Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/593

 RHODE ISLAND 577 final scene in a fifty years' drama. After summoning the Senate to meet with the House in Grand Committee, the Governor read his annual message in which he recommended immediate ratifica- tion of the amendment, "as an act of justice long delayed." The resolution was at once presented and the floor leaders of both parties, William R. Fortin of Pawtucket, Republican, and William S. Flynn of Providence, Democrat, spoke in favor. It was passed on roll call by 89 ayes, 3 noes Speaker Arthur P. Sumner of Providence, William H. Thayer of Bristol and Albert R. Zurlin- den of Lincoln. A rush was made by the audience across the corridors to the Senate Chamber, where action was even more rapid. Lieutenant Governor Emery J. San Souci, a friend of woman suffrage, was in the chair and within a few moments, with no speeches, the resolution was passed by viva voce vote with but one dissenting voice, that of John H. McCabe of Burrillville. The following day it was signed by Governor Beeckman, not that this was necessary but he wished to give it his approval. The great event was celebrated in the evening by a brilliant banquet given by the Providence League of Women Voters at which the work of the pioneers was especially featured. A hand- some dinner given by the Woman Suffrage Party took place at which the Governor and other public officials spoke on the great victory. Miss Jeannette Rankin, the first woman member of Congress, was a speaker. 1 On May 17, 1920, the Rhode Island Equal Suffrage Association concluded its work and merged into the State League of Women Voters, Miss Mary B. Anthony, chairman. Then a procession of women marched through the streets of Providence carrying the records of the organization for fifty years, which were deposited in the archives of the State House with impressive ceremony. Among the nerve centers of suffrage activity in Rhode Island the Newport County Woman Suffrage League had a definite place founding in 1908, by Miss Cora Mitchell, its first presi- dent. The League's work was at first largely carried on by an active group of philanthropic <.inen of Bristol Ferry, Miss 1 At the next Democratic State convention Mis* Elizabeth Upham Yates received the nomination for Lieutenant (' id rcat enthusiasm. She wan termed "a stu-lc nt of sociology, missionary leader, prophet and dreamer, whose dreams have come true." Ed.