NAWSA  Subject File Congressional Union
Lewis, Julia

My dear Mrs. McCormick
The enclosed clippings may interest you.  The two long ones as you see are from the North American.  I scanned six papers on Monday and this was the only account I found.  Tuesday the Ledger gave twenty lines on a most inconspicuous page and after much searching this article was found in the

Record.
The North American may think it is not for the Union but it certainly gives it plenty of space.
Sincerely
Julia Lewis
July 15 - 1914

North American
Monday July 14
3

SUFFRAGISTS TO PLEAD
 TODAY FOR A HEARING

One Hundred Members of Congressional
 Union to Call on 
Rules Committeemen

MONDELL SPOKESMAN

Decision Rests With 3 Democrats,
 Republicans and Progressives
 Being Favorable

WASHINGTON, July 12
The Congressional Union, of which Miss
Alice Paul, of Philadelphia, is chairman,
is organizing a deputation of more than
100 women to wait upon the members of
the rules committee of the house Monday
morning.
Daily for the last two weeks suffragists
have appealed to members or the committee
to report out the rule allotting time
for the consideration at this session of
the Mondell resolution, providing for a
constitutional amendment enfranchising
women.
Only three of the seven Democrats on
the committee are in Washington, and of
these Garrett, of Tennessee, has expressed
himself as being opposed to the
resolution. Foster, of Illinois, is undecided,
and Pou is torn between his personal
belief in women suffrage and his
sense of loyalty to the Democrats of the
house, 200 of whom have informally requested
that no meeting be held this
month.
The invitation extended to the members
of the committee to meet the deputation
in the rotunda at 10 o'clock Monday
morning had been accepted by Congressmen
Kelly, Lenroot and Campbell, and is
under consideration by the three Democratic
members. Mondell, of Wyoming,
who introduced the suffrage resolution
in the house, will address the members
of the committee on behalf of the deputation,
and will present to them for their
signature the following petition:
The undersigned members of the rules
committee respectfully request Chairman
Edward W. Pou to call a meeting within
seven days from this date to consider
house resolution No. 514 extending the
right of suffrage to women.
There are eleven members on the rules
committee. The six members now in
Washington therefore constitute a quorum,
and could, if Representative Pou
will call a meeting, act on the measure.
The decision rests with the three Democratic
members as to whether the obstructive
tactics heretofore observed are
to be indefinitely continued.
Under the auspices of the Congressional
Union mass meetings will be held during
August in the interest or the constitutional
amendment and to raise money to send
out organizers and speakers during September
and October. Mrs. E. F. Felkert,
president of the New Jersey Woman Suffrage
Association, is planning a meeting
at Asbury Park; Miss Mary Brennan will
arrange the details for a mass meeting
at Atlantic City, and Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont
and Miss Doris Stevens are planning
a meeting at Newport, which will be
addressed by the duchess of Marlborough.
The congressional committee of the [Na???nal]
Woman Suffrage Association is
[????ning] a national observance of [A?]




THE North American, PHILADELPHIA, TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1914

RULES COMMITTEE REFUSES
TO PERMIT SUFFRAGE VOTE

Rejects Plea of 200 Women That House Have Chance to Go on
Record—Congressmen Resent Action

