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Title: The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V

Editor: Ida Husted Harper

Release Date: August 31, 2009 [eBook #29878]

Language: English

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***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE, VOLUME V***

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THE HISTORY

of

Woman Suffrage.

EDITED BY

IDA HUSTED HARPER

ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPERPLATE AND PHOTOGRAVURE
ENGRAVINGS

IN SIX VOLUMES

VOLUME V

1900-1920

AFTER SEVENTY YEARS CAME THE VICTORY

NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION

Copyright, 1922, by
National American Woman Suffrage Association

DR. ANNA HOWARD SHAW.
Vice-President-at-Large of the National American Woman Suffrage Association 1892-1904 and President 1904-1915.

[Pg iii]

PREFACE

The History of Woman Suffrage is comprised in six volumes averaging about one thousand pages each, of which the two just finished are the last. While it is primarily a history of this great movement in the United States it covers to some degree that of the whole world. The chapter on Great Britain was prepared for Volume VI by Mrs. Millicent Garrett Fawcett, leader of the movement there for half a century. The accounts of the gaining of woman suffrage in other countries come from the highest authorities. Their contest was short compared to that in the two oldest countries on the globe with a constitutional form of government—the United States and Great Britain—and in the former it began nearly twenty years earlier than in the latter. The effort of women in the "greatest republic on earth" to obtain a voice in its government began in 1848 and ended in complete victory in 1920. In Great Britain it is not yet entirely accomplished, although in all her colonies except South Africa women vote on the same terms as men.

Doubtless other histories of this world wide movement will be written but at present the student will find himself largely confined to these six volumes. This is especially true of the United States and many of the documents of the earliest period would have been lost for all time if they had not been preserved in the first three volumes. These also contain much information which does not exist elsewhere regarding the struggle of women for other rights besides that of the franchise. That the materials were collected and cared for until they could be utilized was due to Miss Susan B. Anthony's appreciation of their value. The story of the trials and tribulations of preparing those volumes during ten years is told in Volume II, page 612, and in the Preface of Volume IV. They were written and edited principally by Miss Anthony and Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and covered the history from the beginning of the century to 1884. The writers expected when they [Pg iv]began in 1877 to bring out one small volume, perhaps only a large pamphlet. When these three huge volumes were finished they still had enough material for a fourth, which never was used.

Miss Anthony continued her habit of preserving the records and in 1900, when at the age of 80 she resigned the presidency of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, she immediately commenced preparations for another volume of the History. She called to her assistance Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, who had recently finished her Biography, and in her home in Rochester, N. Y., they spent the next two years on the book, Mrs. Stanton, who was 85 years old, taking the keenest interest in the work.[1] When the manuscript was completed hundreds of pages had to be eliminated in order to bring it within the compass of one volume of 1,144 pages.

Miss Anthony then said: "Twenty years from now another volume will be written and it will record universal suffrage for women by a Federal Amendment." Her prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. She put upon younger women the duty of collecting and preserving the records and this was done in some degree by officers of the association. In 1917, after the legacy of Mrs. Frank Leslie had been received by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the association, she formed the Leslie Suffrage Commission and established a Bureau of Suffrage Education, one feature of which was a research department. Here under the direction of an expert an immense amount of material was collected from many sources and arranged for use. After the strenuous work for a Federal Suffrage Amendment had brought it very near, Mrs. Catt turned her attention to the publishing of the last volume of the History of Woman Suffrage while the resources of the large national headquarters in New York and the archives of the research bureau were available, and she requested Mrs. Harper to prepare it. The work was begun Jan 2, 1919, and it was to be entirely completed in eighteen months. No account had been taken of the enormous growth of the suffrage movement. It had entered every State in the Union and it extended around the world. It was occupying the[Pg v] attention of Parliaments and Legislatures. In the United States conventions had multiplied and campaigns had increased in number; it had become a national issue with a center in every State and defeats and victories were of constant record.

To select from the mass of material, to preserve the most important, to condense, to verify, was an almost impossible task. A comparison will illustrate the difference between the work required on Volume IV and that on the present volumes. The Minutes of the national convention in 1901 filled 130 pages of large type; those of the convention of 1919 filled 320 pages, many of small type; reports of congressional hearings increased in proportion. Of the State chapters, describing all the work that had been done before 1901, 29 contained less than 8 pages, 18 of these less than 5 and 7 less than 3; only 6 had over 14 pages. For Volume VI not more than half a dozen State writers sent manuscript for less than 14 and the rest ranged from 20 to 95 pages. The report on Canada in Volume IV occupied 3½ pages; in this volume it fills 18. The chapter on Woman Suffrage in Europe outside of Great Britain found plenty of room in 4 pages; in this one it requires 32.

The very full reports of the national suffrage conventions, the congressional documents, the files of the Woman's Journal and the Woman Citizen and the newspapers furnished a wealth of material on the general status of the question in the United States. It was, however, the evolution of the movement in the States that gave it national strength and compelled the action by Congress which always was the ultimate goal. The attempt to give the story of every State, in many of which no records had been kept or those which had were lost or destroyed; the difficulty in getting correct dates and proper names upset all calculations on the amount of material and length of time. As a result the time lengthened to three and a half years and the one volume expanded into two, with enough excellent matter eliminated to have made a third. In each of these chapters will be found a complete history of the effort to secure the franchise by means of the State constitution, also the part taken to obtain the Federal Amendment and the action of the Legislature in ratifying this amendment.[Pg vi]

The accounts of the annual conventions of the National American Suffrage Association demonstrate as nothing else could do the commanding force of that organization, for fifty years the foundation and bulwark of the movement. The hearings before committees of every Congress indicate the never ceasing effort to obtain an amendment to the Federal Constitution and the extracts from the speeches show the logic, the justice and the patriotism of the arguments made in its behalf. The delay of that body in responding will be something for future generations to marvel at. In Chapter XX will be found the full history of this amendment by which all women were enfranchised.

In one chapter is a graphic account of the effort for half a century to get a woman suffrage "plank" into the national platforms of the political parties and its success in 1916, with one for the Federal Amendment in 1920. A chapter is devoted to the forming of the National League of Woman Voters after the women of the United States had become a part of the electorate. All questions as to the part taken in the war of 1914-1918 by the women who were working for their enfranchisement are conclusively answered in the chapter on War Service of Organized Suffragists. In one chapter will be found an account of other organizations besides the National American Association that worked to obtain the vote for women and of those that worked against it. A full description is given of the organizing of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance and its congresses in the various cities of Europe.

Volumes V and VI take up the history of the contest in the United States from the beginning of the present century to Aug. 26, 1920, when Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby proclaimed that the 19th Amendment, submitted by Congress on June 4, 1919, had been ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States and was now a part of the National Constitution. This ended a movement for political liberty which had continued without cessation for over seventy years. The story closes with uncounted millions of women in all parts of the world possessing the same voice as men in their government and enjoying the same rights as citizens.

[Pg vii]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.page

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI.

[Pg xi]

CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER XX.

CHAPTER XXI.

CHAPTER XXII.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CHAPTER XXIV.

APPENDIX.

[Pg xv]

INTRODUCTION

A voice in the Government under which one lives is absolutely necessary to personal liberty and the right of a whole people to a voice in their Government is the first requisite for a free country. There must be government by a constitution made with the consent and help of the people which guarantees this right. It is only within the last century and a half that a constitutional form of government has been secured by any countries and in the most of those where it now exists, not excepting the United States, it was won through war and bloodshed. Largely for this reason its principal advantage was monopolized by men, who made and carried on war, and who held that such government must be maintained by physical force and only those should have a voice in it who could fight for it if necessary. There were many other reasons why those who had thus secured their right to a vote should use their new power to withhold it from women, which was done in every country. Women then had to begin their own contest for what by the law of justice was theirs as much as men's when government by constitution was established.

Their struggle lasted for nearly three-quarters of a century in the United States and half a century in Great Britain, the two largest constitutional governments, and a shorter time in other countries, but it was a peaceful revolution. Not a drop of blood was spilled and toward the end of it, when in Great Britain the only "militancy" occurred, its leaders gave the strictest orders that human life must be held sacred. Although at the last the women of Central Europe were enfranchised as the result of war it was not of their making and their part in it was not on the battlefield. This was the most unequal contest that ever was waged, for one side had to fight without weapons. It was held against women that they were not educated, but the doors of all institutions of learning were closed against them;[Pg xvi] that they were not taxpayers, although money-earning occupations were barred to them and if married they were not allowed to own property. They were kept in subjection by authority of the Scriptures and were not permitted to expound them from the woman's point of view, and they were prevented from pleading their cause on the public platform. When they had largely overcome these handicaps they found themselves facing a political fight without political power.

The long story of the early period of this contest will be found in the preceding volumes of this History and it is one without parallel. No class of men ever strove seventy or even fifty years for the suffrage. In every other reform which had to be won through legislative bodies those who were working for it had the power of the vote over these bodies. In the Introduction to Volume IV is an extended review of the helpless position of woman when in 1848 the first demand for equality of rights was made and her gradual emergence from its bondage. No sudden revolution could have gained it but only the slow processes of evolution. The founding of the public school system with its high schools, from which girls could not be excluded, solved the question of their education and inevitably led to the opening of the colleges. In the causes of temperance and anti-slavery women made their way to the platform and remained to speak for their own. During the Civil War they entered by thousands the places vacated by men and retained them partly from necessity and partly from choice.

One step led to another; business opportunities increased; women accumulated property; Legislatures were compelled to revise the laws and the church was obliged to liberalize its interpretation of the Scriptures. Women began to organize; their missionary and charity societies prepared the way to clubs for self-improvement; these in turn broadened into civic organizations whose public work carried them to city councils and State Legislatures, where they found themselves in the midst of politics and wholly without influence. Thus they were led into the movement for the suffrage. It was only a few of the clear thinkers, the far seeing, who realized at the beginning that the principal cause of women's inferior position and helplessness[Pg xvii] lay in their disfranchisement and until they could be made to see it they were a dead weight on the movement. Men fully understood the power that the vote would place in the hands of women, with a lessening of their own, and in the mass they did not intend to concede it.

The pioneers in the movement for the rights of women, of which the suffrage was only one, contested every inch of ground and little by little the old prejudice weakened, public sentiment was educated, barriers were broken down and women pressed forward. At the opening of the present century, while they had not obtained entire equality of rights, their status had been completely transformed in most respects and they were prepared to get what was lacking. None of these gains, however, had required the permission of the masses of men but only of selected groups, boards of trustees, committees, legislators. It was when women found that with all their rights they were at tremendous disadvantage without political influence and asked for the suffrage that they learned the difficulty of changing constitutions. They found that either National or State constitutions had to be amended and in the latter case the consent of a majority of all men was necessary. In Volume VI the attempt to obtain the vote through State action is described in 48 chapters and their reading is recommended to those who insisted that this was the way women should be enfranchised. Fifty-six strenuous campaigns were conducted, with their heavy demands on time, strength and money, and as a result 13 States gave suffrage to women! Wyoming and Utah entered the Union with it in their constitutions. Compare this result with the proclamation of the adoption of a Federal Amendment, which in a moment and a sentence conferred the complete franchise on the women of all the other States.

The leaders recognized this advantage and the National Suffrage Association was formed for the express purpose of securing a Federal Amendment in 1869, as soon as it was learned through the enfranchisement of negro men that this method was possible. A short experience with Congress convinced them that there would have to be some demonstration of woman suffrage in the States before they could hope for Federal action and therefore[Pg xviii] they carried on the work along both lines. The question had to be presented purely as one of abstract justice without appeal to the special interests of any party, but from 1890 to 1896 woman suffrage had been placed in the constitutions of four States and there was hope that it was now on the way to general success. From this time, however, such idealism in politics as may have existed in the United States gradually disappeared. The Republican party was in complete control of the Government at Washington and was largely dominated by the great financial interests of the country, and this was also practically the situation in the majority of the States. The campaign fund controlled the elections and the largest contributors to this fund were the corporations, which had secured immense power, and the liquor interests, which had become a dominant force in State and national politics, without regard to party. Both of these supreme influences were implacably opposed to suffrage for women; the corporations because it would vastly increase the votes of the working classes, the liquor interests because they were fully aware of the hostility of women to their business and everything connected with it.

This was the situation faced by those who were striving for the enfranchisement of women. Congress was stone deaf to their pleadings and arguments and from 1894 to 1913 its committees utterly ignored the question. When a Legislature was persuaded to submit an amendment to the State constitution to the decision of the voters it met the big campaign fund of the employers of labor and the thoroughly organized forces of the liquor interests, which appealed not only to the many lines of business connected with the traffic but to the people who for personal reasons favored the saloons and their collateral branches of gambling, wine rooms, etc. They were a valuable adjunct to both political parties. The suffragists met these powerful opponents without money and without votes. A reading of the State chapters will demonstrate these facts. From 1896 for fourteen years not one State enfranchised its women.

These were years, however, of marvelous development in the status of women, which every year brought nearer their political recognition. Girls outnumbered boys in the high schools; women[Pg xix] crowded the colleges and almost monopolized the teaching in the public schools. Their organizations increased in size until they numbered millions and stretched across the seas. In 1904 the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was formed which soon encircled the globe. This year the International Council of Women, the largest organized body of women in existence, formed a standing committee on woman suffrage with branches in every country. In 1914 the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the largest organization in the United States, declared for woman suffrage and this was preceded or followed by a similar declaration by every State Federation. National associations of women for whatever purpose, with almost no exceptions, demanded the franchise as an aid to their objects, until the stock objection that women do not want to vote was silenced. Women who opposed the movement became alarmed and undertook to organize in opposition, thereby exposing their weakness. Their organization was largely confined to a small group of eastern States and developed no strength west of the Allegheny mountains. Its leaders were for the most part connected with corporate interests and did not believe in universal suffrage for men. There was no evidence that they exercised any considerable influence in Congress or in any State where a vote was taken on granting the franchise to women.

An outstanding feature of the present century has been the entrance of women into the industrial field, following the work which under modern conditions was taken from the homes to the factories. Thus without their volition they became the competitors of men in practically every field of labor. Unorganized and without the protection of a vote they were underpaid and a menace to working men. In self-defense, therefore, the labor unions were compelled to demand the ballot for women. They were followed by other organizations of men until hundreds were on record as favoring woman suffrage. Men trying to bring about civic or political reforms in the old parties or through new ones and feeling their weakness turned to women with their great organizations but soon realized their inefficiency without political power. The old objections were losing their force. The lessening size of families and the removal of the[Pg xx] old time household tasks from the home left women with a great deal of leisure which they were utilizing in countless ways that took them out into the world, so that there was no longer any weight in the charge that the suffrage would cause women to forsake their domestic duties for public life. Women of means began coming into the movement for the suffrage and relieving the financial stringency which had constantly limited the activities of the organized work. The opening of large national headquarters in New York, the great news center of the country, in 1909, marked a distinct advance in the movement which was immediately apparent throughout the country. The friendly attitude of the metropolitan papers extended to the press at large. Following the example of England, parades and processions and various picturesque features were introduced in New York and other large cities which gave the syndicates and motion pictures material and interested the public. Woman suffrage became a topic of general discussion and women flocked into the suffrage organizations.

Politicians took notice but they remained cold. This political question had not yet entered politics. The leaders of the National Suffrage Association strengthened its lines and established its outposts in every State, but they still made their appeals to unyielding committees of Congress. The Republican "machine" was in absolute control and woman suffrage had long been under its wheels with other reform measures. Then came in 1909-10 the "insurgency" in its own ranks led by members from the western States, and in those States the voters repudiated the railroad and lumber and other corporate interests and instituted a new régime. One of its first acts was the submission of a woman suffrage amendment in the State of Washington and with a free election and a fair count it was carried in every county and received a majority of more than two to one. The revolt extended to California, whose Legislature sent an amendment to the voters in 1911 after having persistently refused to do so for the past 15 years, and here again there was victory at the polls. With the gaining of this old and influential State the extension of the movement to the Mississippi was assured.

The insurgency in the Republican party resulted in a division[Pg xxi] at the national convention in 1912 and the forming of the Progressive party headed by Theodore Roosevelt. The Resolutions Committee of the regular party gave the suffragists seven minutes to present their claims and ignored them. The new party needed a fresh, live issue and found it in woman suffrage, which was made a plank in its platform. The leaders of the National Suffrage Association were required by its constitution to remain non-partisan and with one exception did so, but thousands of women rallied to the standard of the new party. As most of them were disfranchised they brought little voting strength but the other parties were forced to admit them and for the first time they gained a foothold in politics. The division in Republican ranks resulted in putting into power the Democratic party, with an unfavorable record on woman suffrage and a President who was opposed to it, but "votes for women" was now a national political issue.

When the suffrage leaders went to the new Congress for a Federal Amendment they met a Senate Committee every member but one of which was in favor of it. The vote in the Senate on March 14, 1914, resulted in a majority but not the required two-thirds, and it was a majority of Republicans. The history of the struggle for this amendment for the next six years, through Democratic and Republican administrations, will be found in Chapter XX. Speaker Champ Clark was a steadfast friend. In 1914 William Jennings Bryan declared for it and thenceforth spoke for it many times. In 1915 President Woodrow Wilson announced his conversion to woman suffrage and in 1918 to the Federal Amendment and never wavered in his loyalty, rendering every assistance in his power. His record will be found in these volumes. In 1916, after Justice Charles Evans Hughes was nominated by the Republicans for the presidency, he announced his adherence to the Federal Amendment, being in advance of his party. This year the Republican and Democratic national platforms for the first time contained a plank in favor of woman suffrage but by State and not Federal action. A remarkable feature of the progress of this amendment in Congress was the increase of its advocates among members from the South, who for the most part believed it to be[Pg xxii] an interference with the State's rights. In 1887, when the first vote was taken in the Senate not one southern member voted for it. On the second occasion in 1914 Senators Lea of Tennessee, Ransdell of Louisiana, Sheppard of Texas, Ashurst of Arizona and Owen of Oklahoma voted in favor. In 1919 on the final vote, if Arizona, New Mexico and Delaware are included, 17 Senators from southern States cast their ballots for the Federal Amendment, and four from northern States who did so were born in the South. It received the votes of 75 Representatives from southern States. The women of every southern State suffrage association worked for this amendment, believing that it was hopeless to expect their enfranchisement from State action, and the above members took the same view. It received a large Republican majority in Senate and House.

While this contest was in progress many events were taking place which had an influence on it. The movement for woman suffrage was progressing in Europe but when the war broke out in 1914, involving all countries, it was thought that all advance was lost. On the contrary the splendid service of the women obtained the franchise for them in Great Britain, The Netherlands and other countries, and at the close of the war the revolution in the Central countries resulted in the suffrage for men and women alike. The war work of Canadian women brought full enfranchisement to them. When the United States entered the war the patriotic response of the women to every demand of the Government and the magnificent service they rendered swept away forever the objection to their voting because they could not do military duty.

Stimulated by the action of Washington and California other western States gave suffrage to their women and its practical working effectually disproved every charge that had been made against it. At the close of 1915 Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt became president of the National Association and bringing to bear her great executive and organizing ability she re-formed it along the lines followed by the political parties, created a large, active working force and prepared for intensive State and national campaigns. Soon afterwards she received a legacy of almost a million dollars from Mrs. Frank Leslie to be used for[Pg xxiii] promoting the cause of woman suffrage and thus she was equipped for carrying the movement to certain victory.

In 1917 the voters of New York State by an immense majority gave the full suffrage to women, guaranteeing probably 45 votes in Congress for the Federal Amendment. In 1917 and 1918 the great "drive" was made on the Legislatures to give women the right to vote for Presidential electors and this was done in 14 States, granting this important privilege to millions of women. In several States the Legislature added the franchise for municipal and county officers. In 1917 the Legislature of Arkansas gave them the right to vote at all Primary elections and in 1918 that of Texas conferred the same, which is equivalent to the full suffrage, as the primaries decide the elections. By 1918 in 15 States women had equal suffrage with men through amendment of their constitutions.[2]

In January, 1918, the Federal Prohibition Amendment went into effect, putting an end to the powerful opposition of the liquor interests to woman suffrage. All political parties were committed to the Federal Amendment. In January, 1918, it passed the Lower House of Congress but the opposition of two Senators and finally of one prevented its submission. Meanwhile the Democratic administration of eight years had been succeeded by a Republican. This party during 44 years in power had refused to enfranchise women but now it atoned for the wrong and with the help of Democratic members the Amendment was submitted to the Legislatures on June 4, 1919. Nearly all had adjourned for two years and if women were to vote at the next presidential election special sessions would be necessary. One of the most noteworthy political feats on record was that of the president of the National Suffrage Association, with the assistance of others, in managing to have the Governors of the various States call these sessions. It is told in the State chapters with the dramatic ending in Tennessee.

The certificate was delivered to Secretary of State Bainbridge[Pg xxiv] Colby at 4 o'clock in the morning on August 26, 1920, and at 9 he issued the official proclamation that the 19th Amendment having been duly ratified by 36 State Legislatures "has become valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution of the United States." It reads as follows:

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

"Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

[Pg 1]

THE NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION

FOREWORD

The National Woman Suffrage Association was organized in New York City, May 15, 1869, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton president and Susan B. Anthony chairman of executive committee. [History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II, page 400.] It held annual conventions for the next half century, always in Washington, D.C., until 1895, after which date they were taken in alternate years to other cities, meeting in the national capital during the first session of each Congress. The object of the association from its beginning was to obtain an amendment to the Federal Constitution which would confer full, universal suffrage on the women of the United States, and its work for amending the constitutions of the States to enfranchise their women was undertaken as one means to achieve this main purpose. The American Woman Suffrage Association was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 24, 1869, with Henry Ward Beecher president and Lucy Stone chairman of executive committee, principally for action through the States, and it also held annual conventions. [Volume II, page 756.] In 1890 the two united in Washington under the name National American Woman Suffrage Association [Volume IV, page 164], and the work was continued by both methods. Full reports of conventions may be found in preceding volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage, the list ending in Volume IV with that of 1900. This convention was especially distinguished by the public celebration of the 80th birthday of Susan B. Anthony and her retirement from the presidency of the association which she had helped to found and in which she had continuously held official position, and by the election of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt as her successor.[3][Pg 2]

The assertion is frequently made that the enfranchisement of women was due to a natural evolution of public sentiment. A reading of the following chapters, which give the history of the work of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, will show how largely the creation of this sentiment was due to this organization to which all the State associations were auxiliary. It represented the organized movement during half a century to secure the vote for women—a struggle such as was never made by men for this right in any country in the world. It was the only large organization for this purpose that ever existed in the United States and its efforts never ceased in the more than fifty years. At each annual convention some advance was recorded. These chapters show that, while the principal object of the association was a Federal Amendment, it gave valuable assistance to every campaign for the amendment of State constitutions and that it was responsible for the granting of the Presidential franchise, which was so important a factor in gaining the final victory. The reports of its officers each year show the large amount of money raised and expended, the hundreds of thousands of letters written, the millions of pieces of literature circulated, the thousands of meetings held, the many workers in the field. The committee reports and the resolutions adopted show that all reforms vital to the welfare of women and children and many of a wider scope were included in the work of the association. The names of the speakers at the national conventions and at the hearings before the committees of Congress during all these years prove that this cause was championed by the leaders among the men and women of their generation. Such quotations from their speeches as space has permitted show that in eloquence, logic and strength they were unsurpassed and that their arguments were unanswerable.

If this volume contained only the first nineteen chapters the reader could not fail to be convinced that principally to the efforts of the National American Woman Suffrage Association the women of the United States owe their enfranchisement, but it shows too that in the forty-eight auxiliary States they also fought their own hard battles.

[Pg 3]

CHAPTER I.

THE NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1901.

The Thirty-third annual convention opened on the afternoon of May 30, 1901, in the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis, with the new president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, in the chair, and continued through June 4, with 144 delegates from twenty-six States present.[4]

Miss Anthony was present at this Minneapolis convention, alert and vigorous but happy to relinquish her official duties to one in whose ability and judgment she had implicit confidence; and the rest of the official board were there ready to give the same allegiance and loyalty to the new chief which they had rendered for many years to the supreme leader. The Minneapolis Journal said: "The formal opening of the suffrage convention yesterday afternoon was an impressive affair. Among the national officers seated on the platform were women who saw the first dawn of the suffrage movement, those who came into its fold midway of its life and those whose earnest endeavors are of more recent record. Among the first was the most honored member of the body, Miss Susan B. Anthony, and among the latter is the president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt. When the delegates rose and the Rev. Olympia Brown of Wisconsin stepped to the front of the platform[Pg 4] and turned her face heavenward, saying, "In the name of liberty, Our Father, we thank thee," the impression even upon an unbeliever must have been that of entire consecration and one was reminded of when the early Christians met and consulted, fought and endured for the faith that was in them."

Although this was the first convention in many years over which Miss Anthony had not presided she was the first to speak, as Mrs. Catt at once presented her to the audience. With the loyalty which had characterized her life Miss Anthony first read a letter from the honorary president, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, then in her 86th year, which she prefaced by saying: "It is fitting that I should read this greeting from her, as I have stood by Mrs. Stanton's side for fifty years." The letter urged the same vigorous work in the church for woman's emancipation as had been kept up in the States and said: "The canon law, with all the subtle influences that grow out of it, is more responsible for woman's slavery today than the civil code. With the progressive legislation of the last half century we have an interest in tracing the lessons taught to women in the churches to their true origin and a right to demand from our theologians the same full and free discussion in the church that we have had in the State, as the time has fully come for women to be heard in the ecclesiastical councils of the nation. To this end I suggest that committees and delegates from all our State and national associations visit the clergy in their several localities and assemblies to press on their consideration the true position of woman as a factor in Christian civilization."

Press reports of Mrs. Stanton's paper were as follows:

After finishing Mrs. Stanton's letter Miss Anthony presented her own greeting, in the course of which she said:

"If the divine law visits the sins of the parents upon the children, equally so does it transmit to them the virtues of the parents. Therefore if it is through woman's ignorant subjection to man's appetites and passions that the life current of the race is corrupted, then must it be through her intelligent emancipation that it shall be purified and her children rise up and call her blessed.... I am a full and firm believer in the revelation that it is through woman the race is to be redeemed. For this reason I ask for her immediate and unconditional emancipation from all political, industrial, social and religious subjection. It is said, 'Men are what their mothers made them,' but I say that to hold mothers responsible for the characters of their sons while denying to them any control over the surroundings of the sons' lives is worse than mockery, it is cruelty. Responsibilities grow out of rights and powers. Therefore before mothers can rightfully be held responsible for the vices and crimes, for the general demoralization of society, they must possess all possible rights and[Pg 6] powers to control the conditions and circumstances of their own and their children's lives."

The audience then listened with keen appreciation to the president's address, during which she said: "If I were asked what are the great obstacles to the speedy enfranchisement of women I should answer: There are three; the first is militarism, which once dominated the entire thought of the world and made its history. Although its old power is gone and its influence upon public thought grows constantly less, it still molds the opinions of millions of people and holds them to the old ideals of force in government and headship in the family. The second obstacle is the unconscious, unmeasured influence upon the estimate in which women as a whole are held that emanates from that most debasing of our evil institutions, prostitution.... The third great cause is the inertia in the growth of democracy which has come as a reaction following the aggressive movements that with possibly ill-advised haste enfranchised the foreigner, the negro and the Indian. Perilous conditions, seeming to follow from the introduction into the body politic of vast numbers of irresponsible citizens, have made the nation timid. These three influences, born of centuries of tradition, shape every opinion of the opponents of woman suffrage. Not an objection, argument or excuse can be urged against the movement which may not be traced to one of these causes."

At the close of Mrs. Catt's address Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Denver presented her with a handsome gavel in behalf of the suffrage association of Colorado. The gavel was made of Colorado silver and the settings and engravings of Colorado gold. In one side was a Colorado amethyst, and the Colorado flower, the columbine, was burned into the gavel by a Colorado girl. Mrs. Bradford said she wished Mrs. Catt the good luck said to follow the possessor of an amethyst, who "shall speak the right word at the right time." She presented it as an expression of gratitude for her aid in their successful suffrage campaign of 1893. "We are apt to attribute everything good in Colorado to woman suffrage," said Mrs. Catt in response, "but in my secret mind I think much of it is due to the progressiveness of the Colorado men. They must be better than other men or they would not have enfranchised their women. I cannot love Colorado[Pg 7] any better than I do but I shall always value this gavel as a precious souvenir of that wonderful campaign."

In her report as vice-president at large the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw said regarding her many suffrage speeches during the year: "The manager of a bureau lately said to me: 'If you would only give up for a time the two reforms in which you are most interested, woman suffrage and prohibition, you could earn enough money on the regular lecture platform in a few years to live on for the rest of your life.' Any woman who does not live for unselfish service is a useless cumberer of the earth. I would rather be known as an advocate of equal suffrage and starve than to speak every night on the best-paying platforms in the United States and ignore it."

The first evening of the convention was opened with prayer by the Rev. Marion H. Shutter.[6] The audience was far beyond the seating capacity of the large church and in presenting the official speakers Mrs. Catt said: "This is a great contrast to the early days when we did not use to be welcomed because we were not welcome. Now we are welcomed wherever we go but not often, as here, by the representative of a whole State." Governor Samuel R. Van Sant gave a hearty western greeting, which, he said, he wanted to make as cordial as he could express it and as broad as the State he lived in. He made this point among others: "You are doing a splendid work and the reason you do not get the ballot sooner is because you do not convert your own sex. I know for I have been a member of the Legislature. If you wanted to vote as much as you want other things you would go there and block the legislators so they couldn't get to their seats." Mayor Albert A. Ames extended the welcome of the city and declared his belief in woman suffrage. Former Mayor William Henry Eustis ended his address in behalf of the Commercial Club and Board of Trade by saying: "Commercial bodies are temporary but a great movement like this is eternal." Former Mayor James Gray, representing the press, assured them of its coöperation and said that from a dozen to twenty women were[Pg 8] doing important work on the papers of the city. Mrs. Maud C. Stockwell, president of the State Suffrage Association, welcomed them to "the hearts of the women of Minneapolis."

Dr. Shaw closed the evening with a stirring address on An Invisible Foe, in which she referred to the many refusals they had had from the anti-suffrage leaders to come to the convention and debate the question. She accused them of wearing a khaki-colored uniform to conceal themselves from the foe and declared they were always careful to make their attacks when the enemy was not present, saying: "The anti-suffragists are not fighting woman suffrage, they are fighting the ideals of democracy and leaning toward an aristocracy. Take note of the words they use to designate the people, 'mob,' 'hordes,' etc. They look at the people as not only incapable and ignorant now but so for all time and they never learn that in the heart of every individual in the mob lie the forces which make for martyrs or for brutes." "From point to point through long and close argument the brilliant speaker moved with lightning velocity," said a press report. "She called up the anti-suffrage arguments made by the Rev. Samuel G. Smith of St. Paul, in his recent series of sermons on women, and laughed to scorn their plea for 'the days of chivalry,' which, she said, were a man's protection of his own women against other men. Woman must work out God's ideal of what a woman should be and she cannot do it until she is absolutely free as man is free."

Mrs. Catt brought to the presidency a definite belief that Congress would not submit a Federal Suffrage Amendment nor would important States be gained on referendum until national and State officers and workers were better trained for the work required. The increasing evidence of a united and politically experienced opposition as manifested in legislative action and referendum results had convinced her that the cause would never be won unless its campaigns were equipped, guided and conducted by women fully aware of the nature of opposition tactics and prepared to meet every maneuver of the enemy by an equally telling counteraction. She had been appointed by Miss Anthony chairman of a Plan of Work Committee at the convention of 1895 and assembling the practical workers they agreed upon recommendations[Pg 9] which proved a turning point in the association's policy. These were presented to that convention and adopted. A Committee on Organization was established with Mrs. Catt as chairman and contrary to the usual custom the convention voted that she be made a member of the National Board. For the last five years her committee had held conferences in connection with each convention which discussed and adopted plans for more efficient work. As president, she now determined to link more closely the work of national and State auxiliary organizations and in the pursuance of this aim and as ex-officio chairman of the convention program committee, she appointed the Executive Committee (consisting of the Board of Officers, the president and one member from each auxiliary State) to be the Committee on Plan of Work. For two entire days preceding this convention the Executive Committee had discussed methods of procedure, as presented by the Board of Officers, who had prepared these recommendations at a mid-year meeting held in Miss Anthony's home at Rochester in August.

The convention accepted the report which included the following: (1) Organization. That organization be continually the first aim of each State auxiliary as the certain key to success; that each State keep at least one organizer employed and endeavor to establish a county organization in each county or at least to form an organization in each county seat and at four other points; that organization work be done among women wage earners and that definite work be undertaken to win the endorsement and cooperation of other associations, chiefly the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the National Education Association. (2) Legislation. That each auxiliary State association appeal to Congress to submit to the Legislatures a 16th Amendment to the Federal constitution prohibiting the disfranchisement of U. S. citizens on account of sex; that the plan initiated by Miss Anthony be continued, namely, that all kinds of national and State conventions be asked to pass resolutions in favor of this amendment, to be sent to Congress; that State societies also ask their Legislatures to pass resolutions in favor of a 16th Amendment, these also to be sent to Congress; that auxiliaries whose States offer a reasonable possibility of a successful referendum try to secure the[Pg 10] submission of State suffrage amendments to the voters, with assurance of national cooperation; that auxiliaries whose State constitutions present obstacles to such procedure work to secure statutory suffrage, such as School, Municipal or Presidential; that auxiliaries not strong enough to attempt a campaign work for the removal of legal discriminations against women and attempt to secure co-guardianship of children, equal property rights, the raising of the age of consent, the appointment of police matrons, etc.; that a leaflet be prepared by Mrs. Laura M. Johns advising best methods for successful legislative work. To carry out this plan the Committees on Congressional Work, Presidential Suffrage and Civil Rights found their work for the year. (3) Press. Recommendations were made for rendering this department of work more efficient in the States; enrollment of persons believing in woman suffrage to be continued in order to secure evidence of the strength of general favorable sentiment; the literature of the association to include a plan of work for local clubs.

Work conferences were interspersed during the convention; one on Organization presided over by Miss Mary Garrett Hay; one by Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff, chairman Enrollment Committee; one by Mrs. Babcock, chairman Press Committee. A chart showing the date of the opening of the Legislature in each State; the provision for amending its constitution; the suffrage and initiative and referendum laws and all other information bearing upon the technical procedure of securing the vote State by State was carefully drawn by the Organization Committee. With this in hand each State was given its legislative task. It was voted to urge the auxiliaries of Kansas, Indiana, New York, Washington and South Dakota to ask for submission of State constitutional amendments. It was voted that the corresponding secretary be elected with the understanding that she would serve at the national headquarters and be paid a salary.

The Executive Committee at a preliminary meeting repeated the resolution of the preceding year against the official regulation of vice in Manila, which was under United States control. It closed: "We protest in the name of American womanhood and we believe that this represents also the opinion of the best American[Pg 11] manhood.[7] This resolution was unanimously adopted by the delegates after strong addresses, and Miss Anthony, Dr. Shaw, Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Avery and Miss Blackwell were deputized to ask a hearing and present it to the American Medical Association meeting in St. Paul at this time. That body allowed them ten minutes to state their earnest wish that it would endorse the resolution but it took no action.

Miss Anthony had consented to act as chairman of the Congressional Committee and her report was heard with deep interest. Her work during the year was upon two distinct lines, the old familiar petition to Congress to pass the 16th Amendment granting full suffrage to women, and another brought about by new conditions—a petition that the word "male" should not be inserted in the electoral clause of the constitutions proposed by Congress for Hawaii and Porto Rico. These petitions were secured from every State and Territory, a tremendous work, and were laid before the members of Congress from each State. The most interesting petition for the amendment was from Wyoming, where one sheet was signed by every State officer, several U. S. officials and other prominent citizens. They had signed in duplicate several petitions and thus Miss Anthony had an autograph copy with her. The work of securing this petition was done chiefly by Mrs. Joseph M. Cary, wife of the Senator. Miss Anthony was chairman also of the Committee on Convention Resolutions and believed strongly that to present the question of woman suffrage to conventions of various kinds and secure resolutions from them was an efficacious means of propaganda. Her interesting[Pg 12] report for 1900 made at this time will be found in full in the History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, page 439.

In introducing Mr. Blackwell (Mass.), Mrs. Catt said: "The woman suffrage movement has known many women who have devoted their lives and energies to it. I know of only one man. Years ago when Lucy Stone was a sweet and beautiful girl he heard her speak and afterwards proposed to her to form a marriage partnership. When she said that this might prevent her from doing the large work she wanted to do for equal rights he promised to help her in it and loyally and faithfully all through their married life he did so, as constantly and earnestly as Lucy Stone herself; and even after her death he continues to give his time, his money and his effort to the same end. I am glad to introduce Henry B. Blackwell." Mr. Blackwell was the pioneer in urging the suffragists of every State to try to obtain from their Legislature a law giving them a vote for presidential electors. Their authority for this action was conferred by the National Constitution in Article 2, Section 2: "Each State shall appoint in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress." His comprehensive report made to this and other conventions was an unanswerable argument in favor of the right of a Legislature to confer this vote on women and eventually it was widely recognized.

