Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/744

 

The history of woman suffrage in Louisiana must center always about the names of Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick. In 1879, before there had been any general agitation of this question in the State, these ladies appeared before the convention which was preparing a new constitution, and urged that the ballot should be granted to women on the same terms as to men. The only concession to their demands was a clause making women eligible to any office of control or management under the School Laws of the State.

Mrs. Saxon continued to create equal suffrage sentiment until her removal to another State, and Mrs. Merrick remains still a principal figure in the movement. Until his death in 1897 she had the earnest encouragement and assistance of her distinguished husband, Edwin T. Merrick, for ten years Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana prior to the Civil War.

As New Orleans is the only large city and contains one-fourth of the population of a State which is among the most conservative in the Union, organized work naturally would be confined to this locality, but up to 1884 it had no active club or society of In this year there was a demand by the press that the women of New Orleans should organize for the promotion of the World's Cotton Centennial, to be held there in the autumn and winter of 1884-85. This was done and the Woman's Department was a conspicuous feature of the centennial. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe of Massachusetts was the commissioner for the Government, different States sent capable representatives and there was cordial co-operation with the women of New Orleans.

In March, 1885, Miss Susan B. Anthony visited the city for women.