Author: David Dismore

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

April 8, 1894: A strong endorsement of equality for women this morning by Rabbi Joseph Silverman of New York’s Temple Emanu-El, at Fifth Avenue and Forty-third Street.

Speaking on “The Rights of Women,” he said:

I believe it is absolute slavery, considering our age, to discriminate against the work of women merely because of her sex. Let her work be judged by its merits alone. The cornerstone of all kinds of rights for women is the right of suffrage, the right to be represented in making the legislation of our country. We have certain fundamental principles upon which this is based. All men are born equal. Then women are equal too, are they not?

We have another principle, no taxation without representation. Yet women are taxed without representation. Open up the ballot box and woman will interest herself in the city, State and national affairs in a way to eclipse the interest that indifferent men have in the business of their country. I believe that woman would bring into political life an element divorced from politics – the ideal character. There will never be a true American nation until the principles upon which it is founded – equality and liberty – are carried to their logical extreme.

…We should open up all the careers and professions to women.

He then criticized the emphasis that society puts on youth and subjective standards of physical attractiveness in women:

Young ladies, let me say to you that you should not be content to waste one-third of your life cultivating charms that may fascinate men; another one-third in trying to preserve the charms and the last one-third in pining over charms that are lost forever. Rather cultivate the charms of the mind and heart.

Let’s hope these views become representative of the entire American clergy so that the battle for the ballot – and total equality – will be considerably shortened.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

April 7, 1913: Just five weeks after overcoming the riotous conditions that beset their parade and pageant on March 3rd, suffragists from around the country were back in Washington, D.C., today, for another impressive event demanding a Constitutional amendment enfranchising women nationwide.

Though this event was less than one-tenth the size of the previous one and consisted of only 531 “Votes for Women” advocates, that number was appropriate to the event’s purpose since each of the 48 States has two Senators, for a total of 96, and there are 435 Representatives in the House. It was the largest delegation of suffragists ever to call on the 531-member Congress.

After being given a welcoming speech on the Capitol steps by a U.S. Senator, they entered the Capitol, where they were greeted by Representative James W. Bryan, Progressive (“Bull Moose”) Party, elected to represent an At-Large District in Washington State. Bryan said “there were enough men in the Senate and House to make certain that the flag of woman suffrage never would be pulled down in the United States.”

The delegation then filed into the Rotunda, where nine Senators and an equal number of Representatives from the nine States where women already vote received them. Those Members of Congress shook hands with each of the women as they dropped their petitions into a box specially prepared for the occasion, putting one petition in the box for each Senator and Representative. The women then went to the Senate and House galleries, where they could see the suffrage amendment resolutions introduced on the floor by Senator George Chamberlain, Democrat of Oregon and Representative Frank Mondell, Republican of Wyoming,

The day had begun with a large meeting in the Columbia Theater, in which rousing speeches were made by well-known suffragists such as Alice Paul, Harriet Burton Laidlaw, Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale and Janet Richards. Those present for the event, which was organized by Alice Paul and her National American Woman Suffrage Association Congressional Committee, then took to the streets. Led by two marching bands, there was no trouble this time as they made their way from the theater to the Capitol accompanied by adequate police protection, something totally lacking 35 days ago.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

April 3, 1920: Over 88% of New York State’s women earn less than the $16.13 a week the Federal Government considers the minimum income needed to cover basic living costs.

Seventy-one percent receive less than $14 a week, while only 11.6% get $16 a week or more. Less than 5% earn $20 a week or more.

These facts were contained in a report made public today by the Consumers League of New York entitled “Women’s Wages Today.” They surveyed 500 women in various locations around the State and came up with a number of findings.

Though they were distributed across a variety of industries, the largest group of women workers, 23%, were saleswomen or cashiers in department stores, with the clothing industry coming in next at 17%. They found that most of the women worked 48 to 54 hours a week, though 5% worked more than 54 hours, while 6% worked less than 44 hours, most of those clerical workers.

There is a popular notion that women work for ‘pin money’ and therefore should be paid less than men, but this was not supported by the data. Of the 500 women surveyed, 377 contributed their entire wages or a large part of them to the family income. Fifteen percent did not live at home and were entirely dependent upon their own incomes. Of this group, ten received $8 a week, twenty-one got $10, eleven received $11 a week, seventeen got $12, seven earned $13 and ten got $15 a week.

Though it might be supposed that low wages are a reflection of youth and inexperience, this was not the case. Only 26.8% of those surveyed were under the age of 18. Even among those over 30, a majority earned less than $14 a week. Wages have not even been keeping up with inflation. In 1919, 39% of women reported no increase in pay and there were few cases where wages kept up with the 14.5% increase in prices last year.

The gap between what women are paid and what they need results in undernourishment, unpaid bills, clothes bought on the installment plan, extra work at night or the acceptance of charity, according to the Consumers League. It is because of facts like those presented today that it is calling for the establishment of a State Minimum Wage Commission.

UPDATE: If most of the women worked 48 to 54 hours a week, then using the weekly wage figures given, an average 51-hour week for $8 to $20 would work out to between 15.7 cents and 39.2 cents an hour, equal to $1.84 and $4.60 an hour in 2015. The current minimum wage in New York State is $8.75. The Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and hasn’t changed since July 24, 2009. The best time to be a minimum wage worker was 1968, when the rate of $1.60 an hour would be equal to $10.79 today. The first Federal minimum wage law went into effect in 1938 and mandated at least 25 cents an hour, equal to $4.16 today.

INFLATIONARY NOTE: $20 then = $234.72 now; $16.13 = $189.30 ; $16 = $187.78 ; $15 = $176.04 ; $14 = $164.31 ; $13 = $152.57 ; $12 = $140.83 ; $11 = $129.10 ; $10 = $117.36 ; $ 8 = $93.89

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

April 1, 1909: Women-only cars on the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad’s “Hudson Tube” route through the McAdoo Tunnel from 23rd Street in Manhattan to Hoboken, New Jersey, are proving popular.

Today’s ridership is up by 50% (3,000 vs. 2,000) over yesterday’s test run. Already being referred to as “Suffragette Cars” (a derisive term local suffragists dislike) or “Merry Widow Cars,” they are the last in each train during rush hours, from 7 to 9 in the morning and 4:30 to 7:00 in the evening.

Whether the special cars will be adopted by the five-year-old Interborough Rapid Transit Company’s subway system and be established on New York City routes is still unknown, though it seems doubtful. Hearings were held two weeks ago and with the exception of the Women’s Municipal League, host for the discussion, there was strong opposition.

Ida Husted Harper, author of “The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony,” acknowledged that there were substantial problems for commuters: “It is an outrage for people to be subjected to what they have to endure in the way of transportation in New York.” But she also said:

I am opposed to the plan principally because by setting aside one car for women, men would consider that all the rest of the train belonged to them. Then, when the overflow from this segregated car tried to get into the others, the men would put up the cry that women were encroaching on their domain. We are hearing entirely too much nowadays about ‘women’s invasion.’

