The Greenville Journal, October 22, 1914

OHIO GATEWAY OF EAST

VICTORY HERE FOR SUFFRAGE WILL GIVE CAUSE TREMENDOUS IMPETUS.

      Five states, four of them in the east, are watching the suffrage fight in Ohio this year with the closest interest. These states will vote on suffrage in 1915, and it is conceded that a victory in Ohio will go far toward insuring victory in the 1915 contests.

      New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are the eastern states affected, while Iowa, in the middle west, also plans to vote on a suffrage amendment next year.

      Ohio is only one of seven states that are witnessing suffrage campaigns this year, but it is the largest of them all and the most easterly of any state that ever voted on the subject. The other states are Nevada, Montana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri.

      In the sense, Ohio is the frontier of the suffrage movement, for progressive measures, generally speaking, move from west to east, just as the earlier course of civilization moved from east to west.

The Greenville Journal functioned as a newspaper in support of the Republican Party, serving as a political organ for the party since 1855 (the year after the party’s conception). The Otwell family took control of the paper beginning in 1869 and owned it through the beginning of the twentieth century. E.W. Otwell—a former teacher, lawyer, and Greenville post-master by President Lincoln’s appointment—owned it first. His son E.C. Otwell became an editor and manager in 1878 and took it over in 1879. The Otwell were known for their management skills as they greatly increased the paper’s reach from fewer than 150 subscribers to over 1,150 subscribers by 1880. They expanded the newspaper in size, made the paper family-focused so it would appeal to women and children, and balanced national and local coverage. The paper specifically focused on the news of Greenville, too. 

At the time of this article, nine states had already granted women the right to vote, all of which were in the West and Midwest. Ohio, considered the gateway to the west for much of American history, potentially represented the movement moving East as indicated in the article. In 1914, Ohio would not grant women the right to vote; Montana and Nevada, again Western states, did. It would not be until 1917 that the suffrage movement would make gains in the East with New York granting full voting rights to women, as well as three Western states and Ohio and Rhode Island granting women the right to vote for President that year.