August 26, 1912: Suffragists Organize in Dallas, Oregon
“Women Are Organizing: Many Men of Dallas Among Workers for Suffrage Cause,” Oregonian, August 27, 1912, 6.
By August 1912 suffragists around the state were gearing up for the final months leading to the election on November 5. Here we read about the organization of suffragists in the town of Dallas, Oregon in Polk County. The organization of a Dallas suffrage society illustrates a number of key trends characteristic of this final campaign for votes for women in the state.
One of the reasons for the success of the campaign was the establishment of many local groups, not just the activity of supporters in Portland and larger cities. Members of local organizations worked to make specific arguments to appeal to the male voters in their community. In Dallas, as elsewhere in the state, many members of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union agreed to put the contentious issue of prohibition of alcohol in “second place” to the vote during this campaign.
Men and women were part of this group, a pattern that we see elsewhere in the state. And just as in Portland and in statewide conventions, politicians by August were coming to see the strong support for woman suffrage. In addition, suffragists in Dallas, as elsewhere, were using the techniques of mass media campaigning, including votes for women badges.
Significantly, woman suffrage crossed political boundaries in Dallas as in the rest of the state. As the national election of 1912 split the Democrats and Republicans and showcased the strength of alternative political parties, woman suffrage in Oregon and in Dallas gained support from “Republicans, Democrats, Socialists, Prohibitionists and Roosevelt Progressives . . . all courting the favor of the women who want to vote.”
Additional Reading:
Kimberly Jensen, “‘Neither Head nor Tail to the Campaign’: Esther Pohl Lovejoy and the Oregon Woman Suffrage Victory of 1912,” Oregon Historical Quarterly 108 no. 3 (Fall 2007): 350-383.
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