The treasurer, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton (O.), reported the total receipts of the year $22,522. Mrs. Catt stated the needs of the association for the coming year and under the skilful management of Miss Hay subscriptions of $5,000 were soon obtained. On motion of Dr. Shaw a vote of thanks was given to Miss Hay for her "able and efficient work in securing these pledges." The report for the Federal Suffrage Committee was given by Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.)[8]

The corresponding secretary, Mrs. Avery of Philadelphia, made the report of the great bazaar which had been held before the Christmas holidays in Madison Square Garden, New York City,[Pg 13] and netted about $8,500. It was accompanied by the carefully prepared report of its treasurer, Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff of Brooklyn. An exact duplicate of a beautiful vase three feet high which had been presented to Admiral Dewey by the citizens of Wheeling, West Virginia, at a cost of $250, with the exception that his face on it was replaced by Miss Anthony's, was presented to the bazaar by Mrs. Fannie J. Wheat of that city. As no "chances" were allowed at suffrage fairs it was purchased by subscriptions and presented to Miss Anthony.[9]

A letter to Miss Blackwell from Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, then past 80 years of age, expressing her regret at not being able to attend the convention, closed: "It is not for lack of interest in our great cause or indifference to the dear western women with whom I was associated so many years ago and who, like myself, have grown gray in the work for women.... God bless you all and give you an ennobling season together, harmonious and uplifting in its results. Remember me in love to the old friends and pledge my affectionate regard to the new friends with whom I will try to keep step here on the Massachusetts coast. Yours with a thousand good wishes." A telegram of greeting was sent to Mrs. Stanton and others to Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey of New Jersey, Mrs. Jane H. Spofford of Maine and Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon, all pioneer workers for the cause. Miss Laura Clay (Ky.) gave a strong, logical address on Counterparts, "the dualism of the race," in which she said:

One of the most interesting reports was that of the Press Committee, made by its efficient chairman, Mrs. Elnora Monroe Babcock (N. Y.). Illustrating its work she said: "About 50,000 suffrage articles have been sent out from the press headquarters since our last annual convention; 2,400 of these were specials; 5,155 articles and items advertising the Bazaar; many articles on prominent women were furnished to illustrated papers and newspaper syndicates; a page of plate matter was issued every six weeks and seven large press associations were supplied with occasional articles." The names of State chairmen were given and the number of papers they supplied—New York, 500; Pennsylvania, 336; Iowa, 237; Massachusetts, 97; Indiana, 91; Illinois, 85; Ohio, 63, etc. Mrs. Babcock asked for a vote of thanks, which was unanimous, to Paul Dana, proprietor and editor of the New York Sun, for having given during the past two and a half years and for still giving two columns of its Sunday issue to an article by Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, an unprecedented concession by a great metropolitan paper. Miss Anthony added her words of praise to Mr. Dana and to the department which she herself had been largely instrumental in securing.[10][Pg 15]

One of the most popular addresses of the convention was made by Mrs. Ellis Meredith of Denver—The Menace of Podunk—a clever satire showing that narrow partisanship and dishonest politics were to be found alike in New York and Podunk, Indiana.

The resolutions were presented by Mr. Blackwell, who, at conventions almost without number, served as chairman of this important committee, and the first ones set forth the political status of the women in the year 1901 as follows:

"We congratulate the women of America upon the measure of success already attained—school suffrage in twenty-two States and Territories; municipal suffrage in Kansas; suffrage on questions[Pg 16] of taxation in Iowa, Montana, Louisiana and New York; full suffrage in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho—States containing more than a million inhabitants, with eight Senators and nine Representatives in Congress elected in part by the votes of women.

"We rejoice in important gains during the past year; the extension of suffrage upon questions of taxation to 200,000 women in the towns and villages of New York and to the tax-paying women of Norway; the voting of women for the first time for members of Parliament in West Australia; the almost unanimous refusal of the Kansas Legislature to repeal municipal woman suffrage and the acquittal in Denver of the only woman ever charged with fraudulent voting."

A tribute was paid to the tried and true friends of woman suffrage who had died during the year, many of them veterans in the cause: Sarah Anthony Burtis, aged 90, secretary of the first Woman's Rights Convention in 1848 when adjourned to Rochester, N.Y.; Charles K. Whipple, aged 91, for many years secretary of the Massachusetts and New England Woman Suffrage Associations; Zerelda G. Wallace of Indiana, the "mother" of "Ben Hur"; Paulina Gerry, the Rev. Cyrus Bartol, Carrie Anders, Dr. Salome Merritt, Matilda Goddard and Mary Shannon of Massachusetts; Mary J. Clay of Kentucky; Eliza J. Patrick of Missouri; Fanny C. Wooley and Nettie Laub Romans of Iowa; Eliza Scudder Fenton, the widow of New York's war governor; Charlotte A. Cleveland and Henry Villard of New York; John Hooker of Connecticut; Giles F. Stebbins and George Willard of Michigan; Ruth C. Dennison, D. C., Theron Nye of Nebraska; Elizabeth Coit of Ohio; Major Niles Meriwether of Tennessee; M. B. Castle of Illinois; John Bidwell of California; Wendell Phillips Garrison of New Jersey.

On the evening when Miss Anthony presided she introduced to the audience with tender words Mrs. Charlotte Pierce of Philadelphia, as one of the few left who attended the first Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, N. Y., in 1848; Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne of Auburn, N. Y., niece of Lucretia Mott and daughter of Martha Wright, two of the four women who called that convention; Miss Emily Howland, a devoted pioneer of[Pg 17] Sherwood, N. Y.; the Rev. Olympia Brown of Racine, second woman to be ordained as minister; Mrs. Ellen Sulley Fray, a pioneer of Toledo, O., and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick, wife of a Chief Justice of Louisiana, who organized the first suffrage club in New Orleans.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, who had been the corresponding secretary of the association for twenty-one years, had insisted that she should be allowed to resign from the office. A pleasant incident not on the program took place one morning during the convention when Miss Anthony came to the front of the platform and said: "I have in my hand a thousand dollars for Rachel Foster Avery. It has been contributed without her knowledge by about four hundred different persons; most of you are on the list. I asked for this testimonial because I felt that you would all rejoice to show your appreciation of her long and faithful services and her great liberality to the cause. I should never have been able to carry on the work of the society as its president for so many years but for her able coöperation. She thinks she cannot talk but we know that she can work. She has done the drudgery of this association for more than twenty years and I hope the woman who will be chosen in her place, whoever she may be, will be as consecrated and free from all self-seeking."

Miss Kate M. Gordon, president of the Era Club of New Orleans, was almost unanimously elected as corresponding secretary. The only other change in the official board was the retirement of Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch as second auditor and the election of Dr. Cora Smith Eaton in her place. In referring later to Dr. Eaton, Mr. Blackwell said: "In my attendance upon thirty-three successive annual national conventions I have never seen one with such complete and faithful preparation by the local committee and such abundant and cordial welcome.... It seemed natural to recognize the generous hospitality thus extended to the convention by the people of Minnesota by choosing Dr. Eaton of Minneapolis, chairman of this local committee, as one of the auditors for the coming year."[11][Pg 18]

A closely reasoned address on the Ethics of Suffrage was made by Louis F. Post of Chicago, in the course of which he said:

An unexpected pleasure was a brief address by Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, a veteran suffragist and prominent physician of New York, who was attending the convention of the American Medical Association. She based her argument for equal suffrage on the injustice practiced toward women physicians when they seek the opportunity for hospital practice. Mrs. F. W. Hunt, wife of the Governor of Idaho, testified to the good results of woman suffrage in that State for the past five years. Others who gave addresses were the Rev. Alice Ball Loomis (Wis.), The Feminine Doctor in Society; Mrs. Lydia Phillips Williams, president of the Minnesota Federation of Clubs, Growth and Greetings; Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert (Ill.), For the Sake of the Child; Miss Frances Griffin (Ala.), A Southern Tour; the Rev. Olympia Brown (Wis.), The Tabooed Trio; Mrs. Annie L. Digges (Kas.), The Duty of the Hour; Miss Laura A. Gregg (Neb.), Who Will Defend the Flag?; the Rev. Celia Parker Woolley (Ill.), Woman's Worth in the Community; the Rev.[Pg 19] William B. Riley (Minn.), Woman's Rights and Political Righteousness.[12]

An inadequate newspaper account of the very able address of Miss Gail Laughlin (N. Y.), on The Industrial Laggard, said:

The report of the Committee on Legislation for Civil Rights, Mrs. Laura M. Johns (Kans.), chairman, showed that it had been in correspondence with many State associations which were working for the repeal of bad laws and the enactment of good ones; for raising the age of consent; for child-labor bills; for women physicians in State institutions; for women on school boards and in high educational positions and for many other civil and legal measures. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby's report on Industrial Problems affecting Women and Children showed much diligent research into the discriminations against women in the business and educational world and gave many flagrant instances. "In[Pg 20] Government positions," she said, "this was clearly due to their lack of a vote."

Sunday afternoon the Rev. Olympia Brown gave the convention sermon—The Forward March—in the First Baptist Church, with scripture reading by Mrs. Catt, prayer by the Rev. Margaret T. Olmstead, hymns by the Rev. Kate Hughes and the Rev. Mrs. Woolley; responsive reading by the Rev. Alice Ball Loomis. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw preached in the Church of the Redeemer in the morning and Louis F. Post in the evening. Dr. Shaw preached in the evening at the Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church; Miss Laura Clay spoke at the Central Baptist; Dr. Frances Woods at the first Unitarian; Miss Laura Gregg at Plymouth; Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford at the Wesley Methodist in the morning and the Rev. Olympia Brown in the evening; Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert in the Chicago Avenue Baptist; the Rev. Margaret F. Olmstead at All Souls; the Rev. Alice Ball Loomis at Tuttle Universalist; Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman at[Pg 21] the Friends' Church; Miss Ella Moffatt at the Bloomington Avenue Methodist, and Mr. and Miss Blackwell at the Trinity Methodist.

An official letter was sent by request to the Constitutional Convention of Alabama asking for a woman suffrage clause. An invitation to hold a conference in Baltimore was accepted. Arrangements were made to have a National Suffrage Conference September 9, 10, in Buffalo, N. Y., during the Pan-American Exposition. It was decided also to accept an invitation from the Inter-State and West Indian Exposition Board to hold a conference during the Exposition in Charleston, S. C. Official invitations were received from various public bodies to hold the next convention in Washington, Atlantic City, Milwaukee and New Orleans.

The president made the closing address to a large audience on the last evening, a keen, analytical review of the demand for woman suffrage. "Its fundamental principle," she said, "is that 'all governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed.' It is the argument that has enfranchised men everywhere at all times and it is the one which will enfranchise women." As it was extemporaneous no adequate report can be given.

Nothing was left undone by this hospitable city for the success and pleasure of the convention. Very favorable reports and commendatory editorials were given by the newspapers. An excellent program by the best musical talent was furnished at each session under the direction of Mrs. Cleone Daniels Bergren. An evening reception in honor of the national officers, to which eight hundred invitations were sent, took place in the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Gregory. The Business Woman's Club, Martha Scott Anderson, president, gave an afternoon reception in its rooms, the invitations reading: "The club desires to show in a measure its appreciation of the labor by the members of the National Suffrage Association in behalf of women." Trolley rides through the handsome suburbs and a visit to the big flouring mills were among the diversions.[13][Pg 22]

This chapter has tried to picture the first convention of the National American Suffrage Association in the new century, typical of many which preceded and followed. If it and other chapters seem overburdened with personal mention it must be remembered that it is a precious privilege to those who assisted in this great movement, and to their descendants, to have their names thus preserved in history. In the biography of Susan B. Anthony (page 1246) may be found the following tribute to these conventions, which were held annually for over fifty years.

[Pg 23]

CHAPTER II.

THE NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1902.

The association held its Thirty-fourth annual convention, which was especially distinguished by the presence of visitors from other lands, in the First Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C., Feb. 12-18, 1902.[14] There was special significance in this meeting place, as the pastor of the church for many years was the Rev. Byron Sutherland,[15] who from its pulpit had more than once denounced woman suffrage and its advocates; but it was now under the liberal ministry of the Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, their[Pg 24] strong and valued advocate. The Washington Post said: "More than a thousand visitors were present yesterday afternoon at the first session of the National American Suffrage Convention and the first International Woman Suffrage Conference. Perhaps no other meeting of its kind ever has occasioned as much interest on the part of Washington women generally.[16] The large audience room was packed to the doors ... and it has been arranged to hold overflow meetings in the church parlors." The platform was banked with flowers over which waved the flags of thirty nations, lent by Miss Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross, to whom they had been presented by representatives of each individual nation. Above them all hung the "suffrage flag" with four golden stars on its blue ground for the four States where women were fully enfranchised—Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho. The president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, was in the chair.

This convention will be ever memorable because under its auspices the First International Woman Suffrage Conference was held which resulted later in the founding of the International Alliance. The proceedings of this conference are described in the chapter devoted to the Alliance. Ten countries were represented and their delegates took part in the convention, which was welcomed on the opening afternoon by the Hon. Henry B. F. McFarland, president of the board of commissioners of the District of Columbia. He addressed the delegates as "stockholders in the national capital" and said: "Personally I welcome not only you but your cause. In common, I believe, with the majority of intelligent men I think you have won your case on the argument. Equal suffrage is equal justice and there is no reason why such women as you should be classed in the States with idiots and criminals." Mrs. May Wright Sewall, who was to[Pg 25] greet the foreign guests in the name of the International Council of Women, of which she was president, was detained until later. Mrs. Catt with words of highest eulogy introduced Miss Barton, who said:

Miss Susan B. Anthony, honorary president of the association, who was next presented and enthusiastically received, closed her brief welcome by saying that Mrs. Stanton and herself conceived the idea of holding an International Suffrage Conference in 1883 when they were in Europe but the time was too early for it, and now, twenty years later, European women had come as delegates to one in the United States and henceforth the women of the two countries would go forward together in this cause. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, referred to the fact that she was born in England and transplanted to America, and said: "While you are divided from us by geographical lines, which are imaginary, and by a language which is not the same, you have not come to an alien people or land. In the realm of the heart, in the domain of mind, there are no geographical lines dividing the nations. You come to us as members of one family.[Pg 27] You come that we may all stand on one plane of freedom. I wish we could take you to our four 'star States' where women vote. We mean to give you of our best but we expect to get from you much more than we give. You will show us that those who speak English are not the only ones whose hearts are alive to the great flame of liberty."

The national corresponding secretary, Miss Kate Gordon, read a telegram from Dr. Augusta Stowe Gullen, leader of the suffrage movement in Canada: "Greetings and best wishes from your sisters across the line"; a cablegram from Christiana: "Success to your work, from the National Woman Suffrage Association of Norway." A letter was read by the delegate from Norway, Mrs. Gudrun Drewsen, from the president of the association, Miss Gina Krog, which said in part: "The woman suffrage movement! I know of no movement, no cause that is at the same time so national and so international. The victory now gained in Norway, municipal suffrage and eligibility to municipal office for a great many women, will no doubt in time influence every home in our country; but we could not have won this victory without receiving impulses from other civilized nations. We are indeed indebted to men and women in several European countries for the privileges which we now possess, but from no other country in the world have we received the inspiration in our work which we have had from the United States; to no women in the world are we so indebted as to the women of this country. Those great and noble pioneers and their fervent struggle—how they have inspired us and awakened our enthusiasm! That assiduous work, year after year—how it has strengthened our hands! That glorious example, those results attained in your country—how we have brought them before our legislators to awaken their sense of justice! I sincerely wish that the news of the victory achieved in our country may prove an impetus to you in your work. To be assured of this would give us the great satisfaction of feeling that at all events a small fraction of our great debt to you was paid."

Miss Gordon read a letter from the Federation of Progressive Women's Societies in Germany which declared that its first and foremost object was to secure for German women full political[Pg 28] rights and continued: "We watch with especial interest and sympathy the effort of those who persistently and courageously work for the full citizenship of women. The women of the United States have, in this struggle, set a noble example to the women of Europe. In Germany we recall with tender veneration such names as Lucy Stone, Frances Willard, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and Susan B. Anthony. The women of Germany are without political rights. It is far easier to fight for equality and freedom in a young country, like the United States, than in an old civilization, cumbered with traditions—a country that looks back on a history of many centuries, that only a few decades ago fought its way through severe conflicts and painful changes to political unity and is now slowly growing into responsibilities which social and political problems impose on a modern State."

"The Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Tasmania sends hearty greetings and trusts that the International Suffrage Conference may be successful and that it will bring nearer that day when man and woman shall sit 'side by side, full summed in all their powers,'" was the message signed by Jessie S. Rooke, its president, which was given by Miss Anna Gordon, president of the W. C. T. U. of the United States. The response to the addresses of welcome was made by Madame Sofja Levovna Friedland of Russia, who said in beautiful English:

Madame Friedland told of the visit of the Grand Duke Alexis to this country and of the poem read by Oliver Wendell Holmes at a banquet given in his honor, and closed: "Thus an American poet has expressed the feelings of his countrymen and women. God bless the United States! Long life to President Roosevelt and prosperity to you all! In the days to come and the years to follow may our two great nations stand side by side in harmony and peace. May the Star-Spangled Banner and the Russian Double Eagle soar aloft, not on battlefields, not against any nation, but for a brotherhood of men in the federation of the world." The opening session ended with the president's address by Mrs. Catt, in the course of which she said:

Mrs. Catt closed her address with these words: "Yet before the attainment of equal rights for men and women there will be years of struggle and disappointment. We of a younger generation have taken up the work where our noble and consecrated pioneers left it. We in turn are enlisted for life and generations yet unborn will take up the work where we lay it down. So through centuries if need be the education will continue, until a regenerated race of men and women who are equal before God and man shall control the destinies of the earth. It will be the proud duty of the new International Alliance, if one shall be formed, to extend its helping hand to the women of every nation and every people and its completed duty will not have been performed until the last vestige of the old obedience of one human being to another shall have been destroyed."

The presence of the foreign visitors and the greetings from abroad made an original and pleasing variation of the usual program at national conventions. The Evening with the Pioneers[Pg 31] opened with the singing by the audience of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, written by one of them, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, led by another, John Hutchinson, a member of the famous family of singers, who the day before had celebrated his 90th birthday. Miss Anthony presided and the Washington Times said that she "was greeted with a storm of applause, the convention rising as one woman and with waving handkerchiefs cheering her to the echo for several minutes." The Loyal Legion of Women through its president gave her an armful of red roses and in accepting them she observed smilingly: "I can only say what I have often said in late years—it is much pleasanter to be pelted with roses than stones! The National Suffrage Association stands like a Mother Church with her arms wide open to those who want to come in and we are especially glad to receive loyal women."[17]

Mrs. Florence Fenwick Miller, a member of the London School Board for nine years, brought greetings from Mrs. Priscilla Bright McLaren, 87 years old, of whom Miss Anthony said: "She is an elder sister of John and Jacob Bright. John was the great champion of manhood suffrage but Jacob was still greater, for he was a champion of suffrage for women also. Mrs. McLaren sent a loving and appreciative message to "the dear American women who have so steadfastly held up the banner of woman suffrage and especially to the octogenarians, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony," and closed it with a Christmas poem. Miss Anthony recalled her last visit to Mrs. McLaren in Edinburgh three years before and said: "I wish you could see how beautiful she looked as she lay on the bed in her pretty white cap and blue dressing sack. She is an inspiration to the women of Great Britain and she has been to me."

Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.), gave a greeting from Mrs.[Pg 32] Stanton, in her 87th year, and read her paper on Educated Suffrage.[18] In this able and scholarly document Mrs. Stanton said:

Mrs. Stanton had made her last address in person to a national convention in 1892, when she resigned the presidency of the association—that incomparable essay on The Solitude of Self—but she never had failed to send her annual battle cry. The one to[Pg 33] this convention, which began the fulfilment of her dream of a world-wide movement for woman suffrage, was written with all her old-time logic and forceful argument and it proved to be her last, as her long and valuable life was ended the next November.

Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton (O.) read the paper of Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller (Md.), detained at the last moment, on Why We Come Again, in which she explained why the suffragists would continue to come to Washington and haunt Congress until their object, a Federal Amendment, had been attained. The humor for which Mrs. Miller, a staid "Quaker," was noted sparkled in its sentences although she protested that she was entirely serious. Miss Anthony introduced Henry B. Blackwell (Mass.) with the quaint remark: "He was the husband of Lucy Stone; I don't think he can quite represent her but he will do the best he can!" Mr. Blackwell briefly reviewed the agitation for women suffrage during the first half of the 19th century. He told of meeting Lucy Stone in 1850 and being so charmed he advised his elder brother to make her acquaintance; of hearing her address a Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1852 with William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips; of making his own first suffrage speech in Cleveland, O., in 1853 and of his marriage in 1855. In presenting the next speaker Miss Anthony said: "Mr. Blackwell alluded to his brother, who did not marry Lucy but Antoinette—the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first ordained woman minister—who will now address you." Her paper on Chivalry was a clear analysis of the changed ideas of this word, touching with sarcasm on that of the days when the effort for the rights of women began, a chivalry which gave the person and property of the wife, the guardianship of the children, all her legal privileges, to the husband. She traced the evolution from the early privations of the pioneer suffragists to the honors that are now showered upon them and drew a striking contrast between "the dying old chivalry, which made itself the sole umpire of the benefits to be granted, and the increasing new chivalry, which consults the beneficiaries themselves as to their needs and desires."

Miss Anthony then introduced the first woman ordained by the Universalist Church, the Rev. Olympia Brown, who struck[Pg 34] the keynote of her address in saying: "When we are vexed by the seeming irrationality of some of our Congressmen, may we not explain it as due to the fact that they are thinking of the kind of men who elected them? The United States debars intelligent American women from voting and says to the riffraff of Europe, 'Come over and help govern us.' It is an experiment which no other country in the world ever did make and no other ever will make and I predict that it will be a failure. It will be necessary to call in the aid of the intelligent American women and soon or late this will be done."

Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller, daughter of the noted Abolitionist, Gerrit Smith, was asked to rise and Miss Anthony paid glowing tribute to him and to many men and women who had stood by the cause of woman suffrage in its early days. The audience were pleased to enjoy once more her informal and unique method of presiding, as glancing over the audience she singled out veteran suffragists who had come to hear and not to speak, calling them by name with some reminiscent comment. Her eye fell upon William H. Bright, who sponsored the bill in the Legislature of Wyoming which gave the first equal suffrage ever granted anywhere to women. In answering the demand of the audience for a speech he told how Mrs. Esther Morris had come from New York State to Wyoming in 1867 and how she and his wife had persuaded him to prepare the bill, which was passed by a Democratic Legislature and signed by a Republican Governor. In response to a general request Miss Anthony told the story, of which audiences never seemed to tire, of that historic occasion when she broke all precedents by addressing a Teachers' Convention in 1853. This interesting session closed with the singing of Auld Lang Syne led by the venerable John Hutchinson.

During a morning session Miss Gordon made her report as corresponding secretary, saying that although it covered only the seven months since the last convention it showed that 6,500 letters had been sent out from the headquarters during this period. In 1895, when Mrs. Catt became chairman of the Organization Committee, she had established headquarters for her work in one little room in the New York World building, that was really an[Pg 35] annex of her husband's offices, and begun the publication of a Bulletin, which was the organ of the committee. In 1897 it became the organ of the National Association and had now expanded into a quarterly paper called Progress, which was edited by Alice Stone Blackwell, Ellis Meredith and Laura Gregg. A preliminary edition of 100,000 had been sent out from the headquarters, the expense borne by Boston women, and later 16,000 copies of the October and 20,000 of the January editions had gone to the 14,000 newspapers of the country, to members of Congress and others. A monthly series of Political Equality Leaflets was also commenced and a Course of Study for Clubs and individuals was established for which a dozen or more books were published. These two valuable features were carried on without any expense to the association, as they paid for themselves.

Miss Gordon described the National Conference held in Charleston, S. C., February 3-4, at the invitation of the board of the Inter-State and West Indian Exposition; told of the conference in Baltimore[19] and said of the one in Buffalo: "The far-reaching effect and impetus given to the woman's movement by the Congress of Women held in connection with the Chicago Exposition, determined the Business Committee's acceptance of an invitation to hold a National Conference during the Pan-American Exposition. Too late did we learn that the invitation extended included no responsibility whatever upon the Exposition to further the success of the conference. Buffalo did not represent an organized center and after several fruitless attempts to form a local committee, the headquarters realized that every little detail essential to success must be attended to by the board. From all sides reports of the most discouraging nature were received as[Pg 36] to the absolute failure attending all conferences there but nevertheless we started a vigorous correspondence and for five preceding weeks every Sunday paper in Buffalo was supplied with matter from headquarters. To make a long story short, September 9-10 witnessed our conference well attended, with the night sessions crowded and success acknowledged on all sides, even though we labored under the disadvantage of its being held during the season of sorrow and distress in that city while President McKinley's life hovered in the valley of the shadow of death."

Miss Gordon said that during the year Mrs. Catt had made a tour of nine States and taken part in forty meetings. Referring to the efforts made to have a woman suffrage clause put into new constitutions that were being framed in several States she said: "The clause which lived twenty-four hours in the Alabama Constitution, granting to taxpaying women owning $500 worth of property the suffrage on questions of bonded indebtedness, was killed by a disease peculiar to the genus homo known as chivalry. In the case in point, the diagnosis revealed that the fairest, purest and brightest jewels that ever shone under the brilliant rays of God's shining sun would be immeasurably lowered by voting upon questions relating to the taxation of their own property. Yet, under the vagaries of this disease, this same convention conferred on husbands the right to vote on their wives' property. This is the same character of chivalry which gives the wages of the brightest, fairest jewels to the husband, which makes impossible equal pay for equal work and which classes the jewels with the idiots, insane and criminals in that and other States."

The program was so crowded with attractions that it left no time for the usual conferences on work and campaigns, so they were placed at 9:30 a.m. As they had been so largely attended by visitors the preceding year as to call forth a rule from the Board of Officers that thereafter delegates only should be permitted to attend them, this was not disastrous. Early morning conferences therefore were held on Organization and Press and two others took the form of State presidents' councils. The Plan of Work recommended again by the Executive Committee and adopted by the convention urged work in Congressional districts for the 16th Amendment; an attempt to secure tax-paying[Pg 37] suffrage; more resolutions by national and State conventions; a campaign to secure suffrage speakers at Chautauqua assemblies and State and county fairs; prizes for essays on woman suffrage in schools and colleges; circulating suffrage libraries and the general use of a suffrage stamp on letters.

Two novel evening programs were devoted to The New Woman and The New Man, the first with the following speakers: Mrs. Helen Adelaide Shaw of Boston; Mrs. Elizabeth M. Gilmer of New Orleans, known far and wide as "Dorothy Dix," said to receive the highest salary of any woman journalist; Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, a prominent physician and surgeon of Minneapolis; Miss Gail Laughlin (N. Y.) who had taken the highest honors in the Law Class of Cornell University; the Rev. Ida C. Hultin, a successful Unitarian minister of Boston. Miss Margaret Haley of Chicago, who led the great fight of the Teachers' Federation of that city to compel the big corporations to pay their taxes in order that the public schools should not be crippled for lack of funds, could not be present because of a crisis in the legal proceedings. Each of the women representing the four professions of law, medicine, theology and journalism, in addresses scintillating with humor, reviewed the early prejudices which had been overcome, told of the large number of women who had entered the field when the opportunity came but showed that they could never have an even chance until there was complete obliteration of sex prejudice. Little idea of their interest could be obtained from fragmentary paragraphs.

The house was crowded to hear about The New Man,[20] represented first on the program by Oswald Garrison Villard, grandson of William Lloyd Garrison and owner and editor of the New York Evening Post, who gave a spirited and effective account of Women in the New York Municipal Campaign. This was[Pg 38] the first in which women ever had taken a prominent part and it had attracted wide attention, a revolt against Tammany corruption under Richard Croker. Mr. Villard told of the remarkable work done by the Women's Municipal League under direction of the Citizen's Union for the election of Seth Low as Mayor and a reform ticket. He paid a sarcastic tribute to the assistance of the women anti-suffragists. "To have been really consistent," he said, "they should have urged upon their more emancipated sisters that woman's sphere is the home and any steps that lead beyond it tend in the long run to the destruction both of the home and of the eternal feminine." He closed by declaring that "the Titanic struggle between right and wrong in the great cities can not be won without the cooperation of that half of the nation's citizens in whose hearts are ever found the truest ideals of family and society, of city life and State life and of national existence." At its conclusion Mrs. Catt said: "And yet after Mr. Low was elected Mayor of Greater New York a large number of the women who had helped him win the victory urged him to appoint some women on the school board and he refused. So we must suppose that he is willing to have women pull the chestnuts out of the fire for men but is not willing to give them a share of the chestnuts."

A feature of the evening was the scholarly address of the Hon. William Dudley Foulke (Ind.), president of the U. S. Civil Service Commission. He objected to being classed as a "new man," since long ago he was for several years president of the American Suffrage Association. "Men would not be satisfied with indirect influence," he declared and continued: "It is often said that woman suffrage is just but that there is no need of it, because women have no interests separate from those of men. That argument was used to me only lately by an eminent political economist. I said: 'Suppose a railroad runs through a town and a woman owns a large property in that town and yet cannot vote on the question of raising a subsidy; are her interests necessarily the same as those of every man in the town?' My friends, that case is universal. Suppose a widow is trying to bring up her son in the principles of morality and a saloon is opened on the corner opposite her home. I do not speak as[Pg 39] an advocate of prohibition but I do say that the interest of the mother is different from that of the man who sells liquor. Or suppose she is bringing up a daughter; she has a sacred right to protect that daughter from a libertine. Her interest is certainly different from that of the tempter.... We do not realize what an immense waste there is in denying woman entrance to political life. She ought to have free access to anything she is qualified to do and where she is not qualified she will drop out."

John S. Crosby, a prominent Democratic leader of New York, made a thorough analysis of the functions of the State and the Government, showed the utter fallacy of constituting men the governing and women the governed class and closed as follows: "Attempt to prove that woman's claim to the right of suffrage is as valid as any that man can make would be like trying to demonstrate the truth of a self-evident proposition.... We ask the ballot for woman not merely because she has a right to it but quite as much because it is her duty to exercise that right. The irresistible power of that all-embracing organization, the State, holds you and me and all that are dear to us as its helpless and often hopeless subjects. The combined wisdom of all of us would be none too great for its intelligent administration and we demand for our own sake and for the sake of those that shall come after us that the wisdom of woman shall be included; not only that her delicate, intuitional sense of justice shall leaven the lump of public opinion but that her deft hand shall help to knead it into the bread of righteous law. We ask as one of the rights that government is bound to secure that in the administration of its power it shall make use of the fullest wisdom of the whole people; that the entire popular brain and social conscience shall take cognizance of and be responsible for all acts of government. Not until then shall we see true democracy; not until then shall we indeed have a government of the people, by the people and for the people."

The next day was one always commemorated by suffragists—the birthday of Susan B. Anthony—this time the 82nd. The Woman's Journal began its account: "As Miss Anthony sat at breakfast on February 15, with one of the jars of delicious cream[Pg 40] before her that were sent her daily by the president of the Maryland Woman Suffrage Association, she was unexpectedly surrounded by the foreign delegates in a body. A birthday greeting drawn up and signed by them was read aloud by Mrs. Florence Fenwick Miller of England, while the rest, grouped behind her, bent forward listening with attentive faces—a pretty picture. Among the gifts which she received during the afternoon session were a canoe full of flowers from 'one of the girls' with a poem; a handsome feather boa from Mrs. Swift and Mrs. Sperry of California; a cup made from the wood of the floor under the table on which the Declaration of Independence was signed, presented in the name of Mrs. General Geddes; a bouquet of red roses from Prof. Theodosia Ammons of Colorado Agricultural College; potted plants from the Swedish and Norwegian delegates; over $500 from Mrs. Fanny Garrison Villard, Miss Emily Howland, Mrs. Kenyon, Mrs. W. W. Trimble, Miss Nettie Lovisa White, Mrs. William M. Ivins and other friends; also quantities of fruit and flowers. The address was as follows:

[Later the foreign delegates gave Mrs. Catt a handsomely engraved silver card case.]

The Washington Times said of the occasion:

Miss Mary Garrett Hay, the champion money raiser, then made the appeal to the audience, who quickly responded with over $5,000 and she received an appreciative vote of thanks from the convention. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, the treasurer, reported the receipts of the preceding year as $13,581, with a carefully itemized and audited statement.

Among the most interesting and valuable features of all national conventions are the reports of the work in the various States and yet because of the large number it is impossible to give specific mention or quotations. They were varied on this occasion by the reports from foreign countries—Venezuela, Chili, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Porto Rico, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and France. These had been obtained at the request of Mrs. Catt from ambassadors, consuls or persons appointed by them and represented months of labor. Several evenings were largely devoted to addresses by delegates from other countries; one by Public School Inspector James L. Hughes, Toronto; the English Woman in Politics, Florence Fenwick Miller; the Australian Woman in Politics, Vida Goldstein; Women in South American Republics, Carolina Huidobro; Women in Porto Rico, Resident Commissioner Federico Degetau; Women in the Philippines, Harriet Potter Nourse; Deborah, Emmy Evald, Sweden; Women in Egypt and Jerusalem, Lydia von Finkelstein Mountford; Women in Turkey,[Pg 42] Florence Fensham, Dean of American College for Girls in Constantinople; Women in Germany, Antoine Stolle.

When the report for Porto Rico was made Miss Shaw supplemented it with a graphic account of a trip to the West Indies with Mrs. Lydia Avery Coonley Ward of Chicago, which she had just finished, telling of the position of women, the marriage laws, etc. The work of the National Council of Women was presented by the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer (R. I.); the report of the affiliated Friends' Equal Rights Association by Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman (N. Y.), its president.

The Sunday afternoon services in the church were conducted by the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, assisted by the Rev. Olympia Brown and the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw.[21] Mrs. Spencer first defined the ideal of womanly character held by the older poets and philosophers, quoting Milton's line describing Adam and Eve: "He for God only; she for God in him," and the expression used by the hard, old father of Tennyson's "Princess": "Man to command and woman to obey." She then expressed the modern ideal as that of devotion to the same essentials but different in expression. "Woman is not called to a new kingdom but to a larger occupancy of that which has been hers from the beginning. The woman with the child in her arms was the beginning of the family; the hearth fire and the altar fire grew from this; the elder child teaching the younger was the beginning of the school. We are making over all these inherited traditions and inherited tendencies and socializing them.... The ideal woman is no longer a far-away Madonna with her feet on the clouds; she is as divine but she is human. What means the humanizing of religion and the passing of harsh, old creeds but that a greater, more human, more womanly influence is felt in all the relations of life."[Pg 43]

Mr. Blackwell, chairman of the committee on Presidential suffrage, said in his report: "This is the open door for woman suffrage in every State in the Union. Any Legislature at any session by a majority vote of both Houses, either separately or in joint session, without any change of State constitution, can empower women to help select the presidential electors on the same terms as male citizens. The power is absolute and unqualified. Let women in every State petition their Legislature to enable women to take part in this most important form of suffrage known to the American people. It is objected to our demand for woman suffrage that women do not want it and will not exercise it if granted. This is now the only method of testing women's wish to take part in their government. If by a general exercise of the right they show their public spirit, the Legislature by submitting an amendment to the State constitution can afterwards extend suffrage to its citizens in State and local elections. This step will be the most conservative way of procedure. The control will remain, as now, in the hands of a Legislature elected by men alone. If it prove unsatisfactory to the men of the State any subsequent Legislature can repeal the law."

A report of the International Suffrage Conference, which had been in progress during the convention, and the forming of a committee to further permanent organization, was made by its secretary, Miss Goldstein, and the convention voted that the National American Woman Suffrage Association should cooperate with this committee. The nominations for office were made as usual by secret ballot and as usual were so nearly unanimous that the secretary was instructed to cast the vote. The only change in the present board was the election of Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall, for many years prominent in the work in Iowa, as second auditor in place of Dr. Eaton, whose professional duties required all her time. Invitations for the next convention were received from Niagara Falls, Detroit, St. Louis, Denver, Baltimore and New Orleans. The Board of Trade, the Era Club and the Progressive Union united in the one from New Orleans, which was accepted and cordial thanks returned for the others.

The resolutions presented by Mr. Blackwell, chairman of the[Pg 44] committee, rejoiced in the suffrage already gained and the securing in the past year of laws in various States giving equal guardianship of their children to mothers and increased property rights to wives. They called the attention of the Civil Service Commission to discriminations made against women and emphasized the protest of the preceding year against government regulation of vice in the Philippines. Later at an executive meeting of the board a vigorous set of resolutions was prepared, stating that the reports of Governor William H. Taft and General McArthur admitted and defended "certified examinations of women" in the new possessions of the United States. It showed at length the results of government regulation in other countries which had caused it to be abandoned and declared that "such things ought not to be permitted under the American flag."[22]

Mrs. Colby's report on Industrial Problems Relating to Women cited as one example of discrimination: "An effort is now being made in Congress to do away with the annual sick leave of employees, because, it is claimed, women take so much advantage of it. Investigation shows, however, that the per cent. of sick leave is highest in the Inter-State Commerce Commission, where not a woman is employed—twelve per cent.—and only seven per cent. in the Agricultural Department, where a very large number are employed." She gave numerous instances of unfairness against women on the civil service lists, said that women wage earners must find a forum on the suffrage platform where they can plead their cause and carefully analyze the industrial problems especially affecting women. Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock, chairman of the Press Committee, gave a comprehensive report stating that while 50,000 news stories and articles had been sent to the papers in 1900 the number had increased to 175,000 during the last year and there was reason to believe that three-fourths of them had been used. The largest city papers freely accepted the articles.[Pg 45]

Former U. S. Senator Henry W. Blair of New Hampshire came in for one session and was called to the platform for a speech. He was much loved by the suffragists, as he had been one of the strongest champions of woman suffrage during his many years in the Senate and had brought the Federal Amendment to a vote on Jan. 25, 1887. (History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, chapter VI.) Letters of affectionate greeting were sent to the pioneers and veteran workers, Mrs. Stanton, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Mary S. Anthony, Jane H. Spofford, Sallie Clay Bennett, Caroline Hallowell Miller and Abigail S. Duniway. The deaths among the older and more prominent members during the year had been many and fifty were mentioned in the memorial resolutions.

