TIME MACHINE: Women’s suffrage

In 1917, a Valentine's Day ball was scheduled on Feb. 14 as the last big social event before the Lenten season began a week later.

It also was a big event for the Equal Suffrage League in Linn County, which sponsored the ball to raise funds to continue the campaign for women's right to vote.

The league was the latest organization in the county to lead an equal voting rights movement that had gone on since the 1870s when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was first proposed.

The league, headquartered in the Cedar Rapids Savings Bank building, began meeting in November 1915 to promote an amendment to the Iowa Constitution to extend full voting rights to the state's women.

A couple of chances to bring such an amendment to a vote failed in the early 1870s.

In 1894, Iowa women took a small step toward full suffrage when they were allowed to vote on local tax matters.

MEN JOIN THE CAUSE

Men joined the cause in January 1916 by organizing the Men's League for Equal Suffrage in Des Moines, with businessman John D. Dennison Jr. as president. Branches were organized across the state.

'In the final analysis, it will be the men who will have to decide the question of equal suffrage at the polls,' Dennison said. 'So we consider the matter a man's job as well as a woman's, and for that reason the men of the state are organizing to do their part in the campaign.'

Finally, through the tireless work of organizations like the Equal Suffrage League, both houses of the Iowa Legislature approved a state suffrage amendment two sessions in a row.

That set up a June 5, 1916, popular vote on women's suffrage.

1916 IOWA VOTE

The Men's Equal Suffrage League of Cedar Rapids and Linn County published a plea to the men of the county the day before the June 5 vote that read, in part, 'Woman asks for the vote, not because she is a woman, but because she is an adult human being in a civilized society, and entitled to a voice in the affairs of the state under whose laws she is holden, whose cause she serves and whose burdens she helps.'

The opposition was equally tireless. A pitch aimed at the farming community said that giving women the vote would result in higher taxes. Another claim aimed at 'wet' counties held that women voters would usher in an era of Prohibition.

The amendment was defeated.

The unusually high turnout for the election meant that final returns weren't tabulated for several days.

The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette finally reported on June 8, 'Complete returns have been received from all the counties on the suffrage proposition, and the majority against is 4,655. The official count may reduce these figures somewhat, but it is certain the matter is defeated by at least 4,000 votes.'

All previous indications were that the amendment should have passed. An investigation by the Women's Christian Temperance Union showed that in 15 counties 8,000 more ballots appeared than voters marked as having voted. Officials, however, determined that nothing could be done about it.

THE DANCE

The loss did not deter the Equal Suffrage League. Their first goal was to raise funds to pay whatever outstanding debts remaining from the campaign. With that done, they began working to pass the amendment in the next election. The Valentine's Day ball was one effort toward that end.

Invitations had been received by 'society' invitees by Feb. 1 asking for replies by Feb. 13. Several hundred from Cedar Rapids, Marion and Vinton responded.

The League's decorating committee turned the main dining room at the Hotel Montrose into a ballroom decorated with red hearts in various sizes, the largest ones emblazoned with the words 'Votes for Both.'

The suffrage color, yellow, was carried out in the foyer's jonquils and in the dining room, where guests were served refreshments among yellow hearts and more flowers. A large, roundtable featured a silver basket filled with yellow tulips, daffodils and narcissi. Party favors were small American flags and suffrage buttons.

Norman Ballheim's orchestra provided music. Mrs. Ballheim donated the services of the orchestra organized by her late husband several years before. The 14 musicians played waltzes, one-steps and fox trots, and a cotillion was featured. The party lasted from 8:30 until after midnight.

Among the patrons for the dance were the E.T. Kochs, M.V. Boltons, C.D. Van Vechtens, W.L. Cherrys, F.F. Dawleys, John S. Elys, John M. Elys, William Kings, George Lairds, Frederick Lubergers, Theodore Stickneys, A.O. Francheres, H.H. Cherrys, W.J. Browns, Lucien T. Wilcoxes, John A. Berrys, Charles C. Loomises and John M. Redmonds.

WAR INTERVENES

The next day, a committee of the state suffrage association presented arguments for suffrage to a joint Senate and House committee in Des Moines. The suffragettes had been encouraged 10 days before when Iowa Gov. William L. Harding asked the Iowa Legislature to consider the amendment.

Another meeting with the Legislature on Feb. 20 was canceled as World War I escalated. The state suffrage group still met, but state president Anna Lawler said, 'The developments between this country and Germany have put a new note in American life. It makes us feel that suffrage is more imperative than ever, but the more spectacular and entertaining features in a campaign to get it are out of harmony with events that are transpiring nationally.'

The U.S. Congress passed the 19th Amendment in June 1919. Iowa was the 10th state to ratify the amendment on July 2.

The Iowa Equal Suffrage association was replaced by the League of Women Voters in September 1919. As a nonpartisan political organization, its main goals were citizenship and voter education.

Tennessee was the last state to ratify the 19th Amendment on Aug. 18, 1920. In the November 1920 election, just 36 percent of the women eligible to vote did so, compared to 68 percent of the men.

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