The Story of the Woman's PartyGillmore, Inez Haynes
History
The Story of the Woman's Party
Gillmore, Inez Haynes
National Woman's Party; Paul, Alice, 1885-1977; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
If a Congressman said to a lobbyist, for instance, “I do not think
my district is much interested in Woman Suffrage, I get very few
letters in favor of it from my constituents,” then, immediately, by
means of the information gained through the card-index, a flood of
pro-Suffrage letters would descend upon him. Always, as far as
possible, these letters would come from people he knew or who were
influential.
If a Congressman had a financial backer, they tried to get at him.
If he were from a strong labor district, they appealed to Labor to
bring its influence to bear upon him.
When the lobbyist started for Congress, she was given a lobbying
slip which had a list of entries printed on it. For instance, one
heading was “Exact statements and remarks.” Miss Younger told me of
one Congressman who said to her: “Put me down on the mourners’
bench. I am thinking about it.” Immediately Headquarters became very
busy with this Congressman.
Another said, “Women in my State do not want it.” Miss Younger,
commenting on that, said that it was always an encouraging case. We
see immediately that he gets shoals of letters and telegrams from
his State. One Congressman on whom such a campaign was waged said
finally: “If you will only stop, I will vote for the Amendment. It
keeps my office force busy all day answering letters about Suffrage
alone.”
The hardest Congressmen to deal with were those who said, “I will
not vote for it if every voter in my State asks me.” To such a one,
we would send a woman from his own district. In one case, the
Congressman was so rude to her that she came back to Headquarters,
subscribed a hundred dollars to our funds, departed, and became a
staunch Suffragist. We kept a list of men of this type and we sent
to them any woman who was wavering on Suffrage. It never failed to
make her a strong Suffragist.
Any bit of information on these cards might be used. If a man played
golf, that might be a happy moment for a member of the Woman’s Party
to talk Suffrage with him. If he had the kind of mother who was an
influence in his life, they tried to convert the mother. If it was
the wife who was the ruling influence, they tried to convert the
wife. They were careful even in regard to brothers. The habits of
Congressmen as disclosed by this index were of great importance.
Some of them got to their office early, and that was often the best
time to speak with them. If a Congressman drank, it was necessary to
note that. Then when the lobbyists found him muddled and
inarticulate, they knew to what to impute it.
Of course information of a blackmailing order was occasionally
offered from outside sources to the Woman’s Party, but, of course,
this was always ignored.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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