The notable social features of the week were the afternoon receptions given by Mrs. Julia Langdon Barber at her beautiful home, Belmont, and by Mrs. John B. Henderson at Boundary Castle, the latter followed the next day by a dinner for the officers of the association and the delegates from abroad. Both of these well-known Washington hostesses were early suffragists and had often extended the hospitality of their spacious homes to the individual leaders and to the conventions.

A very interesting address was given on the last evening by Madame Friedland on Russian Women of Past Centuries. U. S. Senator Thomas M. Patterson of Colorado presented a vigorous and convincing endorsement of the practical working of woman suffrage in that State for the past nineteen years and its benefits to women and to civic life. U. S. Senator John F. Shafroth of Colorado, always a strong and loyal supporter of suffrage for women, was on the platform. Dr. Shaw, introduced by Mrs. Catt as "the Demosthenes of the movement," delivered for the first time her impressive speech, The Power of an Incentive, in which she showed how laws, customs and lack of opportunity took away the incentive for great work from the life of women. Until they can have the same that inspires men, she said, they never can rise to their highest capabilities. No adequate reports of any of these addresses exist.

The audience waited to hear from Miss Anthony, who was thus described by a writer present: "The picture that Miss Anthony[Pg 46] made during the evening was one which the delegates will carry away with them to keep. She wore a black satin gown with a handsome point lace fichu and draped over her shoulders a soft, white shawl, while close by was a large jar of lavender hyacinths. Her expressive face reflected every mood of the evening and it now spoke pride, satisfaction and sorrow. She told of the joy and gratification she felt in the wonderful galaxy of women at the convention and the progress of her loved cause, and when she voiced the wish that she might be with them at the next convention her words were almost lost in a whirlwind of applause."

Mrs. Catt in closing with a brief address one of the most noteworthy conventions on record, called attention to what had been the key-note of her speech before the House Judiciary Committee and said: "We have asked of Congress the most reasonable thing a great cause ever demanded—an investigation of conditions in the equal suffrage States—and on its results we rest our case."

Under the heading Impressions of a Non-combatant a writer in the Washington Times gave the following opinion:

For a quarter of a century during the first session of each Congress committees of Senate and House had given a hearing to representatives of the National Suffrage Association to present[Pg 47] arguments for the submission of an amendment to the Federal Constitution which would enfranchise women, and at an earlier date to advocate other suffrage measures. Because of the distinguished speakers from abroad the hearings at this time were of unusual interest. The convention adjourned for them on the morning of February 18 and the Senate and House Committee rooms were crowded.

All the members of the Senate Committee were present—Augustus O. Bacon (Ga.) chairman; James H. Berry (Ark.); George P. Wetmore (R. I.); Thomas R. Bard (Calif.); John H. Mitchell (Ore.). Miss Susan B. Anthony, honorary president of the association, presided and said:

Miss Anthony then presented Miss Harriet May Mills (N. Y.), who spoke from the standpoint of tax paying women, who in the towns and villages alone of her State paid taxes on over $5,000,000 worth of property; Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, president of the Pennsylvania Suffrage Association, who showed the connection between politics and conditions in Philadelphia; the Rev. Olympia Brown, president of the Wisconsin association, who pointed out the need of both the reason and the intuition in the country to govern it wisely. Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, president of the New York association, called for a Federal Amendment to enfranchise women because of the principles on which this Government was founded. Miss Gail Laughlin, a graduate[Pg 48] of Wellesley College and Cornell University Law School, made a strong argument on the effect enfranchisement would have on woman's economic independence and greater efficiency. Mrs. Jennie A. Brown, of Minneapolis, told of the unlimited opportunities allowed to the women of the great northwest which were largely counteracted by their political restrictions. Mrs. Mary Wood Swift of California, president of the National Council of Women, declared that the countless thousands of the educated, developed women of today were fully equal to the responsibilities of citizenship. Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day, president of the Maine association, demonstrated the inferior and unfortunate position of disfranchised women. Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, editor of the Woman's Journal (Boston), indicated how every step of the progress of women had been opposed by the same objections now made to woman suffrage and submitted these objections and the answers to them in a convincing statement which filled ten pages of the printed report of the hearing.

Miss Anthony introduced Mrs. Gudrun Drewsen, one of the foreign delegates to the convention, who said in part: "Norwegian women look back to the 25th of May, 1901, as a day of great victory, for on that day a bill was passed in our Parliament which granted Municipal suffrage to all women paying taxes on a certain limited income, about $100 a year, or whose husbands paid on such income. This law has thoroughly changed the position of the married woman and from having always been a minor she has suddenly become of age. It may be of interest to you of the United States, who can show so many tax paying women without any right to vote, to know that we were not able to get our Parliament interested in tax paying woman suffrage until the bill included wives also. The immediate result of this law has been the election of several women to important municipal positions; for instance, members of the common council in the capital; members of the board of aldermen; at one place chief assessor. Women may serve on juries and grand juries and have been appointed members of special congressional commissions. Several women doctors have been appointed in public institutions, on boards of health as experts for the Government, etc. Matrons have been employed at prisons[Pg 49] where women are and special prisons for women in charge of a matron have been established. On the whole we begin to see the glory of the rising sun which will give us in a little while the bright, clear day."

Miss Vida Goldstein, a delegate from Australia, began her address: "I am very proud that I have come here from a country where the woman suffrage movement has made such rapid strides. The note was first struck in America and yet women today are struggling here for what we have had in Australia for years, and we have proved all the statements and arguments against woman suffrage to be utterly without foundation. It seems incredible to us that the women here have not even the School and Municipal suffrage except in a very few States. We have had this for over forty years and we have never heard a word against it. It is simply taken as a matter of course that the women should vote. They say that as soon as women get this privilege they are going to lose the chivalrous attentions of men. Let me assure you that a woman has not the slightest conception of what chivalry means until she gets a vote...." Miss Goldstein told of woman suffrage in New Zealand and produced the highest testimony as to its good results in both countries.

In closing the hearing Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, national vice president, said in part:

At the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Representative John J. Jenkins, in the chair, expressed regret that George W. Ray of New York, the chairman, was unavoidably absent and said: "He is very much in sympathy with what the ladies desire to say this morning—much more so than the present occupant of the chair." Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Suffrage Association, who had charge of the hearing, said: "Mr. Chairman, we have just been holding an International Woman Suffrage Conference in the city of Washington, eight nations having sent official delegates from woman suffrage organizations, and several others have cooperated through correspondence, and we have invited representatives of these nations to come to you this morning and present some facts concerning the practical operation of suffrage in countries other than our own. Our first speaker will be Miss Vida Goldstein of Australia." Miss Goldstein gave in substance the address which will be found in the report of the Senate hearing, after which Mrs. Catt said: "Although I have been a resident and taxpayer in four different States and able to qualify as a voter I have never been permitted any suffrage whatever. I now have the privilege of introducing a Russian woman who has been a voter in her country ever since she was 21." Madame Friedland said in part:

Mrs. Catt said of her next speaker: "It is eminently proper that a woman of Sweden should address you, where women have voted longer than anywhere else in the world."

Mrs. Catt then introduced to the committee Miss Isabel Campbell, daughter of former Governor Campbell of Wyoming, who in 1869 signed the bill which enfranchised the women of the Territory; Prof. Theodosia Ammons of the Colorado University of Agriculture and Mrs. Ida M. Weaver, a resident of Idaho. Each gave a comprehensive report of the practical working of woman suffrage in her State; the large proportion of women who voted; their appointment on boards and election to offices; the result in improved polling places, better candidates and cleaner politics; higher pay for working women; the advantages to the community; the comradeship between men and women and the general satisfaction of the people with the experiment. Their reports as a whole offered unimpeachable testimony in favor of the enfranchisement of women.

Mrs. Florence Fenwick Miller in her address said:

Mrs. Miller went fully into the work of women on borough and county councils and closed her valuable address by saying: "Gentlemen, the work of women in English public life has not only been unattended with any mischief but has been a great force for service and benefit. Surely American men can trust their sisters as our men have for the past generation trusted us, to their own as well as our advantage."

In closing the hearing to which the committee gave the strictest attention, Mrs. Catt said in part:[Pg 54]

No commission was appointed, no report was made by Senate or House Committee and there were no definite results of such appeals as never had been made by men for the franchise in this or any other country.

[Pg 55]

CHAPTER III.

THE NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1903.

In 1903 the National American Suffrage Association for the second time took its annual convention to a southern State and held it in New Orleans, March 15-25, in Athenaeum Hall.[23] The Woman's Journal said: "To the northern delegates there was something almost magical in the sudden change from snowdrifts and nipping winds to balmy air and a temperature like June. The delicious climate of Louisiana in spring has not been exaggerated and it seems wonderful to find roses in bloom in March, the[Pg 56] wistaria vines in a cloud of purple blossom and the grass an emerald green.... The delegates were enthusiastic over the quaint houses surrounded by palms, bananas and great live oaks, a pleasing novelty to most of them."

The hostess of the convention was the Era Club, the largest organization of women in the city, its title—era—cleverly concealing Equal Rights Association. It was founded in 1896; Miss Kate Gordon, the present secretary of the National Association, was formerly its president and her sister, Miss Jean M. Gordon, now filled that office. On the first afternoon the spacious and beautiful home of Mrs. Reuben Bush, prominent in club and civic work, was opened for the club to entertain the officers, delegates and a large number of invited guests. Sunday evening all were received informally in the charming home of Misses Kate, Fanny and Jean Gordon.

The excellent convention program was prepared by Miss Kate Gordon. The first evening session was opened with prayer by the Right Reverend Davis Sessums, Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana, who said in the course of it: "Prosper, we beseech thee, the deliberations of this association whose representatives are here assembled and direct and rule their judgment and actions in all things to the furtherance of truth and justice, so that their work may be an abiding work and contribute to the growth of true religion and civilization, to the happiness of homes and to the advancement of Thy Kingdom."

The Picayune thus described the occasion: "In the presence of a magnificent audience that packed the Athenæum to its utmost capacity, the thirty-fifth annual convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association was formally opened last night, with the president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, in the chair. Seldom perhaps in its history has the association received such a greeting, for the audience was not only deeply interested and sympathetic but it was representative of the finest culture in the city and State. Distinguished jurists, physicians and teachers, staid men of business and leaders in many lines united with women of the highest social standing in giving the convention a hearty and earnest welcome. Many were no doubt attracted by the memory of the former visits of Miss Susan B.[Pg 57] Anthony and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and the remarkable personality of the pioneer suffrage workers, but whether they came from pure interest in these famous leaders or deep sympathy with the cause, all were generous in giving to both the credit and applause they justly deserved....

Mayor Paul Capdeville, who was to welcome the convention, was ill and this was very acceptably done by "Tom" Richardson, secretary of the Progressive Union, an important commercial body of 1,600 members that had joined in the invitation for it to come to New Orleans and contributed the rent of the Athenæum. He expressed his pleasure at being associated with the suffragists of the city, "who had never neglected any opportunity to promote its best interests," and said: "No other class of our citizens have done it so much good." He was followed by the Hon. Edgar H. Farrar, an eminent lawyer, author of the Drainage and Sewerage plan, who told of the valuable assistance of women in the strenuous fight against the State lottery ten years before and described the splendid work of the women since the constitutional convention of 1898 had given them taxpayers' suffrage. Miss Gordon read a poem of welcome by Mrs. Grace G. Watts and gave the Era Club's welcome and then Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, who was presiding, introduced Miss Anthony to respond. The Picayune said in its report:

Miss Anthony told of her visit to New Orleans in 1884 during the Centennial Exposition, when she was the guest of Mrs. Merrick, and spoke of Mrs. Eliza J. Nicholson, owner and editor of the Picayune, paying a tribute to her and to the gifted writer, "Catharine Cole," of its editorial staff, both now passed from earth. In Dr. Shaw's eloquent response to the greetings she said: "Nothing has given me greater hope for women and has made me prouder of women than the splendid reserve power shown by southern womanhood for the last twenty-five years. When your hearthstones were left desolate and your bravest and strongest had gone forth never to come back, your women, who had been cared for as no other women ever were cared for, who were uneducated to toil, unacquainted with business requirements, averse to them by instinct and tradition—when they had to face the world they went out uncomplaining and worked with sublime heroism.... I am glad to come among you southern women and to say that you have been an inspiration to the women of the North and to whole world. The daughters of those women of twenty-five years ago are the ones who have made this splendid convention possible. Over our country now there floats only one flag but that is a flag for women as well as men. If there are any men who ought to have faith in women and in their power to dare and do it is southern men, who owe so much to southern women."

Mrs. Catt then gave her president's address of which an extended[Pg 59] press notice said: "Never was there a more masterly exposition of a theme, never a more earnest or cogent argument. A distinguished Justice of the Supreme Court who was present remarked to the writer: 'I have heard many men but not one who can compare with Mrs. Catt in eloquence and logical power.' So the entire audience felt and at the close of her magnificent discourse she was the recipient of an ovation that came spontaneously from their hearts. The scene presented in the Athenæum was indeed a remarkable one." The address was not written and no essential part of it can be reproduced from fragmentary newspaper reports.

A discordant note in the harmony was struck by the Times-Democrat, which, in a long editorial, Woman Suffrage and the South, assailed the association because of its attitude on the race question. The board of officers immediately prepared a signed statement which said in part:

The Times-Democrat published this letter in full and endeavored by its press reports afterwards to atone for its blunder. It had been feared that trouble over this question would arise but no other paper referred to it. The Picayune, Item and States were most generous with space and complimentary in expression throughout the convention.[24]

The reports at the executive sessions were possibly of more interest to the delegates than the public addresses. Miss Gordon in her secretary's report spoke of the 12,000 or 13,000 letters which had been sent out since the last convention, many of them made necessary by the International Conference of the preceding year, and of the ending of its proceedings. To the 14,000 newspapers on the list to receive the quarterly Progress the names of legislators in various States had been added, and to the latter leaflets attractively prepared by Miss Blackwell also were sent. She described the new suffrage postage stamp, a college girl in cap and gown holding a tablet inscribed: "In Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho women vote on the same terms as men," to offset the prevailing ignorance of this fact. Resolutions endorsing woman suffrage had been secured from the National Grange, the[Pg 61] American Federation of Labor and a number of large labor unions. For the first time in the history of the National Education Association, three-fourths of whose members are women, a woman had been invited to address their annual convention and the one selected was the president of the National American Suffrage Association. Mrs. Catt was cordially received by them in July at Minneapolis.

Four of the five morning sessions were given over completely to Work Conferences. The usual ones on Organization and Press were held with Miss Mary Garrett Hay and Mrs. Elnora Babcock respectively presiding. The conference on Enrollment gave way to one on Literature, Dr. Mary D. Hussey presiding, and a new one on Legislation was added. A president's and a delegates' conference completed the list. The Plan of Work again presented by the Executive Committee emphasized the line of action adopted in the first year of Mrs. Catt's presidency and urged that the States endeavor to secure recommendations of their Legislatures asking the submission of a 16th Amendment; that special efforts be made to secure the appointment of a Commission to investigate the working of full suffrage in States where it now exists; that correspondence be taken up vigorously with all members of Congress giving them the arguments in favor of a Federal Amendment and of a Commission on Investigation; that the association aim to double its membership the coming year and that a catalogue of woman suffrage literature be prepared for libraries.

Only $3,000 in pledges were called for and $3,200 were quickly subscribed.[25] The treasurer, Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, announced receipts during the year of $18,310 with a balance of $6,183 now in the treasury. "New York has always been the largest contributor and paid the largest auxiliary fee," she said, "and it never has any aid from the national treasury. Its temper[Pg 62] is always sweet and its methods always business-like but to be sure it has always been blessed by having one of its citizens as national president. This year, however, Massachusetts has won the place at the head of the list." Mrs. Catt reported for the Congressional Committee that Congress had entirely ignored the urgent appeals of last year for a committee to investigate the effects of woman suffrage in the equal franchise States. Mrs. Sallie Clay Bennett (Ky.) made her usual strong plea for an effort to secure from Congress Federal suffrage or the right to vote for members of Senate and House Representatives. For many years Mrs. Bennett, as chairman of the committee, had appealed to the association for action but while it considered that the measure would be perfectly valid it believed it to be hopeless of attainment. [History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, page 6.] Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock (N. Y.), chairman of the Press Committee, made a comprehensive report of the constantly increasing favorable comment of the newspapers. Mrs. Boyer, chairman for Pennsylvania, had placed 5,700 suffrage articles and the chairmen of various other States had a proportionate record. Miss Blackwell gave as a recipe for finding favor with editors: "Make your articles short; make them newsy; don't denounce the men." Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff (N. Y.), chairman of the Enrollment Committee, reported a good start on the nation-wide enrollment of men and women who believe in woman suffrage.

Henry B. Blackwell, chairman of the Presidential Suffrage Committee, urged the southern women to petition their Legislatures, seven of which would meet during the year, to give women the right to vote for presidential electors. "The choice of President and Vice-president of the United States," he said, "is the most important form of suffrage exercised by an American citizen.... The King of England and the Emperor of Germany are practically possessed of no greater political power than our President during his official term," and he continued:

Among other committees reporting was that on Church work, Miss Laura De Merritte (Me.) chairman, and her recommendations were adopted that the committee on National Sunday School lessons be asked to prepare one each year on the rights and duties of women citizens; that ministers of all denominations be urged to preach one sermon each year on this topic; that all women's missionary societies be requested to make it a part of their regular program at their annual conventions and that a place be sought on the program of national conventions of the Epworth League and Christian Endeavor Societies to present the question of woman's enfranchisement. The valuable report of the Committee on Industrial Problems Relating to Women and Children by the chairman, Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.) said: "Everyone can recall instances of discrimination against women by factories, business firms, school boards and municipalities, making it plain that women are at a disadvantage as non-voting members of the community. As a recent fact in regard to the government I would cite the order by Postmaster-General Payne that a woman employee must give up her position if she marries." The report continued:

Miss Anthony presided at the Friday evening public meeting, which was opened with prayer by the Rev. Gilbert Dobbs, who said: "We invoke Thy divine blessing, O God, upon this assembly and we rejoice that Thou hast always opened the way for Thy consecrated servants—women—to do well from the time of Miriam and of Deborah to the present. While not often has the call been to women to don armor and press on to battle, yet it may be that Thou hast reserved them for the battle of ballots, in which they can secure victory for all moral good and aid in the overthrow of every organized vice and infamy, so that there shall be a higher type of public morals and nobler methods of government."[Pg 65]

Mrs. Bennett spoke in her humorous and inimitable way on The Authority of Women to Preach the Gospel of Christ in Public Places. Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery (Penn.) under the title What's in a Name? told of the efforts that were being made by the conservative women of Philadelphia to reform municipal conditions through Civic Betterment Clubs, not by the ballot in the hands of women but through the men voters. "Yet, after all," she said, "are not these clubs doing good work for woman suffrage under another name? For as these earnest but conservative women find themselves in contact with life at so many new points they are getting so used to all the things which go to make up that awful bugaboo, 'politics,' that they will soon begin to realize that politics affects for good or evil all the things which touch the daily lives of every one of them. After awhile, perhaps sooner than most of us think, they will join the ranks of the wiser women who are now suffragists and who know that they want the vote and why they want it."

Miss Frances Griffin (Ala.) kept the audience in a gale of laughter from the first to the last of her speech, which began: "My address is put down on the program as 'A Song or a Sermon.' It is going to be neither, I have changed my mind. Mrs. Catt's address last night furnished argument enough to lie three feet deep all over Louisiana for three years."

The talented young lawyer, Miss Gail Laughlin (Me.), gave an address entitled The Open Door, during which she said:

One of the notable addresses of the convention was that of the eminent physician, Dr. Henry Dixon Bruns—a lifelong advocate of woman suffrage—on Liberty, Male and Female, a part of which was as follows:

The nomination and election of officers, both by secret ballot, were almost unanimous and no change was made. A cordial letter was received from Miss Clara Barton. Fraternal greetings from the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers) were given by Mrs. Mary Bentley Thomas (Md.); from the Supreme Hive of the Ladies of the Maccabees, the largest business organization of women in the world, by Mrs. Emma S. Olds, (O.); and from the Central Socialist Club of Indiana. The report from the Friends' Equal Rights Association, an affiliated society, was made by its president, Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman (N. Y.). In the report for New York by its president, Mrs. Ella Hawley Crosset, she called attention to the completion of the Fourth Volume of the History of Woman Suffrage by Miss Anthony and Mrs. Ida Husted Harper. During the convention word was received that the Territorial Legislature of Arizona had given full suffrage to women but before they had time to rejoice a second telegram announced that the Governor had vetoed it!

The resolutions presented by Mr. Blackwell, chairman of the committee, and adopted, rejoiced over the extension of national suffrage to all the women of the newly federated Australian States; noted the granting to Kansas women of the right to vote on issuing bonds for public improvement and of an equal guardianship law in Massachusetts; protested against "the recent action of the Cincinnati board of health in introducing without legal warrant the European system of sanctioning the social evil ... the object of a strong and growing opposition wherever it prevails and favored the settlement of all national and international controversies by arbitration and disapproved of war as a relic of barbarism." Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.), president of the International Council of Women, who had come to New Orleans to attend the executive meeting of the National Council of the United States, as chairman of the International Committee on Peace and Arbitration, spoke earnestly in favor of this resolution. Miss Nettie Lovisa White (D. C.) was appointed a delegate to represent the association at the Council meeting.

The Saturday evening public session, with Mrs. Catt presiding,[Pg 68] was opened with prayer by the Rev. R. Wilkinson, in which he said: "Almighty God, Thou hast always been pleased with consecration. We pray Thee to look down upon these people gathered here—the women whose lives have been devoted to a great cause. Send forth Thy light so that they may achieve still more for Thee. In this work, men and women, animated with a noble purpose, are combining their forces to bring about the reign of righteousness and when that comes it will take all that both can do to eradicate the great evils which men have already wrought.... God bless this organization and may the realization of its hopes be not far off! God bless the women engaged in this work! God knows that if this city has in any way been lifted up, it has been through the efforts of noble women. God bless them! We want to feel that men and women are actuated by righteousness and are working together to bring about its social and political regeneration."

Dr. Cora Smith Eaton (Minn.) thus began her address, Westward Ho: "The geologists tell us that Louisiana and her sister State Mississippi are built up of the particles of earth brought down by the great river through the Mississippi valley," and after a picturesque description she said: "Coming from the source of this river, travelling 1,500 miles to its mouth, I find myself still on my native soil and I feel at home; so all who have joined me on the way down the valley claim kinship with you of New Orleans." She then paid tribute to the State and its people and closed: "O, men of the South, your saviour is the southern woman! Put into her hand the ballot of full enfranchisement, like that you carry in your own hand on election day. Her interests are identical with your own and she will hold your ideals sacred even more loyally than you do yourselves." Mr. Blackwell gave one of his customary logical and carefully reasoned addresses on Domestic Imperialism.

The Rev. Marie Jenney (Iowa) discussed the question Why Women do Not Vote. She compared them to some wild ducks that were born in a farmyard and as they were stepping timidly about the farmer said: "Them ducks can fly, they can fly miles, but they don't know it." "One reason why women do not vote," she said, "is the entire self-effacement of many, and another is[Pg 69] the kindness of many men. These are lovely traits but they may be misapplied. Women sometimes efface themselves to an extent that is bad for their men as well as themselves, and men out of mistaken kindness shield their women from responsibilities that it would be better for them to have." Mrs. Virginia D. Young (S. C.), owner, manager and editor of a weekly paper in Fairfax, announced her speech From the Most Conservative State, but she did not say, as she might have done, that she had leavened the State with woman suffrage sentiment. Her address was bubbling over with the humor which seems inherent with Southern women.

The Sunday services were held at 4 o'clock in the Athenæum, which was crowded. The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw gave the sermon from the text: "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." The Rev. Kate Hughes and the Rev. Marie Jenney assisted in the services. That morning the latter had preached in the Unitarian church and Mr. and Miss Blackwell had spoken in the handsome Temple Sinai to a cultured Jewish audience by invitation of Rabbi Max Heller. A fine musical service was arranged by Cantor Julius Braunfels. The next day they received from the Council of Jewish Women a large bouquet of bride roses and red carnations. Miss Blackwell spoke on A Righteous Reform and Mr. Blackwell on A Modern Deborah. He paid a splendid tribute to the Jewish race and declared that "the Hebrew history as recorded in the Old Testament has been the principal source of our nobler conception of woman's nature and destiny." He spoke of the prophetess Miriam, of the daughters of Zelophehad, described the great work of Deborah and said: "If, therefore, Divine Providence, for the guidance of mankind, selected a married woman to be the supreme judge, the supreme executive, the commander-in-chief of the army; to lead the chosen people in war and peace, to rescue the nation from enslavement and to rule over it in peace and prosperity for forty years, may we not hope that He will raise up in your race modern Deborahs to cooperate with the men of their race in the redemption of American democracy from political corruption and misrule?"

The interest did not diminish during the eight evening sessions. In his invocation Monday night the Rev. Wallace T. Palmer said:[Pg 70] "O Lord, we account it a high honor and privilege to take part in this grand work.... May those who are to speak tonight speak for Thy glory and honor."[26] Dr. Shaw presided Monday and thus introduced the first speaker: "Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago is an attorney and the wife of an attorney. The sign on the door is 'McCulloch and McCulloch.' My interest in the firm dates from the time when I performed the ceremony that united them for life." Mrs. McCulloch began her address on Woman's Privileges by saying: "One of the principal reasons why women do not obtain the ballot is because there is rooted in the popular mind the notion that now the laws in all respects are so favorable to women and grant them such great privileges that they would gain nothing more by a vote but instead might lose these privileges. A careful investigation of laws relating to women's property, earnings, rights of action, eligibility to paying positions, selection of family home, guardianship of children and many others where women's interests are involved shows that these so-called privileges usually give women less than men enjoy in the same States and that the vote in their own hands is the only assurance of equal privilege." After referring to the laws in other States Mrs. McCulloch made a thorough analysis of those relating to women in Louisiana, showing them to be archaic and unjust and wholly without special privileges.

The address of M. J. Sanders, president of the Progressive Union, was enthusiastically received as representing the best thought of advanced Southern men. He said in beginning: "I believe my own state of mind on the woman suffrage question when I attended your first public meeting last Thursday evening represented fairly the average male opinion in this city—one of moderate ignorance and considerable indifference. Since listening to the addresses here I have had my ignorance largely dispelled and my indifference dissipated, I hope forever. It has been my lot to attend meetings all over the country but never in my life have I heard such eloquence, such logic and such glorious oratory as in this hall during this convention. A cause that can[Pg 71] bring forth such talent and devotion must have in it a great truth.... I have come now to see that the franchise is not an end but a means to an end; that the object of these women is not merely to escape injustice done to themselves but to be able to take part in the great work of reform which is calling for the best energies of the nation. I have seen sufficient of the women who are working in this fight for suffrage to believe that hand-in-hand with earnest men, as co-workers and equals, in no way subordinate, they can furnish brains and power to remove a vast load of the iniquities and inequalities of life and even in our generation lift this country to a plane of civilization wherein the masses shall have a chance for happiness and freedom."

In explaining the absence of Dr. Julia Holmes Smith of Chicago Dr. Shaw said: "She is detained because of illness of her husband and like a good wife she puts him first and the convention second." Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (N. Y.) spoke on the Duties of Today, outlining her address by saying: "The strongest feeling of most women is the sense of duty. The reason they do not see the practicability and immediate need of suffrage is because they do not see the duty of it. There is a gradual development of the sense of duty. The first duty that we recognize is that of self-preservation—our duty to ourselves. Then comes duty to our own, to our family, to those dear to us, before which duty to self must and does go down unfailingly. These two duties to one's self and to one's family are the foundation but they are the beginning of life, not the end of it. Next comes social duty.... In America we rank high in personal and family virtues but not in public virtues. Our great need is for the deep and broad civic virtues...."

An interesting symposium took place one afternoon on The Need of Women in Municipal Politics, with the following speakers: Mrs. Marie Louise Graham (La.), City Politics is but a Broader Housekeeping; Mrs. Carrie E. Kent (D. C.), The Home—the Ballot the Only Weapon for its Defence; the Rev. Kate Hughes (Ill.), Justice Dictates, Expediency Confirms; Dr. Sarah M. Siewers (O.), Men's and Women's Votes the Only True Basis of Reform; Miss Laura E. Gregg (Kans.), The Stepping Stone to a Yet Untried System of Government; Mrs.[Pg 72] Lucretia L. Blankenburg (Penn.), Municipal Corruption under the Present System a National Disgrace. Each topic was treated in a keen, incisive manner. Miss Gregg described the practical benefit that the women's municipal vote had been to Kansas. Dr. Siewers gave a dramatic illustration of the need of women's votes in her own city of Cincinnati, which applied with equal force to all cities. Mrs. Blankenburg emphasized all that had been said by an account of conditions in Philadelphia, saying:

Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen, a prominent physician of Toronto and an early suffragist, who had come as a fraternal delegate from the Canadian Association, spoke of the excellent results of the School and Municipal vote in the hands of women. "We have better officials," she said, "and therefore less dishonesty but the greatest gain has been in the educative and broadening effect on women and men. The polls, which used to be even in old stables, are now in the school houses and the general tone of elections has been improved." Later Dr. Stowe-Gullen gave a long and thoughtful address at an evening session on The Evolution of Government.

The Memorial Service on March 21 was opened with prayer[Pg 73] by the Rev. Marie Jenney and the singing of "The Lord is my shepherd," by Miss Gordon. Mrs. Catt, who presided, paid eloquent tribute to those who had died during the year, among them Mrs. Esther Morris, to whom the women of Wyoming were principally indebted for the suffrage in 1869; to the Hon. Thomas B. Reed of Maine, one of the most distinguished Speakers of the lower House of Congress and always a staunch supporter of woman suffrage; to Madame Sophie Levovna Friedland, delegate from Russia to the International Woman Suffrage Conference the preceding year, who died soon after returning home; to Dr. Hannah Longshore, the first woman physician in Philadelphia, and told of the bitter opposition she had to overcome, adding: "She gave to the Pennsylvania Association its splendid president, her daughter, Mrs. Blankenburg." Mrs. Catt spoke also of Mrs. Cornelia Collins Hussey of New Jersey and her boundless generosity, saying: "Often and often she sent a hundred dollars to our treasury with a note: 'I have just sold a piece of real estate and I want to give a part of the proceeds to the suffrage cause.'" Miss Blackwell added to the tribute: "A quiet woman of Quaker blood, never seeking office or prominence, she came to the relief of our distressed officers on innumerable occasions. She once told me that there were many who could write and speak for equal suffrage but that the Lord seemed to have given her only one talent, that of making money, and she meant to use it for the cause.... She was a great believer in preaching the gospel of reform through the printed page and she and her daughter, Dr. Mary D. Hussey, who was like-minded with her, have sent out probably more equal suffrage literature than any other two women in the United States. She placed the Woman's Journal in a great number of college reading-rooms and sent it far and wide. During the thirty-three years that the paper has been published—and published always at a financial loss—she has been one of its most steadfast and generous friends."[27]

"The palm of victory has come this year to Elizabeth Cady Stanton," said Mrs. Catt, "but though she has gone it is still our privilege to have her friend and co-worker, Susan B. Anthony,[Pg 74] and I echo the prayer of every heart that she may be here till all women are enfranchised." Miss Anthony was most affectionately greeted and said: "I feel indeed as if a part of my life had gone. Mrs. Stanton always said that when the parting came she wanted me to go first, so that she might write my eulogy. I am not a 'word-artist,' as she was, and I can not give hers in fitting terms." She read from the last volume of the History of Woman Suffrage extracts from her great speeches and related a number of instances showing her characteristics. Dr. Shaw then began a eulogy, which can only be marred in quoting from memory, by saying: "Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and Lucy Stone held up the standard of truth and when they were urged to lower it in order to suit the ideas of the world they answered: 'We will not lower our standard to the level of your world; bring the world up to the standard.' ... I shall always be thankful that I lived in the present age and knew these women who never quailed in the face of danger. The side of Mrs. Stanton that I like best to think of is her home life, her family affections and her friendships. I was once a guest for several days in the same house with her and other leaders and she was so vivacious, so fresh, so full of joy of life that it was delightful to be with her. She was so witty that no one wanted to leave the room a minute for fear of losing something she might say. I used to love to see her after she took a nap; though so advanced in years she would always awaken with a look of wonder and pleasure like a child just gazing out upon life."[28]

Tributes also were paid to Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer of Massachusetts; Mrs. Thomas M. Patterson of Colorado; the Hon. Albert H. Horton of Kansas; Mrs. Addie M. Johnson of Missouri; Miss Anna C. Mott of Ohio; the Hon. Lester H. Humphrey and Mrs. Hannah L. Howland of New York; Dr. Marie Zakrzewska of Massachusetts and other workers in the cause. Mrs. Gilman closed the services by reading her beautiful memorial poem, In Honor, written for the occasion.

A unique feature of the convention which lightened its serious tone was Dr. Shaw's "question box," into which any one might drop a question and at intervals she would take them out and[Pg 75] answer them on the spur of the moment to the delight of her audience. "If women voted," was one of them, "would they not have to sit on juries?" "Many women would be glad of a chance to sit on anything," she answered with a smile. "There are women who stand up and wash six days in the week at 75 cents a day who would like to take a vacation and sit on a jury at $1.50. Some women would like to sit on a jury at the trial of the sharks that live by corrupting boys and girls. It would be easier for a woman to sit on a jury and send to the penitentiary the men who are trying to ruin her boy than to be always watching the boy." Another question was: "Have not men a better right to the suffrage because they have to support the family?" She answered: "It is fallacy to say that the men support the women. The men by their industry provide the raw material and the women by their industry turn it into clothing and nourishment. When my father sent home a barrel of flour my mother did not lead us eight youngsters up to that barrel of raw flour at mealtime and say, 'Children, here is your dinner.' When he bought a bolt of cloth she did not take that bolt of cloth and wind it around us and say, 'Children, here are the clothes your father has sent you.' The woman has always done her full share of supporting the family. In the South under the old régime she bore more than an equal part of the care, for the planter could hire an overseer for the plantation work but the wife could not hire one for the work of the house."

Notwithstanding the utmost care and tact on the part of those who had the convention in charge the "color question" kept cropping out. Finally Dr. Shaw said: "Here is a query that has been dropped in the box again and again and now I am asked if I am afraid to answer it: 'Will not woman suffrage make the black woman the political equal of the white woman and does not political equality mean social equality?' If it does then the men by keeping both white and black women disfranchised have already established social equality!" The question was not asked again.

One of the able addresses during the convention was that of Mrs. Hala Hammond Butt, president of the Mississippi Suffrage Association, entitled, Restricted Suffrage from a Southern Point[Pg 76] of View. After referring to the man's all-mastering desire for liberty from the early history of the race the speaker said: "Did women not share with men this craving for freedom, then would they justly be reckoned as unnatural and unworthy members of the human family, but the same red blood pulses in our veins as in yours, fathers, sons, brothers; we are alive to the same impulses, our souls are kindled by the same aspirations as are yours. Why should this, our ambition, be held in leash by the same bond that holds the ignorant, the illiterate, the vicious, the irresponsible in the human economy? What does the idea of government imply? The crystallized sentiments of an intelligent people? Then do we meet it with but half a truth."

The speaker denounced with much severity the 14th and 15th Amendments and said that by the restrictive educational qualifications now so generally adopted in the southern States the spirit of the amendments had been practically set at naught. "It was born of the instinct of self-preservation," she said, but she deplored the political crimes it made possible and continued: "There is an undercurrent of thought that recognizes in its true proportions the value of an educated suffrage to the South, a restriction based not upon color, race or previous condition of servitude, not upon sex, not upon the question of taxable property, but its sole requirement is the ability to perform worthily the functions of citizenship. This is the only honorable solution of those questions that are vexing not only the body political but the body social of this Southern country."

Mrs. Butt's speech was one of a symposium on the question: Would an educational qualification for all voters tend to the growth of civilization and facilitate good government? Mrs. Hackstaff discussed The Relation which Government Bears to Civilization, saying: "The government which will increase social and individual development most is the best. Progress depends on whether the government will give the opportunity for such development. The one that serves the people best is the one that strengthens them by letting them take part in it." Mrs. Eleanor C. Stockman (Iowa) spoke strongly on Suffrage a Human Right, not a Privilege; Mrs. Clara B. Arthur (Mich.) on A Disfranchised Class a Menace to Self Government; Mrs. Mary Wood[Pg 77] Swift (Calif.) on Abolishment of Illiteracy, Its Ultimate Influence. After calling attention to "the mass of ignorant immigrants who almost go from the steerage to the polls"; to the enfranchisement of the half-civilized Indian; to that of paupers, delinquents and defectives, she said:

Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer substituted for her own address on Universal Suffrage a Pretence a paper sent by Rudolph Blankenburg, one of Philadelphia's most distinguished citizens, entitled: Not Sex but Intelligence, in which he said:

Mr. Blankenburg gave statistics of the illiterates in the United States and said: "An educational qualification, wisely considered, would within a few years entirely obliterate the whole mass of this species of undesirable voters. The right of suffrage can not and should not be taken from those who at present legally enjoy it. All women of legal age with the proposed educational requirements should be enfranchised without delay but laws should be enacted demanding that all citizens, men and women alike, presenting themselves to cast their ballot after 1910 must be able to read and write. If the women suffragists will base their claim to vote upon the broad ground of good government and not demand suffrage for the ignorant woman because it is exercised by the ignorant man, they will make ten friends where they now have one."