Harper said that she was “constantly surprised at the number of men who do give up their seats and try to help women both in the subways and the surface cars,” and that the only hope is to rely on the “kindness and consideration” of the majority of men in the cars.

Lillie Devereaux Blake, veteran suffragist and President of the Legislative League, said of the proposal:

I am opposed to it. I don’t think our New York men are such beasts that we can’t sit in the same car with them. I like men. Of course, they don’t give us all we want them to. They don’t let us vote, for instance, but they will in good time and even now they’re pretty good to us. I think it would be most unpleasant if we had a car to ourselves.

Florence Kelley, Secretary of the National Consumers League, testified that: “The last thing in the world women want is to be segregated.”

The experiment will continue to see if its popularity lasts.

UPDATE: Though initially popular, the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad’s women-only cars saw ridership decline and the experiment lasted only until July 1st. They were never adopted by New York’s subway system, though the Women’s Municipal League tried to get the Public Service Commission to order it. On August 3, 1909, the Public Service Commission voted 2-1 against ordering the Interborough Rapid Transit Company to have a special car for women on all express trains during rush hours and cited the fact that they had not proven successful on the Hoboken run.

Commissioner Eustis, the one commission member who though the idea should at least be given a trial, admitted that the public was divided over the issue: “Almost an equal number of people [to those advocating women’s cars] stated that men are the best protection that women have in a crowded car and that they prefer to ride in cars where men and women are together. That while there are rare occasions where some brute will take advantage of the situation to insult a lady, on the other hand the gentlemen are the best protection the ladies have against such conduct.”

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

March 31, 1915: Today the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage became a national organization, adopted a constitution and launched a suffrage campaign that puts it in direct competition with another effort by the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

The result of this all-day meeting of the Congressional Union’s Advisory Council makes it clear that there are two very different philosophies among national suffrage groups in regard to attaining their common goal of nationwide woman suffrage. But the enthusiasm to work for that goal is reassuringly high in both groups.

The Congressional Union was formed two years ago by Alice Paul as a local Washington, D.C., organization to help support N.A.W.S.A.’s Congressional Committee, which she led at the time. Congressional Union activists have always taken a more aggressive and flamboyant approach to the battle for the ballot than N.A.W.S.A. officers felt advisable. The C.U. has engaged in activities ranging from colorful parades, pageants, motorcades and other spectacles to public confrontations with Democratic Party candidates over their party’s failure to use its majority status in Congress to pass a nationwide suffrage amendment.

Though both N.A.W.S.A. and the C.U. have the same goal of enfranchising women nationwide, N.A.W.S.A. still favors a State-by-State approach, while the C.U. sees a Federal amendment as the only realistic solution. The primary goal of the new organization is to pass the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, sometimes called the Bristow-Mondell Amendment after its current sponsors in Congress. If approved by 2/3 of the House and Senate and ratified by 3/4 of the States, it would immediately enfranchise women in every State on the same basis as men.

N.A.W.S.A. favors State campaigns and currently endorses the Shafroth-Palmer Amendment, which if it becomes part of the Constitution would mandate a State referendum on woman suffrage if 8% of the registered voters of a State (all of whom would be male, of course) signed petitions requesting it. It would obviously be less controversial and therefore easier to get Congress to pass and the States to ratify, but it would directly enfranchise no one. N.A.W.S.A. sees nationwide suffrage coming about only after women have won the vote in a large number of States and have enough power to directly influence members of Congress.

As might be expected, relations between the two rival suffrage groups have not been cordial since Alice Paul was ousted from leading N.A.W.S.A.’s Congressional Committee after refusing its demand that she resign from the Congressional Union. An attempt at reconciliation early last year failed and the two organizations have been engaging in a kind of “family feud” ever since.

N.A.W.S.A. has referred to the C.U. as an “unruly child” for its work against Democrats during last year’s midterm elections. Democrats have the Presidency, plus majorities in both House and Senate, but have failed to advance the Anthony Amendment. Like the British militants, Alice Paul believes that the party in power should be held responsible for keeping women disenfranchised.

Today, N.A.W.S.A., gearing up for a campaign to pass a suffrage referendum in New York State in November, issued a scathing letter signed by Katherine Dexter McCormick, its Vice President, denouncing the C.U.’s actions:

The officers of the National American Woman Suffrage Association agree with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch that this is not the time nor is New York a place for reopening the discussion as to the best way to bring about a Federal amendment for suffrage.

It would have shown more imagination, more consideration from the women in New York, had the conference, with its appeal for funds and help, been held in some other State, but perhaps that is asking too much of an organization which is interested only in Federal suffrage. We see, usually, only what we are interested in.

But I do want to say, in all generosity, that the Congressional Union is to be heartily congratulated on giving up its policy of attacking the Democratic Party as the sole obstacle to suffrage. This was a short-sighted policy which we all deplored. It is based upon a romantic desire to imitate English tactics rather than upon a realization of the political situation in this country. We are glad to learn that the union has abandoned it and we only wish that step had been taken before the union’s policy had misled and antagonized thousands of Democratic voters last Fall in Nebraska, Ohio, Missouri and the two Dakotas.

In response, C.U. co-founder Lucy Burns advised her fellow members who might also be in N.A.W.S.A. to resign and stop supporting it in any way as long as it favors the Shafroth-Palmer Amendment.

After a vigorous discussion, it was decided that the new group’s membership will be composed of women only, though men are welcome at the meetings and the work of Marsden J. Perry, in attendance today, was praised.

The main work of the day was planning how to expand the group’s presence into all 48 States, though no Congressional Union meeting would be complete without a discussion of plans for some spectacular public event. The one presently being planned is the Susan B. Anthony Pageant, scheduled for just before the opening of the next Congress and it is hoped that it will be the biggest suffrage event ever staged.

Despite the obvious friction between the two suffrage groups, the movement is now more powerful than it has ever been and all suffragists are united on the goal of “Votes for Women” everywhere. Though the “how” and “when” of victory cannot be predicted, a major step in that direction was taken today.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column

March 30, 1930: Hard as it may be to believe that a decade has passed since the battle over woman suffrage was still being furiously fought, the celebrations marking the victorious end of the “Votes for Women” struggle on August 26, 1920, are already well under way and all generations of suffragists will be honored during this 10th anniversary year.

It was announced today that when the League of Women Voters meets in Louisville, Kentucky, from April 28th until May 3rd, many of those who spent decades in the forefront of the suffrage struggle will attend. Among those to be honored is Alice Stone Blackwell. Born on September 14, 1857, she is the daughter of Lucy Stone (1818-1893) and Henry B. Blackwell (1825-1909). Upon graduation from Boston University in 1881, she joined her parents as an editor of the influential “Woman’s Journal” and continued at that work until 1917, when the Journal was sold and merged with two other publications to become the “Woman Citizen.” Blackwell has since written a biography of her mother (“Lucy Stone: Pioneer of Women’s Rights”) to be published this year by Little, Brown & Company.

