Today in 1915: Suffragists Take On Candidates Violating Promises to Support the Woman’s Vote

[niyad]

Today in 1915: Suffragists Take On Candidates Violating Promises to Support the Woman’s Vote




October 27, 1915: One day after Tammany Hall leaders made a pledge of neutrality, and assured suffragists that no New York County Democrat would work against the upcoming suffrage referendum, a clever and very effective campaign was launched today by the Women’s Political Union to embarrass those who may consider violating that promise.

John F. Curry was unable to refrain from making anti-suffrage remarks for even the duration of the day the pledge was made, so today the Union produced a photograph of his signature, as well as those of other Tammany politicians, affixed to a document signed just last year as the State’s Democrats gathered in convention at Saratoga, where a plank favoring woman suffrage was adopted. The document read:

We the undersigned members of the Democratic Party in the State of New York, urge our Representatives in State Convention assembled, that the platform of 1914 not only renew the party’s promise of 1912 to refer woman suffrage to the voters, but pledge the party to stand in the Constitutional Convention for submitting a Constitution embodying woman suffrage, and we further urge that the platform of 1914 call upon all Democratic voters, when woman suffrage is submitted to them, to help fulfill the ideals of the greatest leader of our party and establish in this State government based upon the consent of the people.

The Union then invited any of the men who signed that statement and are now thinking about expressing opposing views to drop over at any time to refresh their memories about what they believe in regard to woman suffrage.
"Life" magazine's cover back on July 1st showed a suffragist "retouching an old masterpiece" by inserting "and women" into the line in the Declaration of Independence proclaiming that "all men are created equal."

. . .

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/10/27/today-in-1915-suffragists-take-on-candidates-violating-promises-to-support-the-womans-vote/