it completely enfranchises the women. The
Shafroth-Palmer amendment, after it has passed three-fourths of
the State Legislatures, enables 8 per cent. of the voters of a
State to bring the suffrage question up for the consideration of
the voters at the next general election. Such a petition may be
filed at any time, not only once but indefinitely, until suffrage
is won, and a majority of those voting on the question is
sufficient to carry the measure. In other words, every State
where the women are not at present enfranchised may be a campaign
State every year. If the male voters are obliged to hear the
woman suffrage question agitated and discussed at a perennial
campaign, how long will it be before, in desperation and
self-defense, they will vote in favor of it?

Now, why is the Shafroth-Palmer amendment easier to pass Congress
than the Bristow-Mondell amendment? First of all it shifts the
responsibility of actually enfranchising the women from the
Senators and Representatives to the people of their respective
States. Second, the State's rights doctrine is the one objection
raised to every federal issue that comes before Congress. It is
primarily the greatest obstacle to federal legislation on any
subject and is recognized as a valid objection by the members of
Congress and particularly those from the North, who feel that
they owe to the members of the South the justice of refraining
from interference in matters vital to the South....

Third, the Democratic party is committed to the initiative and
referendum but not to woman suffrage.... The President has
endorsed the initiative and referendum and has fully convinced
himself of its merit.... We are asking the Democratic party to
give us, the women of the country, the initiative and referendum
on the question of whether or not we shall be allowed to vote,
and no State can have this question forced upon it or even
settled until a majority of the voters of the State cast their
ballots in favor of it.

The difficulties connected with the old amendment both in Congress and
in many States were described and the case of New York was cited among
others:

If the matter of suffrage is submitted to the State of New York
in 1915 and does not carry, under the New York constitution it
cannot again be submi