The audience had the northern and the southern point of view on Educated Suffrage. Mrs. Gilman, who spoke on whether it would serve the best interests of the laboring classes, was alone in objecting to it. "Will exclusion from the suffrage educate and improve the illiterate masses more quickly than the use of it?" she asked. "We shall educate them sooner if we dread their votes and this is our work in common." A great deal of sentiment was developed in favor of an educational requirement for the suffrage and an informal rising vote showed only five opposed, but most of the officers were absent. This vote was due largely to the southern delegates and to the arguments which had been made for its necessity in this section of the country. The policy of the association had always been and continued to be to ask and work only for the removal of the sex qualification.

One of the most popular speakers was Mrs. Elizabeth M. Gilmer, known far and wide as "Dorothy Dix," whose home was[Pg 79] in New Orleans. Her address, quaintly entitled The Woman with the Broom, filled more than four columns of the Woman's Journal and an adequate idea of its wise philosophy illuminated with the sparkling wit for which she was renowned cannot be conveyed by quotations. "A few years ago," she said, "a famous poet roused the compassion of the world by portraying the tragedy of hopeless toil by the Man with the Hoe. He might have found nearer home a better illustration of the work that is never done, that has no inspiration to lighten it and looks for no appreciation to glorify it, in the Woman with a Broom." "She is understudy to a perpetual motion machine," was one of her epigrams. She referred to the many successful business and professional women at the convention and said:

"Every injustice is the prolific mother of wrongs," said Mrs. Gilmer, "and the fact that the woman with the broom is neither sufficiently appreciated nor decently paid brings its own train of evils. It is at the bottom of the distaste girls have for domestic pursuits and the frantic mania of women for seeking some kind of a 'career.'" She thus concluded:[Pg 80]

Edwin Merrick, the son of a Chief Justice of Louisiana and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick, its pioneer suffragist, began his address on A Political Anomaly by referring to the distinguished women he had been privileged to meet in his home. He spoke of the constitution drawn up on the Mayflower to give equal liberty to all without the slightest conception of what true liberty really meant, and of the larger conception of it which was imbedded in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. "But," he said, "while the words were there, slavery still existed and the people of the Union were slowly led to see the handwriting on the wall and slavery had to go. Had the great leader of his day, Abraham Lincoln, been preserved to help shape the destinies of this country, what followed would not have happened." He then spoke of the crime of enfranchising "a horde of ignorant negro men when at that time there were nearly 4,000,000 intelligent white women keenly alive to the interests of their country to whom the ballot was denied." He sketched the steady degeneration of national and State politics and exposed the conditions in Louisiana. He showed how the reforms that had been accomplished had been largely aided by women and concluded:[Pg 81]

Miss Mary N. Chase, president of the New Hampshire Suffrage Association, made an earnest plea for the enfranchisement of women, "the natural guardians and protectors of the home. It will strengthen their minds and broaden their intellects and render them more fit for its government," she said, "and until women join with men in exercising the sacred right of the franchise we cannot hope for the dawn of the kingdom of God on the earth." A letter was read from Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch urging that for a year the organization should be used nationally and locally to pursue and punish political corruption. "The women in our association," she said, "are trained to political action; we have had long experience in self-control; defeat has taught us its lessons of poise; devotion to a great principle has given us a faith almost religious in its optimism." The men were taking no concerted action to protect the republic against this menace, she thought, and the task seemed to be left to the women.

The formal address of Dr. Shaw on The Modern Democratic Ideal made a profound impression but no record of it exists except in newspaper clippings. She began by saying: "It is impossible to discuss the woman question without discussing also the man question. What is fundamental to one is fundamental to the other. It is argued by some that on account of the difference in characteristics between men and women it is the man who ought to govern. They are mistaken. It is now recognized that the best[Pg 82] and noblest men and women are those in whom the different characteristics of each sex are most harmoniously blended. The modern democratic ideal illustrates this fact. It is greatly different from the ancient democratic ideal, as neither Plato nor Aristotle nor Dante had a place in their ideals for the common people, but when the French Revolution startled the world with the idea of human rights, of natural rights common to all, there sprang into life the conception of the same ideal among the men of our own country." Dr. Shaw traced the progress of democratic ideals in this country from the early days of the republic when property and not manhood constituted the prerequisite for representation. She spoke in glowing terms of the pure democracy of Thomas Jefferson, who extended its privileges to the great masses of the people. "This ideal has been growing," she said, "it will never stop growing, developing, widening and changing and it must ultimately extend to women citizens the same rights in the government that men have. This is the 20th century idea of democracy."

The address of Miss Belle Kearney, Mississippi's famous orator, was a leading feature of the last evening's program—The South and Woman Suffrage. It began with a comprehensive review of the part the South had had in the development of the nation from its earliest days. "During the seventy-one years reaching from Washington's administration to that of Lincoln," she said, "the United States was practically under the domination of southern thought and leadership." She showed the record southern leaders had made in the wars; she traced the progress of slavery, which began alike in the North and South but proved unnecessary in the former, and told of the enormous struggle for white supremacy which had been placed on the South by the enfranchisement of the negro. "The present suffrage laws in the southern States are only temporary measures for protection," she said. "The enfranchisement of women will have to be effected and an educational and property qualification for the ballot be made to apply without discrimination to both sexes and both races." The address closed as follows:

Miss Kearney's speech was enthusiastically received and at its end Mrs. Catt said she had been getting many letters from persons hesitating to join the association lest it should admit clubs of colored people. "We recognize States' rights," she said, "and Louisiana has the right to regulate the membership of its own association, but it has not the right to regulate that of Massachusetts or vice versa," and she continued: "We are all of us apt to be arrogant on the score of our Anglo-Saxon blood but we must remember that ages ago the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons were regarded as so low and embruted that the Romans refused to have them for slaves. The Anglo-Saxon is the dominant race today but things may change. The race that will be dominant through the ages will be the one that proves itself the most worthy.... Miss Kearney is right in saying that the race problem is the problem of the whole country and not that of the South alone. The responsibility for it is partly ours but if the North shipped slaves to the South and sold them, remember that the North has sent some money since then into the South to help undo part of the wrong that it did to you and to them. Let us try to get nearer together and to understand each other's ideas on the race question and solve it together."

Mrs. Maud Wood Park (Mass.), who was introduced to the[Pg 84] audience as "a very unpopular woman with the anti-suffragists," did not prove to be so with her audience, as in her brief address she charmed every one with her beauty and womanliness and convinced by her delicate wit and keen logic. The last address was made by the Rev. Ida C. Hultin (Mass.), an eloquent summing up of the arguments for woman suffrage, given with a dignity of manner and sweetness of words which thoroughly eliminated any unpleasant feelings that might have been created and diffused a spirit of forgiveness and consecration.

At the conclusion of the program, Mrs. Upton came forward and in the name of the officers of the association presented to Miss Kate Gordon a handsome loving cup with the injunction to "handle it carefully as it is filled to the brim with love"; and to Miss Jean Gordon a large bouquet of roses, "in appreciation of the perfect arrangements that had been made for the convention." The Picayune said: "The two sisters stood side by side on the stage, a picture of feminine loveliness and grace. They tried to speak but their hearts were too full and Miss Kate could only express in a few words their thanks for these tokens of affection and esteem."

All the expenses of the convention had been met by the citizens and the collections had more than paid the travelling expenses of the officers. Nothing had been left undone for the entertainment of the visitors. The New Orleans Street Railway Company gave a trip of several hours in special cars, taking them to Audubon Park and Horticultural Hall, through the handsome residence sections, to the Esplanade, City Park and famous cemeteries. They visited the Howard and Fisk libraries, the Southern Yacht Club, the Exposition and the antiquarian shops. An unusual experience was the boat trip on the Mississippi, tendered by the Progressive Union. On a fine sunshiny morning the several hundred visitors assembled in the palm garden of the St. Charles Hotel, walked to the rooms of the Union and from there to the steamer Alice. They crossed to Algiers, passed the French quarter with the Ursuline Convent, the Stuyvesant Docks, the historic houses and monuments, and saw the great Naval Docks, the large sugar plantations with their big live oaks and magnolias, the immense sugar and oil refineries and met a fleet of[Pg 85] huge ocean steamers. Lunch was served on board and the occasion was most interesting, especially to the delegates from the North.

Although this was the longest suffrage convention ever held and the sessions were crowded, the people wanted more. The Progressive Union arranged for meetings Thursday night, to be addressed by Mrs. Catt on The Home and the Municipality, and Friday night by Dr. Shaw on The Fate of Republics. The Athenæum Hall, seating 1,200, was overflowing and as many were gathered on the outside. It was a ten days never to be forgotten by the visitors or the residents, and the convention undoubtedly gave a decided impetus to favorable sentiment for woman suffrage in that section of the South.

[Pg 86]

CHAPTER IV.

THE NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1904.

The Thirty-sixth annual convention opened the afternoon of Feb. 11, 1904, in National Rifles' Armory Hall, Washington, D. C., and closed the evening of the 17th.[29] There was a good attendance of delegates from thirty States and the audiences were large and appreciative. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the president, was in the chair at the opening session. The delegates were welcomed by Mrs. Carrie E. Kent in behalf of the District Equal Suffrage Association and the response was made by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, vice-president-at-large, who began by saying: "If the women here welcome us after we have been coming for thirty years it must be because we deserve it; the men welcome us because in the District they are in the same disfranchised condition as we are." A cordial letter of greeting was read from Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, whose headquarters were in Washington.

Greetings were received from Mrs. Florence Fenwick Miller[Pg 87] of London, whose letter commenced: "Beloved Friends: As president of the British National Committee of the International Woman Suffrage Committee, I write to send you greetings from English, Scotch, Irish and Welsh fellow-workers in the woman's cause. It seems but a short time since the convention of 1902, which I attended as the delegate appointed by the British United Women's Suffrage Societies and also of the Scottish National Society. The admiration and affection that the ability, the earnestness and sincerity, the sisterliness and the sweetness of temper and manners of the American suffragists then aroused in me, are unabated at this moment." She told of the progress that had been made by the various societies toward uniting in an International Woman Suffrage Alliance, gave a glowing forecast of the ultimate triumph of their common cause and ended: "With admiring and abiding love for America's grand women, the suffrage leaders." The convention sent an official answer. Mrs. Mary Bentley Thomas (Md.) read an interesting paper, Our Four Friends, compiled from the answers by the Governors of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho to a letter from Miss Anthony asking for a summary of the results of woman suffrage after a trial of from eight to thirty-five years. A Declaration of Principles, which had been prepared by Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell and Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, was read by Mrs. Harper and adopted by the convention as expressing the sentiment of the association. [See Appendix, chapter IV.] Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery (Penn.) and Dr. Shaw were appointed delegates to the International Suffrage Conference at Berlin in June in addition to the International Suffrage Committee from the United States, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg (Penn.), with three others yet to be selected.

In her report as corresponding secretary Miss Kate M. Gordon (La.) told of the interest which the convention of the preceding year in New Orleans had awakened in the South and of the generous donation of a month of Dr. Shaw's valuable time which she had given to a Southern tour. This included the State Agricultural, State Normal and State Industrial Colleges of Louisiana and various places in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. "While it might be said of her addresses, 'She came,[Pg 88] she spoke, she conquered,'" declared Miss Gordon, "it was clearly shown that the South was not ready for organization." Miss Gordon said of attending the National Conference of Charities and Corrections as a State delegate appointed by the Governor of Louisiana: "I found that resolutions of endorsement were contrary to the policy of the conference, yet, except in our own organization, I have never met such a unanimity of opinion upon the justice of woman suffrage as well as upon the expediency of the woman's vote to secure intelligent and preventive legislation as a remedy for the many evils they were seeking to combat."

The program for the first evening included short addresses by the general officers and in opening the meeting Mrs. Catt said: "You will all be disappointed not to have the promised addresses from Miss Anthony and Mrs. Upton. It has been suggested that I might say that Miss Anthony has been unavoidably detained but I can't see why I should not tell the truth. Miss Anthony is out in society tonight. She was invited by President and Mrs. Roosevelt to the Army and Navy reception at the White House and Mrs. Upton is with her.[30] Our vice-president-at-large will speak to you on What Cheer?"

Dr. Shaw said that once when she was travelling about the prairies of Iowa she met a woman who was always referring to her home town "What Cheer," and when she was asked to give a title to her address she could think of nothing better. She continued: "There are no problems so difficult to understand as those of our own time, because of the lack of perspective. The arrogant and insistent and noisy things press to the front and the silent and eternal fall into the rear. But as time passes it is as when we climb a mountain—we gradually rise to where we can see over the foothills and everything appears in its proper place and proportion. Out of the present, its arrogant militarism, its sordid commercialism and worship of gold, is there anything to give us cheer and hope for tomorrow? There never was greater[Pg 89] reason for hope for humanity. Underlying all the tumult and disorder of our time is one grand, golden thought, that of the human brotherhood of the world. There never was a democracy comparable to ours, faulty as it is and hopeless as it appears to some. Though the ideal does not seem to impress itself upon the world, yet in the silence it is there.... Today is the best this world has ever seen. Tomorrow will be still better."

Miss Gordon spoke on A Sustaining Faith, showing that from labor, from all forms of social service and from countless sources was converging the demand for the reform which the suffrage association was seeking. Miss Blackwell (Mass.) talked briefly as always but clearly and convincingly on The New Woman. Miss Laura Clay (Ky.) began her address on Dimes: "As an auditor I have been going over our treasurer's books. Usually such books are mere debits and credits but in ours those stiff rows of figures tell many beautiful things—the sacrifices of the poor and the generosity of the rich—but best of all are the 'dimes' because they are the dues paid to the association. They bear the figure of Liberty and they stand for it.... These dimes are inspiring, for they represent our membership when we gather here from the four corners of the nation. Therefore I rejoice over these thousands and thousands, each with a human heart behind it."

"No woman has a record of greater faithfulness in this cause," Mrs. Catt said in introducing Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall, who began her remarks on Precedents by saying: "I come from Iowa where things are very different from those in this beautiful capital. We do not see Senators and Representatives on every hand but we have lent to Washington, Secretary of Agriculture Wilson, Secretary of the Treasury Shaw, Speaker of the House Henderson and also Mrs. Catt to lead the suffrage clans."

The evening closed with Mrs. Catt's presidential address, the full report of which filled eleven columns of the Woman's Journal. The subject was the vital necessity of an educational qualification for the use of the ballot in a country which opens its gates to immigration from the whole world. Little idea of its logic and virility can be conveyed by detached quotations. Referring to the necessity for enfranchising women she said: "Despite the[Pg 90] fact that education even yet is not so generally advocated for girls as for boys among our foreign and ignorant classes of society, the census of 1900 reveals that between the ages of ten and twenty-one, representing school years, there are 117,362 more illiterate males than females. If men and women had been entitled to the franchise upon equal terms in 1900, the political parties, which always make their appeals to the young man just turned twenty-one to cast his first vote for 'the party of right and progress,' would of necessity have made the same appeal to young women, but they would have appealed to 20,000 fewer illiterates among the women than the men of from twenty-one to twenty-four. If the same conditions continue for the next twenty years—that is, if there is no restriction in the suffrage for men and women still remain disfranchised, and if the proportionate increase of women over men in the output of our public schools continues, we shall witness the curious spectacle of the illiterate sex governing the literate sex."

Mrs. Catt did not, however, attribute all the evils of universal suffrage to the ignorant vote but said: "It may be that an investigation would reveal the fact that a very important source of difficulty is to be found in the failure of intelligent men to exercise their citizenship. If this proves true it may be found necessary to turn a leaf backward in our history and adopt the plan in vogue in some of the New England colonies which made voting compulsory, and it may be found feasible to demand of every voter who absents himself on election day an excuse for his absence, and when he has absented himself without good excuse for a definite number of elections, he may be made to suffer the punishment of disfranchisement...." She called attention to the record that at the last presidential election more than 7,000,000 men over twenty-one years of age did not vote and asked: "What is to be done about it? Are qualified women citizens to wait in patience until influences now unseen shall sweep away the difficulties and restore the lost enthusiasm for democracy? Or shall they attempt to determine causes, apply remedies and clear the way for their own enfranchisement? That is our problem. For myself, I will say I prefer not to wait. I prefer to do my part, small as it must be, in the great task of the removal of the[Pg 91] obstructions which clog the wheels of the onward movement of popular government."

The convention was especially fortunate in having among its speakers a charming and gifted young woman, Mrs. A. Watson Lister of Melbourne, Australia, a country whose first national Parliament had two years before conferred on women full suffrage and eligibility to all offices. She showed a remarkable knowledge of laws and conditions affecting women and was thoroughly informed on every phase of the suffrage movement. The second evening she spoke on Woman's Vote in Australia to an audience that was not willing to have her stop, saying in part:

A good deal of light was shed on the inside history of the organized anti-suffrage movement, which if turned on in other countries would disclose a similar situation. "Our Anti-Suffrage Association," she said, "died three months after it was born. It was formed by two of our leading manufacturers, who hid behind their daughters. They had plenty of money, took a large office on a main street, employed several paid secretaries and spent more in three months than we had done in all our years of work. They paid little boys and girls to circulate their petition and got many signatures under false pretences.... Much was made of their petition though it was not half as large as ours. The daughters of these manufacturers drove up in their carriages to their fathers' factories at the lunch hour and made the working girls sign their petition."

A scholarly review of Morley's Life of Gladstone was given by Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch (Eng.). Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman turned A New Light on the Woman Question, saying:

The usual Work Conferences were held and the Executive Committee presented the Plan of Work which was adopted. In addition to the usual recommendations it urged that a Memorial Organization Fund be established to perpetuate the memory of pioneers and that a legal adviser for the association be appointed from its women lawyer members. The morning meetings as always were given up to business and reports of officers, chairmen of committees and field workers and the afternoons to State reports. The latter, made for the most part by the presidents, showed faithful work going on in every State and progress in many. Miss Helen Kimber reported that the Legislature of Kansas had added to the School franchise, which the women had possessed ever since the State came into the Union, the right to vote on all public expenditure of money for issuing of bonds, waterworks, sewerage, libraries, etc. Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, office secretary, told of the removal of the national headquarters from New York, where they had first been established, to Warren, O., where they occupied two large rooms on the lower floor of an old vine-covered family residence in the heart of town. From here 35,000 pieces of literature had been sent out and here had been printed 2,000 each of Lucy Stone and Mrs. Stanton birthday souvenirs, a booklet to be used on Miss Anthony's birthday; 10,000 suffrage stamps, Christmas blotters, etc., and 10,000 letters written. The subscription list of Progress had been increased from 950 to 4,000 and a weekly headquarters'[Pg 94] letter had been sent to the Woman's Journal. Resolutions for woman suffrage had been obtained in international, national and a large number of State conventions.

Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, the treasurer, reported the receipts, $21,117, the largest in the history of the association. It contributed $3,255 to the New Hampshire campaign. Neither Mrs. Upton nor any of the national officers received a salary (except the secretary, who had a nominal one), and in referring to the immense amount of unpaid work done by them and by women in the different States, she said: "People outside of the association often ask why it is that women can be found who are willing to give their time to a work without recompense. We can not answer such inquiries and yet we ourselves know that, through this devotion to a just and holy cause, we rise to a higher plane, we see with larger eyes, we feel the presence of the real self of our fellow-worker. We can no more explain why this is so than we can analyze 'mother love,' or the love of a daughter for a father but we know it. It is for this reason your treasurer rejoices over the day she was so placed, either by design or chance, and so blessed with perfect health that she was able to serve in the cause of woman's political freedom." Mrs. Upton referred to Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey's bequest of $10,000 and that of Mrs. Henrietta M. Banker, from which the association realized $3,000.

Detailed and valuable reports were made by the chairman of committees on Presidential Suffrage, Federal Suffrage, Congressional Work, Civil Rights, Church Work, Enrollment and others. Mrs. Catt reported for the Committee on Literature. Mrs. Catt with Mrs. Blankenburg (Penn.), Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day (Me.) and Mrs. Minola Graham Sexton (N. J.), presidents of their State associations, presided over Work Conferences. Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer, in her report on Libraries and Bibliography, brought to light the lax manner in which many State libraries are conducted. In that of New Jersey no catalogue had been printed for fifty years. In Montana the collection of books was thirty-five years old and had never been catalogued or classified. Various librarians reported no works on woman suffrage and women from those States rose in the audience and said that they had themselves presented the History of Woman Suffrage—four[Pg 95] large volumes. Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock (N. Y.), chairman of the Press Committee, reported 93,600 general articles sent out; 3,665 special articles, much plate matter, many personal sketches, photographs, etc., and a number of new papers added to her list.

Mrs. Maud Nathan read the report of Mrs. Florence Kelley, chairman of the Committee on Industrial Problems Affecting Women and Children. As executive secretary of the National Consumers' League Mrs. Kelley was well qualified to speak and she gave an account of the labor laws in the southern States affecting girls between 16 and 21, who are neither children nor women, which was heartbreaking. Pennsylvania was equally guilty but most of the northern States had improved their laws, Illinois leading; in none, however, were they wholly adequate. She urged the appointment of more women factory inspectors, who were now employed in only eight States, and scored "the default of the prosperous women of the country," saying: "It may be said that women are not morally responsible for this unfortunate state of affairs, since they do not make the laws, but the facts do not altogether justify this excuse. The child-labor legislation which has been achieved through the efforts of women during the past ten years shows that women can do very much even without the ballot in the way of securing legislation on behalf of women and children, and it remains true that women buy the product of the work of women and children far more than do men.... It is my hope that this great and influential national suffrage organization may so influence public opinion that a series of beneficent results will soon become visible."

An Evening with the Philanthropists was one of the most enjoyable during the week. The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, of whom Felix Adler, head of the Ethical Culture Society of New York, was quoted as saying: "She is the only woman with whom I would share my platform," was the first speaker. In considering New Professions in Philanthropic Work for Women, she said: "Charity is old but social science is new and it is the uniting of the two that makes modern philanthropy and that is what opens these new professions. Charity is supposed to come by nature but the knowledge of how to deal with its problems does not.[Pg 96] Society is divided into three groups. First, the reformers—a group never too large, often seemingly too small—who make the way for those that come after. They are often like the artist whose daughter, being asked if her father had been successful, answered that he was 'successful after he was dead.' Then comes the great group, the 'middle-of-the-road' people, who walk along, slowly developing, supporting the churches and schools, holding today's standards and ideals—the people who live in today and who make up the fabric of the world. They are sometimes irritating but they hold what has been gained and they gradually grow. Then there is a group behind, what the French call the 'unfinished' infants—the defectives, the moral and physical imbeciles, the backward and incompetent. We must study how to reduce this social burden in an intelligent way. This has started a new class of vocations as sacred as the ministry was of old."

A very convincing address was given by Dr. Samuel J. Barrows (Mass.), secretary of the National Prison Reform Association, on Women and Prison Reform. In referring to the progress of prison reform he said: "In this array of apostles and prophets and expositors of the new penology we find men and women standing side by side." He described the work in this reform by eminent women in Europe and the United States and concluded: "In the field of penology woman needs the ballot as she needs it in other fields, not as an end but as a means, as an instrument through which she can express her conviction, her conscience, intelligence, sympathy and love. Questions in philanthropy are more and more forcing themselves to the front in legislation. Women are obliged to journey to the Legislature at every session to instruct members and committees at legislative hearings. Some of these days the public will think it absurd that women who are capable of instructing men how to vote should not be allowed to vote themselves. If police and prison records mean anything they mean that, considered as law-abiding citizens, women are ten times as good as men. Why debar the better and enfranchise the worse? In the field of commercial and political competition, woman may demand the ballot as a right but in the field of philanthropy and reform she needs it for the fulfillment of her duties."

Mrs. Nathan, president of the New York Consumers' League,[Pg 97] considered the Wage Earner and the Ballot, her handsome presence, fine humor and long experience rendering her an unusually attractive speaker. "The opponents of our cause," she said, "whether they be of the fair sex or the unfair sex, seem to think that we regard the extension of the suffrage to women as a panacea for all evils in this world and the next. No honest suffragist has ever taken that ground. I can not endorse any such general or sweeping statement but I feel that my experience in investigating the condition of women wage-earners warrants the assertion that some of the evils from which they suffer would not exist if the women had the right to place their votes in the ballot-box." She compared the industrial and educational situation where women voted with that of States where they did not and showed how women were excluded from official positions because disfranchised, giving conclusive instances of the discrimination in her own State. "I feel that not only on account of the women wage-earners should women be accorded the ballot," she said, "but also because they are very largely the spenders of all family incomes and as such they have the right to the assurance that what they buy is free from adulteration and has been produced under clean, wholesome and humane conditions. For this right the Consumers' League persistently contends but it can be only partially successful, in my opinion, so long as it depends entirely upon moral suasion, while manufacturers and merchants have the voting power to hold in terror over its administration."

Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, president of the Massachusetts State Suffrage Association and a leader in the movement for peace and arbitration, was on the program to talk of Woman's Work for Peace. "I am not going to speak of any philanthropy," she began, "but of something much more far-reaching and radical, which will make three-fourths of our philanthropy needless." She then made an impassioned plea for a world organization of the forces that would conduce to peace. Representative government was the first step, she said, and the establishment of a World Court was the next. The achievement of an International Advisory Congress might be the third. "A simultaneous effort must be made," she declared, "to arrange arbitration treaties with every nation on earth, referring all questions that cannot be settled by diplomacy[Pg 98] to the Hague Court. Questions of 'honor' must not be excluded. Carnegie well said in his plea for this plan, 'No word has been so dishonored as the word honor.' Such treaties and the use of the economic boycott upon European enemies would be vastly more efficient than battleships to keep the peace.... We need to convert the church. There are many of our Christian ministers who believe they are living under the dispensation of Joshua and not of Jesus."

At the conclusion of Mrs. Mead's address Mrs. Catt said: "Sometimes the cause of peace and arbitration seems to me the greatest of all. To help working women was the motive that determined me to devote my life to obtaining woman suffrage. How hard it is that women must spend so many years just to get the means with which to effect reforms! But we who believe that behind them all is the ballot are chained to the work for that until it is gained."

Religious services were conducted Sunday afternoon by the Rev. Mary A. Safford of Des Moines, assisted by Dr. Shaw and the Rev. Marie Jenney Howe. The subject of the sermon was The Goal of Life and the text: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and, if children, than heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." "In the preaching of the Gospel of all nations," she said, "it has been recognized that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile; while in breaking the fetters of millions of slaves it also has been recognized that in Him there is neither bond nor free. The world still awaits the time when it will be proclaimed that in Him there is neither male nor female."[31]

Monday, February 15, was Miss Anthony's 84th birthday and it was a coincidence that on the morning of that day the convention should be opened with prayer by the Rev. Edward Everett[Pg 99] Hale, chaplain of the Senate, a life-long opponent of woman suffrage. When he was invited to come he asked definite assurance that it would not be interpreted that he had changed his opinion.[32] The air of the hall was fragrant with the flowers that had been sent in honor of the birthday, and, as the usual tribute of the convention, it made its pledges of money for the expenses of the coming year. Mrs. Upton asked for $4,000 and nearly $5,000 were quickly subscribed.[33]

The preceding day Mrs. John B. Henderson had given a 12 o'clock birthday breakfast for Miss Anthony at her handsome home, Boundary Castle, attended by the national officers and a number of invited guests. In the evening a social reunion for the officers, delegates and speakers was held in the banquet room of the Shoreham Hotel, which was the convention headquarters. On the afternoon of the birthday President and Mrs. Roosevelt received the members of the convention with much cordiality. From the White House they went to a reception given by Miss Clara Barton in her interesting home at Glen Echo, near Washington. The nearly five hundred visitors received a warm welcome and enjoyed wandering through the unique house built of lumber left after the Johnstown flood, unplastered and the walls draped with the flags of many nations that had been presented to her by their rulers. At urgent request Miss Barton brought forth the laces, jewels, medals and decorations given to her by the dignitaries and crowned heads of Europe for her distinguished services[Pg 100] in behalf of the Red Cross, such a collection, it was said, as no other woman possessed.

The convention was largely in the nature of a Colorado jubilee, as its women ten years before had cast their first vote, having been enfranchised in the autumn of 1893. The program for two evenings was given up to men and women from that State under the heading, Colorado Speaks for Itself, and it was most appropriate that Miss Anthony should preside. In presenting her Mrs. Catt said: "This is Miss Anthony's 84th birthday. We might have had a program filled with tributes to her and no doubt you would all have enjoyed them but instead we have what she will like better, a program to show, not that woman suffrage would be a good thing but that it has been a good thing. When Miss Anthony was born no woman in America could vote; no woman in modern times had been a lawyer. Tonight our ushers are seven women graduates of the Washington Law School, in the cap and gown which used to be forbidden to women. But there is something else going on tonight that is a more noteworthy celebration of her birthday. A measure to grant suffrage to women is pending in Denmark with the backing of the government and the women of that country have arranged a great demonstration in favor of the bill and have fixed the date for today because it is the birthday of Susan B. Anthony. Opponents of woman suffrage pay almost their whole attention to Colorado, so we have asked Colorado to come and talk for itself and it has responded magnificently. All the speakers pay their own expenses and have come this long way for the pleasure of saying a word for woman suffrage."

The Washington Post commented, "Miss Anthony received an ovation and it was delightful to see the pride with which she introduced the speakers—a former Governor, a woman State Superintendent of Public Instruction, chairmen of women's political committees and clubs, a woman county superintendent." Mrs. Katharine Cook, president of the Jane Jefferson Club, a Democratic organization of over a thousand women, spoke on The Ideals We Cherish and strongly emphasized that politics did not impair true womanliness or lower high ideals. "A nation can be no more free or pure or beautiful than the homes of which it is composed," she said. "Our country is but a greater home and no[Pg 101] mother whose love for her fireside is more than an instinct or a sentiment can fail to see that the welfare of her home and family is vitally connected with an unstained ballot and an honest government. We women who believe in the right of suffrage and exercise it with the utmost wisdom with which we are gifted, use it for the preservation and defense and love of our homes ... and it is this spirit which is needed at the polls."

An entirely different but equally effective note was struck by Mrs. Ellis Meredith, a prominent journalist of Denver, who said during her address on Colorado Women and Legislation:

Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford of Denver, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs and county superintendent of[Pg 102] schools, began her address, A Message to Garcia, by referring to the noted pamphlet of that title by Elbert Hubbard, "which," she said, "was translated into fourteen languages and called out a response from the hearts of the civilized world, because it set forth the duty and necessity of doing a thing yourself if you want it well done," and she made the application: "The women of Colorado have learned by experience the advantage of a direct vote over direct influence." She then told in a graphic manner the vast amount of good work the Federation of Clubs had been able to do through the power of the ballot and said: "During the last Legislature a department of the federation had to sit one day each week to confer with the many members who wanted its endorsement for their bills. Clubwomen in non-suffrage States do not have this experience. It is because we can carry the message to Garcia ourselves." "Mrs. Catt helped to win our mountain republic for suffrage," Mrs. Bradford said in conclusion, "and we women of Colorado pledge ourselves to Susan B. Anthony to work until death to help get it in other States."

Mrs. Isabella Churchill of Greeley spoke from the standpoint of the women outside the cities. "To the women in the small towns and country districts," she said, "it is a privilege and a pleasure to go to the polls on election day with the men of their family and vote for the candidates and measures they have had time to consider with care. In such places the question next day is not, 'Did the election go Democratic or Republican?' but 'Was it license or no license?' or else concerning some candidate or issue that they believe of importance to their community." Mrs. Helen Belford, chairman of the Women's State Democratic Committee, devoted her address largely to the development of the young women through the use of the ballot and the study of political questions. Mrs. Ina Thompson, chairman of the Republican Women's State Committee, gave a very interesting account of the way campaigns are conducted by women.

Mrs. Helen Loring Grenfell, as State Superintendent of Education, spoke with high authority and by her dignified and beautiful presence no less than by her ability made a deep impression on all who heard her. She pointed out that Colorado came into the Union in 1876 with School suffrage for women and through[Pg 103] this they had always been able to keep the schools on a non-partisan basis. She showed that it paid more per capita for public schools than any other State, leaving even New York and Massachusetts behind; described its advanced position from kindergartens to training schools and colleges, with especial care in guarding the welfare of children, and continued:

The Hon. Isaac N. Stevens, a pronounced suffragist, who had the topic After Ten Years, was detained elsewhere. The Hon. Alva Adams, who had twice been Governor of the State, in his strong and comprehensive speeches before the convention and the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, answered for all time the misrepresentations in regard to woman suffrage in Colorado which for years had been persistently made by the anti-suffragists, and he also answered conclusively the many objections[Pg 104] that had been conjured up. In the convention he discussed it From the Colorado Point of View, beginning as follows:

In answer to the continued charges that the people of the State would like to repeal the law he said: "I have too high a regard, too sincere a faith in Colorado manhood to believe that any of the men who voluntarily conferred the ballot upon their wives, sisters and mothers would now repeal that just act. Common sense refutes the statement regarding women themselves. Not 75 per cent., not 10 per cent., not 1 per cent. would today vote to relinquish that which belongs to them. It is not an American[Pg 105] trait to give up rights.... I challenge any one to find 100 intelligent women in Colorado who will voluntarily request that the word 'male' be restored in the constitution and statutes of the State. Many women may not go to the polls but the man who would try to take away their right to do so would need a bombproof conning tower. There will be no repeal, it stands for all time. There never will be less than four woman suffrage States—there should be forty-five.... Since 1876 school affairs have practically been in the hands of women. They have voted at school elections, held the office of superintendent in a majority of the counties and taught most of the schools. In these twenty-eight years neither politics nor scandals have impaired our public school system and in efficiency we challenge comparison with any State in the Union. What the women have done for our schools they can do for our civic government. They have introduced conscience into educational affairs and they will do the same in city and State. That is the fear of those who make politics a profession...."

Henry B. Blackwell was introduced and spoke briefly of having gone to Colorado in 1876 to assist in getting full suffrage for women into the constitution for statehood, but it was left for the voters to decide. Mrs. Catt closed the meeting with references to the successful campaign of 1893, seventeen years later.

A resolution presented by Mrs. Mead was adopted urging Congress to take the initial steps toward inviting the governments of the world to establish an International Advisory Congress, and impressing upon equal suffragists that they should create local public sentiment in favor of arbitration treaties between the United States and all countries with which it has diplomatic relations. On motion of Mrs. Grenfell the convention endorsed the bill before Congress for a national board of child and animal protection. It rejoiced in the voting of 850,000 women in Australia and in the fact that woman suffrage existed throughout 300,000 square miles of United States territory and eight Senators and nine Representatives were sent to Congress by votes of both men and women. Mrs. Mary Church Terrell (D. C.), a highly educated woman, showing little trace of negro blood, said: "A resolution asks you to stand up for children and animals; I[Pg 106] want you to stand up not only for children and animals but also for negroes. You will never get suffrage until the sense of justice has been so developed in men that they will give fair play to the colored race. Much has been said about the purchasability of the negro vote. They never sold their votes till they found that it made no difference how they cast them. Then, being poor and ignorant and human, they began to sell them, but soon after the Civil War I knew many efforts to tempt them to do so which were not successful. My sisters of the dominant race, stand up not only for the oppressed sex but also for the oppressed race!"

Resolutions of regret were adopted for the death of many pioneer suffragists during the year, among them Sarah Knox Goodrich of California; Sarah Burger Stearns of Minnesota; Judge J. W. Kingman of Iowa; Ellen Sully Fray of Ohio; Eliza Sproat Turner and Samuel Pennock of Pennsylvania; Henrietta L. T. Wolcott, Lavina A. Hatch, Alice Gordon Gulick, Richard P. Hallowell and the Hon. Henry S. Washburn of Massachusetts. Telegrams of remembrance were sent to the veteran workers, Mrs. Martha S. Root of Michigan and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick of Louisiana, and a letter to Mrs. Ellen Powell Thompson of the District. Mrs. Kate Trimble Woolsey of Kentucky, author of Republics vs. Women, was introduced to the convention and showed how republics disfranchised half of their citizens.

The Declaration of Principles, prepared by Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw, Miss Blackwell and Mrs. Harper remained a permanent platform of the association.

Dr. Shaw made the delegates smile at one morning session after they had sung "America" by moving that hereafter the line, "Our Father's God to Thee," should be printed on their program, "Our Father, God, to Thee." She said the preachers and poets had a habit of talking so exclusively about "the God of our fathers" that there was danger of forgetting that our mothers had any God! Mrs. Mary Wood Swift (Calif.), its president, brought the greetings of the National Council of Women. The report from the Friends Equal Rights Association, an affiliated society, was made by Mrs. Anne W. Janney (Md). Fraternal greetings were given by Mrs. Olive Pond Amies for the Pennsylvania[Pg 107] W. C. T. U.; by Mrs. Arabella Carter (Penn.) for the Universal Peace Union, and by Mrs. Emma S. Olds (O.) for the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World. Mrs. Catt warmly complimented this last organization for its fine business principles and the high character of its leaders. The association appointed as its legal adviser Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch, a prominent lawyer of Chicago, for years the superintendent of legislative work for the Illinois Suffrage Association and part of the time its president. It is needless to say that it was not a salaried position. One morning Mrs. Catt called the "pioneers" to the platform and presented them to the convention, among them Miss Mary S. Anthony, who had attended the first Woman's Rights Convention in 1848, of whom her sister always said: "She has looked after the home and made it possible for me to do my work."

