section 17 of jailed for freedom this is our LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org jailed for freedom by Doris Stevens part 3 chapter 18 Preston Wilson appeals to the Senate too late the next day the administration completely reversed its policy almost the first Senate business was an announcement on the floor by Senator Jones chairman of the suffrage committee that the suffrage amendment would be considered in the Senate September 26 and Senator Overman chairman of the rules committee rather shyly remarked to our legislative chairman that he had been mistaken yesterday it was now in the legislative program the Senate still stood 60 votes for and 34 against the amendment two votes lacking the president made an effort among individual Democrats to secure them but it was too feeble an effort and he failed chairman Jones took charge of the measure on the floor the debate opened with a long and eloquent speech by senator Waterman of Mississippi Democrat in support of the amendment my estimate of women said he in conclusion is well expressed in the words employed by a distinguished order who dedicated his book to a little mountain a great meadow and a woman to the mountain for the sense of time to the meadow for the sense of space and of everything senator McComber of North Dakota Republican followed with a curious speech his problem was to explain why although opposed to the suffrage he would vote for the amendment beginning with the overworked caveman and beasts of the forest and down to the present day the male had always protected the female he always would forgetting recent events in the capital he went so far as to say in our quotes she ever finds in masculine nature an asylum of protection even though she may have committed great wrong while the mind may be convinced beyond any doubt the masculine heart finds it almost impossible to pronounce the word guilty against a woman scarcely have the galleries seized smiling at this idea when he treated them to a novel application of the biological theory of inheritance the political field he declared always has been and probably always will be an arena of more or less bitter contest the political battles leave scars as ugly and lacerating as the physical battles and the more sensitive the nature the deeper and more lasting the wound and so no man can enter this contest or be a party to it and assume its responsibilities without feeling its blows and suffering its wounds much less can women with her more emotional and more sensitive nature but you may ask why should she be relieved from the scars and wounds of political contest because they do not affect her alone but are transmitted through her to generations yet to come the faithful story of the sinking ship was invoked by the senator from North Dakota one might almost imagine after listening to Congressional debates for some years that traveling on sinking ships formed a large part of human experience fathers sons and brothers said the senator in tearful boys guarding the lifeboats until every woman from the highest to the lowest has been made safe waving at you with a smile of cheer on their lips while the wounded vessels slowly bears them to a strangling death and a watery term below the charge that women needs her citizenship as a form of protection in spite of these opinions however the senator was obliged to vote for amendment because his state had so ordered senator hardwick of georgia democrat felt somewhat betrayed that the suffrage plank in the platform of his party nineteen sixteen recommending state action should be so carelessly set aside there is not a democratic senator present said mr. Hardwick who does not know the history that lies back of the adoption of that plan there is not a democratic senator who does not know that the plank was written here in Washington and sent to the convention and represented the deliberate voice of the administration and of the party on this question which was to remit this question to the several states for action the president of the United States was reported to have sent this particular plank from Washington supposedly by the hands of one of his cabinet officers the fact that his own party and the republican party were both advancing on suffrage irritated him into denouncing the alacrity with which politicians and senators are trying to get on the bandwagon first senator McKellar from Tennessee democrat reduced the male superiority argument to simple terms when he said taking them by enlarge there are brainy men and brainy women and that is about all there is to the position our armies are sweeping victorious towards Germany there was round on round of eloquence about the glories of war reverse of blood flowed and always the role of women was depicted as a contended binding of wounds there were those who thought women should be reverted for such service others thought she ought to do it without asking anything in return but all agreed that this was her role there was no woman's voice in that body to protest against the perpetuity of such a role the remarks of senator read of Missouri and to suffrage democrat typify this attitude the men in my state believe in the old-fashioned doctrine that men should fight the battles on the red line that men should stand and bear their burdens to the iron Hale and that back of them if need be there shall be women who may bind up the wounds and whose tender hands may rest upon the brow of the valiant soldier who has gone down in the fight but sir that is women's work and it has been women's work always the woman who gave her first one a final kiss and blessed him on his way to battle had according to the senator from Missouri earned a crown of glory gemmed with the love of the world and with senator Walsh of Montana Democrat the women of America have already written a glorious page in the history of the greatest of wars that have vexed the world they like Cornelia have given and freely given their jewels to their country some of us wondered senator McLean of Connecticut and is a fresh Republican flatly stated that all questions involving declarations of war in terms of peace should be left to that sex which must do the fighting and dying on the battlefield and he further said that until boys between 18 and 21 who had just been called to the colors should ask for the word the mothers should be and remain both proud and content without it he concluded with an amusing account of the history of the ballot box this joint resolution he said goes beyond the season above the clouds it attempts to tamper with the ballot box over which mother nature always has had and always will have supreme control and such attempts always have ended and always will end in failure and misfortune senator felon of California Democrat made a straightforward intelligent speech senator Beckham of Kentucky Democrat deplored the idea that man was superior to woman he pleaded guilty to the charge of romanticism he said but I look upon woman as a superior to man therefore he could not trust her with a vote he had the hardy hood to say further with the men of the world at each other's throats women is the civilizing refining elevating influence that holds man from barbarism we charged him with ignorance as well as romanticism when he said in closing it is the duty of man to work and labor for women to cut the wood to carry the coal to go into the fields in the necessary labor to sustain the home where the woman resides and by her superior nature elevates him to higher and better conceptions of life meanwhile senator chaffroth of Colorado Democrat lifelong advocate of suffrage was painstakingly asking one senator after another as he had been for years does not the senator believe that the just pass of government are derived from the consent of the governed and then but if you have the general principle acknowledged that the just pass of government are derived from the consent of the governed and so forth but the idea of applying the declaration of independence to modern politics fairly put them to sleep these samples of senatorial profundity may divert outrage or boras but they do not represent the real battle it is not that the men who utter these sentiments do not believe them more is the pity they do but they are smoke screens mere skirmishes of eloquence of foolishness they do not represent the motives of their political acts the real excitement began when senator pitman of Nevada Democrat attempted to reveal to the senators of his party the actual seriousness of the political crisis in which the Democrats were now involved he also attempted to shift the blame for threatened defeat of the amendment to the Republican side of the chamber there was a note of desperation in his voice to since he knew that Preston Wilson had not up to that moment one the two votes lacking the gist of senator pitman's remarks was this the woman's party has charged the Senate women's suffrage committee which is in control of the Democrats and the president himself with the responsibility for obstructing a vote on the measure I confess said he that this is having its effect as a campaign argument in the women's suffrage states senator Volcott of Delaware Democrat interrupted him to ask if this was the party that has been picketing here in Washington senator bitman having just paid this tribute to our campaign in the West he has sent to say that it was but that there was another association the national American women's suffrage association which had always inducted its campaign in a ladylike modest and intelligent way and which had never mixed in politics they being a copy of the suffrages in the air senator bitman began his attempt to shift responsibility to the Republican side for the critical condition of the amendment he denounced the Republicans for caucusing on the amendment and deciding unanimously to press for a vote when they the Republicans knew there were two words lacking he scored us for having given so much publicity to the action of the caucus and declared with vehemence that a trick had been executed through senator smooth which he would not allow to go unrevealed senator bitman charged that the Republicans had promised enough votes to pass the amendment and that upon that promise the Democrats had brought the measure on the floor that the Republicans there upon which drew enough votes to cause the defeat of the amendment whether or not this was true at any rate as senator smooth pointed out the Democratic chairman in charge of the measure could at any moment send the measure back to the committee safe from immediate defeat this was true but not exactly a suggestion to be welcomed by the Democrats yes replied senator bitman and then if we move to refer it back to the committee the senator from Utah would say again the Democrats are obstructing the passage of this amendment we told you all the time they wanted to kill it if we refer it back to the committee then we will be charged as we have been all the time in the suffrage states with trying to prevent a vote on it and still the women's party campaign will go on as it is going on now and if we vote on it they will say we told you the Democrats would kill it because the president would not make 332 on his side put for it that was the crux of the whole situation the Democrats had been manoeuvred into a position where they could needy for to move to refer the amendment back to the committee nor could they afford to press it to a losing vote they were indeed in an exceedingly embarrassing predicament throughout hours of debate senator bitman could not get away from the militants again and again he recited our deeds of protest our threats of reprisal our relentless strategy of holding his party responsible for defeat or victory I should like the senator interpolated senator find extra of Washington Republican so long as he's discussing the action of the pickets to explain to the senator whether or not it is the action of the pickets the militant women's party that caused the president to change his attitude on the subject was he caused into supporting this measure after he had for years opposed it because he was picketed when did the president change his attitude if it was not because he was picketed will the senator explain what was the cause of the change in the president's attitude mr. bitman could not reply directly to these questions senator read of Missouri anti-administration democrat consumed as reading into the congressional record various press reports of militant activities he dwelt particularly upon the news headlines such as great washington crowd cheers demonstration at white house by national women's party suffragists burn wilson idle words money instead of cheese greet marchers and unique protest against withholding vote apply torch to president's words promise to urge passage of amendment not definite enough for militants soft burn speech apply torch to wilson's words during the demonstration symbol of indignation trunks witnessing doings in the fight a square orderly and contribute to fund president receives delegation of american suffrage association