The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony Volume II Part 18

The birthday was celebrated by individuals and clubs in many states with luncheons, teas, receptions and literary entertainments. After all these pleasant happenings, Miss Anthony felt new courage and hope to enter upon the Twenty-second National Suffrage Convention, February 18, at Lincoln Music Hall. This was to be an important meeting, as it was to consummate the union of the National and American organizations, and she was anxious for a large attendance. "Do come," she wrote to the most influential friends, "if you stay away forever afterwards. This will be the crucial test whether our platform shall continue broad and free as it has been for forty years. Some now propose secession because it is to be narrow and bigoted; others left us twenty years ago because it was too liberal. Some of the prominent women are writing me that the union means we shall be no more than an annex to the W. C. T. U. hereafter; others declare we are going to sink our ident.i.ty and become sectarian and conservative. There is not the slightest ground for any of these fears, but come and be our stay and support."

She also had the annual struggle to secure the presence of Mrs. Stanton, who was about to sail with her daughter for England, but, after the usual stormy correspondence, the day of departure was postponed and she wrote: "You will have me under your thumb the first of February." As her time was limited, Miss Anthony arranged for the hearing before the Senate committee on February 8, which was held in the new room a.s.signed to the committee on woman suffrage. A few days later the ladies spoke before the House Judiciary Committee.

The union of the two organizations was effected before the opening of the convention and Mrs. Stanton elected president.[54] She faced a brilliant a.s.semblage at the opening of the National-American Convention and made one of the ablest speeches of her life, stating in the first sentence that she considered it a greater honor to go to England as the president of this a.s.sociation than to be sent as minister plenipotentiary to any court in Europe. She closed by introducing her daughter, Mrs. Stanton Blatch, who captivated the audience.[55] Hon. Wm.

Dudley Foulke, ex-president of the American a.s.sociation, then delivered an eloquent and scholarly address. At its close Mrs. Stanton was obliged to leave, as she sailed for Europe the next morning. When she arose to say farewell the entire audience joined in the waving of handkerchiefs, the clapping of hands, and the men in three rousing cheers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Autograph: "Wm D Youlke"]

The usual corps of National speakers received a notable addition in Wm.

Lloyd Garrison, Julia Ward Howe, Henry B. Blackwell, Carrie Chapman Catt, Hon. J. A. Pickler and Alice Stone Blackwell. Lucy Stone, being detained at home by illness, sent a letter of greeting. When Miss Anthony, as vice-president-at-large, took the chair after Mrs. Stanton's departure, a great bouquet of white lilies was presented to her.

A woman suffrage amendment was pending in South Dakota, and the claims of the new State were presented by Representative and Mrs. Pickler and Alonzo Wardall, secretary of the Farmer's Alliance and vice-president of the suffrage a.s.sociation, all of whom felt confident that with financial help the amendment could be carried but, as the State was poor, most of this would have to come from outside. The convention became very enthusiastic and a South Dakota campaign committee was formed; Susan B.

Anthony, chairman, Clara B. Colby, Alice Stone Blackwell. Rev. Anna H.

Shaw made a stirring appeal for money. Miss Anthony pledged all that she could raise between then and the November election. Mrs. Clara L.

McAdow, of Montana, headed the list with $250. A number of ladies followed with pledges for their respective States. In a short time it seemed evident that a large sum could be raised and, at Miss Anthony's request, the a.s.sociation directed all contributions to be sent to its treasurer, Mrs. Spofford, at Was.h.i.+ngton, and she herself agreed to devote a year's work to Dakota.[56]

Miss Anthony remained in Was.h.i.+ngton several weeks, looking after various matters: first of all, a representation of women in the management of the Columbian Exposition; then there were the reports of the Senate and the House committees, upon which she always brought to bear as much as possible of that "indirect influence" which women are said to possess.

Just now the admission of Wyoming as a State with woman suffrage in its const.i.tution was hanging in the balance, but on March 26 she had the inexpressible pleasure of witnessing, from her seat in the gallery of the House, the final discussion and pa.s.sage of the bill.[57] She also was arranging for the incorporation of the National-American a.s.sociation, the old National, which had been a corporate body for a number of years, having added American to its name. The bills of the convention were to be settled,[58] and there were still other subjects claiming her attention before she started for the far West to inaugurate the South Dakota campaign.

Miss Anthony was a welcome guest at dinners and receptions in the homes of many of the dignitaries in Was.h.i.+ngton, but accepted these invitations only when she saw an opportunity thereby to further the cause of woman suffrage. She realized fully that one important step in the work was to interest women of influence, socially and financially, and the high plane of respectability which this question had now attained was at least partly due to her winters in Was.h.i.+ngton, where, at the Riggs House and in society, she met and made friends with prominent men and women from all parts of the country and converted them to her doctrines, which they disseminated in their various localities upon returning home.

