Sparks flew within the Long Island suffrage movement when Edna Kearns broadened her scope and linked voting with better care for babies. This drew the ire of suff activist Rosalie Jones and others who believed that the women had enough on their plate merely advocating for Votes for Women. Several articles on the subject outline the disagreement: Article 1 and Article 2. And it was noted that Edna had once been president of the Rockville Centre Suffrage Club, but she’d shifted her allegiance to the South Side Political Equity League. Long Island news coverage of Better Babies issue.
Things like this seem dated to us now. But it sure points out how insecure the women were about getting the vote. It wasn’t a slam dunk.
Seemingly mundane stories elevated to a place in history. Wow.
Seems so logical that I wonder why they made such a big deal out of it.