women senator mckeller of tenancy democrat asked mr. Reed if he did not believe that we had a right peaceably to assemble under the first amendment of our constitution which i shall read congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances mr. Reed made no direct answer list the idea get abroad from the amount of time they spent in discussing the actions of the wicked militants that we had had something to do with the situation which had resulted in democratic despair senator thomas of colorado the one democrat who had never been able to conceal his hostility to us for having reduced his majority nine 1914 arose to pay a tribute to the conservative suffrage association of america there as transition he said is unstained by mob methods or appeals to violence it has made a picketed precedence nor populated prisons it has carried no banners flaunting insults to the executive while the militants on the other hand have indulged in much tumult and vociferous brain for all notorities sake the galleries smiled as he counseled the elder suffrage leaders not to lose courage nor yet be faint hearted for this handicap would soon be overcome it would have taken an abler man than senator thomas in the face of the nature of this debate to make anyone believe that we had been a handicap in forcing them to their position he was the only one hardy enough to try after this debate the senate adjourned leaving tanks from the point of view of party politics tangled in a hopeless knot it was to untie this knot that the president returned hastily from new york in answer to urgent summons by long-distance telephone and went to the capital to deliver his memorable address mr vice president and gentlemen of the senate the unusual circumstances of a world war in which we stand and are judged in the view not only of our own people and our own consciences but also in the view of all nations and all peoples well i hope justify in your thought as it does in mine the message i have come to bring you i regard the occurrence of the senate in the constitutional amendment proposing the extension of the suffrage to women as vitally essential to the successful prosecution of the great war of humanity in which we are engaged i have come to urge upon you the considerations which have led me to that conclusion it is not only my privilege it is also my duty to appraise you of every circumstance and element involved in this momentous struggle which seems to me to affect its very processes and its outcome it is my duty to win the war and to ask you to remove every obstacle that stands in the way of winning it i had assumed that the senate would conquer in the amendment because no disputable principle is involved but only a question of the method by which the suffrage is to be extended to women there is and can be no party issue involved in it both of our great national parties are pledged explicitly pledged to equality of suffrage for the women of the country native party therefore it seems to me can justify hesitation as to the method of obtaining it can rightfully hesitate to substitute federal initiative for state initiative if the early adoption of the measure is necessary to the successful prosecution of the war and if the method of state action proposed in party platforms of 1916 is impracticable within any reasonable length of time if practicable at all and its adoption is in my judgment clearly necessary to the successful prosecution of the war and the successful realization of the objects for which the war is being fought that judgment i take the liberty of urging upon you with solemn earnestness for reasons which i shall state very frankly and which i shall hope will seem as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me this is a people's war and people's thinking constitutes it atmosphere and more real not the predilections of the drawing room or the political considerations of the caucus if we be indeed democrats and wish to lead the world to democracy we can ask other peoples to accept in proof of our sincerity and our ability to lead them wither they wish to be led nothing less persuasive and convincing than our actions our professions will not suffice verification must be forthcoming when verification is asked for and in this case verification is asked for asked for in this particular matter you ask by whom not through diplomatic channels not by foreign ministers not by the intimations of parliaments it is asked for by the anxious expectant suffering peoples with whom we are dealing and who are willing to put their destinies in some measure in our hands if they are sure that we wish the same things that they wish i do not speak by conjecture it is not alone the voices of statesmen and of newspapers that reach me and the voices of foolish and intemperate agitators do not reach me at all through many many channels i have been made aware what the plain struggling worker day folk are thinking upon whom the chief terror and suffering of this tragic war falls they are looking to the great powerful famous democracy of the west to lead them to the new day for which they have so long waited and they think in their logical simplicity that democracy means that women shall play their part in alongside men and upon an equal footing with them if we reject measures like this in ignorance or defiance of what a new age has brought forth of what they have seen but we have not they will cease to follow or to trust us they have seen their own governments accept this interpretation of democracy seen old governments like great britain which did not profess to be democratic promise readily and as of course this justice to women though they had before refused it the strange revelations of this war having made many things new and plain to governments as well as to peoples are we alone to refuse to learn the lesson are we alone to ask and take the utmost that women can give service and sacrifice of every kind and still say that we do not see what title that gives them to stand by our sides in the guidance of the affairs of their nation and us we have made partners of women in this war shall we admit them only to a partnership of sacrifice and suffering and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and of right this war could not have been fought either by the other nations engaged or by america if it had not been for the services of the women services rendered in every sphere not only in the fields of effort in which we have been accustomed to see them work but variable men have worked and upon the very skirts and edges of the battle itself we shall not only be distrusted but shall deserve to be distrusted if we do not enfranchise them with the fullest possible enfranchisement as it is now certain that the other great free nations will enfranchise them we cannot isolate our thought or our action in such a matter from the thought of the rest of the world we must either confirm or deliberately reject what they propose and resign the leadership of liberal minds to others the women of america are too noble and too intelligent and too devoted to be slackers whether you give or withhold this thing that is mere justice but i know the magic it will work in their thoughts and spirits if you give it to them i propose it as i would propose to admit soldiers to the suffrage the men fighting in the field for our liberties and the liberties of the world were they excluded the tasks of the women lie at the very heart of the war and i know how much stronger that heart will beat if you do this just think and show our women that you trust them as much as you in fact and of necessity depend upon them have i said that the passage of this amendment is a vitally necessary war measure or do you need further proof do you stand in need of the trust of other people and of the trust of our women is that trust an asset or is it not i tell you plainly as commander in chief of our armies and of the gallant men in our fleets as the present spokesman of these people in our dealings with the men and women throughout the world who are now our partners as the responsible head of a great government which stands and is questioned day by day as to its purposes its principles its hopes whether they be serviceable to men everywhere or only to itself and who must himself answer these questionings or be shamed as the guide and director of forces caught in the grip of war and by the same token in need of every material and spiritual resource this great nation possesses i tell you plainly that this measure which i urge upon you is vital to the winning of the war and to the energies alike of preparation and of battle and not to the winning of the war only it is vital to the right solution of the great problems which we must settle and settle immediately when the war is over we shall need then a vision of affairs which is theirs and as we have never needed them before the sympathy and insight and clear moral instinct of the women of the world the problems of that time will strike to the roots of many things that we have not hitherto questioned and i for one believe that our safety in those questioning days as well as our comprehension of matters that touch society to the quick will depend upon the direct and authoritative participation of women in our councils we shall need the moral sense to preserve what is right and fine and worthy in our system of life as well as to discover just what it is that ought to be purified and reformed without their counsellings we shall be only half wise that is my case this is my appeal many may deny its validity if they choose but no one can brush aside or answer the arguments upon which it is based the executive tasks of this war west upon me i ask that you lighten them and place in my hands spiritual instruments which i do not now possess which i solely need and which i have daily to apologize for not being to employ applause it was a truly beautiful appeal when the applause and excitement attendant upon the occasion of a message from the president had subsided and the floor of the chamber had emptied itself of its distinguished visitors the debate was resumed if this resolution fails now said sanita jones of washington ranking republican member of the suffrage committee it fails for lack of democratic votes sanita cumans of iowa republican also a member of the suffrage committee reminded opponents of the measure of the retaliatory tactics used by president wilson when repudiated by sanitas and other issues i sincerely hope he said tontingly that president may deal kindly and leniently with those who are refusing to move this obstacle which stands in his way it has not been very long since the president retired the junior senator from mississippi mr. varthaman from public life why because he refused at all times to obey the commands which were issued by his direction the junior senator from georgia mr. hardwick suffered the same fate how do you hope to escape my democratic friends are either proceeding upon hypothesis that the president is insincere or that they may be able to secure an immunity from him that these other unfortunate aspirants for office failed to secure sanita cumans chided sanita reed for denouncing the so-called militants who sought to bring their influence to bear upon the situation in rather a more forcible and decisive method than was employed by the national association i did not believe in the campaign they were pursuing not one senator was brave enough to say outright that he did but that was simply a question for them to determine and if they thought that in accordance with the established custom the president should bring his influence to bear more effectively than he had they had a perfect right to burn his message they had a perfect right to carry banners in lefayette park in front of the white house or anywhere else they had a perfect right to bring their banners into the capital and display them with all the force and vigor which they could command i did not agree with them but they also were making a campaign for an inestimable and a fundamental right what would you have done men if you had been deprived of the right to vote what would you have done if you had been deprived of the right of representation have the militants done anything worse than the revolutionary forces who gathered about the teachers and threw them into the sea i do not believe they the militants committed any crime and while i had no particle of sympathy with the manner in which they were conducting their campaign i think their arrest at imprisonment and the treatment which they received while in confinement are a disgrace to the civilized world and much the more a disgrace to the united states which assumes to lead the civilized world in human endeavor they disturbed nobody save the disturbance which was common to the carrying forward of all the propaganda by those who are intensely and widely interested in it i wish they had not done it but i am not to be the judge of their methods so long as they confine themselves to those acts and to those words which are fairly directed to the accomplishment of their