constitutional amendment to enfranchise women. The constitution nowhere prohibits women from voting, and I labored to show that all we need is a declaratory act extending to us the elective franchise under the existing fundamental law. Dr. Mary A. Thompson followed in a forcible speech, and was courteously received.
"When the legislature met in 1880 it was decided by the Woman Suffrage Association that I should try to 'raise the blockade' caused by the failure of our attempt to induce the legislature to take the responsibility of the initiative by returning to our original work for amending the state constitution. Pursuant to this decision a resolution was offered in the senate by Hon. C. W. Fulton, and in the house by Hon. Lee Laughlin, which, after considerable discussion pro and con, in which I was graciously invited to participate on the floor of both houses, was passed by a two-thirds majority.
"In the autumn of 1881 the legislature of Washington met in Olympia one afternoon to listen to arguments from Hon. William H. White and myself in advocacy of an equal suffrage bill. The bill passed the house on the following day by a majority of two, but was defeated in the council by a majority of two, thus showing that the vote would have been a tie taken under the joint ballot rule.
"Returning to Oregon I renewed the contest in our home assembly, and in the autumn of 1882 we were all gratified by the passage of the pending constitutional amendment by a very nearly unanimous vote of both houses.
In the autumn of 1883 I was again at Olympia in the interest of an equal suffrage bill. This bill, which had been prepared by Professor William H. Roberts, passed the house early in the session, but the assembly had nearly completed its deliberations before final action was reached in the council. The matter had been thoroughly canvassed in the council, and no member offered a word for or against its adoption. The deathly stillness of the chamber was broken only by the clerk's call of the roll and the firm responses of the 'ayes' and 'noes,' and was carried by a majority of one." (For further particulars see Woman Suffrage History, Vols. III and IV. Ed.)
The territorial legislature of Idaho was addressed by Mrs. Duniway in behalf of a bill to enfranchise women in 1887, and in 1889 she appeared before the constitutional convention at Boise in behalf of an equal suffrage plank in the state constitution. A large majority of delegates in the convention favored the measure, and pledged it their support in the near future. In 1893 Mrs. Rebecca Mitchell appeared before the Idaho state legislative assembly in behalf of an equal suffrage bill, which was defeated by two votes.
Under the able leadership of Dr. Annice F. Jeffreys, a joint resolution was proposed for submitting the question to the electors of Oregon, and passed in the legislative assembly of 1895 by a practically unanimous vote. But, as the solons of the legislature fell to quarreling among themselves when they met in 1897, and failed to organize for business, the question went over till the assembly met in 1899, when the action of the assembly of 1895 was promptly ratified.
