p> + +<p> +Fourth Group +</p> + +<p> +Indiana—Mrs. Charles W. Barnes, Indianapolis.<br/> +Oklahoma—Mrs. Kate Stafford, Oklahoma City.<br/> +Minnesota—Mrs. J. H. Short, Minneapolis.<br/> +Iowa—Mrs. A. N. Beim, Des Moines; Mrs. Catherine Martinette, Eagle Grove. +</p> + +<p> +Fifth Group +</p> + +<p> +New York—Miss Lucy Burns, New York City.<br/> +District of Columbia—Mrs. Harvey Wiley.<br/> +Louisiana—Mrs. Alice M. Cosu, New Orleans.<br/> +Maryland—Miss Mary Bartlett Dixon, Easton; Miss Julia Emory, +Baltimore.<br/> +Florida—Mrs. Mary I. Nolan, Jacksonville. +</p> + +<p> +There were exceptionally dramatic figures in this group. Mrs. Mary Nolan of +Florida, seventy-three years old, frail in health but militant in spirit, said +she had come to take her place with the women struggling for liberty in the +same spirit that her revolutionary ancestor, Eliza Zane, had carried bullets to +the fighters in the war for independence. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Harvey Wiley looked appealing and beautiful as she said in court, +“We took this action with great consecration of spirit, with willingness +to sacrifice personal liberty for al] the women of the country.” +</p> + +<p> +Judge Mullowny addressed the prisoners with many high-sounding words about the +seriousness of obstructing the traffic in the national capital, and +inadvertently slipped into a discourse on Russia, and the dangers of +revolution. We always wondered why the government was not clever enough to +eliminate political discourses, at least during trials, where the offenders +were charged with breaking a slight regulation. But their minds were too full +of the political aspect of our offense to conceal it. “The truth of the +situation is that the court has not been given power to meet it,” the +judge lamented. “It is very, very puzzling—I find you guilty of the +offense charged, but will take the matter of sentence under advisement.” +</p> + +<p> +And so the “guilty” pickets were summarily released. +</p> + +<p> +The Administration did not relish the incarceration of forty-one women for +another reason than limited housing accommodations. Forty-one women +representing sixteen states in the union might create a considerable political +dislocation. But these same forty-one women were determined to force the +Administration to take its choice. It could allow them to continue their +peaceful agitation or it could stand the reaction which was bound to come from +imprisoning them. And so the forty-one women returned to the White House gates +to resume’ their picketing. They stood guard several minutes before the +police, taken unawares, could summon sufficient force to arrest them, and +commandeer enough cars to carry them to police headquarters. As the +Philadelphia North American pointed out: “There was no disorder. The +crowd waited with interest and in a noticeably friendly spirit to see what +would happen. There were frequent references to the pluck of the silent +sentinels.” +</p> + +<p> +The following morning the women were ordered by Judge Mullowny to “come +back on Friday. I am not yet prepared to try the case.” +</p> + +<p> +Logic dictated that either we had a right to stand at the gates with our +banners or we did not have that right; but the Administration was not +interested in logic. It had to stop picketing. Whether this was done legally or +illegally, logically or illogically, clumsily or dexterously, was of secondary +importance. Picketing must be stopped! +</p> + +<p> +Using their welcome release to continue their protest, the women again marched +with their banners to the White House in an attempt to picket. Again they were +arrested. No one who saw that line will ever forget the impression it made, not +only on friends of the suffragists, but on the general populace of Washington, +to see these women force with such magnificent defiance the hand of a wavering +Administration. On the following morning they were sentenced to from six days +to six months in prison. Miss Burns received six months. +</p> + +<p> +In pronouncing the lightest sentence upon Mrs. Nolan, the judge said that he +did so on account of her age. He urged her, however, to pay her fine, hinting +that jail might be too severe on her and might bring on death. At this +suggestion, tiny Mrs. Nolan pulled herself up on her toes and said with great +dignity: “Your Honor, I have a nephew fighting for democracy in France. +He is offering his life for his country. I should be ashamed if I did not join +these brave women in their fight for democracy in America. I should be proud of +the honor to die in prison for the liberty of American women.” Even the +judge seemed moved by her beautiful and simple spirit. +</p> + +<p> +In spite of the fact that the women were sentenced to serve their sentences in +the District Jail, where they would join Miss Paul and her companions, all save +one were immediately sent to Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +It had been agreed that the demand to be treated as political prisoners, +inaugurated by previous pickets, should be continued, and that failing to +secure such rights they would unanimously refuse to eat food or do prison +labor. +</p> + +<p> +Any words of mine would be inadequate to tell the story of the prisoners’ +reception at the Occoquan workhouse. The following is the statement of Mrs. +Nolan, dictated upon her release, in the presence of Mr. Dudley Field Malone: +</p> + +<p> +It was about half past seven at night when we got to Occoquan workhouse. A +woman [Mrs. Herndon] was standing behind a desk when we were brought into this +office, and there were five or six men also in the room. Mrs. Lewis, who spoke +for all of us, . . . said she must speak to Whittaker, the superintendent of +the place. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll sit here all night, then,” said Mrs. Herndon. +</p> + +<p> +I saw men begin to come upon the porch, but I didn’t think anything about +it. Mrs. Herndon called my name, but I did not answer. . . ’ +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly the door literally burst open and Whittaker burst in like a tornado; +some men followed him. We could see a crowd of them on the porch. They were not +in uniform. They looked as much like tramps as anything. They seemed to come +in—and in—and in. One had a face that made me think of an +ourang-outang. Mrs. Lewis stood up. Some of us had been sitting and lying on +the floor, we were so tired. She had hardly begun to speak, saying we demanded +to be treated as political prisoners, when Whittaker said: +</p> + +<p> +“You shut up. I have men here to handle you.” Then he shouted, +“Seize her!” I turned and saw men spring toward her, and then some +one screamed, “They have taken Mrs. Lewis.” +</p> + +<p> +A man sprang at me and caught me by the shoulder. I am used to remembering a +bad foot, which I have had for years, and I remember saying, “I’ll +come with you; don’t drag me; I have a lame foot.” But I was jerked +down the steps and away into the dark. I didn’t have my feet on the +ground. I guess that saved me. I heard Mrs. Cosu, who was being dragged along +with me, call, “Be careful of your foot.” +</p> + +<p> +Out of doors it was very dark. The building to which they took us was lighted +up as we came to it. I only remember the American flag flying above it because +it caught the light from a window in the wing. We were rushed into a large room +that we found opened on a large hall with stone cells on each side. They were +perfectly dark. Punishment cells is what they call them. Mine was filthy. It +had no window save a slip at the top and no furniture but an iron bed covered +with a thin straw pad, and an open toilet flushed from outside the cell . . . . +</p> + +<p> +In the hall outside was a man called Captain Reems. He had on a uniform and was +brandishing a thick stick and shouting as we were shoved into the corridor, +“Damn you, get in here.” +</p> + +<p> +I saw Dorothy Day brought in. She is a frail girl. The two men handling her +were twisting her arms above her head. Then suddenly they lifted her up and +banged her down over the arm of an iron bench—twice. As they ran me past, +she was lying there with her arms out, and we heard one of the men yell, +“The —— suffrager! My mother ain’t no suffrager. +I’ll put you through ——.” +</p> + +<p> +At the end of the corridor they pushed me through a door. Then I lost my +balance and fell against the iron bed. Mrs. Cosu struck the wall. Then they +threw in two mats and two dirty blankets. There was no light but from the +corridor. The door was barred from top to bottom. The walls and floors were +brick or stone cemented over. Mrs. Cosu would not let me lie on the floor. She +put me on the couch and stretched out on the floor on one of the two pads they +threw in. We had only lain there a few minutes, trying to get our breath, when +Mrs. Lewis, doubled over and handled like a sack of something, was literally +thrown in. Her head struck the iron bed. We thought she was dead. She +didn’t move. We were crying over her as we lifted her to the pad on my +bed, when we heard Miss Burns call: +</p> + +<p> +“Where is Mrs. Nolan?” +</p> + +<p> +I replied, “I am here.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Cosu called out, “They have just thrown Mrs. Lewis in here, +too.” +</p> + +<p> +At this Mr. Whittaker came to the door and told us not to dare to speak, or he +would put the brace and bit in our mouths and the straitjacket on our bodies. +We were so terrified we kept very still. Mrs. Lewis was not unconscious; she +was only stunned. But Mrs. Cosu was desperately ill as the night wore on. She +had a bad heart attack and was then vomiting. We called and called. We asked +them1to send our own doctor, because we thought she was dying . . . . They [the +guards paid no attention. A cold wind blew in on us from the outside, and we +three lay there shivering and only half conscious until morning. +</p> + +<p> +“One at a time, come out,” we heard some one call at the barred +door early in the morning. I went first. I bade them both good- by. I +didn’t know where I was going or whether I would ever see them again. +They took me to Mr. Whittaker’s office, where he called my name. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re Mrs. Mary Nolan,” said Whittaker. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re posted,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you willing to put on prison dress and go to the workroom?” +said he. +</p> + +<p> +I said, “No.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you know now that I am Mr. Whittaker, the +superintendent?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Is there any age limit to your workhouse?” I said. “Would a +woman of seventy-three or a child of two be sent here?” +</p> + +<p> +I think I made him think. He motioned to the guard. +</p> + +<p> +“Get a doctor to examine her,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +In the hospital cottage I was met by Mrs. Herndon and taken to a little room +with two white beds and a hospital table. +</p> + +<p> +“You can lie down if you want to,” she said. +</p> + +<p> +I took off my coat and hat. I just lay down on the bed and fell into a kind of +stupor. It was nearly noon and I had had no food offered me since the +sandwiches our friends brought us in the courtroom at noon the day before. +</p> + +<p> +The doctor came and examined my heart. Then he examined my lame foot. It had a +long blue bruise above the ankle, where they had knocked me as they took me +across the night before. He asked me what caused’ the bruise. I said, +“Those fiends when they dragged me to the cell last night.” It was +paining me. He asked if I wanted liniment and I said only hot water. They +brought that, and I noticed they did not lock the door. A negro trusty was +there. I fell back again into the same stupor. +</p> + +<p> +The next day they brought me some toast and a plate of food, the first I had +been offered in over 36 hours. I just looked at the food and motioned it away. +It made me sick . . . . I was released on the sixth day and passed the +dispensary as I came out. There were a group of my friends, Mrs. Brannan and +Mrs. Morey and many others. They had on coarse striped dresses and big, +grotesque, heavy shoes. I burst into tears as they led me away. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +(Signed) MARY I. NOLAN.<br/> +November 21, 1917, +</p> + +<p> +The day following their commitment to Occoquan Mr. O’Brien, of counsel, +was directed to see the women, to ascertain their condition. Friends and +relatives were alarmed, as not a line of news had been allowed to penetrate to +the world. Mr. O’Brien was denied admission and forced to come back to +Washington without any report whatsoever. +</p> + +<p> +The next day Mr. O’Brien again attempted to see his clients, as did also +the mother of Miss Matilda Young, the youngest prisoner in Mr. +Whittaker’s care, and Miss Katherine Morey, who went asking to see her +mother. Miss Morey was held under armed guard half a mile from the prison. +Admission was denied to all of them. +</p> + +<p> +The terrible anxiety at Headquarters was not relieved the third day by a report +brought from the workhouse by one of the marines stationed at Quantico Station, +Virginia, who had been summoned to the workhouse on the night the women +arrived. He brought news that unknown tortures were going on. Mr. O’Brien +immediately forced his way through by a court order, and brought back to +Headquarters the astounding news of the campaign of terrorism which had started +the moment the prisoners had arrived, and which was being continued at that +moment. Miss Lucy Burns, who had assumed responsibility for the welfare of the +women, had managed to secrete small scraps of paper and a tiny pencil, and jot +down briefly the day by day events at the workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +This week of brutality, which rivaled old Russia, if it did not outstrip it, +was almost the blackest page in the Administration’s cruel fight against +women. +</p> + +<p> +Here are some of the scraps of Miss Burn’s day-by-day log, smuggled out +of the workhouse. Miss Burns is so gifted a writer that I feel apologetic for +using these scraps in their raw form, but I know she will forgive me. +</p> + +<p> +WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14. Demanded to see Superintendent Whittaker. Request +refused. Mrs. Herndon, the matron, said we would have to wait up all night. One +of the men guards said he would “put us in sardine box and put mustard on +us.” Superintendent Whittaker came at 9 p. m. He refused to hear our +demand for political rights. Seized by guards from behind, flung off my feet, +and shot out of the room. All of us were seized by men guards and dragged to +cells in men’s part. Dorothy Day was roughly used-back twisted. Mrs. Mary +A. Nolan (73-year-old picket from Jacksonville, Florida) flung into cell. Mrs. +Lawrence Lewis shot past my cell. I slept with Dorothy Day in a single bed. I +was handcuffed all night and manacled to the bars part of the time for asking +the others how they were, and was threatened with a straitjacket and a buckle +gag. +</p> + +<p> +THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16 . . . . Asked for Whittaker, who came. He seized Julia +Emory by the back of her neck and threw her into the room very brutally. She is +a little girl. I asked for counsel to learn the status of the case. I was told +to “shut up,” and was again threatened with a straitjacket and a +buckle gag. Later I was taken to put on prison clothes, refused and resisted +strenuously. I was then put in a room where delirium tremens patients are kept. +</p> + +<p> +On the seventh day, when Miss Lucy Burns and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis were so weak +that Mr. Whittaker feared their death, they were forcibly fed and taken +immediately to the jail in Washington. Of the experience Mrs. Lewis +wrote:— +</p> + +<p> +I was seized and laid on my back, where five people held me, a young colored +woman leaping upon my knees, which seemed to break under the weight. Dr. Gannon +then forced the tube through my lips and down my throat, I gasping and +suffocating with the agony of it. I didn’t know where to breathe from and +everything turned black when the fluid began pouring in. I was moaning and +making the most awful sounds quite against my will, for I did not wish to +disturb my friends in the next room. Finally the tube was withdrawn. I lay +motionless. After a while I was dressed and carried in a chair to a waiting +automobile, laid on the back seat and driven into Washington to the jail +hospital. Previous to the feeding I had been forcibly examined by Dr. Gannon, I +protesting that I wished a woman physician. +</p> + +<p> +Of this experience, Miss Burns wrote on tiny scraps of paper: +</p> + +<p> +WEDNESDAY, 12 m. Yesterday afternoon at about four or five, Mrs. Lewis and I +were asked to go to the operating room. Went there and found our clothes. Told +we were to go to Washington. No reason as usual. When we were dressed, Dr. +Gannon appeared, and said he wished to examine us. Both refused. Were dragged +through halls by force, our clothing partly removed by force, and we were +examined, heart tested, blood pressure and pulse taken. Of course such data was +of no value after such a struggle. Dr. Gannon told me then I must be fed. Was +stretched on bed, two doctors, matron, four colored prisoners present, +Whittaker in hall. I was held down by five people at legs, arms, and head. I +refused to open mouth. Gannon pushed tube up left nostril. I turned and twisted +my head all I could, but he managed to push it up. It hurts nose and throat +very much and makes nose bleed freely. Tube drawn out covered with blood. +Operation leaves one very sick. Food dumped directly into stomach feels like a +ball of lead. Left nostril, throat and muscles of neck very sore all night. +After this I was brought into the hospital in an ambulance. Mrs. Lewis and I +placed in same room. Slept hardly at all. This morning Dr. Ladd appeared with +his tube. Mrs. Lewis and I said we would not be forcibly fed. Said he would +call in men guards and force us to submit. Went away and we were not fed at all +this morning. We hear them outside now cracking eggs. +</p> + +<p> +With Miss Burns and Mrs. Lewis, who were regarded as leaders in the hunger +strike protest, removed to the district jail, Mr. Whittaker and his staff at +Occoquan began a systematic attempt to break down the morale of the hunger +strikers. Each one was called to the mat and interrogated. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you work?”—“Will you put on prison +clothes?”—“Will you eat?”—“Will you stop +picketing?”—“Will you go without paying your fine and promise +never to picket again?” +</p> + +<p> +How baffled he must have been! The answer was definite and final. Their +resistance was superb. +</p> + +<p> +“One of the few warning incidents during the gray days of our +imprisonment was the unexpected sympathy and understanding of one of the +government doctors,” wrote Miss Betty Gram of Portland, Oregon. +</p> + +<p> +“’This is the most magnificent sacrifice I have ever seen made for a +principle [he said I never believed that American women would care so much +about freedom. I have seen women in Russia undergo extreme suffering for their +ideals, but unless I had seen this with my own eyes I never would have believed +it. My sister hunger struck in Russia, where she was imprisoned for refusing to +reveal the whereabouts of two of her friends indicted for a government offense. +She was fed after three days. You girls are on your ninth day of hunger strike +and your condition is critical. It is a great pity that such women should be +subjected to this treatment. I hope that you will carry your point and force +the hand of the government soon’.” +</p> + +<p> +The mother of Matilda Young, the youngest picket, anxiously appealed to Mr. +Tumulty, Secretary to President Wilson, and a family friend, to be allowed to +see the President and ask for a special order to visit her daughter. Failing to +secure this, she went daily to Mr. Tumulty’s office asking if he himself +would not intercede for her. Mr. Tumulty assured her that her daughter was in +safe hands, that she need give herself no alarm, the stories of the inhuman +treatment at Occoquan were false, and that she must not believe them. Finally +Mrs. Young pleaded to be allowed to send additional warm clothing to her +daughter, whom she knew to be too lightly clad for the vigorous temperature of +November. Mr. Tumulty assured her that the women were properly clothed, and +refused to permit the clothing to be sent. The subsequent stories of the women +showed what agonies they had endured, because they were inadequately clad, from +the dampness of the cells into which they were thrown. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. John Winters Brannan was among the women who endured the “night of +terror.” Mrs. Brannan is the daughter of Charles A. Dana, founder of the +New York Sun and that great American patriot of liberty who was a trusted +associate -and counselor of Abraham Lincoln. Mrs. Brannan, life-long +suffragist, is an aristocrat of intellect and feeling, who has always allied +herself with libertarian movements. This was her second term of imprisonment. +She wrote a comprehensive affidavit of her experience. After narrating the +events which led up to the attack, she continues: +</p> + +<p> +Superintendent Whittaker . . . then shouted out in a loud tone of voice, +“Seize these women, take them off, that one, that one; take her +off.” The guards rushed forward and an almost indescribable scene of +violent confusion ensued. I . . . saw one of the guards seize her [Lucy Burns] +by the arms, twist or force them back of her, and one or two other guards seize +her by the shoulders, shaking her violently . . . . +</p> + +<p> +I then . . took up my heavy sealskin coat, which was lying by, and put it on, +in order to prepare myself if attacked . . . . I was trembling at the time and +was stunned with terror at the situation as it had developed, and said to the +superintendent, “I will give my name under protest,” and started to +walk towards the desk whereon lay the books. The superintendent shouted to me, +“Oh, no, you won’t; don’t talk about protest; I won’t +have any of that nonsense.” +</p> + +<p> +I . . . saw the guards seizing the different women of the party with the utmost +violence, the furniture being overturned and the room a scene of the utmost +disturbance. I saw Miss Lincoln lying on the floor, with every appearance of +having just been thrown down by the two guards who were standing over her in a +menacing attitude. Seeing the general disturbance, I gave up all idea of giving +my name at the desk, and instinctively joined my companions, to go with them +and share whatever was in store for them. The whole group of women were thrown, +dragged or herded out of the office on to the porch, down the steps to the +ground, and forced to cross the road . . . to the Administration Building. +</p> + +<p> +During all of this time, . . . Superintendent Whittaker was . . . directing the +whole attack. . . . +</p> + +<p> +. . .All of us were thrown into different cells in the men’s prison, I +being put in one with four other women, the cell containing a narrow bed and +one chair, which was immediately removed . . . . +</p> + +<p> +During the time that we were being forced into the cells the guards kept up an +uproar, shouting, banging the iron doors, clanging bars, making a terrifying +noise. +</p> + +<p> +I and one of my companions were lying down on the narrow bed, on which were a +blanket and one pillow. The door of the cell was opened and a mattress and a +blanket being thrown in, the door was violently banged to . . . . My other . . +. companions arranged the mattress on the floor and lay down, covering +themselves with the blanket. +</p> + +<p> +. . . I looked across the corridor and saw Miss Lincoln, . and asked her +whether she was all right, being anxious to know whether she had been hurt by +the treatment in the office building. . . Instantly Superintendent Whittaker +rushed forward, shouting at me, “Stop that; not another word from your +mouth, or I will handcuff you, gag you and put you in a straitjacket. . . +</p> + +<p> +I wish to state again that the cells into which we were put were situated in +the men’s prison. There was no privacy for the women, and if any of us +wished to undress we would be subject to the view or observation of the guards +who remained in the corridor and who could at any moment look at us . . . . +Furthermore, the water closets were in full view of the corridor where +Superintendent Whittaker and the guards were moving about. The flushing of +these closets could only be done from the corridor, and we were forced to ask +the guards to do this for us,-the men who had shortly before attacked us . . . +. +</p> + +<p> +None of the matrons or women attendants appeared at any time that night. No +water was brought to us for washing, no food was offered to us . . . . +</p> + +<p> +I was exhausted by what I had seen and been through, and spent the night in +absolute terror of further attack and of what might still be in store for us. I +thought of the young girls who were with us and feared for their safety. The +guards acted brutal in the extreme, incited to their brutal conduct towards us, +. . , by the superintendent. I thought of the offense with which we had been +charged,—merely that of obstructing traffic,—and felt that the +treatment that we had received was out of all proportion to the offense with +which we were charged, and that the superintendent, the matron and guards would +not have dared to act towards us as they had acted unless they relied upon the +support of higher authorities. It seemed to me that everything had been done +from the time we reached the workhouse to terrorize us, and my fear lest the +extreme of outrage would be worked upon the young girls of our party became +intense. +</p> + +<p> +It is impossible for me to describe the terror of that night. . . +</p> + +<p> +The affidavit then continues with the story of how Mrs. Brannan was compelled +the following morning to put on prison clothes, was given a cup of skimmed milk +and a slice of toast, and then taken to the sewing room, where she was put to +work sewing on the underdrawers of the male prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +I was half fainting all of that day and . . . requested permission to lie down, +feeling so ill . . . . I could not sleep, having a sense of constant danger . . +. . I was almost paralyzed and in wretched physical condition. +</p> + +<p> +On Friday afternoon Mrs. Herndon [matron]. . . led us through some woods +nearby, for about three-quarters of a mile, seven of us being in the party. We +were so exhausted and weary that we were obliged to stop constantly to rest. On +our way back from the walk we heard the baying of hounds very near us in the +woods. The matron said, “You must hurry, the bloodhounds are +loose.” One of the party, Miss Findeisen, asked whether they would attack +us, to which the matron replied, “That is just what they would do,” +and hurried us along. The baying grew louder and nearer at times and then more +distant, as the dogs rushed back and forth, and this went on until we reached +the sewing room. The effect of this upon our nerves can better be imagined than +described . . . . +</p> + +<p> +Every conceivable lie was tried in an effort to force the women to abandon +their various form of resistance. They were told that no efforts were being +made from the outside to reach them, and that their attorney had been called +off the case. Each one was told that she was the only one hunger striking. Each +one was told that all the others had put on prison clothes and were working. +Although they were separated from one another they suspected the lies and +remained strong in their resistance. After Mr. O’Brien’s one visit +and the subsequent reports in the press he was thereafter refused admission to +the workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +The judge had sentenced these women to the jail, but the District Commissioners +had ordered them committed to the workhouse. It was evident that the +Administration was anxious to keep this group away from Alice Paul and her +companions, as they counted on handling the rebellion more easily in two groups +than one. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the condition of the prisoners in the workhouse grew steadily worse. +It was imperative that we force the Administration to take them out of the +custody of Superintendent Whittaker immediately. We decided to take the only +course open—to obtain a writ of habeas corpus. A hurried journey by +counsel to United States District Judge Waddill of Norfolk, Virginia, brought +the writ. It compelled the government to bring the prisoners into court and +show cause why they should not be returned to the district jail. This +conservative, Southern judge said of the petition for the writ, “It is +shocking and blood- curdling.” +</p> + +<p> +There followed a week more melodramatic than the most stirring moving picture +film. Although the writ had been applied for in the greatest secrecy, a +detective suddenly appeared to accompany Mr. O’Brien from Washington to +Norfolk, during his stay in Norfolk, and back to Washington. Telephone wires at +our headquarters were tapped. +</p> + +<p> +It was evident that the Administration was cognizant of every move in this +procedure before it was executed. No sooner was our plan decided upon than +friends of the Administration besought us to abandon the habeas corpus +proceedings. One member of the Administration sent an emissary to our +headquarters with the following appeal: +</p> + +<p> +“If you will only drop these proceedings, I can absolutely guarantee you +that the prisoners will be removed from the workhouse to the jail in a +week:” +</p> + +<p> +“In a week? They may be dead by that time,” we answered. “We +cannot wait.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I tell you, you must not proceed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why this mysterious week?” we asked. “Why not tomorrow? Why +not instantly?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can only tell you that I have a positive guarantee of the District +Commissioners that the women will be removed,” he said in conclusion. We +refused to grant his request. +</p> + +<p> +There were three reasons why the authorities wished for a week’s time. +They were afraid to move the women in their weakened condition and before the +end of the week they hoped to increase their facilities for forcible feeding at +the workhouse. They also wished to conceal the treatment of the women, the +exposure of which would be inevitable in any court proceedings. And lastly, the +Administration was anxious to avoid opening up the whole question of the +legality of the very existence of the workhouse in Virginia. +</p> + +<p> +Persons convicted in the District for acts committed in violation of District +law were transported to Virginia—alien territory—to serve their +terms. It was a moot point whether prisoners were so treated with sufficient +warrant in law. Eminent jurists held that the District had no right to convict +a person under its laws and commit that person to confinement in another state. +They contended that sentence imposed upon a person for unlawful acts in the +District should be executed in the District. +</p> + +<p> +Hundreds of persons who had been convicted in the District of Columbia and who +had served their sentences in Virginia had been without money or influence +enough to contest this doubtful procedure in the courts. The Administration was +alarmed. +</p> + +<p> +We quickened our pace. A member of the Administration rushed his attorney as +courier to the women in the workhouse to implore them not to consent to the +habeas corpus proceedings. He was easily admitted and tried to extort from one +prisoner at a time a promise to reject the plan. The women suspected his +solicitude and refused to make any promise whatsoever without first being +allowed to see their own attorney. +</p> + +<p> +We began at once to serve the writ. Ordinarily this would be an easy thing to +do. But for us it developed into a very difficult task. A deputy marshal must +serve the writ. Counsel sought a deputy. For miles around Washington, not one +was to be found at his home or lodgings. None could be reached by telephone. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Mr. Whittaker, had sped from the premises of the workhouse to the +District, where he kept himself discreetly hidden for several days. When a +deputy was found, six attempts were made to serve the writ. All failed. Finally +by a ruse, Mr. Whittaker was caught at his home late at night. He was aroused +to a state of violent temper and made futile threats of reprisal when he +learned that he must produce the suffrage prisoners at the Court in Alexandria, +Virginia, on the day of November twenty- third. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>Chapter 12<br/> +Alice Paul in Prison</h2> + +<p> +Great passions when they run through a whole population, inevitably find a +great spokesman. A people cannot remain dumb which is moved by profound +impulses of conviction; and when spokesmen and leaders are found, effective +concert of action seems to follow as naturally. Men spring together for common +action under a common impulse which has taken hold upon their very natures, and +governments presently find that they have those to reckon with who know not +only what they want, but also the most effective means of making governments +uncomfortable until they get it. Governments find themselves, in short, in the +presence of Agitation, of systematic movements of opinion, which do not merely +flare up in spasmodic flames and then die down again, but burn with an +accumulating ardor which can be checked and extinguished only by removing the +grievances, and abolishing the unacceptable institutions which are its fuel. +Casual discontent can be allayed, but agitation fixed upon conviction cannot +be. To fight it is merely to augment its force. It burns irrepressibly in every +public assembly; quiet it there, and it gathers head at street corners; drive +it thence, and it smolders in private dwellings, in social gatherings, in every +covert of talk, only to break forth more violently than ever because denied +vent and air. It must be reckoned with . . . . +</p> + +<p> +Governments have been very resourceful in parrying agitation, in diverting it, +in seeming to yield to it, and then cheating it of its objects, in tiring it +out or evading it . . . . But the end, whether it comes soon or late, is quite +certain to be always the same. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +—“Constitutional Government in the United States.”<br/> +Woodrow Wilson, Ph.D., LL.D.,<br/> +President of Princeton University. +</p> + +<p> +The special session of the 65th Congress, known as the “War +Congress,” adjourned in October, 1917, having passed every measure +recommended as a war measure by the President. +</p> + +<p> +In addition, it found time to protect by law migratory birds, to appropriate +forty-seven million dollars for deepening rivers and harbors, and to establish +more federal judgeships. No honest person would say that lack of time and +pressure of war legislation had prevented its consideration of the suffrage +measure. If one-hundredth part of the time consumed by its members in spreading +the wings of the overworked eagle, and in uttering to bored ears +“home-made” patriotic verse, had been spent in considering the +liberty of women, this important legislation could have been dealt with. Week +after week Congress met only for three days, and then often merely for prayer +and a few hours of purposeless talking. +</p> + +<p> +We had asked for liberty, and had got a suffrage committee appointed in the +House to consider the pros and cons of suffrage, and a favorable report in the +Senate from the Committee on Woman Suffrage, nothing more. +</p> + +<p> +On the very day and hour of the adjournment of the special session of the War +Congress, Alice Paul led eleven women to the White House gates to protest +against the Administration’s allowing its lawmakers to go home without +action on the suffrage amendment. +</p> + +<p> +Two days later Alice Paul and her colleagues were put on trial. +</p> + +<p> +Many times during previous trials I had heard the District Attorney for the +government shake his finger at Miss Paul and say, “We’ll get you +yet . . . . Just wait; and when we do, we’ll give you a year!” +</p> + +<p> +It was reported from very authentic sources that Attorney General Gregory had, +earlier in the agitation, seriously considered arresting Miss Paul for the +Administration, on the charge of conspiracy to break the law. We were told this +plan was abandoned because, as one of the Attorney General’s staff put +it, “No jury would convict her.” +</p> + +<p> +However, here she was in their hands, in the courtroom. +</p> + +<p> +Proceedings opened with the customary formality. The eleven prisoners sat +silently at the bar, reading their morning papers, or a book, or enjoying a +moment of luxurious idleness, oblivious of the comical movements of a perturbed +court. Nothing in the world so baffles the pompous dignity of a court as +non-resistant defendants. The judge cleared his throat and the attendants made +meaningless gestures. +</p> + +<p> +“Will the prisoners stand up and be sworn?” +</p> + +<p> +They will not. +</p> + +<p> +“Will they question witnesses?” +</p> + +<p> +They will not. +</p> + +<p> +“Will they speak in their own behalf ?” +</p> + +<p> +The slender, quiet-voiced Quaker girl arose from her seat. The crowded +courtroom pressed forward breathlessly. She said calmly and with unconcern: +“We do not wish to make any plea before this court. We do not consider +ourselves subject to this court, since as an unenfranchised class we have +nothing to do with the making of the laws which have put us in this +position.” +</p> + +<p> +What a disconcerting attitude to take! Miss Paul sat down as quietly and +unexpectedly as she had arisen. The judge moved uneasily in his chair. The +gentle way in which it was said was disarming. Would the judge hold them in +contempt? He had not time to think. His part of the comedy he had expected to +run smoothly, and here was this defiant little woman calmly stating that we +were not subject to the court, and that we would therefore have nothing to do +with the proceedings. The murmurs had grown to a babel of conversation. A sharp +rap of the gavel restored order and permitted Judge Mullowny to say: +“Unfortunately, I am here to support the laws that are made by Congress, +and, of course, I am bound by those laws; and you are bound by them as long as +you live in this country, notwithstanding the fact that you do not recognize +the law.” +</p> + +<p> +Everybody strained his ears for the sentence. The Administration had threatened +to “get” the leader. Would they dare? +</p> + +<p> +Another pause! +</p> + +<p> +“I shall suspend sentence for the time being,” came solemnly from +the judge. +</p> + +<p> +Was it that they did not dare confine Miss Paul? Were they beginning actually +to perceive the real strength of the movement and the protest that would be +aroused if she were imprisoned? Again we thought perhaps this marked the end of +the jailing of women. +</p> + +<p> +But though the pickets were released on suspended sentences, there was no +indication of any purpose on the part of the Administration of acting on the +amendment. Two groups, some of those on suspended sentence, others first +offenders, again marched to the White House gates. The following motto: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE TIME HAS COME TO CONQUER OR SUBMIT; FOR US THERE CAN BE BUT ONE CHOICE-WE +HAVE MADE IT. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +a quotation from the President’s second Liberty Loan appeal, was carried +by Miss Paul. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Caroline E. Spencer of Colorado carried: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD. +</p> + +<p> +All were brought to trial again. +</p> + +<p> +The trial of Miss Paul’s group ran as follows: +</p> + +<p> +MR. HART (Prosecuting Attorney for the Government): Sergeant Lee, were you on +Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House Saturday afternoon? +</p> + +<p> +SERGEANT LEE: I was. +</p> + +<p> +MR. HART: At what time? +</p> + +<p> +LEE: About 4:35 in the afternoon. +</p> + +<p> +HART: Tell the court what you saw. +</p> + +<p> +LEE: A little after half-past four, when the department clerks were all going +home out Pennsylvania Avenue, I saw four suffragettes coming down Madison +Place, cross the Avenue and continue on Pennsylvania Avenue to the gate of the +White House, where they divided two on the right and two on the left side of +the gate. +</p> + +<p> +HART: What did you do? +</p> + +<p> +LEE: I made my way through the crowd that was surrounding them and told the +ladies they were violating the law by standing at the gates, and wouldn’t +they please move on? +</p> + +<p> +HART: Did they move on? +</p> + +<p> +LEE: They did not; and they didn’t answer either. +</p> + +<p> +HART: What did you do then? +</p> + +<p> +LEE: I placed them under arrest. +</p> + +<p> +HART: What did you do then? +</p> + +<p> +LEE: I asked the crowd to move on. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Hart then arose and summing up said: “Your Honor, these women have +said that they will picket again. I ask you to impose the maximum +sentence.” +</p> + +<p> +Such confused legal logic was indeed drole! +</p> + +<p> +“You ladies seem to feel that we discriminate in making arrests and in +sentencing you,” said the judge heavily. “The result is that you +force me to take the most drastic means in my power to compel you to obey the +law.” +</p> + +<p> +More legal confusion! +</p> + +<p> +“Six months,” said the judge to the first offenders, “and +then you will serve one month more,” to the others. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Paul’s parting remark to the reporters who intercepted her on her +way from the courtroom to begin her seven months’ sentence was: +</p> + +<p> +“We are being imprisoned, not because we obstructed traffic, but because +we pointed out to the President the fact that he was obstructing the cause of +democracy at home, while Americans were fighting for it abroad.” +</p> + +<p> +I am going to let Alice Paul tell her own story, as she related it to me one +day after her release: +</p> + +<p> +It was late afternoon when we arrived at the jail. There we found the +suffragists who had preceded us, locked in cells. +</p> + +<p> +The first thing I remember was the distress of the prisoners about the lack of +fresh air. Evening was approaching, every window was closed tight. The air in +which we would be obliged to sleep was foul. There were about eighty negro and +white prisoners crowded together, tier upon tier, frequently two in a cell. I +went to a window and tried to open it. Instantly a group of men, prison guards, +appeared; picked me up bodily, threw me into a cell and locked the door. Rose +Winslow and the others were treated in the same way. +</p> + +<p> +Determined to preserve out health and that of the other prisoners, we began a +concerted fight for fresh air. The windows were about twenty feet distant from +the cells, and two sets of iron bars intervened between us and the windows, but +we instituted an attack upon them as best we could. Our tin drinking cups, the +electric light bulbs, every available article of the meagre supply in each +cell, including my treasured copy of Browning’s poems which I had +secretly taken in with me, was thrown through the windows. By this simultaneous +attack from every cell, we succeeded in breaking one window before our supply +of tiny weapons was exhausted. The fresh October air came in like an +exhilarating gale. The broken window remained untouched throughout the entire +stay of this group and all later groups of suffragists. Thus was won what the +“regulars” in jail called the first breath of air in their time. +</p> + +<p> +The next day we organized ourselves into a little group for the purpose of +rebellion. We determined to make it impossible to keep us in jail. We +determined, moreover, that as long as we were there we would keep up an +unremitting fight for the rights of political prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +One by one little points were conceded to quiet resistance. There was the +practice of sweeping the corridors in such a way that the dust filled the +cells. The prisoners would be choking to the gasping point, as they sat, +helpless, locked in the cells, while a great cloud of dust enveloped them from +tiers above and below. As soon as our tin drinking cups, which were sacrificed +in our attack upon the windows, were restored to us, we instituted a campaign +against the dust. Tin cup after tin cup was filled and its contents thrown out +into the corridor from every cell, so that the water began to trickle down from +tier to tier. The District Commissioners, the Board of Charities, and other +officials were summoned by the prison authorities. Hurried consultations were +held. Nameless officials passed by in review and looked upon the dampened +floor. Thereafter the corridors were dampened and the sweeping into the cells +ceased. And so another reform was won. +</p> + +<p> +There is absolutely no privacy allowed a prisoner in a cell. You are suddenly +peered at by curious strangers, who look in at you all hours of the day and +night, by officials, by attendants, by interested philanthropic visitors, and +by prison reformers, until one’s sense of privacy is so outraged that one +rises in rebellion. We set out to secure privacy, but we did not succeed, for, +to allow privacy in prison, is against all institutional thought and habit. Our +only available weapon was our blanket, which was no sooner put in front of our +bars than it was forcibly taken down by Warden Zinkhan. +</p> + +<p> +Our meals had consisted of a little almost raw salt pork, some sort of +liquid—I am not sure whether it was coffee or soup—bread and +occasionally molasses. How we cherished the bread and molasses! We saved it +from meal to meal so as to try to distribute the nourishment over a longer +period, as almost every one was unable to eat the raw pork. Lucy Branham, who +was more valiant than the rest of us, called out from her cell, one day, +“Shut your eyes tight, close your mouth over the pork and swallow it +without chewing it. Then you can do it.” This heroic practice kept Miss +Branham in fairly good health, but to the rest it seemed impossible, even with +our eyes closed, to crunch our teeth into the raw pork. +</p> + +<p> +However gaily you start out in prison to keep up a rebellious protest, it is +nevertheless a terribly difficult thing to do in the face of the constant cold +and hunger of undernourishment. Bread and water, and occasional molasses, is +not a diet destined to sustain rebellion long. And soon weakness overtook us. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of two weeks of solitary confinement, without any exercise, without +going outside of our cells, some of the prisoners were released, having +finished their terms, but five of us were left serving seven months’ +sentences, and two, one month sentences. With our number thus diminished to +seven, the authorities felt able to cope with us. The doors were unlocked and +we were permitted to take exercise. Rose Winslow fainted as soon as she got +into the yard, and was carried back to her cell. I was too weak to move from my +bed. Rose and I were taken on stretchers that night to the hospital. +</p> + +<p> +For one brief night we occupied beds in the same ward in the hospital. Here we +decided upon the hunger strike, as the ultimate form of protest left +us—the strongest weapon left with which to continue within the prison our +battle against the Administration. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Paul was held absolutely incommunicado in the prison hospital. No +attorney, no member of her family, no friend could see her. With Miss Burns in +prison also it became imperative that I consult Miss Paul as to a matter of +policy. I was peremptorily refused admission by Warden Zinkhan, so I decided to +attempt to communicate with her from below her window. This was before we had +established what in prison parlance is known as the “grape- vine +route.” The grape-vine route consists of smuggling messages oral or +written via a friendly guard or prisoner who has access to the outside world. +</p> + +<p> +Just before twilight, I hurried in a taxi to the far-away spot, temporarily +abandoned the cab and walked past the dismal cemetery which skirts the prison +grounds. I had fortified myself with a diagram of the grounds, and knew which +entrance to attempt, in order to get to the hospital wing where Miss Paul lay. +We had also ascertained her floor and room. I must first pick the right +building, proceed to the proper corner, and finally select the proper window. +</p> + +<p> +The sympathetic chauffeur loaned me a very seedy looking overcoat which I +wrapped about me. Having deposited my hat inside the cab, I turned up the +collar, drew in my chin and began surreptitiously to circle the devious paths +leading to a side entrance of the grounds. My heart was palpitating, for the +authorities had threatened arrest if any suffragists were found on the prison +grounds, and aside from my personal feelings, I could not at that moment +abandon headquarters. +</p> + +<p> +Making a desperate effort to act like an experienced and trusted attendant of +the prison, I roamed about and tried not to appear roaming. I successfully +passed two guards, and reached the desired spot, which was by good luck +temporarily deserted. I succeeded in calling up loudly enough to be heard by +Miss Paul, but softly enough not to be heard by the guards. +</p> + +<p> +I shall never forget the shock of her appearance at that window in the +gathering dusk. Everything in the world seemed black-gray except her ghost-like +face, so startling, so inaccessible. It drove everything else from my mind for +an instant. But as usual she was in complete control of herself. She began to +hurl questions at me faster than I could answer. “How were the convention +plans progressing?” . . . “Had the speakers been secured for the +mass meeting?” . . . “How many women had signed up to go out on the +next picket line?” And so on. +</p> + +<p> +“Conditions at Occoquan are frightful,” said I. “We are +planning to . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“Get out of there, and move quickly,” shouted the guard, who came +abruptly around the corner of the building. I tried to finish my message. +“We are planning to habeas corpus the women out of Occoquan and have them +transferred up here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Get out of there, I tell you. Damn you!” By this time he was upon +me. He grabbed me by the arm and began shaking me. “You will be arrested +if you do not get off these grounds.” He continued to shake me while I +shouted back, “Do you approve of this plan?” +</p> + +<p> +I was being forced along so rapidly that I was out of range of her faint voice +and could not hear the answer. I plead with the guard to be allowed to go back +quietly and speak a few more words with Miss Paul, but he was inflexible. Once +out of the grounds I went unnoticed to the cemetery and sat on a tombstone to +wait a little while before making another attempt, hoping the guard would not +expect me to come back. The lights were beginning to twinkle in the distance +and it was now almost total darkness. I consulted any watch and realized that +in forty minutes Miss Paul and her comrades would again be going through the +torture of forcible feeding. I waited five minutes—ten +minutes—fifteen minutes. Then I went back to the grounds again. I started +through another entrance, but had proceeded only a few paces when I was +forcibly evicted. Again I returned to the cold tombstone. I believe that I +never in my life felt more utterly miserable and impotent. There were times, as +I have said, when we felt inordinately strong. This was one of the times when I +felt that we were frail reeds in the hands of cruel and powerful oppressors. My +thoughts were at first with Alice Paul, at that moment being forcibly fed by +men jailers and men doctors. I remembered then the man warden who had refused +the highly reasonable request to visit her, and my thoughts kept right on up +the scale till I got to the man-President—the pinnacle of power against +us. I was indeed desolate. I walked back to the hidden taxi, hurried to +headquarters, and plunged into my work, trying all night to convince myself +that the sting of my wretchedness was being mitigated by activity toward a +release from this state of affairs. +</p> + +<p> +Later we established daily communication with Miss Paul through one of the +charwomen who scrubbed the hospital floors. She carried paper and pencil +carefully concealed upon her. On entering Miss Paul’s room she would, +with very comical stealth, first elaborately push Miss Paul’s bed against +the door, then crawl practically under it, and pass from this point of +concealment the coveted paper and pencil. Then she would linger over the floor +to the last second, imploring Miss Paul to hasten her writing. Faithfully every +evening this silent, dusky messenger made her long journey after her +day’s work, and patiently waited while I wrote an answering note to be +delivered to Miss Paul the following morning. Thus it was that while in the +hospital Miss Paul directed our campaign, in spite of the +Administration’s most painstaking plans to the contrary. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Paul’s story continues here from the point where I interrupted it. +</p> + +<p> +From the moment we undertook the hunger strike, a policy of unremitting +intimidation began. One authority after another, high and low, in and out of +prison, came to attempt to force me to break the hunger strike. +</p> + +<p> +“You will be taken to a very unpleasant place if you don’t stop +this,” was a favorite threat of the prison officials, as they would hint +vaguely of the psychopathic ward, and St. Elizabeth’s, the Government +insane asylum. They alternately bullied and hinted. Another threat was +“You will be forcibly fed immediately if you don’t +stop”—this from Dr. Gannon. There was nothing to do in the midst of +these continuous threats, with always the “very unpleasant place” +hanging over me, and so I lay perfectly silent on my bed. +</p> + +<p> +After about three days of the hunger strike a man entered my room in the +hospital and announced himself as Dr. White, the head of St. Elizabeth’s. +He said that he had been asked by District Commissioner Gardner to make an +investigation. I later learned that he was Dr. William A. White, the eminent +alienist. +</p> + +<p> +Coming close to my bedside and addressing the attendant, who stood at a few +respectful paces from him, Dr. White said: “Does this case talk?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why wouldn’t I talk?” I answered quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, these cases frequently will not talk, you know,” he continued +in explanation. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed I’ll talk,” I said gaily, not having the faintest +idea that this was an investigation of my sanity. +</p> + +<p> +“Talking is our business,” I continued, “we talk to any one +on earth who is willing to listen to our suffrage speeches.” +</p> + +<p> +“Please talk,” said Dr. White. “Tell me about suffrage; why +you have opposed the President; the whole history of your campaign, why you +picket, what you hope to accomplish by it. Just talk freely.” +</p> + +<p> +I drew myself together, sat upright in bed, propped myself up for a discourse +of some length, and began to talk. The stenographer whom Dr. White brought with +him took down in shorthand everything that was said. +</p> + +<p> +I may say it was one of the best speeches I ever made. I recited the long +history and struggle of the suffrage movement from its early beginning and +narrated the political theory’ of our activities up to the present +moment, outlining the status of the suffrage amendment in Congress at that +time. In short, I told him everything. He listened attentively, interrupting +only occasionally to say, “But, has not President Wilson treated you +women very badly?” Whereupon, I, still unaware that I was being examined, +launched forth into an explanation of Mr. Wilson’s political situation +and the difficulties he had confronting him. I continued to explain why we felt +our relief lay with him; I cited his extraordinary power, his influence over +his party, his undisputed leadership in the country, always painstakingly +explaining that we opposed President Wilson merely because he happened to be +President, not because he was President Wilson. Again came an interruption from +Dr. White, “But isn’t President Wilson directly responsible for the +abuses anal indignities which have been heaped upon you? You are suffering now +as a result of his brutality, are you not?” Again I explained that it was +impossible for us to know whether President Wilson was personally acquainted in +any detail with the facts of our present condition, even though we knew that he +had concurred in the early decision to arrest our women. +</p> + +<p> +Presently Dr. White took out a small light and held it up to my eyes. Suddenly +it dawned upon me that he was examining me personally; that his interest in the +suffrage agitation and the jail conditions did not exist, and that he was +merely interested in my reactions to the agitation and to jail. Even then I was +reluctant to believe that I was the subject of mental investigation and I +continued to talk. +</p> + +<p> +But he continued in what I realized with a sudden shock, was an attempt to +discover in me symptoms of the persecution mania. How simple he had apparently +thought it would be, to prove that I had an obsession on the subject of +President Wilson! +</p> + +<p> +The day following he came again, this time bringing with him the District +Commissioner, Mr. Gardner, to whom he asked me to repeat everything that had +been said the day before. For the second time we went through the history of +the suffrage movement, and again his inquiry suggested his persecution mania +clue? When the narrative touched upon the President and his responsibility for +the obstruction of the suffrage amendment, Dr. White would turn to his +associate with the remark: “Note the reaction.” +</p> + +<p> +Then came another alienist , Dr. Hickling, attached to the psychopathic ward in +the District Jail, with more threats and suggestions, if the hunger strike +continued. Finally they departed, and I was left to wonder what would happen +next. Doubtless my sense of humor helped me, but I confess A was not without +fear of this mysterious place which they continued to threaten. +</p> + +<p> +It appeared clear that it was their intention either to discredit me, as the +leader of the agitation, by casting doubt upon my sanity, or else to intimidate +us into retreating from the hunger strike. +</p> + +<p> +After the examination by the alienists, Commissioner Gardner, with whom I had +previously discussed our demand for treatment as political prisoners, made +another visit. “All these things you say about the prison conditions may +be true,” said Mr. Gardner, “I am a new Commissioner, and I do not +know. You give an account of a very serious situation in the jail. The jail +authorities give exactly the opposite. Now I promise you we will start an +investigation at once to see who is right, you or they. If it is found you are +right, we shall correct the conditions at once. If you will give up the hunger +strike, we will start the investigation at once.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you consent to treat the suffragists as political prisoners, in +accordance with the demands laid before you?” I replied. +</p> + +<p> +Commissioner Gardner refused, and I told him that the hunger strike would not +be abandoned. But they had by no means exhausted every possible facility for +breaking down our resistance. I overheard the Commissioner say to Dr. Gannon on +leaving, “Go ahead, take her and feed her.” +</p> + +<p> +I was thereupon put upon a stretcher and carried into the psychopathic ward. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +There were two windows in the room. Dr. Gannon immediately ordered one window +nailed from top to bottom. He then ordered the door leading into the hallway +taken down and an iron-barred cell door put in its place. He departed with the +command to a nurse to “observe her.” +</p> + +<p> +Following this direction, all through the day once every hour, the nurse came +to “observe” me. All through the night, once every hour she came +in, turned on an electric light sharp in my face, and “observed” +me. This ordeal was the most terrible torture, as it prevented my sleeping for +more than a few minutes at a time. And if I did finally get to sleep it was +only to be shocked immediately into wide-awakeness with the pitiless light. +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Hickling, the jail alienist, also came often to “observe” me. +Commissioner Gardner and others—doubtless officials—came to peer +through my barred door. +</p> + +<p> +One day a young interne came to take a blood test. I protested mildly, saying +that it was unnecessary and that I objected. “Oh, well,” said the +young doctor with a sneer and a supercilious shrug, “you know +you’re not mentally competent to decide such things.” And the test +was taken over my protest. +</p> + +<p> +It is scarcely possible to convey to you one’s reaction to such an +atmosphere. Here I was surrounded by people on their way to the insane asylum. +Some were waiting for their commitment papers. Others had just gotten them. And +all the while everything possible was done to attempt to make me feel that I +too was a “mental patient.” +</p> + +<p> +At this time forcible feeding began in the District Jail. Miss Paul and Miss +Winslow, the first two suffragists to undertake the hunger strike, went through +the operation of forcible feeding this day and three times a day on each +succeeding day until their release from prison three weeks later. The hunger +strike spread immediately to other suffrage prisoners in the jail and to the +workhouse as recorded in the preceding chapter. +</p> + +<p> +One morning [Miss Paul’s story continues the friendly face of a kindly +old man standing on top of a ladder suddenly appeared at my window. He began to +nail heavy boards across the window from the outside. He smiled and spoke a few +kind words and told me to be of good cheer. He confided to me in a sweet and +gentle way that he was in prison for drinking, that he had been in many times, +but that he believed he had never seen anything so inhuman as boarding up this +window and depriving a prisoner of light and air. There was only time for a few +hurried moments of conversation, as I lay upon my bed watching the boards go up +until his figure was completely hidden and I heard him descending the ladder. +</p> + +<p> +After this window had been boarded up no light came into the room except +through the top half of the other window, and almost no air. The authorities +seemed determined. to deprive me of air and light. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile in those gray, long days, the mental patients in the psychopathic +ward came and peered through my barred door. At night, in the early morning, +all through the day there were cries and shrieks and moans from the patients. +It was terrifying. One particularly melancholy moan used to keep up hour after +hour, with the regularity of a heart beat. I said to myself, “Now I have +to endure this. I have got to live through this somehow. I’ll pretend +these moans are the noise of an elevated train, beginning faintly in the +distance and getting louder as it comes nearer.” Such childish devices +were helpful to me. +</p> + +<p> +The nurses could not have been more beautiful in their spirit and offered every +kindness. But imagine being greeted in the morning by a kindly nurse, a new one +who had just come on duty, with, “I know you are not insane.” The +nurses explained the procedure of sending a person to the insane asylum. Two +alienists examine a patient in the psychopathic ward, sign an order committing +the patient to St. Elizabeth’s Asylum, and there. the patient is sent at +the end of one week. No trial, no counsel, no protest from the outside world! +This was the customary procedure. +</p> + +<p> +I began to think as the week wore on that this was probably their plan for me. +I could not see my family or friends; counsel was denied me; I saw no other +prisoners and heard nothing of them; I could see no papers; I was entirely in +the hands of alienists, prison officials and hospital staff. +</p> + +<p> +I believe I have never in my life before feared anything or any human being. +But I confess I was afraid of Dr. Gannon, the jail physician. I dreaded the +hour of his visit. +</p> + +<p> +“I will show you who rules this place. You think you do. But I will show +you that you are wrong.” Some such friendly greeting as this was frequent +from Dr. Gannon on his daily round. “Anything you desire, you shall not +have. I will show you who is on top in this institution,” was his +attitude. +</p> + +<p> +After nearly a week had passed, Dudley Field Malone finally succeeded in +forcing an entrance by an appeal to court officials and made a vigorous protest +against confining me in the psychopathic ward. He demanded also that the boards +covering the window be taken down. This was promptly done and again the +friendly face of the old man became visible, as the first board disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +“I thought when I put this up America would not stand for this +long,” he said, and began to assure me that nothing dreadful would +happen. I cherish the memory of that sweet old man. +</p> + +<p> +The day after Mr. Malone’s threat of court proceedings, the seventh day +of my stay in the psychopathic ward, the attendants suddenly appeared with a +stretcher. I did not know whither I was being taken, to the insane asylum, as +threatened, or back to the hospital—one never knows in prison where one +is being taken, no reason is ever given for anything. It turned out to be the +hospital. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +After another week spent by Miss Paul on hunger strike in the hospital, the +Administration was forced to capitulate. The doors of the jail were suddenly +opened, and all suffrage prisoners were released. +</p> + +<p> +With extraordinary swiftness the Administration’s almost incredible +policy of intimidation had collapsed. Miss Paul had been given the maximum +sentence of seven months, and at the end of five weeks the Administration was +forced to acknowledge defeat. They were in a most unenviable position. If she +and her comrades had offended in such degree as to warrant so cruel a sentence, +(with such base stupidity on their part in administering it) she most certainly +deserved to be detained for the full sentence. The truth is, every idea of +theirs had been subordinated to the one desire of stopping the picketing +agitation. To this end they had exhausted all their weapons of force. +</p> + +<p> +From my conversation and correspondence with Dr. White, it is clear that as an +alienist he did not make the slightest allegation to warrant removing Miss Paul +to the psychopathic ward. On the contrary he wrote, “I felt myself in the +presence of an unusually gifted personality” and . . . “she was +wonderfully alert and keen . . . possessed of an absolute conviction of her +cause . . . with industry and courage sufficient to avail herself of them [all +diplomatic possibilities. He praised the “most admirable, coherent, +logical and forceful way” in which she discussed with him the purpose of +our campaign. +</p> + +<p> +And yet the Administration put her in the psychopathic ward and threatened her +with the insane asylum. +</p> + +<p> +An interesting incident occurred during the latter part of Miss Paul’s +imprisonment. Having been cut off entirely from outside communication, she was +greatly surprised one night at a late hour to find a newspaper man admitted for +an interview with her. Mr. David Lawrence, then generally accepted as the +Administration journalist, and one who wrote for the various newspapers +throughout the country defending the policies of the Wilson Administration, was +announced. It was equally well known that this correspondent’s habit was +to ascertain the position of the leaders on important questions, keeping +intimately in touch with opinion in White House circles at the same time. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Lawrence came, as he said, of his own volition, and not as an emissary from +the White House. But in view of his close relation to affairs, his interview is +significant as possibly reflecting an Administration attitude at that ,point in +the campaign. +</p> + +<p> +The conversation with Miss Paul revolved first about our fight for the right of +political prisoners, Miss Paul outlining the wisdom and justice of this demand. +</p> + +<p> +“The Administration could very easily hire a comfortable house in +Washington and detain you all there,” said Mr. Lawrence, “but +don’t you see that your demand to be treated as’ political +prisoners is infinitely more difficult to grant than to give you the federal +suffrage amendment? If we give you these privileges we shall have to extend +them to conscientious objectors and to all prisoners now confined for political +opinions. This the Administration cannot do.” +</p> + +<p> +The political prisoners protest, then, had actually encouraged the +Administration to choose the lesser of two evils some action on behalf of the +amendment. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose,” continued Mr. Lawrence, “the Administration should +pass the amendment through one house of Congress next session and go to the +country in the 1918 elections on that record and if sustained in it, pass it +through the other house a year from now. Would you then agree to abandon +picketing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing short of the passage of the amendment through Congress will end +our agitation,” Miss Paul quietly answered for the thousandth time. +</p> + +<p> +Since Mr. Lawrence disavows any connection with the 4dministration in this +interview, I can only remark that events followed exactly in the order he +outlined; that is, the Administration attempted to satisfy the women by putting +the amendment through the House and not through the Senate. +</p> + +<p> +It was during Miss Paul’s imprisonment that the forty-one women went in +protest to the picket line and were sent to the workhouse, as narrated in the +previous chapter. The terrorism they endured at Occoquan ran simultaneously +with the attempted intimidation of Miss Paul and her group in the jail. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>Chapter 13<br/> +Administration—Lawlessness Exposed</h2> + +<p> +In August, 1917, when it was clear that the policy of imprisoning suffragists +would be continued indefinitely, and under longer sentences, the next three +groups of pickets to be arrested asked for a decision from the highest court, +the District Court of Appeals. Unlike other police courts in the country, there +is no absolute right of appeal-from the Police Court of the District of +Columbia. Justice Robb, of the District Court of Appeals, after granting two +appeals, refused to grant any more, upon the ground that he had discretionary +power to grant or withhold an appeal. When further right of appeal was denied +us, and when the Administration persisted in arresting us, we were compelled +either to stop picketing or go to prison. +</p> + +<p> +The first appealed case was heard by the Court of Appeals on January 8, 1918, +and the decision[1] handed down in favor of the defendants on March 4, 1918. +This decision was concurred in by all three judges, one of whom was appointed +by President Wilson, a second by President Roosevelt and the third by President +Taft. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] See Hunter vs. District of Columbia, 47 App. Cas. (D. C.) p. 406. +</p> + +<p> +In effect the decision declared that every one of the 218 suffragists arrested +up to that time was illegally arrested, illegally convicted, and illegally +imprisoned. The whole policy of the Administration in arresting women was by +this decision held up to the world as lawless. The women could, if they had +chosen, have filed suits for damages for false arrest and imprisonment at once. +</p> + +<p> +The appeal cases of the other pickets were ordered dismissed and stricken from +the records. Dudley Field Malone was chief counsel in the appeal. +</p> + +<p> +Another example of ethical, if not legal lawlessness, was shown by the +Administration in the following incident. Throughout the summer and early +autumn we had continued to press for an investigation of conditions at +Occoquan, promised almost four months earlier. +</p> + +<p> +October 2nd was the date finally set for an investigation to be held in the +District Building before the District Board of Charities. Armed with 18 +affidavits and a score of witnesses as to the actual conditions at Occoquan, +Attorney Samuel C. Brent and Judge J. K. N. Norton, both of Alexandria, +Virginia, acting as counsel with Mr. Malone, appeared before the Board on the +opening day and asked to be allowed to present their evidence. They were told +by the Board conducting the investigation that this was merely “an +inquiry into the workhouse conditions and therefore would be held in secret +without reporters or outsiders present.” The attorneys demanded a public +hearing, and insisted that the question was of such momentous importance that +the public was entitled to hear both sides of it. They were told they might +submit in writing any evidence they wished to bring before the Board. They +refused to produce testimony for a “star chamber proceeding,” and +refused to allow their witnesses to be heard unless they could be heard in +public. +</p> + +<p> +Unable to get a public hearing, counsel left the following letter with the +President of the Board: +</p> + +<p> +Hon. John Joy Edson,<br/> +President Board of Charities,<br/> +Washington, D. C. +</p> + +<p> +Dear Sir:—We are counsel for a large group of citizens, men and women, +who have in the past been associated with Occoquan work house as officials or +inmates and who are ready to testify to unspeakable conditions of +mismanagement, graft, sanitary depravity, indignity and brutality at the +institution. +</p> + +<p> +We are glad you are to conduct this long-needed inquiry and shall cooperate in +every way to get at the truth of conditions in Occoquan through your +investigation, provided you make the hearings public, subpoena all available +witnesses, including men and women now prisoners at Occoquan, first granting +them immunity, and provided you give counsel an opportunity to examine and +cross examine all witnesses so called. +</p> + +<p> +We are confident your honorable board will see the justice and wisdom of a +public inquiry. If charges so publicly made are untrue the management of +Occoquan work house is entitled to public vindication, and if these charges are +true, the people of Washington and Virginia should publicly know what kind of a +prison they have in their midst, and the people of the country should publicly +know the frightful conditions in this institution which is supported by +Congress and the government of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +We are ready with our witnesses and affidavits to aid your honorable board in +every way, provided you meet the conditions above named. But if you insist on a +hearing behind closed doors we cannot submit our witnesses to a star chamber +proceeding and shall readily find another forum in which to tell the American +public the vivid story of the Occoquan work house. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Respectfully yours,<br/> +(Signed) DUDLEY FIELD MALONE,<br/> +J. K. N. NORTON,<br/> +SAMUEL G. BRENT. +</p> + +<p> +Subsequently the District Board of Charities reported findings on their secret +investigation. After a lengthy preamble, in which they attempted to put the +entire blame upon the suffrage prisoners, they advised: +</p> + +<p> +That the investigation directed by the Commissioners of the District of +Columbia be postponed until the conditions of unrest, excitement, and disquiet +at Occoquan have been overcome: +</p> + +<p> +That the order relieving W. H. Whittaker as superintendent, temporarily and +without prejudice, be revoked, and Mr. Whittaker be restored to his position as +superintendent:[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Pending the investigation Mr. Whittaker was suspended, and his first +assistant, Alonzo Tweedale, served in the capacity of superintendent. +</p> + +<p> +That the members of the National Woman’s Party now at Occoquan be +informed that unless they obey the rules of the institution and discontinue +their acts of insubordination and riot, they will be removed from Occoquan to +the city jail and placed in solitary confinement. +</p> + +<p> +In announcing the report to the press the District Commissioners stated that +they approved the recommendations of the Board of Charities “after most +careful consideration,” and that “as a matter of fact, the District +workhouse at Occoquan is an institution of which the commissioners are proud, +and is a source of pride to every citizen of the nation’s Capital.” +</p> + +<p> +That the Administration was in possession of the true facts concerning Mr. +Whittaker and his conduct in office there can be no doubt. But they supported +him until the end of their campaign of suppression. +</p> + +<p> +Another example of the Administration’s lawlessness appeared in the +habeas corpus proceedings by which we rescued the prisoners at the workhouse +from Mr. Whittakers custody. The trial occurred on November 23rd. +</p> + +<p> +No one present can ever forget the tragi-comic scene enacted in the little +Virginia court room that cold, dark November morning. There was Judge +Waddill[2]—who had adjourned his sittings in Norfolk to hasten the relief +of the prisoners—a mild mannered, sweet-voiced Southern gentleman. There +was Superintendent Whittaker in his best Sunday clothes, which mitigated very +little the cruel and nervous demeanor which no one who has come under his +control will ever forget. His thugs were there, also dressed in their best +clothes, which only exaggerated their coarse features and their shifty eyes. +Mrs. Herndon, the thin-lipped matron, was there, looking nervous and trying to +seem concerned about the prisoners in her charge. Warden Zinkhan was there +seeming worried at the prospect of the prisoners being taken from the care of +Superintendent Whittaker and committed to him—he evidently unwilling to +accept the responsibility. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Appointed to the bench by President Roosevelt. +</p> + +<p> +Dudley Field Malone and Mr. O’Brien of counsel, belligerent in every +nerve, were ready to try the case. The two dapper government attorneys, with +immobile faces, twisted nervously in their chairs. There was the bevy of +newspaper reporters struggling for places in the little courtroom, plainly +sympathetic, for whatever they may have had to write for the papers they knew +that this was a battle for justice against uneven odds. There were as many +eager spectators as could be crowded into so small an area. Upon the whole an +air of friendliness prevailed in this little court at Alexandria which we had +never felt in the Washington courts. And the people there experienced a shock +when the slender file of women, haggard, red- eyed, sick, came to the bar. Some +were able to walk to their seats; others were so weak that they had to be +stretched out 6n the wooden benches with coats propped under their heads for +pillows. Still others bore the marks of the attack of the “night of +terror.” Many of the prisoners lay back in their chairs hardly conscious +of the proceedings which were to. free them. Mrs. Brannan collapsed utterly and +had to be carried to a couch in an ante-room. +</p> + +<p> +It was discovered just as the trial was to open that Miss Lucy Burns and Mrs. +Lawrence Lewis, who it will be remembered had been removed to the jail before +the writ had been issued, were absent from among the prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +“They are too ill to be brought into court,” Mr. Whittaker replied +to the attorneys for the defense. +</p> + +<p> +“We demand that they be brought into court at our risk,” answered +counsel for the defense. +</p> + +<p> +The government’s attorneys sustained Mr. Whittaker in not producing them. +It was clear that the government did not her wish to have Miss Burns with the +marks still fresh on wrists from her manacling and handcuffing, and Mrs. Lewes +with a fever from the shock of the first night, brought before the judge who +was to decide the case. +</p> + +<p> +“If it was necessary to handcuff Miss Burns to the bars of her cell, we +consider her well enough to appear,” declared Mr. O’Brien. . +“We consider we ought to know what has happened to all of these +petitioners since these events. While I was at Occoquan Sunday endeavoring to +see my clients, Mr. Whittaker was trying to induce the ladies, who, he says, +are too sick to be brought here, to dismiss this proceeding. Failing in that, +he refused to let me see them, though I had an order from Judge Mullowny, and +they were taken back to the District of Columbia. From that time to this, +though I had your Honor’s order which you signed in Norfolk, the +superintendent of the Washington jail also refused to allow me to see my +clients, saying that your order had no effect in the District of +Columbia.” +</p> + +<p> +“If there are any petitioners that you claim have not been brought here +because they have been carried beyond the jurisdiction of the courts, I think +we should know it,” ruled the court. “Counsel for these ladies want +them here; and they say that they ought to be here and are well enough to b +here; that the respondent here has spirited them away and put them beyond the +jurisdiction of the court. On that showing, unless there is some reason why +they ought not to come, they should be here.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Burns and Mrs. Lewes were accordingly ordered brought to court. +</p> + +<p> +This preliminary skirmish over, the opening discussion revolved about a point +of law as to whether the Virginia District Court had authority to act in this +case. +</p> + +<p> +After hearing both sides on this point, Judge Waddill said: “These are +not state prisoners; they are prisoners of the District of Columbia. They are +held by an order of the court claiming to have jurisdiction in the District of +Columbia. But they are imprisoned in the Eastern District of Virginia, in +Occoquan workhouse which, very much to our regret, is down here, and is an +institution that we alone have jurisdiction over. No court would fail to act +when such a state of affairs as is set forth in this petition is brought to its +attention. +</p> + +<p> +“Here was a case concerning twenty-five or thirty ladies. The statement +as to their treatment was bloodcurdling; it was shocking to man’s ideas +of humanity if it is true. They are here in court, and yet your answer denies +all these facts which they submit, It is a question whether you can do that +anal yet deny these petitioners the right of testimony.” +</p> + +<p> +Proceeding with this argument, the defense contended that the act itself of the +District Commissioners in sending prisoners to the Occoquan workhouse was +illegal; that no formal transfer from one institution to another had ever been +made, the sentencing papers distinctly stating that all prisoners were +committed to “the Washington Asylum and Jail.” +</p> + +<p> +“We deny that the records of the Commissioners of the District of +Columbia can show that there was any order made by the Board for the removal of +these women. The liberty of a citizen cannot be so disregarded and trifled with +that any police official or jailer may at his own volition, commit and hold him +in custody and compel him to work. The liberty of the people depends upon a +broader foundation.” +</p> + +<p> +Repeated questions brought out from Mr. Zinkhan, Warden of the Jail, the fact +that the directions given by the Commissioners to transfer prisoners from the +jail to Occoquan rested entirely upon a verbal order given “five or six +years ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you really mean,” interrupted the court, “that the only +authority you have on the part of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia +to transfer parties down to Occoquan is a verbal order made five or six years +ago?” +</p> + +<p> +Questions by the defense brought out the fact also that Mr. Zinkhan could +remember in detail the first oral orders he had received for such a transfer, +dating back to 1911, although he could not remember important details as to how +he had received the orders concerning the suffragists committed to his care! He +only knew that “orders were oral and explicit.” +</p> + +<p> +Q. [By defense in court You say the three commissioners were present? +</p> + +<p> +A. Sure. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Who else was present? +</p> + +<p> +A. I am not sure just now who else was present. I remember somebody else was +there, but I don’t remember just who . . . . +</p> + +<p> +Q. Were the three commissioners present at the time Mr. [Commissioner] Brownlow +gave you this order? +</p> + +<p> +A. Yes. +</p> + +<p> +Q. You say it was a verbal order of the Commissioners? +</p> + +<p> +A. Yes. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Was the clerk of the Board present? +</p> + +<p> +A. I think not. +</p> + +<p> +Q. And you cannot remember who was present aside from the three Commissioners? +</p> + +<p> +A. No, I cannot remember just now. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Try to recollect who was present at that meeting when this order was given, +aside from the Commissioners. There was somebody else present? +</p> + +<p> +A. It is my impression that there was some one other person present, but I am +not sure just now who it was. +</p> + +<p> +Q. It was some official, some one well known, was it not . . . .? +</p> + +<p> +A. I am not sure. . . . +</p> + +<p> +[This conference was one in which Mr. McAdoo was reported to have +participated.] +</p> + +<p> +The gentle judge was distressed when in answer to a question by the +government’s attorney as to what Mr. Zinkhan did when the prisoners were +given into his charge, the warden replied: +</p> + +<p> +A. I heard early in the afternoon of the sentence, and I did not get away from +the Commissioners’ meeting until nearly 4 o’clock and I jumped in +my machine and went down to the jail, and I think at that time six of them had +been delivered there and were in the rotunda of the jail, and a few minutes +after that a van load came. The remaining number of ten or twelve had not +arrived, but inasmuch as the train had to leave at 5 o’clock and there +would not be time enough to receive them in the jail and get them there in time +for the train, I took the van that was there right over to the east end of the +Union Station, and I think I took some of the others in my machine and another +machine we had there carried some of the others over, and we telephoned the +other van at Police Court to go direct to the east end of the Union Station and +to deliver them to me. I had of course the commitments of those that were +brought up to the jail—about 20 of them—and received from the +officer of the court the other commitments of the last van load, and there I +turned all of them except one that I kept back . . over to the receiving and +discharging officer representing the District Workhouse, and they were taken +down there that evening. +</p> + +<p> +There followed some questioning of the uneasy warden as to how he used this +power to decide which prisoners should remain in jail and which should be sent +to Occoquan. Warden Zinkhan stuttered something about sending “all the +able bodied prisoners to Occoquan—women able to perform useful +work”—and that “humanitarian motives” usually guided +him in his selection. It was a difficult task for the warden for he had to +conceal just why the suffrage prisoners were sent to Occoquan, and in so doing +had to invent “motives” of his own. +</p> + +<p> +Q. [By defense.] Mr. Zinkhan, were you or were you not actuated by humanitarian +motives when you sent this group of women to the Occoquan Workhouse? +</p> + +<p> +A. Yes. +</p> + +<p> +Q. Were you actuated by humanitarian motives when you sent Mrs. Nolan, a woman +of 73 years, to the workhouse? Did you think that she could perform some +service at Occoquan that it was necessary to get her out of district jail and +go down there? +</p> + +<p> +Warden Zinkhan gazed at the ceiling, shifted in his chair and hesitated to +answer. The question was repeated, and finally the warden admitted +uncomfortably that he believed he was inspired by “humanitarian +motives.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mrs. Nolan, will you please stand up?” called out Mr. Malone. +</p> + +<p> +All eyes turned toward the front row, where Mrs. Nolan slowly got to her feet. +The tiny figure of a woman with pale face and snowy hair, standing out +dramatically against her black bonnet and plain black dress, was answer enough. +</p> + +<p> +Warden Zinkhan’s answers after that came even more haltingly. He seemed +inordinately fearful of trapping himself by his own words. +</p> + +<p> +“The testimony has brought out the fact,” the judge remarked at +this point, “that two of these ladies were old and one of them is a +delicate lady. Her appearance would indicate that she is not strong. Under this +rule, if one of these ladies had been eighty years old and unable to walk she +would have gone along with the herd and nobody would have dared to say +‘ought this to be done?’ Would the Commissioners in a case of that +sort, if they gave consideration to it, think of sending such an individual +there? Was not that what the law expected them to do, and not take them off in +droves and inspect them at the Union Station and shoot them on down? Yet that +is about what was done in this case.” +</p> + +<p> +In summing up this phase of the case in an eloquent appeal, Mr. Malone said: +</p> + +<p> +“Can the Commissioners, with caprice and no order and no record except +that orally given five or six years ago, and one which this warden now says was +given ‘oral and explicit,’ transfer defendants placed in a +particular institution, and under a particular kind of punishment arbitrarily +to another institution, and add to their punishment? +</p> + +<p> +“Even if we admit that the Commissioners had power, did Congress ever +contemplate that any District Commissioners would dare to exercise power +affecting the life and health of defendants in this fashion? Did Congress ever +contemplate that, by mere whim, these things could be done? I am sure it did +not, and even on the admission of the government that they had the power, they +have exercised this power in such a scandalous fashion that it is worthy of the +notice of the court and worthy of the remedy which we seek—the removal of +the suffrage prisoners from the Occoquan workhouse.” +</p> + +<p> +After a brief recess, Judge Waddill rendered this decision: “The locking +up of thirty human beings is an unusual sort of thing and judicial officers +ought to be required to stop long enough to see whether some prisoners ought to +go and some not; whether some might not be killed by going; or whether they +should go dead or alive. This class o f prisoners and this number of prisoners +should haze been given special consideration. There cannot be any controversy +about this question . . . . You ought to lawfully lock them up instead of +unlawfully locking them up—if they are to be locked up . . . . The +petitioners are, therefore, one and all, in the Workhouse without semblance of +authority or legal process of any kind . . . . and they will accordingly be +remanded to the custody of the Superintendent of the Washington Asylum and +Jail.” . . . +</p> + +<p> +It having been decided that the prisoners were illegally detained in the +workhouse, it was not necessary to go into a discussion of the cruelties +committed upon the prisoners while there. +</p> + +<p> +The government’s attorneys immediately announced that they would appeal +from the decision of Judge Waddill. Pending such an appeal the women were at +liberty to be paroled in the custody of counsel. But since they had come from +the far corners of the continent and since some of them had served out almost +half of their sentence, and did not wish in case of an adverse decision on the +appeal, to have to return later to undergo the rest of their sentence, they +preferred to finish their sentences. +</p> + +<p> +These were the workhouse prisoners thus remanded to the jail who continued the +hunger strike undertaken at the workhouse, and made a redoubtable reinforcement +to Alice Paul and Rose Winslow and their comrades on strike in the jail when +the former arrived. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>Chapter 14<br/> +The Administration Outwitted</h2> + +<p> +With thirty determined women on hunger strike, of whom eight were in a state of +almost total collapse, the Administration capitulated. It could not afford to +feed thirty women forcibly and risk the social and political consequences; nor +could it let thirty women starve themselves to death, and likewise take the +consequences. For by this time one thing was clear, and that was that the +discipline and endurance of the women could not be broken. And so all the +prisoners were unconditionally released on November 27th and November 28th. +</p> + +<p> +On leaving prison Miss Paul said: “The commutation of sentences +acknowledges them to be unjust and arbitrary. The attempt to suppress +legitimate propaganda has failed. +</p> + +<p> +“We hope that no more demonstrations will be necessary, that the +amendment will move steadily on to passage and ratification without further +suffering or sacrifice. But what we do depends entirely upon what the +Administration does. We have one aim: the immediate passage of the federal +amendment” +</p> + +<p> +Running parallel to the protest made inside the prison, a public protest of +nation-wide proportions had been made against continuing to imprison women. +Deputations of in- fluential women had waited upon all party leaders, cabinet +officials, heads of the war boards, in fact every friend of the Administration, +pointing out that we had broken no law, that we were unjustly held, and that +.the Administration would suffer politically for their handling of the suffrage +agitation. +</p> + +<p> +A committee of women, after some lively fencing with the Secretary of War, +finally drove Mr. Baker to admit that women had been sent to prison for a +political principle; that they were not petty disturbers but part of a great +fundamental struggle. Secretary Baker said, “This [the suffrage struggle] +is a revolution. There have been revolutions all through his- tory. Some have +been justified and some have not. The burden of responsibility to decide +whether your revolution is justified or not is on you. The whole philosophy of +your movement seems to be to obey no laws until you have a voice in those +laws.” +</p> + +<p> +At least one member of the Cabinet thus showed that he had caught something of +the purpose and depth of our movement. He never publicly protested, however, +against the Administration’s policy of suppression. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. McAdoo, then Secretary of the Treasury, gave no such evidence of +enlightenment as Mr. Baker. A committee of women endeavored to see him. He was +reported “out. But we expect him here soon.” +</p> + +<p> +We waited an hour. The nervous private secretary returned to say that he had +been mistaken. “The Secretary will not be in until after luncheon.” +</p> + +<p> +“We shall wait,” said Mrs. William Kent, chairman of the +deputation. “We have nothing more important to do to-day than to see +Secretary McAdoo. We are willing to wait the whole day, if necessary, only it +is imperative that we see him.” +</p> + +<p> +The private secretary’s spirits sank. He looked as if he would give +anything to undo his inadvertence in telling us that the Secretary was expected +after luncheon! Poor man! We settled down comfortably to wait, a formidable +looking committee of twenty women. +</p> + +<p> +There was the customary gentle embarrassment of attendants whose chief is in a +predicament from which they seem powerless to extricate him, but all were +extremely courteous. The attendant at the door brought us the morning papers to +read. Gradually groups of men began to arrive and cards were sent in the +direction of the spot where we inferred the Secretary of the Treasury was +safely hidden, hoping and praying for our early retirement. +</p> + +<p> +Whispered conversations were held. Men disappeared in and out of strange doors. +Still we waited. +</p> + +<p> +Finally as the fourth hour of our vigil was dragging on, a lieutenant appeared +to announce that the Secretary was very sorry but that he would not be able to +see us “at all.” We consulted, and finally sent in a written +appeal, asking for “five minutes of his precious time on a matter of +grave importance.” More waiting! Finally a letter was brought to us +directed to Mrs. William Kent, with the ink of the Secretary of the +Treasury’s signature still wet. With no concealment of contempt, he +declared that under no circumstances could he speak with women who had +conducted such an outrageous campaign in such an “illegal” way. We +smiled as we learned from his pronouncement that “picketing” was +“illegal,” for we were not supposed to have been arrested for +picketing. The tone of his letter, its extreme bitterness, tended to confirm +what we had always been told, that Mr. McAdoo assisted in directing the policy +of arrests and imprisonment. +</p> + +<p> +I have tried to secure this letter for reproduction but unfortunately Mrs. Kent +did not save it. We all remember its bitter passion, however, and the point it +made about our “illegal picketing.” +</p> + +<p> +Congress convened on December 4th. President Wilson delivered a message, +restating our aims in the war. He also recommended a declaration of a state of +war against Austria; the control of certain water power sites; export +trade-combination; railway legislation; and the speeding up of all necessary +appropriation legislation. But he did not mention the suffrage amendment. +Having been forced to release the prisoners, he again rested. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately we called a conference in Washington of the Executive Committee and +the National Advisory Council of the Woman’s Party. Past activities were +briefly reviewed and the political situation discussed. It is interesting to +note that the Treasurer’s report made at this conference showed that +receipts in some months during the picketing had been double what they were the +same month the previous year when there was no picketing. In one month of +picketing the receipts went as high as six times the normal amount. For example +in July of 1917, when the arrests had just begun, receipts for the month +totalled $21,628.65 as against $8,690.62 for July of 1916. In November, 1917, +when the militant situation was at its highest point, there was received at +National Headquarters $81,117.87 as against $15,008.18 received in November, +1916. Still there were those who said we had no friends! +</p> + +<p> +A rumor that the President would act persisted. But we could not rely on rumor. +We decided to accelerate him and his Administration by filing damage suits +amounting to $800,000 against the District Commissioners, against Warden +Zinkhan, against Superintendent Whittaker and Captain Reams, a workhouse +guard.[1] They were brought in no spirit of revenge, but merely that the +Administration should not be allowed to forget its record of brutality, unless +it chose to amend its conduct by passing the amendment. The suits were brought +by the women woo suffered the greatest abuse during the “night of +terror” at the workhouse. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] We were obliged to bring the suits against individuals, as we could not in +the law bring them against the government. +</p> + +<p> +If any one is still in doubt as to the close relation between the Court +procedure in our case and the President’s actions, this letter to one of +our attorneys in January, 1918, must convince him. +</p> + +<p> +My dear Mr. O’Brien:— +</p> + +<p> +I wish you would advise me as soon as you conveniently can, what will be done +with the suffragist cases now pending against Whittaker and Reams in the United +States District Court at Alexandria. +</p> + +<p> +I have heard rumors, the truth of which you will understand better than I, that +these cases will be dropped if the President comes out in favor of woman +suffrage. This, I understand, he will do and certainly hope so, as I am +personally in favor of it and have been for many years. But in case of his +delay in taking any action, will you agree to continue these cases for the +present? +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Very truly yours,<br/> +(Signed) F. H. STEVENS,<br/> +Assistant Corporation Counsel, D. C. +</p> + +<p> +In order to further fortify themselves, the District Commissioners, when the +storm had subsided, quietly removed Warden Zinkhan from the jail and +Superintendent Whittaker resigned his post at the workhouse, presumably under +pressure from the Commissioners. +</p> + +<p> +The Woman’s Party conference came to a dramatic close during that first +week in December with an enormous mass meeting in the Belasco Theatre in +Washington. On that quiet Sunday afternoon, as the President came through his +gates for his afternoon drive, a passageway had to be opened for his motor car +through the crowd of four thousand people who were blocking Madison Place in an +effort to get inside the Belasco Theatre. Inside the building was packed to the +rafters. The President saw squads of police reserves, who had been for the past +six months arresting pickets for him, battling with a crowd that was literally +storming the theatre in their eagerness to do honor to those who had been +arrested. Inside there was a fever heat of enthusiasm, bursting cheers, and +thundering applause which shook the building. America has never before nor +since seen such a suffrage meeting. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, chairman, opened the meeting by saying: +</p> + +<p> +“We are here this afternoon to do honor to a hundred gallant women, who +have endured the hardship and humiliation of imprisonment because they love +liberty. +</p> + +<p> +“The suffrage pickets stood at the White House gates for ten months and +dramatized the women’s agitation for political liberty. Self-respecting +and patriotic American women will no longer tolerate a government which denies +women the right to govern themselves. A flame of rebellion is abroad among +women, and the stupidity and brutality of the government in this revolt have +only served to increase its heat. +</p> + +<p> +“As President Wilson wrote, ‘Governments have been very successful +in parrying agitation, diverting it, in seeming to yield to it and then +cheating it, tiring it out or evading it. But the end, whether it comes soon or +late, is quite certain to be the same.’ While the government has +endeavored to parry, tire, divert, and cheat us of our goal, the country has +risen in protest against this evasive policy of suppression until to-day the +indomitable pickets with their historic legends stand triumphant before the +nation.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. William Kent, who had led the last picket line of forty-one women, was +chosen to decorate the prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +“In honoring these women, who were willing to go to jail for +liberty,” said Mrs. Kent, “we are showing our love of country and +devotion to democracy.” The long line of prisoners filed past her and +amidst constant cheers and applause, received a tiny silver replica of a cell +door, the same that appears in miniature on the title page of this book. +</p> + +<p> +As proof of this admiration for what the women had done, the great audience in +a very few moments pledged $86,826 to continue the campaign. Many pledges were +made in honor of Alice Paul, Inez Milholland, Mrs. Belmont, Dudley Field +Malone, and all the prisoners. Imperative resolutions calling upon President +Wilson and his Administration to act, were unanimously passed amid an uproar. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>Chapter 15<br/> +Political Results</h2> + +<p> +Immediately following the release of the prisoners and the magnificent +demonstration of public support of them, culminating at the mass meeting +recorded in the preceding chapter, political events happened thick and fast. +Committees in Congress acted on the amendment. President Wilson surrendered and +a date for the vote was set. +</p> + +<p> +The Judiciary Committee of the House voted 18 to 2 to report the amendment to +that body. The measure, it will be remembered, was reported to the Senate in +the closing days of the previous session, and was therefore already before the +Senate awaiting action.[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] See Chapter 8. +</p> + +<p> +To be sure, the Judiciary Committee voted to report the amendment without +recommendation. But soon after, the members of the - Suffrage Committee, +provision for which had also been made during the war session, were appointed. +All but four members of this committee were in favor of national suffrage, and +immediately after its formation it met to organize and decided to take the +suffrage measure out of the hands of the Judiciary Committee and to press for a +vote. +</p> + +<p> +A test of strength came on December 18th. +</p> + +<p> +On a trivial motion to refer all suffrage bills to the new suffrage committee, +the vote stood 204 to 107. This vote, although unimportant in itself, clearly +promised victory for the amendment in the House. In a few days, Representative +Mondell of Wyoming, Republican, declared that the Republican side of the House +would give more than a two-thirds majority of its members to the amendment. +</p> + +<p> +“It is up to our friends on the Democratic side to see that the amendment +is not defeated through hostility or indifference on their side,” said +Mr. Mondell. +</p> + +<p> +Our daily poll of the House showed constant gains. Pledges from both Democratic +and Republican members came thick and fast; cabinet members for the first time +publicly declared their belief in the amendment. A final poll, however, showed +that we lacked a few votes of the necessary two-thirds majority to pass the +measure in the House. +</p> + +<p> +No stone was left unturned in a final effort to get the President to secure +additional Democratic votes to insure the passage of the amendment. Finally, on +the eve of the vote President Wilson made his first declaration of support of +the amendment through a committee of Democratic Congressmen. During the vote +the following day Representative Cantrill of Kentucky, Democrat, reported the +event to the House. He said in part: +</p> + +<p> +It was my privilege yesterday afternoon to be one of a committee of twelve to +ask the President for advice and counsel on this important measure (prolonged +laughter and jeers). Mr. Speaker, in answer to the sentiment expressed by part +of the House, I desire to say that at no time and upon no occasion am I ever +ashamed to confer with Woodrow Wilson upon any important question (laughter, +applause, and, jeers) and that part of the House that has jeered that statement +before it adjourns to-day will follow absolutely the advice which he gave this +committee yesterday afternoon. (Laughter and applause.) After conference with +the President yesterday afternoon he wrote with his own hands the words which I +now read to you, and each member of the committee was authorized by the +President to give full publicity to the following: +</p> + +<p> +“The committee found that the President had not felt at liberty to +volunteer his advice to Members of Congress in this important matter, but when +we sought his advice (laughter) he very frankly and earnestly advised us to +vote for the amendment as an act of right and justice to the women of the +country and o f the world.” +</p> + +<p> +. . . To my Democratic brethren who have made these halls ring with their +eloquence in their pleas to stand by the President, I will say that now is your +chance to stand by the President and vote for this amendment, “as’ +an act of right and justice to the women of the country and of the world” +. . . +</p> + +<p> +Do you wish to do that which is right and just toward the women of your own +country? If so, follow the President’s advice and vote for this +amendment. It will not do to follow the President in this great crisis in the +world’s history on those matters only which are popular in your own +districts. The true test is to stand by him, even though your own vote is +unpopular at home. The acid test for a Member of Congress is for him to stand +for right and justice even if misunderstood at home at first. In the end, right +and justice will prevail everywhere. +</p> + +<p> +. . . No one thing connected with the war is of more importance at this time +than meeting the reasonable demand of millions of patriotic and Christian women +of the Nation that the amendment for woman suffrage be submitted to the States +. . . . +</p> + +<p> +The amendment passed the House January 10, 1918, by a vote of 274 to +136—a two-thirds majority with one vote to spare—exactly forty +years to a day from the time the suffrage amendment was first introduced into +Congress, and exactly one year to a day from the time the first picket banner +appeared at the gates o f the White House. +</p> + +<p> +Eighty-three per cent of the Republicans voting on the measure, voted in favor +of it, while only fifty per cent of the Democrats voting, voted for it. Even +after the Republicans had pledged their utmost strength, more than two-thirds +of their membership, votes were still lacking to make up the Democratic +deficiency, and the President’s declaration that the measure ought to +pass the House, produced them from his own party. Those who contend that +picketing had “set back the clock,”—that it did “no +good,”—that President Wilson would “not be moved by +it”—have, we believe, the burden of proof on their side of the +argument. It is our firm belief that the solid year of picketing, with all its +political ramifications, did compel the President to abandon his opposition and +declare himself for the measure. I do not mean to say that many things do not +cooperate in a movement toward a great event. I do mean to say that picketing +was the most vital force amongst the elements which moved President Wilson. +That picketing had compelled Congress to see the question in terms of political +capital is also true. From the first word uttered in the House debate, until +the final roll-call, political expediency was the chief motif. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Lenroot of Wisconsin, Republican, rose to say: +</p> + +<p> +“May I suggest that there is a distinction between the Democratic members +of the Committee on Rules and the Republican members, in this, that all of the +Republican members are for this proposition?” This was met with instant +applause from the Republican side. +</p> + +<p> +Representative Cantrill prefaced his speech embodying the President’s +statement, which caused roars and jeers from the opposition, with the +announcement that he was not willing to risk another election, with the voting +women of the West, and the amendment still unpassed. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Lenroot further pointed out that: “From a Republican +standpoint—from a partisan standpoint, it would be an advantage to +Republicans to go before the people in the next election and say that this +resolution was defeated by southern Democrats.” +</p> + +<p> +An anti-suffragist tried above the din and noise to remind Mr. Lenroot that +three years before Mr. Lenroot had voted “No,” but a Republican +colleague came suddenly to the rescue with “What about Mr. Wilson?” +which was followed by, “He kept us out of war,” and the jeers on +the Republican side became more pronounced. +</p> + +<p> +This interesting political tilt took place when Representatives Dennison and +Williams of Illinois, and Representative Kearns of Ohio, Republicans, fenced +with Representative Raker of California, Democrat, as he attempted, with an +evident note of self-consciousness, to make the President’s reversal seem +less sudden. +</p> + +<p> +MR. DENNISON : It was known by the committee that went to see the President +that the Republicans were going to take this matter up and pass it in caucus, +was it not?’ +</p> + +<p> +MR. RAKER: I want to say to my Republican friends upon this question that I +have been in conference with the President for over three years upon this +question . . . . +</p> + +<p> +MR. KEARNS: How did the women of California find out and learn where the +President stood on this thing just before election last fall? Nobody else +seemed to know it. +</p> + +<p> +MR. RAKER: They knew it. +</p> + +<p> +MR. KEARNS: How did they find it out? +</p> + +<p> +MR. RAKER: I will take a minute or two— +</p> + +<p> +MR. KEARNS: I wish the gentleman would. +</p> + +<p> +MR. RAKER: The President went home and registered. The President went home and +voted for woman suffrage. +</p> + +<p> +MR. KEARNS: He said he believed in it for the several states . . . . +</p> + +<p> +MR. RAKER: One moment—— +</p> + +<p> +MR. KEARNS : That is the only information they had upon the subject, is it? +</p> + +<p> +MR. WILLIAMS: . . . Will the gentleman yield? +</p> + +<p> +MR. RAKER: I cannot yield. +</p> + +<p> +MR. WILLIAMS: Just for a question. +</p> + +<p> +MR. RAKER: I cannot yield . . . . +</p> + +<p> +That the President’s political speed left some overcome was clear from a +remark of Mr. Clark of Florida when he said: +</p> + +<p> +“I was amused at my friend from Oklahoma, Mr. Ferris, who wants us to +stand with the President. God knows I want to stand with him. I am a Democrat, +and I want to follow the leader of my party, and I am a pretty good lightning +change artist myself sometimes (laughter); but God knows I cannot keep up with +his performance. (Laughter.) Why, the President wrote a book away back +yonder” . . . and he quoted generously from President Wilson’s many +statements in defense of state rights as recorded in his early writings. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Hersey of Maine, Republican, drew applause when he made a retort to the +Democratic slogan, “Stand by the President.” He said: +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Speaker, I am still ‘standing with the President,’ or, +in other words, the President this morning is standing with me.” +</p> + +<p> +The resentment at having been forced by the pickets to the point of passing the +amendment was in evidence throughout the debate. +</p> + +<p> +Representative Gordon of Ohio, Democrat, said with bitter ness : “We are +threatened by these militant suffragettes with a direct and lawless invasion by +the Congress of the United States of the rights of those States which have +refused to confer upon their women the privilege of voting. This attitude on +the part of some of the suffrage Members of this House is on an exact equality +with the acts of these women militants who have spent the last summer and fall, +while they were not in the district jail or workhouse, in coaxing, teasing, and +nagging the Presi dent of the United States for the purpose of inducing him, by +coercion, to club Congress into adopting this joint resolution.” +</p> + +<p> +Shouts of “Well, they got him!” and “They got it!” from +all sides, followed by prolonged laughter and jeers, interrupted the flow of +his oratory. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Ferris of Oklahoma, Democrat, hoped to minimize the effectiveness of the +picket. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Speaker,” he said, “I do not approve or believe in +picketing the White House, the National Capitol, or any other station to bring +about votes for women. I do not approve of wild militancy, hunger strikes, and +efforts of that sort. I do not approve of the course of those women that . . ., +become agitators, lay off their womanly qualities in their efforts to secure +votes. I do not approve of anything unwomanly anywhere, any time, and my course +to-day in supporting this suffrage amendment is not guided by such conduct on +the part of a very few women here or elsewhere.” (Applause.) +</p> + +<p> +Representative Langley of Kentucky, Republican, was able to see picketing in a +fairer light: +</p> + +<p> +“Much has been said pro and con about ‘picketing’,-that +rather dramatic chapter in the history of this great movement. It is not my +purpose to speak either in criticism or condemnation of that; but if it be +true—I do not say that it is, because I do not know—but if it be +true, as has been alleged, that certain promises were made, as a result of +which a great campaign was won, and those promises were not kept, I wonder +whether in that silent, peaceful protest that was against this broken faith, +there can be found sufficient warrant for the indignities which the so-called +‘pickets’ suffered; and when in passing up and down the Avenue I +frequently witnessed cultured, intellectual women arrested and dragged off to +prison because of their method, of giving publicity to what they believed to be +the truth, I will confess that the question sometimes arose in my mind whether +when the impartial history of this great struggle has been written their names +may not be placed upon the roll of martyrs to the cause to which they were +consecrating their lives in the manner that they deemed most effective.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Mays of Utah was one Democrat who placed the responsibility for militancy +where it rightly belonged when he said: +</p> + +<p> +“Some say to-day that they are ashamed of the action of the militants in +picketing the Capitol: . . . But we should be more ashamed of the unreasonable +stubbornness on the part of the men who refused them the justice they have so +long and patiently asked.” +</p> + +<p> +And so the debate ran on. Occasionally one caught a glimmer of real +comprehension, amongst these men about to vote upon our political liberty; but +more often the discussion stayed on a very inferior level. +</p> + +<p> +And there were gems imperishable! +</p> + +<p> +Even friends of the measure had difficulty not to romanticize about +“Woman—God’s noblest creature” . . . “man’s +better counterpart” . . . “humanity’s perennial hope” . +. . “the world’s object most to be admired and loved” . . . +and so forth. +</p> + +<p> +Representative Elliott of Indiana, Republican, favored the resolution +because—“A little more than four hundred years ago Columbus +discovered America. Before that page of American history was written he was +compelled to seek the advice and assistance of a woman. From that day until the +present day the noble women of America have done their part in times of peace +and of war . . .” +</p> + +<p> +If Queen Isabella was an argument in favor for Mr. Elliott of Indiana, Lady +Macbeth played the opposite part for Mr. Parker of New Jersey, Republican . . . +. “I will not debate the question as to whether in a time of war women +are the best judges of policy. That great student of human nature, William +Shakespeare, in the play of Macbeth, makes Lady Macbeth eager for deeds of +blood until they are committed and war is begun and then just as eager that it +may be stopped.” . . . +</p> + +<p> +Said Mr. Gray of New Jersey, Republican: “A nation will endure just so +long as its men are virile. History, physiology, and psychology all show that +giving woman equal political rights with man makes ultimately for the +deterioration of manhood. It is, therefore, not only because I want our country +to win this war but because I want our nation to possess the male virility +necessary to guarantee its future existence that I am opposed to the pending +amendment.” +</p> + +<p> +The hope was expressed that President Wilson’s conversion would be like +that of St. Paul, “and that he will become a master- worker in the +vineyards of the Lord for this proposition.” (Applause.) +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Gallivan, Democrat, although a representative of Massachusetts, “the +cradle of American liberty,” called upon a great Persian philosopher to +sustain him in his support. “ ‘Dogs bark, but the caravan moves +on.’ . . . Democracy cannot live half free and half female.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Dill of Washington, Democrat, colored his support with the following +tribute: “ . . . It was woman who first learned to prepare skins of +animals for protection from the elements, and tamed and domesticated the dog +and horse and cow. She was a servant and a slave . . . . To-day she is the peer +of man.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Little of Kansas, Republican, tried to bring his colleagues back to a +moderate course by interpolating: +</p> + +<p> +“It seems to me, gentlemen, that it is time for us to learn that woman is +neither a slave nor an angel, but a human being, entitled to be treated with +ordinary common sense in the adjustment of human affairs . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +But this calm statement could not allay the terror of Representative Clark of +Florida, Democrat, who cried: “In the hearings before the committee it +will be found that one of the leaders among the suffragettes declared that they +wanted the ballot for ‘protection’, and when asked against whom she +desired ‘protection’ she promptly and frankly replied, +‘men.’ My God, has it come to pass in America that the women of the +land need to be protected from the men?” The galleries quietly nodded +their heads, and Mr. Clark continued to predict either the complete breakdown +of family life . . . . or “they [man and wife] must think alike, act +alike, have the same ideals of life, and look forward with like vision to the +happy consummation ‘beyond the vale.’ . . . +</p> + +<p> +“God knows that . . . when you get factional politics limited to husband +and wife, oh, what a spectacle will be presented, my countrymen . . . . Love +will vanish, while hate ascends the throne . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“To-day woman stands the uncrowned queen in the hearts of all +right-thinking American men; to her as rightful sovereign we render the homage +of protection, respect, love, and may the guiding hand of an all-wise +Providence stretch forth in this hour of peril to save her from a change of +relation which must bring in its train, discontent, sorrow, and pain,” he +concluded desperately, with the trend obviously toward “crowning” +the queens. +</p> + +<p> +There was the disturbing consideration that women know too much to be trusted. +“I happen to have a mother,” said Mr. Gray of New Jersey, +Republican, “as most of us have, and incidentally I think we all have +fathers, although a father does not count for much any more. My mother has +forgotten more political history than he ever knew, and she knows more about +the American government and American political economy than he has ever shown +symptoms of knowing, and for the good of mankind as well as the country she is +opposed to women getting into politics.” +</p> + +<p> +The perennial lament for the passing of the good old days was raised by +Representative Welty of Ohio, Democrat, who said: +</p> + +<p> +“The old ship of state has left her moorings and seems to be sailing on +an unknown and uncharted sea. The government founded in the blood of our +fathers is fading away. Last fall, a year ago, both parties recognized those +principles in their platforms, and each candidate solemnly declared that he +would abide by them if elected. But lo, all old things are passing away, and +the lady from Montana has filed a bill asking that separate citizenship be +granted to American women marrying foreigners.” +</p> + +<p> +Representative Greene of Massachusetts, Republican, all but shed tears over the +inevitable amending of the Constitution: +</p> + +<p> +“I have read it [the Constitution] many times, and there have been just +17 amendments adopted since the original Constitution was framed by the master +minds whom God had inspired in the cabin of the Mayflower to formulate the +Constitution of the Plymouth Colony which was made the basis of the +Constitution of Massachusetts and subsequently resulted in the establishment of +the Constitution of the United States under which we now live . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +Fancy his shock at finding the pickets triumphant. +</p> + +<p> +“Since the second session of the Sixty-fifth Congress opened,” he +said, “I have met several women suffragists from the State of +Massachusetts. I have immediately propounded to them this one question: ‘Do you +approve or disapprove of the suffrage banners in front of the White House . . . +?’ The answer in nearly every case to my question was: ‘I glory in +that demonstration’ . . . the response to my question was very offensive, +and I immediately ordered these suffrage advocates from my office.” +</p> + +<p> +And again the pickets featured in the final remarks of Mr. Small of North +Carolina, Democrat, who deplored the fact that advocates of the amendment had +made it an issue inducing party rivalry. “This is no party question, and +such efforts will be futile. It almost equals in intelligence the scheme of +that delectable and inane group of women who picketed the White House on the +theory that the President could grant them the right to vote.” +</p> + +<p> +Amid such gems of intellectual delight the House of the great American Congress +passed the national suffrage amendment. +</p> + +<p> +We turned our entire attention then to the Senate. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>Chapter 16<br/> +An Interlude (Seven Months)</h2> + +<p> +The President had finally thrown his power to putting the amendment through the +House. We hoped he would follow this up by insisting upon the passage of the +amendment in the Senate. We ceased our acts of dramatic protest for the moment +and gave our energies to getting public pressure upon him, to persuade him to +see that the Senate acted. We also continued to press directly upon +recalcitrant senators of the minority party who could be won only through +appeals other than from the President. +</p> + +<p> +There are in the Senate 96 members—2 elected from each of the 48 states. +To pass a constitutional amendment through the Senate, 64 votes are necessary, +a two-thirds majority. At this point in the campaign, 58 senators were pledged +to support the measure and 48 were opposed. We therefore had to win 11 more +votes. A measure passed through one branch of Congress must be passed through +the other branch during the life of that Congress, otherwise it dies +automatically and must be born again in a new Congress. We therefore had only +the remainder of the first regular session of the 65th Congress and, failing of +that, the short second session from December, 1918, to March, 1919, in which to +win those votes. +</p> + +<p> +Backfires were started in the states of the senators not yet committed to the +amendment. Organized demand for action in the Senate grew to huge proportions. +</p> + +<p> +We turned also to the leading influential members of the respective parties for +active help. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel Roosevelt did his most effective suffrage work at this period in a +determined attack upon the few unconvinced Republican Senators. The Colonel was +one of the few leaders in our national life who was never too busy to confer or +to offer and accept suggestions as to procedure. He seemed to have imagination +about women. He never took a patronizing attitude nor did he with moral unction +dogmatically tell you how the fight should be waged and won. He presupposed +ability among women leaders. He was not offended, morally or politically, by +our preferring to go to jail rather than to submit in silence. In fact, he was +at this time under Administration fire, because of his bold attacks upon some +of their policies, and remarked during an interview at Oyster Bay: +</p> + +<p> +“I may soon join you women in jail. One can never tell these days.” +</p> + +<p> +His sagacious attitude toward conservative and radical suffrage forces was +always delightful and indicative of his appreciation of the political and +social value of a movement’s having vitality enough to disagree on +methods. None of the banal philosophy that “you can never win until all +your forces get together” from the Colonel. One day, as I came into his +office for an interview, I met a member of the conservative suffragists just +leaving, and we spoke. In his office the Colonel remarked, “You know, I +contemplated having both you and Mrs. Whitney come to see me at the same time, +since it was on a similar mission, but I didn’t quite know whether the +lion and the lamb would lie down together, and I thought I’d better take +no chances . . . . But I see you’re on speaking terms,” he added. I +answered that our relations were extremely amiable, but remarked that the other +side might not like to be called “lambs.” +</p> + +<p> +“You delight in being the lions-on that point I am safe, am I not?” +And he smiled his widest smile as he plunged into a vivid expository attack +upon the Senatorial opponents of suffrage in his own party. He wrote letters to +them. If this failed, he invited them to Oyster Bay for the week-end. Never did +he abandon them until there was literally not a shadow of hope to bank on. +</p> + +<p> +When the Colonel got into action something always happened on the Democratic +side. He made a public statement to Senator Gallinger of New Hampshire, +Republican leader in the Senate, in which lie pointed to the superior support +of the Republicans and urged even more liberal party support to ensure the +passage of the amendment in the Senate. Action by the Democrats followed fast +on the heels of this public statement. +</p> + +<p> +The National Executive Committee of the Democratic party, after a referendum +vote of the members of the National Committeemen, passed a resolution calling +for favorable action in the Senate. Mr. A. Mitchell Palmer wrote to the +Woman’s Party saying that this resolution must be regarded as “an +official expression of the Democratic Party through the only organization which +can speak for it between national conventions.” +</p> + +<p> +The Republican National Committee meeting at the same time commended the course +taken by Republican Representatives who had voted for the amendment in the +House, and declared their position to be “a true interpretation of the +thought of the Republican Party.” +</p> + +<p> +Republican and Democratic state, county and city committees followed the lead +and called for Senate action. +</p> + +<p> +State legislatures in rapid succession called upon the Senate to pass the +measure, that they in turn might immediately ratify. North Dakota, New York, +Rhode Island, Arizona, Texas and other states acted in this matter. +</p> + +<p> +Intermittent attempts on the Republican side to force action, followed by +eloquent speeches from time to time, piquing their opponents, left the +Democrats bison-like across the path. The majority of them were content to rest +upon the action taken in the House. +</p> + +<p> +I was at this time Chairman of the Political Department of the Woman’s +Party, and in that capacity interviewed practically every national leader in +both majority parties. I can not resist recording a few impressions. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel William Boyce Thompson of New York, now Chairman of Ways and Means of +the Republican National Committee, who with Raymond Robins had served in Russia +as member of the United States Red Cross. Mission, had just returned. The +deadlock was brought to his attention. He immediately responded in a most +effective way. In a brief but dramatic speech at a great mass meeting of the +Woman’s Party, at Palm Beach, Florida, he said: +</p> + +<p> +“The story of the brutal imprisonment in Washington of women advocating +suffrage is shocking and almost incredible. I became accustomed in Russia to +the stories of men and women who served terms of imprisonment under the Czar, +because of their love of liberty, but did not know that women in my own country +had been subjected to brutal treatment long since abandoned in Russia. +</p> + +<p> +“I wish now to contribute ten thousand dollars to the campaign for the +passage of the suffrage amendment through the Senate,, one hundred dollars for +each of the pickets who went to prison because she stood at the gates of the +White House, asking for the passage of the suffrage measure.” +</p> + +<p> +This was the largest single contribution received during the national +agitation. Colonel Thompson had been a suffragist all his life, but he now +became actively identified with the work for the national amendment. Since then +he has continued to give generously of his money and to lend his political +prestige as often as necessary. +</p> + +<p> +Colonel House was importuned to use his influence to win additional Democratic +votes in the Senate, or better still to urge the President to win them. Colonel +House is an interesting but not unfamiliar type in politics. Extremely +courteous, mild mannered, able, quickly sympathetic, he listens with +undistracted attention to your request. His round bright eyes snap as he comes +at you with a counter-proposal. It seems so reasonable. And while you know he +is putting back upon you the very task you are trying to persuade him to +undertake, he does it so graciously that you can scarcely resist liking it. He +has the manner of having done what you ask without actually doing more than to +make you feel warm at having met him. It is a kind of elegant statecraft which +has its point of grace, but which is exasperating when effectiveness is needed. +Not that Colonel House was not a supporter of the federal amendment. He was. +But his gentle, soft and traditional kind of diplomacy would not employ +high-powered pressure. “I shall be going to Washington soon on other +matters, and I shall doubtless see the President. Perhaps he may bring up the +subject in conversation, and if he does, and the opportunity offers itself, I +may be able to do something.” Some such gentle threat would come from the +Colonel. He was not quite so tender, however, in dealing with Democratic +senators, after the President declared for the amendment. He did try to win +them. +</p> + +<p> +Ex-President Taft, then joint Chairman of the National War Labor Board, was +interviewed at his desk just after rendering an important democratic labor +award. +</p> + +<p> +“No, indeed! I’ll do nothing for a proposition which adds more +voters to our electorate. I thought my position on this question was well +known,” said Mr. Taft. +</p> + +<p> +“But we thought you doubtless had changed your mind since the beginning +of our war for democracy——” I started to answer. +</p> + +<p> +“This is not a war for democracy,” he said emphatically, looking +quizzically at me for my assertion; “if it were, I wouldn’t be +doing anything for it …. The trouble in this country is we’ve got too +many mm voting as it is. Why, I’d take the vote away from most of the +men,” he added. I wanted to ask him what men he would leave voting. I +wanted also to tell him they were taking the vote away from one class of men in +Russia at that moment. +</p> + +<p> +Instead, I said, “Well, I’m not quite sure whom we could trust to +sit in judgment”—while he looked smiling and serene, as much as to +say, “Oh, that would be a simple matter.” +</p> + +<p> +“However,” I said, “we have no quarrel with you. You are an +avowed aristocrat, and we respect your candor. Our quarrel is with democrats +who will not trust their own doctrines.” Again he smiled with as much +sophistication as such a placid face could achieve, and that was all. I believe +Mr. Taft has lately modified his attitude toward women voting. I do not know +how he squares that with his distaste of democracy. +</p> + +<p> +There was Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, high +in Administration confidence. It was a long wait before Abby Scott Baker and I +were allowed into his sanctum. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, ladies, what can I do for you?” was the opening question, +and we’ thought happily here is a man who will not bore us with his life +record on behalf of women. He comes to the point with direction. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you speak to the President on behalf of your organization, which +has repeatedly endorsed national suffrage, to induce him to put more pressure +behind the Senate which is delaying suffrage?” we asked with equal +direction. We concealed a heavy sigh as a reminiscent look came into his +shrewd, wan eyes, and he began: +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless you ladies do not know that as long ago as 1888”-I +believe that was the date-“my organization sent a petition to the United +States Congress praying for the adoption of this very amendment and we have +stood for it ever since . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you think it is about time that prayer was answered?” +we ventured to interrupt. But his reverie could not be disturbed. He looked at +us coldly, for he was living in the past, and continued to recount the patient, +enduring qualities of his organization. +</p> + +<p> +“I will speak to my secretary and see what the organization can +do,” he said finally. We murmured again that it was the President we +wished him to speak to, but we left feeling reasonably certain that there would +be no dynamic pressure from this cautious leader. +</p> + +<p> +Herbert Hoover was the next man we sought. Here we encountered the well-groomed +secretary who would not carry our cards into his chief. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Hoover has appointments a week ahead,” he said. “For +example, his chart for to-day includes a very important conference with some +grain men from the Northwest,” . . . and he continued to recite the items +of the chart, ending with “a dinner at the White House to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“If we could see him for just five minutes,” we persisted, +“he could do what we ask this very night at the White House.” But +the trained-to-protect secretary was obdurate. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall leave a written request for five minutes at Mr. Hoover’s +convenience,” we said, and prepared the letter. +</p> + +<p> +Time passed without answer. Mrs. Baker and I were compelled to go again to Mr. +Hoover’s office. +</p> + +<p> +Again we were greeted by the affable secretary, who on this occasion recounted +not only his chief’s many pressing engagements, but his devoted family +life—his Saturday and Sunday habits which were “so dreadfully cut +into by his heavy work:” We were sympathetic but firm. Would Mr. Hoover +not be willing to answer our letter? Would he not be willing to state publicly +that he thought the amendment ought to be passed in the Senate? Would the +secretary, in short, please go to him to ascertain if he’ would be +willing to say a single word in behalf of the political liberty of women? The +secretary disappeared and returned to say, “Mr. Hoover wishes me to tell +you ladies he can give no time whatever to the consideration of your question +until after the war is over. This is final.” +</p> + +<p> +The Chief Food Administrator would continue to demand sacrifices of women +throughout the war, but he would not give so much as a thought to their rights +in return. Mr. Hoover was the only. important man in public life who +steadfastly refused to see our representatives. After announcing his candidacy +for nomination to the Presidency he authorized his secretary to write us a +letter saying he had always been for woman suffrage. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Bainbridge Colby, then member of the Emergency Fleet Corporation of the +Shipping Board and member of the Inter-Allied Council which sat on shipping +problems, now Secretary of State in President Wilson’s Cabinet, was +approached as a suffragist, known to have access to the President. Mr. Colby +had just returned from abroad when I saw him. He is a cultivated gentleman, but +he knows how to have superlative enthusiasm. +</p> + +<p> +“In the light of the world events,” he said, “this reform is +insignificant. No time or energy ought to be diverted from the great program of +crushing the Germans.” +</p> + +<p> +“But can we not do that,” I asked, “without neglecting +internal liberties?” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Colby is a strong conformist. He became grave. When I was indiscreet enough +to reveal that I was inclined to pin my faith to the concrete liberty of women, +rather than to a vague and abstract “human freedom,” which was +supposed to descend upon the world, once the Germans were beaten, I know he +wanted to call me “seditious.” But he is a gallant gentleman and he +only frowned with distress. He continued with enthusiasm to plan to build +ships. +</p> + +<p> +Bernard Baruch, then member of the Advisory Committee of the Council of +National Defense, later economic expert at the Peace Conference, was able to +see the war and the women’s problem at the same time. He is an able +politician and was therefore sensitive to our appeal; he saw the passage of the +amendment as a political asset. I do not know how much he believed in the +principle. That was of minor importance. What was important was that he agreed +to tell the President that he believed it wise to put more pressure on the +measure in the Senate. Also I believe Mr. Baruch was one member of the +Administration who realized in the midst of the episode that arresting women +was bad politics, to say nothing of the doubtful chivalry of it. +</p> + +<p> +George Creel, chairman of the Committee on Public Information, was also asked +for help. We went to him many times, because his contact with the President was +constant. A suffragist of long standing, he nevertheless hated our militant +tactics, for he knew we were winning and the Administration was losing. He is a +strange composite. Working at terrific tension and mostly under fire, he was +rarely in calm enough mood to sit down and devise ways and means. +</p> + +<p> +“But I talk to the President every day on this +matter”—and—“I am doing all I +can”—and—“The President is doing all he +can”—he would drive at you—without stopping for breath. +</p> + +<p> +“But if you will just ask him to get Senator ——” +</p> + +<p> +“He is working on the Senator now. You people must give him time. He has +other things to do,” he would say, sweeping aside every suggestion. +Familiar advice! +</p> + +<p> +Charles D. Hilles, former Chairman of the Republican National Committee, was a +leader who had come slowly to believe in national suffrage. But, once +convinced, he was a faithful and dependable colleague who gave practical +political assistance. +</p> + +<p> +William Randolph Hearst in powerful editorials called upon the Senators to act. +Mr. R. J. Caldwell of New York, life-long suffragist, financier and man of +affairs, faithfully and persistently stood by the amendment and by the +militants. A more generous contributor and more diligent ally could not be +found. A host of public men were interviewed and the great majority of them did +help at this critical juncture. It is impossible to give a list that even +approaches adequacy, so I shall not attempt it. +</p> + +<p> +Our pressure from below and that of the leaders from above began to have its +effect. An attempt was made by Administration leaders to force a vote on May +19, 1918. Friends interceded when it was shown that not enough votes were +pledged to secure passage. Again the vote was tentatively set for June 27th and +again postponed. +</p> + +<p> +The Republicans, led by Senator Gallinger, provided skirmishes from time to +time. The Administration was accused on the floor of blocking action, to which +accusation its leaders did not even reply. +</p> + +<p> +Still unwilling to believe that we would be forced to resume our militancy we +attempted to talk to the President again A special deputation of women munition +workers was sent to him under our auspices. The women waited for a week, hoping +he would consent to see them among his receptions—to the Blue Devils of +France, to a Committee of Indians, to a Committee of Irish Patriots, and so +forth. +</p> + +<p> +“No time,” was the answer. And the munition workers were forced to +submit their appeal in writing. +</p> + +<p> +“We are only a few of the thousands of American women,” they wrote +the President, “who are forming a growing part of the army at home. The +work we are doing is hard and dangerous to life and health, making detonators, +handling TNT, the highest of all explosives. We want to be recognized by our +country, as much her citizens as our soldiers are.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Tumulty replied for the President: +</p> + +<p> +“The President asks me to say that nothing you or your associates could +say could possibly increase his very deep interest in this matter and that he +is doing everything that he could with honor and propriety do in behalf of the +[suffrage] amendment.” +</p> + +<p> +An opportunity was given the President to show again his sympathy for a +world-wide endeavor just after having ignored this specific opportunity at +home. He hastened to accept the larger field. In response to a memorial +transmitted through Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the International +Woman Suffrage Alliance, the French Union for Woman Suffrage urged the +President to use his aid on their behalf “which will be a powerful +influence for woman suffrage in the entire world.” The memorial was +endorsed by the suffrage committee of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, and +Portugal. The President took the occasion to say: “The democratic +reconstruction of the world will not have been completely or adequately +obtained until women are admitted to the suffrage. As for America it is my +earnest hope that the Senate of the United States will give an unmistakable +answer by passing the federal amendment before the end of this session.” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile four more Democratic Senators pledged their support to the amendment. +Influenced by the President’s declaration of support, and by widespread +demands from their constituents, Senators Phelan of California, King of Utah, +Gerry of Rhode Island, and Culberson of Texas abandoned the ranks of the +opposition. +</p> + +<p> +During this same period the Republican side of the Senate gave five more +Republican Senators to the amendment. They were Senators McCumber of North +Dakota, Kellogg of Minnesota, Harding of Ohio, Page of Vermont, and Sutherland +of West Virginia. All of these men except Senator McCumber[1] were won through +the pressure from Republican Party leaders. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Senator McCumber, though opposed, was compelled to support the measure, by +the action of the N. D. legislature commanding him to do so. +</p> + +<p> +This gain of nine recruits reduced to two the number of votes to be won. +</p> + +<p> +When at the end of seven months from the time the amendment had passed the +House, we still lacked these two votes, and the President gave no assurance +that he would put forth sufficient effort to secure them, we were compelled to +renew our attacks upon the President. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>Chapter 17<br/> +New Attacks on the President</h2> + +<p> +The Senate was about to recess. No assurance was given by the majority that +suffrage would be considered either before or after the recess. Alarmed and +aroused, we decided upon a national protest in Washington August 6th, the +anniversary of the birth of Inez Milholland. +</p> + +<p> +The protest took the form of a meeting at the base of the Lafayette monument in +the park, directly opposite the White House. Women from many states in the +Union, dressed in white, hatless and coatless in the midsummer heat of +Washington, marched t0 the monument carrying banners of purple, white and gold, +led by a standard-bearer carrying the American flag. They made a beautiful mass +of color as they grouped themselves around the statue, against the abundant +green foliage of the park. +</p> + +<p> +The Administration met this simple reasonable form of protest by further +arrests. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Lawrence Lewis of Philadelphia, the first speaker, began: “We are +here because when our country is at war for liberty and democracy . . .” +At that point she was roughly seized by a policeman and placed under arrest. +The great audience stood in absolute and amazed silence. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Hazel Hunkins of Montana took her place. “Here at the statue of +Lafayette, who fought for the liberty of this country,” she began, +“and under the American flag, I am asking for . . .” She was +immediately arrested. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Vivian Pierce of California began: “President Wilson has said . . +.’ She was dragged from the plinth to the waiting patrol. +</p> + +<p> +One after another came forward in an attempt to speak, but no one was allowed +to continue. Wholesale arrests followed. Just as the women were being taken +into custody, according to the New York Evening World of August 13th, +“the President walked out of the northeast gate of the White House and up +Pennsylvania Avenue for a conference with Director General of Railroads McAdoo. +The President glanced across the street and smiled.” +</p> + +<p> +Before the crowd could really appreciate what had happened, forty-eight women +had been hustled to the police station by the wagon load, their gay banners +floating from the backs of the somber patrols. They were told that the police +had arrested them under the orders of Col. C. S. Ridley, the President’s +military aide, and assistant to the Chief Engineer attached to the War +Department. All were released on bail and ordered to appear in court the +following day. +</p> + +<p> +When they appeared they were informed by the Government’s attorney that +he would have to postpone the trial until the following Tuesday so that he +might examine witnesses to see “what offense, if any, the women would be +charged with.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot go on with this case,” he said, “I have had no +orders. There are no precedents for cases like these . . . .” +</p> + +<p> +The women demanded that their cases be dismissed, or else a charge made against +them. They were merely told to return on the appointed day. Such was the +indignation aroused against the Administration for taking this action that +Senator Curtis of Kansas, Republican whip, could say publicly: +</p> + +<p> +“The truth of this statement is made evident by the admission of the +court that the forty-eight suffragists are arrested upon absolutely no charges, +and that these women, among them munition workers and Red Cross workers, are +held in Washington until next Tuesday, under arrest, while the United States +attorney for the District of Columbia decides for what offense, ‘if +any,’ they were arrested. +</p> + +<p> +“The meeting was called to make a justified protest against continued +blocking of the suffrage amendment by the Democratic majority in the Senate. It +is well known that three-fourths of the Republican membership in the Senate are +ready to vote for the amendment, but under the control of the Democratic +majority the Senate has recessed for six weeks without making any provision for +action on this important amendment. +</p> + +<p> +“In justice to the women who have been working so hard for the amendment +it should be passed at the earliest date, and if action is not taken on it soon +after the resumption of business in the Senate there is every possibility that +it will not be taken during this Congress, and the hard-won victory in the +House of Representatives will have been won for nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +When they finally came to trial ten days after their arrest, to face the charge +of “holding a meeting in public grounds,” and for eighteen of the +defendants an additional charge of “climbing on a statue,” the +women answered the roll call but remained silent thereafter. The familiar farce +ensued. Some were released for lack of identification. The others were +sentenced to the District Jail—for ten days if they had merely assembled +to hold a public meeting, for fifteen days if they had also “climbed on a +statue” +</p> + +<p> +The Administration evidently hoped by lighter sentences to avoid a hunger +strike by the prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +The women were taken immediately to a building, formerly used as a man’s +workhouse, situated in the swamps of the District prison grounds. This +building, which had been declared unfit for human habitation by a committee +appointed under President Roosevelt in 1909, and which had been uninhabited +ever since, was now reopened, nine years later, to receive twenty-six women who +had attempted to hold a meeting in a public park in Washington. The women +protested in a body and demanded to be treated as political prisoners. This +being refused, all save two very elderly women, too frail to do so, went on +hunger strike at once. +</p> + +<p> +This last lodgment was the worst. Hideous aspects which had not been +encountered in the workhouse and jail proper were encountered here. The cells, +damp and cold, were below the level of the upper door and entirely below the +high windows. The doors of the cell were partly of solid steel with only a +small section of grating, so that a very tiny amount of light penetrated the +cells. The wash basins were small and unsightly; the toilet open, with no +pretense of covering. The cots were of iron, without any spring, and with only +a thin straw pallet to lie upon. The heating facilities were antiquated and the +place was always cold. So frightful were the nauseating odors which permeated +the place, and so terrible was the drinking water from the disused pipes, that +one prisoner after another became violently ill. +</p> + +<p> +“I can hardly describe that atmosphere,” said Mrs. W. D. Ascough, +of Connecticut. “It was a deadly sort of smell, insidious and revolting. +It oppressed and stifled us. There was no escape.” +</p> + +<p> +As a kind of relief from these revolting odors, they took their straw pallets +from the cells to the floor outside. They were ordered back to their cells but +refused in a body to go. They preferred the stone floors to the vile odors +within, which kept them nauseated. +</p> + +<p> +Conditions were so shocking that Senators began to visit their constituents in +this terrible hole. Many of them protested to the authorities. Protests came in +from the country, too. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of the fifth day the Administration succumbed to the hunger strike +and released the prisoners, trembling with weakness, some of them with chills +and some of them in a high fever, scarcely able even to walk to the ambulance +or motor car. +</p> + +<p> +We had won from the Administration, however, a concession to our protest. Prior +to the release of the prisoners we had announced that in spite of the previous +arrests a second protest meeting would be held on the same spot. A permit to +hold this second protest meeting was granted us. +</p> + +<p> +“I have been advised [Col. Ridley wrote to Miss Paul that you desire to +hold a demonstration in Lafayette Square on Thursday, August 9.2d. By direction +of the chief of engineers, U. S. Army, you are hereby granted permission to +hold this demonstration. You are advised good order must prevail.” +</p> + +<p> +“We received yesterday [Miss Paul replied] your permit for a suffrage +demonstration in Lafayette Park this afternoon, and are very glad that our +meetings are no longer to be interfered with. Because of the illness of so many +of our members, due to their treatment in prison this last week, and with the +necessity of caring for them at headquarters, we are planning to hold our neat +meeting a little later. We have not determined on the exact date but we will +inform you of the time as soon as it is decided upon.” +</p> + +<p> +It was reported on credible authority that this concession -was the result of a +conference at which the President, Secretary of War Baker and Colonel Ridley +were present. It was said that Secretary Baker and Colonel Ridley persuaded the +President to withdraw the orders to arrest us and allow our meetings to go on, +even though they took the form of attacks upon the President. +</p> + +<p> +Two days after the release of the women, the Republican Party, for the first +time in the history of woman suffrage, caucused in the Senate in favor of +forcing suffrage to a vote. +</p> + +<p> +The resolution which was passed unanimously by the caucus determined to +“insist upon consideration immediately” and ‘also to insist +upon a final vote . . . at the earliest possible moment …. Provided, That this +resolution shall not be construed as in any way binding the action or vote of +any Member of the Senate upon the merits of the said woman suffrage +amendment.” +</p> + +<p> +While not a direct attempt, therefore, to win more Republican Senators, this +proved a very great tactical contribution to the cause. The Republicans were +proud of their suffrage strength. They knew the Democrats were not. With the +Congressional elections approaching the Republicans meant to do their part +toward acquainting the country with the Administration’s policy of +vacillation and delay. This was not only helpful to the Republicans +politically; it was also advantageous to the amendment in that it goaded the +majority into action. +</p> + +<p> +Nine months had passed since the vote in the House and we were perilously near +the end of the session, when on the 16th of September, Senator Overman, +Democrat, Chairman of the Rules Committee, stated to our Legislative Chairman +that suffrage was “not on the program for this session” and that +the Senate would recess in a few days for the election campaigns without +considering any more legislation. On the same day Senator Jones, Chairman of +the Suffrage Committee, announced to us that he would not even call his +Committee together to consider taking a vote. +</p> + +<p> +We had announced a fortnight earlier that another protest meeting would be held +at the base of the Lafayette Monument that day, September 16th, at four +o’clock. No sooner had this protest been announced than the President +publicly stated that he would receive a delegation of Southern and Western +women partisans on the question of the amendment at two o’clock the same +day. +</p> + +<p> +To this delegation he said, “I am, as I think you know, heartily in +sympathy with you. I have endeavored to assist you in every way in my power, +and I shall continue to do so. I will do all I can to urge the passage of the +amendment by an early vote.” +</p> + +<p> +Presumably this was expected to disarm us and perhaps silence our +demonstration. However, it merely moved us to make another hasty visit to +Senator Overman, Chairman of the Rules Committee, and to Senator Jones, +Chairman of the Suffrage Committee, between the hours of two and four to see if +the President’s statement that he would do all he could to secure an +early vote had altered their statements made earlier in the day. +</p> + +<p> +These Administration leaders assured us that their statements stood; that no +provision had been made for action on the amendment; that the President’s +statement did not mean that a vote would be taken this session; and that they +did not contemplate being so advised by him. +</p> + +<p> +Such a situation was intolerable. The President was uttering more fine words, +while his Administration leaders interpreted them to mean nothing, because they +were not followed up by action on his part. +</p> + +<p> +We thereupon changed our demonstration at four o’clock to a more drastic +form of protest. We took these words of the President to the base of Lafayette +Monument and burned them in a flaming torch. +</p> + +<p> +A throng gathered to hear the speakers. Ceremonies were opened with the reading +of the following appeal by Mrs. Richard Wainwright, wife of Rear-Admiral +Wainwright: +</p> + +<p> +“Lafayette, we are here! +</p> + +<p> +“We, the women of the United States, denied the liberty which you helped +to gain, and for which we have asked in vain for sixty years, turn to you to +plead for us. +</p> + +<p> +“Speak, Lafayette, dead these hundred years but still living in the +hearts of the American people. Speak again to plead for us like the bronze +woman at your feet, condemned like us to a silent appeal. She offers you a +sword. Will you not use for us the sword of the spirit, mightier far than the +sword she holds out to you? +</p> + +<p> +“Will you not ask the great leader of democracy to look upon the failure +of our beloved country to be in truth the place where every one is free and +equal and entitled to a share in the government? Let that outstretched hand of +yours pointing to the White House recall to him his words and promises, his +trumpet call for all of us, to see that the world is made safe for democracy. +</p> + +<p> +“As our army now in France spoke to you there, saying here we are to help +your country fight for liberty, will you not speak here and now for us, a +little band with no army, no power but justice and right, no strength but in +our Constitution and in the Declaration of Independence; and win a great +victory again in this country by giving us the opportunity we ask,—to be +heard through the Susan B. Anthony amendment. +</p> + +<p> +“Lafayette, we are here!” +</p> + +<p> +Before the enthusiastic applause for Mrs. Wainwright’s appeal had died +away, Miss Lucy Branham of Baltimore stepped forward with a flaming torch, +which she applied to the President’s latest words on suffrage. The police +looked on and smiled, and the crowd cheered as she said: +</p> + +<p> +“The torch which I hold symbolizes the burning indignation of the women +who for years have been given words without action . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“For five years women have appealed to this President and his party for +political freedom. The President has given words, and words, and words. To-day +women receive more words. We announce to the President and the whole world +to-day, by this act of ours, our determination that words shall not longer be +the only reply given to American women—our determination that this same +democracy for whose establishment abroad we are making the utmost sacrifice, +shall also prevail at home. +</p> + +<p> +“We have protested to this Administration by banners; we have protested +by speeches; we now protest by this symbolic act. +</p> + +<p> +“As in the ancient fights for liberty, the crusaders for freedom +symbolized their protest against those responsible for injustice by consigning +their hollow phrases to the flames, so we, on behalf of thousands of +suffragists, in this same way to-day protest against the action of the +President and his party in delaying the liberation of American women.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Jessie Hardy Mackaye of Washington, D. C., then came forward to the end of +the plinth to speak, and as she appeared, a man in the crowd handed her a +twenty-dollar bill for the campaign in the Senate. This was the signal for +others. Bills and coins were passed up. Instantly marshals ran hither and +thither collecting the money in improvised baskets while the cheers grew louder +and louder. Many of the policemen present were among the donors. +</p> + +<p> +Burning President Wilson’s words had met with popular approval from a +large crowd! +</p> + +<p> +The procession of women was starting back to headquarters, the police were +eagerly clearing the way for the line; the crowd was dispersing in order; the +great golden banner, “Mr. President, what will you do for woman +suffrage?” was just swinging past the White House gate, when President +Wilson stepped into his car for the afternoon drive. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>Chapter 18<br/> +President Wilson Appeals to the Senate Too Late</h2> + +<p> +The next day the Administration completely reversed its policy. Almost the +first Senate business was an announcement on the floor by Senator Jones, +Chairman of the Suffrage Committee, that the suffrage amendment would be +considered in the Senate September 26th. And Senator Overman, Chairman of the +Rules Committee, rather shyly remarked to our legislative chairman that he had +been “mistaken yesterday.” It was “now in the legislative +program.” The Senate still stood 6Q votes for and 34 against the +amendment—2 votes lacking. The President made an effort among individual +Democrats to secure them. But it was too feeble an effort and he failed. +</p> + +<p> +Chairman Jones took charge of the measure on the floor. The debate opened with +a long and eloquent. speech by Senator Vardaman of Mississippi, Democrat, in +support of the amendment. “My estimate of woman,” said he, in +conclusion, “is well expressed in the words employed by a distinguished +author who dedicated his book to a ‘Little mountain, a great meadow, and +a woman,’ ‘To the mountain for the sense of time, to the meadow for +the sense of space, and of everything.’” +</p> + +<p> +Senator McCumber of North Dakota, Republican, followed with a curious speech. +His problem was to explain why, although opposed to suffrage, he would vote for +the amendment. Beginning with the overworked “cave man” and +“beasts of the forests,” and down to the present day, “the +male had always protected the female” He always would! Forgetting recent +events in the Capital, he went so far as to say, “ . . . In our courts +she ever finds in masculine nature an asylum of protection, even though she may +have committed great wrong. While the mind may be convinced beyond any doubt, +the masculine heart finds it almost impossible to pronounce the word +‘guilty’ against a woman.” Scarcely had the galleries ceased +smiling at this idea when he treated them to a novel application of the +biological theory of inheritance. “The political field,” he +declared, “always has been and probably always will be an arena of more +or less bitter contest. The political battles leave scars as ugly and +lacerating as the physical battles, and the more sensitive the nature the +deeper and more lasting the wound. And as no man can enter this contest or be a +party to it and assume its responsibilities without feeling its blows and +suffering its wounds, much less can woman with her more emotional and more +sensitive nature. +</p> + +<p> +“But . . . you may ask why should she be relieved from the scars and +wounds of political contest? Because they do not affect her alone but are +transmitted through her to generations yet to come . . . . “ +</p> + +<p> +The faithful story of the sinking ship was invoked by the Senator from North +Dakota. One might almost imagine after listening to Congressional debates for +some years that traveling on sinking ships formed a large part of human +experience. “Fathers, sons, and brothers,” said the Senator in +tearful voice, “guarding the lifeboats until every woman from the highest +to the lowest has been made safe, waving adieu with a smile of cheer on their +lips, while the wounded vessel slowly bears them to a strangling death and a +watery tomb, belie the charge . . “ that woman needs her citizenship as a +form of protection. +</p> + +<p> +In spite of these opinions, however, the Senator was obliged to vote for the +amendment because his state had so ordered. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Hardwick of Georgia, Democrat, felt somewhat betrayed that the suffrage +plank in the platform of his party in 1916, recommending state action, should +be so carelessly set aside. “There is not a Democratic Senator +present,” said Mr. Hardwick, “who does not know the history that +lies back of the adoption of that plank. There is not a Democratic Senator who +does not know that the plank was written here in Washington and sent to the +convention and represented the deliberate voice of the administration and of +the party on this question, which was to remit this question to the several +States for action . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“The President of the United States . . . was reported to have sent this +particular plank . . .from Washington, supposedly by the hands of one of his +Cabinet officers.” The fact that his own party and the Republican party +were both advancing on suffrage irritated him into denouncing the alacrity with +which “politicians and senators are trying to get on the band wagon +first.” +</p> + +<p> +Senator McKellar of Tennessee, Democrat, reduced the male superiority argument +to simple terms when he said: “ . . . Taking them by and large, there are +brainy men and brainy women, and that is about all there is to the +proposition.” +</p> + +<p> +Our armies were sweeping victorious toward Germany. There was round on round of +eloquence about the glories of war. Rivers of blood flowed. And always the role +of woman was depicted as a contented binding of wounds. There were those who +thought woman should be rewarded for such service. Others thought she ought to +do it without asking anything in return. But all agreed that this was her role. +There was no woman’s voice in that body to protest against the perpetuity +of such a rôle. +</p> + +<p> +The remarks of Senator Reed of Missouri, anti-suffrage Democrat, typify this +attitude. “. . . Women in my state believe in the old-fashioned doctrine +that men should fight the battles on the red line; that men should stand and +bare their bosoms to the iron hail; and that back of them, if need be, there +shall be women who may bind up the wounds and whose tender hands may rest upon +the brow of the valiant soldier who has gone down in the fight. +</p> + +<p> +“But, sir, that is woman’s work, and it has been woman’s work +always . . . . The woman who gave her first born a final kiss and blessed him +on his way to battle,” had, according to the Senator from Missouri, +earned a “crown of glory . . . gemmed with the love of the world.” +</p> + +<p> +And with Senator Walsh of Montana, Democrat, “The women of America have +already written a glorious page in the history of the greatest of wars that +have vexed the world. They, like Cornelia, have given, and freely given, their +jewels to their country.” +</p> + +<p> +Some of us wondered. +</p> + +<p> +Senator McLean of Connecticut, anti-suffrage Republican, flatly stated +“that all questions involving declarations of war and terms of peace +should be left to that sex which must do the fighting and the dying on the +battlefield.” And he further said that until boys between 18 and 21 who +had just been called to the colors should ask for the vote, “their +mothers should be and remain both proud and content” without it. He +concluded with an amusing account of the history of the ballot box. “This +joint resolution,” he said, “goes beyond the seas and above the +clouds. It attempts to tamper with the ballot box, over which mother nature +always has had and always will have supreme control; and such attempts always +have ended and always will end in failure and misfortune.” +</p> + +<p> +Senator Phelan of California, Democrat, made a straightforward, intelligent +speech. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Beckham of Kentucky, Democrat, deplored the idea that man was superior +to woman. He pleaded “guilty to the charge of Romanticism.” He +said, “But I look upon woman as superior to man.” Therefore he +could not trust her with a vote. He had the hardihood to say further, with the +men of the world at each other’s throats, . . . “Woman is the +civilizing, refining, elevating influence that holds man from barbarism.” +We charged him with ignorance as well as romanticism when he said in closing, +“It is the duty of man to work and labor for woman; to cut the wood, to +carry the coal, to go into the fields in the necessary labor to sustain the +home where the woman presides and by her superior nature elevates him to higher +and better conceptions of life.” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Senator Shafroth of Colorado, Democrat, lifelong advocate of +suffrage, was painstakingly asking one senator after another, as he had been +for years, “Does not the Senator believe that the just powers of +government are derived from the consent of the governed?” and +then—“But if you have the general principle acknowledged that the +just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed.” +. . . and so forth. But the idea of applying the Declaration of Independence to +modern politics fairly put them to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +These samples of senatorial profundity may divert, outrage, or bore us, but +they do not represent the real battle. It is not that the men who utter these +sentiments do not believe them. More is the pity, they do. But they are smoke +screens—mere skirmishes of eloquence or foolishness. They do not +represent the motives of their political acts. +</p> + +<p> +The real excitement began when Senator Pittman of Nevada, Democrat, attempted +to reveal to the senators of his party the actual seriousness of the political +crisis in which the Democrats were now involved. He also attempted to shift the +blame for threatened defeat of the amendment to the Republican side of the +chamber. There was a note of desperation in his voice, too, since he knew that +President Wilson had not up to that moment won the two votes lacking. The gist +of Senator Pittman’s remarks was this: The Woman’s Party has +charged the Senate Woman Suffrage Committee, which is in control of the +Democrats, and the President himself, with the responsibility fob obstructing a +vote on the measure. “I confess,” said he, that this is +“having its effect as a campaign argument” in the woman suffrage +states. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Wolcott of Delaware, Democrat, interrupted him to ask if this was +“the party that has been picketing here in Washington?” Senator +Pittman, having just paid this tribute to our campaign in the West, hastened to +say that it was, but that there was another association, the National American +Woman Suffrage Association, which had always conducted its campaign in a +“lady-like—modest—and intelligent way” and which had +“never mixed in politics.” +</p> + +<p> +Waving a copy of the Suffragist in the air, Senator Pittman began his attempt +to shift responsibility to the Republican side, for the critical condition of +the amendment. He denounced the Republicans for caucusing on the amendment and +deciding unanimously to press for a vote, when they the Republicans] knew there +were two votes lacking. He scored us for having given so much publicity to the +action of the caucus and declared with vehemence that a “trick” had +been executed through Senator Smoot which he would not allow to go unrevealed. +Senator Pittman charged that the Republicans had promised enough votes to pass +the amendment and that upon that promise the Democrats had brought the measure +on the floor; that the Republicans thereupon withdrew enough votes to cause the +defeat of the amendment. Whether or not this was true, at any rate, as Senator +Smoot pointed out, the Democratic Chairman in charge of the measure could at +any moment send the measure back to Committee, safe from immediate defeat. This +was true, but not exactly a suggestion to be welcomed by the Democrats. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” replied Senator Pittman, “and then if we move to refer +it back to the committee, the Senator from Utah would say again, ‘The +Democrats are obstructing the passage of this amendment . . . . We told you all +the time they wanted to kill it.’ . . . If we refer it back to the +committee, then we will be charged, as we have been all the time in the +suffrage states, with trying to prevent a vote on it, and still the +Woman’s Party campaign will go on as it is going on now; and if we vote +on it they will say: ‘We told you the Democrats would kill it, because +the President would not make 332 on his side vote for it’.” +</p> + +<p> +That was the crux of the whole situation. The Democrats had been manaeuvered +into a position where they could neither afford to move to refer the amendment +back to the committee, nor could they afford to press it to a losing vote. They +were indeed in an exceedingly embarrassing predicament. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout hours of debate, Senator Pittman could not get away from the +militants. Again and again, he recited our deeds of protest, our threats of +reprisal, our relentless strategy of holding his party responsible for defeat +or victory. +</p> + +<p> +“I should like the Senator,” interpolated Senator Poindexter of +Washington, Republican, “so long as he is discussing the action of the +pickets, to explain to the Senate whether or not it is the action of the +pickets . . . the militant . . . woman’s party, that caused the President +to change his attitude on the subject. Was he coerced into supporting this +measure—after he had for years opposed it—because he was picketed? +When did the President change his attitude? If it was not because he was +picketed, will the Senator explain what was the cause of the change in the +President’s attitude?” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Pittman did not reply directly to these questions. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Reed of Missouri, anti-Administration Democrat, consumed hours reading +into the Congressional Record various press reports of militant activities. He +dwelt particularly upon the news headlines, such as, +</p> + +<p> +“Great Washington Crowd Cheers Demonstration at White House by National +Woman’s Party.” . . . +</p> + +<p> +“Suffragists Burn Wilson ‘Idle Words’ . . .” +</p> + +<p> +“Money Instead of Jeers Greet Marchers and Unique Protest Against +Withholding Vote” . . . +</p> + +<p> +“Apply Torch to President’s Words . . . Promise to Urge Passage of +Amendment Not Definite Enough for Militants.” +</p> + +<p> +“Suff’s Burn Speech . . .,Apply Torch to Wilson’s Words +During Demonstration-Symbol of ‘Indignation’—Throngs +Witnessing Doings in Lafayette Square Orderly and Contribute to +Fund—President Receives Delegation of American Suffrage Association +Women.” +</p> + +<p> +Senator McKellar of Tennessee, Democrat, asked Mr. Reed if he did not believe +that we had a right peaceably to assemble under the “first amendment to +our Constitution which I shall read: Congress shall make no law . . . abridging +. . . the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the +Government for a redress of grievances.” Mr. Reed made no direct answer. +</p> + +<p> +Lest the idea get abroad from the amount of time they spent in discussing the +actions of the “wicked militants,” that we had had something to do +with the situation which had resulted in Democratic despair, Senator Thomas of +Colorado, the one Democrat who had never been able to conceal his hostility to +us for having reduced his majority in 1914, arose to pay a tribute to the +conservative suffrage association of America. Their “escutcheon,” +he said, “is unstained by mob methods or appeals to violence. It has +neither picketed Presidents nor populated prisons . . . . It has carried no +banners flaunting insults to the Executive,” while the militants on the +other hand have indulged in “much tumult and vociferous braying, all for +notoriety’s sake.” . . . The galleries smiled as he counseled the +elder suffrage leaders “not to lose courage nor yet be: +fainthearted,” for this “handicap” would soon be overcome. It +would have taken an abler man than Senator Thomas, in the face of the nature of +this debate, to make any one believe that we had been a “handicap” +in forcing them to their position. He was the only one hardy enough to try. +After this debate the Senate adjourned, leaving things from the point of view +of party politics, tangled in a hopeless knot. It was to untie this knot that +the President returned hastily from New York in answer to urgent summons by +long distance telephone, and went to the Capitol to deliver his memorable +address. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Vice President and Gentlemen of the Senate: The unusual circumstances of a +world war in which we stand and are judged in the view not only of our own +people and our own consciences but also in view of all nations and all peoples +will, I hope, justify in your thought, as it does in mine, the message I have +come to bring you. I regard the concurrence of the Senate in the constitutional +amendment proposing the extension of the suffrage to women as vitally essential +to the successful prosecution of the great war of humanity in which we are +engaged. I have come to urge upon you the considerations which have led me to +that conclusion. It is not only my privilege, it is also my duty to appraise +you of every circumstance and element involved in this momentous struggle which +seems to me to affect its very processes and its outcome. It is my duty to win +the war and to ask you to remove every obstacle that stands in the way of +winning it. +</p> + +<p> +I had assumed that the Senate would concur in the amendment because ho +disputable principle is involved but only a question of the method by which the +suffrage is to be extended to women. There is and can be no party issue +involved in it. Both of our great national parties are pledged, explicitly +pledged, to equality of suffrage for the women of the country. Neither party, +therefore, it seems to me, can justify hesitation as to the method of obtaining +it, can rightfully hesitate to substitute federal initiative for state +initiative, if the early adoption, of the measure is necessary to the +successful prosecution of the war and if the method of state action proposed in +party platforms of 1916 is impracticable within any reasonable length of time, +if practicable at all. And its adoption is, in my judgment, clearly necessary +to the successful prosecution of the war and the successful realization of the +objects for which the war is being fought. +</p> + +<p> +That judgment, I take the liberty of urging upon you with solemn earnestness +for reasons which I shall state very frankly and which I shall hope will seem +as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me. +</p> + +<p> +This is a peoples’ war, and the peoples’ thinking constitutes its +atmosphere and morale, not the predilections of the drawing room or the +political considerations of the caucus. If we be indeed democrats and wish to +lead the world to democracy, we can ask other peoples to accept in proof of our +sincerity and our ability to lead them whither they wish to be led nothing less +persuasive and convincing than our actions. Ours professions will not suffice. +Verification must be forthcoming when verification is asked for. And in this +case verification is asked for, asked for in this particular matter. You ask by +whom? Not through diplomatic channels; not by Foreign Ministers, not by the +intimations of parliaments. It is asked for by the anxious, expectant, +suffering peoples with whom we are dealing and who are willing to put their +destinies in some measure in our hands, if they are sure that we wish the same +things that they wish. I do not speak by conjecture. It is not alone the voices +of statesmen and of newspapers that reach me, and the voices of foolish and +intemperate agitators do not reach me at all! Through many, many channels I +have been made aware what the plain, struggling, workaday folk are thinking +upon whom the chief terror and suffering of this tragic war falls. They are +looking to the great, powerful, famous democracy of the West to lead them to +the new day for which they have so long waited; and they think, in their +logical simplicity, that democracy means that women shall play their part in +affairs alongside men and upon an equal footing with them. If we reject +measures like this, in ignorance or defiance of what a new age has brought +forth, of what they have seen but we have not, they will cease to follow or to +trust us. They have seen their own governments accept this interpretation of +democracy,—seen old governments like Great Britain, which did not profess +to be democratic, promise readily and as of course this justice to women, +though they had before refused it, the strange revelations of this war having +made many things new and plain to governments as well as to peoples. +</p> + +<p> +Are we alone to refuse to learn the lesson? Are we alone to ask and take the +utmost that women can give,—service and sacrifice of every +kind,—and still say that we do not see what title that gives them to +stand by our sides in the guidance of the affairs of their nation and ours? We +have made partners of the women in this war; shall we admit them only to a +partnership of sacrifice and suffering and toil and not to a partnership of +privilege and of right? This war could not have been fought, either by the +other nations engaged or by America, if it had not been for the services of the +women,—services rendered in every sphere,—not only in the fields of +effort in which we have been accustomed to see them work, but wherever men have +worked and upon the very skirts and edges of the battle itself. We shall not +only be distrusted but shall deserve to be distrusted if we do not enfranchise +them with the fullest possible enfranchisement, as it is now certain that the +other great free nations will enfranchise them. We cannot isolate our thought +or our action in such a matter from the thought of the rest of the world. We +must either conform or deliberately reject what they propose and resign the +leadership of liberal minds to others. +</p> + +<p> +The women of America arc too noble and too intelligent and too devoted to be +slackers whether you give or withhold this thing that is mere justice; but I +know the magic it will work in their thoughts and spirits if you give it them. +I propose it as I would propose to admit soldiers to the suffrage, the men +fighting in the field for our liberties and the liberties of the world, were +they excluded. The tasks of the women lie at the very heart of the war, and I +know how much stronger that heart will beat if you do this just thing and show +our women that you trust them as much as you in fact and of necessity depend +upon them. +</p> + +<p> +Have I said that the passage of this amendment is a vitally necessary war +measure, and do you need further proof? Do you stand in need of the trust of +other peoples and of the trust of our women? Is that trust an asset or is it +not? I tell you plainly, as commander-in-chief of our armies and of the gallant +men in our fleets, as the present spokesman of this people in our dealings with +the men and women throughout the world who are now our partners, as the +responsible head of a great government which stands and is questioned day by +day as to its purposes, its principles, its hopes, whether they be serviceable +to men everywhere or only to itself, and who must himself answer these +questionings or be shamed, as the guide and director of forces caught in the +grip of war and by the same token in need of every material and spiritual +resource this great nation possesses,—I tell you plainly that this +measure which I urge upon you is vital to the winning of the war and to the +energies alike of preparation and of battle. +</p> + +<p> +And not to the winning of the war only. It is vital to the right solution of +the great problems which we must settle, and settle immediately, when the war +is over. We shall need then a vision of affairs which is theirs, and, as we +have never needed them before, the sympathy and insight and clear moral +instinct of the women of the world. The problems of that time will strike to +the roots of many things that we have not hitherto questioned, and I for one +believe that our safety in those questioning days, as well as our comprehension +of matters that touch society to the quick, will depend upon the direct and +authoritative participation of women in our counsels. We shall need their moral +sense to preserve what is right and fine and worthy in our system of life as +well as to discover just what it is that ought to be purified and reformed. +Without their counselings we shall be only half wise. +</p> + +<p> +That is my case. This is my appeal. Many may deny its validity, if they choose, +but no one can brush aside or answer the arguments upon which it is based. The +executive tasks of this war rest upon me. I ask that you lighten them and place +in my hands instruments, spiritual instruments, which I do not now possess, +which I sorely need, and which I have daily to apologize for not being able to +employ. (Applause). +</p> + +<p> +It was a truly beautiful appeal. +</p> + +<p> +When the applause and the excitement attendant upon the occasion of a message +from the President had subsided, and the floor of the chamber had emptied +itself of its distinguished visitors, the debate was resumed. +</p> + +<p> +“If this resolution fails now,” said Senator Jones of Washington, +ranking Republican member of the Suffrage Committee, “it fails for lack +of Democratic votes.” +</p> + +<p> +Senator Cummins of Iowa, Republican, also a member of the Suffrage Committee, +reminded opponents of the measure of the retaliatory tactics used by President +Wilson when repudiated by senators on other issues. “I sincerely +hope,” he said tauntingly, “that the President may deal kindly and +leniently with those who are refusing to remove this obstacle which stands in +his way. It has not been very long since the President retired the junior +Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Vardaman] from public life. Why? Because he +refused at all times to obey the commands which were issued for his direction. +The junior Senator from Georgia [Mr. Hardwick] suffered the same fate. How do +you hope to escape? . . . My Democratic friends are either proceeding upon the +hypothesis that the President is insincere or that they may be able to secure +an immunity from him that these other unfortunate aspirants for office failed +to secure.” +</p> + +<p> +Senator Cummins chided Senator Reed for denouncing “the so-called +militants who sought to bring their influence to bear upon the situation in +rather a more forcible and decisive method than was employed by the national +association. . . I did not believe in the campaign they were pursuing (not one +senator was brave enough to say outright that he did). . . . +</p> + +<p> +“But that was simply a question for them to determine; and if they +thought that in accordance with the established custom the President should +bring his influence to bear more effectively than he had, they had a perfect +right to burn his message; they had a perfect right to carry banners in +Lafayette Park, in front of the White House, or anywhere else; they had a +perfect right to bring their banners into the Capitol and display them with all +the force and vigor which they could command. I did not agree with them; but +they also were making a campaign for an inestimable and a fundamental right. +</p> + +<p> +“What would you have done, men, if you had been deprived of the right to +vote? What would you have done if you had been deprived of the right of +representation? Have the militants done anything worse than the revolutionary +forces who gathered about the tea chests and threw them into the sea? . . . +</p> + +<p> +“I do not believe they [the militants] committed any crime; and while I +had no particle of sympathy with the manner in which they were conducting their +campaign, I think their arrest and imprisonment and the treatment which they +received while in confinement are a disgrace to the civilized world, and much +the more a disgrace to the United States, which assumes to lead the civilized +world in humane endeavor. They disturbed nobody save that disturbance which is +common to the carrying forward of all propaganda by those who are intensely and +vitally interested in it. I wish they had not done it, but I am not to be the +judge of their methods so long as they confine themselves to those acts and to +those words which are fairly directed to the accomplishment of their purposes. +I cannot accept the conclusion that because these women burned a message in +Lafayette Park or because they carried banners upon the streets in Washington +therefore they are criminals.” +</p> + +<p> +The time had come to take the vote, but we knew we had not won. The roll was +called and the vote stood 62 to 34 [Oct. 1, 1918], counting all pairs. We had +lost by 2 votes. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly Chairman Jones, according to his promise to the women, changing his +vote from “yea” to “nay,” moved for a reconsideration +of the measure, and thus automatically kept it on the calendar of the Senate. +That was all that could be done. +</p> + +<p> +The President’s belief in the power of words had lost the amendment. Nor +could he by a speech, eloquent as it was, break down the opposition in the +Senate which he had so long protected and condoned. +</p> + +<p> +Our next task was to secure a reversal of the Senate vote. We modified our +tactics slightly. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>Chapter 19<br/> +More Pressure</h2> + +<p> +Our immediate task was to compel the President to secure a reversal of two +votes in the Senate. It became necessary to enter again the Congressional +elections which were a month away. +</p> + +<p> +By a stroke of good luck there were two senatorial contests—in New Jersey +and New Hampshire—for vacancies in the short term. That is, we had an +opportunity to elect two friends who would take their seats in time to vote on +the amendment before the end of this session. It so happened that the +Democratic candidates were pledged to vote for the amendment if elected, and +that the Republican candidates were opposed to the amendment. We launched our +campaign in this instance for the election of the Democratic candidates. We +went immediately to the President to ask his assistance in our endeavor. We +urged him personally to appeal to the voters of New Jersey and New Hampshire on +behalf of his two candidates. As Party leader he was at the moment paying no +attention whatever to the success of these two suffragists. Both of the +Democratic candidates themselves appealed to President Wilson for help in their +contests, on the basis of their suffrage advocacy. His speech to the Senate +scarcely cold, the President refused to lend any assistance in these contests, +which with sufficient effort might have produced the last two votes. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of two weeks of such pressure upon the President we were unable to +interest him in this practical endeavor. It was clear that he would move again +only under attack. We went again, therefore, to the women voters of the west +and asked them to withhold their support from the Democratic Senatorial +candidates in the suffrage states in order to compel the President to assist in +the two Eastern contests. This campaign made it clear to the President that we +were still holding him and his party to their responsibility. +</p> + +<p> +And as has been pointed out, our policy was to oppose the Democratic candidates +at elections so long as their party was responsible for the passage of the +amendment and did not pass it. Since there is no question between individuals +in suffrage states—they are all suffragists—this could not increase +our numerical strength. It could, however, and did demonstrate the growing and +comprehensive power of the women voters. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly before election, when our campaign was in full swing in the West, the +President sent a letter appealing to the voters of New Jersey to support Mr. +Hennessey, the Democratic candidate for the Senate. He subsequently appealed to +the voters of New Hampshire to elect Mr. Jameson, candidate for Democratic +Senator in New Hampshire. +</p> + +<p> +We continued our campaign in the West as a safeguard against relaxation by the +President after his appeal. There were seven senatorial contests in the western +suffrage states. In all but two of these contests—Montana and +Nevada—the Democratic Senatorial candidates were defeated. In these two +states the Democratic majority was greatly reduced. +</p> + +<p> +Republicans won in New Jersey and New Hampshire and a Republican Congress was +elected to power throughout the country. +</p> + +<p> +The election campaign had had a wholesome effect, however, on both parties and +was undoubtedly one of the factors in persuading the President to again appeal +to the Senate. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately after the defeat in the Senate, and throughout the election +campaign, we attempted to hold banners at the Capitol to assist our campaign +and in order to weaken the resistance of the senators of the opposition. The +mottoes on the banners attacked with impartial mercilessness both Democrats and +Republicans. One read: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +SENATOR WADSWORTH’s REGIMENT IS FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY ABROAD. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +SENATOR WADSWORTH LEFT HIS REGIMENT AND IS FIGHTING AGAINST DEMOCRACY IN THE +SENATE. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +SENATOR WADSWORTH COULD SERVE HIS COUNTRY BETTER BY FIGHTING WITH HIS REGIMENT +ABROAD THAN BY FIGHTING WOMEN AT HOME. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Another read: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +SENATOR SHIELDS TOLD THE PEOPLE OF TENNESSEE HE WOULD SUPPORT THE +PRESIDENT’S POLICIES. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE ONLY TIME THE PRESIDENT WENT TO THE SENATE TO ASK ITS SUPPORT SENATOR +SHIELDS VOTED AGAINST HIM. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +DOES TENNESSEE BACK THE PRESIDENT’S WAR PROGRAM OE SENATOR SHIELDS? +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And still a third: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +GERMANY HAS ESTABLISHED “EQUAL, UNIVERSAL, SECRET, DIRECT +FRANCHISE.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE SENATE HAS DENIED EQUAL, UNIVERSAL, SECRET SUFFRAGE TO AMERICA. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +WHICH IS MORE OF A DEMOCRACY, GERMANY OR AMERICA? +</p> + +<p> +As the women approached the Senate, Colonel Higgins, the Sergeant at Arms of +the Senate, ordered a squad of Capitol policemen to rush upon them. They +wrenched their banners from them, twisting their wrists and manhandling them as +they took them up the steps, through the door, and down into the +guardroom,—their banners confiscated and they themselves detained for +varying periods of time. When the women insisted on knowing upon what charges +they were held, they were merely told that “peace and order must be +maintained on the Capitol grounds,” and further, “It don’t +make no difference about the law, Colonel Higgins is boss here, and he has +taken the law in his own hands.” +</p> + +<p> +Day after day this performance went on. Small detachments of women attempted to +hold banners outside the United States Senate, as the women of Holland had done +outside the Parliament in the Hague. It was difficult to believe that American +politicians could be so devoid of humor as they showed themselves. The panic +that overwhelms our official mind in the face of the slightest irregularity is +appalling! Instead of maintaining peace and order, the squads of police managed +to keep the Capitol grounds in a state of confusion. They were assisted from +time to time by Senate pages, small errand boys who would run out and attack +mature women with impunity. The women would be held under the most rigid +detention each day until the Senate had safely adjourned. Then on the morrow +the whole spectacle would be repeated. +</p> + +<p> +While the United States Senate was standing still under our protest world +events rushed on. German autocracy had collapsed. The Allies had won a military +victory. The Kaiser had that very week fled for his life because of the +uprising of his people. +</p> + +<p> +“We are all free voters of a free republic now,” was the message +sent by the women of Germany to the women of the United States through Miss +Jane Addams. We were at that moment heartily ashamed of our government. German +women voting! American women going to jail and spending long hours in the +Senate guardhouse without arrests or, charges. The war came to an end. Congress +adjourned November 21st. +</p> + +<p> +When the 65th Congress reconvened for its short and final session, December +2nd, 1918 [less than a month after our election campaign], President Wilson, +for the first time, included suffrage in his regular message to Congress, the +thing that we had asked of him at the opening of every session of Congress +since March, 1918. +</p> + +<p> +There were now fewer than a hundred days in which to get action from the Senate +and so avoid losing the benefit of our victory in the House. +</p> + +<p> +In his opening address to Congress, the President again appealed to the Senate +in these words: +</p> + +<p> +“And what shall we say of the women—of their instant intelligence, +quickening every task that they touched; their capacity for organization and +coöperation, which gave their action discipline and enhanced the effectiveness +of everything they attempted; their aptitude at tasks to which they had never +before set their hands; their utter self-sacrifice alike in what they did and +in what they gave? Their contribution to the great result is beyond appraisal. +They have added a new luster to the annals of American womanhood. +</p> + +<p> +“The least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in +political rights, as they have proved themselves their equals in every field of +practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for their country. +These great days of completed achievement would be sadly marred were we to omit +that act of justice. Besides the immense practical services they have rendered, +the women of the country have been the moving spirits in the systematic +economies in which our people have voluntarily assisted to supply the suffering +peoples of the world and the armies upon every front with food and everything +else we had, that might serve the common cause. The details of such a story can +never be fully written but we carry them at our hearts and thank God that we +can say that we are the kinsmen of such.” +</p> + +<p> +Again we looked for action to follow this appeal. Again we found that the +President had uttered these words but had made no plan to translate them into +action. +</p> + +<p> +And so his second appeal to the Senate failed, coming as it did after the +hostility of his party to the idea of conferring freedom on women nationally, +had been approved and fostered by President Wilson for five solid years. He +could not overcome with additional eloquence the opposition which he himself +had so long formulated, defended, encouraged and solidified, especially when +that eloquence was followed by either no action or only half- hearted efforts. +</p> + +<p> +It would now require a determined assertion of his political power as the +leader of his party. We made a final appeal to him as leader of his party and +while still at the height of his world power, to make such an assertion and to +demand the necessary two votes. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>Chapter 20<br/> +The President Sails Away</h2> + +<p> +No sooner had we set ourselves to a brief, hot campaign to compel President +Wilson to win the final votes than he sailed away to France to attend the Peace +Conference, sailed away to consecrate himself to the program of liberating the +oppressed peoples of the whole world. He cannot be condemned for aiming to +achieve so gigantic a task. But we reflected that again the President had +refused his specific aid in an humble aspiration, for the rosy hope of a more +boldly conceived ambition. +</p> + +<p> +It was positively impossible for us, by our own efforts, to win the last 2 +votes. We could only win them through the President. That he had left behind +him his message urging the Senate to act, is true. That Administration leaders +did not consider these words a command, is also true. It must be realized that +even after the President had been compelled to publicly declare his support of +the measure, it was almost impossible to get his own leaders to take seriously +his words on suffrage. And so again the Democratic Chairman of the Rules +Committee, in whose keeping the program lay, had no thought of bringing it to a +vote. The Democratic Chairman of the Woman Suffrage Committee assumed not the +slightest responsibility for its success, nor could he produce any plan whereby +the last votes could be won. They knew, as well as did we, that the President +only could win those last 2 votes. They made it perfectly clear that until he +had done so, they could do nothing. +</p> + +<p> +Less than fifty legislative days remained to us. Something had to be done +quickly, something bold and offensive enough to threaten the prestige of the +President, as he was riding in sublimity to unknown heights as a champion of +world liberty; something which might penetrate his reverie and shock him into +concrete action. We had successfully defied the full power of his +Administration, the odds heavily against us. We must now defy the popular +belief of the world in this apostle of liberty. This was the feeling of the +four hundred officers of the National Woman’s Party, summoned to a three +days’ conference in Washington in December, 1918. It was unanimously +decided to light a fire in an urn, and, on the day that the President was +officially received by France, to burn with fitting public ceremonies all the +President’s past and present speeches or books concerning +“liberty”, “freedom” and “democracy.” +</p> + +<p> +It was late afternoon when the four hundred women proceeded solemnly in single +file from headquarters, past the White House, along the edge of the quiet and +beautiful Lafayette Park, to the foot of Lafayette’s statue. A slight +mist added beauty to the pageant. The purple, white and gold banners, so +brilliant in the sunshine, became soft pastel sails. Half the procession +carried lighted torches; the other half banners. The crowd gathered silently, +somewhat awe-struck by the scene. Massed about that statue, we felt a strange +strength and solidarity, we felt again that we were a part of the universal +struggle for liberty. +</p> + +<p> +The torch was applied to the pine-wood logs in the Grecian Urn at the edge of +the broad base of the statue. As the flames began to mount, Vida Milholland +stepped forward and without accompaniment sang again from that spot of beauty, +in her own challenging way, the Woman’s Marseillaise. Even the small boys +in the crowd, always the most difficult to please, cheered and clapped and +cried for more. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. John Rogers, Jr., chairman of the National Advisory Council, said, as +president of the ceremony: +</p> + +<p> +“We hold this meeting to protest against the denial of liberty to +American women. All over the world to-day we see surging and sweeping +irresistibly on, the great tide of democracy, and women would be derelict in +their duty if they did not see to it that it brings freedom to the women of +this land . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“Our ceremony to-day is planned to call attention to the fact that +President Wilson has gone abroad to establish democracy in foreign lands when +he has failed to establish democracy at home. We burn his words on liberty +to-day, not in malice or anger, but in a spirit of reverence for truth. +</p> + +<p> +“This meeting is a message to President Wilson. We expect an answer. If +the answer is more words we will burn them again. The only answer the National +Woman’s Party will accept is the instant passage of the amendment in the +Senate.” +</p> + +<p> +The few hoots and jeers which followed all ceased, when a tiny and aged woman +stepped from her place to the urn in the brilliant torch light. The crowd +recognized a veteran. It was the most dramatic moment in the ceremony. Reverend +Olympia Brown of Wisconsin, one of the first ordained women ministers in the +country, then in her eighty-fourth year, gallant pioneer, friend and colleague +of Susan B. Anthony, said, as she threw into the flames the speech made by the +President on his arrival in France: +</p> + +<p> +“ . . . I have fought for liberty for seventy years, and I protest +against the President’s leaving our country with this old fight here +unwon.” +</p> + +<p> +The crowd burst into applause and continued to cheer as she was assisted from +the plinth of the statue, too frail to dismount by herself. Then came the other +representative women, from Massachusetts to California, from Georgia to +Michigan, each one consigning to the flames a special declaration of the +President’s on freedom. The flames burned brighter and brighter and leapt +higher as the night grew black. +</p> + +<p> +The casual observer said, “They must be crazy. Don’t they know the +President isn’t at home? Why are they appealing to him in the park +opposite the White House when he is in France?” +</p> + +<p> +The long line of bright torches shone menacingly as the women marched slowly +back to headquarters, and the crowd dispersed in silence. The White House +<i>was</i> empty. But we knew our message would be heard in France. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>Chapter 21<br/> +Watchfires of Freedom</h2> + +<p> +December came to an end with no plan for action on the amendment assured. This +left us January and February only before the session would end. The President +had not yet won the necessary 2 votes. We decided therefore to keep a perpetual +fire to consume the President’s speeches on democracy as fast as he made +them in Europe. +</p> + +<p> +And so on New Year’s Day, 1919, we light our first watchfire of freedom +in the Urn dedicated to that purpose. We place it on the sidewalk in a direct +line with the President’s front door. The wood comes from a tree in +</p> + +<p> +Independence Square, Philadelphia. It burns gaily. Women with banners stand +guard over the watchfire. A bell hung in the balcony at headquarters tolls +rhythmically the beginning of the watch. It tolls again as the +President’s words are tossed to the flames. His speech to the workingmen +of Manchester; his toast to the King at Buckingham Palace: “We have used +great words, all of us. We have used the words ‘right’ and +‘justice’ and now we are to prove whether or not we understand +these words;” his speech at Brest; all turn into ignominious brown ashes. +</p> + +<p> +The bell tolls again when the watch is changed. All Washington is reminded +hourly that we are at the President’s gate, burning his words. From +Washington the news goes to all the world. +</p> + +<p> +People gather to see the ceremony. The omnipresent small boys and soldiers +jeer, and some tear the banners. A soldier rushes to the scene with a bucket of +water which does not extinguish the flames. The fire burns as if by magic. A +policeman arrives and uses a fire extinguisher. But the fire burns on! The +flames are as indomitable as the women who guard them! Rain comes, but all +through the night the watchfire burns. All through the night the women stand +guard. +</p> + +<p> +Day and night the fire burns. Boys are permitted by the police to scatter it in +the street, to break the. urn, and to demolish the banners. But each time the +women rekindle the fire. A squad of policemen tries to demolish the fire. While +the police are engaged at the White House gates, other women go quietly in the +dusk to the huge bronze urn in Lafayette Park and light another watchfire. A +beautiful blaze leaps into the air from the great urn. The police hasten +hither. The burning contents are overturned. Alice Paul refills the urn and +kindles a new fire. She is placed under arrest. Suddenly a third blaze is seen +in a remote corner of the park. The policemen scramble to that corner. When the +watchfires have been continued for four days and four nights,, in spite of the +attempts by the police to extinguish them, general orders to arrest are sent to +the squad of policemen. +</p> + +<p> +Five women are taken to the police station. The police captain is outraged that +the ornamental urn valued at $10,000 should have been used to hold a fire which +burned the President’s words! His indignation leaves the defendants +unimpressed, however, and he becomes conciliatory. Will the “ladies +promise to be good and light no more fires in the park?” +</p> + +<p> +Instead, the “ladies” inquire on what charge they are held. Not +even the police captain knows. They wait at the police station to find out, +refusing to give bail unless they are told. Meanwhile other women address the +crowd lingering about the watchfire. The crowd asks thoughtful questions. +Little knots of men can be seen discussing “what the whole thing is about +anyway.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Mildred Morris, one of the participants, overheard the following +discussion in one group composed of an old man, a young sailor and a young +soldier. +</p> + +<p> +“But whatever you think of them,” the sailor was telling the +soldier, “you have to admire their sincerity and courage. They’ve +got to do this thing. They want only what’s their right and real men want +to give it to them.” +</p> + +<p> +“But they’ve got no business using a sidewalk in front of the White +House for a bonfire,” declared the soldier. “It’s disloyal to +the President, I tell you, and if they weren’t women I’d slap their +faces.” +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, sonny,” said the old man, patting the soldier’s arm, +“I’m as loyal to the President as any man alive, but I’ve got +to admit that he ain’t doing the right thing towards these women. +He’s forced everything else he’s wanted through Congress, and if he +wanted to give these women the vote badly enough he could force the suffrage +amendment through. If you and I were in these women’s places, sonny, +we’d act real vicious. We’d want to come here and clean out the +,whole White House.” +</p> + +<p> +“But if the President doesn’t want to push their amendment through, +it’s his right not to,” argued the soldier. “It’s +nobody’s business how he uses his power.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good God!” the sailor burst out. “Why don’t you go +over and get a job shining the Kaiser’s boots?” +</p> + +<p> +The women were released without bail, since no one was able to supply a charge. +But a thorough research was instituted and out of the dusty archives some one +produced an ancient statute that would serve the purpose. It prohibits the +building of fires in a public place in the District of Columbia between sunset +and sunrise. And so the beautiful Elizabethan custom of lighting watchfires as +a form of demonstration was forbidden! +</p> + +<p> +In a few days eleven women were brought to trial. There was a titter in the +court room as the prosecuting attorney read with heavy pomposity the charge +against the prisoners “to wit: That on Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, in +the District of Columbia they did aid and abet in setting fire to certain +combustibles consisting of logs, paper, oil, etc., between the setting of the +sun in the said District of Columbia on the sixth day of January and the rising +of the sun in the said District of Columbia o f the sixth day o f January, +1919, A. D.” +</p> + +<p> +The court is shocked to hear of this serious deed. The prisoners are +unconcerned. +</p> + +<p> +“Call the names of the prisoners,” the judge orders. The clerk +calls, “Julia Emory.” +</p> + +<p> +No answer! +</p> + +<p> +“Julia Emory,” he calls a second time. +</p> + +<p> +Dead silence! +</p> + +<p> +The clerk tries another name, a second, a third, a fourth. Always there is +silence! +</p> + +<p> +In a benevolent tone, the judge asks the policeman to identify the prisoners. +They identify as many as they can. An attempt is made to have the prisoners +rise and be sworn. They sit. +</p> + +<p> +“We will go on with the testimony,” says the judge. +</p> + +<p> +The police testify as to the important details of the crime. They were on +Pennsylvania Avenue—they looked at their watch—they learned it was +about 5:30—they saw the ladies in the park putting wood on fires in urns. +“I threw the wood on the pavement; they kept putting it back,” says +one policeman. “Each time I tried to put out the fire they threw on more +wood,” says another. “They kept on lighting new fires, and +I’d keep putting them out,” says a third with an injured air. +</p> + +<p> +The prosecuting attorney asks an important question, “Did you command +them to stop?” +</p> + +<p> +Policeman—“I did sir, and I said, ‘You ladies don’t +want to be arrested do you?’ They made no answer but went on attending to +their fires.” +</p> + +<p> +The statute is read for the second time. Another witness is called. This time +the district attorney asks the policeman,—“Do you know what time +the sun in the District of Columbia set on January 5th and rose on January +6th?” +</p> + +<p> +At this profound question, the policeman hesitates, looks abashed, then says +impressively, “The sun in the District of Columbia set at 5 o’clock +January 5th, and rose at 7:28 o’clock January 6th.” +</p> + +<p> +The prosecutor is triumphant. He looks expectantly at the judge. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know what time the sun rose and set on those days?” +asks the judge. +</p> + +<p> +“From the weather bureau,” answers the policeman. +</p> + +<p> +The judge is perplexed. +</p> + +<p> +“I think we should have something more official,” he says. +</p> + +<p> +The prosecutor suggests that perhaps an almanac would settle the question. The +judge believes it would. The government attorney disappears to find an almanac. +</p> + +<p> +Breathless, the prisoners and spectators wait to hear the important verdict of +the almanac. The delay is interminable. The court room is in a state of +confusion. The prisoners, especially, are amused at the proceedings. It is +clear their fate may hang upon a minute or two of time. An hour goes by, and +still the district attorney has not returned. Another half hour! Presently he +returns to read in heavy tones from the almanac. The policeman looks +embarrassed. His information from the weather bureau differs from that of the +almanac. His sun rose two minutes too early and continued to shine twelve +minutes too long! However, it doesn’t matter. The sun shone long enough +to make the defendants guilty. +</p> + +<p> +The judge looks at the prisoners and announces that they are +“guilty” and “shall pay a fine of $5.00 or serve five days in +jail.” The Administration has learned its lesson about hunger strikes and +evidently fears having to yield to another strike. And so it seeks safety in +lighter sentences. The judge pleads almost piteously with them not to go to +jail at all, and says that he will put them on probation if they will promise +to be good and not light any more fires in the District of Columbia. The +prisoners make no promise. They have been found guilty according to the almanac +and they file through the little gate into the prisoners’ pen. +</p> + +<p> +Somehow they did not believe that whether the sun rose at 7:26 or 7:28 was the +issue which had decided whether they should be convicted or not, and it was not +in protest against the almanac that they straightway entered upon a hunger +strike. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the watchfires continued in the capital. January thirteenth, the day +the great world Peace Conference under the President’s leadership, began +to deliberate on the task of administering “right” and +“justice” to all the oppressed of the earth, twenty-three women +were arrested in front of the White House. +</p> + +<p> +Another trial! More silent prisoners! They were to be tried this time in +groups. A roar of applause from friends in the courtroom greeted the first four +as they came in. The judge said that he could not possibly understand the +motive for this outburst, and added, “If it is repeated, I shall consider +it contempt of court.” He then ordered the bailiff to escort the four +prisoners out and bring them in again.—Shades of school days! +</p> + +<p> +“And if there is any applause this time . . .” +</p> + +<p> +With this threat still in the air, the prisoners reentered and the applause was +louder than before. Great Confusion! The judge roared at the bailiff. The +bailiff roared at the prisoners and their friends. +</p> + +<p> +Finally they rushed to the corners of the courtroom and evicted three young +women. +</p> + +<p> +“Lock the doors, and see that they do not return,” shouted the +angry judge. Thus the dignity of the court was restored. But the group idea had +to be abandoned. The prisoners were now brought in one at a time, and one +policeman after another testified that, “she kep’ alightin’ +and alightin’ fires.” +</p> + +<p> +Five days’ imprisonment for each woman who “kep’ +alightin’” watchfires! +</p> + +<p> +On January 25th, in Paris, President Wilson received a delegation of French +working women who urged woman suffrage as one of the points to be settled at +the Peace Conf6rence. The President expressed admiration for the women of +France, and told them of his deep personal interest in the enfranchisement of +women. He was ‘honored’ and ‘touched’ by their tribute. +It was a great moment for the President. He had won the position in the eyes of +the world of a devout champion of the liberty of women, but at the very moment +he was speaking to these French women American women were lying in the District +of Columbia jail for demanding liberty at his gates. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Mary Nolan, the eldest suffrage prisoner, took to the watchfire those vain +words of the President to the French women. The flames were just +consuming—“All sons of freedom are under oath to see that freedom +never suffers,” when a whole squadron of police dashed up to arrest her. +There was a pause when they saw her age. They drew back for an instant. Then +one amongst them, more “dutiful” than the rest, quietly placed her +under arrest. As she marched along by his side, cheers for her went up from all +parts of the crowd. +</p> + +<p> +“Say what you think about them, but that little old lady has certainly +got pluck,” they murmured. +</p> + +<p> +At the bar Mrs. Nolan’s beautiful speech provoked irrepressible applause. +The judge ordered as many offenders as could be recognized brought before him. +Thirteen women were hastily produced. The trial was suspended while the judge +sentenced these thirteen to “forty-eight hours in jail for contempt of +court.” +</p> + +<p> +And so, throughout January and the beginning of February, 1919, the story of +protest continued relentlessly. +Watchfires—arrests—convictions—hunger +strikes—release—until again the nation rose in protest against +imprisoning the women and against the Senate’s delay. Peremptory cables +went to the President at the Peace Conference, commanding him to act. News of +our demonstrations were well reported in the Paris press. The situation must +have again seemed serious to him, for although reluctantly and perhaps +unwillingly, he did begin to cable to Senate leaders, who in turn began to act. +On February 2d, the Democratic Suffrage Senators called a meeting at the +Capitol to “consider ways and means.” On February 3d, Senator Jones +announced in the Senate that the amendment would be-brought up for discussion +February 10th. The following evening, February 4th, a caucus of all Democratic +Senators was called together at the Capitol by Senator Martin of Virginia, +Democratic floor leader in the Senate. This was the first Democratic caucus +held in the Senate since war was declared, which would seem to point to the +anxiety of the Democrats to marshal two votes. +</p> + +<p> +Several hours of very passionate debate occurred, during which Senator Pollock +of South Carolina announced for the first time his support of the measure. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Pollock had yielded to pressure by cable from the President as well as +to the caucus. This gain of one vote had reduced the number of votes lacking to +one. +</p> + +<p> +Many Democratic leaders now began to show alarm lest the last vote be not +secured. William Jennings Bryan was one leader who, rightly alarmed over such a +situation, personally consulted with the Democratic opponents. The argument +which he presented to them he subsequently gave to the press. +</p> + +<p> +“Woman suffrage is coming to the country and to the world. It will be +submitted to the states by the next Congress, if it is not submitted by the +present Congress. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope the Democrats of the South will not handicap the Democrats of the +North by compelling them to spend the next twenty-five years explaining to the +women of the country why their party prevented the submission of the suffrage +amendment to the states. +</p> + +<p> +“This is our last chance to play an important part in bringing about this +important reform, and it is of vital political concern that the Democrats of +the Northern Mississippi Valley should not be burdened by the charge that our +party prevented the passage of the suffrage amendment, especially when it is +known that it is coming in spite of, if not with the aid of, the Democratic +Party.” +</p> + +<p> +As we grew nearer the last vote the President was meeting what was perhaps his +most bitter resistance from within. It was a situation which he could have +prevented. His own early hostility, his later indifference and negligence, his +actual protection given to Democratic opponents of the measure, his own +reversal of policy practically at the point of a pistol, the half-hearted +efforts made by him on its behalf, were all coming to fruition at the moment +when his continued prestige was at stake. His power to get results on this +because of belated efforts was greatly weakened. This also undermined his power +in other undertakings essential to his continued prestige. Whereas more effort, +at an earlier time, would have brought fairer results, now the opponents were +solidified in their opposition, were through their votes publicly committed to +the nation as opponents, and were unwilling to sacrifice their heavy dignity to +a public reversal of their votes. This presented a formidable resistance, +indeed. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore the Democratic blockade continued. +</p> + +<p> +And so did the watchfires ! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap27"></a>Chapter 22<br/> +Burned in Effigy</h2> + +<p> +The suffrage score now stood as follows: One vote lacking in the Senate, 15 +days in which to win it, and President Wilson across the sea! The Democrats set +February 10 as the date on which the Senate would again vote on the amendment, +without any plan as to how the last vote would be won. +</p> + +<p> +We were powerless to secure the last vote. That was still the President’s +problem. Knowing that he always put forth more effort under fire of protest +from us than when not pressed, we decided to make as a climax to our watchfire +demonstrations a more drastic form of protest. We wanted to show our contempt +for the President’s inadequate support which promised so much in words +and which did so little in deeds to match the words. +</p> + +<p> +And so on the day preceding the vote we burned in effigy a portrait of +President Wilson even as the Revolutionary fathers had burned a portrait of +King George.[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] This is the inscription on a tablet at the State House, Dover Green, Dover, +in commemoration of Delaware’s revolutionary leaders.<br/> + Signers of the Declaration of Independence.<br/> + Caeser Rodney—Thomas McKain—George Read<br/> + At the urgent request of Thomas McKain, Caesar Rodney being then in +Delaware, rode post haste on horseback to Philadelphia and reached Independence +Hall July 4, 1776.<br/> + The following day news of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence +reaching Dover a portrait of King George was burned on Dover Green at the order +of the Committee of Safety. The following historic words being uttered by the +chairman:<br/> + “Compelled by strong necessity thus we destroy even the shadow of +that king who refused to reign over a free people.” +</p> + +<p> +A hundred women marched with banners to the center of the sidewalk opposite the +White House. Mingling with the party’s tri- colored banners were two +lettered ones which read: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +ONLY FIFTEEN LEGISLATIVE DAYS ARE LEFT IN THIS CONGRESS. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +FOR MORE THAN A YEAR THE PRESIDENT’S PARTY HAS BLOCKED SUFFRAGE IN THE +SENATE. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +IT IS BLOCKING IT TODAY. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE PRESIDENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN WOMANHOOD. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +And— +</p> + +<p class="center"> +WHY DOES NOT THE PRESIDENT INSURE THE PASSAGE OF SUFFRAGE IN THE SENATE +TO-MORROW? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +WHY DOES HE NOT WIN FROM HIS PARTY THE ONE VOTE NEEDED? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +HAS HE AGREED TO PERMIT SUFFRAGE AGAIN TO BE PUSHED ASIDE? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +PRESIDENT WILSON IS DECEIVING THE WORLD. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +HE PREACHES DEMOCRACY ABROAD AND THWARTS DEMOCRACY HERE. +</p> + +<p> +As the marchers massed their banners, and grouped themselves about the urn, a +dense crowd of many thousand people closed in about them, a crowd so interested +that it stood almost motionless for two hours while the ceremonies continued. +The fire being kindled, and the flames leaping into the air, Miss Sue White of +Tennessee and Mrs. Gabrielle Harris of South Carolina dropped into the fire in +the urn a figure of President Wilson sketched on paper in black and +white—a sort of effigy de luxe, we called it, but a symbol of our +contempt none the less. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs. Henry O. Havemeyer of New York, life-long suffragist and woman of affairs, +said as master of the ceremonies, “Every Anglo-Saxon government in the +world has enfranchised its women. In Russia, in Hungary, in Austria, in Germany +itself, the women are completely enfranchised, and thirty-four women are now +sitting in the new Reichstag. We women of America are assembled here to-day to +voice our deep indignation that . . . American women are still deprived of a +voice in their government at home. We mean to show that the President . . . +.” She was caught by the arm, placed under arrest, and forced into the +waiting patrol wagon. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the police fell upon the ceremonies, and indiscriminate arrests +followed. Women with banners were taken; women without banners were taken. +Women attempting to guard the fire; women standing by doing nothing at all; all +were seized upon and rushed to the patrol. While this uproar was going on, +others attempted to continue the speaking where Mrs. Havemeyer had left it, but +each was apprehended as she made her attempt. Some that had been scheduled to +speak, but were too shy to utter a word in the excitement, were also taken. +When the “Black Marias” were all filled to capacity, nearby +automobiles were commandeered, and more patrols summoned. And still not even +half the women were captured. +</p> + +<p> +The police ceased their raids suddenly. Orders to arrest no more had evidently +been given. Some one must have suggested that a hundred additions to the +already overcrowded jail and workhouse would be too embarrassing. Perhaps the +ruse of arresting some, and hoping the others would scamper away at the sight +of authority, was still in their minds. +</p> + +<p> +After a brief respite they turned their attention to the fascinated crowd. They +succeeded in forcing back these masses of people half way across Pennsylvania +Avenue, and stationed an officer every two feet in front of them. But still +women came to keep the fire burning. Was there no end of this battalion of +women? The police finally declared a “military zone” between the +encircling crowd and the remaining women, and no person was allowed to enter +the proscribed area. For, another hour, then, the women stood on guard at the +urn, and as night fell, the ceremonies ended. Sixty of them marched back to +headquarters. Thirty-nine had been arrested. +</p> + +<p> +The following morning, February 10th, saw two not unrelated scenes in the +capital. Senators were gathering in their seats in the senate chamber to +answer. to the roll call on the suffrage amendment. A few blocks away in the +courthouse, thirty-nine women were being tried for their protest of the +previous day. +</p> + +<p> +There was no uncertainty either in the minds of the galleries or of the +senators. Every one knew that we still lacked one vote. The debate was confined +to two speeches, one for and one against. +</p> + +<p> +When the roll was called, there were voting and paired in favor of the +amendment, 63 senators; there were voting and paired against the amendment 83 +senators. The amendment lost therefore, by one vote. Of the 63 favorable votes +62 were Republicans and 31 Democrats. Of the 33 adverse votes 12 were +Republicans and 21 Democrats. This means that of the 44 Republicans in the +Senate, 32 or 73 per cent voted for the amendment. Of the 52 Democrats in the +Senate 31 or 60 per cent voted for it. And so it was again defeated by the +opposition of the Democratic Administration, and by the failure of the +President to put behind it enough power to win. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile another burlesque of justice dragged wearily on in the dim courtroom. +The judge was sentencing thirty-nine women to prison. When the twenty-sixth had +been reached, he said wearily, “How many more are out there?” +</p> + +<p> +When told that he had tried only two-thirds of the defendants, he dismissed the +remaining thirteen without trial! +</p> + +<p> +They were as guilty as their colleagues. But the judge was tired. Twenty-six +women sent to jail is a full judicial day’s work, I suppose. +</p> + +<p> +There was some rather obvious shame and unhappiness in the Senate because of +the petty thing they had done. The prisoners in the courtroom were proud +because they had done their utmost for the principle in which they believed. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Jones of New Mexico, Chairman of the Committee, and his Democratic +colleagues refused to reintroduce the Susan B. Anthony amendment in the Senate +immediately after this defeat. But on Monday, February 17, Senator Jones of +Washington, ranking Republican on the Suffrage Committee, obtained unanimous +consent and reintroduced it, thereby placing it once more on its way to early +reconsideration. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap28"></a>Chapter 23<br/> +Boston Militants Welcome the President</h2> + +<p> +It was announced that the President would return to America on February 24th. +That would leave seven days in which he could act before the session ended on +March 3d. We determined to make another dramatic effort to move him further. +</p> + +<p> +Boston was to be the President’s landing place. Boston, where ancient +liberties are so venerated, and modern ones so abridged. No more admirable +place could have been found to welcome the President home in true militant +fashion. +</p> + +<p> +Wishing the whole world to know that women were greeting President Wilson, why +they were greeting him, and what form of demonstration the greetings would +assume, we announced our plans in advance. Upon his arrival a line of pickets +would hold banners silently calling to the President’s attention the +demand for his effective aid. In the afternoon they would hold a meeting in +Boston Common and there burn the parts of the President’s Boston speech +which should pertain to democracy and liberty. These announcements were met +with official alarm of almost unbelievable extent. Whereas front pages had been +given over heretofore to publishing the elaborate plans for the welcome to be +extended to the President, eulogies of the President, and recitals of his great +triumph abroad, now the large proportion of this space was devoted to clever +plans of the police to outwit the suffragists. The sustained publicity of this +demonstration was unprecedented. It actually filled the Boston papers for all +of two weeks. +</p> + +<p> +A “deadline,” a diagram of which appeared in the press, was to be +established beyond which no suffragist, no matter how enterprising, could +penetrate to harass the over-worked President with foolish ideas about the +importance of liberty for women. Had not this great man the cares of the world +on his shoulders? This was no time to talk about liberty for women! The world +was rocking and a great peace conference was sitting, and the President was +just returning to report on the work done so far. The Boston descendants of the +early revolutionists would do their utmost to see that no untoward event should +mar the perfection of their plans. They would see to it that the sacred soil of +the old Boston Common should not be disgraced. +</p> + +<p> +It was a perfect day. Lines of marines whose trappings shone brilliantly in the +clear sunshine were in formation to hold back the crowds from the Reviewing +stand where the President should appear after heading the procession in his +honor. It seemed as if all Boston were on hand for the welcome. A slender file +of twenty-two women marched silently into the sunshine, slipped through the +“deadline,” and made its way to the base‘ of the Reviewing +stand. There it unfurled its beautiful banners and took up its post directly +facing the line of marines which was supposed to keep all suffragists at bay. +Quite calmly and yet triumphantly, they stood there, a pageant of beauty and +defiant appeal, which not even the most hurried passerby could fail to see and +comprehend. +</p> + +<p> +There were consultations by the officials in charge of the ceremonies. The +women looked harmless enough, but had they not been told that they must not +come there? They were causing no riot, in fact they were clearly adding much +beauty—people seemed to take them as part of the elaborate +ceremony—but officials seldom have sense of humor enough or adaptability +enough to change quickly, especially when they have made threats. It would be a +taint on their honor, if they did not “pick up” the women for the +deed. +</p> + +<p> +One could hear the people reading slowly the large lettered banner: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +MR. PRESIDENT, YOU SAID IN THE SENATE ON SEPTEMBER 20 “WE SHALL NOT ONLY +BE DISTRUSTED BUT WE SHALL DESERVE TO BE DISTRUSTED IF WE DO NOT ENFRANCHISE +WOMEN.” YOU ALONE CAN REMOVE THIS DISTRUST NOW BY SECURING THE ONE VOTE +NEEDED TO PASS THE SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT BEFORE MARCH 4. +</p> + +<p> +The American flag carried by Miss Katherine Morey of Brookline held the place +of honor at the head of the line and there were the familiar, “Mr. +President, how long must women wait for liberty?” and “Mr. +President, what will you do for woman suffrage?” The other banners were +simply purple, white and gold. +</p> + +<p> +“When we had stood there about three quarters of an hour,” said +Katherine Morey, “Superintendent Crowley came to me and said, ‘We +want to be as nice as we can to you suffragette ladies, but you cannot stand +here while the President goes by, so you might as well go back now.’ I +said I was sorry, but as we had come simply to be there at that very time, we +would not be able to go back until the President had gone by. He thereupon made +a final appeal to Miss Paul, who was at headquarters, but she only repeated our +statement. The patrol wagons were hurried to the scene and the arrests were +executed in an exceedingly gentlemanly manner. But the effect on the crowd was +electric. The sight of ‘ladies’ being put into patrols, seemed to +thrill the Boston masses as nothing the President subsequently said was able +to. +</p> + +<p> +“We were taken to the House of Detention and there charged with +‘loitering more than seven minutes’.” +</p> + + +<p> +As Mrs. Agnes H. Morey, Massachusetts Chairman of the Woman’s Party, +later remarked: +</p> + +<p> +“It is a most extraordinary thing. Thousands loitered from curiosity on +the day the President arrived. Twenty-two loitered for liberty, and only those +who loitered for liberty were arrested.” +</p> + +<p> +Realizing that the event of the morning had diverted public attention to our +issue, and undismayed by the arrests, other women entered the lists to sustain +public attention upon our demand to the President. +</p> + +<p> +The ceremony on the Common began at three o’clock. Throngs of people +packed in closely in an effort to hear the speakers, and to catch a glimpse of +the ceremony, presided over by Mrs. Louise Sykes of Cambridge, whose late +husband was President of the Connecticut College for Women. From three +o’clock until six, women explained the purpose of the protest, the status +of the amendment, and urged those present to help. At six o’clock came +the order to arrest. Mrs. C. C. Jack, wife of Professor Jack of Harvard +University, Mrs. Mortimer Warren of Boston, whose husband was head of a base +hospital in France, and Miss Elsie Hill, daughter of the late Congressman Hill, +were arrested and were taken to the House of Detention, where they joined their +comrades. +</p> + +<p> +“Dirty, filthy hole under the Court House,” was the general +characterization of the House of Detention. “Jail was a Paradise compared +to this depraved place,” said Miss Morey. “We slept in our clothes, +four women to a cell, on iron shelves two feet wide. In the cell was an open +toilet. The place slowly filled up during the night with drunks and +disorderlies until pandemonium reigned. In the evening, Superintendent Crowley +and Commissioner Curtis came to call on us. I don’t believe they had ever +been there before, and they were painfully embarrassed. Superintendent Crowley +said to me, “If you were drunk we could release you in the morning, but +unfortunately since you are not we have got to take you into court.” +</p> + +<p> +When the prisoners were told next morning the decision of Chief Justice Bolster +to try each prisoner separately and in closed court, they all protested against +such proceedings. But guards took the women by force to a private room. +“The Matron, who was terrified,” said Miss Morey, “shouted to +the guards, ‘You don’t handle the drunks that way. You know you +don’t.’ But they continued to push, shove and shake the women while +forcing them to the ante room.” +</p> + +<p> +“As an American citizen under arrest, I demand a public trial,” was +the statement of each on entering the judge’s private trial room. +</p> + +<p> +While the trial was proceeding without the women’s +cooperation,—some were tried under wrong names, some were tried more than +once under different names, but most of them under the name of Jane +Doe—vigorous protests were being made to all the city officials by +individuals among the throngs who had come to the court house to attend the +trial. This protest was so strong that the last three women were tried in open +court. The judge sentenced everybody impartially to eight days in j ail in lieu +of fines, with the exception of Miss Wilma Henderson, who was released when it +was learned that she was a minor. +</p> + +<p> +The women were taken to the Charles Street Jail to serve their sentences. +“The cells were immaculately clean,” said Miss Morey, “but +there was one feature of this experience which obliterated all its advantages. +The cells were without modern toilet facilities. The toilet equipment consisted +of a heavy wooden bucket, about two and a half feet high and a foot and a half +in diameter, half filled with water. No one of us will ever forget that foul +bucket. It had to be carried to the lower floor—we were on the third and +fourth floors—every morning. I could hardly lift mine off the floor, to +say nothing of getting it down stairs (Miss Morey weighs 98 pounds), so there +it stayed. Berry Pottier managed to get hers down, but was so exhausted she was +utterly unable to get it back to her cell. +</p> + +<p> +“The other toilet facility provided was a smaller bucket of water to wash +in, but it was of such a strangely unpleasant odor that we did not dare use +it.” +</p> + +<p> +The Boston reporters were admitted freely—and they wrote columns of copy. +There was the customary ridicule, but there were friendly light touches such +as, “Militant Highlights—To be roommates at Vassar College and then +to meet again as cellmates was the experience of Miss Elsie Hill and Mrs. Lois +Warren Shaw.” . . . “Superintendent Kelleher didn’t know when +he was in Congress with Elsie Hill’s father he would some day have +Congressman Hill’s daughter in his jail.” +</p> + +<p> +And there were friendly serious touches in these pages of sensational +news—such as this excerpt from the front page of the Boston Traveler of +February 25, 1919. “The reporter admired the spirit of the women. Though +weary from loss of sleep, the fire of a great purpose burned in their eyes . . +. . +</p> + +<p> +“It was a sublime forgetting of self for the goal ahead, and whether the +reader is in sympathy with the principle for which these women are ready to +suffer or not, he will be forced to admire the spirit which leads them +on.” +</p> + +<p> +Photographs of the women were printed day by day—giving their +occupations, if any, noting their revolutionary ancestors, ascertaining the +attitude of husbands and fathers. Mrs. Shaw’s husband’s telegram +was typical of the support the women got. “Don’t be +quitters,” he wired, “I have competent nurses to look after the +children.” Mr. Shaw is a Harvard graduate and a successful manufacturer +in Manchester, New Hampshire. +</p> + +<p> +Telegrams of protest from all over the country poured in upon all the Boston +officials who had had any point of contact with the militants. All other work +was for the moment suspended. Such is the quality of Mrs. Morey’s +organizing genius that she did not let a solitary official escape. Telegrams +also went from Boston, and especially from the jail, to President Wilson. +</p> + +<p> +Official Boston was in the grip of this militant invasion when suddenly a man +of mystery, one E. J. Howe, appeared and paid the women’s fines. It was +later discovered that the mysterious E. J. Howe alleged to have acted for a +“client.” Whether the “client” was a part of Official +Boston, no one ever knew. There were rumors that the city wished to end its +embarrassment. +</p> + +<p> +Sedate Boston had been profoundly shaken. Sedate Boston gave more generously +than ever before to militant finances. And when the “Prison +Special” arrived a few days later a Boston theatre was filled to +overflowing with a crowd eager to hear more about their local heroines, and to +cheer them while they were decorated with the already famous prison pin. +</p> + +<p> +Something happened in Washington, too, after the President’s safe journey +thither from Boston. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap29"></a>Chapter 24<br/> +Democratic Congress Ends</h2> + +<p> +It would be folly to say that President Wilson was not at this time aware of a +very damning situation. +</p> + +<p> +The unanswerable “Prison Special”—a special car of women +prisoners—was touring the country from coast to coast to keep the public +attention, during the closing days of the session, fixed upon the suffrage +situation in the Senate. The prisoners were addressing enormous meetings and +arousing thousands, especially in the South, to articulate condemnation of +Administration tactics. It is impossible to calculate the number of cables +which, as a result of this sensational tour, reached the President during his +deliberations at the Peace Table. The messages of protest which did not reach +the President at the Peace Conference were waiting for him on his desk at the +White House. +</p> + +<p> +Even if some conservative Boston suffragists did present him with a beautiful +bouquet of jonquils tied with a yellow ribbon, as their welcome home, will any +one venture to say that that token of trust was potent enough to wipe from his +consciousness the other welcome which led his welcomers to jail? Will any one +contend that President Wilson upon his arrival in Washington, and after +changing his clothes, piously remarked: +</p> + +<p> +“By the way, Tumulty, I want to show you some jonquils tied with a yellow +ribbon that were presented to me in Boston. I am moved, I think I may say +deeply moved by this sincere tribute, to do something this morning for woman +suffrage. Just what is the state of affairs? And does there seem to be any +great demand for it?” We do not know what, if anything, he did say to +Secretary Tumulty, but we know what he did. He hurried over to the Capitol, and +there made his first official business a conference with Senator Jones of New +Mexico, Chairman of the Senate Suffrage Committee. After expressing chagrin +over the failure of the measure in the Senate, the President discussed ways and +means of getting it through. +</p> + +<p> +An immediate result of the conference was the introduction in the Senate, +February 28th, by Senator Jones, of another resolution on suffrage. Senator +Jones had refused to reintroduce the original suffrage resolution immediately +after the Senate defeat, February 10th. Now he came forward with this one, a +little differently worded, but to the same purpose as the original +amendment.[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] This amendment, although to the same purpose as the original amendment, was +not as satisfactory because of possible controversial points in the enforcement +article. The original amendment is of course crystal clear in this regard. +</p> + +<p> +This resolution was a concession to Senator Gay of Louisiana, Democrat, who had +voted against the measure on February 10th, but who immediately pledged his +vote in favor of the new resolution. Thus the sixty-fourth and last vote was +won. The majority instantly directed its efforts toward getting a vote on the +new resolution. +</p> + +<p> +On March 1st Senator Jones attempted to get unanimous consent to consider it. +Senator Wadsworth, of New York, Republican anti- suffragist, objected. When +consent was again asked, the following day, Senator Weeks of Massachusetts, +Republican anti-suffragist, objected. On the last day of the session, Senator +Sherman of Illinois, Republican suffragist, objected. And so the Democratic +Congress ended without passing the amendment. +</p> + +<p> +On the face of it, these parliamentary objections from Republicans prevented +action, when the Democrats had finally secured the necessary votes. As a matter +of fact, however, the President and his party were responsible for subjecting +the amendment to the tactical obstruction of individual anti-suffrage Senators. +They waited until the last three days to make the supreme effort. That the +President did finally get the last vote even at a moment when parliamentary +difficulties prevented it from being voted upon, proved our contention that he +could pass the amendment at any time he set himself resolutely to it. This last +ineffective effort also proved how hard the President had been pushed by our +tactics. +</p> + +<p> +But it seems to me that President Wilson has a pathetic aptitude for acting a +little too late. The fact that the majority of the Southern contingent in his +party stood stubbornly against him on woman suffrage, was of course a real +obstacle. But we contended that the business of a statesman who declared +himself to be a friend of a measure was to remove even real obstacles to the +success of that measure. Perhaps our standard was too high. It must be +confessed that people in general are distressingly patient, easily content with +pronouncements, and shockingly inert about seeing to it that political leaders +act as they speak. +</p> + +<p> +We had seen the President overcome far greater obstacles than stood in his way +on this issue. We had seen him lead a country which had voted to stay out of +the European war into battle almost immediately after they had so voted. We had +seen him conscript the men of the same stubborn South, which had been +conspicuously opposed to conscription. We had seen him win mothers to his war +point of view after they had fought passionately for him and his peace program +at election time. He had taken pains to lead men and women influential and +obscure—to his way of thinking. I do not condemn him—I respect him +for being able to do this. The point is that he dirt overcome obstacles when +his heart and head were set to the task. +</p> + +<p> +Since our problem was neither in his head nor his heart, it was our task to put +it there. Having got it there, it was our - responsibility to see that it +churned and churned there, until he had to act. We did our utmost. +</p> + +<p> +For six full years, through three Congresses under President Wilson’s +power, the continual Democratic resistance, meandering, delays, deceits had +left us still disfranchised. A world war had come and gone during this span of +effort. Vast millions had died in pursuit of liberty. A Czar and a Kaiser had +been deposed. The Russian people had revolutionized their whole social and +economic system. And here in the United States of America we couldn’t +even wrest from the leader of democracy and his poor miserable associates the +first step toward our political liberty—the passage of an amendment +through Congress, submitting the question of democracy to the states! +</p> + +<p> +What a magnificent thing it was for those women to rebel! Their solitary +steadfastness to their objective stands out in this world of confused ideals +and half hearted actions, clear and lonely and superb! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap30"></a>Chapter 25<br/> +A Farewell to President Wilson</h2> + +<p> +The Republican Congress elected in November, 1918, would not sit until +December, 1919—such is our unfortunate system—unless called +together by the President in a special session. We had polled the new Congress +by personal interviews and by post, and found a safe two-thirds majority for +the amendment in the House. In the new Senate we still lacked a fateful one +vote. +</p> + +<p> +Our task was, therefore, to induce the President to call a special session of +Congress at the earliest possible moment, and to see that he did not relax his +efforts toward the last vote. +</p> + +<p> +“He won’t do it!” . . .”President Wilson will never let +the Republican Congress come together until the regular time.” . . . +“Especially with himself in Europe!” The usual points of objection +were raised. But we persisted. We felt that the President could win this last +vote. And the fear that a Republican Congress might, if he did not, was an +accelerating factor. +</p> + +<p> +One feature of the campaign to force a special session was a demonstration in +New York, on the eve of President Wilson’s return to Europe, at the time +he addressed a mass meeting in the Metropolitan Opera House on behalf of his +proposed League of Nations. The plan of demonstration was to hold outside of +the Opera House banners addressed to President Wilson, and to consign his +speech to the flames of a torch at a public meeting nearby. +</p> + +<p> +It was a clear starry night in March when the picket line of 26 women proceeded +with tri-colored banners from New York headquarters in Forty-first street to +the Opera House. As we neared the corner of the street opposite the Opera House +and before we could cross the street a veritable battalion of policemen in +close formation rushed us with unbelievable ferocity. Not a word was spoken by +a single officer of the two hundred policemen in the attack to indicate the +nature of our offense. Clubs were raised and lowered and the women beaten back +with such cruelty as none of us had ever witnessed before. +</p> + +<p> +The women clung to their heavy banner poles, trying to keep the banners above +the maelstrom. But the police seized them, tore the pennants, broke the poles, +some of them over our backs, trampled them underfoot, pounded us, dragged us, +and in every way behaved like frantic beasts. It would have been so simple +quietly to detain our little handful until after the President’s speech, +if that seemed necessary. But to launch this violent attack under the +circumstances was madness. Not a pedestrian had paid any except friendly +attention to the slender file of women. But the moment this happened an +enormous crowd gathered, made up mostly of soldiers and sailors, many of whom +had just returned from abroad and were temporarily thronging the streets of New +York. They joined forces with the police in the attack. +</p> + +<p> +Miss Margaretta Schuyler, a beautiful, fragile young girl, was holding fast a +silken American flag which she had carried at the head of the procession when a +uniformed soldier jumped upon her, twisted her arms until she cried in pain, +cursed, struggled until he had torn her flag from its pole, and then broke the +pole across her head, exulting in his triumph over his frailer victim. +</p> + +<p> +When I appealed to the policeman, who was at the moment occupied solely with +pounding me on the back, to intercept the soldier in his cruel attack, his only +reply was: “Oh, he’s helping me.” He thereupon resumed his +beating of me and I cried, “Shame, shame! Aren’t you ashamed to +beat American women in this brutal way?” I offered no other resistance. +“If we are breaking any law, arrest us! Don’t beat us in this +cowardly fashion!” +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll rush you like bulls,” was his vulgar answer, +“we’ve only just begun.” +</p> + +<p> +Another young woman, an aviatrice, was seized by the coat collar and thrown to +the pavement for trying to keep hold of her banner. Her fur cap was the only +thing that saved her skull from serious injury. As it was, she was trampled +under foot and her face severely cut before we could rescue her with the +assistance of a sympathetic member of the crowd. The sympathetic person was +promptly attacked by the policeman for helping his victim to her feet. There +were many shouts of disapproval of the police conduct and many cheers for the +women from the dense crowd. +</p> + +<p> +By this time the crowd had massed itself so thickly that we could hardly move +an inch. It was perfectly apparent that we could neither make our way to the +Opera House nor could we extricate ourselves. But the terrors continued. Women +were knocked down and trampled under foot, some of them almost unconscious, +others bleeding from the hands and face; arms were bruised and twisted; +pocketbooks were snatched and wrist-watches stolen. +</p> + +<p> +When it looked as if the suffocating melee would result in the death or +permanent injury to some of us, I was at last dragged by a policeman to the +edge of the crowd. Although I offered not the slightest resistance, I was +crushed continuously in the arm by the officer who walked me to the police +station, and kept muttering: “You’re a bunch of +cannibals,—cannibals,—Bolsheviks.” +</p> + +<p> +Upon arriving at the police station I was happily relieved to find eve of my +comrades already there. We were all impartially cursed at; told to stand up; +told to sit down; forbidden to speak to one another; forbidden even to smile at +one another. One by one we were called to the desk to give our name, age, and +various other pieces of information. We stood perfectly silent before the +station lieutenant as he coaxingly said, “You’d better +tell.”—“You’d better give us your +name.”—“You’d better tell us where you live—it +will make things easier for you.” But we continued our silence. +</p> + +<p> +Disorderly conduct, interfering with the police, assaulting the police (Shades +of Heaven! assaulting the police!), were the charges entered against us. +</p> + +<p> +We were all locked in separate cells and told that we would be taken to the +Woman’s Night Court for immediate trial. +</p> + +<p> +While pondering on what was happening to our comrades and wondering if they, +too, would be arrested, or if they would just be beaten up by the police and +mob, a large, fat jail matron came up and began to deliver a speech, which, ran +something like this: +</p> + +<p> +“Now, shure and you ladies must know that this is goin’ a bit too +far. Now, I’m for suffrage alright, and I believe women ought to vote, +but why do you keep botherin’ the President? Don’t you know he has +got enough to think about with the League of Nations, the Peace Conference and +fixin’ up the whole world on his mind?” +</p> + +<p> +In about half an hour we were taken from our cells and brought before the +Lieutenant, who now announced, “Well, you ladies may go now,—I have +just received a telephone order to release you.” +</p> + +<p> +We accepted the news and jubilantly left the station house, returning at once +to our comrades. There the battle was still going on, and as we joined them we +were again dragged and cuffed about the streets by the police and their aids, +but there were no more arrests. Elsie Hill succeeded in speaking from a balcony +above the heads of the crowd: +</p> + +<p> +“Did you men turn back when you saw the Germans coming? What would you +have thought of any one who did? Did you expect us to turn back? We never turn +back, either—and we won’t until democracy is won! Who rolled +bandages for you when you were suffering abroad? Who bound your wounds in your +fight for democracy? Who spent long hours of the night and the day knitting you +warm garments? There are women here to-night attempting to hold banners to +remind the President that democracy is not won at home; who have given their +sons and husbands for your fight abroad. What would they say if they could see +you, their comrades in the fight over there, attacking their mothers, their +sisters, their wives over here? Aren’t you ashamed that you have not +enough sporting blood to allow us to make our fight in our own way? +Aren’t you ashamed that you accepted the help of women in your fight, and +now to-night brutally attack them?” +</p> + +<p> +And they did listen until the police, in formation—looking now like +wooden toys—advanced from both sides of the street and succeeded in +entirely cutting off the crowd from Miss Hill. +</p> + +<p> +The meeting thus broken up, we abandoned a further attempt that night. As our +little, bannerless procession filed slowly back to headquarters, hoodlums +followed us. The police of course gave us no protection and just as we were +entering the door of our own building a rowdy struck me on the side of the head +with a heavy banner pole. The blow knocked me senseless against the stone +building; my hat was snatched from my head, and burned in the street. We +entered the building to find that soldiers and sailors had been periodically +rushing it in our absence, dragging out bundles of our banners, amounting to +many hundreds of dollars, and burning them in the street, without any protest +from the police. +</p> + +<p> +One does not undergo such an experience without arriving at some inescapable +truths, a discussion of which would interest me deeply but which would be +irrelevant in this narrative. +</p> + +<p> +“Two hundred maddened women try to see the President” . . . +“Two hundred women attack the police,” and similar false headlines, +appeared the next morning in the New York papers. It hurt to have the world +think that we had attacked the police. That was a slight matter, however, for +that morning at breakfast, aboard the George Washington, the President also +read the New York papers. He saw that we were not submitting in silence to his +inaction. It seems reasonable to assume that on sailing down the harbor that +morning past the Statue of Liberty the President had some trouble to banish +from his mind the report that “two hundred maddened women” had +tried to “make the Opera House last night.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap31"></a>Chapter 26<br/> +President Wilson Wins the 64th Vote in Paris</h2> + +<p> +The “Prison Special,” which was nearing the end of its dramatic +tour, was arousing the people to call for a special session of Congress, as the +President sailed away. +</p> + +<p> +Although a Republican Congress had been elected, President Wilson, as the head +of the Administration, was still responsible for initiating and guiding +legislation. We had to see to it that, with his Congress out of ,power, he did +not relax his efforts on behalf of the amendment. +</p> + +<p> +There was this situation which we were able to use to our advantage. Two new +Democratic Senators, Senator Harrison of Mississippi and Senator Harris of +Georgia, had been elected to sit in the incoming Congress through the +President’s influence. He, therefore, had very specific power over these +two men, who were neither committed against suffrage by previous votes nor were +they yet won to the amendment. +</p> + +<p> +We immediately set ourselves to the task of getting the President to win one of +these men. From the election of these two men in the autumn to early spring, +constant pressure was put upon the President to this end. When we could see no +activity on the part of the President to secure the support of one of them, we +again threatened publicly to resume dramatic protests against him. We kept the +idea abroad that he was still responsible, and that we would continue to hold +him so, until the amendment was passed. +</p> + +<p> +Such a situation gave friends of the Administration considerable alarm. They +realized that the slightest attack on the President at that moment would +jeopardize his many other endeavors. And so these friends of the President +undertook to acquaint him with the facts. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Harris was happily in Europe at the time. A most anxious cable, signed +by politicians in his own party, was sent to the President in Paris explaining +the serious situation and urging him to do his utmost to secure the vote of the +Senator at once. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Harris was in Italy when he received an unexpected telegram asking him +to come to Paris. He journeyed with all speed to the President, perhaps even +thinking that he was about to be dispatched to some foreign post, to learn that +the conference was for the purpose of securing his vote on the national +suffrage amendment. +</p> + +<p> +Senator Harris there and then gave his vote, the 64th vote. +</p> + +<p> +On that day the passage by Congress of the original Susan B. Anthony amendment +was assured. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly a cable was received at the White House carrying news to the +suffragists of the final capture of the elusive last vote. Following +immediately on the heels of this cable came another cable calling the new +Congress into special session May 19th. +</p> + +<p> +In the light of the President’s gradual yielding and final surrender to +our demand, it will not be out of place to summarize briefly just what +happened. +</p> + +<p> +President Wilson began his career as President of the United States an +anti-suffragist. He was opposed to suffrage for women both by principle and +political expediency. Sometimes I think he regarded suffragists as a kind of +sect-good women, no doubt, but tiresome and troublesome. Whether he has yet +come to see the suffrage battle as part of a great movement embracing the world +is still a question. It is not an important question, for in any case it was +not inward conviction but political necessity that made him act. +</p> + +<p> +Believing then that suffragists were a sect, he said many things to them at +first with no particular care as to the bearing of these things upon political +theory or events. He offered, successively, “consideration,” an +“open mind,” a “closed mind,” and “age-long +conviction deeply matured,” party limitations, party concert of action, +and what not. He saw in suffrage the “tide rising to meet the +moon,” but waited and advised us to wait with him. But we did not want to +wait, and we proceeded to try to make it impossible for him to wait, either. We +determined to make action upon this issue politically expedient for him. +</p> + +<p> +When the President began to perceive the potential political power of women +voters, he first declared, as a “private citizen,” that suffrage +was all right for the women of his home state, New Jersey, but that it was +altogether wrong to ask him as President to assist in bringing it about for all +the women of the nation. He also interested himself in writing the suffrage +plank in the Democratic Party’s national platform, specifically +relegating action on suffrage to the states. Then he calmly announced that he +could not act nationally, “even if I wanted to,” because the +platform had spoken otherwise. +</p> + +<p> +The controversy was lengthened. The President’s conspicuous ability for +sitting still and doing nothing on a controversial issue until both sides have +exhausted their ammunition was never better illustrated than in this matter. He +allowed the controversy to continue to the point of intellectual sterility. He +buttressed his delays with more evasions, until finally the women intensified +their demand for action. They picketed his official gates. But the President +still recoiled from action. So mightily did he recoil from it that he was +willing to imprison women for demanding it. +</p> + +<p> +It is not extraordinary to resent being called upon to act, for it is only the +exceptional person who springs to action, even when action is admitted to be +desirable and necessary. And the President is not exceptional. He is +surprisingly ordinary. +</p> + +<p> +While the women languished in prison, he fell back upon words—beautiful +words, too—expressions of friendliness, good wishes, hopes, and +may-I-nots. In this, too, he was acting like an ordinary human being, not like +the statesman he was reputed to be. He had habituated himself to a belief in +the power of words, and every time he uttered them to us he seemed to refortify +himself in his belief in their power. +</p> + +<p> +It was the women, not the President, who were exceptional. They refused to +accept words. They persisted in demanding acts. Step by step under terrific +gunfire the President’s resistance crumbled, and he yielded, one by one, +every minor facility to the measure, always withholding from us, however, the +main objective. Not until he had exhausted all minor facilities, and all +possible evasions, did he publicly declare that the amendment should pass the +House, and put it through. When he had done that we rested from the attack +momentarily, in order to let him consummate with grace, and not under fire, the +passage of the amendment in the Senate. He rested altogether. We were therefore +compelled to renew the attack. He countered at first with more words. But his +reliance upon them was perceptibly shaken when we burned them in public +bonfires. He then moved feebly but with a growing concern toward getting +additional votes in the Senate. And when, as an inevitable result of his +policy—and ours—the political embarrassment became too acute, +calling into question his honor and prestige, he covertly began to consult his +colleagues. We pushed him the harder. He moved the faster toward concrete +endeavor. He actually undertook to win the final votes in the Senate. +</p> + +<p> +There he found, however, that quite an alarming situation had developed—a +situation which he Should have anticipated, but for which he was totally +unprepared. Opposition in his own party had been growing more and more rigid +and cynical. His own opposition to the amendment, his grant of immunity to +those leaders in his party who had fought the measure, his isolating himself +from those who might have helped—all this was coming to fruition among +his subordinates at a time when he could least afford to be beaten on anything. +What would have been a fairly easy race to win, if he had begun running at the +pistol shot, had now become most difficult. +</p> + +<p> +Perceiving that he had now not only to move himself, but also to overcome the +obstacle which he had allowed to develop, we increased the energy of our +attack. And finally the President made a supreme assertion of his power, and +secured the last and 64th vote in the Senate. He did this too late to get the +advantage—if any advantage is to be gained from granting a just thing at +the point of a gun—for this last vote arrived only in time for a +Republican Congress to use it. +</p> + +<p> +It seems to me that Woodrow Wilson was neither devil nor God in his manner of +meeting the demand of the suffragists. There has persisted an astounding myth +that he is an extraordinary man. Our experience proved the contrary. He behaved +toward us like a very ordinary politician. Unnecessarily cruel or weakly +tolerant, according as you view the justice of our fight, but a politician, not +a statesman. He did not go out to meet the tide which he himself perceived was +“rising to meet the moon” That would have been statesmanship. He +let it all but engulf him before he acted. And even as a politician he failed, +for his tactics resulted in the passage of the amendment by a Republican +Congress. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap32"></a>Chapter 27<br/> +Republican Congress Passes Amendment</h2> + +<p> +The Republican Congress convened in Special Session May 19. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly Republican leaders in control of the 66th Congress caucused and +organized for a prompt passage of the amendment. May 21st the Republican House +of Representatives passed the measure by a vote of 304 to 89—the first +thing of any importance done by the new House. This was 42 votes above the +required two-thirds majority, whereas the vote in the House in January, 1918, +under Democratic control had given the measure only one vote more than was +required. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately the Democratic National Committee passed a resolution calling on +the legislatures of the various states to hold special legislative sessions +where necessary, to ratify the amendment as soon as it was through Congress, in +order to “enable women to vote in the national elections of 1920.” +</p> + +<p> +When the 64th vote was assured two more Republican Senators announced their +support, Senator Keyes of New Hampshire and Senator Hale of Maine, and on June +4th the measure passed the Senate by a vote of 66 to 30,—2 votes more +than needed.[1] Of the 49 Republicans in the Senate, 40 voted for the +amendment, 9 against. Of the 47 Democrats in the Senate, 26 voted for it and 21 +against. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] These figures include all voting and paired. +</p> + +<p> +And so the assertion that “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,” introduced into Congress by the efforts of Susan B. +Anthony in 1878, was finally submitted to the states for ratification[1] on +June 4th, 1919. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] When a constitutional amendment has passed Congress it must be ratified by +a majority vote of 36 state legislatures and thereupon proclaimed operative by +the Secretary of State of the United States before it becomes the law of the +land. For ratification data see Appendix 1. +</p> + +<p> +I do not need to explain that the amendment was not won from the Republican +Congress between May 19th and June 4th, 1919. The Republican Party had been +gradually coming to appreciate this opportunity throughout our entire national +agitation from 1913 to date. And our attack upon the party in power, which +happened to be President Wilson’s party, had been the most decisive +factor in stimulating the opposition party to espouse our side. It is perhaps +fortunate for the Republican Party that it was their political opponents who +inherited this lively question in 1913. However, the political advantage is +theirs for having promptly and ungrudgingly passed the amendment the moment +they came into power. But it will not be surprising to any one who has read +this book that I conclude by pointing out that the real triumph belongs to the +women. +</p> + +<p> +Our objective was the national enfranchisement of women. A tiny step, you may +say. True! But so long as we know that this is but the first step in the long +struggle of women for political, economic and social emancipation, we need not +be disturbed. If political institutions as we know them to-day in their +discredited condition break down, and another kind of +organization—perhaps industrial—supplants them, women will battle +for their place in the new system with as much determination as they have shown +in the struggle just ended. +</p> + +<p> +That women have been aroused never again to be content with their subjection +there can be no doubt. That they will ultimately secure for themselves equal +power and responsibility in whatever system of government is evolved is +positive. How revolutionary will be the changes when women get this power and +responsibility no one can adequately foretell. One thing is certain. They will +not go back. They will never again be good and willing slaves. +</p> + +<p> +It has been a long, wearying struggle. Although drudgery has persisted +throughout, there have been compensatory moments of great joy and beauty. The +relief that comes after a great achievement is sweet. There is no residue of +bitterness. To be sure, women have often resented it deeply that so much human +energy had to be expended for so simple a right. But whatever disillusionments +they have experienced, they have kept their faith in women. And the winning of +political power by women will have enormously elevated their status. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap33"></a>Appendices</h2> + +<h3>APPENDIX 1</h3> + +<h5>TEXT OF THE NATIONAL SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT</h5> + +<p> +Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States extending the +right of suffrage to women. +</p> + +<p> +Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States o f +America in Congress assembled (twothirds of each House concurring therein), +That the following articles be proposed to 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 +said Constitution, namely: +</p> + +<p> +“ARTICLE—SEC. 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. +</p> + +<p> +“SEC. 2. Congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation, to +enforce the provisions of this article.” +</p> + +<h5>RECORD OF ACTION ON NATIONAL SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT</h5> + +<p> +In Congress +</p> + +<p> +Drafted +</p> + +<p> +By Susan B. Anthony in 1875 +</p> + +<p> +First Introduced +</p> + +<p> +January 10, 1878, by Hon. A. A. Sargent, in the Senate +</p> + +<p> +Reported from Committee +</p> + +<p> +In the Senate 1878, Adverse majority. 1879, Favorable minority. 1882, Favorable +majority, adverse minority. 1884, Favorable majority, adverse minority. 1886, +Favorable majority. 1890, Favorable majority. 1892, Favorable majority, adverse +minority. 1896, Adverse majority. 1913, Favorable majority. 1914, Favorable +majority. 1917, Favorable majority. 1919, Unanimously favorably. +</p> + +<p> +In the House 1883, Favorable majority. 1884, Adverse majority, favorable +minority. 1886, Favorable minority. 1890, Favorable majority. 1894, Adverse +majority. 1914, Without recommendation. 1916, Without recommendation. 1917, +Without recommendation. 1918, Favorable majority. 1919, Favorable majority. +</p> + +<p> +Voted Upon +</p> + +<p> +In the Senate January 25, 1887. Yeas 16, nays 94. Absent 25 (of whom 4 were +announced as for and 2 against). March 19, 1914. Yeas 35, nays 34, failing by +11 of the necessary two thirds vote. October 1, 1918. Yeas 54, nays 30, failing +by 2 of the two-thirds vote. February 10, 1919. Yeas 55, nays 29, failing by 1 +of the necessary two-thirds vote. June 4, 1919. Yeas 56, nays 25, passing by 2 +votes over necessary two-thirds majority. +</p> + +<p> +In the House January 12, 1915. Yeas 174, nays 204, failing by 78 of the +necessary two-thirds vote. January 10, 1918. Yeas 274, nays 136, passing by 1 +vote over necessary two-thirds majority. May 21, 1919. Yeas 304, nays 89, +passing by 42 votes over necessary two-thirds majority +</p> + +<p> +State; Date of Ratification; Vote: Senate, House; Party of Governor; Party +Controlling Legislature +</p> + +<p> +1 Wisconsin June 10, 1919 24—1 54—2 Rep. Rep.<br/> +2 *Michigan June 10, 1919 Unan. Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +3 *Kansas June 16, 1919 Unan. Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +4 *Ohio June 16, 1919 27—3 73—6 Dem. Rep.<br/> +5 *New York June 16, 1919 Unan. Unan. Dem. Rep.<br/> +6 Illinois June 17, 1919 Unan. 133—4 Rep. Rep.<br/> +7 Pennsylvania June 24, 1919 32—6 153—44 Rep. Rep.<br/> +8 Massachusetts June 25, 1919 34—5 184—77 Rep. Rep.<br/> +9 *Texas June 29, 1919 Unan. 96—21 Dem. Dem.<br/> +10 *Iowa July 2, 1919 Unan. 95—5 Rep. Rep.<br/> +11 *Missouri July 3, 1919 28—3 125—4 Dem. Div’d.<br/> +12 *Arkansas July 20, 1919 20—2 76—17 Dem. Dem.<br/> +13 *Montana July 30, 1919 38—1 Unan. Dem. Rep.<br/> +14 *Nebraska Aug. 2, 1919 Unan. Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +15 *Minnesota Sept. 8, 1919 60—5 120—6 Rep. Rep.<br/> +16 *New Hampshire Sept. 10, 1919 14—10 212—143 Rep. Rep.<br/> +17 *Utah Sept. 30, 1919 Unan. Unan. Dem. Dem.<br/> +18 *California Nov. 1, 1919 Unan. 73—2 Rep. Rep.<br/> +19 *Maine Nov. 5, 1919. 24—5 72—68 Rep. Rep.<br/> +20 *North Dakota Dec. 1, 1919 38—4 103—6 Rep. Rep.<br/> +21 *South Dakota Dec. 4, 1919 Unan. Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +22 *Colorado Dec. 12, 1919 Unan. Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +23 Rhode Island Jan. 6, 1920 37—1 89—3 Rep. Rep.<br/> +24 Kentucky Jan. 6, 1920 30—8 72—25 Rep. Div’d.<br/> +25 *Oregon Jan. 12, 1920 Unan. Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +26 *Indiana Jan. 16, 1920 43—3 Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +27 *Wyoming Jan. 27, 1920 Unan. Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +28 *Nevada Feb. 7, 1920 Unan. Unan. Dem. Div’d.<br/> +29 New Jersey Feb. 10, 1920 18—2 34—24 Dem, Rep.<br/> +30 *Idaho Feb. 11, 1920 29—6 Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +31 *Arizona Feb. 12, 1920 Unan. Unan. Rep. Dem.<br/> +32 *New Mexico Feb. 19, 1920 17—5 36—10 Rep. Rep.<br/> +33 *Oklahoma Feb. 27, 1920 24—15 84—12 Dem. Dem.<br/> +34 *West Virginia Mar. 10, 1920 15—14 47—40 Dem. Rep.<br/> +35 *Washington Mar. 22, 1920 Unan. Unan. Rep. Rep.<br/> +36 *Tennessee Aug. 18, 1920 25—4 49—47 Dem. Dem. +</p> + +<p> +* States ratifying at Special Session. +</p> + +<h3>APPENDIX 2</h3> + +<h5>COUNTRIES IN WHICH WOMEN VOTE</h5> + +<p> +Azerbaijain (Moslem) Republic 1919<br/> +Australia 1902<br/> +Austria 1918<br/> +[1]Belgium 1919<br/> +British East Africa 1919<br/> +Canada 1918<br/> +Czecho Slovakia 1918<br/> +Denmark 1915<br/> +[2]England 1918<br/> +Finland 1906<br/> +Germany 1918<br/> +Holland 1919<br/> +Hungary 1918<br/> +Iceland 1919<br/> +Ireland 1918<br/> +Isle of Man 1881<br/> +Luxembourg 1919<br/> +[3]Mexico 1917<br/> +New Zealand 1893<br/> +Norway 1907<br/> +Poland 1918<br/> +Rhodesia 1919<br/> +Russia 1917<br/> +Scotland 1918<br/> +[4]Sweden 1919<br/> +United States 1920<br/> +Wales 1918 +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Electoral Reform Bill as passed granted suffrage to widows who have not +remarried and mothers of soldiers killed in battle or civilians shot by +Germans. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Women over age of 30—Bill to reduce age to 21 has passed its second +reading. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] No sex qualification for voting in constitution. Women haze so far not +availed themselves of their right to note, but are expected to do so in the +coming elections. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] To be confirmed, in 1920. +</p> + +<h3>APPENDIX 3</h3> + +<p> +Resolutions Demanding Investigations +</p> + +<p> +Resolution (171) to authorize an Investigation of the District of Columbia +Workhouse.<br/> +Introduced in the House by Miss Jeannette Rankin, Representative from +Montana.