purposes i cannot accept the conclusion that because these women burned a message in the fight park or because they carried banners upon the streets in washington therefore their criminals the time had come to take the vote but we knew we had not won the role was called and the vote stood 62 to 34 october 1st 1918 counting all we had lost by two votes instantly chairman jones according to his promise to the women changing his vote from year to nay moved for a reconsideration of the measure and thus automatically kept it on the calendar of the senate that was all that could be done the president's belief in the power of words had lost the amendment now could he by a speech eloquent as it was break down the position in the senate which he had so long protected and condemned our next task was to secure a reversal of the senate vote we modified our tactics slightly end of section 17 section 18 of gelled for freedom this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot or recording by janet oriley of utah www.oriley-fire.com gelled for freedom by doris stevens part 3 chapter 19 more pressure our immediate task was to compel the president to secure a reversal of two votes in the senate it became necessary to enter again the congressional elections which were a month away by a stroke of good luck there were two senatorial contests in new jersey and new hampshire for vacancies in the short term that is we had an opportunity to elect two friends who would take their seats in time to vote on the amendment before the end of this session it so happened that the democratic candidates were pledged to vote for the amendment if elected and that the republican candidates were opposed to the amendment we launched our campaign in this instance for the election of the democratic candidates we went immediately to the president to ask his assistance in our endeavor we had urged him personally to appeal to the voters of new jersey and new hampshire on behalf of his two candidates as party leader he was at the moment paying no attention whatever to the success of these two suffragists both of the democratic candidates themselves appealed to president wilson for help in their contest on the basis of their suffrage advocacy his speech to the senate scarcely cold president refused to lend any assistance in these contests which with sufficient effort might have produced the last two votes it was clear that he would move again only under attack we went again therefore to the women voters of the west and asked them to withhold their support from the democratic senatorial candidates in the suffrage states in order to compel the president to assist in the two eastern contests this campaign made it clear to the president that we were still holding him and his party to their responsibility and as has been pointed out our policy was to oppose the democratic candidates at elections as long as their party was responsible for the passage of the amendment and did not pass it since there is no question between individuals in suffrage states they are all suffragists this could not increase our numerical strength it could however and did demonstrate the growing and comprehensive power of the women voters shortly before election when our campaign was in full swing in the west the president sent a letter appealing to the voters of new jersey to support mr hennessey the democratic candidate for the senate he subsequently appealed to the voters of new hampshire to elect mr jamison candidate for democratic senator in new hampshire we continued our campaign in the west as a safeguard against relaxation by the president after his appeal there were seven senatorial contests in the western suffrage states in all but two of these contests montana and nevada the democratic senatorial candidates were defeated in these two states the democratic majority was greatly reduced republicans won in new jersey and new hampshire and a republican congress was elected to power throughout the country the election campaign had had a wholesome effect however on both parties and was undoubtedly one of the factors in persuading the president to again appeal to the senate immediately after the defeat in the senate and throughout the election campaign we attempted to hold banners at the capital to assist our campaign and in order to weaken the resistance of the senators of the opposition the models on the banners attacked with impartial mercilessness both democrats and republicans one read senator wadsworth's regiment is fighting for democracy abroad senator wadsworth left his regiment and is fighting against democracy in the senate senator wadsworth could serve his country better by fighting with his regiment abroad than by fighting women at home another read senator shields told the people of tennessee he would support the president's policies the only time the president went to the senate to ask its support senator shields voted against him does tennessee back the president's war program or senator shields and still a third germany has established equal universal secret direct franchise the senate has denied equal universal secret suffrage to america which is more of a democracy germany or america as the women approached the senate colonel higgins the sergeant at arms of the senate ordered a squad of capital policemen to rush upon them they wrenched their banners from them twisting their wrists and manhandling them as they took them up the steps through the door and down into the garden their banners confiscated and they themselves detained for varying periods of time when the women insisted on knowing upon what charges they were held they were merely told that peace and order must be maintained on the capital grounds and further it don't make no difference about the law colonel higgins is the boss here and he has taken the law in his own hands day after day this performance went on small detachments of women attempted to hold banners outside the united state senate as the women of holland had done outside the parliament in the hay it was difficult to believe that american politicians could be so devoid of humor as they showed themselves the panic that overwhelms our official mind in the face of the slightest irregularity is appalling instead of maintaining peace and order the squads of police managed to keep the capital grounds in a state of confusion they were assisted from time to time by senate pages small errand boys who would run out and attack mature women with impunity the women would be held under the most rigid detention each day until the senate had safely adjourned then on the moral the whole spectacle would be repeated while the united state senate was standing still under our protest world events rushed on germany autocracy had collapsed the allies had won a military victory the kaiser had that very weak fled for his life because of the uprising of his people we are all free voters of a free republic now was the message sent by the women of germany to the women of the united states through miss jane adams we were at that moment heartily ashamed of our government german women voting american women going to jail and spending long hours in the senate guardhouse without arrests or charges the war came to an end congress adjourned november 21st and the 65th congress reconvened for its short and final session december 2nd 1918 less than a month after our election campaign president wilson for the first time included suffrage in his regular message to congress the thing that we had asked of him at the opening of every session of congress since march 1918 there were now fewer than a hundred days in which to get action from the senate and so avoid losing the benefit of our victory in the house in his opening address to congress the president again appealed to the senate in these words and what shall we say of the women of their instant intelligence quickening every task that they touched their capacity for organization and cooperation which gave their action discipline and enhanced the effectiveness of everything they attempted their aptitude at tasks to which they had never before set their hands their utter self sacrifice alike in what they did and in what they gave their contribution to the great result is beyond appraisal they have added a new luster to the annals of american womanhood the least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in political rights as they have proved themselves their equals in every field of practical work they have entered whether for themselves or for their country these great days of completed achievement would be sadly marred were we to omit that act of justice besides the immense practical services they have rendered the women of the country have been the moving spirits in the systematic economies in which our people have voluntarily assisted to supply the suffering peoples of the world and the armies upon every front with food and everything else we had that might serve common cause the details of such a story can never be fully written but we carry them at our hearts and thank god that we can say that we are the kinsmen of such again we looked for action to follow this appeal again we found that the president had uttered these words but had made no plan to translate them into action and so his second appeal to the senate failed coming as it did after the hostility of his party to the idea of conferring freedom on women nationally and had been approved and fostered by president wilson for five solid years he could not overcome with additional eloquence the opposition which he himself had so long formulated defended encouraged and solidified especially when that eloquence was followed by either no action or only half-hearted efforts it would now require a determined assertion of his political power as the leader of his party we made a final appeal to him as leader of his party and while still at the height of his world power to make such an assertion and to demand the necessary two votes chapter 20 the president sails away no sooner had we set ourselves to a brief hot campaign to compel president wilson to win the final votes than he sailed away to france to attend the peace conference sailed away to consecrate himself to the program of liberating the oppressed peoples of the world he cannot be condemned for aiming to achieve so gigantic a task but we reflected that again the president had refused his specific aid in a humble aspiration for the rosy hope of a more boldly conceived ambition it was positively impossible for us by our own efforts to win the last two votes we could only win them through the president that he had left behind him his message urging the senate to act is true that administration leaders did not consider these words a command is also true it must be realized that even after the president had been compelled to publicly declare his support of the measure it was almost impossible to get his own leaders to take seriously his words on suffrage and so again the democratic chairman of the rules committee in whose keeping the program lay had no thought of bringing it to a vote the democratic chairman of the woman's suffrage committee assumed not the slightest responsibility for its success nor could he produce any plan whereby the last votes could be won they knew as well as we did that the president only could win those last two votes they made it perfectly clear that until he had done so they could do nothing less than 55 legislative days remain to us something had to be done quickly something bold and offensive enough to threaten the prestige of the president as he was writing in sublimity to unknown heights as a champion of world liberty something which might penetrate his reverie and shock him into concrete action we had successfully defied the full power of his administration the odds heavily against us we must now defy the popular belief of the world in this apostle of liberty this was the feeling of the 400 officers of the national woman's party summoned to a three-day conference in washington in december 1918 it was unanimously decided to light a fire in an urn and on the day that the president was officially received by france to burn with fitting public ceremonies all the president's past and present speeches or books concerning liberty freedom and democracy it was late afternoon when the 400 women proceeded solemnly in single file from headquarters past the white house along the edge of the quiet and beautiful lafayette park to the foot of lafayette statue a slight mist added beauty to the pageant the purple white and gold banners so brilliant in the sunshine became soft pastel sales half the procession carried lighted torches the other half banners the crowd gathered silently somewhat awestruck by the scene masked about that statues we felt a strange strength and solidarity we felt again that we were a part of the universal struggle for liberty the torch was applied to the pinewood logs in the grecian urn at the edge of the broad base of the statue as the flames began to mount vaiden milholland stepped forward and without accompaniment saying again from that spot