Miss Emily Howland of Sherwood, N. Y., one of the early Abolitionists, said in her few words of reminiscence: "I remember Lucy Stone holding a series of meetings through New York State in my youth. My uncle came home and reported that a young woman was lecturing and putting up her own posters; that she was very bright and he was not sure but that she was right and what she advocated would have to come. As I think of those three great leaders, Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, I know what heroism is.... We women did not fully realize at first that militarism was our greatest foe. We are always told that women must not vote because they can not fight. I believe they could—I see many women who have more fight in them than many men.... Our cause came straight from the anti-slavery cause. All its early advocates were also advocates of freeing the despised race in bondage. Let us not forget them now. Neither a nation nor an individual can be really free till all are free."

It had been known for some months that Mrs. Catt would not accept a re-election to the presidency. For the past nine years she had given her entire time to work for woman suffrage, speaking in many States, attending conventions, serving as chairman of the Committee on Organization for five years and as president for four years. During this time she had had charge of the national headquarters and under the combined strain found her[Pg 108] health breaking. The first measure of relief was the removal of the national headquarters to Warren, Ohio, in May, 1904, where Mrs. Upton took it in charge, but this was not sufficient and she announced her determination to retire from the presidency, much to the regret of the association. The delegates naturally turned to Dr. Shaw and urged the presidency upon her but she was most reluctant to accept. It was an unsalaried position; she was entirely dependent on her lectures and she felt that in the field she could best serve the cause but she finally yielded to Miss Anthony's earnest entreaties. She was almost unanimously elected and Mrs. Catt consented to remain in official position as vice-president-at-large. The convention adopted the following resolution: "We tender to our retiring president our hearty thanks for her years of faithful and efficient labor in behalf of our cause and for her self-sacrificing devotion to its interests. We congratulate ourselves that we shall continue to have her wise counsel and cooperation and we express our earnest hope for her health and prosperity." No other change was made except that Mrs. Coggeshall retired as second auditor and Dr. Cora Smith Eaton again became a member of the board.

The Evening Star had this description: "As the afternoon session was about closing Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, retiring national president, who has endeared herself to all by her gracious courtesy, her firm yet gentle sway, presented to the convention its choice for her successor. Miss Shaw was not as clear-eyed as usual when she faced the cheering audience and her voice trembled and choked a little as she declared she had accepted the office only to give Mrs. Catt a rest. As the convention continued to applaud she said, trying to smile: 'Don't do that or I shall surely cry!' The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw is probably the first woman distinguished by having taken both theological and medical degrees. She won her way into and through college by teaching and paid for her theological training by preaching on Sundays.... After filling one parish for seven years she found her widest opportunities in the broad parish of the lecture field and is one of the ablest speakers on the public platform."

Detroit sent an invitation for the next convention and Mrs. Richard Williams of Buffalo, N. Y., presented one from that city[Pg 109] with a guarantee from the State Suffrage Association of $1,000 toward the expenses. While these were appreciated the invitation from Portland, Ore., was the choice. It was presented by Dr. Annice Jeffreys for the association and by the Hon. Jefferson Myers in behalf of the Lewis and Clark Exposition to be held in 1905, which the convention gave a hearty endorsement.

The last evening found the large armory filled to the doors. Mrs. Evelyn H. Belden (Ia.) made a delightful address on The Main Line, which thoroughly disproved the assertion that women have no sense of humor, as the audience testified by frequent laughter and applause. Mrs. L. Annis Pound (Mich.) discussed the Problem of the Individual. "A woman's value to society," she said, "will increase in direct ratio as her value as an individual increases. Woman as the potential mother of the race owes it to posterity to develop the noblest, strongest type of individualism. She must be first a human being, a personality, a member of society." Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, president of the National Women's Republican Association, who had made political speeches from ocean to ocean, told in a most entertaining manner of Campaigning in Free States and paid a glowing tribute to the beneficial effects of woman suffrage in the States where it existed.

Towards the end of the evening Mrs. Catt presented Miss Anthony and as she came forward she brought Miss Barton with her and the audience rose in heartfelt recognition of the two great leaders. "It seemed unable quite fully to express its pleasure," said the Evening Star, "and applauded again and again, as Miss Barton bowed and Miss Anthony looked smilingly and benignly out over the enthusiastic crowds." She expressed in words of affection and esteem her pleasure in appearing on that platform with one who had stood by her from the beginning of her work and Miss Barton responded in the same strain, giving then as always her adherence to Miss Anthony and the cause of woman suffrage.

A national suffrage convention never seemed to be properly ended unless Dr. Shaw made a speech at the close and for this one she chose the subject, Woman without a Country, and with her matchless eloquence described the position of women under the flag of a Government in which they had no voice. Mrs. Catt[Pg 110] spoke the president's inspiring farewell words and the convention adjourned to meet next time in the far northwest.

The usual hearings were granted by the Senate and House Committees on February 16 at 10:30 a.m. Miss Anthony presided at the Senate hearing and the speakers in the Marble Room were Mrs. Watson Lister, Australia; Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, England; Dr. Anna Howard Shaw and Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer, Pennsylvania; Miss Laura A. Gregg, Nebraska; Miss Harriet May Mills, Miss Emily Howland, Mrs. Maud Nathan, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, New York. In introducing Mrs. Gilman Miss Anthony said quaintly: "This is one of the Beecher tribe," referring to her relationship, and she said of Dr. Shaw, the last speaker, "She will wind us up!" In telling of the first congressional hearing on woman suffrage ever granted—in 1869—she said: "Of all those who spoke here then I am the only one living today and I shall not be able to come much longer." Her words were prophetic, as this was the last hearing she ever attended.

Each speaker considered the question from a different standpoint: Miss Mills showed that the high schools everywhere were graduating more girls than boys and women were increasing in the colleges at a higher ratio than men and said: "If only you would fix an educational qualification for the franchise we might hope to attain it." Mrs. Swift described the great campaign that had been made by California women for the suffrage in 1896 and yet they could not now even vote for school officers and she told of the unjust laws for women. Mrs. Boyer spoke for the millions of women wage-earners and declared that the present form of government was a sex-aristocracy. Mrs. Gilman said that to have intelligent men there must be educated mothers and that America could be made greater but not out of little people. Mrs. Harper reviewed the Senate hearings of the past, the favorable and unfavorable reports and the many times when no reports were made and said: "We represent no vested interests, no constituency: we cannot help or harm you politically; we can only appeal to you in the name of abstract justice."[Pg 111]

Mrs. Blatch, American by birth, told of the feelings of women arriving in this country by steamer and seeing the men land from the steerage who would soon have the right of suffrage which was denied to women born in the United States. Mrs. Watson Lister was introduced as representing over 800,000 women voters in Australia and said in part: "It seems very odd to me to come to America to speak on self-government. In Australia woman suffrage is not an experiment but a long experience and one effect has been to disprove all the things that were said against it." Dr. Shaw spoke of the hardships women had endured to make this country what it is and of the injustice of denying them any voice in its government.

Miss Anthony closed by saying that she had appealed to committees of seventeen Congresses and she urged that this one would make a favorable report. Senator Mitchell of Oregon responded: "I introduced this resolution for woman suffrage. I am earnestly in favor of it—have been for many years—and if I live you will get a report. I have been more instructed and interested by the magnificent speeches I have heard today than by any in the Senate of the United States during the twenty-one years I have attended it." Others expressed themselves in the same strain. Senator Mitchell's own personal affairs, however, soon became much involved and no report was made.

Mrs. Catt conducted the hearing before the Judiciary Committee of the House. Its chairman, Representative John J. Jenkins of Wisconsin, who was presiding, made no secret of his hostility to woman suffrage but some members of the committee were favorable. Colorado had been the storm center of attack and defense for many years while Denver was the only city of considerable size where women could vote. In opening the hearing Mrs. Catt said: "Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee: Last year when we appeared before the committee to speak in behalf of the bill asking the submission of the 16th Amendment we called attention to the fact that Congress had appointed a great many commissions for investigation of the conditions, political and otherwise, of various classes of people, and[Pg 112] inasmuch as we have come here year after year claiming that woman suffrage had wrought none of the ills which its enemies said it would and that it had brought many benefits, we asked that Congress, through a commission, should investigate it in the western States. You are aware that no such commission resulted from our petition. When Mahomet commanded the mountain to come to him and the mountain did not come he said: 'Then Mahomet will go to the mountain.' We have therefore this year brought Colorado to you and the speakers who will address you this morning are all from that State."

The speeches largely followed the lines of those given before the convention. Mrs. Katherine Cook showed the relation between the women's vote and the home and family welfare. Mrs. Ellis Meredith, introduced as on the editorial staff of the Rocky Mountain News of Denver, gave a summary of the excellent legislation that had been effected since women began voting in 1894 and said: "I have read a compilation of the laws in regard to the protection of children in every State and I know that in no other have they such ample protection and in no other are the laws so well enforced. This is partly due to the fact that our Humane Society is a State institution and has the free voluntary services of six hundred men and women acting as agents over this big State of 104,000 square miles." Answering questions she said: "In my district, one of the best, 571 women registered and 570 voted. There are as many men as women in the district but only 235 voted. Men form 55 per cent. of our population and women 45. Women cast over 43 per cent. of the total vote."

Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, extended the account of the remarkable work it had accomplished as described to the convention, a success, she said, due to the fact that it represented a large body of well-informed voters. She ridiculed the danger at the polling places. "Who are the evil creatures we are supposed to meet there on election day? We vote in the precinct in which we live and we meet our husbands, our brothers, our sons.... In Colorado the environment in which the supreme right of citizenship is[Pg 113] performed has been improved to harmonize with the improved character of the constituency."

Mrs. Helen Loring Grenfell was introduced by Mrs. Catt as "the State Superintendent of Public Instruction now serving her third term, the only successful candidate on her ticket at the last election." She began by saying: "Gentlemen, this is a very peculiar position for a Colorado woman. It seems just as strange to me as it would be to my husband to be coming here before a body of women and saying: 'We men ask from you equal rights under the Constitution of the United States.'" After showing the interest felt in elections by women she said: "I have been an office-holder, which has involved running for office, and I think it is right for me to tell you a little of my experiences. My campaigns have taken me through almost every county in Colorado, the farming counties, the roughest mining communities, and let me say to you that if there could be any more chivalry in the States where you think it would be unchivalrous to let your women vote, I would like to see it. I have met with the greatest courtesy from men all over the State. I have been treated just as kindly, just as politely by the men when I appeared as a political candidate as by the men with whom I am associated in my school work, in my home and society life. We have come to the time when we must feel that the word chivalry belongs to the past. It is connected with a period when woman's position before the law and in her home was far from a desirable one; and so I believe you will not misunderstand me when I say that if you will give us justice we feel that it will mean a great deal more than chivalry ever did."

There had just been an exposition of fraud at the recent Congressional election where Representative John F. Shafroth had been re-elected and he at once resigned the office in order to disclaim all connection with it. Nearly every speaker was interrogated about it by members of the committee. Mrs. Grenfell answered, as did all of them: "The frauds upon which this election was decided were committed in the city of Denver alone and in the worst precincts in the city. We will admit that they were committed. Is that a reason for considering that woman suffrage is a mistake? I have heard reports from the cities of Philadelphia[Pg 114] and New York by which, if I should judge male suffrage, I should say it was an utter failure in the States of Pennsylvania and New York. We have tens of thousands of women voters in Colorado. We have indictments out against many dishonest voters and with the utmost searching they have found one woman who is charged with 'repeating' in the election. Our State penitentiary has five women prisoners today and 600 men. That surely cannot be used as an argument for woman suffrage having injured the women, whatever it may have done to the men."[34]

The committee were particularly interested in the speech of former Governor Alva Adams, which gave much information on the voting of women and called out many questions from the committee. Representative Littlefield of Maine inquired: "What do you say, Governor, about Miss McCracken's article in the Outlook?" and he answered: "I call it infamous, to use the proper term. It was an absolute falsehood. It was based upon no facts, because no decent women in Colorado would make the statements that she quotes. She may have found one woman who would say that they were using philanthropy and charity for political purposes but to admit that the women of the State would do a thing of that kind—would so debase themselves—would be an impeachment of the decency and honesty of womankind everywhere. I am not prepared to make that admission and the citizens of Colorado cannot make it. There are 100,000[Pg 115] honest women in the State who are voters and there are not 100 who will subscribe to the sentiments she gave voice to."[35]

Mrs. Catt closed the hearing with an earnest appeal for action, saying in part:

The Senate Committee presented the National Association with 10,000 and the House Committee with 15,000 copies of these hearings, which they could use as a part of their propaganda literature. There was not, however, enough political influence back of the appeals for the submission of the Federal Amendment for woman suffrage to compel the committees to make reports which would bring the subject before Congress.

[Pg 117]

CHAPTER V.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1905.

Until 1905 the national suffrage conventions had never been held further west than Des Moines, Ia. (1897), but this year the innovation was made of going to the Pacific Coast for the Thirty-seventh annual meeting, June 28-July 5,[36] at the invitation of the managers of the Lewis and Clark Exposition held in Portland, Ore. It was a delightful experience from the beginning, as the delegates from the East and Middle West met in Chicago and had three special cars from there. The Chicago Woman's Club gave a large reception in the afternoon of June 23 for Miss Anthony, the officers and delegates. They took the train that night; Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt joined them in Iowa and others along the way, as it sped westward. The newspapers[Pg 118] had given it wide publicity and they were greeted by suffragists at many places. The Political Equality Club of Boone, Ia., brought large bouquets for Miss Anthony, Dr. Shaw and Mrs. Catt, who made brief speeches from the rear platform. The colored porter listened attentively and said: "Well, that settles me; I am for woman suffrage," and afterwards diligently circulated copies of the Woman's Journal on the train. Another ovation awaited them at Council Bluffs. The train waited half an hour at Omaha and the women of the Political Equality Club, the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Club united in a demonstration. A platform had been improvised and their presidents expressed a welcome to which responses were made by Miss Anthony, Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw, the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Miss Laura Clay and Mr. and Miss Blackwell, editors of the Woman's Journal, while reporters were busy getting interviews. They returned to the train laden with flowers, which they distributed, sending buttonhole bouquets to the engineer, fireman and all the crew.

The train was delayed two hours at Cheyenne and former U. S. Senator Joseph M. Carey and his wife, staunch suffragists and old friends of Miss Anthony, took her for a drive while the officers and delegates walked about the pleasant little city and went to see the handsome State House. Miss Blackwell wrote of the occasion: "Everything in Wyoming was surrounded by a sort of halo. The sky seemed of a more vivid blue, the grass of a brighter emerald than in the States where women do not enjoy equal rights. The leaves of the many cottonwood trees twinkled pleasantly in the clear sunlight, the air was fresh and bracing and the snow mountains looked down upon the city like a visible realization of ideals." The presence of the visitors soon became known and an impromptu reception was held in the large waiting room of the station, which was beautified by potted ferns and palms.

Sunday services were held on the train and during the week days business meetings in the stateroom of Miss Anthony and Dr. Shaw. As the journey neared the end the porter confided to Lucy E. Anthony, the railroad secretary, who arranged the trip: "I ain't never travelled with such a bunch of women before—they[Pg 119] don't fuss with me and they don't scrap with each other!" Monday morning they entered the magnificent scenery along the Columbia River and at The Dalles were met by Mrs. Duniway and a party of friends. By noon they had reached the City of Roses and were comfortably settled in the Portland Hotel and the hospitable homes of the city.

The convention, held in the First Congregational Church, was planned for a very full program of ten days instead of the usual week. Notwithstanding the Exposition was in progress and conventions were a matter of daily occurrence, none of the national suffrage conventions ever had fuller or more satisfactory reports. Journal, Telegram and Oregonian vied with each other and the Associated Press sent out whatever was requested of it. The Oregonian said of the first executive session: "Room 618 in the Portland Hotel was the scene of a notable gathering yesterday afternoon. Lawyers, doctors, ministers of the gospel, lecturers of renown and expert auditors were in close conference, mapping out a plan of campaign by which they will fight for their rights in this land of the free and home of the brave. That they have not had the rights accorded by the Declaration of Independence to all American citizens they attribute to the fact that they are women and it is to convince unseeing mankind that women who are intelligent enough to obey laws are capable of helping frame them, that the most profound and representative women of the country are gathered here in the interests of equal suffrage." Miss Blackwell presented this interesting picture in her letter to the Woman's Journal.

The convention was opened with prayer by the Rev. Elwin L. House, pastor of the church. The president, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, was in the chair and greetings were given from the Oregon Suffrage Association by its president, Mrs. Henry Waldo Coe; the National Council of Women by the president, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift (Calif.), who called attention to the fact that it was organized by suffragists; the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union by Mrs. Lucia Faxon Additon; the National Grange by Mrs. Clara H. Waldo, who said: "The basic principle of the Grange is equal rights for men and women and it practices what it preaches, all the offices being open to women." Greetings from the National Federation of Labor were offered by Mrs. F. Ross; the Ladies of the Maccabees by Mrs. Nellie H. Lambson; the Federation of Women's Clubs by Mrs. Sarah A. Evans; the Forestry Association by Mrs. Arthur H. Breyman; the Women's Henry George League by Dr. Mary H. Thompson, the pioneer woman physician of Oregon. The National Conference of Charities and Corrections, then in session in Portland, sent greetings by Mrs. Lillie R. Trumbull, who said: "If woman suffrage means anything it means the protection of children, therefore we march under the same banner."

Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway, the pioneer suffragist of the northwest, presented to Dr. Shaw a gavel from the Oregon Historical Society with a letter from its secretary, Dr. George H. Himes, describing the six kinds of wood out of which it was made, each of important historical value. It was accepted with thanks and used by her to preside over the convention. A Centennial Ode, composed by Mrs. Duniway, was finely read by Mrs. Sylvia W. McGuire. The response to all these greetings was made by Miss Anthony, of whom the Oregonian said: "The[Pg 121] appearance of Susan B. Anthony was the signal for a wild ovation. The large audience rose to its feet and cheered the pioneer who has done so much for the cause of equal suffrage and who is still the life of a great work. At the close of the session men and women rushed forward, eager to clasp her hand and pay homage to her. There are many famous delegates present at this convention, women whose names are known in every civilized nation on the globe, but none shines with the luster which surrounds Miss Anthony." She began by recalling her visit in 1871, when Mrs. Duniway and she made a speaking tour of six weeks in the State; the long stage rides over the corduroy roads, the prejudice encountered but personal friendliness and large audiences everywhere, and continued:

The opening exercises closed with an address by the Rev. Thomas L. Eliot, a Unitarian minister, who with his wife had encouraged Miss Anthony during that visit of 1871. He said his mother's great-aunt, Abigail Adams, had probably uttered the first declaration for woman suffrage on American soil, and paid a warm tribute to Mrs. Duniway's long and earnest labors[Pg 122] for this cause as he had seen them during his thirty-seven years in Oregon.

At the insistence of Dr. Shaw Miss Anthony presided at the first evening session. It was said that she had wielded the gavel at more conventions than any other woman and she had presided over national suffrage conventions for nearly forty years, but this proved to be the last at which she filled that honored position. A press report said: "Her voice is more vigorous than that of many a woman half her age and she speaks with fluency and ease." The Oregonian thus described her appearance on this occasion: "A rare picture she made in the high-backed oaken chair, her snowy hair puffed over her ears in old-time fashion and the collar of rose point lace, which seems to belong to dignified old age, forming a frame for her gentle but determined face. When she rose to call the meeting to order she was deluged with many beautiful floral tributes and drolly peering over the heap of flowers she said: "Well, this is rather different from the receptions I used to get fifty years ago. They threw things at me then—but they were not roses—and there were not epithets enough in Webster's Unabridged to fit my case. I am thankful for this change of spirit which has come over the American people."

Governor George E. Chamberlain gave the welcome of the State, declaring himself unequivocally and emphatically in favor of woman suffrage and expressing the hope that Oregon was now ready to grant it. T. C. Devlin extended the welcome of the city as proxy for the Mayor, who addressed the convention later. The Hon. Jefferson Myers, president of the State Commission for the Exposition, paid eloquent tribute to Miss Anthony and her co-workers and said:

Mrs. Duniway spoke on The Pioneers of the Northwest as one of them, introduced by Miss Anthony as "the woman with whom I went gipsying thirty-four years ago," and the audience grew enthusiastic at the sight of these two brave veterans, the one 85 and the other 71. The press commented: "Mrs. Duniway's talk will be remembered as one of the best of the session. She said she had been electrified by the Governor's speech and her own fairly scintillated with the result of the shock. Her anecdotes were capital and her reminiscences of the cabbage and rotten-egg days convulsed the audience." Mrs. Catt, vice-president-at-large, responded to the greetings and expressed the pleasure of the delegates at being in "this most beautiful city of the United States and of the world." She spoke in highest praise of the free, independent spirit of the West, quoting the man who said: "Out here we don't ask who your grandfather was but everybody stands on his own hypothenuse!"

Dr. Shaw was so impressed with the responsibility of her new office that for the first time she wrote her president's address and it was published in twelve columns of the Woman's Journal. A Portland paper thus prepared the audience: "The event of the evening will be the address of the president, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw. She is easily the best and foremost woman speaker in the world and in her appearance Portland will enjoy a rare treat. Her eloquence is seldom equalled and she is a[Pg 124] woman of deep learning, a cogent reasoner and a brilliant thinker.... She has wonderful magnetism and a rare voice of round, rich tones and great carrying capacity. An unusual combination of dignity and wit is hers and many brilliant remarks intersperse the numbers on the program, keeping the audience in fine humor and constant interest." After a glowing word-picture of the natural beauty of Portland and Oregon Dr. Shaw turned her attention to Sacajawea, the young Indian woman who guided Lewis and Clark through thousands of miles of trackless wilderness on their expedition to the great northwest.

Referring to the convention and the delegates Dr. Shaw said:

The recent attacks of Cardinal Gibbons and former President Cleveland, who had protested against women taking part in the Government lest it interfere with the home, she answered with keen analysis, saying in part:

[Pg 126]

A comprehensive review was made of the great events in the world's history during the past year and the work of the National American Suffrage Association was described. "Whatever others may say or do," she declared, "our association must not accept any compromises. We must guard against the reactionary spirit which marks the present time and stand unfalteringly for the principle of perfect equality of rights and opportunities for all.... Never was there a time when heroic service was more needed—not the spectacular heroism marching with flying banners and weapons of destruction but the quiet, earnest heroism of men and women standing steadfastly by that which seems right and rigidly adhering in daily intercourse to that sterling honesty of purpose which ennobles character and develops the best in a nation's life." This inspiring address, all of which was on the same high level as the portions quoted, thus concluded:

During the several business sessions the following action was taken: It was directed that a letter be sent to the President-elect, Theodore Roosevelt, asking him to recommend the submission of a 16th Amendment in his message to Congress; that as many organizations of women as possible be secured to unite in urging him to do so, following the methods employed by the Protest Committee (a committee appointed to wait upon him to[Pg 127] present this request); that the Banker, Starr, Underwood and Green bequests amounting to $3,801 be appropriated for campaign work in Oregon and the Territories. Miss Clay announced that Miss Laura Bruce had bequeathed $5,000 to her in trust for the National American Woman Suffrage Association.

The work conferences established by Mrs. Catt during her administration were held with the following among the questions discussed: Must we supplement our present form of organization to achieve our "argument of numbers"? How can we best spread our ideas in other organizations? The field in 1904 and 1905. Our request in 1904 for a plank in the national platforms. These conferences, which had been a feature of the conventions for eight years, were dropped after this one but many of the practical subjects formerly discussed in such conferences were placed on the regular program. Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch presided at the conference on How can we nationalize our request for a 16th Amendment? At its conclusion it was voted to refer to the Business Committee the idea of asking the suffragists of the four free States to instruct their Senators and Representatives in Congress to move for the submission of a 16th Amendment. It was her thought that all the State suffrage associations should send petitions to their respective Congressmen asking for a 16th Amendment to the National Constitution enfranchising women; that earnest efforts should be made to have other organizations take similar action and every means employed to bring the question before them.

The reports of the standing and special committees and those from the various State presidents, which occupied the morning and afternoon sessions, were excellent and valuable as usual. Miss Kate M. Gordon (La.) in her corresponding secretary's report called attention to the conspicuous triumph for woman suffrage when the great International Council of Women, whose delegates represented practically the whole civilized world, at its meeting in Berlin the preceding year unanimously endorsed woman suffrage and appointed a standing committee on Citizenship and Equal Rights, with Dr. Shaw as its chairman. She read letters from the Governors of the four equal suffrage States[Pg 128] regretting their inability to be present for Woman's Day at the Exposition and giving the strongest possible endorsement of the practical working of woman suffrage.

The report of Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, headquarters secretary, of the first year's work in its new home at Warren, O., was most interesting. The letters sent out numbered 14,000 and included three during the year to the president of every local club, giving information, plans of work and encouragement. The bureau had over 1,200 individual correspondents. Nearly 44,000 copies of Progress went to newspapers, public men, delegates to the political conventions and subscribers. About 65,000 pieces of literature exclusive of Progress were distributed, going to every State and Territory, to Canada, England, Holland and Australia. In addition thousands of booklets, political equality leaflets and souvenirs of various kinds were sent forth as propaganda. The report of Mrs. Catt, chairman of the Committee on Literature, showed that it had provided 62,000 of these pieces and had printed about 100,000 during the year. Miss Anthony had presented to the association ten sets of the History of Woman Suffrage and eighty copies of the new Volume IV to be sold, Miss Hauser said. Headquarters were maintained at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. The work inaugurated by Miss Anthony of securing resolutions for woman suffrage from conventions of various kinds was successfully continued. Fraternal delegates were sent to national conventions and the U. S. National Council of Women had created a Committee on Political Equality. Nineteen State organizations adopted resolutions endorsing woman suffrage; fraternal delegates from suffrage associations were sent to eighteen other State gatherings and the question was given a hearing at six Territorial conventions; greetings were sent to three, literature distributed in four and woman suffrage day observed in three State gatherings. Add to these the 283 societies (not suffrage) which reported adopting resolutions on the Statehood Protest and there is positive knowledge that the question was before and received favorable action from 339 societies in 1904. A full report was given of the effort to obtain woman[Pg 129] suffrage planks in the platforms of the political parties, delegates from the association being sent to all. [See Chapter XXIII.]

An outstanding feature of the year's achievements was what was known as the Statehood Protest. At the beginning of the 58th Congress a bill passed the Lower House providing for the admission to Statehood of Oklahoma, Indian, Arizona and New Mexico Territories under the names of Oklahoma and Arizona. It contained a clause saying that "the right of suffrage should never be abridged except on account of illiteracy, minority, sex, conviction of felony or mental condition." The association's legal adviser, Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago, was consulted by Mrs. Upton and Miss Hauser the preceding June as to how the word "sex" could be eliminated. She took the matter under consideration and laid her plan before the Business Committee in September. It called for a nation-wide protest from women's organizations and individuals. The committee approved but did not feel able to make a sufficient appropriation. The report continued:

The report of Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, national treasurer, showed receipts for the year to be $14,662, including bequests of $4,237 from Mrs. Henrietta L. Banker of New York and $500 from Mrs. Armilla J. Starr of Michigan; $2,000 from Mrs. Charlotte A. Cleveland of New York and $100 each from Mrs. Jonas Green of Virginia and Mrs. Helen J. Underwood of California. The disbursements were $12,437. Miss Hauser asked for the money for the next year's work and $4,614 were quickly subscribed. A large number of $50 life memberships were taken. One hundred one-dollar pledges were made in memory of Sacajawea. Mrs. Catt guaranteed that Mrs. Upton and herself would raise $3,000 for the Oregon campaign.

Henry B. Blackwell, chairman of the Presidential Suffrage Committee, gave the welcome information that the U. S. Supreme Court through Chief Justice Fuller had rendered a decision that "the power of every State Legislature in the appointment of presidential electors is plenary, exclusive and final." The report of Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer, chairman of the Libraries Committee, was read by Mrs. Blankenburg and showed that thus far a bibliography of 823 books, pamphlets, etc., on woman suffrage had been compiled. One book bore the date of 1627. Another had the title "No Female Suffrage; Theology, Logic, Anatomy, Physiology and Philology United to Establish the Truism that Woman is No Human Being." Mrs. Blankenburg went as fraternal delegate to the convention of the National Libraries Association meeting in Portland at this time and gave[Pg 131] part of this report, which was received with much interest and cooperation was promised.

The report of Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock, chairman of the Press Committee, was as complete and valuable as usual. It said that 80,000 general suffrage articles had been sent out and 6,000 papers supplied by the chairman and committee since the last convention. Each paper in Portland had been furnished with personal sketches of every officer and speaker connected with the convention and copies of all the reports and speeches that could be obtained, as was customary wherever a convention was held. In referring to special articles she said that 5,000 copies from members of the association and residents of Colorado had been sent out in answer to the charges that woman suffrage was responsible for the recent election frauds in that State, which seemed to be made by every opponent who could wield a pen. Answers were widely distributed to the report of the Mosely Educational Commission sent here from Great Britain, and the Male Teachers' Association of New York, to the effect that women should not be employed to teach boys over ten years of age and that teaching was interfering with the marriage of many women and keeping them from their proper place in the world. The article of former President Grover Cleveland in the Ladies' Home Journal denouncing women's clubs and particularly suffrage clubs had been almost universally commented on by the press and required extensive attention. A reply to Cardinal Gibbons's address to the women graduates of Trinity College, Washington, by Mrs. Ida Husted Harper was sent to eighty metropolitan papers and hundreds of shorter ones were scattered broadcast. The excellent work of the various State press chairman was described.

One afternoon was devoted to a conference on How Can We Best Utilize the Press? Mrs. Harper presided and nearly twenty speakers took part. One of the Portland papers commented: "If the great political organs of the United States knew how well these women have the tricks of the trade at their fingers' ends they would employ special detectives to watch for suffrage literature in disguise." Mr. Lathrop, editor of the Portland Journal, said: "A newspaper man in his official capacity is not an educator[Pg 132] but a seller of news. One who would treat a suffrage convention as a negligible quantity would lose his job. The question is not how you can get matter about women into the papers but how you can keep it out." Mrs. Florence Kelley added: "We all know to our sorrow that women cannot keep out of the papers but the question is how to get our subject in them in a way to promote it. I can recommend the following method: Write something in editorial style just about as you want it to appear and send it to the editor with a deprecatory note to the effect that it is only raw material but perhaps it could be whipped into an editorial by his able pen. The chances are that the first time he is hard up for one he will use it—probably beheaded or with the end off or the middle amputated to show that the editor is editing, but it will be published."

Miss Anthony was asked for reminiscences of her famous paper, the Revolution, published in New York in 1868-70. Mrs. Duniway gave an interesting account of her paper, the New Northwest, begun in 1871 in Portland and continued for a number of years with the help of her five young sons. She expressed her love for the Woman's Journal, "the dear, reliable, old paper started by Lucy Stone and kept going by the heroic efforts of her husband and daughter," and many joined in this expression. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby (D. C.), editor of the Woman's Tribune, told of the press conference at the International Council of Women. Mrs. Julia B. Nelson (Minn.) and Miss Amanda Way (Ind.) were among the veteran writers who spoke. Miss Blackwell gave experienced advice and a number of younger women made brief but clever suggestions.

An interesting part of the convention was Woman's Day at the Exposition on June 30 and this day had been chosen for the dedication of the statue of Sacajawea, the Indian woman who led the Lewis and Clark Expedition thousands of miles through the wilderness unknown to white men. It was thus described: "The statue, a beautiful creation in bronze, was the work of Miss Alice Cooper of Denver, a pupil of Lorado Taft, the figure full of buoyancy and animation, a shapely arm suggestive of strength pointing to the distant sea, the face radiant, the head thrown back, the eyes full of daring." The exercises[Pg 133] were in charge of the Order of Red Men and the Women's Sacajawea Association, Mrs. Eva Emery Dye, president, and on the platform facing the statue prominent members of the convention sat with President Goode, of the Exposition, Mayor Lane and other dignitaries. Miss Anthony and Mrs. Duniway spoke during the unveiling and presentation ceremonies and Dr. Shaw pronounced the benediction. [See Oregon chapter.]

The afternoon session of the convention was held in Festival Hall on the grounds and greetings were offered for organizations, including the Young Woman's Christian Association by Mrs. L. E. Rockwell and Women's Medical Association by Dr. Esther C. Pohl. Dr. Sarah A. Kendall of Washington responded. The Los Angeles Suffrage Club sent a greeting and Mrs. Helen Secor Tonjes brought one from the New York City Equal Suffrage League. Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman gave an original poem. Mrs. Mabel Craft Deering, a graduate of California State University and the Hastings Law School of San Francisco, read an able paper on Coeducation. Its sentiments were strongly endorsed by Professor William S. Giltner, president of Eminence College, Kentucky, one of the earliest women's colleges, from its beginning in 1858 to its close in 1894. Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, under the title, Sowing the Seed, gave an interesting account of the early trials of her mother and two aunts, the pioneer doctors, Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell. The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, an aunt by marriage, the pioneer woman minister, who was on the platform, said: "Ever since I made my first suffrage speech in 1848 I have believed that the cause of woman suffrage was the cause of religion and vice versa." Mrs. Maud Wood Park read the eloquent address of Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead on The Organization of the World.

Mrs. May Arkwright Hutton (Idaho), who spoke for the equal suffrage States, gave this unique reminiscence of her early life in Ohio when William McKinley, a young lawyer, after speaking in the town hall, was a guest of her grandfather. She said in part: "Mr. McKinley carried the lantern, leading me by the hand, while I led grandfather, we little dreaming that the kindly young man guiding a child and an old, blind man through the wintry night would some day guide the destiny of[Pg 134] the nation. On reaching home, I brought cider, apples and doughnuts from the cellar that we might have what grandfather called a 'schold check' before going to bed. The fire roared in the wide chimney place; grandfather sat in his armchair, Mr. McKinley opposite and I on a low stool between them. They talked of the late war, reconstruction and woman's rights. Then it was that I learned that women were denied rights enjoyed by men. Mr. McKinley deplored the fact and contended that woman was the intellectual equal of man and should be his political equal. Patting my head he said: 'I believe when this lassie grows up she will be a voter.'"

At the close of the session a reception for Miss Anthony and the officers, speakers and delegates was given in the Oregon building by its hostess, Dr. Annice Jeffreys (Mrs. Jefferson) Myers, assisted by Mrs. Coe, the State president. The big reception hall and the parlors were filled with visitors from all parts of the country. The Oregonian said: "When Miss Anthony, the honored guest, reached the Oregon building the band played Auld Lang Syne and the crowds became so dense that it was with difficulty Dr. Myers could escort her to the parlors. Here she stood in line for more than an hour, women and men pressing around her wanting just a word and they got it! She declared that it did not make her nearly so tired as she used to feel when nobody wanted to take her hand." In a letter to the Woman's Journal Miss Blackwell said: "Both in the convention and at all the social functions Miss Anthony has been the central figure, the object of general admiration and affection. It is the strongest possible contrast to the unpopularity and persecution of her early days. All these attentions were most gratifying to the members of the convention, who appreciated her courage and devotion in making this long journey at the age of 85, and afterwards they were remembered with especial pleasure because it was the last in which she was able to take an active part."

The social courtesies during the convention were unbounded. The Woman's Club gave a large evening reception in the rooms of the Commercial Club and Mrs. Arthur H. Breyman, its president, opened her handsome residence for an afternoon tea. Mrs. Coe gave a dinner party of about thirty, her lovely home[Pg 135] decorated in yellow flowers, the suffrage color. Mrs. Hutton had a handsome dinner of thirty covers at the Portland Hotel and the Ode which she had written and dedicated to the convention was sung by Mrs. Alice Mason Barnett of San Francisco here and at the convention. Private dinners and teas were of daily occurrence and the drives around this beautiful city and its environs were a never failing delight.

At one evening session C. E. S. Wood (Ore.) spoke on The Injustice of Majority Rule in a cynical strain, believing that woman suffrage was right but fearing it would not do as much good as its advocates hoped for. Now suffrage meant "little stuffed men going to a little stuffed ballot box" and he was afraid "women would take their place on the chess board to be moved in the game by some power they did not see." After he had finished Dr. Shaw observed: "I would rather be a little stuffed woman having my own say than to be ruled by a little stuffed man without my consent, and the only way we will cease to have little stuffed men is for them to be born of free mothers."

Dr. Harriet B. Jones of Wheeling, W. Va., told of the unsuccessful campaign to have Municipal suffrage for women included in its new charter. "The anti-suffrage women of New York and Massachusetts," she said," flooded the newspapers with literature and the heaviest opposing vote came from the lowest and most ignorant sections of the city." In answer to the request of the Wheeling women the National Association had sent Miss Hauser to take charge of the campaign and appropriated funds for it. A telegram to Dr. Shaw from Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, was read, saying: "Kindly convey fraternal greetings to the officers and delegates of your convention and the earnest expression of our hope for the enfranchisement and disenthrallment of women." A telegram of greeting was received from Mrs. Frederick Schoff, president of the National Congress of Mothers. One came from the National Suffrage Association of Denmark.

