Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
At the request of the Maine association the National Association made
it possible for Mrs. Deborah Knox Livingston to take the position of
campaign manager. Through her extensive work for the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union she was widely acquainted in church, club and
suffrage circles, was experienced in campaigning and an eloquent
speaker. In her report after the election she said: "Maine presented
as difficult a field for the conducting of a suffrage campaign as has
ever been faced by any group of suffragists in any part of the
country. The referendum was submitted the very last of February and as
the election came so early in September only about six months' time
was given us for the campaign. Deducting from this time the months of
April and May, on account of the almost impossible condition of the
roads, and June with its heavy rains, there was left but little more
than three months for active work. Early in the campaign our country
entered the World War, and the whole thought and attention of the
people were given to securing support for the Liberty Bonds, Red
Cross, Navy League and other patriotic and preparedness work. This
greatly handicapped us in the raising of finances and the creating of
organization, the two foundations upon which the structure of a
successful campaign must be built, and the two things which more than
anything else the State of Maine needed, so far as the amendment was
concerned."
A campaign committee was formed from members of organizations in the
State in favor of suffrage, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
Federation of Women's Clubs, Men's Suffrage League, Civic League,
Referendum League, the Grange and the State Suffrage Association, and
headquarters were established in Bangor. There were only fourteen
suffrage societies in the State, not all active. Eleven of the sixteen
counties had an organizer in charge for the last six weeks and 269
local committees were formed in the different towns but many of them
were ineffectual, as they were made up of untrained women and the time
was too short to train them. The argument for suffrage, however, was
put before the voters very thoroughly. One hundred thousand were
circularized with the convincing speeches of U. S. Senator Shafroth of
Colorado and later with a leaflet Have You Heard the News? which
carried the strong appeal of the suffrage gains over the entire world.
House to house distribution of "fliers" was made in many communities.
Altogether 1,500,000 leaflets were distributed, ten to every voter in
the State. In hundreds of towns there was absolute ignorance on the
subject. The clergy were circularized three times--over a thousand of
them--the State Grange twice, committees of the political parties and
members of the Legislature twice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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