of beauty in her own challenging way the woman's marseille even the small boys in the crowd always the most difficult to please cheered and clapped and cried for more mrs john rogers jr chairman of the national advisory council said as president of the ceremony we hold this meeting to protest against the denial of liberty to american women all over the world today we see urging and sweeping irresistibly on the great tide of democracy and women would be derelict in their duty if they did not see to it that it brings freedom to the women of this land our ceremony today is planned to call attention to the fact that president wilson has gone abroad to establish democracy in foreign lands when he has failed to establish democracy at home we burn his words on liberty today not in malice or anger but in a spirit of reverence for truth this meeting is a message to president wilson we expect an answer if the answer is more words we will burn them again the only answer the national woman's party will accept is the instant passage of the amendment in the senate the few hoots and jeers which followed all ceased when a tiny and aged woman stepped from her place to the urn in the brilliant torchlight the crowd recognized a veteran it was the most dramatic moment in the ceremony reverend olympia brown of wisconsin one of the first ordained women ministers in the country then in her 84th year gallant pioneer friend and colleague of susan b anthony said as she threw into the flames the speech made by the president on his arrival in france i have fought for liberty for 70 years and i protest against the president's leaving our country with this old fight here on one the crowd burst into applause and continued to cheer as she was assisted from the plinth of the statue to frail to dismount herself then came the other representative women from massachusetts to california from georgia to michigan each one consigning to the flames a special declaration of the president's on freedom the flames burned brighter and brighter and left higher as the night grew black the casual observer said they must be crazy don't they know the president isn't at home what are they appealing to him in the park opposite the white house when he is in france the long line of bright torches shown menacingly as the women march slowly back to headquarters and the crowd dispersed in silence the white house was empty but we knew our message would be heard in france chapter 21 watchfires of freedom december came to an end with no plan for action on the amendment assured this left us january and february only before the session would end the president had not yet won the necessary two votes we decided therefore to keep a perpetual fire to consume the president's speeches on democracy as fast as he made them in europe and so on new year's day 1919 we light our first watchfire of freedom in the urn dedicated to that purpose we placed it on the sidewalk in a direct line with the president's front door the wood comes from a tree in independent square philadelphia it burns gaily women with banners stand guard over the watchfire a bell hung in the balcony at headquarters tolls rhythmically the beginning of the watch it tolls again as the president's words are tossed to the flames his speech to the working men of manchester his toes to the king at buckingham palace we have used great words all of us we have used the words right and justice and now we are to prove whether or not we understand these words his speech at breast all turn into ignominious brown ashes the bell tolls again when the watch has changed all washington is reminded hourly that we are at the president's gate burning his words from washington the news goes to all the world people gather to see the ceremony the omnipresent small boys and soldiers jeer and some tear the banners a soldier rushes to the scene with a bucket of water which does not extinguish the flames fire burns as if by magic a policeman arrives and uses a fire extinguisher but the fire burns on the flames are as indomitable as the women who guard them rain comes but all through the night the watch fire burns all through the night the women stand guard day and night the fire burns boys are permitted by the police to scatter it in the street to break the urn and to demolish the banners but each time the women rekindle the fire a squad of policemen tries to demolish the fire while the police are engaged at the white house gates other women go quietly in the dusk to the huge bronze urn in lafayette park and light another watch fire a beautiful blaze leaps into the air from the great urn the police hasten hither the burning contents are overturned alice paul refills the urn and kindles a new fire she is placed under arrest suddenly a third blaze is seen in a remote corner of the park the policemen scramble to that corner when the watch fires have been continued for four days and four nights in spite of the attempts by the police to extinguish them general orders to arrest are sent to the squad of policemen five women are taken to the police station the police captain is outraged that the ornamental urn valued at ten thousand dollars should have been used to hold a fire which burned the president's words his indignation leaves the defendants unimpressed however and he becomes conciliatory will the ladies promise to be good and like no more fires in the park instead the ladies inquire on what charge they are held not even the police captain knows they wait at the police station to find out refusing to give bail unless they are told meanwhile other women address the crowd lingering about the watch fire the crowd asks thoughtful questions little knots of men can be seen discussing what the whole thing is about anyway miss mildred morris one of the participants overheard the following discussion in one group composed of an old man a young sailor and a young soldier but whatever you think of them the sailor was telling the soldier you have to admire their sincerity and courage they've got to do this thing they want only what's their right and real men want to give it to them but they got no business using a sidewalk in front of the white house for a bonfire declared the soldier it's disloyal to the president i tell you and if they weren't women i'd slap their faces listen sonny said the old man patting the soldier's arm i'm as loyal to the president as any man alive but i've got to admit that he ain't doing the right thing towards these women he's forced everything else he's wanted through congress and if he wanted to give these women the vote badly enough he could force the suffrage amendment through if you and i were in the women's places sonny we'd act real vicious we'd want to come here and clean out the whole white house but if the president doesn't want to push their amendment through it's his right not to argue the soldier it's nobody's business how he uses his power good god the sailor burst out why don't you go over and get a job shining the kaiser's boots the women were released without bail since no one was able to supply a charge but a thorough research was instituted and out of the dusty archives someone produced an ancient statue that would serve the purpose it prohibits the building of fires in a public place in the district of columbia between sunset and sunrise and so the beautiful elizabethan custom of lighting watch fires as a form of demonstration was forbidden in a few days eleven women were brought to trial there was a titter in the courtroom as the prosecuting attorney read with heavy pomposity the charge against the prisoners to quit that on pennsylvania avenue northwest in the district of columbia they did aid and a bet in setting fire to certain combustibles consisting of logs paper oil etc between the setting of the sun in the said district of columbia on the fifth day of january and the rising of the sun in the said district of columbia of the sixth day of january 1919 ad court is shot to hear of this serious deed the prisoners are unconcerned call the names of the prisoners the judge orders the clerk calls julia emory no answer julia emory he calls a second time dead silence the clerk tries another name a second a third a fourth always there is silence in a benevolent tone the judge asks the policeman to identify the prisoners they identify as many as they can an attempt is made to have the prisoners rise and be sworn they sit we will go on with the testimony says the judge the police testify as to the important details of the crime they were on pennsylvania avenue they looked at their watch they learned it was about 530 they saw the ladies in the park putting wood on fires in urns i threw the wood on the pavement they kept putting it backs as one policeman each time i tried to put out the fire they threw on more wood says another they kept on lighting new fires and i'd keep putting them out says a third with an injured air the prosecuting attorney asks an important question did you command them to stop policemen i did sir and i said you ladies don't want to be arrested do you they made no answer but went on attending to their fires the statute is read for the another witness is called this time the district attorney asks the policeman do you know what time the son in the district of columbia sat on january 5th and rose on january 6 at this profound question the policeman hesitates looks abashed then says impressively the son in the district of columbia sat at five o'clock january 5th rose at seven o'clock january 8 the prosecutor is triumphant he looks expectantly at the judge how do you know what time the son rose and sat on those days asks the judge from the weather bureau answers the policeman the judge is perplexed i think we should have something more official he says the prosecutor suggests that perhaps an almanac would settle the question the judge believes it would the government attorney disappears to find an almanac breathless the prisoners and spectators wait to hear the important verdict of the almanac the delay is interminable the courtroom is in a state of confusion the prisoners especially are amused at the proceedings it is clear their fate may hang upon a minute or two of time an hour goes by and still the district attorney has not returned another half hour presently he returns to read in heavy tones from the almanac the policeman looks embarrassed his information from the weather bureau differs from that of the almanac his son rose two minutes too early and continued to shine 12 minutes too long however it doesn't matter the son shone long enough to make the defendants guilty the judge looks at the prisoners and announces that they are all guilty and shall pay a fine of five dollars or serve five days in jail the administration has learned its lesson about hunger strikes and evidently fears having to yield to another strike and so it seeks safety in lighter sentences the judge pleads almost piteously with them not to go to jail at all and says that he will put them on probation if they will promise to be good and not light any more fires in the district of columbia the prisoners make no promise they have been found guilty according to the almanac and they file through the little gate into the prisoner's pen somehow they did not believe that whether the son rose at 726 or 728 was the issue which had decided whether they should be convicted or not and it was not in protest against the almanac that they straight away entered upon a hunger strike meanwhile the watch fires continued in the capital january 13th the day the great world peace conference under the president's leadership began to deliberate on the task of administering right and justice to all the oppressed of the earth 23 women were arrested in front of the white house another trial more silent prisoners they were to be tried this time in groups a roar of applause from friends in the courtroom greeted the first four as they came in the judge said that he could not possibly understand the motive for this outburst and added if it is repeated i shall consider it contempt of court he then ordered the bailiff to escort the four prisoners out and bring them in again shades of school days and if there is any applause this time with this threat still in the air the prisoners re-entered and the applause was louder than before great confusion the judge roared at the bailiff the bailiff roared at the prisoners and their friends finally they rushed to the corners of the courtroom and evicted three young women locked the doors and see that they do not return shouted the angry judge thus the dignity of the court was restored but the group idea had to be abandoned the prisoners were now brought in one at a time and one policeman after another testified that she kept a lighten and a lighten fires five days imprisonment for each woman who kept a lighten watchfires on january 25th in paris president wilson received a delegation of french working women who urged women's suffrage as one of the points to be settled at the peace conference the president expressed admiration for the women of france and told them of his deep