Special Dispatch to The North American
WASHINGTON, July 18.
TWO hundred women went to the
capitol today to urge the members
of the rules committee to report
out the special rules allotting time
for the consideration of the suffrage
measure. They met with a flat refusal
from the three Democratic members
now in the city.
Neither Representatives Garrett, of
Tennessee; Lee nor Foster, of Illinois,
would sign the petition presented to
them by Representative Model, of
Wyoming, who acted as spokesman for
the deputation.
Acting Chairman You, of North Carolina,
said a "gentleman's agreement"
among the Democratic members prevented
him from taking the desired action.
The deputation was met in the rotunda
of the capitol be Representatives
Lenroot, of Wisconsin, and Kelly, of
Pennsylvania, and joined later by Representative
Campbell, of Kansas, all of
whom signed the petition. They were
unanimous, however, in asserting that
they were powerless, in view of the decision
of the Democratic members,
which, Mr. Campbell said, reflected the
opposition of the majority party to a
discussion of the suffrage question.
Both Mr. Lenroot and Mr. Kelly asserted
that the obstructive attitude of
the rules committee was having the
effect of nullifying the will of members
of the house who desired to vote on
the measure.
Representative Kelly, of Pennsylvania,
told the deputation that there
might be some advantage, as well as
disadvantage, in the situation.
Kelly Opposes System
"One thing," he said, "that will come
out of it will be a better public knowledge
of the power of the rules committee. I
am opposed to a system whereby the
rules committee has power to nullify the
will of a majority of the house. The
majority cannot have its will on this
proposition, and it is due to our system
of giving the rules committee power
to dictate legislation.
"We will not rest satisfied with our
efforts in the rules committee. We will
continue our efforts until we see the
womanhood of America having the right
which is inherent, in my mind, to express
her will in the only way that expression
of will counts, and that is with
the pencil in the booth on the day of
election.
"We count it a privilege, we count it
a duty, and I am sure that we will be
with you and stay with you until this
fight is finished. And it is going to be
finished in the only way that a fight
is ever finished, and that is by being
settled right. And that will be when we
have a fair chance to put the house
members on record."
Among the members of the deputation,
which included women prominent in official
and social life, clubwomen, professional
women and other were Mrs.
Charles Bell, wife of Representative Bell,
of California; Mrs. Ellis Logan and Mrs.
Harvey Wiley, who led the clubwomen's
deputation to the White House; Mrs. W.
F. Hancock, president of the district section
of the National Women's Democratic
League; Mrs. J. C. Kelton, widow of
General kelton, and Mrs. Nina E. Allender,
president of the Equal Suffrage Association.
Feels Party Will Lose Aid
"I am much distressed over the attitude
shown by the Democratic party through
the rules committee, which it controls,"
said Mrs. Hancock as she left the capitol.
"I personally feel that it is unlikely that
the Democratic party will continue to receive
the support previously accorded it by
countless women if it persists in its present
most unsatisfactory attitude toward
suffrage."
Miss Alice Paul, of Philadelphia, chairman
of the Congressional Union, said tonight
that the Democratic party had
again gone on record as refusing its aid to
the suffrage cause.
"We have received no clearer illustration
to its opposition," said Miss Paul,
"than that accorded to us today. The
Democratic party is driving from its ranks
women who have long aided it and trusted
to it. It will inevitably feel the result in
the November elections."
Miss Kate Gordon, of New Orleans, president
of the southern states woman suffrage
conference, arrived here today from
Newport. Miss Gordon's organization intends
to urge the Democratic party to put
a woman suffrage plank in its platform.
If the party refuses to go on record in
favor of suffrage, the members of the conference,
who have hitherto upheld the
principle of states' rights and wish the
sanction of the party to the granting of
suffrage by states, will then feel at liberty
to work for the federal amendment.



[?OTE]-SEEKING WOMEN [GA??]

Get Pledges From Three Members of
[Hou??] Rules Committee.
Special to "The Record."
Washington, D. C., July 13.—Fifty
women suffragists, members of the Congressional
Union, visited the Capitol
again today and succeeded in getting
three members of the House Rules Committee
to sign a pledge to attend an
early meeting of the committee and vote
for the Bristol-Mondell resolution
granting women suffrage by constitutional
amendment. The three members
caught were Representatives Lenroot,
of Wisconsin; Kelly, of Pennsylvania,
and Campbell, of Kansas. Kelly is a
Progressive and the other two are Republicans.
Kelly, who has the reputation of having
the loudest voice and the fastest
tongue in Congress, although he is the
youngest member, took the opportunity
of making a speech to the women in
the rotunda of the Capitol, where the
delegation had gathered to count noses
and lay plans. Kelly told the women
that there was an error in the legislative
system which tae the Rules Committee
the power to hold up an [import????]
[Riend] July 14
piece of [legis???]
suffrage resolution, [an?]
when women ruled no such [?]
be applied.
Following the speech, the [?]
marched to the House office building,
where they found Representative Pou,
of North Carolina, acting chairman of
the Rules Committee. They packed
into his office and read a long speech
berating the Democrats for not voting
out the resolution, and asking him to
get his members together. Representative
Pou told the women it was useless,
because there is a gentlemen's
agreement in the Democratic party in
the House not to bring up suffrage for
a vote until after election.

Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.