Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/689

 

The period from 1900 to 1906 was one of inactivity in State suffrage circles; then followed a vigorous continued campaign culminating in the adoption of a constitutional amendment in 1910 granting to women full political equality. This victory, so gratifying to the women of Washington, had also an important national aspect, as it marked the end of the dreary period of fourteen years following the Utah and Idaho amendments in 1895-6, during which no State achieved woman suffrage.

The Legislature of 1897 had submitted an amendment for which a brilliant campaign was made by the Equal Suffrage Association under the able leadership of its president, Mrs. Homer M. Hill of Seattle, but it was defeated at the November election of 1898. The inevitable reaction followed for some years. Three State presidents were elected, Dr. Nina Jolidon Croake of Tacoma, 1900-1902, elected at the Seattle convention; Dr. Luema Greene Johnson of Tacoma, 1902-1904, elected at the Tacoma convention; Dr. Fannie Leake Cummings of Seattle, 1904-1906, elected at a meeting in Puyallup at which only five persons were present, the small suffrage club here being the only one surviving in the State. Dr. Cummings, aided by Mrs. Elizabeth Palmer Spinning of Puyallup, State treasurer for many years, and Mrs. Ellen S. Leckenby of Seattle, State secretary, kept the suffrage torch from being extinguished. Mrs. Leckenby held office continuously throughout twelve years.

The revival of interest plainly seen after 1906 was due to the impetus given through the initiative of Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe, who with her husband, John Henry DeVoe, had recently come from Harvey, Ills., and established a new home. Mrs.