le.

Toward the adoption of this all efforts were directed. Two public
meetings were addressed by Mr. Blackwell, and on July 8 the
Constitutional Convention itself invited him to speak to its members.

After remaining in Bismarck two weeks he went to Helena to attend the
Montana convention, but before leaving he succeeded in obtaining the
promise of 30 votes out of the 38 necessary for the adoption of the
clause. During his absence Dr. Cora Smith (Eaton), secretary of the
Grand Forks Suffrage Club, was called to Bismarck to carry on the
work. The secretary of the Territory, L. B. Richardson, placed at her
service a room on the same floor as Convention Hall, and to this the
friends of woman suffrage brought members who had not yet declared
themselves in favor. Some ladies were always there to receive them and
present the arguments in the case, among these Mrs. Mary Wilson, Mrs.
George Watson, Dr. Kate Perkins and Mrs. Benjamin of Bismarck.
Everything was managed with scrupulous formality and courtesy.

Mr. Miller's proposition was championed by R. M. Pollock and Judge
John E. Carland in Committee of the Whole, and after a second reading
was referred to the Committee on Elective Franchise, but on July 25 it
reported the substitute of S. H. Moer, confining the suffrage to
males. A minority report was offered, directing the Legislature at its
first session to submit an amendment to the voters to enfranchise
women. After a heated discussion the minority report was defeated, and
the constitution provided as follows:

No law extending or restricting the right of suffrage shall be
enforced until adopted by _a majority of the electors of the
State voting at a general election_.

By requiring not merely a majority of those voting on the question but
of the largest number voting at the election, no amendment for any
purpose ever has been carried.

On the question of School Suffrage women received greater
consideration, the constitution providing that all women properly
qualified should vote for all school officers, including State
Superintendent, also upon any question pertaining solely to school
matters, and should be eligible to any school office.

ORGANIZATION: The suffragists were widely scattered over this immense
Territory and there had been little opportunity for organized work. In
the spring of 1888 a call had been issued in Grand Forks, signed by
seventy-five representative men and women, for a meet