Mrs. Harper gave an address under the subject Facing the Situation, showing the satire of the disfranchisement of one-half the citizens in a Government boasting of being founded on individual representation. In closing she said: "Eastward the[Pg 136] star of woman's empire takes its way. She does not look for the star in the East but for the star in the West. Her sun of political freedom rose not in the East but in the West. It is to the strong, courageous and progressive men of the western States that the women of this whole country are looking for deliverance from the bondage of disfranchisement. It is these men who must start this movement and give it such momentum that it will roll irresistibly on to the very shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Today the eyes of the whole country are on this beautiful and progressive State. This magnificent Exposition has been a revelation of its splendid powers. It is an anomaly, a contradiction, a reproach indeed that in the midst of these wonderful achievements one-half of its citizens should be in absolute political subjection, without voice or share in affairs of State. Are you not ready now to wipe out that paltry 2,000 majority which five years ago voted to continue this unjust condition? Would it not add the crowning glory to this greatest period in your history if the free men of Oregon should decree that this shall be, henceforth and forever, the land also of free women?" The Rev. J. Burgette Short expressed regret that his church, the Methodist Episcopal, had refused to ordain Dr. Shaw and said it was much poorer in consequence. "You represent the brains of the world," he said to the delegates, "and you have my hearty interest and support in your work."

A noteworthy address was made by the Hon. W. S. U'Ren, known as "the father of the Initiative and Referendum," which was then in its early stages but had been adopted by Oregon and some other States. The convention was much impressed by this innovation, as the suffragists had long struggled against the refusal of Legislatures to submit their question to the voters, and Mrs. Catt offered a resolution that "the convention affirms its belief in the Initiative and Referendum as a needed reform and a potent factor in the progress of true democracy." It was enthusiastically received and later adopted by the convention, contrary to the habit of the association to consider only subjects relating directly to women and children.[38][Pg 137]

Under the pen name of Lucas Malet, Mrs. Mary St. Leger Harrison, a daughter of Charles Kingsley who was a strong believer in woman suffrage, had published an article in the London Fortnightly Review attacking it and quoting President Roosevelt as an opponent. A long resolution giving his favorable record for the past twenty-five years on questions relating to women was presented and adopted, against the judgment of many delegates. A committee was appointed to ask him for a more definite expression on woman suffrage.[39]

Telegrams of greeting were sent to veterans in the cause—Mrs. Laura de Force Gordon, Mrs. Caroline M. Severance, Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent of California; Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick of Louisiana; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Col. T. W. Higginson, Mrs. Judith W. Smith of Massachusetts; Mrs. Armenia S. White of New Hampshire; Miss Laura Moore of Vermont; Mrs. Margaret W. Campbell of Iowa.

The Committee on Legislation for Civil Rights, Mrs. Blankenburg, chairman, reported that among measures the suffragists had worked for, the child labor laws had been strengthened in New York, Pennsylvania and California; the "age of consent" had been raised in Illinois and Oregon; laws had been passed in several States requiring that women should be appointed to public boards and women physicians to public institutions, California[Pg 138] leading. In Massachusetts a petition that women might take part in nominating candidates for the school board, for which they were allowed to vote, signed by 100,000 women, was refused by the Legislature. School suffrage was granted to women in the first class cities of Oklahoma.

Mrs. Mead, chairman of the Committee on Peace and Arbitration seems to outshine the preceding one but last night's was the one in Portland; of the series of articles published in preparation for the International Peace Congress in Boston in 1904 and the work she had done in connection with it; of the many lectures given to universities and clubs and of the arrangements to have the public schools observe the anniversary of the first Hague Conference.

The Oregonian said: "Each program given by the convention seems to outshine the preceding one but last night's was the best thus far." The speakers were Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, former president of the Illinois Suffrage Association; the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell (N. J.); Mrs. Mary J. Coggeshall (Ia.); Miss Gail Laughlin (N. Y.); Judge Stephen A. Lowell, one of Oregon's leading jurists. Judge Lowell reviewed the political situation, the evils that had crept into the Government and the remedies that had been tried and failed and he summed up his conclusion by saying: "The reforms of the last century have come from women. Man has few to his credit because he could not measure them by the only standard he had mastered, that of the dollar. Witness the movement for female education led by Mary Lyon, the birth of the Red Cross in the work of Florence Nightingale, the institution of modern prison methods under the inspiration of Elizabeth Fry and the campaigns for temperance and social purity under the leadership of Frances Willard. The electorate needs the inspiring influence of women at the ballot box and the full mission of this republic to the world will never be met until she is admitted there. Not color or creed or sex but patriotic honesty must be the test of citizenship if the republic lives."

Mrs. Stewart took up the objections made by many of the clergy to woman suffrage and applied these to the ministers[Pg 139] themselves. "They should not vote," she said with fine sarcasm, "because like women they are exempt from jury duty. They seldom go to war—some of them are too old, others too delicate, some too near-sighted, some too far-sighted. Ministers as a rule are not heavy tax-payers. Many of them do not want to vote and do not use the vote they have. A preacher has not time to vote. It might lead him to neglect his pastoral duties. Political feeling often runs high and if he voted it might make quarrels in the church. The minister has a potent indirect influence. He would be contaminated by the corruption of politics. He is represented by his male relations; they are not as good and pure as he is and are probably immune from contamination by politics."

Mrs. Catt, who presided, in presenting the Rev. Mrs. Blackwell, one of the first to make the fight for the right of women to speak in public, said: "The combination of her sweet personality and her invincible soul has won friends for woman suffrage wherever she has gone." Her address on Suffrage and Education showed the evolution in woman's work. "My grandmother taught me to spin," she said, "but the men have relieved womankind from that task and as they have taken so many industrial burdens off of our hands it is our duty to relieve them of some of their burdens of State." Introducing Mrs. Coggeshall of Iowa Mrs. Catt said: "When I get discouraged I think of her and for many a year she has been one of my strongest inspirations." A Portland paper commented: "Her snow-white hair and demure face give no indication of the brilliant repartee and sharp argument of which she is capable." In her Word from the Middle West she said: "Its women are determined to have the ballot if they have to bear and raise the sons to give it to them. This scheme is in active operation. I myself have raised three—eighteen feet for woman suffrage—and others have done better. No bugle can ever sound retreat for the women of the Middle West." The Oregonian said of Miss Laughlin's address:

Sunday services were conducted at 4:30 in the First Congregational church by the Rev. Eleanor Gordon, pastor of the First Unitarian church of Des Moines, Ia., assisted by Dr. Shaw and the Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes of Los Angeles, with a special musical program. Miss Gordon had filled the Unitarian pulpit in the morning, giving an eloquent sermon on Revelations of God. Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman had preached in the Congregational church in the morning and the Rev. Mrs. Blackwell in the evening. Miss Laura Clay gave a Bible reading and exposition in the Taylor Street Methodist Episcopal church in the evening. The Rev. J. Whitcomb Brougher, pastor of the White Temple, the large Baptist church, invited Miss Anthony to occupy its pulpit and expound "any doctrine she had at heart." The Oregonian said: "She took him at his word and got in some of the best words for suffrage that have been put before the Portland public. There was such enthusiasm over the venerable founder and leader of the suffrage movement that when she appeared on the rostrum the applause was as vigorous as though it had not been Sunday and the place a church. There was not room in the big Temple for another person to squeeze past the doors." The papers quoted liberally from the sermons of all and the Portland Journal said: "Each preached to a congregation that taxed the capacity of the church.... The[Pg 141] welcome accorded the women by the Portland pastors was sharply in contrast with the hostility shown by the clergy when equal suffrage conventions began in the middle of the last century.[40]

The Monday evening session was opened by Willis Duniway, who gave a glowing appreciation of the work of the National American Suffrage Association and said in the course of a strong speech that he wanted to see woman suffrage because it was right and because he wanted the brave pioneer women who had worked for it so long to get it before they passed away. "I want my mother to vote," he declared amid applause.[41] "The basis of safe and sane government is justice, which has its roots in constitutional liberty and means equal rights and opportunities.... I claim no right or privilege for myself that I would not give to my mother, wife and sister and to every law-abiding citizen." When he had finished his mother rose and said dryly: "That, dear women from the north, east, south and west, is one of Mrs. Duniway's poor, neglected children!"

Miss Mary N. Chase, president of the New Hampshire Association, spoke convincingly on The Vital Question, taking as the keynote: "A republic based on equal rights for all is not the dream of a fanatic but the only sane form of government." I. N. Fleischner, who had just been elected to the school board largely by the votes of women, assured the convention of his approval and support of the measures it advocated and said he hoped to see the women enjoying the full right of suffrage in Oregon in the very near future.

Mrs. Florence Kelley, executive secretary of the National Consumers' League, spoke with deeper understanding than would be possible for any other woman of The Young Bread-winner's Need. "We have in this country," she said, "2,000,000 children under the age of sixteen who are earning their bread. They vary in age from six and seven in the cotton mills of Georgia, eight, nine and ten in the coal-breakers of Pennsylvania and[Pg 142] fourteen, fifteen and sixteen in more enlightened States.... In some of the States children from six to thirteen may legally be compelled to work the whole night of twelve hours," and she described the heart-breaking conditions under which they toil. She urged the need of woman's votes to destroy the great evil of child labor and said: "We can enlist the workingmen on behalf of our enfranchisement just in proportion as we strive with them to free the children."

In introducing Mr. Blackwell, Dr. Cora Smith Eaton, who was presiding, said: "As we came across the continent what impressed me most was the mountains. First came the foothills, then the high mountains and then the grand, snow clad peaks. Some of us are like the foothills, just raised a little above the women who have all the rights they want; then come those on a higher level of public spirit and service, who are like the mountains; and then the pioneers rising above all like the snow covered peaks." Taking the ground that "the perpetuity of republican institutions depends on the speedy extension of the suffrage to women," Mr. Blackwell said in his sound, logical address: "How can we reach the common sense of the plain people, without whose approval success is impossible?... A purely masculine government does not fully represent the people, the feminine qualities are lacking. It is a maxim among political thinkers that 'every class that votes makes itself felt in the government.' Women as a class differ more widely from men than any one class of men differs from another. To give the ballot to merchants and lawyers and deny it to farmers would be class legislation, which is always unwise and unjust, but there is no class legislation so complete as an aristocracy of sex. Men have qualities in which they are superior to women; women have qualities in which they are superior to men, both are needed. Women are less belligerent than men, more peaceable, temperate, chaste, economical and law-abiding, with a higher standard of morals and a deeper sense of religious obligation, and these are the very qualities we need to add to the aggressive and impulsive qualities of men."

The Journal in commenting on this address said: "A venerable and historical figure is that of Henry B. Blackwell, who in[Pg 143] company with his daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell, is in attendance upon the national suffrage convention. This snowy-haired, white-bearded patriarch embodies in his voice, his presence, his interest in every passing event, in his appreciation of every beauty of earth and sky, in the shifting panorama of nature, the loyal spirit of freedom, the true spirit of manhood that has dominated his passing years."[42]

A valuable report on Industrial Problems Relating to Women and Children was made by Mrs. Kelley, chairman of the committee, which she began by saying that during 1905 eleven States had improved their Child Labor Laws or adopted new ones and in every State suffragists had helped secure these laws. She said that wherever woman suffrage was voted on its weakness proved to be among the wage-earners of the cities and she urged that the association submit to the labor organizations its bill in behalf of wage-earning women and children with a view to close cooperation. To the workingmen woman suffrage meant chiefly "prohibition" and an effort should be made to convince them that it includes assistance in their own legislative measures. Mrs. Kate S. Hilliard (Utah) answered the question, Will the Ballot Solve the Industrial Problem? Wallace Nash spoke on the work of the Christian Cooperative Federation. The leading address of the afternoon was made by Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago on The Educational Problem. "It is a strange anomaly in American public life," he said, "that we have given our schools largely into the hands of women who must teach history and patriotism but are not considered competent to vote. I plead for the same education for boys and girls and I urge you to take a deep interest in the public schools." He gave testimony to the excellent legislative work women had done along many lines and declared that "women pay taxes and do public service and hold up before men the standard of righteousness and they ought to have a vote," and closed by saying: "We need appeals to[Pg 144] the heart and conscience in our schools and a revival of conscience. We need a standard of character and conscience and women can bring it into the schools much better than men can. The woman, because she is a woman, is less easily corrupted than the man who has forgotten that he had a mother. If we must disfranchise somebody, it would better be many of the men than the women."

At one meeting Judge Roger S. Greene, who was Chief Justice of the Territory of Washington when the majority of the Supreme Court gave a decision which took away the suffrage from women and who loyally tried to preserve it for them, was invited to the platform and received an ovation. At another time Judge William Galloway, a veteran suffragist, was called before the convention, and after referring to his journey to Oregon by ox-team in 1852 told of his conversion by Mrs. Duniway when he was a member of the Legislature at the age of 21. National conventions were of daily occurrence during the Exposition and a number of them called for addresses by Mrs. Catt, Dr. Shaw and other suffrage speakers. At the evening session preceding the last Miss Mary S. Anthony, 78 years old, read in a clear, strong voice the Declaration of Sentiments adopted at the famous first Woman's Rights Convention in 1848, which she had signed. The rest of the evening of July 4 was given to what the Woman's Journal spoke of as "Mrs. Catt's noble address," The New Time, beginning:

"Mrs. Catt was awarded the Chautauqua salute when she appeared on the platform," said the Oregonian, "and it was some minutes before the former president of the association could proceed. She spoke eloquently and at considerable length and in this assemblage of remarkably bright women it was plain to be seen that she was a star of the first magnitude." It was hard for the convention to accede to Mrs. Catt's determination to retire from even the vice-presidency of the association because of her continued ill health but they yielded because this was so evident. Mrs. Florence Kelley was the choice for this office and in accepting she said: "I was born into this cause. My great-aunt, Sarah Pugh of Philadelphia, attended the meeting in London which led to the first suffrage convention in 1848. My father, William D. Kelley, spoke at the early Washington conventions for years." Dr. Eaton was again obliged to give up the office of second auditor on account of her professional duties and Dr. Annice Jeffreys Myers, who had so successfully planned and managed the convention, was almost unanimously elected. No other change was made in the board.

Among the excellent resolutions presented by the chairman of the committee, Mr. Blackwell, were the following:

The list of Memorial Resolutions was long and included many prominent advocates of woman suffrage. Among those of California were Mrs. Leland Stanford, Judge E. V. Spencer and the veteran workers, Mrs. E. O. Smith and Sarah Burger Stearns, the latter formerly of Minnesota; Jas. P. McKinney and Jas. B. Callanan of Iowa; Helen Coffin Beedy of Maine. Twenty-two names were recorded from Massachusetts, among them the Hon. George S. Boutwell, President Elmer H. Capen, of Tufts College; the Hon. William Claflin, the Rev. George C. Lorimer, Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney; Mrs. Martha E. Root, a Michigan pioneer; Grace Espey Patton Cowles, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Montana. The Rev. Augusta Chapin, D. D., Dr. Phoebe J. B. Waite, Bishop Huntington, James W. Clarke, Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, were among the ten from New York; Mayor Samuel M. Jones, among seven from Ohio. Five pioneers of Pennsylvania had passed away, John K. Wildman, Richard P. White, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Miss Matilda Hindman, Miss Anna Hallowell. Cyrus W. Wyman of Vermont and Orra Langhorne of Virginia were other deceased pioneers; also Mrs. Rebecca Moore and Mrs. Margaret Preston Tanner, who were among the earliest workers in Great Britain.

Special resolutions were adopted for Mrs. Mary A. Livermore and U. S. Senator George F. Hoar of Massachusetts; Col. Daniel R. Anthony of Kansas; Mrs. Louisa Southworth of Ohio. The eloquent resolutions prepared by Mr. Blackwell ended: "Never before in a single year have we had to record the loss of so many faithful suffragists. Let the pioneers who still survive close up their ranks and rejoice in the accession of so many young and vigorous advocates, who will carry on the work to a glorious consummation." The California delegation presented the following resolution, which was enthusiastically adopted: "Resolved, That we remember with the deepest gratitude the one man who has stood steadfast at the helm, notwithstanding[Pg 147] constant ridicule and belittlement on the part of the press during the early years of the work, unselfishly and unceasingly devoting his life to the self-imposed task year after year, never faltering, never seeking office or honors but always a worker; one who has grown gray in the service—Henry B. Blackwell."

Invitations were received to hold the next convention in Washington, Chicago and Baltimore. The by-law requiring that every alternate convention must be held in Washington during the first session of Congress was amended to read "may be held." The Woman's Journal said: "Miss Anthony favored the change and Mr. Blackwell opposed it—an amusing fact to those who remember how strongly he used to advocate a movable annual convention and Miss Anthony a stationary one in Washington. Evidently neither of them is so fossilized as to be unable to see new light." The invitation of the Maryland Woman Suffrage Association was accepted.

The dominant interest of the convention had been in a prospective campaign for a woman suffrage amendment to the constitution of Oregon. The Legislature had refused to submit it but under the Initiative and Referendum law this could be done by petition. Public sentiment throughout the State seemed to indicate that it was now ready to enfranchise women and officials from the Governor down believed an amendment could be carried. All the officers of the State Suffrage Association had joined in the invitation to the National Association to hold its convention of 1905 in Portland and inaugurate the campaign and to assist it in every possible way. After the report of the State vice-president, Dr. Annice Jeffreys Myers, had been read to the convention of 1904 a resolution had been moved by Mrs. Catt, seconded by Miss Anthony and unanimously adopted, that the association accept this invitation and a pledge of $3,000 had been made. Throughout the present convention the speeches of public officials and the pledges made on every hand encouraged the members to feel that the association should give all possible help in money and workers.[43]

The public was much impressed at the last session by the appearance on the platform of four prominent politicians of the[Pg 148] State representing the different parties and this was generally regarded as the opening of the campaign for woman suffrage. They were introduced by State Senator Henry Waldo Coe, M. D., who spoke in highest praise of homes and housekeepers as he had seen them in his practice and said: "The woman who takes an interest in the affairs of her country has the highest interest in her home, and the suffrage will not lessen her fitness as wife and mother." He introduced Mayor Harry Lane as the Democrat who carried a Republican city and who was the best mayor Portland ever had. Mr. Lane declared that women were as much entitled to the suffrage as men and that the enfranchisement of women would tend to purify politics. Dr. Andrew C. Smith, a Republican, was introduced as "the man who presented the names of thirteen women physicians to the State Medical Association and got them admitted." The press report said: "The prospective women voters were informed that they saw before them the next Governor of Oregon." Dr. Smith declared that he had been for woman suffrage twenty-five years and that "the United States was guilty of a national sin in not giving women equal rights." Thomas Burns, State Secretary of the Socialist party, asserted that it was the only one which had a plank for woman suffrage in its platform and the Socialists had fought for it all over the world. "Men have made a failure of government," he said, "now let the women try it." O. M. Jamison, of the Citizens' movement, said: "We have found women the strongest factor in our work for reform and I think 99 per cent. of us are for woman suffrage." B. Lee Paget, who spoke for the Prohibitionists, declared himself an old convert to woman suffrage and said: "I think intelligent women far better fitted to vote on public measures than the majority of men who take part in campaigns and are wholly ignorant of the issues."

L. F. Wilbur of Vermont told of its improved laws for women and advancing public sentiment for woman suffrage and paid a glowing tribute to the early work in that State of Lucy Stone, Mr. Blackwell and Julia Ward Howe. Mrs. Maud Wood Park, president of the Massachusetts College Women's Suffrage League, gave a scholarly address on The Civic Responsibility of Women, which she began by saying that the first "new woman" was from[Pg 149] Boston—Anne Hutchinson. Dr. Marie D. Equi, candidate for inspector of markets, spoke briefly on the need of market inspection for which women were especially fitted. Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (N. Y.) in discussing Woman's World said in part: "Ex-President Cleveland, after warning women against the clubs which are leading them straight to the abyss of suffrage, told us that 'the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.' ... Is it true? The Indian woman rocks the cradle; does she rule the world? The Chinese woman—the woman of the harem—do they rule it? An amiable old gentleman in opening a suffrage debate said: 'My wife rules me and if a woman can rule a man, why should she care to rule the country?' He seemed to think he was equal to the whole United States! Women have been taught that the home was their sphere and men have claimed everything else for themselves. The fact that women in the home have shut themselves away from the thought and life of the world has done much to retard progress. We fill the world with the children of 20th century A. D. fathers and 20th century B. C. mothers."

Miss Blackwell lightened the proceedings with some of her clever anecdotes with a suffrage moral, and Mrs. Gilman with several of her brilliant poems. Mrs. Catt gave a concise review of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, formed at Berlin in 1904, and told of the progress of woman suffrage in other countries. Greetings to all of them were sent by the convention. Dr. Shaw gave an impressive peroration to this interesting session by pointing out the responsibility resting on the men and women of Oregon to carry to success the campaign which they had now begun, and Miss Anthony closed the convention with a fervent appeal to all to work for victory.

The delegates and visitors greatly enjoyed the Exposition, which had such a setting as none ever had before, looking out on the dazzling beauty of the snowclad peaks of Mt. Hood and the Olympic Range, and now they had to select from the many opportunities for travel and sight-seeing. The Rev. Mrs. Blackwell, Emily Howland, Mrs. Cartwright of Portland and others from seventy to eighty years of age, took a steamer for Alaska. Mr. and Miss Blackwell and others went to Seattle,[Pg 150] Vancouver and home through the magnificent scenery of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Mrs. Catt and another party returned east by way of the Yellowstone Park. Dr. Cora Smith Eaton with a few daring spirits went for a climb of Mt. Hood. Miss Anthony with a group of friends started southward, stopping at Chico, California, for her to dedicate a park of 2,000 acres, which Mrs. Annie K. Bidwell had presented to the village. They went on to San Francisco where they were joined by Dr. Shaw, who had remained in Portland for the Medical Convention and spoken at several places en route. Here they were beautifully entertained in the homes of the suffrage leaders, Mrs. Mary Wood Swift, Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry, Mrs. Emma Shafter Howard and others, and mass meetings crowded to the doors were held in San Francisco and Oakland. From here they went to Los Angeles for other meetings, except Dr. Shaw, who started eastward for her round of Chautauqua engagements.

[Pg 151]

CHAPTER VI.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1906.

The Thirty-eighth annual convention held in Baltimore Feb. 7-13, 1906, was notable in several respects. It had gone into the very heart of conservatism and a larger number of eminent men and women took part in its proceedings than had ever before been represented on a single program.[44] There were university presidents and professors, men and women; office holders, men and women; representatives of other large movements, men and women, and more distinguished women than had ever before assembled in one convention. It was especially memorable because of the presence on the platform together for the first and only time of the three great pioneers, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton and Julia Ward Howe, and never to be forgotten by suffragists as the last ever attended by Miss Anthony. Here was sung the Battle Hymn of the Republic in the presence of[Pg 152] the woman who wrote it, Mrs. Howe; and the Star Spangled Banner in the home of its author, Francis Scott Key.

The meetings were held in the beautifully decorated Lyric Theater with appreciative and enthusiastic audiences. The arrangements had been made by the Maryland Suffrage Association and its president, Mrs. Emma Maddox Funck. Ministers of nearly all denominations asked blessings on the various sessions and the best musical talent in the city gave its services. The papers were most generous with space and fair and friendly in their reports. Through the influence and efforts of Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, the remarkable representation of Women's Colleges was secured. Baltimore's most prominent woman, Miss Mary E. Garrett, was largely responsible for the social prestige which is especially necessary to success in a southern city. It was a convention long to be remembered by those who were so fortunate as to be a part of it.

The convention opened on the afternoon of February 7 with Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, president of the association, in the chair and was welcomed by Mrs. Funck, who said in a graceful speech: "You have come to the conservative South. Conservative—what a sweet-sounding word, what an ark for the timid soul! So you must expect to find a good many folks who mean well but who have not discarded their silver buckles and ruffles, but nothing will more clearly indicate the development of our people from provincialism and bigotry than their generosity of spirit and kindly intent towards the gathering of our clans in this convention. Most people have come to realize that to be a great nation we must have that catholicity of spirit which embraces all ologies and all isms.... From the suffrage pioneers we have learned the lessons of fair play and equal rights."

Fraternal greetings were offered by Mrs. Albert L. Sioussat, president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs; Mrs. Hattie Hull Troupe, president of the Women's Twentieth Century Club of Baltimore; Mrs. Rosa H. Goldenberg, president of the Maryland section Jewish Council of Women, and Mrs. Mary R. Haslup, president of the Baltimore Woman's Christian Temperance Union. As the vice-president of the association, Dr. Annice[Pg 153] Jeffreys Myers of Oregon, who was to respond, had been delayed en route. Dr. Shaw took her place, saying in answer to certain of the greetings: "In all my experience I have observed that those people are most likely to have their prayers answered who do everything they can to help God answer them; so while we may try by prayer to bring about the highest good not only in the State but in education and philanthropy, we hope to add to our prayers the citizen's power of the ballot.... We have never had a more generous welcome or a warmer hospitality offered to us and we thank you with all our heart. Whatever may happen while we are here, nothing can take away from us the beauty of the sunshine and the kindliness of your welcome."

The first evening session was opened with prayer by the Rev. John B. Van Meter, dean of the Woman's College, Baltimore, and music by a chorus of two hundred voices under the direction of William R. Hall. Governor Edwin Warfield made an eloquent address in which he said: "A man who would not extend a welcome to such a body of women would not be worthy the name of Maryland, which we consider a synonym of hospitality. Our doors are always wide open to friends and strangers, especially strangers. We are delighted to have you here. While I may not agree with all your teachings, I recognize one fact, that there never has been assembled in Baltimore a convention composed of women who have been more useful in this country and who have done more for the uplift of humanity. It was proper for you to come to Maryland, a State that was named for a woman, whose capital was named for a woman and whose motto is 'Manly deeds and womanly words.'" He paid glowing compliments to the splendid public service of Maryland women and said he would not have been elected Governor but for their kindly influence. He declared that he had been almost persuaded by the charming words of Mrs. Howe and said his wife was a "convert" and he "had been voting as a proxy for some time." He believed "the final solution of the question would be a referendum to the women themselves."

Dr. Shaw could not resist saying when she rose to introduce the next speaker: "So many have told us, as the Governor has, about being proxy-voters, that we think it is time they should be[Pg 154] relieved of that rôle and have an opportunity to do their own voting while we women attend to ours." Mayor Timanus was indisposed and the welcome for the city was given by the Hon. William F. Stone, Collector of the Port. He vied with the Governor in the warmth of his greeting and his splendid tributes to women and acknowledged his indebtedness for "all that he was or expected to be to his sainted mother and beloved wife," but, like the Governor, he could not give his full sanction to woman suffrage. When he had finished Dr. Shaw said with her winning smile and melodious voice: "We have the testimony of Governor Warfield and of Collector Stone that the best each has been able to accomplish has been due to the influence of good women. Now if a good woman can develop the best in an individual man, may not all the good women together develop the best in a whole State? I am glad of this strong point in favor of enfranchising women."

Miss Anthony was to have presided at this meeting and in referring to her absence on account of illness Dr. Shaw said: "I am not taking Miss Anthony's place this evening—there is only one Susan B. Anthony, but it is also true that there is only one Clara Barton and but one Julia Ward Howe and these grand women we have with us." Miss Barton, who, in her soft plum-colored satin with fichu of white lace, her dark hair parted smoothly over her forehead, did not seem over sixty although she was eighty-four, was enthusiastically received and said in part: "What greater honor and what greater embarrassment than to be asked to take ever so small a step on a platform that Susan B. Anthony had expected to tread. As I stand here tonight my thoughts go back to the time when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Anthony were pioneers struggling for this righteous cause. I think the greatest reforms, the greatest progress ever made for any reforms in our country have been along the lines on which they worked. Miss Anthony's has been a long life. She has trod the thorny way, has walked through briars with bleeding feet, but it is through a sweet and lovely way now and the hearts of the whole country are with her. A few days ago some one said to me that every woman should stand with bared head before Susan B. Anthony. 'Yes,' I answered, 'and every man as well.'[Pg 155] I would not retract these words. I believe that man has benefited by her work as much as woman. For ages he has been trying to carry the burden of life's responsibilities alone and when he has the efficient help of woman he will be grateful. Just now it is new and strange and men cannot comprehend what it would mean but the change is not far away. The nation is soon to have woman suffrage and it will be a glad and proud day when it comes."

Mrs. Howe in the dignity of her eighty-seven years made a lovely picture in a gown of mauve satin with a creamy lace scarf draped about her head and shoulders. She was escorted to the front of the platform by the Governor and said in her brief response: "Madam president and you dear suffrage friends, and the rest of you who are going to become suffrage friends before we leave this city, I give you thanks for this friendly greeting. I am very, very glad to meet you all. I am not going to preach a sermon but I have a text from the New Testament, a question that the Lord asked when the crowd came to see him, 'What came ye out to see? A reed shaken with the wind?' No, it was a prophet that they came to see and hear. When you come to these suffrage meetings you do not come to see reeds shaken by the wind. We do not any of us claim to be prophets but you do come to hear a prophecy, a very glad prophecy which some of us have believed in and followed for years, and all the way of that following has been joyous and bright though it has not been popular. I remember many years ago going with Mrs. Livermore and Lucy Stone to a meeting in New England and the report was sent out that 'three old crows were coming to disturb the town with their croakings.' I can never forget that evening. When Mary Livermore looked the audience over in her calm and dignified manner they quieted down as if by magic. When reasonable measures are proposed in a reasonable way there are always some people who will respond and be convinced. We have no desire to put out of sight the difficulties of government. When we talk about woman suffrage people begin to remember how unsatisfactory manhood suffrage is, but I should like to see what men would do if there was an attempt to take it away. We might much improve it by bringing to it the feminine mind, which in[Pg 156] a way complements the masculine. I frankly believe that we have half the intelligence and good sense of humanity and that it is quite time we should express not only our sentiments but our determined will to set our faces toward justice and right and to follow these through the thorny wilderness if necessary—follow them straight, not to the 'bitter end,' for it will not be bitter but very sweet and I hope it will come before my end comes."

For the second time Dr. Shaw had written her president's address but although it was a statesmanlike document the audience missed the spontaneity, the sparkle of wit, the flashes of eloquence that distinguished her oratory above that of all others, and there was a general demand that hereafter she should give them the spoken instead of the written word. She complied and while it was a gain to the audiences of her day and generation it was a great loss to posterity. Even extended quotations can give little idea of this address which filled over ten columns of the Woman's Journal.

Dr. Shaw took up the section on Labor in President Roosevelt's recent message to Congress in which he recommended a thorough investigation of the condition of women in industry, saying: "There is an almost complete dearth of data on which to base any trustworthy conclusions," and then drawing this one:[Pg 157] "The introduction of women into industry is working change and disturbance in the domestic and social life of the nation; the decrease in marriage and especially in the birth-rate have been coincident with it." Dr. Shaw's comment was in part:

There had been about this time in high places an outburst of attacks on woman suffrage and predictions as to its dangerous possibilities. Dr. Shaw referred to their authors as Oracles and said: "The great difficulty is that when one Oracle claiming to be divinely inspired has laid down a specific line of conduct which if implicitly followed would lead to the proper development of woman, the happiness of man, the good of the family and the well-being of the State, another Oracle also divinely enlightened lays out a different path by which these ends may be secured, and then another and another until poor women if they should try to follow these self-appointed divine revealers would not only have[Pg 158] to be hydra-headed to see these devious paths but hydra-footed to walk in them." Referring to Cardinal Gibbons, she said:

Dr. Shaw quoted from Mr. Roosevelt: "The President of the United States does not absent himself from the country during the term of his presidency, it is his domain. So should it be with woman; she is queen of her empire and that empire is the home," and after reminding him that the President's term lasts but four or eight years she asked: "What do men mean by saying that women should remain contentedly in their homes? They do not intend us to understand that we are never to leave them, for they are frequently calling us forth when conditions become so intolerable that even men can no longer endure them. Then they call upon women to come out from the seclusion and protection of their homes and aid them to 'save the city and the State.'" She pointed out the difference between the time when the home was "a protective and industrial center" and now when "the results of electricity and steam have scattered the households," but in picturing the advance that women had made in their own domain she said: "There never was a time when[Pg 159] there was as large a number of good housekeepers and homemakers; when there was as much intelligence shown in the scientific preparation of food; such knowledge of household sanitation; such reverence for individual life; such painstaking study of the needs and rights of childhood; when there was so much thought given to the development of the finer and more permanent qualities of character; when such good comradeship existed between children and their parents; when marriage had so deep a spiritual and human meaning as at the present time. The home ideal of today is the best the world has yet known and it will continue to develop as larger freedom and broader culture come to all who share in its life...."

The manner in which politics enters the modern home was pointed out and the contempt which was shown for the political opinions of women and then in a rousing appeal to women the speaker said: "A few days since I was asked by a compiler of other people's thoughts to express for him my opinion of the greatest need of American women and I replied, 'self-respect.' ... The assumption that woman have neither discernment nor judgment and that any man is superior in all the qualities that make for strength, stability and sanity to any woman, simply because he is a man and she is a woman, is still altogether too common. The time has come when women must question themselves to learn how far they are personally responsible for this almost universal disrespect and then set about changing it."

Dr. Shaw told of the organization of the College Women's Equal Suffrage League and asked: "Who can compute the loss sustained by our country every year by the addition of unrestricted, ignorant and often criminal male voters and the exclusion of the vast number of college and high-school graduates through the disfranchisement of women? If the stability of a government depends upon the morality and intelligence of its voting citizens, how long can the foundations of ours remain secure if we continue to enfranchise ignorance and vice and disfranchise intelligence and virtue?" The action of Legislatures in past years was depicted as "playing shuttlecock and battledore with the amendment, passing it in one House to defeat it in another, in a hypocritical desire to appear favorable and inspire[Pg 160] us with hope in order to retain the small amount of influence they think we possess, and yet compelling us to begin the work all over again." After reviewing the long struggle of American women for political freedom she ended with an impassioned peroration of which only a portion can be quoted:

While the eminent speakers attracted the largest audiences that ever had attended the conventions of the association, according to the opinions of the older suffragists, the delegates themselves were equally interested in the morning meetings devoted to the reports and other business. The corresponding secretary, Miss Kate M. Gordon, a keen student of politics and organization, in speaking of factors in success, said: "There is great necessity for a personal acquaintance between the leaders in our suffrage work in the States and the prominent politicians in the States; the personal acquaintance also of the editors and managers of our great public-opinion-forming newspapers; a pleasant working relation in women's clubs and all movements for better social conditions in our respective communities; a more intimate acquaintance with the educational influences, the teachers in our public schools and the college life of our communities."

Miss Gordon made a special plea for cooperation in the efforts for Child Labor legislation and she ended by saying: "But means and methods for the future of our work pale into insignificance in the need of the hour, which is Oregon. Funds for this campaign must be a matter of conscience with every believer. In proportion to the gratitude you feel for the comfortable position which women occupy today, measure your contribution; no sacrifice can be too great at this crucial moment in our onward history." Throughout the convention the work in Oregon, where an amendment to the State constitution would be voted on in November, was the uppermost thought. The treasurer made a special appeal for funds; the chairman of the Press Committee told of it; it was discussed and planned for in the business meetings and different speakers referred in hopeful words to its probable success.

An amendment to the constitution abolishing proxies empowered to cast the full vote to which the State was entitled and providing that delegates present should cast only their own vote caused a spirited discussion, with Mrs. Catt and eastern delegates in favor and Dr. Shaw and western delegates opposed and was lost by a vote of 68 to 11. No change of officers was made at[Pg 162] this convention. Reports of Committees on Libraries, Literature, Enrollment, Presidential Suffrage, etc., were presented by their chairmen. A lively discussion on the use of the union label on literature, stationery, etc., resulted in an almost unanimous decision to retain it. Very interesting reports of work in the States were made by their respective presidents. Invitations for the next convention were received from the Chamber of Commerce of Wheeling, W. Va., the Chamber of Commerce, Bar Association and Suffrage Club of Oklahoma City and the Commission for celebrating the founding of Jamestown, Va.

Miss Antoinette Knowles (Cal.), chairman of the Committee on Church Work, said that by standing for temperance many churches could be obtained for meetings that would not be opened for those purely on suffrage. She gave a list of orthodox churches which had been thus secured; told of successful addresses she had made on the relation between woman suffrage and temperance and urged the appointment of a church committee in every State. The report of Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, headquarter's secretary, told of the usual large amount of work, which included the distribution of 62,000 copies of the quarterly publication, Progress; 106,753 pieces of literature and many thousands of suffrage stamps, picture postals and souvenirs. Speakers and fraternal delegates had been sent to a large number of national conventions throughout the country and cordially received. Many of these had adopted resolutions for woman suffrage including the American Federation of Labor, National Association of Letter Carriers, National Grange, National Council of Jewish Women, Supreme Commandery Knights of Temperance, National Associations of Universalists and of Spiritualists. The State conventions of various kinds that had endorsed it were almost without number and excellent work had been done at county fairs, granges, farmers' institutes, summer assemblies and educational and religious societies. It was voted to make Progress the official organ of the association and issue it monthly. The national headquarters in Warren, O., had been removed to a spacious room on the ground floor of the county court house, formerly used for a public library.

The chairman of the Press Committee, Mrs. Elnora M. Babcock,[Pg 163] made her last report, as the press work was henceforth to be done at the national headquarters with its excellent staff and facilities. For twelve years Mrs. Babcock had carried on this work, which in her capable hands had reached an immense volume and become a leading feature of the National Association. She reported that over 5,000 papers were now using the material sent out from the press bureau and that it was very difficult to respond to all the calls for it. In answer to the second broadside of former President Cleveland in the Ladies' Home Journal, which refused to publish anything from anybody on the other side, 2,000 copies of articles by different persons and 1,000 of the excellent refutation by Representative John F. Shafroth of Colorado had been distributed. The report stated that Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer, the efficient chairman of Pennsylvania, had been sent by the National Association to supervise the press work of the Oregon campaign. It urged that grateful recognition should be shown to papers that favor woman suffrage saying: "Editors are called upon for help and are not thanked for the kindness and good they do nearly as much as they should be." The convention gave Mrs. Babcock a rising vote of thanks for her long and faithful work.