personal interest in the enfranchisement of women he was honored and touched by their tribute it was a great moment for the president he had won the position in the eyes of the world of a devout champion of the liberty of women but at the very moment he was speaking to these french women american women were lied in the district of columbia jail for demanding liberty at his gates mrs mary nullan the eldest suffrage prisoner took to the watchfire those vain words of the president to the french women the flames were just consuming all sons of freedom are under oath to see that freedom never suffers when a whole squadron of police dashed up to arrest her there was a pause when they saw her age they drew back for an instant then one amongst them more dutiful than the rest quietly placed her under arrest as she marched along by his side cheers for her went up from all parts of the crowd say what you think about them but that little old lady certainly got plucked ray murmur at the bar mrs nullan's beautiful speech provoked irrepressible applause the judge ordered as many offenders as could be recognized brought before him 13 women were hastily produced the trial was suspended while the judge sentenced these 13 to 48 hours in jail for contempt of court and saw throughout january and the beginning of february 1919 the story of protest continued relentlessly watchfires arrest convictions hunger strikes release until again the nation rose in protest against imprisoning the women and against the senate's delay preemptory cables went to the president at the peace conference commanding him to act news of our demonstrations were well reported in the paris press the situation must have again seemed serious to him for although reluctantly and perhaps unwillingly he did begin to cable to senate leaders who in turn began to act on february 2nd the democratic suffrage senators called a meeting at the capital to consider ways and means on february 3rd senator jones announced in the senate that the amendment would be brought up for discussion february 10th the following evening february 4th a caucus of all democratic senators was called together at the capital by senator martin of virginia democratic floor leader in the senate this was the first democratic caucus held in the senate since war was declared which would seem to point to the anxiety of the democrats to marshal to votes several hours of every passionate debate occurred during which senator pollock of south carolina announced for the first time his support of the measure senator pollock had yielded to pressure by cable from the president as well as to the caucus this gain of one vote had reduced the number of votes lacking to one many democratic leaders now began to show alarm lest the last vote be not secured william jennings brian was one leader who rightly alarmed over such a situation personally consulted with the democratic opponents the argument which he presented to them he subsequently gave to the press woman's suffrage is coming to the country and to the world it will be submitted to the states by next congress if it is not submitted by the present congress i hope the democrats of the south will not handicap the democrats of the north by compelling them to spend the next 25 years explaining to the women of the country why their party prevented the submission of the suffrage amendment to the states this is our last chance to play an important part in bringing about this important reform and it is a vital political concern that the democrats of the northern mississippi valley should not be burdened by the charge that our party prevented the passage of the suffrage amendment especially when it is known that it is coming in spite of if not with the aid of the democratic party as we grew nearer the last vote the president was meeting what was perhaps his most bitter resistance from within it was a situation which he could have prevented his own early hostility his later indifference and negligence his actual protection giving the democratic opponents of the measure his own reversal of policy practically at the point of a pistol the half-hearted efforts made by him on its behalf were all coming to fruition at the moment when his continued prestige was at stake his power to get results on this because of belated efforts was greatly weakened this also undermined his power in other undertakings essential to his continued prestige whereas more effort at an earlier time would have brought fairer results now the opponents were solidified in their opposition were through their votes publicly committed to the nation as opponents and were unwilling to sacrifice their heavy dignity to a public reversal of their votes this presented a formidable resistance indeed therefore the democratic blockade continued and so did the watch fires end of section 18 recording by Janet O'Reilly of Utah www.oreilly-fire.com section 19 of Gel for Freedom by Dora Stevens this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Janet O'Reilly of Utah www.oreilly-fire.com Gel for Freedom by Dora Stevens part 3 chapter 22 burned in Evegy the suffrage score now stood as follows one vote lacking in the senate 15 days in which to win it and president wilson across the sea the democrats set February 10th as the date on which the senate would again vote on the amendment without any plan as to how the last vote would be won we were paradise to secure the last vote that was still the president's problem knowing that he always put forth more effort under fire of protest from us than when not pressed we decided to make as a climax to our watch fire demonstrations a more drastic form of protest we wanted to show our contempt for the president's inadequate support which he promised so much in words and which did so little in deeds and so on the day preceding the vote we burned in effigy a portrait of president wilson even as the revolutionary fathers had burned a portrait of king george footnote this is the inscription on a tablet of the state house dover green dover in commemoration of delaware's revolutionary leaders signers of the declaration of independence caesar rodney thomas mccain george reed at the urgent request of thomas mccain caesar rodney being then in delaware wrote post haste on horseback to philadelphia and reached independence hall july 4th 1776 the following day news of the adoption of the declaration of independent reaching dover a portrait of king george was burned on dover green at the order of the committee of safety the following historic words were being uttered by the chairman compelled by strong necessity thus we destroy even the shadow of that king who refused to reign over a free people end of footnote a hundred women marched with banners to the center of the sidewalk opposite the white house mingling with the party's tricolored banners were two lettered ones which read only 15 legislative days are left in this congress for more than a year the president's party has blocked suffrage in the senate it is blocking it today the president is responsible for the betrayal of american womanhood and why does not the president ensure the passage of suffrage in the senate tomorrow why does he not win from his party the one vote needed has he agreed to permit suffrage again to be pushed aside president wilson is deceiving the world he preaches democracy abroad and thwarts democracy here as the marchers master banners and group themselves about the burn a dense crowd of many thousand people closed in about them a crowd so interested that it stood almost motionless for two hours while the ceremonies continued the fire being kindled and the flames leaping into the air missus white of tennessee and mrs. gabriel harris of south carolina dropped into the fire in the urn a figure of president wilson sketched on paper in black and white a sort of effigy deluxe we called it but a symbol of our contempt nonetheless mrs. henry o havemeyer of new york lifelong suffragist and woman of affairs said as master of the ceremonies every anglo-saxon government in the world has enfranchised its women in russia in hungary in austria in germany itself the women are completely enfranchised and 34 women are now sitting in the new right stand we women of america are assembled here today to voice our deep indignation that american women are still deprived of a voice in their government at home we mean to show that the president at this she was caught by the arm placed under arrest and forced into the waiting patrol wagon there upon the police fell upon the ceremonies and indiscriminate arrests followed women with banners were taken women without banners were taken women attempting to guard the fire women standing by doing nothing at all all were seized upon and rushed to the patrol while this uproar was going on others attempted to continue speaking where mrs. havemeyer had left it but each was apprehended as she made her attempt some that have been scheduled to speak but were too shy to utter a word in the excitement were also taken when the black marias were all filled to capacity nearby automobiles were commandeered and more patrols summoned and still not even half of the women were captured the police seized their rates suddenly borders to arrest no more had evidently been given someone must have suggested that a hundred additions to the already overcrowded jail and workhouse would be too embarrassing perhaps the ruse of arresting some and hoping the others would scamper away at the sight of authority was still in their minds after a brief respite they turned their attention to the fascinated crowd they succeeded in forcing back these masses of people halfway across pennsylvania avenue and stationed an officer every two feet in front of them but still women came to keep the fire burning was there no end of this battalion of women the police finally declared a military zone between the encircling crowd and the remaining women and no person was allowed to enter the prescribed area for another hour then the women stood on guard at the urn and as night fell the ceremonies ended 60 of them marched back to headquarters 39 had been arrested the following morning February 10th saw two not unrelated scenes in the capital senators were gathering in their seats in the senate chamber to answer to the roll call on the suffrage amendment a few blocks away in the courthouse 39 women were being tried for their protest of the previous day there was no uncertainty either in the minds of the galleries or of the senators everyone knew that we still lacked one vote the debate was confined to two speeches one for and one against when the roll was called they were voting and paired in favor of the amendment 63 senators they were voting and paired against the amendment 83 senators the amendment lost therefore by one vote of the 63 favorable votes 62 were republicans and 31 democrats of the 33 adverse votes 12 were republicans and 21 democrats this means that of the 44 republicans in the senate 32 or 73 percent voted for the amendment of the 52 democrats in the senate 31 or 60 percent voted for it and so it was again defeated by the opposition of the democratic administration and by the failure of the president to put behind it enough power to win meanwhile another burlesque of justice dragged wearily on in the dim courtroom the judge was sentenced in 39 women to prison when the 26th had been reached he said wearily how many more are out there when told that he had tried only two thirds of the defendants he dismissed the remaining 13 without trial they were as guilty as their colleagues but the judge was tired 26 women sent to jail is a full judicial days work i suppose there was some rather obvious shame and unhappiness in the senate because of the petty things they had done the prisoners in the courtroom were proud because they had done their utmost for the principle in which they believe senator jones of new mexico chairman of the committee and his democratic colleagues refused to reintroduce the susan b anthony amendment in the senate immediately after this defeat but on monday february 17th senator jones of washington ranking republic on the suffrage committee obtained unanimous consent and reintroduced it thereby placing it once more on its way to early reconsideration chapter 23 boston militants welcome the president it was announced that the president would return to america on february 24th that would leave seven days in which he could act before the session ended on march third we determined to make another dramatic effort to move him further boston was to be the president's landing place boston where ancient liberties are so venerated and modern ones so abridged no more admirable place could have been found to welcome the president home in true militant fashion wishing the whole world to know that women were greeting president wilson why they were greeting him and what form of demonstration the greetings would assume we announced our plans in advance upon his arrival a line of pickets would hold banner silently calling to the president's attention the demand for his effective aid in the afternoon they