Another veteran suffragist who will be attending is Carrie Chapman Catt. Born on January 9, 1859, she became an active suffragist in the 1880s and served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900 – 1904, succeeding Susan B. Anthony. She was chosen to lead N.A.W.S.A. again during the crucial years of 1915 – 1920. In 1919, Catt proposed that a League of Women Voters be the successor to the National American Woman Suffrage Association when the ballot was won in America and she served as president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance from 1904 – 1923. Since the end of the U.S. suffrage struggle she has been actively involved in promoting world peace.

Among the younger suffragists who will be honored is Judge Florence Allen, age 46, of the Ohio Supreme Court. She is the first woman to serve there. She worked tirelessly for suffrage in the Buckeye State during many suffrage referenda beginning in 1912. As a sign of support, she also spent two days hiking along with “General” Rosalie Jones and her suffragist “Army of the Hudson” on their trek from Newark, New Jersey, to Washington, D.C. from February 12 – 28, 1913.

Four days ago there was a nationwide NBC radio broadcast celebrating the upcoming anniversary of the suffrage victory, featuring speeches by Carrie Chapman Catt and Belle Sherwin, president of the League of Women Voters. It is hoped that there will be more such events as the August 26th anniversary approaches and that these reminders of how long and difficult the struggle was, as recalled by those who were immersed in it for so many years, will spur even more women to vote and become active in political life.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

March 11, 1912: Though suffragists have many popular themes for speeches and meetings, tonight’s choice to challenge 25 objections to women having the vote has outdone them all in terms of drawing a crowd.

Less than half of those who wanted to attend were able to pack themselves into New York City’s spacious Metropolitan Temple, but the crowd out on Seventh Avenue was assured that remarks made at the meeting would be repeated at an overflow gathering. The attendance apparently surprised the police, who initially sent just one officer, assigned to enforce the fire codes limiting the number of audience members.

Mary Jenney Howe presided at the meeting, using a large gavel to maintain order. She was ably assisted by a young woman who employed a cow bell to strictly enforce the five-minute limit on speakers, a necessity caused by the large number of myths that needed to be refuted.

The evening’s principal orators were well-known to the public and equally well prepared to defend the cause. They included labor lawyer Inez Milholland; author and Broadway performer Fola LaFollette, daughter of Senator “Fighting Bob” La Follette, Republican of Wisconsin and attorney Belle Case La Follette; writer and editor Charlotte Perkins Gilman and English suffragist Elizabeth Freeman.

It was Freeman who generated the most controversy by defending her fellow British militants:

Militancy hurts the cause, does it? No, I don’t think it does. You have only to read the history of the United States to get the answer to this question. You read in the newspapers of the destruction of property in London. In Boston they destroyed the tea. In London we broke windows.

Freeman then reminded her listeners of the violence and brutality inflicted on the militants by the British government through the police and explained that the reason they don’t simply work to replace the men who run the government is because their goal is to change the system itself.

To the charge that “women don’t understand politics,” Frederic Howe asked how they could, having never been given the chance to participate in it: “Most men can’t cook, either, for the very sufficient reason that they’ve never had a chance to learn how to do it.”

Hutchins Hopgood addressed the charge that voting would make women less attractive by saying just the opposite was the case, as women would become even more interesting and “will gain richer and deeper charms.”

The myth that “woman’s place is in the home” was particularly offensive to Inez Milholland:

If her place is in the home, why is it that 9,000,000 women are now out of the home and at work in the mills, factories and workshops of the land? What are you going to do about these women if this objection is right? Are you going to pension them so they can stay home, or are you going to let them starve?

Milholland was just getting into full stride when the cow bell sounded, causing her to comment: “I haven’t begun to talk on this subject yet …” as she went back to her seat.

Inez Haynes Gilmore was quite skeptical of the old “ballots and bullets” argument. She noted that there is no military service requirement for male voters and that substantial numbers of men who fought in the Civil War were denied the vote at the time because they were under 21. She then recalled fighting women like Joan of Arc and Molly Pitcher. She pledged that: “If it is necessary for us to fight in order to vote, why then, we will fight,” but added that “when women get the ballot, war will be as extinct as the dodo.”

Would enfranchised women take offices away from men? Only if the women candidates were more competent, according to Fola La Follette. And since “municipal government, after all, is only municipal housekeeping,” women sweeping some politicians out of office would be a good thing.

Bertha Rembaugh, one of the final speakers, gave a whimsical reassurance to the males in the audience when she promised that if women got the vote they would not try to “make men good” in “too great a hurry.”

Now armed with over two hours of facts and logical responses to the most common arguments against woman suffrage, the audience members can now go forth as well trained “Votes for Women” advocates to lobby their family members, co-workers, friends and neighbors, whose support will be critical when the men of New York State eventually vote on woman suffrage.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

March 10, 1919: A worthy finale to a spectacularly successful 23-day nationwide rail tour by the “Prison Special” tonight, as 3,500 people greeted the suffragists who had formerly been imprisoned for peacefully picketing along the White House fence.

An elaborate pageant of color and light opened the Carnegie Hall ceremonies in which “Justice,” played by Vida Milholland, received the women of the nations in which equal suffrage had already been achieved. She was then approached by a woman in chains and twenty black-garbed mourners. They represented America and pled for a place in the light of true democracy. The pageant concluded with “Justice” holding aloft her torch and singing “The Women’s Marseillaise.”

Speeches from several of the ex-prisoners then followed the opening ceremonies, each speaker heartily applauded by an audience which included former Governor Whitman, William Randolph Hearst and a number of other prominent New Yorkers.

“The militants are here, and we haven’t broken anything, not even broken down,” said Louisine Havemeyer, who then outlined the successes of the trip. There was even more applause when she announced that the National Woman’s Party, sponsors of the tour, now had enough pledges of support from members of the new, and now Republican-controlled Congress to pass the Susan B. Anthony (nationwide woman suffrage) Amendment and send it to the State legislatures for ratification.

Thanks to Ann Martin’s eloquence, the program was successful in raising a good deal of money for what now appear to be the final battles ahead in the suffrage struggle.

An unexpected, but welcome event occurred near the end of tonight’s program. A sailor asked to take the stage on behalf of the Soldiers’ Sailors’ and Marines’ Protective Association and 24 other men in uniform who accompanied him to the gala. He then denounced the brutal treatment given by fellow service members to the suffragists peacefully protesting outside a hall where President Wilson was giving a speech on March 4th.

Tonight’s meeting capped a final busy day of activity. In the morning the train stopped at Hartford, Connecticut, where the ex-prisoners were greeted by a large group of banner-bearing citizens and escorted to City Hall, where Mayor Kinsella welcomed them. Katharine Hepburn – suffragist, birth control legalization advocate and head of the Connecticut branch of the National Woman’s Party – opened a rally on the City Hall steps in honor of the visitors. Hepburn praised the courage of the women, then questioned the double standard used by many in condemning woman suffrage “militance” by contrasting the Woman’s Party actions such as picketing, or burning the President’s speeches, with the violent revolutions of men seeking a voice in their government:

The reason you do not apply the same reasoning to the woman’s case is that you have become used to looking upon women as naturally servile and second rate. You are willing to have them beg politely for their freedom but not demand it. Well, there are some women in this country who are neither servile nor second rate and who have the spirit to protest against the present position of American women until it is changed. They are among the most worthwhile women in this country, the kind you men really like in spite of all your old fashioned notions.

