Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/614

 The fourth convention was held in Hillsboro, Sept. 26, 27, 1899, at which Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden of Massachusetts gave valuable assistance. A page to be devoted to suffrage matter was secured in the White Ribbon Bulletin, a paper published monthly under the auspices of the State W. C. T. U.

The annual meeting of 1900 convened in Lakota, September 25, 26, in the M. E. Church, its pastor, the Rev. Stephen Whitford, making the address of welcome. A Matron's Silver Medal Oratorical Contest was given under the direction of Mrs. Cora Ross Clark.


 * In the Legislature of 1893 a bill was introduced granting women taxpayers the right of suffrage. This was voted down by the House: 18 ayes; 22 noes. A motion was offered that all woman suffrage bills hereafter presented at this session should be rejected, but it was tabled.

A bill to submit to the voters an amendment conferring Full Suffrage on women in the manner provided by the constitution was introduced in the Senate by J. W. Stevens and passed by 16 ayes, 15 noes. It was called up in the House on the last day of the session. Miss Elizabeth Preston was invited to address that body, and the Senate took a recess and came in. The bill received 33 ayes, a constitutional majority, and was returned to the Senate. The House then took a recess, and during this brief time the enemies of the measure secured enough votes to recall it from the Senate. This body by vote refused to send it back, thus endorsing it a second time. The Speaker of the House, George H. Walsh, refused to sign it. Then began a long fight between the House and the Senate. A motion was made by Judson La Moure instructing the President of the Senate to sign no more House