<br/> +October 5, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +Text of Resolution: +</p> + +<p> +Resolved, That a select committee of seven Members of the House of +Representatives be appointed by the Speaker to investigate the administration +of the District of Columbia Workhouse at Occoquan, Virginia, and to report +thereon as early as possible during the second session of the Sixty-fifth +Congress. Said committee is authorized to sit during the recess in Washington, +District of Columbia and elsewhere, to subpoena witnesses, and to call for +records relating to the said workhouse. To defray the necessary expenses of +such investigation, including the employment of clerical assistance, the +committee is authorized to expend not to exceed 1,000 from the contingent fund +of the House. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Resolution (130) to authorize an Investigation of Mob Attacks on Suffragists. +</p> + +<p> +Introduced in the House by John Baer, Representative from North Dakota. +</p> + +<p> +August 17, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +Text of Resolution: +</p> + +<p> +WHEREAS, in the city of Washington, D. C., about 350 feet from the White House +premises is a building known as the Cameron House, in which is located +headquarters and main offices of a woman’s organization at which is +continually congregated women of character, courage and intelligence, who come +from various sections of the United States, and +</p> + +<p> +WHEREAS, on three successive days, to wit: the 14th, 15th and 16th days of +August, 1917, on said days immediately following the closing of the day’s +work by the clerks and employees of the Executive Departments, hundreds of +these clerks and employees, acting with sailors, then and now in the service of +the United States Navy and in uniform at the time, and soldiers, then and now +in the service of the United States Army, also in their uniforms at the +time,—and these clerks, employees, sailors and soldiers, and others, +formed themselves into mobs and deliberately, unlawfully and violently damaged +the said headquarters and offices of the said woman’s organization by +pelting rotten eggs through the doors and windows, shooting a bullet from a +revolver through a window, and otherwise damaging said Cameron House, and also +violently and unlawfully did strike, choke, drag and generally mistreat and +injure and abuse the said women when they came defenseless upon the streets +adjoining as well as when they were in the said building; and +</p> + +<p> +WHEREAS, the organized police of the City of Washington, District of Columbia, +made no attempt to properly safeguard the property and persons of the said +defenseless women, but, on the contrary, said police even seemed to encourage +the lawless acts of the mob; and +</p> + +<p> +WHEREAS, such lawlessness is in the Capital of the United States and within a +few hundred feet of -the Executive Mansion and offices of the President of the +United States; and +</p> + +<p> +WHEREAS, these attacks upon defenseless women are not only an outrage and crime +in themselves, that prove the perpetrators and those lending aid to the same to +be cowards, but in addition, create throughout the world contempt for the +United States and set a vicious example to the people throughout the United +States and the world at large, of lawlessness and violence; and encourage +designing cowards and manipulators everywhere to form mobs to molest the +innocent and defenseless under any pretext whatever; and +</p> + +<p> +WHEREAS, there seems to be no activity or attempt on the part of any one in +authority in the City of Washington, District of Columbia, nor by the +government officials to apprehend, arrest or punish those perpetrating the +violence, on account of which the same may occur indefinitely unless Congress +acts in the premises; and +</p> + +<p> +WHEREAS, the legal status upon the premises stated would excuse the occupants +of the Cameron House if they were so disposed in firing upon the mobs +aforesaid, and thus create a state of greater violence and unlawless, to +further injure the prestige and good name of the United States for maintaining +law and order and institutions of democracy; therefore be it +</p> + +<p> +Resolved, that the Speaker appoint a Committee of seven members to investigate +into all the facts relating to the violence and unlawful acts aforesaid, and +make the earliest possible report upon the conditions, with the purpose in view +of purging the army and navy of the United States and other official +departments, of all lawless men who bring disgrace upon the American flag by +participating in mob violence, and also to inquire regarding the conduct of all +government employees and the police of the city of Washington, District of +Columbia, with a view to maintaining law and order. +</p> + +<h3>APPENDIX 4</h3> + +<p> +Suffrage Prisoners +</p> + +<p> +Note:—Scores of women were arrested but never brought to trial; many +others were convicted and their sentences suspended or appealed. It has been +possible to list below only those women who actually served prison sentences +although more than five hundred women were arrested during the agitation. +</p> + +<p> +MINNIE D. ABBOTT, Atlantic City, N. J., officer of the N.W.P. [National +Woman’s Party]. Arrested picketing July 14, 1917, sentenced to 60 days in +Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. PAULINE ADAMS, Norfolk, Va., wife of leading physician, prominent +clubwoman and Congressional District Chairman of the N.W.P. Arrested picketing +Sept. 4, 1917. Sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan workhouse. Arrested watchfire +demonstration Feb. 9, 1919, but released on account of lack of evidence. +</p> + +<p> +EDITH AINGE, Jamestown, N. Y., native of England, came to America when a child, +and has brought up family of nine brothers and sisters. Worked for state +suffrage in N. Y. 1915. Served five jail sentences. Sentenced to 60 days in +Occoquan for picketing Sept., 1917, 15 days in Aug., 1918, Lafayette Sq. +meeting, and three short terms in District Jail in Jan., 1919, watchfire +demonstrations. +</p> + +<p> +HARRIET U. ANDREWS, Kansas City, Mo., came to Washington as war worker. +Arrested watchfire demonstration and sentenced to 5 days in District Jail Jan., +1919. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ANNIE ARNEIL, Wilmington, Del., did picket duty from beginning in 1917. +One of first six suffrage prisoners. Served eight jail sentences, 3 days, June, +1917; 60 days in Occoquan, Aug.—Sept., 1917, picketing; 15 days, Aug., +1918, Lafayette Sq. meeting and five sentences of 5 days each in Jan. and Feb., +1919, watchfire demonstrations. +</p> + +<p> +BERTHE ARNOLD, Colorado Springs, Colo., daughter of prominent physician. +Educated at Colo. State Univ. Student of music Phila.; member of D.A.R.; +kindergarten teacher. Arrested Jan., 1919, watchfire demonstration, sentenced +to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +VIRGINIA ARNOLD, North Carolina, student George Washington and Columbia Univs., +school teacher, later organizer and executive secretary N.W.P, in Washington. +Served 3 days June, 1917, with first pickets sentenced. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. W. D. ASCOUGH, Detroit, Mich. Former Conn. State Chairman, N.W.P. Studied +for concert stage London and Paris. Abandoned concert stage to devote time to +suffrage. Sentenced to 15 days Aug., 1918, Lafayette Sq. meeting, and 5 days +Feb., 1919, in watchfire demonstration. Member “Prison Special” +which toured country in Feb., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ARMY Scorr BAKER, Washington, D. C., wife of Dr. Robert Baker, and +descendant long line of army officers. Three sons in service during World War. +Known as the diplomat of the N.W.P., and as such has interviewed practically +every man prominent in political life. Member executive committee of N.W.P. and +has been political chairman since 1918. Arrested picketing and sentenced to 60 +days in Occoquan, Sept., 1917. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. CHARLES W. BARNES, Indianapolis, Ind., officer of Ind. Branch, N.W.P. +Arrested picketing Nov., 1917, sentenced to 15 days in jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. NAOMI BARRETT, Wilmington, Del., arrested watchfire demonstration Jan. 13, +1919. Sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. W. J. BARTLETT, Putnam, Conn., leader Conn. State Grange. Arrested Aug., +1917, picketing, sentenced to 60 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. M. TOSCAN BENNETT, Hartford, Conn., wife of lawyer and writer, member +D.A.R. and Colonial Dames, has been active in state suffrage work for many +years. Member National Advisory Council, N.W.P. and Conn. state treasurer. +Arrested Jan., 1919, watchfire demonstration. Sentenced to 5 days in District +Jail. +</p> + +<p> +HILDA BLUMBERG, New York City, native of Russia, one of youngest prisoners. +Educated and taught school in this country. Arrested picketing, Sept., 1917; +sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan; arrested again Nov. 10, sentenced to 15 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. KATE BOECKH, Washington, D. C., native of Canada, one of first women +aeroplane pilots. Arrested picketing Aug., 1917, case appealed. Arrested +applauding in court Jan., 1919, served 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. CATHERINE BOYLE, Newcastle, Del., munitions worker during World War. +Arrested Jan., 1919, watchfire demonstration, sentenced to 5 days in jail. +</p> + +<p> +LUCY G. BRANHAM, Baltimore, Md., organizer N.W.P., graduate Washington College, +Md.; M. A., Johns Hopkins; graduate student Univ. of Chicago and Ph.D. +Columbia. Won Carnegie hero medal for rescuing man and woman from drowning at +St. Petersburg, Fla. Arrested picketing Sept., 1917, sentenced to 60 days in +Occoquan and District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. LUCY G. BRANHAM, Baltimore, Md., mother of Miss Lucy Branham, widow of Dr. +John W. Branham who lost his life fighting a yellow fever epidemic in Ga. +Arrested watchfire demonstration Jan., 1919; sentenced to 3 days in District +Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. JOHN WINTERS BRANNAN, New York City, daughter of the late Charles A. Dana, +founder and editor N. Y. Sun., trusted counselor of President Lincoln; wife of +Dr. Brannan. Pres. Board of Trustees Bellevue Hospital; member executive +committee N.W.P., state chairman New York Branch. Did brilliant state suffrage +work as officer of Woman’s Political Union in N. Y. Arrested picketing +July 14, 1917, sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan; pardoned by President after +serving 3 days. Again arrested picketing Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to 45 days. +</p> + +<p> +JENNIE BRONENBERG, Philadelphia, Pa. Student Wharton School, Univ. of Pa. +Arrested Feb., 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MARY E. BROWN, Wilmington, Del., state press chairman, N.W.P. Father +member First Del. regiment; mother field nurse, Civil War. Descendant Captain +David Porter, of Battleship Essex, War of 1812. Arrested watchfire +demonstration Jan. 13, 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +LOUISE BRYANT, New York City, formerly of Portland Ore., author, poet and +journalist, wife of John Reed. Correspondent for Phila. Public Ledger in +Petrograd for six months during Russian revolution. Arrested Watchfire +demonstration Feb., 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +Lucy BURNS, New York City, graduate Vassar College, student of Yale Univ. and +Univ. of Bonn, Germany. High School teacher. Joined English militant suffrage +movement 1909, where she met Alice Paul, with whom she joined in establishing +first permanent suffrage headquarters in Washington in Jan., 1913; helped +organize parade of March 3, 1913; vice chairman and member of executive +committee Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage [later the N.W.P.], for a time +editor of The Suffragist. Leader of most of the picket demonstrations and +served more time in jail than any other suffragist in America. Arrested +picketing June, 1917, sentenced to 3 days; arrested Sept., 1917, sentenced to +60 days; arrested Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to six months; in January, 1919, +arrested watchfire demonstrations for which she served one 3 day and two 5 day +sentences. She also served 4 prison terms in England. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. HENRY BUTTERWORTH, New York City, comes of an old Huguenot family. Active +in civic and suffrage work in N. Y. for past 20 years. Charter member National +Society of Craftsmen. Arrested picketing Nov., 1917, sentenced to 30 days in +Occoquan. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. LUCILLE A. CALME9, Princeton, Ia. Great-granddaughter of George Fowler, +founder of New Harmony, Ind. Government worker during World War. Arrested +watchfire demonstration Jan. 13, 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +ELEANOR CALNAN, Methuen, Mass. Congressional district chairman of Mass. Branch +N.W.P. Arrested picketing July 14, 1917, sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan, +pardoned by President after 3 days; arrested Sept., 1917, sentenced to 60 days +in Occoquan. Arrested in Boston, Feb., 1919, for participation in Boston +demonstration at home coming of President; sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. +Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. AGNES CHASE, Washington, D. C., formerly of Ill.; engaged in scientific +research work for U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Arrested Lafayette Sq. meeting +August, 1918, sentenced to 10 days. Arrested watchfire demonstration Jan., +1919, sentenced to 5 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. PALYS L. CHEVRIER, New York City, arrested watchfire demonstration Jan., +1919, sentenced to 5 days. Member “Prison Special” which toured +country in Feb., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. HELEN CHISASKI, Bridgeport, Conn., munition worker and member of +Machinists’ Union. Arrested watchfire demonstration Jan. 13, 1919; +sentenced to 5 days in jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. WILLIAM CHISHOLM, Huntington, Pa., now deceased; arrested picketing Sept. +4, 1917, sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan. +</p> + +<p> +JOSEPHINE COLLINS, Framingham, Mass., owns and manages the village store at +Framingham Center. She encountered serious opposition from some of her +customers on account of her militant activities; one of first members N.W.P.; +arrested in Boston Feb., 1919, for taking part in welcome to the President; +sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. SARAH TARLETON COLVIN, St. Paul, Minn., member famous Tarleton family of +Alabama, wife of Dr. A. R. Colvin, Major in the Army, and Acting Surgical Chief +at Fort McHenry during World War; graduate nurse Johns Hopkins training school, +Red Cross nurse in this country during war; Minnesota state chairman N.W.P. +Member “Prison Special.” Arrested watchfire demonstrations Jan., +190; sentenced to 2 terms of 5 days each. +</p> + +<p> +BETTY CONNOLLY, West Newton, Mass., household assistant, arrested in Boston, +Feb., 1919, demonstration of welcome to President Wilson; sentenced to 8 days +in Charles St. Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ALICE M. COSU, New Orleans, La., vice chairman La. state branch N.W.P. +Arrested picketing Nov., 1917, and sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +CORA CRAWFORD, Philadelphia, Pa., business woman. Marched in 1913 suffrage +parade in Washington. Arrested watchfire demonstration Jan., 1919; sentenced to +5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +GERTRUDE CROCKER, Washington, D. C., formerly of Ill., educated at Vassar +College and Univ. of Chicago. National Treasurer N.W.P. 1916; government +worker, 1917. Served 3 jail sentences: 30 days for picketing in 1917, 10 days +for assisting Lafayette Sq. meeting 1918, and 5 days for participating +watchfire 1919. +</p> + +<p> +RUTH CROCKER, Washington, D. C., formerly of Ill., sister of Gertrude Crocker. +Came to Washington for suffrage, later government worker. Served 30 days at +Occoquan for picketing in 1917 and 3 days in District Jail for watchfire +demonstration Jan., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +Miss L. J. C. DANIELS, Grafton, Vt., and Boston. Arrested picketing Nov. 10, +1917, sentenced to 15 days. Took part in Capitol picketing Nov., 1918; arrested +watchfire demonstration Jan. 9, 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +Arrested in Boston for participation in welcome demonstration to President, +sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. Jail. +</p> + +<p> +DOROTHY DAY, New York City, member of the “Masses” [now the +“Liberator”] staff. Arrested picketing Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to +30 days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +EDNA DIXON, Washington, D. C., daughter of physician; teacher in public +schools. Arrested picketing Aug., 1917, sentenced to SO days in Occoquan +workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +LAVINIA L. DOCK, Fayetteville, Pa., associated with the founders of American +Red Cross nursing service; secretary of American Federation of Nurses and +member of International Council of Nurses. Assisted in relief work during +Johnstown flood and during Fla. yellow fever epidemic; army nurse during +Spanish-American War, author of “The History of Nursing,” +“The Tuberculosis Nurse,” and a number of other text books on +nursing. One of early workers of Henry St. Settlement in N. Y., and founder of +visiting nurse movement in N. Y. On staff of American Journal of Nursing. One +of first six pickets to serve prison sentence of 3 days in June, 1917. Later +that summer she served 25 days in Occoquan; and in Nov. 15 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MARY CARROLL DOWELL, Philadelphia, Pa., wife of William F. Dowell, +magazine editor and writer with whom she has been associated in business. +Active club and suffrage worker in Pa. and N. J., state officer Pa. branch +N.W.P. Arrested watchfire demonstration Jan. 20, 1919, and served 5 days in +District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MARY DUBROW, Passaic, N. J.; student Univ. of N. Y.; teacher in N. J. until she +joined suffrage ranks as organizer and speaker. Arrested watchfire +demonstration Jan. 6, 1919, sentenced to 10 days. +</p> + +<p> +JULIA EMORY, Baltimore, Md.; daughter of late state senator, D. H. Emory. Gave +up work for Trade Union League to work for suffrage in 1917. Sentenced to 30 +days in Occoquan for picketing Nov., 1917. After her release became organizer +N.W.P. Aug., 1918, arrested and sentenced td 10 days Lafayette Sq. meeting. +Jan. 7, 1919, sentenced to 10 days, and later in that month to 5 days for +watchfire demonstrations. Led Capitol picket Oct. and Nov., 1919, and suffered +many injuries at hands of police. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. EDMUND C. EVANs, Ardmore, Pa., one of three Winsor sisters who served +prison terms for suffrage. Member of prominent Quaker family. Arrested +watchfire demonstration Jan., 1919, and sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +Lucy EWING, Chicago, Ill., daughter of Judge Adlai Ewing, niece of James Ewing, +minister to Belgium under Cleveland; niece also of Adlai Stevenson, +Vice-President under Cleveland. Officer Ill. Branch N.W.P. Arrested picketing +Aug. 17, 1917, sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ESTELLA EYLWARD, New Orleans, La. Business woman. Came to Washington to +take part in final watchfire demonstration Feb., 1919; arrested and sentenced +to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MARY GERTRUDE FENDALL, Baltimore, Md., graduate of Bryn Mawr College; +campaigned for N.W.P. in West 1916; national treasurer of organization June, +1917, to December, 1919. Arrested and sentenced to 3 days, Jan., 1819, for +applauding in court. +</p> + +<p> +ELLA FINDEISEN, Lawrence, Mass. Arrested picketing Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to +30 days at Occoquan. +</p> + +<p> +KATHARINE FISHER, Washington, D. C., native of Mass. Great- greatgranddaughter +of Artemas Ward, ranking Major General in Revolutionary War. Teacher, social +worker and later employee of U. S. War Risk Bureau. Written prose and verse on +suffrage and feminist topics. Arrested picketing Sept. 13, 1917, sentenced to +30 days at Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ROSE GRATZ FISHSTEIN, Philadelphia, Pa., native of Russia. Came to America +at 15. Had been imprisoned for revolutionary activities in Russia and fled to +this country following release on bail. Operator in shirt factory; later union +organizer; factory inspector for N. Y. State Factory Commission. Feb. 9, 1919 +arrested watchfire demonstration and sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +ROSE FISHSTEIN, Philadelphia, Pa., sister-in-law of Mrs. Rose G. Fishstein, +born in Russia, educated in N. Y. and Phila. Student of Temple Univ., business +woman. Arrested watchfire demonstration, Feb., 1919, sentenced to 5 days in +District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +CATHERINE M. FLANAGAN, Hartford, Conn., state and national organizer for +N.W.P.; formerly secretary for Conn. Woman Suffrage Association. Father came to +this country as Irish exile because of his efforts in movement for Irish +freedom. Arrested picketing August, 1917, sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan +workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MARTHA FOLEY, Dorchester, Mass., active worker in Mass. labor movement. +Arrested in demonstration at homecoming of President in Boston, Feb., 1919; +sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. T. W. FORBES, Baltimore, Md., officer of Just Government League of Md.; +arrested watchfire demonstration Feb. 9, 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District +Jail. +</p> + +<p> +JANET FOTHERINGHAM, Buffalo, N. Y., teacher of physical culture. Arrested +picketing July 14, 1917, sentenced to 60 days in workhouse, but pardoned by +President after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MARGARET FOTHERINGHAM, Buffalo, N. Y., Red Cross dietician, stationed at +military hospital at Waynesville, N. C., during war. Later dietician at Walter +Reid Military Hospital, Washington, D. C. Arrested picketing Aug., 1917, +sentenced to 60 days. +</p> + +<p> +FRANCIS FOWLER, Brookline, Mass., sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. Jail for +participation in demonstration of welcome to President, Boston, Feb., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MATILDA HALL GARDNER, Washington, D. C., formerly of Chicago, daughter of +late Frederick Hall, for many years editor of Chicago Tribune, and wife of +Gilson Gardner, Washington representative of Scripps papers. Educated Chicago, +Paris and Brussels. Associated with Alice Paul and Lucy Burns when they came to +Washington to begin agitation for federal suffrage and member of national +executive committee of N.W.P. since 1914. Arrested July 14, 1917, sentenced to +60 days in Occoquan; Jan. 13, 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +ANNA GINSBERG, New York City; served 5 days in District jail for watchfire +demonstration Feb., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +REBA GOMROROV, Philadelphia, Pa.; born in Kiev, Russia. Educated in U. S. +public schools; social worker; assistant secretary and visitor for Juvenile Aid +Society of Phila. President Office Workers’ Association; secretary of +Penn. Industrial Section for Suffrage; member N.W.P., Trade Union League. +Sentenced to 5 days in District Jail Jan., 1919, for watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +ALICE GRAM, Portland, Ore., graduate Univ. of Ore., came to Washington to take +part in picket Nov. 10, 1917. Arrested and sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan +workhouse. Following release assistant in press dept. N.W.P. +</p> + +<p> +BETTY GRAM, Portland, Ore., graduate Univ. of Ore. Abandoned stage career to +take part in picket demonstration of Nov. 10, 1917. Worker in Juvenile courts +of Portland. Sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse; later arrested in +Boston demonstration of Feb., 1919, and sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. +Jail. Business manager of The Suffragist and national organizer for N.W.P. +</p> + +<p> +NATALIE GRAT, Col. Springs, Col., daughter of treasurer Col. Branch N. W. P. +Arrested picketing Aug. 17, 1917, sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. FRANCIS GREEN, New York City, one of second group of women to serve prison +sentences for suffrage in this country. Served 3 days in District Jail +following picket demonstration of July 4, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +GLADYS GREINER, Baltimore, Md., daughter of John E. Greiner , engineering +expert, member of Stevens Railway Commission to Russia in 1917. Graduate of +Forest Glen Seminary, Md.; did settlement work in mountain districts of Ky.; +has held tennis and golf championships of Md., and for 3 years devoted all time +to suffrage. Arrested picketing July 4, 1917, sentenced to 3 days in District +Jail; arrested Oct. 20, 1917, sentenced to 30 days in District Jail; arrested +Lafayette Sq. meeting Aug., 1918, sentenced to 15 days in District Jail. +Recently taken up work in labor movement. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. J. IRVING GROSS. Boston, Mass., charter member of Mass. Branch N.W.P. +Father and husband both fought in Civil War. Arrested 5 times Lafayette Sq. +meetings Aug., 1918, and sentenced to 15 days in District Jail. Arrested in +Boston demonstration on Common following landing of President and sentenced to +8 days in Charles St. Jail. +</p> + +<p> +ANNA GWINTER, New York City, arrested for picketing Nov. 10, 1917, and +sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +ELIZABETH HAMILTON, New York City, arrested for picketing Nov. 10, 1917, and +sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +ERNESTINE HARA, New York City, young Roumanian, arrested for picketing Sept., +1917, and sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +REBECCA HARRISON Joplin, Mo., arrested final watchfire demonstration Feb. 10, +1919; sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. H. O. HAVEMEYER, New York City; widow of late H. O. Havemeyer; leader of +suffrage movement for many years; one of its most eloquent speakers, and +generous contributor to its funds; active in Liberty Loan campaigns, in the +Land Army movement of N. Y. State, and in working for military rank for nurses. +As member of “Prison Special” spoke for suffrage in the large +cities. Arrested Feb. 10, 1919, for taking part in final watchfire +demonstration; sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +KATE HEFFELFINGER, Shamokin, Pa.; art student; sentenced to 6 months in +District Jail for picketing Oct. 15, 1917; another month later added for +previous offense. Aug., 1918, sentenced to 15 days for participating in +Lafayette Sq. meeting; Jan., 1919, sentenced to 5 days for participation in +watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. JESSICA HENDERSON, Boston, Mass., wife of prominent Bostonian, one of +liberal leaders of Boston; identified with many reform movements. Mother of 6 +children, one of whom, Wilma, aged 18, was arrested with her mother, spent +night in house of detention, and was released as minor. Sentenced to 8 days in +Charles St. Jail Feb., 1919, for participation in Boston demonstration of +welcome to President. +</p> + +<p> +MINNIE HENNESY, Hartford, Conn.; business woman, having supported herself all +her life; arrested for picketing Oct. 6, 1917, and sentence suspended. +Rearrested Oct. 8, 1917, and sentenced to 6 months. +</p> + +<p> +ANNE HERKIMER, Baltimore, Md., Child Labor inspector for U. S. Children’s +Bureau. Arrested Feb., 1919, and sentenced to 5 days in District Jail for +participating watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +ELSIE HILL, Norwalk, Conn.; daughter of late Ebenezer J. Hill, 21 years +Congressman from Conn.; graduate Vassar College and student abroad. Taught +French in District of Columbia High School. Lately devoted all her time to +suffrage. Member of executive committee of Congressional Union 1914-1915; +President D.C. Branch College Equal Suffrage League, and later national +organizer for N.W.P. Aug., 1918, sentenced to 15 days in District Jail for +speaking at Lafayette Sq. meeting. Feb., 1919, sentenced to 8 days in Boston +for participation in welcome demonstration to President. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. GEORGE HILL, Boston, Mass.; sentenced to 8 days in Boston, Feb., 1919, for +participation in welcome to President. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. FLORENCE BAYARD HILLES, Newcastle, Del.; daughter of late Thomas Bayard, +first American ambassador to Great Britain and secretary of state under +Cleveland. Munitions worker during World War. After the war engaged in +reconstruction work in France. Chairman Del. Branch N.W.P. and member of +national executive committee. Arrested picketing July 14, 1917, sentenced to 60 +days in Occoquan workhouse; pardoned by President after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. J. A. H. HOPKINS (ALLISON TURNBULL), Morristown, N. J., state chairman +N.W.P., member executive committee N.W.P. 1917, and president and officer of +various women’s clubs. Her husband was leader Progressive Party and later +supported President Wilson, serving on Democratic National Campaign Committee +in 1916. At present Chairman Committee of 48. Mrs. Hopkins arrested July 14, +1917, for picketing, sentenced to 60 days in workhouse; pardoned by President +after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. L. H. HORNBBY, New York City, formerly of Ill., one of first women +aviators in this country. Arrested for picketing Nov. 10, 1917; sentenced to 30 +days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +ELIZABETH HOFF, Des Moines, Ia.; came to Washington to work for war department +during war; later with Red Cross. Sentenced to 5 days in jail, Jan., 1919, for +watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +EUNICE HUFF, Des Moines, Ia.; sister of Elizabeth; also engaged in war work in +Washington. Sentenced to 3 days in jail Jan., 1919, for applauding suffrage +prisoners in court. +</p> + +<p> +HAZEL HUNSINs, Billings, Mont.; graduate Vassar College; later instructor in +Chemistry, Univ. of Mo. Joined suffrage movement as organizer for N.W.P. Later +investigator for War Labor Board. Active in all picketing campaigns. Aug. 1918, +sentenced to 15 days for participation in Lafayette Sq. meeting. +</p> + +<p> +JULIA HURLBUT, Morristown, N. J., vice chairman N. J. Branch N.W.P. In 1916 +assisted in Washington state campaign. Arrested picketing July 14, 1917, +sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan workhouse; pardoned by President after 3 days. +Engaged in war work in France during war. +</p> + +<p> +MARY INGRAM, Philadelphia, Pa.; graduate Bryn Mawr College; Pa. chairman of +N.W.P.; secretary of National Progressive League 1912. Has held offices of vice +president of Pa. Women’s Trade Union League, director of Bureau of +Municipal Research of Phila-, member of board of corporators of Woman’s +Medical College of Pa., where she was former student. For several years manager +woman’s department of Bonbright and Co., investment brokers. Arrested for +picketing July 14, 1917; sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan, pardoned by +President after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MARK JACKSON, Baltimore, Md., arrested picketing Aug., 1917, sentenced to +30 days. +</p> + +<p> +PAULA JAKOBI, New York City; playwright, author of “Chinese Lily.” +Once matron of Framingham reformatory for purpose of studying prison +conditions. Arrested picketing Nov. 10, 1917, and sentenced to 30 days in +Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MAUD JAMISON, Norfolk, Va.; came to Washington in 1916 as volunteer worker of +N.W.P. Later became assistant in treasurer’s department. Had been school +teacher and business woman before joining N.W.P. Took active part in picketing +from the beginning; one of first group arrested, June, 1917; served 3 days in +District Jail; later served 30 days in District Jail; Oct., 1917, sentenced to +7 months. Released by Government after 44 days. Jan., 1919, served 5 days in +jail for participation in watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. PEGGY BAIRD JOHNS; New York City, formerly of St. Louis, newspaper woman +and magazine writer. Sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse Aug., 1917; and +30 days in Nov., 1917, for picketing. +</p> + +<p> +WILLIE GRACE JOHNSON, Shreveport, La., state officer, N.W.P. and prominent in +civic work. Successful business woman. Arrested in final watchfire +demonstration Feb., 1919. Sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +AMY JUENGLING, Buffalo, N. Y.; of Swiss and German ancestry. Graduated with +honors from Univ. of N. Y. Has lived in Porto Rico and North Carolina, in +latter state doing educational work among mountaineers. At present engaged in +Americanization work. Nov., 1917, sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse +for picketing. +</p> + +<p> +ELIZABETH GREEN KALB, Houston, Texas; graduate Rice Institute, 1916; student +Univ. Chicago, 1916. Won Carnegie Peace Prize in Texas state intercollegiate +oratory contest in 1915. In 1918 became active worker for N.W.P., taking part +in Capitol picket. Arrested watchfire demonstration Jan., 1919, sentenced to 5 +days in District Jail. In charge of literature and library dept. of N.W.P. at +national headquarters. +</p> + +<p> +RHODA KELLOGG, Minneapolis, Minn.; graduate Univ. of Minn. and Pres. of Univ. +Equal Suffrage Club. Sentenced to ~?4 hours for applauding suffrage prisoners +in Court Jan., 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District Jail for participation in +watchfire demonstration same month. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. FREDERICK W. KENDALL, Hamburg, N. Y.; wife of one of editors of Buffalo +Express; writer, public speaker and club leader. Arrested for picketing, Aug., +1917, and sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MARIE ERNST KENNEDY, Philadelphia, Pa.; formerly state chairman N.W.P. Arrested +Feb., 1919, in watchfire demonstration, sentenced to 5 days in jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MARGARET WOOD KESSLER, Denver, Col.; vice president Woman’s +Progressive Club of Col. Sept., 1917, sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan for +picketing. +</p> + +<p> +ALICE KIMBALL, New York City. Has been engaged in Y.W.C.A. work, and as +librarian in N. Y. Public Library, and later as labor investigator. Sentenced +to 15 days in District Jail for taking part in Lafayette Sq. meeting Aug. 10, +1918. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. BEATRICE KINKEAD, Montclair, N. J., active member of N.W.P. in N. J. +Joined picket of July 14, 1917. Sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan, but pardoned +by President after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. RQBY E. KOENIG, Hartford, Conn. Took part in Lafayette Sq. meeting of +Aug., 1918, and suffered sprained arm from rough treatment by police. Arrested +and sentenced to 15 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +HATTIE KRUGER, Buffalo, N. Y. Trained nurse; ran for Congress on Socialist +ticket in 1918. Worker in Lighthouse Settlement, Philadelphia, and for time +probation officer of Juvenile Court of Buffalo. Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to 30 +days in Occoquan workhouse for picketing. +</p> + +<p> +DR. ANNA KUHN, Baltimore, Md., physician. Arrested picketing Nov. 10, 1917, +sentenced to 30 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. LAWRENCE LEWIS, Philadelphia, Pa., maternal ancestor of family which took +possession 1660 land grant in Conn. from King, paternal ancestor Michael +Hillegas who came Phila. 1727, a founder of Phila. Academy Fine Arts, Assembly, +etc. Son of Hillegas was first U. S. treasurer; sister of Dr. Howard A. Kelly, +well-known surgeon, formerly professor Johns Hopkins Hospital, author of many +medical books; sister of Mrs. R. R. P. Bradford, founder and Pres. of +Lighthouse Settlement, Phila.; member executive committee of N.W.P. since 1913; +chairman of finance 1918; national treasurer, 1919; chairman ratification +committee 1920; active in state suffrage work many years; served 3 days in jail +for picketing July, 1917; arrested Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to 60 days; +arrested Lafayette Sq. meeting, Aug., 1918, sentenced to 15 days; arrested +watchfire demonstration Jan., 1919, sentenced to 5 days in jail. +</p> + +<p> +KATHARINE LINCOLN, New York City, formerly of Philadelphia. Was working for +Traveler’s Aid when she came to picket Nov. 10, 1917. Sentenced to 30 +days in Occoquan workhouse. Worked for N.W.P. for several months; later +campaigned for Anne Martin, candidate for U. S. Senate from Nev.’ +</p> + +<p> +DR. SARAH H. LOCKREY, Philadelphia, Pa.; graduate Woman’s Medical College +of Pa. Served as interne Woman’s Hospital in Phila., and later head of +gynecological clinic of same hospital. Surgeon on West Phila. Hospital for +Women and Children. Received degree of Fellow of American College of Surgery +1914. Chairman of her Congressional District for the N.W.P. Aug., 1918, +sentenced to 15 days in District Jail for taking part in Lafayette Sq. meeting. +</p> + +<p> +ELIZABETH MCSHANE, Philadelphia, Pa., graduate Vassar College; principal of +school near Indianapolis, later business woman. Assisted in Pa. health survey, +working with the American Medical Association. Aug., 1918, sentenced to 15 days +in jail for participation in Lafayette Sq. meeting. Jan., 1919, served 5 days +for participating in watchfire demonstration. Member of “Prison +Special” 1919. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ANNIE J. MAGEE, Wilmington, Del., one of first Del. supporters of N.W.P. +Took part in many pickets. Arrested watchfire demonstration Jan., 1919, and +sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. EFFIE B. MAIN, Topeka, Kan., arrested for taking part in Lafayette Sq. +meeting Aug. 10, 1918; sentenced to 10 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MAUD MALONE, New York City, librarian in N. Y. Lifelong suffragist; arrested +for picketing, Sept. 4, 1917, and served sentence of 60 days at Occoquan +workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +ANNE MARTIN, Reno, Nev.; graduate Leland Stanford Univ.; studied in English +Univs. Professor of history in Univ. of Nev. As Pres. of Nev. Woman’s +Civic League led successful fight for state suffrage in 1914. Served as +legislative chairman for Congressional Union, and N.W.P. and member of +executive committee. When N.W.P. was formed, in 1916, elected its chairman. +When it combined with Congressional Union, she became vice chairman. In 1918 +ran on independent ticket for U. S. Senate. July 14, 1917, sentenced to 60 days +at Occoquan workhouse for picketing. Pardoned by President after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. LOUISE PARKER MAYO, Framingham, Mass., of Quaker descent. Taught school +for five years before marriage to William 1. Mayo, grandson of Chief Justice +Isaac Parker of Mass. Mother of 7 children. Arrested for picketing July 14, +1917; sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan workhouse; pardoned by President after 3 +days. +</p> + +<p> +NELL MERCER, Norfolk, Va.; member of Norfolk Branch, N.W.P. Business woman. +Feb., 1919, sentenced to 5 days in District Jail for participation in final +watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +VIDA MILHOLLAND, New York City; daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John E. Milholland and +sister of Inez Milholland Boissevain. Student at Vassar where won athletic +championships and dramatic honors. Studied singing here and abroad, but on +death of sister gave up career of promise to devote herself to suffrage work. +July 4, 1917 arrested and served 3 days in District Jail for picketing. In 1919 +toured the country with “Prison Special,” singing at all meetings. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. BERTHA MOLLER, Minneapolis, Minn., campaigned for state suffrage before +joining N.W.P. Interested in industrial problems. Of Swedish descent, one of +ancestors served on staff of Gustavus- Adolphus, and 2 uncles are now members +of Swedish parliament. She served 2 ,jail sentences, one of 24 hours for +applauding suffragists in court, and another of 5 days for participation in +watchfire demonstration, Jan., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +MARTHA W. MOORE, Philadelphia, Pa., of Quaker ancestry, student at Swarthmore +College; charter member of Congressional Union; has devoted herself to social +service work, Children’s Aid, Traveler’s Aid, etc. Arrested and +sentenced to 5 days in District Jail Jan., 1919, for participation in watchfire +demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. AGNES H. MOREY, Brookline, Mass., comes of line of Colonial ancestors who +lived in Concord. Following picket of Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to 30 days at +District Jail and Occoquan. Chairman of Mass. Branch N.W.P., of which she was +one of founders, and member of National Advisory Council N.W.P. Member of +“Suffrage Special” of 1916, and a gifted speaker and organizer. +</p> + +<p> +KATHARINE A. MOREY, Brookline, Mass., daughter of Mrs. A. H. Morey; also +officer State Branch N.W.P. Organizer election campaign 1916 in Kansas and has +many times assisted at national headquarters. One of first group pickets +sentenced, served 3 days, June, 1917; Feb., 1919, arrested in Boston +demonstration of welcome to President and sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. +Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MILDRED MORRIS, Denver, Col., well-known newspaper woman of Denver. Came to +Washington for Bureau of Public Information during war. Later investigator for +War Labor Board. Now Washington correspondent International News Service. In +Jan., 1919, served 5 day sentence in District Jail for lighting watchfire. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. PHOEBE C. MUNNECKE, Detroit, Mich.; assisted with meetings and +demonstrations in Washington winter of 1918-19. Jan., 1919, arrested for +lighting watchfire, sentenced to 10 days in jail. Later sentenced to 3 days in +jail for applauding suffrage prisoners in court. +</p> + +<p> +GERTRUDE MURPHY, Minneapolis, Minn., superintendent of music in Minn. public +schools. Jan.; 1919, served 24-hour sentence for applauding suffragists in +court. Later served 5 days in District Jail for participation in watchfire +demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MARY A. NOLAN, Jacksonville, Fla., born in Va.; descended from family of +Duffy, Cavan, Ireland. Educated at convent of Mont CIO Chantal in W. Va. As +young woman was teacher and leader in Southern library movement. Suffrage +pioneer; prominent in Confederate organizations of South. In 1917 joined +N.W.P., came to Washington to picket. Arrested Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to 6 +days in District Jail, but sent to Occoquan workhouse. January, 1919, arrested +many times in watchfire demonstrations; sentenced to 24 hours in jail. Oldest +suffrage prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MARGARET OAKES, Idaho; arrested Lafayette Sq. meeting Aug., 1918, and +sentenced to 10 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +ALICE PAUL, Moorestown, N. J. English Quaker ancestor imprisoned for Quaker +beliefs died in English prison; born of Quaker parentage and brought up in this +small Quaker town. Received her A.B. degree from Swarthmore College, and her +M.A. and Ph.D. from Univ. of Pa. Graduate of N. Y. School of Philanthropy, and +studied at Universities of London and Birmingham, specializing in economics and +sociology. While in England took part in militant campaign under Mrs. +Pankhurst. On return to America, she was appointed chairman in 1913 of the +Congressional Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. +Founded Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage; made chairman. When this became +an independent organization reappointed chairman. When it merged with the +N.W.P. in 1917, she was chosen chairman of the combined organizations, and has +continued in this office to the present date. Has served 6 prison terms for +suffrage, 3 in England and 3 in United States. In Oct., 1919, she was sentenced +to 7 months for picketing and served 5 weeks before released on account of +hunger strike. While in jail suffered the severest treatment inflicted upon any +suffrage prisoner. In Aug., 1918, sentenced to 10 days for participation in +Lafayette Sq. meeting. In Jan., 1919, sentenced to 5 days for lighting a +watchfire. +</p> + +<p> +BERRY POTTIER, Boston, Mass., of French descent; art student; participated in +Boston demonstration at home-coming of President, and sentenced to 8 days in +Charles St. Jail. +</p> + +<p> +EDNA M. PURTELLE, Hartford, Conn., sentenced to 5 days in District Jail for +participation in Lafayette Sq. meeting Aug., 1918. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. R. B. QUAY, Salt Lake City, Utah; arrested in Nov. 10, 1917, picket; +sentenced to 30 days in District Jail, but sent to Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. BETSY REYNEAU, Detroit, Mich., wife of Paul Reyneau; portrait painter. +Arrested picketing July 14, 1917. Sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan, but +pardoned by the President after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. C. T. ROBERTSON, Salt Lake City, Utah; active worker for reforms affecting +women. Arrested in Nov. 10, 1917, picket; sentenced to 30 days in District +Jail, but sent to Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. GEORGE E. ROEWER, Belmont, Mass., graduate of Radcliffe, active suffragist +since college days; wife of well known attorney of Boston and granddaughter of +prominent figures in German Revolution of 1848 who were exiled to the United +States. Sentenced to 8 days in Boston Charles St. Jail following participation +in welcome demonstration to the President, Feb. 1919. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. JOHN ROGERS, JR., New York City, wife of Dr. John Rogers, Jr., celebrated +thyroid expert, is a descendant of Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of +Independence. A pioneer worker for state suffrage before taking up national +work. Before entering suffrage movement active in improving conditions in New +York public schools. Chairman Advisory Council of the N.W.P., and one of the +most forceful speakers in the suffrage ranks. In 1916 and 1919 as member of +“Suffrage Special” and “Prison Special” toured the +country speaking for suffrage. July 14, 1917, sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan +workhouse for picketing, but was pardoned by the President after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MARGUERITE ROSSETTE, Baltimore, Md., young artist, and niece of Dr. Joshua +Rossette, well known social worker. Took part in N.W.P. demonstrations, served +5 days in District Jail for participation in final watchfire demonstration, +Feb., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ELISE T. RUSSIAN, Detroit, Mich., born in Constantinople of Armenian +parentage. Educated in this country. Taught school in Mass. until marriage. +State officer N.W.P. Sentenced to 5 days in District Jail for participation in +Jan., 1919, watchfire demonstration; and 8 days in Boston in the Charles St. +Jail for participation in welcome demonstration to President in Feb., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +NINA SAMARODIN, born in Kiev, Russia, graduate of Kiev University. In 1914 came +to America on visit, but entered industrial fight, becoming, first, worker and +then union organizer. Teacher Rand School of Social Science, New York. +Sentenced to 30 days in Occoquan for picketing September, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. PHOEBE PERSONS SCOTT, Morristown, New Jersey, graduate of Smith College +where she specialized in biology and botany. Did settlement work at New York +Henry St. Settlement. Worked for state suffrage before joining N.W.P. and +becoming one of its officers. Sentenced to 30 days in District Jail for +picketing Nov. 10, 1917, but sent to Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +RUTH SCOTT, Bridgeport, Conn., munitions worker. Sentenced to 5 days in +District Jail for participation in watchfire demonstration Jan., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +BELLE SHEINBERG, New York City; of Russian descent; student of New York Univ., +who left her studies to picket in Washington Nov. 10, 1917. Sentenced to 30 +days in Occoquan workhouse. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. LUCILLE SHIELDS, Amarillo, Texas. Picketed regularly during 1917. July 4, +1917, served 3 days in District Jail for picketing; served 5 days Jan. 13, +1919, for participation in watchfire demonstration. Soon after release +sentenced to 3 days for applauding suffrage prisoners in Court. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MARTHA REED SHOEMAKER, Philadelphia, Pa., graduate of Vassar College. +Served 5 days in District Jail for participation in final watchfire +demonstration of Feb. 9, 1919. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. MARY SHORT, Minneapolis, Minn., state officer N.W.P. Sentenced to 30 days +in Occoquan workhouse for picketing November 10, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. LOIS WARREN SHAW, Manchester, N. H., student of Vassar and Radcliffe, +mother of six children. Wife of V. P. and General Manager McElwain Shoe Co., N. +H., chairman N.W.P. Sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. Jail after participation +in Boston demonstration to welcome President Feb., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +RUTH SMALL, Boston, Mass., participant in several state suffrage campaigns +before taking up national work. In charge of Boston headquarters of N.W.P. for +a time. For taking part in Boston demonstration on the return of the President +in Feb., 1919, sentenced to 8 days in Charles St. Jail. +</p> + +<p> +DR. CAROLINE E. SPENCER, Colorado Springs, Col., formerly of Philadelphia. +Secretary Col. Branch, N.W.P. Graduate Woman’s Medical College of Pa. +October 20, 1917, arrested for picketing and sentenced to 7 months’ +impl1sonment. For participating in watchfire demonstration Jan. 13, 1919, +sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. KATE STAFFORD, Oklahoma City, Okla., active worker for reforms affecting +women and children in her own state. Mother of six children. Picketed Nov. 10, +1917, and was sentenced to 30 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +DORIS STEVENS, Omaha, Neb., now resident New York City. Graduate of Oberlin +College; social worker and teacher; organized and spoke for state suffrage +campaigns in Ohio and Michigan; ,joined Congressional Union in 1913. Organized +first Convention of women voters at Panama Pacific Exposition in 1915; managed +1916 election campaign in Cal. for N.W.P. Has acted successively as executive +secretary, organizer, legislative chairman, political chairman, and executive +committee member of N.W.P. Arrested for picketing July 14, 1917; sentenced to +60 days in Occoquan workhouse; pardoned by President after 3 days. Arrested N. +Y. Mar., 1919, picket demonstration Metropolitan Opera House, but not +sentenced. +</p> + +<p> +ELIZABETH STUYVESANT, New York City, formerly of Cincinnati; dancer by +profession; active in settlement work and in campaign for birth-control. July +4, 1917, arrested for picketing and sentenced to 3 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +ELSIE UNTERMAN, Chicago, Ill., social worker who took week’s vacation in +January, 1919, to come to Washington to picket. She served 3 days in District +Jail for applauding suffragists in court. +</p> + +<p> +MABEL VERNON, Wilmington, Del., Secretary N.W.P., graduate Swarthmore College. +Fellow student with Alice Paul. Gave up position as high school teacher when +Congressional Union was founded to become organizer and speaker. With +remarkable gifts as a speaker, has addressed large meetings in every part of +the country. As brilliant organizer has had charge of many important +organization tasks of N.W.P. Organized the transcontinental trip of voting +envoys to the President. Campaigned in Nev. 1914 and 1916. Became national +organization chairman N.W.P. Organized the Washington picket line for several +months. One of the first six women to serve prison sentence for suffrage in +District Jail. For picketing June, 1917, served 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ELSIE VERVANE, Bridgeport, Conn., munitions worker and President of +Woman’s Machinist Union of Bridgeport. In Jan., 1919, came to Washington +with group of union women and took part in watchfire demonstration; arrested +and served 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +IRIS CALDERHEAD [now wife of John Brisben Walker], Marysville, Kansas, now +resident of Denver, Colo., daughter of former- Representative Calderhead of +Kansas. Graduate of Univ. of Kansas and student at Bryn Mawr. Abandoned school +teaching to work for suffrage; became organizer and speaker for N.W.P. July 4, +1917, arrested for picketing and served 3 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. ROBERT WALKER, Baltimore, Md., officer Md. Branch N.W.P. A Quaker and +graduate of Swarthmore College; wife of a captain in the late war and mother of +3 children. Arrested July 14, 1917, for picketing and sentenced to 60 days in +Occoquan workhouse. Pardoned by President after 3 days. +</p> + +<p> +BERTHA WALLERSTEIN, New York City, student of Barnard College; served 5 days in +District Jail Jan., 1919, for watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. BERTHA WALMSLEY, Kansas City, Mo., holding government position at time +arrested for applauding suffragists in court; served 3 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. WILLIAM UPTON WATSON, Chicago, Ill., treasurer state branch, N.W.P. +Sentenced to 30 days Occoquan workhouse for picketing Aug. 17, 1917. Aug., +1918, sentenced to 5 days for participation in Lafayette Sq. meeting. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. C. WEAVER, Bridgeport, Conn., worked during war in munitions factory. Came +to Washington for watchfire demonstration of Jan. 13, 1919; arrested and +sentenced to 5 days in District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +EVA WEAVER, Bridgeport, Conn., daughter of Mrs. C. Weaver, also worked in +munitions factory; arrested with mother Jan. 13, 1919, and served 5 days in +District Jail. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. HELENA HILL WEED, Norwalk, Conn., graduate of Vassar and Montana School of +Mines. One of few qualified women geologists of country. Daughter of late +Congressman Ebenezer Hill. At one time vice-president general of D.A.R. +Prominent member of Congressional Union and N.W.P. from early days. One of +first pickets arrested, July 4, 1917; served 3 days in District Jail. Aug., +1918, arrested for participation in Lafayette Sq. meeting; sentenced to 15 +days. Jan., 1918, sentenced to 24 hours for applauding in court. +</p> + +<p> +CORA A. WEEK, New York City, of Norse descent; parents Wisconsin pioneers; +studied art in Boston; became member Art Student’s League of New York; +helped organize Oliver Merson Atelier in Paris; exhibited Paris Salon. Arrested +for picketing Nov. 10, 1917; sentenced to 30 days in District Jail. Member of +“Prison Special” 1919. +</p> + +<p> +CAMILLA WHITCOMB, Worcester, Mass., chairman 4th Congressional District Mass. +N.W.P. Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to 30 days in jail for picketing. +</p> + +<p> +SUE WHITE, Jackson, Tenn., state chairman N.W.P.; recently edited The +Suffragist; organizer and research chairman. Belongs to prominent pioneer +families of Tenn. and Ky. and is descendant of Marshall and Jefferson families +of Va. Court and convention reporter for ten years; 1918 appointed by Governor +Secretary of Tenn. State Commission for the Blind. Identified with U.D.C. and +D.A.R., the Federation of Women’s Clubs and Parent Teachers’ +Association. Has done much to organize suffrage sentiment in her state. Feb. 9, +1919, arrested and served 5 days in District Jail for participating in final +watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +MARGARET FAY WHITTEMORE, Detroit, Mich. Her grandmother, a Quaker, started +suffrage work in Michigan. Daughter of one of leading patent attorneys of +country. N.W.P. organizer since 1914. Imprisoned 3 days for picketing July 4, +1917. Jan., 1919, served 24 hours in jail for applauding in court. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. HARVEY W. WILEY, Washington, D. C., daughter of General Kelton, and wife +of Dr. Harvey Wiley, food expert and ex-director of the pure food department of +U. S. Government. Member of national advisory council of N.W.P. Has done +lobbying, political work and picketing for N.W.P. Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to +15 days in District Jail; appealed her case; later sustained by higher court. +</p> + +<p> +Ross WINSLOW, New York City, born in Poland and brought to this country when +child. Began work at age of 11 in Philadelphia; for many years worked in +hosiery factory in Pittsburg; later employed in shop in Philadelphia. Recently +has won success as an actress. Has brilliant gifts; 1916 spoke throughout West +in suffrage campaign of N.W.P. Oct. 15, 1917, sentenced to 7 months in District +Jail for picketing. +</p> + +<p> +MARY WINSOR, Haverford, Pa.; comes of family of pioneer Quaker descent. +Educated at Drexel Institute of Philadelphia, at Bryn Mawr and abroad. At +request of American Academy of Political and Social Science made survey of +English suffrage movement. Founder and Pres. of Pa. Limited Suffrage Society. +Sept., 1917, sentenced to 60 days at Occoquan workhouse for picketing. Later +sentenced to 10 days for participation in Lafayette Sq. meeting. Has worked and +spoken for suffrage in many parts of the country. Member “Prison +Special” Feb., 1919. +</p> + +<p> +ELLEN WINSOR, Haverford, Pa., sister of Mary Winsor and of Mrs. Edmund C. +Evans, both of whom served prison sentences. Jan., 1919, sentenced to 5 days in +District Jail for participation in watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +MRS. KATE WINSTON, Chevy Chase, Md., wife of Prof. A. P. Winston, formerly +Professor of economics at Univ. of Col. and at Univ. of Tokio. Jan., 1919, +arrested and sentenced to 5 days in District Jail for participation in +watchfire demonstration. +</p> + +<p> +CLARA WOLD, Portland, Ore., newspaper writer. Of Norwegian parentage; her +family closely related to Henrik Ibsen. Graduate of Univ. of Ore. Took part in +Lafayette Sq. meeting of Aug., 1918; sentenced to 15 days. Jan., 1919, arrested +for participation in watchfire demonstration and sentenced to 5 days. For +several months acted as editor of The Suffragist. +</p> + +<p> +JOY YOUNG, New York City, formerly of Washington, D. C., wife of Merrill +Rogers. Former assistant on The Suffragist and later organizer for N.W.P. in +various parts of the country. Served 3 days in District Jail for picketing July +4, 1917. +</p> + +<p> +MATILDA YOUNG, Washington, D. C., sister of Joy Young; has devoted all her time +to suffrage for several years. Youngest picket arrested, being 19 years old +when she first served a prison term. For picketing Nov. 10, 1917, sentenced to +15 days in District Jail; served two terms in jail in Jan., 1919; 5 days for +watchfire demonstration; 3 days for applauding suffrage prisoners in court. +</p> + +<h3>APPENDIX 5</h3> + +<p> +Directors of National Campaign +</p> + +<p> +Executive Committees Listed by Years +</p> + +<h5>CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE</h5> + +<h5>EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1913</h5> + +<p> +Miss Alice Paul, N. J., Chairman<br/> +Miss Lucy Burns, N. Y., Vice-chairman<br/> +Mrs. Mary R. Beard, N. Y.<br/> +Miss Crystal Eastman, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Pa. +</p> + +<h5>CONGRESSIONAL UNION FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE</h5> + +<h5>EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1914</h5> + +<p> +Miss Alice Paul, N. J., Chairman<br/> +Miss Lucy Burns, N. Y., Vice-chairman<br/> +Mrs. Mary R. Beard, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, N. Y.<br/> +Miss Crystal Eastman, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Gilson Gardner, D. C.<br/> +Miss Elsie Hill, Conn.<br/> +Mrs. William Kent, Cal.<br/> +Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Pa. +</p> + +<h5>EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1916</h5> + +<p> +Miss Alice Paul, N. J., Chairman<br/> +Miss Lucy Burns, N. Y., Vice-chairman<br/> +Mrs. Mary R. Beard, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, N. Y.<br/> +Miss Crystal Eastman, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Gilson Gardner, D. C.<br/> +Miss Elsie Hill, Conn.<br/> +Mrs. Donald R. Hooker, Md.<br/> +Mrs. William Kent, Cal.<br/> +Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Pa. +</p> + +<h5>EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1916</h5> + +<p> +Miss Alice Paul, N. J., Chairman<br/> +Miss Lucy Burns, N. Y., Vice-chairman<br/> +Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. John Winters Brannan, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Gilson Gardner, D. C.<br/> +Mrs. Donald R. Hooker, Md.<br/> +Mrs. William Kent, Cal.<br/> +Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Pa.<br/> +Miss Anne Martin, Nevada<br/> +Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, N. Y. +</p> + +<p> +WOMAN’S PARTY (Formed June, 1916) +</p> + +<h5>EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE</h5> + +<p> +Miss Anne Martin, Nev., Chairman<br/> +Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, Cal., 1st Vice-chairman<br/> +Judge Mary M. Bartelme, Ill., 2nd Vice-chairman<br/> +Miss Mabel Vernon, Nev., Secretary<br/> +Miss Alice Paul, N. J., ex-officio +</p> + +<h5>NATIONAL WOMAN’S PARTY</h5> + +<p> +(After Amalgamation of Congressional Union and Woman’s Party) +</p> + +<h5>EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1917</h5> + +<p> +Miss Alice Paul, N. J., Chairman<br/> +Miss Anne Martin, Nev., Vice-chairman<br/> +Miss Mabel Vernon, Del., Secretary<br/> +Miss Gertrude L. Crocker, Ill., Treasurer<br/> +Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, D. C.<br/> +Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. John Winters Brannan, N. Y.<br/> +Miss Lucy Burns, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Gilson Gardner, D. C.<br/> +Mrs. Florence Bayard Hilles, Del.<br/> +Mrs. Donald R. Hooker, Md.<br/> +Mrs. J. A. H. Hopkins, N. J.<br/> +Mrs. William Kent, Cal.<br/> +Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Pa.<br/> +Miss Doris Stevens, N. Y.<br/> +Miss Maud Younger, Cal. +</p> + +<h5>EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1915</h5> + +<p> +Miss Alice Paul, N. J., Chairman<br/> +Miss Anne Martin, Nev., Vice-chairman<br/> +Miss Mabel Vernon, Del., Secretary<br/> +Miss Mary Gertrude Fendall, Md., Treasurer<br/> +Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, D. C.<br/> +Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. John Winters Brannan, N. Y.<br/> +Miss Lucy Burns, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Gilson Gardner, D.C.<br/> +Mrs. Thomas N. Hepburn, Conn.<br/> +Mrs. Florence Bayard Hilles, Del.<br/> +Mrs. Donald R. Hooker, Md.<br/> +Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Pa.<br/> +Miss Doris Stevens, N. Y.<br/> +Miss Maud Younger, Cal. +</p> + +<h5>EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1919-1990</h5> + +<p> +Miss Alice Paul, N. J., Chairman<br/> +Miss Mabel Vernon, Del., Secretary<br/> +Miss Mary Gertrude Fendall, Md., Treasurer<br/> +Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, D.C.<br/> +Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, N.Y.<br/> +Mrs. John Winters Brannan, N.Y.<br/> +Miss Lucy Burns, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Gilson Gardner, D. C.<br/> +Mrs. Thomas N. Hepburn, Conn.<br/> +Mrs. Florence Bayard Hilles, Del.<br/> +Mrs. Donald R. Hooker, Md.<br/> +Mrs. Henry G. Leach, N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Pa.<br/> +Miss Doris Stevens. N. Y.<br/> +Mrs. Richard Wainwright, D. C.<br/> +Miss Maud Younger, Cal. +</p> + +<h3>APPENDIX 6</h3> + +<p> +Concerning Political Prisoners +</p> + +<p> +Definitions +</p> + +<p> +James Bryce:[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] James Bryce made this distinction in 1889 between the two kinds of +offenders. Letter Introductory to “Political Prisoners at Home and +Abroad,” Sigerson. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps we may say that whenever the moral judgment of the community at +large does not brand an offence as sordid and degrading, and does not feel the +offence to be one which destroys its respect for the personal character of the +prisoner, it may there be held that prison treatment ought to be different from +that awarded to ordinary criminals.” +</p> + +<p> +George Sigerson:[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] “Political Prisoners at Home and Abroad.” +</p> + +<p> +“Men may differ, in thought and deed, on many questions without moral +guilt. Forms of government and measures relating to the welfare and +organization of society have been, in all ages and countries, questions on +which men have entertained divergent convictions, and asserted their sincerity +by conflicting action, often at grave personal sacrifice and the loss of life. +On the other hand, all people are agreed in condemning certain acts, +stigmatized as crimes, which offend against the well-being of the individual or +the community. +</p> + +<p> +“Hence, civilized states distinguish between actions concerning which +good men may reasonably differ, and actions which all good men condemn. The +latter, if permitted to prevail, would disintegrate and destroy the social life +of mankind; the former, if successful, would simply reorganize it, on a +different basis . . . . The objects may, in one generation, be branded as +crimes, whilst in the next those who fail to make them triumph and suffered as +malefactors are exalted as patriot martyrs, and their principles incorporated +amongst the foundation principles of the country’s constitution. +</p> + +<p> +“Attempts to effect changes by methods beyond the conventions which have +the sanction of the majority of a community, may be rash and blameworthy +sometimes, but they are not necessarily dishonorable, and may even occasionally +be obligatory on conscience.” +</p> + +<p> +As to the incumbency upon a government to differentiate in punishments +inflicted upon these two classes of offenders, he further says: “When a +Government exercises its punitive power, it should, in awarding sentence, +distinguish between the two classes of offenders. To confound in a common +degradation those who violate the moral law by acts which all men condemn, and +those who offend against the established order of society by acts of which many +men approve, and for objects which may sometime be accepted as integral parts +of established order, is manifestly wrong in principle. It places a Government +morally in the wrong in the eyes of masses of the population, a thing to be +sedulously guarded against.” +</p> + +<p> +George Clemenceau:[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Clemenceau in a speech before the French Chamber of Deputies, May 16th, +1876, advocating amnesty for those who participated in the Commune of 1871. +From the Annals de la Chambre des Deputies, 1876, v. 2, pp. 44-48. +</p> + +<p> +“Theoretically a crime committed in the interest of the criminal is a +common law crime, while an offense committed in the public interest is a +political crime.” He says further, “That an act isolated from the +circumstances under which it was committed . . . may have the appearance of a +common law crime . . : while viewed in connection with the circumstances under +which it is committed (in connection with a movement) . . . it may take on a +political character.” +</p> + +<p> +Maurice Parmelee:[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “Criminology” by Maurice Parmelee, Chap. XXVIII. Author also of +“Poverty and Social Progress,” “The Science of Human +Behavior,” “The Principles of Anthropology and Sociology in their +relation to Criminal Procedure.” During the late war Dr. Parmelee was a +Representative of the U. S. War Trade Board stationed at the American Embassy, +London; economic advisor to the State Department, and Chairman of the Allied +Rationing Committee which administered the German Blockade. +</p> + +<p> +“Common crimes are acts contrary to the law committed in the interest of +the individual criminal or of those personally related to the criminal. +Political crimes are acts contrary to the law committed against an existing +government or form of government in the interest of another government or form +of government . . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“Furthermore, there are other offenses against the law which are not +common crimes, and yet are not political crimes in the usual criminological +sense . . . . +</p> + +<p> +“Among these crimes, which are broader than the ordinary political +crimes, are offenses in defense of the right to freedom of thought and belief, +in defense of the right to express one’s self in words in free speech, . +. . and many illegal acts committed by conscientious objectors to the payment +of taxes or to military service, the offenses of laborers in strikes and other +labor disturbances, the violations of law committed by those who are trying to +bring about changes in the relations between the sexes, etc. +</p> + +<p> +“Common crimes are almost invariably anti-social in their nature, while +offenses which are directly or indirectly political are usually social in their +intent, and are frequently beneficial to society in their ultimate effect. We +are, therefore, justified in calling them social crimes, as contrasted with the +anti-social common crimes . . . . .” +</p> + +<h5>TREATMENT ACCORDED POLITICAL PRISONFRS ABROAD</h5> + +<p> +It is interesting to note what other countries have done toward handling +intelligently the problem of political offenders. +</p> + +<p> +Russia was probably the first country in modern history to recognize political +prisoners as a class,[1] although the treatment of different groups and +individuals varied widely. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Siberia received its first exiles [non-conformists] in the 17th Century. +</p> + +<p> +First of all, the political offender was recognized as a +“political” not by law, but by custom. When sure of a verdict of +guilty, either through damaging evidence or a packed jury, the offender was +tried. When it was impossible to commit him to trial because there were no +proofs against him, “Administrative Exile” was resorted to. These +judgments or Administrative orders to exile were pronounced in secret on +political offenders; one member of the family of the defendant was admitted to +the trial under the law of 1881. Those exiled by Administrative order were +transported in cars, but stopped en route at the etapes, political prisoners +along with common law convicts. Since 1866 politicals condemned by the courts +to hard labor or to exile, journeyed on foot with common law convicts.[1] +</p> + +<p> +There were no hospitals for political exiles; doctors and ‘ surgeons +among the exiled helped their sick comrades. +</p> + +<p> +Families were permitted to follow the loved ones into exile, if they chose. For +example, wives were allowed to stay at Lower Kara, and visit their husbands in +the prison in Middle Kara twice a week and to bring them books. +</p> + +<p> +When criminal convicts were freed in Siberia after serving a given sentence at +hard labor, they received an allotment of land and agricultural implements for +purposes of sustenance, and after two years the government troubled no more +about them. They became settlers in some province of Southern Siberia. With +political exiles it was quite different. When they had finished a seven, ten, +or twelve year sentence, they were not liberated but transferred to the tundras +within the Arctic Circle. +</p> + +<p> +Fancy a young girl student exiled to a village numbering a hundred houses, with +the government allowance of 8 to 10 shillings a month to live on. Occupations +were closed to her, and there was no opportunity to learn a trade. She was +forbidden to leave the town even for a few hours. The villagers were for the +most part in fear of being suspected if seen to greet politicals in the street. +</p> + +<p> +“Without dress, without shoes, living in the nastiest huts, without any +occupation, they [the exiles were mostly dying from consumption,” said +the Golos of February 2, 1881. They lived in constant fear of starvation. And +the Government allowance was withdrawn if it became known that an exile +received any monetary assistance from family or friends. +</p> + +<p> +Those politicals condemned to hard labor in Siberia worked mostly in gold mines +for three months out of twelve, during which period meat was added to their +diet. Otherwise black bread was the main food of the diet. +</p> + +<p> +When held in prisons awaiting trial or convicted and awaiting transfer into +exile, politicals did no work whatever. Their only occupation was reading. +Common criminals had to work in prison as well as in Siberia. +</p> + +<p> +In the fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul,[1] Kropotkin was lodged in a cell big +enough to shelter a big fortress gun (25 feet on the diagonal). The walls and +floor were lined with felt to prevent communication with others. “The +silence in these felt- covered cells is that of a grave,” wrote Kropotkin +. . . . “Here I wrote my two volumes on The Glacial Period.” Here +he also prepared maps and drawings. This privilege was only granted, to him, +however, after a strong movement amongst influential circles compelled it from +the Czar.[1a] The Geo- graphical Society for whom he was writing his thesis +also made many pleas on his behalf. He was allowed to buy tobacco, writing +paper and to have books—but no extra food. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] In the Trubeskoi bastion, one building in the fortress. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1a] Set Memoirs of a Revolutionist, Kropotkin. +</p> + +<p> +Kropotkin says that political prisoners were not subjected to corporal +punishment, through official fear of bloodshed. But he must mean by corporal +punishment actual beatings, for he says also, “The black holes, the +chains, the riveting to bar rows are usual punishments.” And some +politicals were al- leged to have been put in oubliettes in the Alexis +Ravelin[2] which must have been the worst feature of all the tortures. This +meant immurement alive in cells, in a remote spot where no contact with others +was possible, and where the prisoner would often be chained or riveted for +years. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Another section of Sts. Peter and Paul Fortress. +</p> + +<p> +More recently there was some mitigation of the worst fea- tures of the prison +régime and some additional privileges were extended to politicals. +</p> + +<p> +All this applied to old Russia. There is no documentary proof available yet, as +to how Soviet Russia treats its offenders against the present government. The +Constitution of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic does not +provide a status for political prisoners, but it does provide for their re +lease. It specifically deals with amnesty which is proof of the importance with +which it regards the question of political offenders. It says: “The +All-Russian Central Executive Com mittee deal with questions of state such as . +. . the right to declare individual and general amnesty.[4] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Adopted by the 5th All-Russian Congress of Soviets, July 10, 1918. +Reprinted from The Nation, January 4, 1919. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Article 3, Chapter 9 . . . 49 q. +</p> <p> +France has had perhaps the most enlightened attitude of all the nations toward +political offenders. She absolutely guarantees special treatment, by special +regulations, and does not leave it to the discretion of changing governments. +</p> + +<p> +On August 7, 1834; Thiers, in a ministerial circular, laid down the fundamental +principles upon which France has acted. The only obligation upon the defendant, +according to this circular, was to prove the political nature of the +offense,—“that it should be demonstrated and incontestable that +they have acted under the influence of their opinions.”[1] Theirs +advocated superior diet for political prisoners and no work. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Sigerson, Political prisoners at Home and Abroad, p. 89. +</p> + +<p> +His edict was followed by special regulations issued for politicals under the +Empire, February 9th, 1867, through M. Pietri, Prefect of the Seine. These +regulations, illustrative of the care France exercised at an early date over +her politicals, defined the housing conditions, diet, intercourse with comrades +inside the prison and with family and friends from the outside. Their privacy +was carefully guarded. No curious visitor was allowed to see a political unless +the latter so desired. +</p> + +<p> +Kropotkin wrote[2] of his incarceration in Clairvaux prison in 1888, to which +he and twenty-two others were transferred from Lyons after being prosecuted for +belonging to the International Workingmen’s Association: “In +France, it is generally understood that for political prisoners the loss of +liberty and the forced inactivity are in themselves so hard that there is no +need to inflict additional hardships.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Memoirs of a Revolutionist, Kropotkin. +</p> + +<p> +In Clairvaux he and his comrades were given quarters in spacious rooms, not in +cells. Kropotkin and Emile Gautier, the French anarchist, were given a separate +room for literary work and the Academy of Sciences offered them the use of its +library. +</p> + +<p> +There was no intercourse with common law prisoners. The politicals were allowed +to wear their own clothes, to smoke, to buy food and wine from the prison +canteen or have it brought in; they were free of compulsory work, but might, if +they chose, do light work for which they were paid. Kropotkin mentions the +extreme cleanliness of the prison and the “excellent quality” of +the prison food. +</p> + +<p> +Their windows looked down upon a little garden and also commanded a beautiful +view of the surrounding country. They played nine- pins in the yard and made a +vegetable and flower garden on the surface of the building’s wall. For +other forms of recreation, they were allowed to organize themselves into +classes. This particular group received from Kropotkin lessons in cosmography, +geometry, physics, languages and bookbinding. Kropotkin’s wife was +allowed to visit him daily and to walk with him in the prison gardens. +</p> + +<p> +Sebastian Faure, the great French teacher and orator, was sentenced to prison +after the anarchist terrorism in 1894 and while there was allowed to write his +“La Douleur Universelle” +</p> + +<p> +Paul La Fargue, son-in-law of Karl Marx, wrote his famous “The Right to +be Lazy” in Sainte Pelagie prison. +</p> + +<p> +France has continued this policy to date. Jean Grave, once a shoemaker and now +a celebrated anarchist, was condemned to six months in La Sante prison for an +offensive article in his paper, Les Temps Nouveaux. Such is the liberty allowed +a political that while serving this sentence he was given paper and materials +with which to write another objectionable article, called “La Société +Mourante et l’Anarchie,” for the publication of which he received +another six months. +</p> + +<p> +It is interesting to note the comparatively light sentences political offenders +get in France. And then there is an established practice of amnesty. They +rarely finish out their terms. Agitation for their release extends from the +extreme revolutionary left to the members of the Chamber of Deputies, +frequently backed by the liberal press. +</p> + +<p> +Italy also distinguishes between political and common law offenders. The former +are entitled to all the privileges of custodia honesta[1] which means they are +allowed to wear their own clothes, work or not, as they choose; if they do +work, one half their earnings is given to them. Their only penal obligation is +silence during work, meals, school and prayers. A friend of Sr. Serrati, the +ex-editor of the Italian journal Il Proletario, tells me that Serrati was a +political prisoner during the late war; that he was sentenced to three and a +half years, but was released at the end of six months, through pressure from +the outside. But while there, he was allowed to write an article a day for +Avanti, of which paper he was then an editor. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Sigerson, pp. 154-5. +</p> + +<p> +Even before the Franco-Prussian War German principalities recognized political +offenders as such. The practice continued after the federation of German states +through the Empire and up to the overthrow of Kaiser Wilhelm. Politicals were +held in “honorable custody” in fortresses where they were deprived +only of their liberty. +</p> + +<p> +For revolutionary activities in Saxony in 1849, Bakunin[2] was arrested, taken +to a Cavalry Barracks and later to Koeriigstein Fortress, where politicals were +held. Here he was allowed to walk twice daily under guard. He was allowed to +receive books, he could converse with his fellow prisoners and could write and +receive numerous letters. In a letter to a friend[3] he wrote that he was +occupied in the study of mathematics and English, and that he was +“enjoying Shakespeare.” And .. : . “they treat me with +extraordinary humanness.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Life of Michael Bakunin—Eine Biographie von Dr. Max Nettlau. +(Privately printed by the author. Fifty copies reproduced by the autocopyist, +Longhaus.) +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] To Adolph R—— (the last name illegible) October 15, 1849. +</p> + +<p> +Another letter to the same friend a month later said he was writing a defense +of his political views in “a comfortable room,” with “cigars +and food brought in from a nearby inn.” The death sentence was pronounced +against him in 1850 but commuted to imprisonment for life. The same year he was +extradited to Austria where the offense was committed, then to Russia and on to +Siberia in 1855, whence he escaped in 1860 in an American ship. +</p> + +<p> +In 1869 Bebell[1] received a sentence of three weeks in Leipzig (contrast with +Alice Paul’s seven months’ sentence) “for the propagation of +ideas dangerous to the state.” Later for high treason based upon +Social-Democratic agitation he was sentenced to two years in a fortress. For +lèse majesté he served nine months in Hubertusburg—a fortress prison (in +1871). Here politicals were allowed to pay for the cleaning of their cells, to +receive food from a nearby inn, and were allowed to eat together in the +corridors. They were only locked in for part of the time, and the rest of the +time were allowed to walk in the garden. They were permitted lights until ten +at night; books; and could receive and answer mail every day. Bebel received +permission to share cell quarters with the elder Lielr knecht (Wilhelm), then +serving time for his internationalism. He says that political prisoners were +often allowed a six weeks’ leave of absence between sentences; when +finishing one and beginning a second. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] My Life, August Bebel. +</p> + +<p> +According to Sigerson, politicals in Austria also were absolved from wearing +prison clothes, might buy their own food and choose their work. I am told the +same régime prevailed in Hungary under Franz Joseph. +</p> + +<p> +The new constitution of the German Republic adopted at Weimar July 31, 1919, +provides that[2] “The President of the Republic shall exercise for the. +government the right of pardon .. . . . Government amnesties require a national +law.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Article 49. +</p> + +<p> +In the Scandinavian countries there is no provision for special consideration +of political prisoners, although a proposed change in Sweden’s penal laws +now pending includes special treatment for them, and in Denmark, although +politicals are not recognized apart from other prisoners, the people have just +won an amnesty for all prisoners convicted of political offense as I write. +Neither Switzerland nor Spain makes separate provision for politicals, although +there are many prisoners confined in their prisons for political offenses, +especially in Spain, where there are nearly always actually thousands in +Monjuich. Portugal also subjects political offenders to the same regime as +criminals. +</p> + +<p> +Concerning Turkey and Bulgaria, I appealed to George Andreytchine, a Bulgarian +revolutionist who as protégé of King Ferdinand was educated at Sofia and +Constantinople, knowing his knowledge on this point would be authentic. He +writes: “Turkey, which is the most backward of all modern states, +recognized the status of political prisoners before 1895, or shortly after the +Armenian massacres. Thousands of Bulgarian, Greek, Armenian and Arabian +insurgents, caught with Arms in their hands, conspiring and actually in open +rebellion against the Ottoman Empire, were sentenced to exile or hard labor, +but were never confined in the same prisons with ordinary criminals and felons. +They were put in more hygienical prisons where they were allowed to read and +write and to breathe fresh air. Among some of my friends who were exiled to +Turkish Africa for rebellion was a young scholar, Paul Shateff, by name, who +while there wrote a remarkable monograph on the ethnology and ethnography of +the Arabian Tribes in which he incidentally tells of the special treatment +given him and his fellow exiles as political prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +“There is something to be said for the political wisdom of the Sultans. +Amnesty is an established practice, usually at the birthday of the Sultan or +the coming to power of a new Sultan, or on Ramadan[1], a national holiday. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The month (the ninth in the Mohammedan year) in which the first part of the +Koran is said to have been received. +</p> + +<p> +“In 1908 when the young Turks assumed control of the government, all +political prisoners were released and cared for by the state. My friend Paul +Shateff was sent at state expense to Bruxelles to finish his studies. +</p> + +<p> +“Bulgaria, another one of those ‘backward countries,’ +established the political regime even earlier than Turkey. Politicals are +allowed to read, to write books or articles for publication, to receive food +from outside, and are periodically released on amnesty.” +</p> + +<p> +And now we come to England. In general England, too, give’s political +offenders much lighter sentences than does America, but, except in isolated +cases, she treats them no better. She does not recognize them as political +prisoners. If they are distinguished prisoners like Dr. Jamison, who was +permitted to serve the sentence imposed upon him for leading an armed raid into +the Transvaal in 1895, in a luxuriously furnished suite, to provide himself +with books, a piano, and such food as he chose, and to receive his friends, +special dispensation is allowed; or like William Cobbett, who was imprisoned +for writing an alleged treasonable article in his journal, The Register, in +1809; or Leigh Hunt for maligning the Prince Regent who, he believed, broke his +promise to the Irish cause; Daniel O’Connell and six associates in 1844 +for “seditious activity”; John Mitchell, who in 1848 was sent to +Bermuda and then to Van Dieman’s Land.[2] These British prisoners, while +not proclaimed as politicals, did receive special privileges.[3] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2]English penal colony in Tasmania. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3]For details of their handsome treatment see Sigerson, pp. 19–20, +</p> + +<p> +More recently Bertrand Russell, the distinguished man of letters who served +sixty-one days in lieu of payment of fine for writing a pamphlet intended to +arouse public indignation against the treatment of a certain conscientious +objector, received special privileges. In England the matter of treatment rests +largely with the will of the Prime Minister, who dictates the policy to the +Home Secretary, who in turn directs the Chairman of the Board of Directors of +Prisons. The Home Secretary may, however, of his own accord issue an order for +special privileges if he so desires, or if there is a strong demand for such an +order. Many government commissions and many distinguished British statesmen +have recommended complete recognition and guarantee of the status of political +prisoners, but the matter has been left to common law custom and precedent, and +the character of the prime minister. In the case of Ireland the policy agreed +upon is carried out by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +It is difficult to generalize about England’s treatment of Irish +political offenders. From the earliest nationalist activities she has treated +them practically all as common criminals, or worse, if such a thing is +possible. She has either filled English prisons, or, as in the sixties, put +them in convict ships and sent them to Bermuda and Australia for life sentences +along with common convicts where they performed the hardest labor.. Irish +prisoners have fought with signal and persistent courage for the rights due +political offenders. Lately, after militant demonstrations within the prisons +and after deaths resulting from concerted hunger striking protests, some +additional privileges have been extended. But these can be and are withheld at +will. There is no guarantee of them. +</p> + +<p> +As early as 1885 Canadian nationalists who had taken part in an insurrection in +Upper Canada on behalf of self-government and who were sent to Van +Dieman’s Land in convict ships, entered a vigorous protest to Lord +Russell, the Home Secretary, against not receiving the treatment due political +prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +England has to her credit, then, some flexibility about extending privileges to +politicals. We have none. England has to her credit lighter +sentences—Irish cases excepted. No country, not excluding imperial +Germany, has ever given such cruelly long sentences to political offenders as +did America during the late war. +</p> + +<p> +I have incorporated this discussion in such a book for two reasons: first, +because it seemed to me important that you should know what a tremendous +contribution the suffrage prisoners made toward this enlightened reform. They +were the first in America to make a sustained demand to establish this +precedent which others will consummate. They kept up the demand to the end of +the prison episode, reinforcing it by the hunger strike protest. The other +reason for including this discussion here is that it seems to me imperative +that America recognize without further delay the status of political offenders. +As early as 1872 the International Prison Congress meeting in London +recommended a distinction in the treatment of common law criminals and +politicals, and the resolution was agreed upon by the representatives of all +the Powers of Europe and America with the tacit concurrence of British and +Irish officials. And still we are behind Turkey in adopting an enlightened +policy. We have neither regulation, statute nor precedent. Nor have we the +custom of official flexibility. +</p> + +<p> +Note—The most conspicuous political prisoner from the point of view of +actual power the United States has ever held in custody was Jefferson Davis, +the President of the Confederate States, during the rebellion of the South +against the Union. He was imprisoned in Fortress Monroe and subjected to the +most cruel and humiliating treatment conceivable. For details of his +imprisonment see the graphic account given in “Jefferson Davis—A +Memoir” by his wife, Vol. II, pp. 653-95. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAILED FOR FREEDOM ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for +copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very +easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation +of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project +Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may +do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected +by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark +license, especially commercial redistribution. +</div> + +<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> +<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person +or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the +Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when +you share it without charge with others. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country other than the United States. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work +on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: +</div> + +<blockquote> + <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most + other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions + whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms + of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online + at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you + are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws + of the country where you are located before using this eBook. + </div> +</blockquote> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg™ License. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format +other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain +Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +provided that: +</div> + +<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation.” + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ + works. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. + </div> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of +the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set +forth in Section 3 below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, +Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up +to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website +and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread +public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state +visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Most people start at our website which has the main PG search +facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. +</div> + +</div> + +</body> + +</html> + + |