The arrests of suffragists continue, sixteen having served time in the Charles Street Jail following a Boston demonstration just two weeks ago. So, the courage Hepburn spoke of is still needed. But that’s clearly in abundance as the battle for the Anthony Amendment finally seems about to move from winning approval of 2/3 of Congress to gaining ratification by 3/4 of the States.

NOTE: The Katharine Hepburn who spoke at the rally in Hartford, CT, in honor of the suffragists on the “Prison Special” was the mother of the Katharine Hepburn who would later have a spectacular movie career.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

March 9, 1910: Clear proof of a revitalized suffrage movement was evident in Albany today at the New York State Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees’ joint hearings on changing the State Constitution in order to enfranchise women.

Today’s unprecedented turnout encouraged all who support woman suffrage to believe that the goal of striking the word “male” from the Empire State’s Constitution, which grants voting tights to “every male citizen of the age of 21 years” is within reach.

The feeling of optimism was encouraged by Assembly Member Toombs, who said that there is much more support for suffrage in the Legislature this year than ever before, and a glance around the room offered ample proof that interest among the public is at a peak as well. The hearing room was so packed today that many speakers were unable to move and delivered their arguments from wherever they happened to wind up standing or sitting. Committee members had reserved seats, but were surrounded by those on both sides of the issue who had come here from all around the State. Many suffrage advocates arrived here on a special train this morning, but others have been busy lobbying for several days.

Mary Garrett Hay was the leader of the 130 suffragists present, and Mrs. George Phillips the 115 anti-suffragists. Those in support of suffrage could easily be distinguished by big yellow “Votes for Women” buttons.

The “antis” stated their case first and in their usual manner presented themselves as protectors of women, home and society. According to Mrs. Francis M. Scott: “Were we so presumptuous as to think we could take up men’s work we should have to take it up in addition to our own, and while the Legislature might make us voters, it could not make you men mothers.” Her observation brought forth the desired laugh from all present. But then she solemnly warned:

Women, if they become voters, will succumb to the nerve-racking brain strain and it will have decidedly bad effects. The birth rate has been lowered in those countries where the restlessness of women has taken the most acute form. We whose unique responsibility is to furnish the State with citizens have a right to demand protection from these dangers which threaten to atrophy the mother instinct.

After numerous other speeches along the same lines, it was finally the pro-suffrage side’s turn. Attorney Samuel Untermeyer noted that: “Women are eligible with men for the electric chair, the prison and the tax roll. It seems intolerable that they should be ineligible for the ballot, the jury box, and to have their part in framing the laws under which they are required to live.”

Untermeyer then went on to refute the myth that women have equal rights now, using the plight of wives as one example. In divorces, he said: “The almost barbarous inadequacy of the allowances made by the court in such cases are a recognized evil in our profession.” Even widows are afflicted by the present statutes, as “the law seems to proceed on the utterly intolerable and indefensible theory that the wife has no interest in the property accumulated during the marriage,” and that “the law does not give to the wife as a right any part of her husband’s estate in case of his death unless he happens to own land. He can leave her penniless if he sees fit.”

Anna Etz spoke for many when she said women are tired of having to use indirect influence on the political system, and Carrie Chapman Catt appealed to the legislators not to let New York State be left behind in the rush to democracy around the world. One-fifteenth of the world’s area now has woman suffrage and the gains over the past decade have been more substantial than those in the previous five, she noted.

Whether this is the year New York will join the States of Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Utah and the nations of New Zealand, Australia and Finland in assuring that women can vote on the same basis as men is uncertain. That suffragists stated their case well today and are determined to continue doing so for as long as may be necessary to achieve the goal of equal suffrage is in absolutely no doubt tonight.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

March 5, 1919: The “Prison Special” arrived in Chicago tonight, carrying suffragists who have served time in Washington, D.C.’s District Jail, or Virginia’s Occoquan Workhouse for picketing the President along the White House fence.

The special railroad car, chartered by the National Woman’s Party, left the nation’s capital on February 15th and has given these brave activists a chance to state their case to huge crowds and numerous reporters around the country. They have used this opportunity to detail their prison ordeals and explain why they have had to resort to even more militant – though nonviolent – tactics, such as burning President Wilson’s speeches in large ceremonial urns in front of the White House fence.

The tour has been a big hit ever since its first stop in Charleston, South Carolina, where it generated the biggest mass meeting in the city’s history. The purpose of militant actions, from picketing to the speech-burning “Liberty Bonfires” is to secure action in Congress over the stalled Susan B. Anthony (nationwide woman suffrage) Amendment, center the attention of the country on the struggle for the vote, and remind people that President Wilson and his Democratic Party have been responsible for the failure of the Anthony Amendment to gain approval by the required 2/3 of House and Senate before being sent to the States for ratification.

Upon arrival here tonight, Lucy Burns recounted her experience with force-feeding:

I had been fasting for six days and nights when they started in on me. It was a terrible experience, a horrible attempt to break my will. Five men and two women were employed in doing it. The men would pin me to the floor, several of them holding my arms by my sides. If I struggled they would sit upon me. And while the men held me the women would insert a tube in my mouth through which a fluid of egg and milk would be forced into my stomach. I was weak from the fasting, but whenever I was strong enough I would refuse to let them insert the tube into my stomach that way. Food so taken is not nourishing. It is not meant to be. It was done simply to break my will.

Their jailhouse experiences certainly didn’t rob the suffrage prisoners of their sense of humor, as can be noted from the songs they sang in prison and shared here tonight. This one is to the tune of “I’ve Been Working On The Railroad.” S.B.A. is the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, Zinkham is the D.C. Jail’s warden, and “Woodrow” refers to President Wilson:

We’ve been starving at the Workhouse, all the live long day.

We’ve been starving in the Workhouse, just to pass the S.B.A.

Don’t you hear old Zinkham calling,

Rise up so early in the morn;

Don’t you see the Senate moving,

Woodrow blow your horn!

The other women on the train also have compelling stories and will tell them at a mass meeting in the Congress Hotel tomorrow night, though some will make a quick trip to Milwaukee in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the National Woman’s Party’s struggles continue.

Last night in New York City, some N.W.P. members who were attempting to peacefully demonstrate outside the Metropolitan Opera House, where President Wilson was speaking, were assaulted by police, soldiers and sailors. The women had gathered from all around the nation to express indignation that the President was leaving the country to campaign for democracy abroad while letting the Constitutional amendment that would bring democracy to America’s women languish. It failed by a single vote in the Senate on February 10th, which Wilson could surely have coaxed from a member of his own Democratic Party had he chosen to exert his full influence.