She writes her sister, in describing social events, of a dinner at the handsome home of John R. McLean, owner of the Cincinnati Enquirer, who in person brought the invitation, while his wife, the daughter of General Beale, looked after her "as if she had been the Queen of Sheba."

Here she met Senator and Mrs. Payne of Ohio, Senator and Mrs. c.o.c.krell of Missouri, Senator and Mrs. Butler of South Carolina, Speaker and Mrs.

Reed of Maine, Justice and Mrs. Field and other notables. Then she speaks of a meeting of the Cobweb Club, composed of women in official life, where, at the close of her informal talk, they crowded around her and exclaimed: "Why, Miss Anthony, we never understood this question before; of course we believe in it." Mrs. Hearst, wife of the Senator, said: "Had any one ever presented this subject to me as you have done today, you should have had my help long ago." "And so you see," she writes, "that at this juncture of our movement much could be accomplished by accepting such invitations, but it costs me more courage than to face an audience of a thousand people."

While Miss Anthony was still in Was.h.i.+ngton she sat for her bust by a young sculptor, Adelaide Johnson. "So marble and canvas both are to tell the story," she wrote, "for I have sat also for a painting. The time draws near when I must start out campaigning and O, how I dread it!"

During this winter she received an invitation from a State W. C. T. U.

to bring a suffrage convention to their city and they would bear the expenses, stipulating only that she herself should be present, and that "no speaker should say anything which would seem like an attack on Christianity." She wrote Miss Shaw: "Won't that prevent your going, Rev.

Anna? I wonder if they'll be as particular to warn all other speakers not to say anything which shall sound like an attack on liberal religion. They never seem to think we have any feelings to be hurt when we have to sit under their reiteration of orthodox cant and dogma. The boot is all on one foot with the dear religious bigots--but if they will all pull together with us for suffrage we'll continue to bear and forbear, as we have done for the past forty years."

In this winter of 1890 many loving letters pa.s.sed between Miss Anthony and Rachel Foster Avery, almost too sacred to be quoted, and yet a few sentences may be used to show the maternal tenderness in the nature of the great reformer:

Of course I miss you from my side, but do not feel for a moment that any doubt of your love and loyalty ever crosses my mind. No, my dear, you and all of us must consider only the best interests of the loved though not yet seen. Banish anxiety and let the rest of us take all the work and care. Be happy in the new life you are molding; avoid all but lovely thoughts; let your first and nearest and dearest feelings be for the precious little one whose temperament and nature you are now stamping. Your every heartbeat, not only of love and peace and beauty, but of the reverse as well, is making its mark on the unborn.... I feel much better satisfied to know Sister Mary is with you for a few days. If her presence is comforting, why don't you ask her to stay with you till the wee one arrives?

And so the serene and helpful sister Mary remains until a telegram is sent to the anxious one, by that time in far-off Dakota, announcing the birth of a daughter. "My heart bounded with joy," wrote Miss Anthony, "to hear the ordeal was pa.s.sed and the little, sa.s.sie Rose Foster Avery safely launched upon the big ocean of time." And in a little while the mother replied: "Darling Aunt Susan, when I lie with baby Rose in my arms, I think so often of what she and I and all women, born and to be born, owe to you, and my heart overflows with love and grat.i.tude."

FOOTNOTES:

[53] There were also more substantial tokens, an Irish wool shawl from Mrs. Chant; a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary from Mrs. Colby, with the inscription, "The words in this volume can not express what women owe you;" a silk dress pattern from brother Daniel R.; a $50 check from sister Mary; $200 from Sarah Willis of Rochester, and $100 from the Woman's Political Equality Club of that city; seventy golden dollars from the Toledo Suffrage Club; $50 from Mrs. Arthur A. Mosher of St.

Louis, and enough $5 bills in friendly letters to bring the amount to over $500. The very next day Miss Anthony gave a part of this to friends who were ill or needy, including $50 to Phoebe Couzins.

[54] Described in detail in Chapter x.x.xV.

[55] Miss Anthony wrote in her journal that night: "Harriot said but a few words, yet showed herself worthy her mother and her mother's life-long friend and co-worker. It was a proud moment for me."

[56] Among those who contributed largely to this fund were Senator Stanford, $300; Rachel Foster Avery, $300; George C. Lemon, Was.h.i.+ngton City; Hon. Ezra V. Meeker, Puyallup; Rev. Anna H. Shaw; Isabella Hedenberg, Chicago; Alice Stone Blackwell; Emily Howland, Sherwood, N.

