The women’s Liberty Bell truck made its way into Clearfield County from the north. It was quite an undertaking as dirt roads were rutted and the chain driven truck itself took effort to shift gears and operate the mechanical brakes.
On board were professional suffrage organizers, Harriet Grim of Chicago and Louise Hall of Harrisburg. They were firm, but gracious younger ladies who gave honest and thoughtful reasons why women should vote.
They used logic and politically-skilled persuasion to win the votes of the miners, loggers, laborers and businessmen of Appalachian Pennsylvania. Both ladies did not fit the unfair stereotypical mold of being shrill and scolding as anti-suffrage groups often claimed.
Their catchy slogan of “Husband, father, brother, son … vote for amendment number one” resonated. In DuBois, the truck was met with an accompanying parade of bands and decorated autos.
The cheering crowd scattered as a summer thunderstorm struck as the truck reached the corner of Brady and Jared streets. The crew spent the night at the Commercial Hotel before moving on to Luthersburg, Grampian, Bells Landing, Mahaffey and New Washington.
Clearfield organizers held a grand reception, late on the next afternoon, at the Dimeling Hotel. That evening, 2,000 people crowded the street between the hotel and the county courthouse.
Men attending were reported to listen attentively and join the applause. Yellow and purple suffrage banners were flying as the bell was taken from the truck and placed on a sturdy stand beside the old Clearfield Bank and Trust building.
The truck and bell then traveled on to Philipsburg, Morrisdale, Winburne and Osceola Mills. At each stop, organizers handed out pro suffrage literature to the crowds while the speakers gave impassioned speeches urging a “yes” vote.
Pennsylvania and Clearfield County women had both traditional prejudice and organized lobbying money to overcome in order to secure a suffrage victory.
There existed in Pennsylvania women’s groups who were vehemently opposed to suffrage. They were sometimes women of means and privilege who saw suffrage as a threat to their secure place in society. Some women were simply ignorant of the issue at hand or fearful of change.
The alcohol and some other industrial interests spent a good deal of money to promote a “no” vote. In states where women voted, they often used their new political muscle to shift attention to Prohibition laws.
Too many women, in many of these new voter’s views, had been the victims of drunken abuse. Prohibition, then, was often seen as a positive social reform movement. Women voters also tended to favor laws to outlaw child labor and demand that food sold meet strict standards for health and cleanliness.
The Women’s Liberty Bell truck was a masterful political success in Clearfield County during the summer of 1915. The vote in November would tell the tale.
Editor’s Note: This is part two in a three-part series on the Women’s Suffrage Campaign in Clearfield County.