Fortunately, the Democratic-controlled 65th Congress ended yesterday, and as a result of the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s targeting of specific anti-suffrage Senators for defeat in the November elections, and the National Woman’s Party’s targeting of all Democrats as the “party in power” and therefore responsible for the failure of the Anthony Amendment to pass, there now appear to be enough votes in both Senate and House in the new Republican-controlled 66th Congress for passage of the Anthony Amendment.

But even though there is reason for optimism that there is now a large enough Republican majority to overcome entrenched Southern Democratic opposition, nothing is being taken for granted, and the campaign will go on at full force until passage of the Anthony Amendment is achieved.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

March 4, 1918: A major victory today for 218 suffragists arrested during last year for picketing along the White House fence!

The Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia has just declared their arrests illegal and voided all convictions of the “Silent Sentinel” pickets handed down by the local Police Court. The picketing began on January 10, 1917, the day after a delegation of 300 suffragists had an unsatisfactory meeting with President Wilson.

A number of those at the meeting were sufficiently offended by the President’s general attitude, and his unwillingness to either officially endorse the Susan B. Anthony (nationwide woman suffrage) Amendment, or help the woman suffrage cause despite his personal support for it in principle, that they took the unprecedented step of posting pickets, dubbed “Silent Sentinels” by Harriot Stanton Blatch, outside the White House gates. Though choosing not to speak, they made their message clear through large banners emblazoned with questions such as: “MR. PRESIDENT, WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE?” and “MR. PRESIDENT, HOW LONG MUST WOMEN WAIT FOR LIBERTY?”

Though relations between the Sentinels, the White House, passers-by and the police were quite friendly at first, U.S. entry into the Great War last April 6th sparked hostility from many on the street toward those who would criticize our President in time of war. Also, the pickets’ daily reminders of President Wilson’s hypocrisy in praising the virtues of democracy overseas while doing nothing to bring its benefits to the women of America proved quite embarrassing to the Administration, so the atmosphere grew increasingly hostile.

Arrests began on June 22nd of last year, with Lucy Burns and Katherine Morey charged with “blocking traffic” on the sidewalk. The picketing – and arrests – continued, with 41 taken into custody on one day alone. Convictions, then sentences from a few days to as long as seven months in the District Jail or infamous Occoquan Workhouse followed. Those sent to Occoquan on November 14th were subjected to the most brutality and indignities by the guards. The “Night of Terror” when they arrived was the worst, with, among many other incidents, Burns manacled to the bars of her cell with her arms above her head, and some women thrown into their cells so forcefully that they struck their head on the wall or the metal bed frame.

The suffrage prisoners immediately began a hunger strike protesting the denial of “political prisoner” status. Lucy Burns, considered the strike’s “ringleader” was transferred to the District Jail, where she joined Alice Paul in being force-fed three times a day. Finally, in very late November, the prisoners were released due to public outrage over their treatment, and on December 4th, eight lawsuits for $50,000 each were filed against the wardens of the Occoquan Workhouse and the District Jail as well as the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, charging assault, illegal detention and false imprisonment.

Today’s court decision will allow all 218 ex-prisoners to sue the District over their illegal arrests. It also affirms the right to peacefully assemble and protest in the future. In the words of the Court:

So far as the information enlightens us, the defendants may have assembled for a perfectly lawful purpose, and though to a degree obstructing the sidewalk, not be guilty of any offense… Neither is peaceable assembly, under the present statute, unlawful. The statute does not condemn the mere act of assembling on a street, but prohibits assembling or congregating, coupled with doing of the forbidden acts. It would hardly be contended that if the defendants had met on one of the spacious sidewalks of Pennsylvania Avenue to conduct a peaceable conversation, though in a degree inconveniencing pedestrians, they would be guilty under the statute of crowding and obstructing the free use of the walk.

The National Woman’s Party will continue to put pressure on President Wilson to use his considerable influence on reluctant Democrats to help the Anthony Amendment. He finally endorsed it on January 9th, a year to the day after the meeting with suffrage supporters which launched the “Silent Sentinel” campaign. The next day the Anthony Amendment got the exact 2/3 majority required for passage by the House. But Wilson still needs to be prodded into helping suffragists convert enough Democratic opponents to the cause to win passage by 2/3 of the Senate. The amendment can then be sent to the States for ratification, with approval by 36 of the 48 State legislatures required to become part of the Constitution.

The Susan B. Anthony Amendment, first introduced in Congress on January 10, 1878, states:

Section 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.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

INFLATIONARY NOTE: $50,000 on December 4, 1917, when the lawsuits were filed = $912,918 today.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

March 3, 1913: Any doubts about the courage, dedication, or organizational skills of suffragists that may have existed in the minds of some a few hours ago must certainly lie discarded along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C, tonight.

Had today’s massive suffrage parade and pageant been done on a quiet street and with ample police protection, it would still have been an incredible feat. But when the National American Woman Suffrage Association and the event’s chief organizers, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, successfully pulled off today’s spectacle with almost every imaginable obstacle thrown in their way, they furnished undeniable proof that the late Susan B. Anthony was right when she predicted that “failure is impossible” for woman suffrage.

Somewhere between six and eight thousand costumed marchers representing all 48 States, accompanied by 26 floats, 10 bands, 6 golden chariots and numerous women on horseback, gathered together today to support the cause of “Votes for Women.”

The march began at the Peace Monument, and was led by two equestrians: Inez Milholland, the Herald and Mary Jane Walker Burleson, the Grand Marshal. But when the marchers turned down Pennsylvania Avenue, an unruly mob was encountered. The marchers pushed their way, foot by foot toward the Treasury Building amid a raucous crowd of over 500,000, many drawn to the city for President-elect Wilson’s inauguration tomorrow. So great was the battle that at one point it took three hours to advance just one mile.

At times, for as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but a solid mass of people between the buildings lining the sides of Pennsylvania Avenue. The few police who had been assigned to control the crowd either had no interest in doing their duty or knew they were hopelessly outnumbered and simply gave up trying to protect the marchers from aggressive harassment by the disorderly throng. But the suffragists kept calm, and like a well-disciplined army, steadily marched forward.

The parade itself was an organizational triumph, with separate sections vividly illustrating each point suffrage advocates wished to make. “Women of the World, Unite” was the banner that led women representing countries where they have equal suffrage. Another section saluted the progress women have made in the U.S. over seven decades. A thousand college women paraded together under their school banners, while other contingents represented women in various organizations and occupations.

There were clubwomen, clergywomen, State delegations and pro-suffrage Members of Congress in the line of march as well. And even amid the heckling and disruptions, there was some cheering, with the biggest ovation of the day going to General Rosalie Jones and her suffragist Army of the Hudson that hiked here from Newark, New Jersey, to be in today’s parade.

But the parade was only one part of the spectacle. At the other end of the marchers’ route, a colorful pageant was taking place on the steps of the Treasury Building. While their sisters fought rowdy crowds, the performers’ courage was tested battling the cold weather in their thin costumes worn for an allegory about women striving for equality through the ages. Because the parade was held up for so long, they had to spend time after their well-applauded finale shivering in the frigid weather waiting for the long-delayed marchers to arrive.

Finally, near the end of the parade route, the 15th Cavalry came charging in from Fort Myer to do the job the police should have been doing all along. They cleared the street for the marchers by riding directly toward the hecklers at full gallop, causing them to scramble for the safety of the sidewalk with more speed that might be thought possible from drunken hooligans.

After the last of the marchers completed the route, two thousand suffrage supporters filled Continental Hall to share their experiences and feelings about this historic day. Certainly there was indignation and anger expressed at the police, but there was also justifiable pride in the conduct of the march’s participants.

Reverend Anna Howard Shaw, who has been President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association since 1904 said:

I was never so proud in all my life. I never was so thankful to be one of your members. I have never seen greater dignity under trying conditions; greater coolness under insult and oppression than was displayed by the marchers for suffrage today.

The battle for the ballot is far from over, but these seasoned veterans will now return to work in their home States, secure in the knowledge that they have presented their case to a nationwide audience in the most positive and persuasive manner possible and that they can overcome any challenge that may be encountered in the future.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

February 27, 1913: The suffrage hikers pushed on toward Washington, D.C., this morning despite rain, mud, hecklers and a growing conflict with the officers of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

General Jones and her suffragist Army of the Hudson left Laurel, Maryland, about 9:00 this morning for another day of wading through the State’s notoriously muddy roads on their journey from Newark, New Jersey, to the nation’s capital. They were joined by 25 schoolchildren who happily hiked along until someone noted the approach of the Truant Officer, at which point the students scattered and headed for their classroom.

The students of the Maryland Agricultural College at College Park were not nearly so well behaved. In addition to jeering the hikers, they got into a fist fight with some of the “war correspondents” (reporters) accompanying the marchers. After getting the worst of it, the students retreated back to their campus.

Things began looking up at Beltsville, where the hikers enjoyed a luncheon of crackers, fruit and apple cider, as well as the chance to briefly shed the oilskin table cloths that were made into ponchos and added to their regular rain gear this morning. Back on the road again, some of the marchers, Phoebe Hawn and Mary Baird in particular, were clearly suffering from major foot problems, but are still determined to make it the rest of the way.

The next stop for the troops was Hyattsville, where they were met by former mayor Magruder, who escorted the hikers to the Armory. There they were given another luncheon, this courtesy of the Prince George’s County Business Men’s Association. After reaching the day’s goal of Bladensburg, some retired to the George Washington House, the 54th such place the hikers have encountered in their travels which claims to have been one of Washington’s temporary headquarters while marching from New York to Yorktown. Other hikers went to the Palo Alto Hotel, where the Manhattan cocktail was invented in 1846.

Genevieve Champ Clark, daughter of the Speaker of the House, journeyed out from Washington to greet the marchers and was given an ovation by those not already in bed tending to their weary feet.

Today’s stormy weather matched the relations between the hikers and the officers of the New York based National American Woman Suffrage Association. At the beginning of the hike it was made clear that should she make it all the way to D.C., General Jones was to deliver a letter from prominent suffragists to President-elect Wilson. But N.A.W.S.A. decreed today that the letter, which Jones has carried and carefully kept dry for 16 days and over 240 miles, is to be formally presented to Wilson by a delegation of N.A.W.S.A. officers and their D.C. based Congressional Committee, though members of the pilgrim army may be “present” as well.

The letter was dutifully turned over tonight to Alice Paul, head of N.A.W.S.A.’s Congressional Committee, with General Jones saying: “If the New York suffragists feel it is better for the Congressional Committee to deliver the letter there seems little else for me to do than to bow to its wishes. As for my feelings on this matter I have little to say, other than that I am willing to make any sacrifice for the cause.”

The issue of which hikers are officially recognized by N.A.W.S.A. remains yet another source of friction. There will be a luncheon tomorrow given by N.A.W.S.A., but only women hikers who have walked the entire distance are invited. Since the men and women who walked part way, those in charge of the literature wagon, baggage car, and scout vehicle, plus the members of the press contingent are excluded, all the “eligible” marchers have decided to show solidarity with their comrades by declining the invitation.

Still, even with the bad roads, foul weather, and last-minute organizational politics, General Jones remains optimistic tonight, just one day’s march from D.C. and the end of the long trail. She summed up her feelings in verse:

Oh sisters, my sisters!
The trip is nearly done;

The hikers slowly plod along,
The towns pass one by one.

The weary miles are left behind,
The Capitol draws near;

And soon our lengthy march will end,
Amid a deafening cheer.

Oh, sisters, my sisters!
The walk was long and hard;

‘Twas up a hill and down a dale,
across God’s dewy sward.

While women laughed and men have jeered,
At us and at our cause;

Yet every step brought near the time,
When we shall make the laws.

Founding Feminists is the FMF’s daily herstory column.

February 26, 1913: General Rosalie Jones and her suffragist Army of the Hudson are advancing again!

After a series of speeches and social events in Baltimore yesterday, they hiked 22 miles today, the 15th day of their trek from Newark, New Jersey, to Washington, D.C. Today’s march was to Laurel, Maryland, with several women from the Just Government League providing an escort out of Baltimore.

The road today led mostly past farms and through tiny villages, with “Votes for Women!” cheers by the hikers greeted by “Howdy!” and tips of the hat from local farmers. The biggest salutes of the day came from students and faculty of the Johns Hopkins School for Nurses and the St. Mary’s Industrial School as the pilgrims passed by.

Luncheon was taken at a church in Elk Ridge, where the cracker rations Alva Belmont mistakenly sent to General Jones’ home on Long Island finally caught up with the army, and supplemented the tea and milk bought at the church.

The pilgrims were escorted into Laurel by four uniformed members of the Post Office Department and a number of women bearing yellow suffrage streamers. Upon arrival, the hikers were greeted by the Mayor, and they presented him with a letter of introduction from the Mayor of Baltimore.

But not everyone in town was hospitable, and when it was time to rest from the day’s long trip, the pilgrims were told that there were no rooms available for them at the city’s two largest hotels. Two prominent local women and the mayor’s wife quickly formed a committee to persuade the unsympathetic hotel owners to change their minds. One proprietor reluctantly relented, though only after personally meeting with the hikers. There was a small suffrage rally held outside a drug store, but as they began the final approach to Washington, the hikers are now focused on national politics. A yellow “Votes for Women” flag was sent to President-elect Wilson today, with a letter which read:

Suffrage Headquarters, Laurel, Maryland, Feb. 26, 1913.

President-elect Woodrow Wilson:

We send and beg of you to accept this ‘Votes for Women’ flag as a memento of our pilgrimage through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Yours Very Truly, Rosalie Gardiner Jones.

Though atrocious roads and bad weather are things the hikers are accustomed to, organizational politics has become a new source of frustration. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (N.A.W.S.A.) has decreed that only the women hikers, and only those who have hiked the full distance from Newark, are authorized to march in their parade in Washington on March 3rd. But General Jones is fiercely loyal to all those who have played any part in this difficult journey, and determined to assure that all will march together into Washington day after tomorrow as well as in the big parade and pageant five days from now. “That settles that,” Jones said.

Scout Car driver Olive Schultz motored into Washington today to attend to last-minute details. Though she was alone – and in an automobile, not hiking – her arrival caused quite a stir in the city simply because she has a role in the hike. Her muddy machine, with a bright yellow suffrage banner on the side, caused her to be immediately recognized and applauded by people who had been reading of the hike’s progress in the newspapers.

Schultz was formally welcomed to N.A.W.S.A.’s local headquarters by Alice Paul, who heads its Congressional Committee as well as the Joint Inaugural Procession Committee planning the massive suffrage event on March 3rd, the day before Wilson’s inaugural. Thirty workers rushed to meet Schultz, despite having a huge amount of work to do and less than 120 hours remaining to accomplish all of it. The intense interest that the people of Washington seem to have in the hike, and the enthusiasm shown by their fellow suffragists for the hikers bodes well for the reception that will greet the pilgrims day after tomorrow.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

February 25, 1913: Proving that they can be just as bold indoors as on the road, the suffrage hikers descended upon two of Baltimore’s most patriarchal institutions on this, the 14th day of their pilgrimage from Newark, New Jersey, to Washington, D.C.

The first visit of the day was to Cardinal Gibbons at his residence. Though known for his personal opposition to woman suffrage, he treated his unexpected visitors with great respect, even after General Jones of the suffragist Army of the Hudson impulsively gave him a handshake instead of kneeling and kissing his ring, as is customary for all local visitors, regardless of their religious affiliation.

Jones then presented the Cardinal with a small “Votes for Women” pennant, which he graciously accepted, though with the friendly admonition that ” … in accepting this souvenir of your march, it is not necessarily a conversion to your cause.”

He then diplomatically praised the hikers without actually endorsing equal suffrage:

I hope your mission may commend itself to the judgment and conscience of the legislators. I am sure if they do not form a favorable opinion from your courage and determination their hearts must be harder than the stones that have bruised your feet on the march. I do not wish to bias their judgment, but you certainly deserve well for the efforts you have made and the courage you have shown.

The Cardinal then asked some questions about the hike, and commented: “It is wonderful that women could have done what you have done. When you have completed your pilgrimage and Washington is reached, I am sure that all will agree with me that you deserve …. a good rest.” For just a moment during the pause, the hikers dared hope he would say “the vote” instead of “a good rest,” but they were still quite pleased with his friendly tone, and deemed the meeting a successful one, all things considered.

The next encounter was a luncheon sponsored by the Sons of Jove. Another breach of local etiquette here, when as cigars and cigarettes were passed around, Elizabeth Freeman took one and began puffing away. The sight of a woman smoking in public shocked local suffragists, and one quickly told Freeman: “We don’t do that in Baltimore.” Her action jolted the Jovians as well, one of whom took the cigarette from her hand and extinguished it. But other than that, the reception went well.

The hikers also called upon Acting Mayor Hubert, who accepted a “Votes for Women” flag and gave the pilgrims a letter to the Mayor of Laurel, the city they expect to reach tomorrow night after the hike resumes in the morning. Earlier this evening, the hikers went to the New Theater, where they, Lausanne, the suffragist horse who pulls Elizabeth Freeman’s literature wagon and Jerry, the donkey, who pulls a small cart for a woman tourist who’s now accompanying the hikers, went on stage to great applause.

The Army of the Hudson seems reunited in spirit again as the dispute between General Jones and Colonel Craft over the speed of the march and the priority given to socializing with the locals seems to have been smoothed over. But problems still remain. The permit for the pilgrims’ march and police escort into and through the streets of Washington, D.C., has turned out to be issued for a day too early. Since speeding up the hike to conform to the date on the permit would revive the feud with Colonel Craft, that’s not an option, so the permit application process will have to be begun again.

Despite the unintentional breaches of custom during the visits to the Cardinal and the Jovians, plus the misdated parade permit, the hikers are quite optimistic, well-rested and eager to be on the road again, with their destination now easily attainable in time to join in the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s massive parade and pageant on March 3rd.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

February 23, 1913: In an unexpected move – and an extraordinary burst of energy and enthusiasm – most of the suffragist Army of the Hudson walked all 26 miles from Belair to Baltimore, Maryland, today.

This is Day 12 of the “Votes for Women” hike from Newark, New Jersey, to Washington, D.C. But several members of the corps remain in Overlea tonight, the day’s original destination.

The highest-ranking member of the Overlea contingent is Colonel Ida Craft, whose feet are in such poor condition that her ability to make even the first 21 miles today serves as an inspiration to all. But when Craft finally got to the day’s objective, well behind the rest of the column, she learned that General Jones and most of the other hikers had decided to bypass Overlea and go straight into Baltimore. Colonel Craft was quite angry, and declared that if General Jones does not come back out tomorrow morning to lead the remaining troops into Baltimore for the “official” entry into the city, she would do it herself.

Overlea was also upset that it had been bypassed. The city had planned a feast for the travelers, despite the objections of the elderly Reverend Cyrus Cort, who has been opposed to woman suffrage ever since he had a dispute with Susan B. Anthony 40 years ago. But though the celebration was less elaborate than originally envisioned, Overlea still honored those who stuck to the original route and destination.

Despite Jones’ arrival a day early, Baltimore suffragists hurried to meet the General’s forces a mile out of town, suffrage-yellow streamers in hand. As promised, a large squad of police was on duty to provide security, and after meeting the hikers at Hamilton they marched alongside, then cleared a path through the crowd of 5,000 waiting to greet the hikers in Baltimore. A thousand more spectators applauded the troops at Mount Vernon place, just opposite the Stafford Hotel where the Baltimore contingent is spending the night.

Though almost all the hikers – especially Col. Craft – have given speeches at one time or another as individuals, General Jones showed her diplomatic skills today by successfully mediating a dispute between would-be speaker Elizabeth Aldrich and Elizabeth Freeman over who would speak officially for the Army of the Hudson at the Masonic Temple this morning. This prevented a last-minute desertion close to the hikers’ goal. Jones’ abilities in this area will be critical to reuniting what are tonight two armies, and keeping all the troops happy during the final few days of this grueling march.

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

February 20, 1913: Another day and another State line crossed for the suffrage hikers!

Today’s 18-mile march to Elkton, Maryland, was as eventful as it was long. It began in that most friendly city of Wilmington, Delaware, where the mayor and 20 police officers gave General Jones and her Army of the Hudson an escort out of town. Mayor Howell also wrote a personal letter of introduction for the hikers to give to the Mayor of Baltimore.

The day’s first encounter was with the Green family. William Green proudly presented Ruth and Esther, age three, as future voters. Their mother shouted her support for the hikers from a window of the house, regretting that she couldn’t go to Washington, D.C., but said: “I am doing my share, for I am bringing up two new voters.”

The next stop was to visit Martha Cranston in Newport. She is one of the most active – and at over 70 years of age among the most senior – suffragists in Delaware. She gave the troops a fine welcoming speech. The City of Newport was decorated for the occasion with flags and bunting on many of the houses, and the city’s greeting even featured thirty schoolchildren, each carrying a banner. Two of the banners were inscribed “LET WOMEN VOTE” and “FOR PRESIDENT, GENERAL JONES.” Speeches were given in appreciation of the welcome, and then it was back on the road again.

As they approached Newark, the troops were met by the cadet corps of Delaware College. What made this reception especially noteworthy was that unlike similar encounters at other schools, these students were not given permission to miss classes and go out to meet the marchers, but did so anyway. One hundred and seventy-five uniformed students and band members “presented arms” as a salute, then escorted the hikers into Deer Park. After bidding the hikers a fond farewell, the band played “The Girl I Left Behind Me” and marched back to their campus and an unknown disciplinary fate.

Of course, there was the standard “incident of the day,” which in this case consisted of three small boys throwing some live mice into the marchers’ ranks near Newark. Though the boys momentarily got the reaction they had hoped for from the hikers, military discipline was soon restored and the pilgrim army’s advance continued. This was at least a more humorous prank than the one played in Wilmington this morning when among the packages delivered to the suffragists were several stamped “Handle With Care” and which contained small black sticks marked “Dynamite” and “Use Judiciously.” They turned out to be just harmless sticks of carbon.

The day’s next major event was crossing into Maryland. General Jones grasped some of its soil and said: “Maryland soil, we bless thee in the name of equal suffrage. May our journey be pleasant, and our cause prosper within your borders.” The ceremonial welcome continued with Dr. Ernest L. Stevens contributing a new marching song, sung to the tune of “Maryland, My Maryland”:

The suffragette is at the door,
Maryland, my Maryland;

On foot she hikes to Baltimore,
Maryland, my Maryland;

Come, join the Hudson’s hiking throng,
Stalking with Rosalie along;

And chant the dauntless suffrage song,
Maryland, my Maryland.

As they marched and sang their way, the pilgrims encountered a ten-year-old boy riding a horse with no saddle. Upon seeing the yellow suffrage banners fluttering in the breeze, the horse became frightened, but Marie Baird ran down the road, grabbed the bridle, and soon settled the horse down. “Thank you,” said the boy. “I am in favor of women voting.”

Arriving in Elkton late in the afternoon, there was a good sized crowd to meet the pilgrims. Despite having hiked 18 miles, many still had enough energy to make the day’s final speeches, some of which lasted well into the evening.

Aside from the fake dynamite, real mice and the baggage automobile breaking down near Folly Woods and needing to be towed to a blacksmith’s shop by a team of horses, it was a pretty good day. Eight days after leaving Newark, New Jersey, there are now 134 miles in back of the hikers, with less than a hundred ahead, with eleven days remaining until the big suffrage parade and pageant in Washington, D.C. So, the hike is going well and is still on schedule!

Founding Feminists is FMF’s daily herstory column.

February 19, 1913: After seven consecutive days of walking and approximately 116 of the 225 miles from Newark, New Jersey, to Washington, D.C., behind them, the suffrage hikers are spending this eighth day in Wilmington, Delaware, “getting new feet” as they put it.

But while the morning may have been spent applying much of the city’s available supply of liniment to sore feet, their voices were not given any pampered treatment during the day’s stopover.

Most of the hikers, once their feet were sufficiently rubbed down, were eager to fulfill the numerous speaking requests made in this very friendly city. By noon there were speakers at the Pullman Car Works. The Hollingsworth ship and railroad workers got a briefing as well, and in the evening the hikers went to the Garrick Theater, where five-minute suffrage speeches alternated between the vaudeville acts, and both types of performances were applauded.

General Rosalie Jones, leader of this suffragist Army of the Hudson, held a reception in her hotel room this afternoon. Among those attending were the city’s mayor, as well as Captain Thomas Johnson, age 86, of Cape Charles, Virginia, who came to town specifically to see the hikers.

There has been much public concern and speculation about the condition of Lausanne, the $59.98 suffrage horse, bought in Newark to pull Elizabeth Freeman’s literature (“ammunition”) wagon. But a veterinarian who had heard that Lausanne was “spavined, had a bowed tendon, sprung forward legs, interfered badly and was a cribber” found upon examination that Lausanne’s “legs were just slightly sprung,” and that the horse “has a heavy appetite,” but was otherwise all right and fit to complete the rest of the trip.

Though General Jones’ troops are dedicated to winning the battle for the ballot by totally peaceful means, the news that the unoccupied country home of David Lloyd-George, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, had just been damaged stirred controversy in the ranks today. Freeman, who has served time in British prisons for her suffrage activities there, said that she could understand the reason for such a militant action:

The situation in England is entirely different from the situation here. The women know that [Prime Minister] Asquith is their enemy. He has frankly said so. Now, Lloyd-George posed as friendly. He held out one hand to them and then had torpedoed a bill that would have helped them. Englishmen hold above all else the sacredness of property. Well, Englishwomen have attacked sacred property and they will continue to do so. I believe in destruction of property where human life is not endangered. Lloyd-George knows now what Englishwomen really think of him.

But hiker Elizabeth Aldrich is representative of those who take the opposite view: “I would not break a pane of glass if by doing so all women were enfranchised. I am for peace and order.”

Three interesting letters arrived today. One was signed “Mrs. Alfred I. DuPont,” the wife of the well-known industrialist, financier and philanthropist. When Freeman called her, she said the letter must be a hoax, because she hadn’t written it, but that she actually did support the hikers. So, it was a prank that wound up having a good result.

A second letter was more of an obvious spoof, allegedly from the “Association of Husbands,” who said they were getting tired of this cross-country hiking by suffragists.

A third letter was from someone claiming to be a librarian at the University of Pennsylvania, who said that the Dean of the Law School had alleged that $30 worth of furniture had been damaged during the suffrage rally there for the hikers. When Freeman tried to call the Dean, he was out, so the truth of this allegation remains in question tonight.

What is not in question is that both fame and support for the pilgrims are increasing rapidly, as more and more groups are now volunteering to be escorts. For instance, a brass band composed of 25 school teachers and other professional women from Marysville, Missouri, has offered to meet the hikers at Laurel, Maryland, and escort them into Washington.

College students have been very supportive from the beginning and Company “N” of the Pennsylvania National Guard, composed mostly of University of Pennsylvania undergraduates, has offered to march with the hikers in the big suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., on March 3rd. Not to be outdone, Princeton students have also volunteered to march along with them in D.C. next month as well.

With the last of the day’s many speeches done, the hikers have now turned in and are enjoying a peaceful night’s sleep. But tomorrow it’s back on the road again, and on to Elkton, Maryland.

INFLATIONARY NOTE: $59.98 in 1913 = $1,434,29 today; $30 = $717.38.