Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/700

 684 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE been shown; also to working conditions adversely affecting the health and morals of women and children. The vote of the women was the deciding factor in the Seattle recall election of February 8, 1911, when Mayor Hiram Gill was removed because of vice conditions permitted to flourish under his administration. It was acknowledged that, due to a strong combination of the vice and public utility interests of the city, he would have been retained but for their opposition. His re-election later by a small majority is explained by the fact that he begged the citizens to give him a chance to remove the stigma from his name for the sake of his wife and family, with whom his relations were blameless. The State Legislative Federation, representing 140 various kinds of women's clubs and organizations, having a total mem- bership of over 50,000 women, has maintained headquarters at Olympia during the sessions of the Legislature in recent years, to the advantage of legislation. The W. C. T. U. also is an active influence. Miss Lucy R. Case, as executive secretary of the Joint Legislative Committee of the State Federation of Labor, Grange, Farmers' Union and Direct Legislation League, took an important part at the elections of 1914 and 1916 in defeating the reactionary measures affecting popular government and labor. Representative Frances C. Axtell of Bellingham introduced and engineered the minimum wage law and several moral bills in cooperation with the W. C. T. U. Representative Frances M. Haskell of Tacoma led in securing the law for equal pay for men and women teachers. Reah M. Whitehead, Justice of the Peace of King county, prepared and promoted the law relating to un- married mothers. The Seattle Branch of the Council of Women Voters established a "quiz congress," which requested candidates to attend its meetings and state their position on campaign issues and answer questions and many candidates importuned it for a chance to be heard. RATIFICATION. The Federal Suffrage Amendment was rati- fied on March 22, 1920, at an extraordinary session called princi- pally for that purpose. Governor Louis F. Hart had been reluc- tant to call a special session on the ground that, due to the un- settled condition of the country at that time, it would afford