The Greenville Journal, October 29, 1914

WETS AND DRYS UNITED

SPOKE FROM SAME PLATFORM IN TOLEDO FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

    The novelty of “wets” and “drys” both pleading the woman suffrage cause from the same platform has been witnessed by a Toledo audience.

    The chairman of the mass meeting was Aaron B. Gabriel, a prominent temperance advocate, and the first speaker, Miss Elaine Jack, took up the question somewhat from a “dry” standpoint.

    Ex-Senator Frank Hillenkamp was then introduced and said bluntly: “I believe in the open saloon, and I am sure women will prefer that kind of a saloon to the kind that exists in violation of the law.

    “However, this has nothing to do with the suffrage question. Women are asking the ballot for the same reason that men want it. They should be granted it as a matter of simple right.”

    Miss Beatrice Vaughn, representing the woman labor unions, closed the meeting. She wore an apron to symbolize her position and pleaded for economic conditions which would not compel the women to invade men’s sphere in factories and offices. “Put the cradle back in the home,” pleaded Miss Vaughn. “Women will do it, if they can have their way.”  

In 1914 there was a great meeting of people in Toledo, Ohio, from both sides of the temperance argument who came together to rally for women’s suffrage. The first of the speakers was Elaine Jack who was a temperance supporter. The second was Frank Hillenkamp who was a former senator of the Ohio General Assembly. Hillenkamp was born in Germany in 1849 and moved to the United States in 1869. He settled in Toledo, Ohio, in 1871 where he engaged in various business. In 1905 he ran as an independent for Representative to the 77th General Assembly of Ohio. He won despite having no endorsement from either political party. He would lose in the polls in 1908, and then would again be nominated by the Independents and won in the 1910 election, this time being endorsed by the Democrats. In 1912, Hillenkamp would run as a Democrat for a Senator seat in the 80th General Assembly. He would be victorious against the opposing Republican and Bull Moose candidates. Hillenkamp was active in many progressive movements including the Women’s Suffrage movement. He was opposed to the temperance movement, but not to the Suffragists whom he supported at the meeting in Toledo. The last to speak was Beatrice Vaughn who represented the woman labor unions. The first female led labor union in Ohio was the Female Protective Union which was established in 1850 to fight for better conditions for women garment workers. It would start its own garment shop in 1851 which sported shorter hours and higher pay than the other clothing stores, however it would be shut down soon after due to the other stores working to run it out of business. The Female Protective Union would disband shortly after.

The Greenville Journal, July 25, 1912

CENTERED ON OHIO

ARE EYES OF WORLD ANENT THE SUFFRAGE QUESTION.


Buckeye State Is Considered the Pivotal Point by Suffragettes Who Oppose Anti Movement.

The eyes of the world are centered on Ohio when it comes to the suffrage question.

This statement no longer needs to be preached as it is admitted by either side of the contending parties.

 “I believe that the people outside of the state are more fully awake to the tremendous undertaking before us than are own people,” says Mrs. Hermon Hubbard, president of the Ohio Association Opposed to Woman’s Suffrage. One of the leading New York papers made the discovery a few days ago that the center of the suffrage fight had been moved from London, England, to Ohio. The truth of this statement is reinforced by a telegram from Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge, president of the national association. Mrs. Dodge says: “Suffragettes evidently consider Ohio the pivotal state, as they are concentrating their efforts there because the constitutional amendment is to be voted on before the referendum in five other states can be taken, and the result will have an important effect on these. The great danger with constitutional amendments, as I see it, is that a full vote may not be cast. If voters will realize the seriousness of the question and the vote can be brought out, I am sure suffrage will be defeated.”

 The judgement of the national headquarters is reinforced by every mail that reaches the state office at Columbus. There is growing evidence that the thinkers of Ohio are awakening to the seriousness of the problem, and that when the constitutional convention adjourns there will be such opposition to the extension of suffrage to women as will insure its defeat at the special election to be called.

The Greenville Journal was founded in the 1830s and lasted until 1918. This newspaper published articles with more conservative views. The majority of the articles were written towards the audience of women and children during the early 1900s. 

This article discusses the importance Ohio played for the upcoming constitutional suffrage amendment that would be voted on in Ohio in September. This amendment was also known as the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Amendment (Amendment 23), which would have granted women the right to vote if the amendment won in the September 1912 election. However, when the September election was held, this amendment was rejected by the male voters in Ohio. 

Also, at this time, not all women were in favor of women’s suffrage. There were a growing number of anti-suffragists present in Ohio at this time which made the 23rd Amendment difficult to pass in Ohio. Groups like the Ohio Association Opposed to Woman’s Suffrage was composed of women that advocated against women’s suffrage. Mrs. Hermon Hubbard was the president of this anti-women’s suffrage organization. In The Ohio Journal of Commerce, Susan P. Hubbard stated specific reasons why she was against women’s suffrage, including the claim that granting women the right to vote would not solve the unequal pay gap between men and women. She also said that most women didn’t support suffrage and that the Susan B. Anthony amendment was an attempt to control the majority with the minorities opinion. Hubbard further declared that the women who were suffragists were not mothers and if they were they needed to be at home and not out supporting suffrage.

Some reasons why women did not advocate for suffrage is because some women were mocked when they publicly supported women’s suffrage, some were uneducated on political issues, and some women thought voting would be an added expense. Women in Ohio who supported suffrage faced adversity from anti-women suffrage groups located in Ohio as well as nationally. 

The national association was organized by Mrs. Arthur Dodge who believed that suffrage was not necessary for women. Dodge was an anti-suffrage activist who served as president of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) for six years. Dodge was often the target of threats from pro-suffrage groups. The NAOWS created a newsletter in 1918, called Woman’s Protest, which later changed to Woman Patriot, and in 1918 they moved their headquarters to Washington, D.C. until they closed in 1920 due to the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment

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.