would hold a meeting in boston common and there burned the parts of the president's boston speech which should pertain to democracy and liberty these announcements were met with official alarm of almost unbelievable extent whereas front pages had been given over here to forward to publishing the elaborate plans for the welcome to be extended to the president eulogies of the president and recitals of his great triumph abroad now the large proportion of this space was devoted to clever plans of the police to outwit the suffragists the sustained publicity of this demonstration was unprecedented it actually filled the boston papers for all of two weeks a deadline a diagram of which appeared in the press was to be established beyond which no suffragists no matter how enterprising could penetrate to harass the overworked president with foolish ideas about the importance of liberty for women had not this great man the cares of the world on his shoulders this was no time to talk about liberty for women the world was rocking and a great peace conference was sitting and the president was just returning to report on the work done so far the boston descendants of the early revolutionists would do their utmost to see that no untoward event should mar the perfection of their plans they would see to it that the sacred soil of the old boston common should not be disgraced it was a perfect day lines of marines whose trappings shone brilliantly in the clear sunshine were information to hold back the crowds from the reviewing stand where the president should appear after heading the procession in his honor it seemed as if all boston were on hand for the welcome a slender file of 22 women marched silently into the sunshine slipped through the deadline and made its way to the base of the reviewing stand there it unfurled its beautiful banners and took up its post directly facing the line of marines which was supposed to keep all suffragists at bay quite calmly and yet triumphantly they stood there a pageant of beauty and defiant appeal which not even the most hurried passerby could fail to see and comprehend there were consultations by the officials in charge of the ceremonies the women looked harmless enough but had they not been told that they must not come there they were causing no riot in fact they were clearly adding much beauty people seem to take them as part of the elaborate ceremony but officials seldom have sense of humor enough or adaptability enough to change quickly especially when they have made threats it would be a taint on their honor if they did not pick up the women for the deed one could hear the people's reading slowly the large lettered banner mr president you said in the senate on september 20th we shall not only be distrusted but we shall deserve to be distrusted if we do not and franchise women you alone can remove this distrust now by securing the one vote needed to pass the suffrage amendment before march fourth the american flag carried by miss catherine moore of brookline held the place of honor at the head of the line and there were the familiar mr president how long must women wait for liberty and mr president what will you do for woman suffrage the other banners were simply purple white and gold when we had stood there about three quarters of an hour said catherine moore superintendant krally came to me and said we want to be as nice as we can to use suffragette ladies but you cannot stand here while the president goes by so you might as well go back now i said i was sorry but as we had come simply to be there at the very time we would not be able to go back until the president had gone by he thereupon made a final appeal to miss paul who was at headquarters but she only repeated our statement the patrol wagons were hurried to the scene and the arrests were executed in an exceedingly gentlemanly manner but the effect on the crowd was electric the sight of ladies being put into patrols seemed to thrill the boston masses as nothing the president subsequently said was able to we were taken to the house of detention and they're charged with loitering more than seven minutes as mrs agnes h moore massachusetts chairman of the woman's party later remark it is the most extraordinary thing thousands loitered from curiosity on the day the president arrived twenty two loitered for liberty and only those who loitered for liberty were arrested realizing that the event of the morning had diverted public attention to our issue and undismayed by the arrests other women entered the lists to sustain public attention upon our demand to the president the ceremony of the common began at three o'clock throngs of people packed in closely in an effort to hear the speakers and to catch a glimpse of the ceremony presided over by mrs louise sykes of cambridge whose late husband was president of the connecticut college for women from three o'clock until six women explained the purpose of the protest status of the amendment and urged those present to help at six o'clock came the order to arrest mrs cc jack wife of professor jack of harvard university mrs mortimer warren of boston whose husband was head of the base hospital in france and miss elsey hill daughter of the late congressman hill were arrested and were taken to the house of detention where they joined their comrades dirty filthy hole under the courthouse was the general characterization of the house of detention gel was a paradise compared to this depressed place said miss morry we slept in our clothes for women to a cell on iron shelves two feet wide in the cell was an open toilet the place slowly filled up during the night with drunks and disorderlies until pandemonium reigned in the evening superintendent krally and commissioner kurtis came to call on us i don't believe they had ever been there before and they were painfully embarrassed superintendent krally said to me if you were drunk we could release you in the morning but unfortunately since you are not we have got to take you into court when the prisoners were told next morning the decision of chief justice bolster to try each prisoner separately and in closed court they all protested against such proceedings but guards took the women by force to a private room the matron who was terrified said miss morry shouted to the guards you don't handle the drunks that way you know you don't but they continued to push shove and shake the women while forcing them to the anti room as an american citizen under arrest i demand a public trial was the statement of each on entering the judge's private trial room while the trial was proceeding without the women's cooperation some were tried under wrong names some were tried more than once under different names but most of them under the name of jane doll vigorous protests were being made to all the city officials by the individuals among the throngs who had come to the courthouse to attend the trial this protest was so strong that the last three women were tried in open court the judge sentenced everybody impartially to eight days in jail in lieu of fines with the exception of miss wilma handerson who was released when it was learned that she was a minor the women were taken to the charles street jail to serve their sentences the cells were immaculately clean said miss morry but there was one feature of this experience which obliterated all its advantages the cells were without modern toilet facilities the toilet equipment consisted of a heavy wooden bucket about two and a half feet high and a foot and a half in diameter half filled with water no one of us will ever forget that foul bucket it had to be carried to the lower floor we were on the third and fourth floors every morning i could hardly lift mine off the floor to save nothing of getting it downstairs so there it stayed berry potier managed to get hers down but was so exhausted she was utterly unable to get it back to her cell the other toilet facility provided was a smaller bucket of water to wash in but it was of such a strangely unpleasant odor that we did not dare use it the boston reporters were admitted freely and they wrote columns of copy there was a customary ridicule but there were friendly light touches such as militant highlights to be roommates at vassar college and then to meet again as cellmates was the experience of miss elsey hill and mrs. lois warrenshaw another superintendent callaher didn't know when he was in congress with elsey hill's father that he would someday have congressman hill's daughter in his jail and there were friendly serious touches in these pages of sensational news such as this excerpt from the front page of the boston traveler of february twenty fifth nineteen nineteen the reporter admired the spirit of the women though weary from loss of sleep the fire of a great purpose burned in their eyes it was a sublime forgetting of self for the goal ahead and whether the reader is in sympathy with the principal for which these women are ready to suffer or not he will be forced to admire the spirit which leads them on photographs of the women were printed day by day giving their occupations if any noting their revolutionary ancestors ascertaining the attitude of husbands and fathers mrs. Shaw's husband's telegram was typical of the support the women got don't be quitters he wired i have competent nurses to look after the children mr. Shaw is a harvard graduate and a successful manufacturer in manchester new Hampshire telegrams a protest from all over the country portian upon all the boston officials who had had any point of contact with the militants all other work was for the moment suspended such is the quality of mrs. moore's organizing genius that she did not let a solitary official escape telegrams also went from boston and especially from the jail to president wilson official boston was in the grip of this militant invasion when suddenly a man of mystery one e j howl appeared and paid the women's fines it was later discovered that the mysterious e j howl alleged to have acted for a client whether the client was part of the official boston no one ever knew there were rumors that the city wished to end its embarrassment sedate boston had been profoundly shaken sedate boston gave more generously than ever before to militant finances and when the prison special arrived a few days later a boston theater was filled to overflowing with the crowd eager to hear more about their local heroines and to cheer them while they were decorated with the already famous prison pin something happened in washington too after the president's safe journey thither from boston chapter 24 democratic congress ends it would be folly to say that president wilson was not at this time aware of a very damning situation the unanswerable prison special a special car of women prisoners was touring the country from coast to coast to keep the public attention during the closing days of the session fixed upon the suffrage situation in the senate the prisoners were addressing enormous meetings and arousing thousands especially in the south to articulate condemnation of administration tactics it is impossible to calculate the number of cables which as a result of this sensational tour reached the president during his deliberations at the peace table the messages of protest which did not reach the president at the peace conference were waiting for him on his desk at the white house even if some conservative boston suffragists did present him with the beautiful bouquet of jonquils tied with the yellow ribbon as their welcome home will anyone venture to say that that token of trust was potent enough to wipe from his consciousness the other welcome which led his welcomeers to gel will anyone contend that president wilson upon his arrival in washington and after changing his clothes piously remark by the way to multi i want to show you some jonquils tied with the yellow ribbon that were presented to me in boston i am moved i think i may say deeply moved by the censor tribute to do something this morning for woman suffrage just what is the state of affairs and does there seem to be any great demand for it we do not know what if anything he did say to secretary to multi but we know what he did he hurried over to the capital and there made his first official business a conference with senator jones of new mexico chairman of the senate suffrage committee after expressing chagrin over the failure of the measure in the senate president discussed ways and means of getting it through an immediate result of the conference was the introduction in the senate february 28 by senator jones of another resolution on suffrage senator jones had refused to reintroduce the original suffrage resolution immediately after the senate defeat february 10th now he came forward with this one a little differently worded but to the same purpose as the original amendment this amendment although to the same purpose as the original amendment was not a satisfactory because of possible controversial points in the enforcement article the original amendment is of course crystal clear in this regard this resolution was a concession