Y.; O. G. and Alice Peters, Columbus, O.; John L. Whiting, Boston; Senator R. F. Pettigrew, Sioux Falls; Albert O. Willc.o.x, New York, $100 each; Mary H. Johnson, Louisville, $115, which she earned by knitting wool shawls and fascinators; May Wright Sewall sent nearly $200, collected from Indiana friends; James and Martha Callanan, Des Moines, $150; Mary Grew, $143 for the Pennsylvania society. Other women sent their jewelry to be sold, and one offered a gift of western land. The rest of the $5,500 was sent in smaller amounts, and all receipts and expenditures were carefully entered on the national treasurer's books for 1890. When later some carping individuals complained at so much money pa.s.sing through Miss Anthony's hands, Mrs. Livermore silenced them by saying: "Susan would use every dollar for suffrage if millions were given to her."

[57] Mary Grew wrote her immediately: "All hail and congratulations! I read in this morning's paper that you were in the House yesterday; and I have no doubt that today you are doing something to promote the pa.s.sage of the bill through the Senate.... One object of this letter is to urge you to take more care of your health. Emily Howland reports that you are very much overworked and exhausted. Pray stop awhile and rest yourself, for the sake of the cause as well as for your own and your friends'."

[58] I will authorize you to add my signature to yours in approving any bills relating to the expenses of the National-American convention just past. It will save time and trouble. You are on the spot and know all about the bills. Yours sincerely,

LUCY STONE.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

THE SOUTH DAKOTA CAMPAIGN.

1890.

Miss Anthony left Was.h.i.+ngton to attend the wedding of her nephew, Wendell Phillips Mosher, and Carolyn Louise Mixer, at Cleveland, O., April 17; stopped in Chicago for a day, and reached Huron, S. Dak., April 23, 1890.[59] During the early winter she had had the most urgent letters from this State, begging her to hasten her coming, that all depended upon her. "If you will come we will throw off our coats and go to work," wrote the men. "Woe to the man or woman who is not loyal to you! If ever you were needed anywhere, you are needed here now," wrote the women. When she had been in South Dakota the previous autumn, all had united in urging her to take charge of the campaign, and for months she had been receiving appeals for help. "We have not enough money to organize one county," came from a member of the executive committee. In January, from Alonzo Wardall, vice-president of the State a.s.sociation, "We are very grateful for your earnest efforts in our behalf and trust you will be able to spend the coming summer with us." His wife, the superintendent of press, wrote in February: "We shall give you the credit, dear Miss Anthony, if we succeed next November."

On March 5, the president of the a.s.sociation, S. A. Ramsey, said in the course of a long letter: "I had begun to feel misgivings relative to our success, because we were so poorly prepared for the great conflict which is pending; but the appointment by the national convention of a special committee to aid us in our work has inspired me with great hope, especially as you were placed at the head of that committee." Mrs. H. M.

Barker, State organizer, wrote March 10: "Organizing must have stopped in the third district, had it not been for the money you sent. It is utterly impossible for us to pay even $10 a week to organizers. I have been disappointed in my home workers, so many incapacitated for various reasons. We shall make suffrage a specialty in all our W. C. T. U.

county and district conventions." And April 11, the State secretary, Rev. M. Barker, supplemented this with: "It is absolutely impossible to raise money in the State to pay speakers and furnish literature. This you understand. The election must go by default if it is expected."

At the Was.h.i.+ngton convention it had been ordered that all contributions should be forwarded to the national treasurer and disbursed by order of the committee. Notwithstanding this, a large proportion was sent directly to Miss Anthony with the express stipulation that it should be expended under her personal supervision. There never was a woman connected with the suffrage movement who could collect as much money as she; people would give to her who refused all others, with the injunction that she should use according to her own judgment. That which was sent her for Dakota she turned over at once to the treasurer, Mrs.

Spofford, and paid all the campaign bills by checks.

The Dakota people had made the mistake of electing a suffrage board entirely of men, except the treasurer and State organizer, and, although they had not a dollar in their treasury and no prospects, they agreed to pay the secretary $100 a month for his services! When money from all parts of the country had been sent to the national treasurer, until the Dakota fund reached $5,500, the executive committee of that State suddenly discovered that they could manage their own campaign, and made a demand upon the national committee to turn the funds over to them.

Miss Anthony, as chairman, already had sent them $300 for preliminary work; had written and telegraphed that the services of Miss Shaw could be had for only one month, at that time, and asked if they would arrange her routes; and had twice written them to send her their "plan of campaign," but had received no answer to any of these communications. At the last moment she was obliged herself to make out Miss Shaw's route and send her into the field with practically no advertis.e.m.e.nt. On March 29 she wrote to the State president:

Immediately on the receipt of your answer to my first letter to your executive committee, instead of sending you a personal reply I wrote again to the entire committee, answering the various points presented by you, Mr. and Mrs. Barker and others. This I did to save writing the same thing to half a dozen different people, as well as to make sure that I should get your official action upon what seemed to me most important matters; but to this date I have received not only no official answer, but no information which shows my letter to have been acted upon. Nor have I heard from any member of the committee that you have mapped out any plan of campaign, or have accepted and proposed to work on the one which I outlined last November at the Aberdeen meeting, and twice over have stated in my letters.

