Wilson and the majority of
his Cabinet that they were in favor of woman suffrage brought many
doubters into the fold. The two-thirds vote of Massachusetts in
opposition set that State aside as one in which women could only hope
to gain the suffrage through a Federal Amendment. In New Jersey in one
county alone thousands of votes were afterwards found to have been
cast illegally and there was colossal fraud throughout the State, yet
the law did not permit the question to be submitted again for five
years. In Pennsylvania the amendment polled over 46 per cent of the
whole vote cast on it and was defeated by the notoriously dishonest
election practices of Philadelphia, but by the law of that State it
could not be submitted again for four years. The facts thus disclosed
converted many people to a belief in the necessity for an amendment to
the National Constitution.

In New York the measure had received 42-1/2 per cent. of the vote cast
on it; in New Jersey 42 per cent. (by the returns), and the total vote
in the four States of a million and a quarter for the amendments was
indisputable evidence of the large sentiment for woman suffrage. The
immense cost of these campaigns in time, labor and money made it seem
more than ever necessary to bring about the short cut to the universal
enfranchisement of women through a Federal Amendment. The
Congressional Committee was strengthened and as Mrs. McCormick could
no longer act as chairman it was headed by Mrs. Frank M. Roessing, the
efficient president of the State association in the recent
Pennsylvania campaign. Resolutions for the amendment were presented to
the Senate on December 7 by Senators Thomas, Sutherland and Thompson
(Kans.). On Jan. 8, 1916, the favorable report was made by Senator
Thomas, a valuable document, widely circulated by the National
Association. This was the year of the Presidential campaign and there
was no time when the prospect for a majority vote seemed good enough
to take the risk. It was carefully considered after Judge Charles E.
Hughes, the Republican candidate for President, made his declaration
for the Federal Amendment but many members were absent and a vote was
not deemed advisable. The planks in the Republican and Democratic
national platforms demanding woman suffrage by State action deprived
it of political support.

The Judiciary Committee of the House, Edwin Y. Webb (N. C.), chairman,
added to its unpleasant reputation. Resolutions for the am