to senator gay of louisiana democrat who had voted against the measure on february 10th but who immediately pledged his vote in favor of the new resolution thus the 64th and last vote was one the majority instantly directed its efforts toward getting a vote on the new resolution on march first senator jones attempted to get unanimous consent to consider it senator wadsworth of new york republican anti-suffragist objected when consent was again asked the following day senator weeks of massachusetts republican anti-suffragist objected on the last day of the session senator sherman of illinois republican suffragist objected and so the democratic congress ended without passing the amendment on the face of it these parliamentary objections from republicans prevented action when the democrats had finally secured the necessary votes as a matter of fact however the president and his party were responsible for subjecting the amendment to the tactical obstruction of individual anti-suffrage senators they waited until the last three days to make the supreme effort that the president did finally get the last vote even at a moment when parliamentary difficulties prevented it from being voted upon proved our contention that he could pass the amendment at any time he sat himself resolutely to it this last ineffective effort also proved how hard the president had been pushed by our tactics but it seems to me that president wilson has a pathetic aptitude for acting a little too late the fact that the majority of the southern contingent in his party stood stubbornly against him on woman suffrage was of course a real obstacle but we contended that the business of a statesman who declared himself to be a friend of a measure was to remove even real obstacles to the success of that measure perhaps our standard was too high it must be confessed that people in general are distressingly patient easily content with pronouncements and shockingly inert about seeing to it that political leaders act as they speak we had seen the president overcome far greater obstacles than stood in his way on this issue we had seen him lead a country which had voted to stay out of the european war into battle almost immediately after they had so voted we had seen him conscript the men of the same stubborn south which had been conspicuously opposed to conscription we had seen him win mothers to his war point of view after they had fought passionately for him and his peace program at election time he had taken pains to lead men and women influential and obscure to his way of thinking i do not condemn him i respect him for being able to do this the point is that he could overcome obstacles when his heart and head were set to the task since our problem was neither in his head nor his heart it was our task to put it there having got it there it was our responsibility to see that it churned and churned there until he had to act we did our utmost for six full years through three congresses under president wilson's power the continual democratic resistance meandering delays dc had left us still disenfranchised a world war had come and gone during this span of effort vast millions had died in pursuit of liberty azar and a kaiser had been deposed the russian people had revolutionized their whole social and economic system and here in the united states of america we couldn't even rest from the leader of democracy and his poor miserable associates the first step toward our political liberty the passage of an amendment through congress submitting the question of democracy to the states what a magnificent thing it was for those women to rebel their solitary steadfastness to their objective stands out in this world of confused ideals and half-hearted actions clear and lonely and superb and of section 19 section 20 of jail for freedom this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org recording by janet o'reilly of utah www dot o'reilly hyphen fire dot com jailed for freedom by dora stevens part three chapter 25 a farewell to president wilson the republican congress elected in november 1918 would not sit until december 1919 such is our unfortunate system unless called together by the president in a special session we had polled the new congress by personal interviews and by post and found a safe two-thirds majority for the amendment in the house in the new senate we still lack a fateful one vote our task was therefore to induce the president to call a special session of congress at the earliest possible moment and to see that he did not relax his efforts toward the last vote he won't do it the president will never let the republican congress come together until the regular time especially with himself in europe the usual points of the objection were raised but we persisted we felt that the president could win this last vote and the fear that a republican congress might if he did not was an accelerating factor one feature of the campaign to force a special session was a demonstration in new york on the eve of president wilson's return to europe at the time he addressed a mass meeting in the metropolitan opera house on his proposed league of nations the plan of demonstration was to hold outside of the opera house banners addressed to president wilson and to consign his speech to the flames of a torch at a public meeting nearby it was a clear starry night in march when the picket line of twenty six women proceeded with tricolored banners from new york headquarters in 41st street to the opera house as we neared the corner of the street opposite the opera house and before we could cross the street a veritable battalion of policemen in close formation rushed us with unbelievable ferocity not a word was spoken by a single officer of the 200 policemen in the attack to indicate the nature of our offense clubs were raised and lowered and the women beaten back with such cruelty as none of us had ever witnessed before the women clung to their heavy banner poles trying to keep the banners above the melstrom but the police seized them tore the pennants broke the poles some of them over our backs trampled them underfoot pounded us dragged us and in every way behaved like frantic beasts it would have been so simple quietly to detain our little handful until after the president's speech if that seemed necessary but to launch this violent attack under the circumstances was madness not a pedestrian had paid any except friendly attention to the slender file of women but the moment this happened an enormous crowd gathered made up mostly of soldiers and sailors many of whom had just returned from abroad and were temporarily thronging the streets of new york they joined forces with the police in the attack miss margaretta shuler a beautiful fragile young girl was holding fast a silken american flag which she had carried at the head of the procession when a uniform soldier jumped upon her twisted her arms until she cried in pain cursed struggled until he had torn her flag from its pole and then broke the pole across her head exalting in his triumph over his failure victim when i appealed to the policeman who is at the moment occupied solely with pounding me on the back to intercept the soldier in his cruel attack his only reply was oh he's helping me he there upon resumed his beating of me and i cried shame shame aren't you ashamed to beat american women in this brutal way i offered no other resistance if we are breaking any law arrest us don't beat us in this cowardly fashion will rush you like bulls was his vulgar answer we've only just begun another young woman and avia trice was seized by the coke collar and thrown to the pavement for trying to keep hold of her banner her fur cap was the only thing that saved her skull from serious injury as it was she was trampled under foot and her face severely cut before we could rescue her with the assistance of the sympathetic member of the crowd the sympathetic person was promptly attacked by the policeman for helping his victim to her feet there were many shouts of disapproval of the police conduct and many cheers for the women from the dense crowd by this time the crowd had masked itself so thickly that we could hardly move an inch it was perfectly apparent that we could neither make our way to the opera house nor could we extricate ourselves but the terrors continued women were knocked down and trampled under foot some of them almost unconscious others bleeding from the hands and face arms were bruised and twisted pocket books were snatched and wrist watches stolen when it looked as if the suffocating melee would result in death or permanent injury to some of us i was at last dragged by a policeman to the edge of the crowd although i offered him not the slightest resistance i was crushed continuously in the arm by the officer who walked me to the police station and kept muttering you're a bunch of cannibals bolsheviks upon arriving at the police station i was happily relieved to find some of my comrades already there we were all impartially cursed at told to stand up told to sit down forbidden to speak to one another forbidden even to smile at one another one by one we were called to the desk to give our name age and various other pieces of information we stood perfectly silent before the station lieutenant as he coaxingly said you'd better tell you'd better give us your name better tell us where you live at it will make things much easier for you but we continued our silence disorderly conduct interfering with the police assaulting the police shades of heaven assaulting the police where the charges entered against us we were all locked in separate cells and told that we would be taken to the woman's night court for immediate trial while pondering on what was happening to our comrades and wondering if they too would be arrested or if they would just be beaten up by the police and mob a large fat jail matron came up and began to deliver a speech which ran something like this now sure and you ladies must know that this is going a bit too far now i'm for suffrage all right and i believe women ought to vote but why do you keep bothering the president don't you know he has got enough to think about with the league of nations the peace conference and fixing up the whole world on his mind in about half an hour we were taken from ourselves and brought before the lieutenant who now announced well you ladies may go now i have just received a telephone order to release you we accepted the news and jubilantly left the station house returning at once to our comrades there the battle was still going on and as we joined them we were again dragged and cuffed about the streets by the police and their aides but there were no more arrests elsey hill succeeded in speaking from a balcony above the heads of the crowd did you man turn back when you saw the germans coming what would you have thought of anyone who did did you expect us to turn back we never turn back either and we won't until democracy is won who rolled bandages for you when you were suffering abroad who bound your wounds in your fight for democracy who spent long hours of the night in the day knitting you warm garments there are women here tonight attempting to hold banners to remind the president that democracy is not one at home who have given their sons and husbands for your fight abroad what would they say if they could see you their comrades in the fight over there attacking their mothers their sisters their wives over here aren't you ashamed that you have not enough sporting blood to allow us to make our fight in our own way aren't you ashamed that you accepted the help of women in your fight and now tonight brutally attack them and they did listen until the police in formation looking now like wooden toys advance from both sides of the street and succeeded in entirely cutting off the crowd from miss hill the meeting thus broken up we abandoned a further attempt that night as our little bannerless procession filed slowly back to headquarters hoodlums followed us the police of course gave us no protection and just as we were entering the door of our own building a rowdy struck me on the side of the head with a heavy banner pole the blow knocked me senseless against the stone building my hat was snatched from my head and burned in the street we entered the building to find that soldiers and sailors had been periodically rushing it in our absence dragging out bundles of our banners amounting to many hundreds of dollars and burning them in the street without any protest from the police one does not undergo such an experience without arriving at some inescapable truth a discussion of which would interest me deeply but which would be irrelevant in this narrative two hundred madden women try to see the president two hundred women attack the police and similar false headlines appeared the next morning in the new york papers it hurt to have the world think that we had attacked the police that was a slight matter however for that morning at breakfast aboard the george washington the president also read the new york papers he saw that we were not submitted in