We’re following the course of Senate Joint Resolution 12 and House Concurrent Resolution 24 through the Oregon legislature one hundred years ago in February 1911. The Oregon State Equal Suffrage Association asked legislators to “cordially recommend” the ratification of the woman suffrage measure, already slated for the November 1912 ballot as a result of a successful initiative petition.
Representative Timothy Brownhill, who had introduced HCR 24, withdrew his resolution so that the senate’s identical resolution (SJR 12) might pass. “I believe that it should be adopted as a tribute to that splendid woman, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway, who has devoted so many years of her life to the cause, and also because it paves the way toward giving the women of the state their rights,” Brownhill told the Oregon Journal (“To Vote Again on Woman Suffrage,” Oregon Journal, February 17, 1911, 4). The house, therefore, was to vote on SJR 12.
But not everyone in the house agreed with Brownhill. As you’ll see below, in addition to the majority report in support of SJR 12, Representatives Seneca Fouts and Linn E. Jones authored a minority report against the resolution. According to the Oregon Journal, Fouts’s “contention was that the voters had decided the question at the last election and that their opinion should be regarded as stable.” (“To Vote Again on Woman Suffrage,” Oregon Journal, February 17, 1911, 4). This was, in fact, the sixth time that the suffrage amendment was on the ballot. A third of the representatives joined him in opposing the resolution and six were absent.
But the majority prevailed -- leading to the signing of SJR 12 in both houses -- we'll see more about the signing on February 17 in the next post.
FEBRUARY 16, 1911
Thursday, February 16, 1911, Afternoon Session, Oregon House of Representatives
MAJORITY REPORT
Salem, February 15, 1911
Mr. Speaker: Your Committee on Resolutions, to whom was referred Senate Joint Resolution No. 12, beg leave to report that we have had the same under consideration, and respectfully report it back with the recommendation that it do pass.
J.A. Buchanan [Medford, Douglas, Jackson, Republican], Chairman
MINORITY REPORT
Salem, February 15, 1911
Mr. Speaker: Your Committee on Resolutions, to whom was referred Senate Joint Resolution No. 12, beg leave to report that we have had the same under consideration, and respectfully report it back with the recommendation that it do not pass.
Seneca Fouts [Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Linn E. Jones [Oregon City, Clackamas, Republican]
Mr. Fouts moved that the minority report be substituted for the majority report.
The motion was lost.
Mr. Buchanan moved that the majority report be adopted.
The roll was called and the vote was:
YEAS—33
Abbott [James D., Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Abrams [Carl, Salem, Marion, Republican]
Beals [A.G., Tillamook, Tillamook, Yamhill, Republican]
Belknap [H.P., Prineville, Crook, Grant, Klamath, Lake, Republican]
Belland [L.O., Astoria, Clatsop, Republican]
Bonebrake [P.O., Philomath, Benton, Republican]
Brownhill [Timothy, McMinnville, Yamhill, Independent]
Buchanan [J.A., Medford, Douglas, Jackson, Republican]
Buckley [C.A., Grass Valley, Gilliam, Sherman, Wheeler, Republican]
Carter [E.P., Gladstone, Clackamas, Republican]
Chapman [J.A., Middleton, Washington, Republican]
Church [William J., La Grande, Union, Republican]
Clemens [W.J., Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Clyde [Ralph C., Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Cottel [W.I., Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Cushman [I.B., Acme, Lane, Republican]
Gill [F.M., Dufur, Hood River, Wasco, Republican]
Graves [Roy, Sheridan, Yamhill, Republican]
Hollis [W.H., Forest Grove, Washington, Republican]
Leinenweber [C.A., Astoria, Clatsop, Republican]
Libby [A.C., Jefferson, Marion, Republican]
Magone [M.A., Oregon City, Clackamas, Republican]
McKinney [Henry M., Baker, Baker, Republican]
Neuner [George Jr., Roseburg, Douglas, Republican]
Peirce [S.P., Port Orford, Coos, Curry, Republican]
Peterson [S.D., Milton, Umatilla, Republican]
Rackleff [Ed, Bandon, Coos, Republican]
Reynolds [L.T., Salem, Marion, Republican]
Smith [J.C., Grants Pass, Josephine, Republican]
Sutton [W.M., Springfield, Lane, Republican]
Thompson [W. Lair, Lakeview, Crook, Grant, Klamath, Lake, Republican]
Tigard [C.F., Tigardville, Washington, Republican]
Mr. Speaker [John P. Rusk, Joseph, Union, Wallowa, Republican]
NAYS—20
Ambrose [James M., Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Amme [Edwin G., Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Brooke [W.H., Ontario, Harney, Malheur, Republican]
Bryant [J.C., Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Chambers [F.W., Toledo, Lincoln, Polk, Republican]
Chatten [W.H., Oswego, Clackamas, Multnomah, Republican]
Cole [James, Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Collins [Stephen, Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Fouts [Seneca, Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Johnson [George W., Salem, Marion, Republican]
Jones [Linn E., Oregon City, Clackamas, Republican]
Mahoney [T.J., Heppner, Morrow, Umatilla, Republican]
Mann [L.L., Pendleton, Umatilla, Republican]
Mariner [W.J., Blalock, Gilliam, Sherman, Wheeler, Republican]
Miller, M.E. [St. Helens, Columbia, Republican]
Miller, J.W. [Albany, Linn, Republican]
Powell [Ira C., Monmouth, Polk, Republican]
Simpson [M.J., Lebanon, Linn, Republican]
Steelhammer [A.G., Silverton, Marion, Republican]
Westerlund [J.A., Medford, Jackson, Republican]
ABSENT—6
Bigelow [C.A., Portland, Multnomah, Republican]
Derby [A.J., Hood River, Hood River, Wasco, Democrat]
Eaton [Allen H., Eugene, Lane, Republican]
Eggleston [M.F., Ashland, Jackson, Republican]
Huntington [Ben Jr., Drain, Douglas, Republican]
Shaw [C.L., Albany, Linn, Democrat]
So the resolution was adopted.
Journal of the House of the Twenty-sixth Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, Regular Session, 1911 (Salem: Oregon State Printer, 1911), 700.
Thursday, February 16, 1911, Afternoon Session, Oregon Senate
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
Salem, February 16, 1911
Mr. President. Your Committee on Enrolled Bills, to whom was referred Senate Joint Resolution No. 12, beg leave to report back the same as having been correctly enrolled.
Hal D. Patton, Chairman
Journal of the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, Regular Session 1911 (Salem: Oregon State Printer, 1911), 594, 614.