The Executive Committee recommended in its Plan of Work that the States work for a uniform resolution in favor of a Sixteenth Amendment; that they endeavor to secure Initiative and Referendum laws; that in each Legislature measures be introduced for full suffrage or for some form of suffrage; that efforts be continued to obtain equalization of property and intestate laws, also co-guardianship of children; that the working forces of the association be concentrated where there are State campaigns for suffrage; that each club organize one new one and each individual member secure one more; that all present lines of work be continued and extended; that there be a more systematic and liberal distribution of literature; that hearings be obtained before all kinds of organizations. It was voted that "the Board of Officers consider the propriety of recommending all the States to make a concerted effort to secure Presidential suffrage for women in the election of 1908." But one work conference was held, that on Press, Miss Hauser presiding. One of the most important conferences of the week was that of State presidents, at which[Pg 164] each told of the most effective work within the year, and the discussion which followed gave much practical and helpful information.

At the second afternoon session Dr. Shaw read a number of letters from Governors of the equal suffrage and other States answering favorably an appeal from the California Suffrage Association that they would appoint one or more women to the national commission soon to meet to consider uniform marriage and divorce laws. She had emphasized this necessity in her president's address. The report of Mrs. Florence Kelley, chairman of the Committee on Industrial Problems Affecting Women and Children, was heard with deep interest and feeling. As executive secretary of the National Consumers' League for many years and a close student of labor conditions, she spoke with accurate knowledge when she told of the employment of children. A Baltimore woman in her welcome to the convention had said that Maryland women were satisfied with what they could secure by petition without the ballot, and Mrs. Kelley, referring with fine sarcasm to the "sadly modest results of their petitions," said:

Miss Gertrude Barnum, secretary of the Women's National Trade Union League, followed with an earnest address on Women as Wage Earners. She began by saying that although this would be called a representative audience, wage-earning women were not present. "A speaker should have been chosen from their ranks," she said. "We have been preaching to them, teaching them,'rescuing' them, doing almost everything for them except knowing them and working with them for the good of our common country. These women of the trade unions, who have already learned to think and vote in them, would be a great addition, a great strength to this movement. The working women have much more need of the ballot than we of the so-called leisure class. We suffer from the insult of its refusal; we are denied the privilege of performing our obligations and we have as results things which we smart under. The working women have not only these insults and privations but they have also the knowledge that they are being destroyed, literally destroyed, body and soul, by conditions which they cannot touch by law...." Miss Barnum discussed "strikes," the "closed shop," conditions under which factory women work, the domestic problem, the[Pg 166] trade unions, and said: "I hope that this body, which represents women from all over the country, will take this matter back to their respective States and cities and try to make the acquaintance of this great half of our population, the working people. You must bring them to your conferences and conventions and let them speak on your platform. They will speak much better for themselves than you can get any one to speak for them...."

An animated discussion took place, many of the delegates asking sympathetic questions. Mrs. Ella S. Stewart (Ill.) followed with a delightfully caustic address on Some Fallacies; Our Privileges. The reporters were so carried away by her "sweetness and beauty" that they almost forgot to make notes of her speech, of which one of them said: "She picked up Grover Cleveland, Lyman Abbott and other anti-suffragists from the time of Samuel Johnson and figuratively spun them around her finger, to the joy of the audience." In paying her tribute to chivalry she said: "Of what benefit was the chivalry of the knights toward their ladies of high degree to the thousands of peasant women and wives of serfs hitched up with animals and working in the fields? Of no more value now is the protection given to the wives and daughters of the rich by men who are grinding down and taking advantage of those of the poor. In Chicago women have no vote except once in four years for a trustee of the State university, yet every day if we try to take a street car we are overrun and trampled down by men who get on the cars before they stop, and when we finally limp in we see them comfortably seated reading the papers while we dangle from the straps. We are crowded in stores and smoked in restaurants; in fact the only place of late where I was not crowded was at the polls when I went to cast my vote!"

Mrs. Mary E. Craigie (N. Y.) closed the session with a serious, impressive address on Our Real Opposition; Ignorance and Vice, the Silent Foe. She pointed out the "indirect alliance between the anti-suffragists and the vicious elements, opponents of all reform, fearful that if women vote good will prevail over evil." "The chief foes of woman suffrage," she said, "are the saloon keepers, scum of society, barred from fraternal organizations, social clubs and even from some of the insurance societies."[Pg 167]

The Biography of Miss Anthony contains this paragraph.[45]

At a good-bye reception given for Miss Anthony in Rochester the evening before she left home for Baltimore she took cold and immediately after reaching Miss Garrett's she became very ill and was under the care of physicians and trained nurses. On the second night, however, the College Evening for which elaborate preparations had been made, she summoned the will power for which she had always been noted, rose from her bed, put on a beautiful gown and went to the convention hall. Quoting again from the Biography: "When she appeared on the stage and the great audience realized that she actually was with them their enthusiasm was unbounded. She was so white and frail as to seem almost spiritual but on her sweet face was an expression of ineffable happiness; and it was indeed one of the happiest moments of her life for it typified the intellectual triumph of her cause."

The Baltimore American thus began its account: "With the great pioneer suffrage worker, Susan B. Anthony, on the platform, surrounded by women noted in the college world for their brilliant attainments, as well as those famed for social work and[Pg 168] in other professions, and with a large audience, the session of the woman suffrage convention opened last evening in the Lyric Theater. If the veteran suffragist thought of more than the pleasure of the event it must have been the contrast of this occasion with the times past, when, unhonored and unsung, she fought what must have often seemed a losing fight for principles for which the presence of these women proclaimed victory.... It had been announced as 'Colloge evening' but it might just as well have been called 'Susan B. Anthony evening,' for, while the addresses dealt with various phases of the woman question, all evolved into one strong tribute to Miss Anthony."

The following remarkable program was carried out:

The statement is sometimes questioned that all of the advantages which women enjoy today had their inception in the efforts of the pioneers suffragists. The addresses made on this occasion[Pg 169] by some of the most distinguished women educators of the country certainly should sustain this claim so far as the higher education is concerned. It seems a sacrilege to use only brief quotations from these important contributions to the literature of the movement for woman suffrage.

Professor Jordan, after considering the woman's college, said: "The suffragists lent us Maria Mitchell and they felt severely the loss they sustained in her increasing absorption in the class room and in the requirements of modern scientific work. When we had taken Maria Mitchell they turned to us in friendship, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Miss Anthony, Miss Elizabeth Peabody, Mrs. Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Mrs. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Lois Anna Green, Mary Dame—and never failed to stir our minds with their urgent appeals for our thoughtful consideration of the causes they presented and the interest they took for granted. The last was their strong point. They simply implicated us in whatever was good and true. Their enthusiasm was infectious and we 'caught' it—to our own lasting spiritual benefit.... I do not believe that I was over-fanciful when I used to feel that Lucy Stone and you, Miss Anthony, looked at us as if you would say, 'Make the best of your freedom for we have bought it with a great price.'"

Professor Calkins: I wish to indicate this evening the definite form in which I think the gratitude of all college women might be expressed to Miss Anthony and to the other leaders of the equal suffrage movement for their service to the cause of women's education. In other words, I wish to ask what have these veteran equal suffrage leaders a right to expect from university and college students, and[Pg 171] in particular from the students and graduates of our women's colleges?... Equal suffragists, if I may serve as interpreter, demand just this, that women trained to scientific method shall make equal suffrage an object of scientific analysis and logic and ask of college women that they cease being ignorant or indifferent on the question; that they adopt, if not an attitude of active leadership or of loyal support, at least a position of reasoned opposition or of intelligent hesitation between opposing arguments. To ask less than this really is an insult to a thinking person, man or woman.... The student trained to reach decisions in the light of logic and of history will be disposed to recognize that, in a democratic country governed as this is by the suffrage of its citizens and given over as this is to the principle and practice of educating women, a distinction based on difference of sex is artificial and illogical, and thus suspicious.... For myself, I believe that the probabilities favor woman suffrage.

Mrs. Moore: The women of today may well feel that it is Miss Anthony who has made life possible to them; she has trodden the rough paths and by unwearied devotion has opened to them the professions and higher applied industries. Through her life's work they enjoy a hundred privileges denied them fifty years ago; from her devotion has grown a new order; her hand has helped to open every line of business to women. She has spoken at times to thousands of girls on the public duties of women.... Her life story must epitomize the victorious struggle of women for larger intellectual freedom in the last century.... The world does move. Those who are aware of the great and beneficent changes made in the laws relating to the rights of property, in the civil and industrial laws pertaining to women and children, may estimate the good accomplished by these pioneers.

Mrs. Park: I suppose it is true that all through history individual women have been able, sometimes by cajolery, sometimes by personal charm, sometimes by force of character, to get for themselves privileges far greater than any that the most radical advocates of woman's rights have yet demanded. But in the case of Miss Anthony and the other early suffragists all that force of character was turned not to individual ends, not to getting large things for themselves, but to getting little gains, step by step, for the great mass of other women; not for the service of themselves but for the service of the sex and so of the whole human race.... The object of the College Women's League is to bring the question of equal suffrage to college women, to help them realize their debt to the women who have worked so hard for them and to make them understand that one of the ways to pay that debt is to fight the battle in the quarter of the field in which it is still unwon; in short, to make them feel the obligation of opportunity.

President Thomas: In the year 1903 there were in the United States 6,474 women studying in women's colleges and 24,863 women studying in co-educational colleges. If the annual rate of increase[Pg 172] has continued the same, as it undoubtedly has, during the past three years, there are in college at the present time 38,268 women students. Although there are in the United States nearly 1,800,000 less women than men, women already constitute considerably over one-third of the entire student body and are steadily gaining on men. This means that in another generation or two one-half of all the people who have been to college in the United States will be women; and, just as surely as the seasons of the year succeed one another or the law of gravitation works, just so surely will this great body of educated women wish to use their trained intelligence in making the towns, cities and States of their country better places for themselves and their children to live in; just so surely will the men with whom they have worked side by side in college classes claim and receive their aid in political as well as home life. The logic of events does not lie. It is unthinkable that women who have learned to act for themselves in college and have become awakened there to civic duties should not care for the ballot to enforce their wishes.

PIONEERS OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON. Born, 1815.		LUCY STONE. Born, 1818.
	SUSAN B. ANTHONY. Born, 1820.
LUCRETIA MOTT. Born, 1793.		MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCETT. Born, 1846.

The same is true of every woman's club and every individual woman who tries to obtain laws to save little children from working cruel hours in cotton mills or to open summer gardens for homeless little waifs on the streets of a great city. These women, too, are being irresistibly driven to desire equal suffrage for the sake of the wrongs they try to right.... It seems to me in the highest degree ungenerous for women like these in this audience, who are cared for and protected in every way, not to desire equal suffrage for the sake of other less fortunate women, and it is not only ungenerous but short-sighted of such women not to desire it for their own sakes. There is nothing dearer to women than the respect and reverence of their children and of the men they love. Yet every son who has grown up reverencing his mother's opinion must realize, when he reaches the age of twenty-one, with a shock from which he can never wholly recover, that in the most important civic and national affairs her opinion is not considered equal to his own....

I confidently believe that equal suffrage is coming far more swiftly than most of us suspect. Educated, public-spirited women will soon refuse to be subjected to such humiliating conditions. Educated men will recoil in their turn from the sheer unreason of the position that the opinions and wishes of their wives and mothers are to be consulted upon every other question except the laws and government under which they and their husbands and children must live and die. Equal suffrage thus seems to me to be an inevitable and logical consequence of the higher education of women. And the higher education of women is, if possible, a still more inevitable result of the agitation of the early woman suffragists....

We who are guiding this educational movement today owe the profoundest debt of gratitude to those early pioneers—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe and, above and beyond all, to Susan B. Anthony. Other women reformers, like other men reformers, have given part of their time and energy. She has given[Pg 173] to the cause of women every year, every month, every day, every hour and every moment of her whole life and every dollar she could beg or earn, and she has earned thousands and begged thousands more.

Turning to the honored guest of the evening Dr. Thomas said:

Miss Anthony was profoundly moved. This wonderful scene—the magnificent audience in one of the oldest and most conservative of cities; this group of the most distinguished women educators; the president of one of the leading universities of the world in the chair; the large number of college women in the audience, free, independent, equipped for life's highest work—represented the culmination of what she had striven for during half a century. Her Biography gives this account: "After the applause had ended there was a moment of intense silence and then, as Miss Anthony came forward, the entire audience rose and greeted her with waving handkerchiefs, while tears rolled down the cheeks of many who felt that she would never be present at another convention. 'If any proof were needed of the progress of the cause for which I have worked,' she said, in clear, even tones, distinctly heard by[Pg 174] all, 'it is here tonight. The presence on the stage of these college women, and in the audience of all those college girls who will some day be the nation's greatest strength, will tell their own story to the world. They give the highest joy and encouragement to me. I am not going to make a long speech but only to say thank you and good night.' It was all she had the strength to say but she never would publicly confess it."

Interesting State reports, conferences and addresses filled the mornings, afternoons and evenings of this unparalleled week. The Initiative and Referendum was presented by an acknowledged authority, George H. Shibley of Washington, director of the department of representative government in the bureau of economic research. He congratulated the association on having endorsed the new experiment that would rapidly further the woman suffrage cause, in which he had long believed. The system of questioning candidates and publishing their replies, developed by the Anti-Saloon League, was now being used with great success, he said, by many organizations. He described the carefully worked-out system in detail and declared that this, with the Initiative and Referendum, would terminate "machine" rule in politics, and whatever did this would promote the advance of woman suffrage. The address called forth an animated discussion in which it was shown that when women questioned a candidate they had no constituency back of them to influence his answers.

A valuable conference was opened with a comprehensive paper by Mrs. Mary Kenney O'Sullivan (Mass.), prominently identified with the women's trade unions, on the best methods of securing from Congress the submission of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The question, if each State should secure an endorsement from its Legislature of a uniform resolution calling for this submission would it not influence Congress and also compel favorable recommendation in the national platforms of the dominant political parties, was unanimously answered in the affirmative.

Miss Hauser, the new chairman, presided over the press conference, which was opened with a paper by Miss Jane Campbell, a veteran suffragist, president of the Philadelphia County Suffrage Club of 600 members, on The Unbiased Editor, which bristled with the humorous sarcasm in which she was unsurpassed.[Pg 175] She said in the course of it: "As the result of close observation I may state that the calm, judicial mind of the unbiased editor is never more in evidence than when he bends his energies to a consideration of the woman question—that is, the woman question in reference to politics. Then he is on sure ground and he always is actuated by a desire to serve the best interests of women. Does it come under his ken that a woman has the temerity to suggest even in faint tones the advisability and feasibility, the common sense and justice of being allowed to cast a ballot, then the opportunity of the unbiased editor has come and the rash claimant is admonished in fatherly, protecting tones to 'Remember that only in the Home'—he always spells home with a capital in this connection—'should a woman be in evidence.' He almost weeps when he pictures the dire consequences that would inevitably result should women enter the uncleanly pool of politics. Chivalry would become extinct—chivalry being the guiding principle, according to the unbiased editor, on which men act—and then would tired men no longer give up their seats in trolley cars to masculine women and no longer would they accord equal pay for equal work, as they chivalrously do now!"

Turning her shafts on Mr. Bok, editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, and ex-President Cleveland's articles in it, Miss Campbell evoked so much laughter and applause that Miss Hauser became anxious as to the effect on the representatives of the press who were there and called on Mrs. Upton to calm the tempestuous waters, who offered some "golden precepts" for dealing with editors, among them the following: "Keep the paper fully informed of all suffrage news. If there is something unpleasant in it and the reporter tells you that the editor and not himself is responsible for it, smile and believe him. Take the reporter into your confidence and let him absorb the impression that you trust him implicitly. The result will be that you and your cause will get the best of it. In a word, treat the newspaper reporter as you would any other gentleman and in the long run you will profit by it. If you are the press representative of your local organization try to have from time to time items of news pertaining to matters other than that of woman suffrage. Use the telephone lavishly and let[Pg 176] your home be a sort of stopping place for the reporter in his routine work. When you present such an attitude toward the press the editors cannot find it in their hearts to refuse if you want a little space for yourself and your cause." The Baltimore Evening Herald commented: "From the foregoing it will be observed that in the dark and devious avocation of working the unsophisticated editor, Mrs. Upton is truly a past mistress, entitled to wear the regalia and jewels of the superlative degree."

Mrs. May Arkwright Hutton of Idaho told of the excellent results of woman suffrage on the politics of that State. Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, chairman of the Committee on Peace and Arbitration, gave her usual able report describing her extensive work during the past year, which neither in this or any other year was exceeded by that of any one individual. After her return from the International Peace Congress in London she succeeded in having the presidents of the suffrage associations in fifteen States appoint supervisors of peace work and others were about to do so. The educational authorities in every State had been requested to arrange celebrations for May 18, the anniversary of the first Hague Conference, and she should notify the suffrage clubs to do this. Equal suffragists will aid the cause of justice for themselves in the nation by working also for justice between the nations. The abolition of war will do more than anything else to make women respected and influential. It will substitute moral force for brute force, reason for passion and will forever remove one of the most popular arguments against giving political power to those who are incapable of military service."

Mrs. Isabel C. Barrows (Mass.), the well known writer on social and economic subjects, took part in the symposium that followed. Miss Alice Stone Blackwell presided over the conference on What the Home Needs for its Protection—Women on Health Boards, School Boards and in the Police Department, and these subjects were considered by Mrs. Susan S. Fessenden (Mass.), Mrs. Upton and Mrs. Barrows. It closed with a paper by the Rev. Marie Jenney Howe on Woman's Municipal Vote.

One of the most important evening sessions was devoted to the question of Municipal Government, with Dr. William H. Welch, Professor of Pathology in Johns Hopkins University, presiding.[Pg 177] A leading feature was the address of the Hon. Frederick C. Howe of Cleveland, O., The City for the People. He reviewed the mismanagement and political corruption of the large cities, "controlled by great financial interests and yet filled with eager, energetic people, struggling to organize a good democratic movement of humanity focused on a democratic ideal." In voicing the hope for the future he said:

The Hon. Rudolph Blankenburg, Philadelphia's noted reformer, who was to speak on Municipal Regeneration, was detained at home and his wife, Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, president of the Pennsylvania Suffrage Association, told of the big campaign of the preceding autumn for better government in that city and the important part women had in it and said: "The men claimed that the women helped them a great deal but when the day came for the jubilation after the election, not a woman was invited to sit on the platform or to take part in the jubilee, except in the audience. In one of our suburbs the successful people gave a banquet and they did condescend to invite the women who had helped them win the election to sit in the gallery after the banquet and hear the speeches.... We are to have an election very soon and when I left home to come to this convention our city party was holding meetings in churches and halls and parlors and the chairman of the committee chided me for deserting my 'home[Pg 178] work.' I told her that it was a greater work to try to get the right to vote and increase my influence."

The Hon. William Dudley Foulke, president of the National Civil Service Commission, spoke informally on An Object Lesson in Municipal Politics, describing the revolution of the citizens against the corrupt government of his home city, Richmond, Ind., and the valuable assistance rendered by the women, and, as always, demanding the suffrage for them.

It was at this meeting that Miss Jane Addams of Hull House, Chicago, made the address on The Modern City and the Municipal Franchise for Women, which was thenceforth a part of the standard suffrage literature. Quotations are wholly inadequate.

The Sunday afternoon service was held in the Lyric Theater, whose capacity was taxed with an audience "representing every class of society, every creed and no creed," according to the Baltimore papers. It was preceded by a half-hour musical program by Edwin M. Shonert, pianist, and Earl J. Pfonts, violinist. The Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell made the opening prayer; the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw read the Scripture lesson and gave the day's text: "Be strong and very courageous; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." The Battle Hymn of the Republic was beautifully read by the Rev. Olympia Brown and sung by Miss Etta Maddox, the audience joining in the chorus. Mrs. Maud Ballington Booth gave the principal address on the work of the Volunteers of America for the men and women in prisons and after they are discharged. At its beginning she said: "I have never before stood on the platform with these leaders in the struggle for woman suffrage but I sympathize with any movement whose motive is, like theirs, the uplifting of humanity." Her beauty, her sweet voice and her rare eloquence made a deep impression on the audience, who responded with a generous collection for her Hope Halls. The meeting closed with the congregational singing of America and the benediction by the Rev. Marie Jenney Howe. All of the women ministers occupied the pulpits of various churches in the morning or evening, and, according to the reporter for the News, "astonished the large congregations which assembled to do them honor with their facility of expression and the soundness of their logic!"[46]

The resolutions offered by Henry B. Blackwell, chairman of the committee, covered a wide and rather unusual range of subjects,[Pg 180] showing the broad scope of the work of the association and expressing its pleasure at the world-wide indications of progress. Deep regret was expressed for the death of the friends of the cause during the year, among them George W. Catt of New York, husband of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt; Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell of New York; Mrs. Jane H. Spofford of Maine; Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller of Maryland; Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins of Ohio; John K. Wildman of Pennsylvania, and Speaker Frederick S. Nixon of the New York Legislature.

Fraternal greetings were brought from the Ladies of the Maccabees by Mrs. Melva J. Caswell, State Commander of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Delaware; from the National W. C. T. U., by Miss Marie C. Brehm, president for Illinois, and from the American Purity Alliance by its president, Dr. O. Edward Janney of Baltimore. A letter was read by Mrs. Mary Bentley Thomas (Md.), from Governor Warfield expressing his thanks for the opportunity of meeting so many distinguished women and his enjoyment of the convention. Letters and telegrams were read. A letter of greeting was sent to Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent, a veteran suffragist of San Francisco, and letters to Miss Laura Clay and Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, regretting their absence. A special vote of appreciation was given to Dr. and Mrs. William Funck and a letter of thanks was sent to Dr. Thomas and Miss Garrett for their part in the unsurpassed success of the convention.

A comprehensive report of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, organized in Berlin in 1904, was given by its president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, showing that "the agitation throughout Europe for a broader democracy has naturally opened the way for the discussion of woman suffrage and the subject is being considered as never before in Europe." [See Chapter on the Alliance.] The Evening with Women in History was opened by Mrs. Catt, who said: "One idea is the mainspring of the opposition to woman suffrage—that women are by nature of the inferior sex. Even Darwin, so scientific that he tried to see all things fairly, entertained this unjust view. When women have had the same inspiration and opportunity as men their work has been equal in merit."[Pg 181]

The program assuredly showed no inferiority of mental power. Mrs. Belle de Rivera (N. Y.) depicted Women of Genius, quoting Sappho, Margaret of Navarre, Vittoria Colonna, Angelica Kauffman and others eminent in the annals of history. A newspaper report said of Mrs. Oreola Williams Haskell (N. Y.): "The thoroughness of her address gave the lie to any intimation of frivolity made by her youth and beauty, the pink crêpe de chine dress and the giddy pink bow in her fluffy brown hair." In discussing Women in Politics she said that, "even though debarred from Parliaments and Congresses women will take part in politics because political situations and public events vitally affect their lives" and concluded:

Miss Campbell described in an able and interesting manner Women Scholars of the Middle Ages. Miss Brehm pictured Heroes and Heroines. Mrs. Maud Nathan, who had as a subject Women Warriors, according to the reporter, "remarked as she took off her long white kids that she could not handle it with gloves." Declaring that she did not approve of war, she said that nevertheless whenever there was a fight for municipal reform in New York she was in the thick of it. After showing how women had led wars and fallen in battles she concluded:

The social features of the convention were of an unusually interesting character. The Garrett family mansion had been closed for the winter but Miss Garrett opened it completely, invited as home guests Miss Anthony, Mrs. Howe, Miss Addams, Dr. Thomas and other distinguished visitors and gave a series of entertainments that conferred on the convention a prestige which added much to its influence in that conservative city. In order that its representative men and women might meet the officers and delegates Miss Garrett had a luncheon and dinner every day, the formal invitations reading: "To meet Miss Susan B. Anthony and Governor and Mrs. Warfield"; "To meet Miss Anthony and the speakers of the College Evening," etc.,—on each invitation Miss Anthony's name preceding those of the other guests of honor. All of the speakers on the College Women's evening were her house guests and after the meeting she gave a large reception. To quote again from the Biography: "No one present will ever forget the picture of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Howe sitting side by side on a divan in the large bay window, with a background of ferns and flowers. At their right stood Miss Garrett and Dr. Thomas, at their left Dr. Shaw and the line of eminent college women, with a beautiful perspective of conservatory and art gallery.... There was nothing in the closing years of Miss Anthony's life that offered such encouragement[Pg 183] and hope as to see women possessing the power of high intellectual ability, wealth and social position taking up the cause which she had carried with patient toil through poverty and obscurity to this plane of recognition."

While Miss Anthony was a guest in the home of Miss Garrett she and Dr. Thomas asked her what was the greatest service they could render to advance the movement for woman suffrage. She answered that the strongest desire of her later years had been to raise a large fund for the work, which was constantly impeded for the lack of money, but her impaired health had prevented it. This need was frequently discussed during the week, and before the convention closed they promised her that they would try to find a number of women who, like themselves, were unable to take an active part in working for woman suffrage but sincerely believed in it, who would be willing to join together in contributing $12,000 a year for the next five years to help support the work and to show in this practical way their gratitude to Miss Anthony and her associates and their faith in the cause.[47]

The officers, speakers and delegates accepted invitations of President Remsen to visit Johns Hopkins University and received every possible attention; to a special exhibit at the Maryland Historical Art Gallery; to a handsome afternoon tea at the Arundel Club, welcomed by its president, Mrs. William M. Ellicott; to a large reception by the Baltimore Woman Suffrage Club and to other pleasant functions.

The report of Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton called attention to the receipts of $2,000 for 1893 and $12,150 during the past year, a period of thirteen years during which she had been treasurer. "The fact that nowadays the association always has funds," she said, "gives us a standing with the bankers and business men which works largely to our credit." She spoke of the bequests,[Pg 184] which had been put at interest, and told of persons who refused to contribute a dollar while they remained unspent. It was the hope of the officers, she said, that they could be used for campaigns and other emergencies and that contributions should pay the running expenses, which was now nearly accomplished. The disbursements during the year, including money advanced for the Oregon campaign, had been $16,565, the amount above receipts being taken from the bequests.

The College Women's meeting took place on Thursday and Miss Anthony was unable to attend the convention the next day. "At the Saturday morning session," the Biography relates, "Dr. Shaw expressed the great regret of all at her enforced absence and their gratitude for the excellent care she was receiving at the home of Miss Garrett; but when the afternoon session opened, in she walked! She had learned that the money was to be raised at this time and she knew she could help, so she conquered her pain and came. When contributions were called for she was first to respond and holding out a little purse she said: 'I want to begin by giving you my purse. Just before I left Rochester my friends gave me a birthday party and made me a present of eighty-six dollars. I suppose they wanted me to do as I liked with the money and I wish to send it to Oregon.'" Under this inspiration the pledges soon reached $4,000. Afterwards Miss Anthony's seventeen five dollar gold pieces were sold for $10 each, and later some of them for $25.

Miss Anthony was not able to leave the house for the next two days, to her great sorrow. The leading feature of the Monday evening session was to be an address by Mrs. Howe but she also was too ill to appear, and realizing the intense disappointment this would be to the audience Miss Anthony made another heroic effort and took her place on the platform. The Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow came from Cincinnati to give an address on The Power of an Idea, in which he said: "If the world were never again to get another new idea, progress would be at an end.... The birth and growth and struggle and triumph of one great idea after another—this is the story of human progress. For more than half a century the men and women who championed the idea of woman suffrage were made the butt of ridicule, yet in the light[Pg 185] of history how ridiculous are the enemies of this idea. Fifty years ago no American college but Oberlin was open to women. Now a third of the college students in the United States are women." Mrs. Fessenden of Boston spoke eloquently on The Mount of Aspiration, and Mrs. Lydia A. Coonley Ward of Chicago represented the strong, practical side in her address on The Nearest Duty. Miss Alice Henry of Melbourne gave an interesting account of woman suffrage in Australia, where women now possessed the complete franchise, which had been followed by very advanced laws.

It was not supposed that Miss Anthony would be able to speak, but, stimulated by the occasion and longing no doubt to say what she felt might be her last words, she came forward near the close of the meeting. A report of the occasion in the New York Evening Post said:

There were indeed Miss Anthony's last words to a woman suffrage convention and they expressed the dominant thought which had directed her own life—the fight must not stop!

The address of Mrs. Howe was read at a later session by her daughter, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, who expressed her mother's extreme disappointment at not being able to be present in person[Pg 186] and said: "She regarded this convention as probably the last she should attend and she hoped to clasp hands with many whom she has known in former years and with many whom she has not known. She has heard with joy of its success and sends you her affectionate greeting and glad congratulations." In the course of this scholarly address Mrs. Howe said:

On the last evening Señorita Carolina Holman Huidobro told of The Women of Chili and Argentina in the Peace Movement. Mrs. Mead spoke on The World's Crisis, and, with an unsurpassed knowledge of her subject, pointed out the vast responsibility of the United States in the cause of Peace and Arbitration, saying in part: "Protected by two oceans, with not a nation on the hemisphere that dares to attack her; with not a nation in the world that is her enemy, rich and with endless resources, this most fortunate nation is the one of all others to lead the world out of the increasing intolerable bondage of armaments. If the United States will take a strong position on gradual, proportional disarmament the first step may be made toward it at the second Hague conference soon to be held.... Of all women the suffragists should be alert and well informed upon these momentous questions. Our battle cry today must be 'Organize the world!' War will cease when concerted action has removed the causes of war and not before."

Mrs. Pauline Steinem, an elected member of the Toledo (O.) school board, showed convincingly the need for Women's Work on Boards of Education. Miss Harriet May Mills (N. Y.) made a clear, logical address on The Right of Way, and Mr. Blackwell (Mass.) discussed from his knowledge of politics The Wooing of Electors.

In closing the convention Dr. Shaw expressed the hope that if it had brought no other truth to the people of Baltimore it had shown that women want the ballot as a means for accomplishing the things that good men and women wish to accomplish. She made an earnest appeal for a deeper interest in the highest things of life and more consecrated work for all that contributes to the progress of humanity.

In order to have the usual hearings before committees of Congress on the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the Federal Constitution a large delegation went to Washington on February 14, the next day after the convention closed, and the[Pg 188] hearing was held the morning of the 15th, Miss Anthony's birthday. She was not able to attend, greatly to her own disappointment and that of the older speakers, whose inspiration she had been for so long on these occasions. She had arranged the first one ever held in 1869 and had missed but two in thirty-seven years.

The hearing before the Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage took place in the Marble Room, as usual, Senator Augustus O. Bacon of Georgia in the chair and Dr. Shaw presiding. The speakers were Señorita Huidobro of Chili; Mrs. Elizabeth D. Bacon, president of the Connecticut Suffrage Association; Mrs. Mary Bentley Thomas (Md.); the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell (N. J.); Miss Anne Fitzhugh Miller (N. Y.); Mrs. Upton, Mrs. Steinem and Mrs. Fessenden.

The hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, the Hon. John J. Jenkins (Wis.), chairman, was in charge of Mrs. Florence Kelley, first vice-president of the association. Mrs. Blankenburg told of the herculean efforts of over 2,000 women at the last November election of Philadelphia. Mrs. Harriet A. Eager spoke of the work of a woman's Committee of Moral Education in Boston where there was no law prohibiting the circulation of any kind of literature. They went to the Legislature for such a law with a petition from 32,000 of the representative women of Massachusetts and stayed there six weeks working for it only to have it refused. She told how the women of the State petitioned fifty-five years for a law giving mothers equal guardianship of their children and pointed out the helpless position of women without political power.

Miss Kate M. Gordon of New Orleans, corresponding secretary of the association, began: "My message this morning was particularly for the southern members of the committee but I shall have to ask others present to carry it to them, as I do not believe any of them are here although seven are members." She protested against the attitude of southern members of Congress toward woman suffrage and expressed the deep resentment of southern women at their classification with the disfranchised, saying that their men more than all others should feel the responsibility of lifting them from their present humiliating position.[Pg 189] Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, president of the Illinois Suffrage Association, based her argument on simple justice, and said in conclusion: "Your power is absolute and your responsibility correspondingly great. Humiliating as it is for me to beg for what is mine from strangers, I would a thousand times rather be a defrauded mendicant than to hold in my hand the rights, the destiny and the happiness of millions of human beings and have the heart to deny their just claims."

Mrs. Mary Kenney O'Sullivan (Mass.) spoke "as one representing 3,000,000 women who have been forced out of the home through necessity," and said in the course of her strong speech: "I know that the working women of this country are not receiving the highest wages because they have not a vote. Right here in Washington, in your big bindery of the Government, a trade to which I gave the larger part of my life, the women who do equal work with the men do not receive equal pay. The Government more than any other employer has taken advantage of women of my class because they have not a vote.... The workmen, more than any other men, even more than those who are supposed to be statesmen, have seen the necessity for women to have a vote. Ever since 1890 the convention of the American Federation of Labor has unanimously adopted a resolution favoring woman suffrage. I do not believe that any one will deny that the workingmen are the thinking men of the country. I am asking you, in the name of the women I represent at least, to do for us what our working brothers are trying to do—give us our rights."

Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead said in the course of a long address: "The man who talks about home today as if it still gave ample opportunity for woman's productive activity as it once did, is talking about a condition which is as obsolete as the conditions before we had railroads and telegraphs. Woman's educational opportunities and productive capacity are so altered as to require her political status to be altered.... There is a class of women who do not need to earn their living and have a large leisure. They are not idle, they are as active as fireflies, but they are not obliged to be productive as every human being should be.... They have more time than men to study and to apply the[Pg 190] principles of justice and mercy and to do that preventive, educational work which is a better defense of country than a squadron of battleships. The suffrage has done much to develop man; the woman of leisure needs it to develop her; the working woman needs it to obtain salutary conditions under which to earn her living; the woman working for reforms needs it so as to accomplish in a year what otherwise she may wait for twenty-five years of pleading and 'influence' to obtain."

Miss Alice Stone Blackwell began her address: "We are not here to ask you to extend suffrage to women but to give to the State Legislatures an opportunity to vote on it, and probably some practical considerations should be offered to show that public sentiment has arrived at a point where it seems to be timely and worth while that this question should be submitted to them. We would like to convince you that this is only right. If three-fourths of them are not prepared to give us suffrage, we shall not get it. If three-fourths of them are prepared, then public sentiment has arrived at a point where we ought to have it." She reviewed the advance of the movement and said: "We could keep this committee here until next week reading to them testimony from representative men and women as to the good results of woman suffrage where it is in operation." The unimpeachable testimony which she then presented from the equal suffrage States filled several pages of the printed record.

Introducing Mrs. Kelley, Chairman Jenkins had spoken of her father, William D. Kelley, known as the Father of the House, and she said:

Although the women received courteous treatment and a respectful hearing from both committees no report was made by either, and the only advantage gained was that as usual thousands of franked copies of the hearings were sent to the national suffrage headquarters to be distributed throughout the States.

For some time arrangements had been under way to celebrate the birthday of Miss Anthony in the city where this had been so often done and which she loved above all others. By carefully conserving her strength she was able to attend the evening ceremonies in the Church of Our Father (Universalist) where many suffrage conventions had been held and where six years before, at the age of 80, she had resigned the presidency and laid down the gavel for the last time. Letters of congratulation were read from President Roosevelt, Vice-President Fairbanks, members of Congress and other prominent men; from Mrs. Russell Sage, Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker, Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick and other eminent women, and from organizations in this and other countries. Well known men and women brought their greetings in person. To quote again from her Biography:

"On account of her extreme weakness it was not expected that Miss Anthony would speak but at the close of the evening she seemed to feel that she must say one last word, and rising, with a tender, spiritual expression on her dear face, she stood beside Miss Shaw and explained in a few touching words how the great[Pg 192] work of the National Association had been placed in her charge; turning to the other national officers on the stage she reached out her hand to them and expressed her appreciation of their loyal support, and then, realizing that her strength was almost gone, she said: 'There have been others also just as true and devoted to the cause—I wish I could name every one—but with such women consecrating their lives'—here she paused for an instant and seemed to be gazing into the future, then dropping her arms to her side she finished her sentence—'failure is impossible!' These were the last words Miss Anthony ever spoke in public and from that moment they became the watchword of those who accepted as their trust the work she laid down." One month later to the day she was laid to rest with her loved ones.

[Pg 193]

CHAPTER VII.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1907.