You, personally, say to me that you must have the national funds put into your treasury before you can plan work. Now, my dear sir, as a business man you never would give your money to any person or committee until they had presented to you a plan for using it which met your approval. Then I have had no indication of any intention on the part of your executive committee or State organizer to hold any series of suffrage meetings or conventions. The only ones written of are W. C. T. U. county and district conventions.

California's suffrage lecturer, I am informed, is to be introduced to the State at the First District W. C. T. U. Convention.

Now, I want to say to you individually, and to the executive committee generally, that the National-American South Dakota committee will pay the money entrusted to them only to _suffrage_ lecturers and _suffrage_ conventions. We shall not pay it to any individual or a.s.sociation for any other purpose, or in any other name, than suffrage for women, pure and simple. We talked this over fully in your executive committee meeting at Aberdeen last fall, and all agreed that, while the temperance societies worked for suffrage in their way, the suffrage campaign should be carried forward on the basis of the one principle. Our national money will not go to aid Prohibition leagues, Grand Army encampments, Woman's Relief Corps, W. C. T. U. societies or any others, though all, we hope, will declare and work for the suffrage amendment. We can not ally ourselves with the Prohibition or Anti-Prohibition party--the Democrats or the Republicans. Each may do splendid work for suffrage within its own organization, and we shall rejoice in all that do so; but the South Dakota and the National-American a.s.sociations must stand on their own ground.

Co-operation is what our committee desire, and we stand ready to aid in holding three series of county conventions with three sets of speakers, at least one of each set a national speaker, beginning on May 1 and continuing until the school election, June 24. I am feeling sadly disappointed that every voting precinct of every county has not been visited, and will not have been by the 1st of May, as was agreed upon at Aberdeen. Still, I want to begin now and henceforth push the work; but the entire fund would not pay every single man and woman in the State who helps, hence every one who can must work without cost either to the State or national committee.

On the 7th of April Miss Anthony wrote to the State secretary:

Yours mailed April 3 is received. The National-American committee have only about $1,300 yet in hand, and we have arranged a trip through your State for Rev. Anna Shaw. When your committee did not answer my telegram, I could not wait longer for fear of losing Miss Shaw's good work before the students of your various educational inst.i.tutions, and having had urgent importunities from Mrs. D. W.

Mayer to send some of our very best speakers to Vermillion so that the 600 students there might be roused to thought before separating for the summer, I felt the cause could not afford to lose Miss Shaw's effective services and so mapped out her route, and telegraphed and wrote asking that she be advertised.

Now, my dear friends, once for all, I want to say on behalf of our South Dakota committee, the National-American a.s.sociation, and the friends who have placed money in our hands--that we shall no more turn it over to you to appropriate as your executive committee please, without our voice or vote, than you would turn over the money entrusted to your care to our committee to spend as we choose, without your voice or vote. But while we shall retain our right to expend the national fund in accordance with our best judgment, we shall in future, as I have several times written your committee, hold ourselves ready to help defray the cost of whatever work you present to us. I have once verbally, and twice or oftener by letter, presented a plan of campaign asking your adoption of it, or of one which suited you better, telling you that we would co-operate with you in executing the plan and paying therefor; and to all of my propositions to help, the one reply has been: "The wheels are blocked until you turn the money over to us. You in Was.h.i.+ngton can not run the South Dakota campaign." Now nearly five months have elapsed, and, so far as reported, the resident committee have adopted no plan and had no organizers at work in the different counties.

Rev. Anna Shaw made her lecture tour throughout the State, and wrote Miss Anthony that the people everywhere were most anxious for her to come and there was not the slightest disaffection except on the part of two or three persons who wished to handle the funds. To these Miss Shaw said:

What our committee object to, and what they have no right to do by the vote of our convention, is to put a dollar of our money into your treasury to be spent without our consent or for any purpose of which we do not approve. For example, not one of us, myself least of all, will consent to take out of the contributions from friends of suffrage one dollar to pay towards a salary of $100 a month to any man as secretary. We do not pay our national secretary a cent, and we have no doubt there are plenty of women in the State of Dakota who would be glad to do the secretary's work for love of the cause. I understand it has been planned, and the statement has gone out, that your committee propose to cut loose from Miss Anthony.

Now if you do, you cut loose from the goose that lays the golden egg for the South Dakota work; you cut loose from all the national speakers and workers and all the money given.

Miss Anthony wrote Alice Stone Blackwell: