Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
On March 10 Mrs. Trout went to Springfield to secure if possible the
support of the Democratic Governor, Edward F. Dunne, for the bill.
Mrs. Booth said in her official report: "The Governor told us that he
would not support any suffrage measure which provided for a
constitutional amendment, as this might interfere with the Initiative
and Referendum Amendment, upon which the administration was
concentrating its efforts. We assured him that we would not introduce
a resolution for an amendment and that we desired the support of the
administration for our statutory bill, as we realized that no suffrage
measure could pass if it opposed. He then acquiesced." The work at
Springfield became more and more complicated and at times seemed
almost hopeless. No politicians believed the suffragists had the
slightest chance of success. From April 7 Mrs. Trout went down every
week. The women had the strong support of the Chicago press and
editorials were published whenever they were especially needed during
the six months' struggle. After considerable educational work the
Springfield newspapers also became friendly and published suffrage
editorials at opportune times. The papers were refolded so that these
editorials, blue penciled, came on the outside, and placed on the
desks of the legislators.
The bill was introduced in the House by Charles L. Scott (Dem.) and in
the Senate by Hugh S. Magill (Rep.). All efforts were centered on its
passage first through the Senate. After nearly three months of
strenuous effort this was finally accomplished on May 7, 1913, by a
vote of 29 ayes (three more than the required majority) and 15 noes.
It is doubtful whether this action could have been secured without the
skilful tactics of Senator Magill, but he could not have succeeded
without the unfailing co-operation of Lieutenant Governor Barratt
O'Hara. Among other Senators who helped were Martin B. Bailey, Albert
C. Clark, Edward C. Curtis, Samuel A. Ettelson, Logan Hay and Thomas
B. Stewart, Republicans; Michael H. Cleary, William A. Compton, Kent
E. Keller, Walter I. Manny and W. Duff Piercy, Democrats; George W.
Harris and Walter Clyde Jones, Progressives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account