ferendum to the voters passed in the Senate;
defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 53 to 34.

1911. The session opened promisingly. David G. James introduced in the
Senate and J. H. Kamper in the Assembly a measure providing full
suffrage for Wisconsin women contingent upon the approval of a
majority of the voters at the general election in November, 1912. Miss
Mary Swain Wagner was the only registered lobbyist but other
suffragists, notably Miss James, Mrs. George W. Peckham, Mrs. Nellie
Donaldson and Mrs. Luther, worked for the measure. At a joint hearing
thirteen speakers, including several from outside the State, spoke in
favor of the bill and one lone Assemblyman, Carl Dorner, spoke in
opposition. It passed the Senate March 31 by a vote of 16 to 4, and
the Assembly April 26 by a vote of 69 to 29, and was signed by
Governor Francis E. McGovern on the ground that it was a problem which
should be solved by the voters. This measure was not, as generally
assumed, an amendment to the constitution but was a law, the
constitution providing that suffrage might be extended by statute but
this must be ratified by a majority of the voters at a general
election. It was defeated in 1912.

1913. Paradoxical as it may seem, legislators now became more
friendly. The Legislature of 1913 passed by a large majority in both
Houses another referendum bill introduced by Senator Robert Glenn but
it was vetoed by Governor McGovern on the ground that the voters
should not be asked so soon to pass upon a measure which they had just
defeated.

1915. Three measures were introduced in 1915, one by Senator Glenn and
Assemblyman W. C. Bradley, providing for full suffrage by State-wide
referendum; one by Senator George E. Scott and Assemblyman H. M.
Laursen, providing for Presidential suffrage by action of the
Legislature, and one by Senator A. Pearce Tompkins and Assemblyman
Axel Johnson to permit to counties local option in the matter of
enfranchising their women. Only the first was seriously considered and
this was defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 49 to 41. A
representative of the German-American Alliance appeared against it at
the hearing and at several later sessions.

1917. A referendum measure was introduced by Senator George B. Skogmo
and Assemblyman James Hanson and was killed in the Assembly by a vote
of 47 to 40.

1918. Meanwhile the tide was perceptibly turning and at the State
political conventions held in September, 1918,