silence to his inaction it seems reasonable to assume that on sailing down the harbor that morning past the statue of liberty the president had some trouble to banish from his mind the report that two hundred madden women had tried to make the opera house last night chapter twenty six president wilson wins the sixty fourth vote in paris the prison special which was nearing the end of its dramatic tour was arousing the people to call for a special session of congress as the president sailed away although a republican congress had been elected president wilson as the head of the administration was still responsible for initiating and guiding legislation we had to see to it that with his congress out of power he did not relax his efforts on behalf of the amendment there was this situation which we were able to use to our advantage two new democratic senators senator harrison of mississippi and senator harris of georgia had been elected to sit in the incoming congress through the president's influence he therefore had very specific power over these two men who were neither committed against suffrage by previous votes nor were they yet one to our amendment we immediately set ourselves to the task of getting the president to win one of these men from the election of these two men in the autumn to early spring constant pressure was put upon the president to this end when we could see no activity on the part of the president to secure the support of one of them we again threatened publicly to resume dramatic protests against him we kept the idea abroad that he was still responsible and that we would continue to hold him so until the amendment was passed such a situation gave friends of the administration considerable alarm they realized that the slightest attack on the president at that moment would jeopardize his many other endeavors and so these friends of the president undertook to acquaint him with the facts senator harris was happily in europe at the time he most anxious cable signed by politicians in his own party was sent to the president in paris explaining the serious situation and urging him to do his utmost to secure the vote of the senator at once senator harris was in italy when he received an unexpected telegram asking him to come to paris he journeyed with all speed to the president perhaps even thinking that he was about to be dispatched to some foreign post to learn that the conference was for the purpose of securing his vote on the national suffrage amendment senator harris there and then gave his vote the 64th vote on that day the passage by congress of the original susan b anthony amendment was assured instantly a cable was received at the white house carrying news to the suffragists of the final capture of the elusive last vote following immediately on the hills of this cable came another cable calling the new congress into the special session may 19th in the light of the president's gradual yielding and final surrender to our demand it will not be out of place to summarize briefly just what happened president wilson began his career as president of the united states on anti-suffragist he was opposed to suffrage for women both by principle and political expediency sometimes i think he regarded suffragists as a kind of sick good women no doubt but tiresome and troublesome whether he has yet come to see the suffrage battle as part of the great movement embracing the world is still a question it is not an important question for in any case it was not inward convictions but political necessity that made him act believing then that suffragists were a sect he said many things to them at first with no particular care as to the bearing of these things upon political theory or events he offered successively consideration an open mind a closed mind an age-long conviction deeply matured party limitations party concede of action and whatnot he saw in suffrage the tide rising to meet the moon but waited and advised us to wait but we did not want to wait and we proceeded to try to make it impossible for him to wait either we determined to make action upon this issue politically expedient for him when the president began to perceive the potential political power of women voters he first declared as a private citizen that suffrage was all right for the women of home state new jersey but that it was altogether wrong to ask him as president to assist in bringing it about for all the women of the nation he also interested himself in writing the suffrage plank in the democratic parties national platform specifically relegating action on suffrage to the states then he calmly announced that he could not act nationally even if i wanted to because the platform had spoken otherwise the controversy was lengthened the president's conspicuous ability for sitting still and doing nothing on a controversial issue until both sides have exhausted their ammunition was never better illustrated than in this matter he allowed the controversy to continue to the point of intellectual sterility he buttressed his delays with more evasions until finally the women intensified their demand for action they picketed his official gates but the president still recoiled from action so mightily did he recoil from it that he was willing to imprison women for demanding it it is not extraordinary to resent being called upon to act for it is only the exceptional person who springs to action even when action is admitted to be desirable and necessary and the president is not exceptional he is surprisingly ordinary while the women languished in prison he fell back upon words beautiful words two expressions of friendliness good wishes hopes and may i note in this case too he was acting like an ordinary human being not like the statesman he was reputed to be he had habituated himself to a belief in the power of word and every time he uttered them to us he seemed to re fortify himself in his belief in their power it was the women not the president who were exceptional they refused to accept words they persisted in demanding acts step by step under terrific gunfire of the president's resistance crumbled and he yielded one by one every minor facility to the measure always withholding from us however the main objective not until he had exhausted all minor facilities and all possible evasions did he publicly declare that the amendment should pass the house and put it through when he had done that we rested from the attack momentarily in order to let him consummate with grace and not under fire the passage of the amendment in the senate he rested all together we were therefore compelled to renew the attack he countered at first with more words but his reliance upon them was perceptibly shaken when we burned them in public bonfires he then moved feebly but with a growing concern toward getting additional votes in the senate and when as an inevitable result of his policy and ours the political embarrassment became too acute calling into question his honor and prestige he covertly began to consult his colleagues we pushed him the harder he moved the fastest toward concrete endeavor he actually undertook to win the final notes in the senate there he found however that quite an alarming situation had developed a situation which he should have anticipated but for which he was totally unprepared opposition in his own party had been growing more and more rigid and cynical his own opposition to the amendment his grant of immunity to those leaders in his party who had fought the measure his isolating himself from those who might have helped all this was coming to a fruition among his subordinates at a time when he could least afford to be beaten on anything what would have been a fairly easy race to win if he had begun running at the pistol shot had now become most difficult perceiving that he had now not only to move himself but also to overcome the obstacle which he had allowed to develop we increase the energy of our attack and finally the president made a supreme assertion of his power and argued the last and the 64th vote in the senate he did this too late to get the advantage if any advantages to be gained from granting a just thing at the point of a gun for this last vote arrived only in time for a republican congress to use it it seems to me that woodrow wilson was neither devil nor god in his manner of meeting the demand of the suffragists there has persisted an astounding myth that he is an extraordinary man our experience proved the contrary he behaved toward us like a very ordinary politician unnecessarily cruel or weakly tolerant according to us you view the justice of our fight but a policeman not a statesman he did not go out to meet with the tide which he himself perceived was rising to meet the moon that would have been statesmanship he let it all but engulf him before he acted and even as a politician he failed for his tactics resulted in the passage of the amendment by the republican congress chapter 27 republican congress passes amendment the republican congress convened in special session may 19 instantly republican leaders in control of the 66th congress caucused and organized for a prompt passage of the amendment may 21st the republican house of representatives passed the measure by a vote of 304 to 89 the first thing of any importance done by the new house this was 42 votes above the required two-thirds majority whereas the vote in the house in january 19 under democratic control had given the measure only one vote more than was required immediately the democratic national committee passed a resolution calling on the legislature of the various states to hold special legislative sessions where necessary to ratify the amendment as soon as it was through congress in order to enable women to vote in the national elections of 1920 when the 64th vote was assured two more republican senators announced their support senator keys of new hampshire and senator hell of main and on june 4th the measure passed the senate by a vote of 66 to 30 two votes more than needed these figures include all voting impaired of the 49 republicans in the senate 40 voted for the amendment nine against of the 47 democrats in the senate 26 voted for it and 21 against and so the assertion that the light 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 introduced into congress by the efforts of susan b anthony in 1878 was finally submitted to the states for ratification when a constitutional amendment has passed congress it must be ratified by a majority vote of 36 state legislatures and thereupon proclaimed operative by the secretary of state of the united states before it became the law of the land on june 4th 1919 i do not need to explain that the amendment was not one from the republican congress between may 19th and june 4th 1919 this republican congress between may 19th and june 4th the republican party had been gradually coming to appreciate this opportunity throughout our entire national agitation from 1913 to date and our attack upon the party in power which happened to be president wilson's party had been the most decisive factor in stimulating the opposition party to espouse our side it is perhaps fortunate for the republican party that it was their political opponents who inherited this lively question in 1913 however the political advantage is theirs for having primarily and ungrudgingly passed the amendment the moment they came into power but it will not be surprising to say anyone who has read this book that i conclude by pointing out that the real triumph belongs to the women our objective was the national enfranchisement of women a tiny step you may say true but so long as we know that this is but the first step in the long struggle of women for political economic and social emancipation we need not be disturbed if political institutions as we know them today in their discredited condition break down and another kind of organization perhaps industrial supplants them women will battle for their place in the new system with as much determination as they have shown in the struggles just ended that women have been aroused never again to be content with their subjection there can be no doubt that they will ultimately secure for themselves equal power and responsibility in whatever system of government is evolved is positive how revolutionary will be the changes when women get this power and responsibility no one can adequately foretell one thing is certain they will not go back they will never again be good and willing slaves it has been a long worrying struggle although drudgery has persisted throughout there have been compensatory moments of great joy and beauty the relief of that comes after a great achievement is sweet there is no residue of bitterness to be sure women have often resended it deeply this so much human energy had to be expended for so simple a right but whatever disillusionments they have experienced they have kept their faith in women and the winning of political power by women will have enormously elevated their status end of section 20 end of jail for freedom by Doris Stevens recording by Janet O'Reilly of Utah