The six preceding chapters have described at length and in detail the annual conventions of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in order to show that those who took part in them were the representative women and men of the day. Their addresses, reports of committees, resolutions adopted and other proceedings demonstrate the wide scope of the activities of this organization, which from 1869 was the foundation and the bulwark of the vast movement to obtain equality of rights for women. The Thirty-ninth convention met in Music Hall, Fine Arts Building, Chicago, Feb. 14-19, 1907, and received a cordial welcome to the State of Lincoln, who in 1836 was almost the first public man in the United States to declare in favor of suffrage for women.[48] Lorado Taft's bust of Susan B. Anthony, its pedestal[Pg 194] draped in the Stars and Stripes, adorned the platform and a portrait of Lucy Stone looked down on the speakers in serene benediction. The national president, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, was in the chair and addresses of welcome were made for Illinois by Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, president of the State Equal Suffrage Association; for the churches by the Right Rev. Samuel E. Fallows, Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church; for the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union by Mrs. Susanna M. D. Fry, its corresponding secretary. Mrs. Fannie J. Fernald, president of the Maine Suffrage Association, and Mrs. Mary S. Sperry, president of that of California, responded and in introducing them Dr. Shaw said: "These responses from the Atlantic and the Pacific Coasts represent greetings from all the women between them." The presidents of the Chicago North Side, the South Side and the Evanston Political Equality Clubs were presented and received with applause. Bishop Fallows expressed the wish that what he should say could be voiced by the ministers of all the churches in the land and said: "I am proud that from the period of the Civil War and a little before, when the cause of the emancipation of the slave was the foremost question of the time and was only settled by the horrors of a long struggle—from that time I espoused the cause of woman suffrage. I hope there will be no need to fight for it as we fought during those long years but at least there should be a war of words until women have the power to deposit a ballot, until they have complete enfranchisement. Your case is just; yours is a righteous cause. I cannot help believing that the exercise of the suffrage by women is necessary to the welfare and growth of the nation. Your cause stands for the home; it stands for political purity, for civic righteousness, for everything that is for the betterment of the State, and I should be guilty of high treason to my deepest convictions if I did not bid a hearty God-speed to your efforts until every State shall recognize the equality of woman before the great law of civic redemption, as God has recognized her right before the great law of human redemption."

The appointment of the usual committees was followed by a symposium on Municipal Suffrage, at this time a vital issue in Chicago, as a spirited campaign was in progress to secure a clause[Pg 195] giving it to women in the new city charter which a convention was preparing.[49] Mrs. Ellen M. Henrotin was to preside but she yielded to Mrs. Florence Kelley, who had to leave the city, and later took Mrs. Kelley's place in presiding over the symposium on Industrial Conditions. Professor Sophonisba Breckinridge (Ky.), of Chicago University, gave an able address on Municipal Housekeeping, saying in the course of it:

Miss Kate M. Gordon (La.) told of the remarkable work the women of New Orleans had been able to do with their taxpayers' right to vote on matters of special taxation. "If the women of one part of the country more than another need the suffrage," she[Pg 196] declared, "it is those of the South." The Chicago Tribune commented: "As Miss Gordon sat down all the women clapped, many waved handkerchiefs and the applause continued several minutes." Mrs. Lilla Day Monroe described the excellent effects of the Municipal suffrage enjoyed by all women in Kansas, the only State where it existed in full. She called attention to the fact that the next day, February 15, would be the 20th anniversary of its granting by the Legislature. Miss Anna E. Nicholes of Chicago spoke on The Ballot for Working Women, saying in part:

[Pg 197]

Mrs. Kelley, who, as executive secretary of the National Consumers' League for years and before that as State Factory Inspector of Illinois, had an unsurpassed knowledge of the conditions that affect women and children, gave a scathing review of the failure of Congress to enact protective laws and of the reactionary decisions of Supreme Courts. "Do we ask what this has to do with Municipal suffrage?" she inquired and answered:

The first evening was devoted to a more extended welcome and to the president's address. On behalf of the city Dr. Howard S. Taylor represented Mayor Edward F. Dunne and in an eloquent speech he reviewed the various epochs in the country's history. "Take, for instance," he said, "the first chapter, when the old Liberty Bell clanged out to the world the doctrine that 'all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and to secure these rights[Pg 198] governments are established among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' There is no casuistry, however dextrous, that can take woman out of that charter." He referred to pioneer days and the heavy part borne by women and said: "But when the foundations had been established and the pioneer fathers got down to writing the constitutions they left the pioneer mothers out." He spoke of the time in the '50's when "the Government invited the people from all over the world to come and help us settle our political, social and commercial questions but did not invite American mothers, sisters, wives and daughters." "Then came the Civil War," he said, "and the large part taken in it by women and when the war was over the Government made the great army of emancipated slaves citizens and gave the men the ballot but forgot the patriotic white women of the country." "I know," he said in conclusion, "that if the women of Chicago and Illinois were enfranchised the corruption of the city council and the Legislature would be much less than it is. We should have a higher state of morals among public men and better laws on the statute books."

When the speaker finished Dr. Shaw observed: "We ought to thank Mayor Dunne for substituting a man like Dr. Taylor for himself." This brought Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch to her feet to say: "Mayor Dunne would have made just as good a suffrage speech as Dr. Taylor." "I did not intend any reflection on the Mayor," answered Dr. Shaw with a quiet smile, "but I think he showed excellent judgment."

The Chicago Woman's Club of over a thousand members, a recognized force in the great city, sent its greetings through its president, Mrs. Gertrude E. Blackwelder. Mrs. Minnie E. Watkins, as president of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, gave a welcome in the name of its membership of 294 clubs and told of the increasing growth of suffrage sentiment among them. "Through the work of our Industrial, Civil Service and Legislative Committees," she said, "we have learned our need of the ballot." The Rev. Charles R. Henderson, Professor of Sociology, an earnest suffragist, welcomed the convention, saying in part:

Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, national recording secretary, and Miss Jane Campbell, secretary of the Pennsylvania Association, responded. The Hon. Oliver W. Stewart spoke on The Logic of Popular Government. He pointed out that there has been a steady movement of mankind toward government by the people for the people and said in part:

This was Dr. Shaw's 60th birthday and many pleasant references had been made to it by the delegates. She began her president's address by saying: "We have never before been more enthusiastic than today. Victory has not come in the United States but we are not working for ourselves alone. Wherever freedom comes to any woman that is our victory and when the new constitution of Finland granted absolute equality to its woman citizens, that was our victory." Municipal suffrage had been given to the women of Natal, South Africa, she said: "and now at the foot of Mt. Ararat, where the ark rested, the Catholicos, or High Priest of that conservative people and religion, the Armenians, has issued an edict that the women of the church shall not only have a voice in the election of its officers but also shall be eligible to official position." She referred to the recent defeat of the suffrage amendment in Oregon and said: "All honor to those 37,000 men who voted for it; their descendants will not be ashamed of their fathers' act. There are today organizations of Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution and there will some day be one of 'Sons and Daughters of the Evolution of Women's Freedom,' but there will never be one of the Tories who fought against that Revolution or this Evolution," and she continued:[Pg 201]

With two exceptions this was the only national convention during the thirty-nine years that had not been animated by the presence of Miss Anthony and the second day—February 15, her 87th birthday—was largely devoted to her.[50] There were three reports on Memorials. One was presented by Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) for the Executive Committee of the National Council of Women and contemplated a bust to be executed in marble by the sculptor, Adelaide Johnson, who had made the one in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. A second was presented by Mrs. Mary T. Lewis Gannett of Rochester, N. Y., for an Anthony Memorial Building for the women students of the[Pg 202] university of that city, who had been admitted largely through the effort of Miss Anthony. [Life and Work, page 1221.] A third was for a $100,000 Memorial Fund for the work of the National American Association. The report of the committee for this third fund, which was presented by Mrs. Avery, stated that the nearness of success for woman suffrage now depended on securing the money to do the necessary work of propaganda, organization, publicity, etc., and that the most fitting memorial to Miss Anthony would be a fund of not less than $100,000 to be used exclusively for "the furtherance of the woman suffrage cause in the United States in such amounts and for such purposes as the general officers of the association shall from time to time deem best." It also provided that the officers should be permitted to select eleven women to act as trustees of this fund, six of whom should be from the official board. This report was unanimously adopted. Mrs. Upton, the national treasurer, at once appealed for pledges and the delegates responded with about $24,000. The business committee of the association elected as its six members Dr. Shaw, Mrs. Avery, Mrs. Upton, Miss Blackwell, Miss Gordon and Miss Clay. Mrs. Henry Villard of New York; Mrs. Pauline Agassiz Shaw of Boston and Miss Jane Addams of Chicago were the only others selected.[51]

According to the custom for a number of years Miss Lucy E. Anthony was requested to present in the name of the association framed portraits of Miss Anthony to various institutions—in this instance to Hull House and the Chicago Political Equality League. Telegrams were received from the Mayor of Des Moines, Ia.; from the Utah Council of Suffrage Women; from the Interurban Woman Suffrage Council of Greater New York, saying they had observed the day by opening headquarters, and from a number of other sources telling that the birthday was being celebrated in ways that would have been pleasing to Miss Anthony.

The evening memorial services were beautiful and impressive.[Pg 203] Mason Slade at the organ rendered the great chorus—Guilmant; Cantilene—Wheeldon; Marche Militaire—Schubert. The Rev. Mecca Marie Varney of Chicago offered prayer. During the evening Miss Marie Ludwig gave an exquisite harp solo and Mrs. Jennie F. W. Johnson sang with deep feeling Tennyson's Crossing the Bar, a favorite poem of Miss Anthony's. A telegram of greeting from the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was sent through its president, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt. A tribute of an intimate and loving nature was paid by Miss Emily Howland of Sherwood, a friend of half a century, in which she said: "The first time I ever met Miss Anthony was at an anti-slavery meeting in my own shire town of Auburn, N. Y., which was broken up by a mob and we took refuge with Mrs. Martha Wright, a sister of Lucretia Mott." She spoke of Miss Anthony's "genius for friendship" and quoted the lines: "The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring." Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery gave a number of instances during their travel in Europe which showed Miss Anthony's strong humanitarianism.

Mrs. Fannie Barrier Williams of Chicago paid touching tribute in behalf of the colored people, in which she said: "My presence on this platform shows that the gracious spirit of Miss Anthony still survives in her followers.... When Miss Anthony took up the cause of women she did not know them by their color, nationality, creed or birth, she stood only for the emancipation of women from the thraldom of sex. She became an invincible champion of anti-slavery. In the half century of her unremitting struggle for liberty, more liberty, and complete liberty for negro men and women in chains and for white women in their helpless subjection to man's laws, she never wavered, never doubted, never compromised. She held it to be mockery to ask man or woman to be happy or contented if not free. She saw no substitute for liberty. When slavery was overthrown and the work of reconstruction began she was still unwearied and watchful. She had an intimate acquaintance with the leading statesmen of the times. Her judgment and advice were respected and heard in much of the legislation that gave a status of citizenship to the millions of slaves set free."

The principal address was made by the Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones[Pg 204] of Chicago, a devoted friend, with whose courageous and independent spirit Miss Anthony had been in deep sympathy.[52] Tributes were paid to other devoted adherents to the cause who had died during the year and Henry B. Blackwell in closing his own said: "The workers pass on but the work remains." Dr. Shaw took up the words, making them the text of a beautiful memorial address, calling the long list one by one, beginning with the Anthony sisters and Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker and naming among the other veteran workers: Rosa L. Segur, Ohio; Emily B. Ketcham, Michigan; the Hon. H. S. Greenleaf, Professor Henry A. Ward, Eliza Thayer, Emogene Dewey and Mrs. James Sargent, New York; Virginia Durant Young, South Carolina; Ellen Powell Thompson, District of Columbia; Laura Moore, Vermont; Mrs. Henry W. Blair and Mrs. Oliver Branch, New Hampshire; Susan W. Lippincott, New Jersey, and many others.

The all-pervading spirit of the convention was that of carrying forward Miss Anthony's work. The board of officers was re-elected almost unanimously except that Dr. Jeffreys Myers, who wished to retire as second auditor, was replaced by Mrs. Mary S. Sperry of San Francisco. Mrs. Avery, for twenty-one years corresponding secretary, had returned from a long sojourn in Europe and the desire was so strong to have her on the board again that the office of second vice-president was created. At Mrs. Florence Kelley's insistence she was allowed to yield the first vice-presidency to Mrs. Avery and take the second place as having less responsibility.

The report of the headquarters secretary, Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, told of the sending out of 19,000 letters and 182,264[Pg 205] pieces of literature within the year. It gave the names of many eminent men and women who were contributors to this literature, much of which first appeared in prominent magazines and newspapers, and spoke of the excellent propaganda work of The Public, edited by Louis F. Post. It emphasized the important accession of the North American Review and the Harper publications, which had come under the management of Colonel George Harvey. The report told of the bequest of Miss Anthony to the National American Association of all the remaining bound volumes of the History of Woman Suffrage, which had been sent to the headquarters and weighed ten tons.[53] Fifty sets had been sold during the year. Files of the Reports of the national conventions from 1900 to 1906 inclusive had been placed in one hundred of the largest libraries in the United States. The association arranged with Mrs. Harper for the exclusive sale of the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony. The convention voted that Progress, edited by Mrs. Upton, should be changed to a weekly and enlarged, and every suffrage club was urged to subscribe for Jus Suffragii, the official paper of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Thousands of copies of new and valuable literature had been sold. After the press work was turned over to the headquarters 1,200 copies of articles of national interest were supplied each week to the fifty-eight State chairmen of the press committee from July to January and 28,875 copies of 118 news items and 50 special articles were sent to prominent newspapers.

The important work with organizations and their conventions was not neglected and during the past year they were asked specifically for a resolution calling on Congress to submit a Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment, with the following result:

Saturday afternoon was devoted entirely to social affairs. They began with a luncheon given at Hull House by Miss Jane Addams to officers, delegates and alternates, after which the activities of this remarkable institution were explained. Systematic sight-seeing was carried out, groups of the guests being personally conducted to the Field Columbian Museum, the Art Museum, the big department stores and other points of interest. One group went to Chicago University, where Dr. Shaw addressed the students of the Women's Union and the College Girls' Suffrage Club. Afterwards they were entertained by the Dean of Women, Miss Marian Talbot. In the evening the Chicago Woman's Club gave a large reception, its president, Mrs. Blackwelder, and the chairman of the Social Committee, Miss Clara Dixon, being assisted in receiving by the officers of the association. Its handsome club rooms in the Fine Arts Building were placed at the service of the delegates throughout the convention.

Ministers of Chicago who opened the sessions with prayers[Pg 207] were Dr. J. A. Rondthaler of the Normal Park Presbyterian Church; Dr. Austin K. de Blois of the First Baptist Church, and the Rev. Jean F. Loba of the First Congregational Church, Evanston. A number of pulpits in the city were filled by officers and delegates Sunday morning. The Studebaker Theater was taken for the regular service of the convention in the afternoon in order to accommodate the large audience. The Rev. Kate Hughes of Chicago offered prayer. Dr. Shaw presided and read a message from Miss Mary S. Anthony dictated a few days before her death, when Miss Shaw asked her what word she would like to send to the convention. It said in part:

The Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow of Cincinnati in a strong address showed the Value of the Ballot. Miss Addams told with much feeling of the recent campaign for the Municipal franchise, the objections they had to meet, the character of the opposition and how hard it was for women to be patient.

Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch gave an able address under the title "Why Not?" a study in Prejudice and Superstition, reviewing the objections to woman suffrage and finding their origin in Orientalism, in the military ideal, in political expediency. He ended his refutation of all of them by saying: "All our American institutions will be protected and benefited when we open the[Pg 208] doors and give women, who never should have been denied it, the right to govern themselves, to govern the country in conjunction with men and to decide the issues that affect their own interests. Men have had this right for themselves alone too long. The day will come, my sisters, when the conscience of the world will be aroused to such a degree that no one will dare question the justice of your movement."

Many greetings were received through letters, telegrams and fraternal delegates. Prof. John A. Scott, representing president A. M. Harris of Northwestern University, Evanston, brought an invitation for speakers to address the students and Miss Gordon and Miss Caroline Lexow responded. In his greeting Professor Scott said: "I believe in woman suffrage because I believe in the home.... I don't care a whit for the argument that women with property should have a vote. Property will always be represented and it does not so much matter whether the property-holding women have a vote or not but it is of immense importance to those women who work for their living. That they have no representation is a great menace to those who are nominally free but who must compete with slaves. Women are economic entities and they should be represented. Labor without representation is as wrong as taxation without representation."

E. M. Nockels, fraternal delegate from the American Federation of Labor, addressed the convention and read a letter from its president, Samuel Gompers, expressing the hope of universal suffrage for women. Mrs. Emma S. Olds brought greetings from the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, and Mrs. Martin Barbe, the first vice-president, from the National Council of Jewish Women. A letter from Mrs. Mary Wood Swift (Calif.), president of the National Council of Women, gave its fraternal greetings. A cordial letter was read from Mrs. Mary B. Clay of Kentucky and telegrams from Mrs. Mary C. C. Bradford, Dr. Frances Woods, Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer and the Canadian Woman Suffrage Association. Telegrams of appreciation were sent to Julia Ward Howe, Clara Barton, Caroline E. Merrick, Emily P. Collins, Col. T. W. Higginson, Margaret W. Campbell, Judith W. Smith, Caroline M. Severance, Emma J. Bartol, Armenia S. White, Elizabeth Smith Miller, Ellen S. Sargent,[Pg 209] Sarah L. Willis and Charlotte L. Pierce, all old and beloved suffrage workers.

The symposium on Industrial Conditions of Women and Children, with Mrs. Henrotin presiding, occupied one afternoon. She pointed out the revolution in the work of women by its being taken from the home into the open market where they had to follow; described their handicaps, the immense importance of their labor, the business ability that many had developed, the property they had accumulated, the taxes they pay; she said if they had a voice in deciding how these taxes should be spent it would not only be a splendid thing for the city financially but morally, and urged that they should have the power of the suffrage. Graham Romeyn Taylor of Chicago paid high tribute to the work of women's organizations in all movements for civic improvement and described that of the Women's Clubs in Chicago; spoke of the Consumer's League also and declared the Women's Trade Union League most effective of all in bettering the condition of working women. He predicted close cooperation between this League and the National Suffrage Association. Miss Alice Henry of Australia spoke very effectively from her knowledge of the conditions of labor in her own country and the investigation she was making in the United States. Miss Casey, president of the Chicago Working Women's Suffrage Association, gave facts from personal knowledge showing their need of the vote. James C. Kelliher, former president of the National Letter Carriers' Association, spoke briefly and to the point. Miss Mary McDowell of Chicago made the principal address entitled The Working Women as a National Asset, in which she showed how little conception Congress and the Courts had of the legislation needed in their behalf and the sins of omission and commission that had resulted. In closing she said:

The report of the Congressional Committee, Mrs. Catt chairman, was read by Mrs. Kelley. It said that after the excellent hearings before the committees of Congress the preceding winter had no effect it was decided to ask the cooperation of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. This was done and its Industrial Advisory Board agreed to send out a circular letter. The association's Congressional Committee prepared one which the federation's board sent to 4,000 individual clubs asking them to question the members of Congress from their districts as to their opinion of a Federal Woman Suffrage Amendment and the request was largely complied with. A resolution was adopted that the association urge concerted action among the State auxiliaries to secure the submission by Congress of a Sixteenth Amendment forbidding disfranchisement on account of sex and that they be recommended to make it a feature of their work to obtain from their Legislatures a resolution in favor of such an amendment. A telegram of greeting was sent to Mrs. Catt and she was appointed fraternal delegate to the Peace Conference in New York in April.

Hard and conscientious work was shown in the reports of the chairmen of all the committees: Legislation for Civil Rights, Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg; Peace and Arbitration, Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead; Presidential Suffrage, Henry B. Blackwell; Libraries, Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer; Literature, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell;[Pg 211] Enrollment, Mrs. Oreola Williams Haskell; Membership, Miss Laura Clay, and others. Miss Clay urged that the organization of the political parties be taken as a model by the suffrage societies. As usual the State reports were among the most interesting features of the convention, for they gave in detail the nation-wide work that was being done for woman suffrage. At this time that of Oklahoma, Mrs. Kate L. Biggars, president, had a prominent place, as the association had been helping its women during the past year in an effort to have the convention which was framing a constitution for statehood put in a clause for woman suffrage. A corps of able national workers was there for months while the most strenuous work was done but the only result was the franchise on school matters.

The report on Oregon was read by the corresponding secretary, Miss Gordon. The campaign there for a woman suffrage amendment to the State constitution was possibly the most strenuous that had ever been made for this purpose and the National Association had given more assistance, financial and otherwise, than to any other, a number of its officers going there in person. Among them were Miss Clay and Miss Gordon, who made full reports.[55]

The report of Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, national treasurer, showed that the receipts of the association for 1906 had been $18,203 and it had expended on the Oregon campaign $18,075, a sum equal to its year's income. A portion of the money, however, was taken from the reserve fund and $8,000 had been subscribed directly for this campaign by individuals and States. The total disbursements for the year had been $25,933. The power of the association to rise above defeat and its courage and determination,[Pg 212] so many times shown, were strikingly illustrated on this occasion when the convention voted to raise a fund of $100,000 and pledged $24,000 of this amount before it adjourned.

The Resolutions presented by Mr. Blackwell, chairman of the committee, covered a wide range of subjects, among them the following:

The convention at one evening session listened to interesting addresses by Mrs. Mary E. Coggeshall, president of the Iowa Suffrage Association, Then and Now; Professor Emma M. Perkins of Western Reserve University (Ohio), Educational Ideals; Louis F. Post, editor of The Public, The Denatured Woman. Mrs. Avery gave a much enjoyed report of the Congress of the International Suffrage Alliance in Copenhagen the preceding August. On the last evening addresses were made by John Z. White of Chicago; Mrs. Upton on What Next? Miss Lexow on The Place of Equal Suffrage in Higher Education. Dr. Shaw closed the convention with a few eloquent words of encouragement, hope and prophecy for the success of the cause to which they gladly gave to the utmost their time, their labor and the best of everything they possessed.

[Pg 213]

CHAPTER VIII.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1908.

The Fortieth annual convention, Oct. 15-21, 1908, celebrated a notable event, as it was the 60th anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention, that famous gathering of July 19-20, 1848, in Seneca Falls, N. Y., the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The celebration was appropriately held in Buffalo, the largest city in the western part of the State, and was one of the most interesting and successful of the organization's many conventions.[56] The evening before it opened the president and directors of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy gave a large reception to the officers, delegates, members and friends of the association.

The convention met in the Young Men's Christian Association building but this proved to be entirely too small for the evening sessions, which were held in the large Central Presbyterian[Pg 214] Church. The excellent program was the work of Miss Kate Gordon, national corresponding secretary, and the admirable arrangements were due to Mrs. Richard Williams, president for the past eight years of the Political Equality Club, with a corps of local helpers, but an accident on the first day prevented her from welcoming the convention or taking part in its proceedings. With the national president, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, in the chair, it was opened with prayer by the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell.[57] Mrs. Helen Z. M. Rodgers, a lawyer of Buffalo, extended a welcome from women in the professions, who, she said, "had only penetrated the ante-rooms and the annexes—the teachers never able to reach the salaries paid to men; the doctors shut out from the advantage of hospital positions; the lawyers allowed to help interpret the laws but not to help make them." "To get much further," she said, "we must be invested with full citizenship."

Mrs. John Miller Horton gave a cordial welcome for the City Federation of Women's Clubs, of which she was president, and for the Buffalo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Niagara Frontier Chapter of the Daughters of 1812 and the Nellie Custis Branch of the Children of the Revolution, as regent of each of them. She presented to Dr. Shaw a large cluster of American Beauty roses tied with the blue and gold of the federation and the blue and white of the D. A. R., which was accepted in the name of Susan B. Anthony and reverently laid over her portrait that stood on an easel. Dr. Ida C. Bender, president of the Women Teachers' Association, spoke earnestly in behalf of "the army of teachers who are training the future citizens of the republic," and Dr. Shaw commented: "Political nonentities can hardly be expected to inspire a political entity with enthusiasm."

The Western Federation of Women's Clubs gave its welcome through its president, Mrs. Nettie Rogers Shuler, of whom the Woman's Journal said: "She spoke with an accent of unaffected sincerity and self-forgetfulness that recalled the spirit of the[Pg 215] pioneers." She referred with pride to the fact that this organization, with nearly 100 clubs and about 32,000 members, was the first Federation of Women's Clubs to admit suffrage societies. Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, president of the Pennsylvania Suffrage Association and officer of the General Federation, brought its greeting, the first it had ever sent to a national suffrage convention. Mrs. Frances W. Graham, president of the New York State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, gave its greeting and spoke of the close cooperation which had always existed between the workers for temperance and suffrage. Dr. Shaw asked that she would convey the cordial greetings and best wishes of the association to the National W. C. T. U., to whose convention in Denver she was en route. Mrs. Ella Hawley Crossett, for the sixth term president of the New York State Suffrage Association, united with Dr. Shaw in responding to the welcoming addresses and spoke with deep feeling of the courage and persistence of the pioneers and of the pride with which the State where the movement for woman suffrage had its birth welcomed the convention to celebrate the event.

Miss Emily Howland of Sherwood, N. Y., reformer, educator and philanthropist, a co-worker and friend of the early suffragists, gave a delightful address on The Spirit of 1848, "herself a living embodiment of that spirit," in which she said:

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery (Penn.), corresponding secretary of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, presented a long and valuable report of its recent congress in Amsterdam. [See chapter on Alliance.] The convention then adjourned for the reception given by Mrs. Horton, whose handsome home on Delaware Avenue was decorated with American Beauty roses, the dining room with yellow chrysanthemums. She was assisted in receiving by Dr. Shaw, Mrs. Crossett and Mrs. Allison S. Capwell, president of the Erie County Suffrage Association.

At the evening session Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller (N. Y.), presided, daughter of Gerrit Smith, who was a staunch advocate of woman suffrage from the time the movement for it began. Hundreds were turned away for lack of room. The convention was officially welcomed to the city by Mayor J. N. Adams and the welcome on the part of the State was expressed by Senator Henry W. Hill, a consistent supporter of the legislative work for suffrage. The principal feature of the evening was the president's address of Dr. Shaw, of whom the report in the Buffalo Express said: "The Rev. Anna Howard Shaw has set a new standard for womanhood. She is one of the most wonderful women of her time, alert, watchful, magnetic, earnest, with a mind as quick for a joke as for the truth. She points her arguments with epigrams and tips the arrows of her persuasion with a jest.... Even the unbelievers are carried away with her brilliancy, eloquence and mental grasp." There was no adequate report of her address but she began by saying:

The secretary's report of Miss Gordon contributed this bit of history:

[Pg 218]

Miss Gordon told how the last convention had changed the plan for forty years of holding the national convention in Washington during the first session of a new Congress and therefore the corresponding secretary had been obliged to arrange for representative women to go there and have a hearing before the committees of Senate and House. Mrs. Balentine, who was staying in Washington, and Miss Emma Gillett, a lawyer of that city, took charge and hearings were granted March 3. They lacked the inspiration of the presence of delegates from all parts of the country and the convention lost the pleasure and benefit.

The Work Conferences were continued under the name of Round Table Conferences. The subjects considered were: Increase of membership; press work; 16th Amendment as a line of policy; finance; State legislative methods. An organizers' symposium discussed "A comparison of conditions today with those of ten years ago; the building of a State association; the personal touch; preliminary arrangements for meetings."

The usual comprehensive report was made by the headquarters secretary, Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser, who told of the vast amount of work done, which included the sending out of 13,000 letters and 207,410 pieces of literature, exclusive of matter for the press. Progress had been issued monthly, the Political Equality Leaflets and twenty other kinds had been published and a card catalogue of 5,696 names completed; the convention reports edited and distributed, the sales of the Life of Miss Anthony and the History of Woman Suffrage looked after and an endless amount of other work done. Miss Hauser told also of the extensive effort with organizations. Ten great national associations during 1907, twenty-four State associations and ninety-three labor unions had passed resolutions for woman suffrage, and thus far in 1908 nine national and thirty-six important State associations had done so. She gave an equally encouraging report of the work with the press, which was done through committee chairmen in thirty-two States, who had furnished thousands of articles to hundreds of newspapers. Part of this material was local but the national headquarters had supplied 69,244 pages. Suitable matter had been sent to religious, educational and other specialized papers and over a thousand letters to editors. A long list was given of[Pg 219] the leading magazines which had published articles on woman suffrage by prominent writers during the year. The reason was that things were happening in all parts of the world directly related to this question.

Miss Hauser's report was accepted by a rising vote. She presided at the Press Conference on how to secure the publication of woman suffrage in country and in city papers; character of material; what is the greatest need in press work; should "anti" articles be answered, etc. Interesting addresses were made on Woman's Share in Productive Industry by Mrs. Anna Cadogan Etz (N. Y.); A Square Deal, by Mrs. Grace H. Ballantyne (Ia.); and one by Mrs. Clara B. Arthur, president of the Michigan State Association, reviewing the extensive work that had been done in its recent constitutional convention to secure a woman suffrage clause. Henry B. Blackwell (Mass.) began his report on Presidential Suffrage by saying: "It was the maxim of Napoleon Bonaparte to concentrate his military forces upon the point in his enemy's lines of the greatest importance and least resistance and by so doing he conquered Europe. This point in the woman suffrage battle is, under our form of government, the Presidential Suffrage, the vote for presidential electors."

The great evening of the week was the one devoted to the Commemorative Program in Honor of the 1848 Convention. This convention was called by Mrs. Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann McClintock and Martha C. Wright—the last three Friends, or Quakers—to consider a Declaration of Sentiments and set of Resolutions which they had prepared and it adopted both.[58] Those resolutions of sixty years ago were now discussed by women who represented the two succeeding generations, still in the midst of the contest which the women who began it expected to see ended during their lifetime. The session was opened with prayer by the Rev. Olympia Brown, a veteran suffragist, and the presiding officer was Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne (N. Y.), daughter of Martha C. Wright and niece of Lucretia Mott. Each resolution was presented and commented on in a brief, pungent speech, the speakers including Mr. Blackwell, husband of Lucy Stone, both pioneers, and another pioneer, the Rev. Antoinette Brown[Pg 220] Blackwell, the first ordained woman minister; Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, daughter of Mrs. Stanton; Mrs. Fanny Garrison Villard, daughter of William Lloyd Garrison, a pioneer; the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, an early leader in Rhode Island, and Miss Laura Clay, at the head of the movement in Kentucky almost from its beginning. Among the later generation were the Rev. Caroline Bartlett Crane (Mich.), Miss Julie R. Jenney (N. Y.), Mrs. Ella S. Stewart (Ill.), Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (N. Y.) and Mrs. Judith Hyams Douglas (La.).

Of most of these addresses there is no printed record. Mrs. Gilman commented on the resolution that "the laws which place woman in a position inferior to that of man are contrary to the great precept of nature," saying in part: "Woman has the same right to happiness and justice as an individual that man has and as the mother of the race she has more.... Women have a right to citizenship and to all that citizenship implies, not only for their own sake but especially because the world needs them. We have the masculine and the feminine but above them both is the human, which has nothing to do with sex. The argument for equal freedom and equal opportunities for women rests not on the law of the worthy Mr. Blackstone but on the law of nature, which is the law of God...."

Mrs. Blackwell said in response to the resolution that "as man accords to woman moral superiority it is his pre-eminent duty to encourage her to speak and teach in religious assemblies": "You cannot realize how serious a thing it was to be a minister in early days when St. Paul was taken literally. I know from personal experience that nearly all the religious world in those days believed it to be a sin for a woman to try to preach. My own mother urged me to become a foreign missionary instead; she was willing to send her daughter away to other lands rather than have her become a minister at home. At 18 I was considered as well-fitted for college as the half dozen young men among my schoolmates who were going to take a college course. At that time Oberlin, O., was the only college that admitted women. When I arrived there Lucy Stone had pretty well stirred up the whole institution. I was warned against her in advance but we soon became warm friends. One beautiful evening we walked[Pg 221] out together and as we stood in that glorious sunset I told her that I meant to be a minister. She said: 'You can't do it; they will never let a woman be a public teacher in the church.' ... One other woman and I graduated from the theological school. For three years the authorities of the school put our names into the catalogue with a star and then they dropped us out and it took forty years to get us reinstated."

Mrs. Spencer said of the resolution that "the same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on man and woman." "Of all the notable pronunciamentos at Seneca Falls no resolutions shows a finer spiritual audacity than this. A delicious flavor of transcendentalism from beginning to end marks the phraseology. Like the Brook Farm experiment the Seneca Falls Convention was the outcome of a great wave of idealism sweeping over the world. It was seen in England and in Europe. Germany was stirring things up and Italy was seething with revolution. This new world was eager to put its idealism into immediate practical living.... Women were looking after their woman's share of it. They felt that it must be founded on spiritual ideas and this was a spiritual Declaration of Independence. We honor these pioneers because women who had been trained to follow and not to lead, and taught that wives and mothers should buy their security at the cost of a discarded fragment of their sex, dared to summon men to an equal bar and to declare that in purity, as in justice, there is no sex."

Mrs. Stewart treated with delicious wit and sarcasm the resolution of protest against "the objection of indelicacy and impropriety which is so often brought against women who address a public audience by those who encourage their appearance in the theatre and the circus." Miss Clay discussed with dignity and seriousness the resolution that "equality of human rights necessarily follows identity in capabilities and responsibilities." Mrs. Villard spoke of the great privilege of being the daughter of a reformer and said: "The cause of woman is so intimately connected with that of man that I think the men will be the gainers by its triumph even more than women." Mrs. Douglas, a brilliant young speaker from New Orleans, new to the suffrage platform, took up the resolution, "Woman has too long rested satisfied[Pg 222] in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the Scriptures have marked out for her, and it is time she should move in the enlarged sphere which her great Creator has assigned to her," and said in part:

Mrs. Douglas analyzed without mercy the pronouncements of Paul regarding women and said: "The pulpits may insist that Paul was infallible but I prefer to believe that he was human and liable to err." When she had finished Dr. Shaw remarked dryly: "I have often thought that Paul was never equalled in his advice to wife, mother and maiden aunt except by the present occupant of the Presidential chair" [Roosevelt].

To Mrs. Blatch was given the privilege of speaking to the resolution so strenuously insisted upon by her mother: "It is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their[Pg 223] sacred right to the elective franchise." In the course of an animated speech she said:

In response to Resolution Eleven that, being held morally responsible, woman had therefore a right to express herself in public on all questions of morals and religion, the Rev. Mrs. Crane began with fine sarcasm: "To women has always unquestionably been allowed the being good. They are called too good to enter the slimy pool of politics. They are complimented often in the spirit of the man who said to his wife: 'Angelina, you get up and make the fire; it will seem so much warmer if laid by your fair hands!' To women is also conceded the right to be religious and unfortunately it often happens that all the religion a man has is in his wife's name. Ruskin said: 'If you don't want the kingdom of heaven to come, don't pray for it but if you do want it to come you must do more than pray for it.' Women[Pg 224] must vote as well as pray. Whoever is able to make peace in this distracted world is the one who should be allowed to do it."

A full report of the work among the churches was made at a morning meeting by Mrs. Lucy Hobart Day (Me.), chairman of the committee, which showed that eighteen States had appointed branch committees. These had organized suffrage circles in different churches, encouraged debates among the young people, arranged meetings, distributed literature, obtained hearings before many kinds of religious bodies, secured resolutions and tried to have official recognition of women in the churches. Ministers had been requested to preach sermons in favor and many had done so, twenty-five in San Francisco alone. Mrs. Pauline Steinem (Ohio), chairman of the Committee on Education, reported on its efforts in organizing Mothers' and Parents' Clubs and working through these for suffrage; putting pictures of the pioneers in schools and securing the cooperation of the teachers for brief talks about them; supplying books containing selections from suffrage speeches, poems, etc., to be used in the schools. It was also proposed to see that text books on history and civics are written with a proper appreciation of the work of women.

Part of an afternoon was devoted to a discussion led by Dr. Rosalie Slaughter Morton (N. Y.), delegated representative of Prince Morrow and the American Society for Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis. In an eloquent address she described the terrible devastation, especially among women and children, from diseases which until lately had been concealed and never mentioned. She attributed these conditions partly to the fact that boys and girls were left in ignorance and this was often because the mothers were ignorant. The chief cause of the wide prevalence of these diseases was the double standard of morals, the belief that a chaste life for a man is incompatible with health and that the consequences of immorality end with themselves and will not be transmitted. She urged women to unite in the demand for a higher standard of morals among men. Mrs. Gilman spoke strongly on the necessity for more vigorous measures for a quarantine of the infected and health certificates for every marriage and she laid a large share of the cause of immorality at[Pg 225] the door of the economic dependence of women. Mrs. Florence Kelley, executive secretary of the National Consumers' League, whose life was being spent in improving the economic position of women, said: "How are we dealing with this monstrous evil? Are we going to wait patiently and rear a whole generation of children and grandchildren and trust to their gradual increase in strength of character?" She told of the mothers who bring up children in the best and wisest manner but the environment outside the home, which they have no power to shape, nullifies all their teaching. "That is a very slow way of dealing with a cancer," she said. "Women have tried for forty years to get the power to have the laws enforced and that is our greatest need today." A principal feature of this important discussion was the strong, analytical address of the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, in the course of which she said:

Of equal interest with Pioneers' Evening and in striking contrast with it was the College Evening. One commemorated the first efforts to obtain a college education for women, the other the full fruition of these efforts in the announcement of a National College Women's Equal Suffrage League with branches in fifteen States. Dr. Shaw, possessing three college degrees, opened the session, and the founder of the League, Mrs. Maud Wood Park, a graduate of Radcliffe College, presided. "With the exception of Oberlin and Antioch," she said, "not one college was open to women before the organized movement for woman suffrage began." She gave statistics of the large number now open to them and said: "Such facts as these help us to understand the service which the leaders of the suffrage movement performed for college women and it is fitting that these should make public recognition of their debt. It was with this idea of responsibility for benefits received that the first branch of this League was formed in Massachusetts in 1900. The League realizes that the best way to pay our debt to the noble women who toiled and suffered, who bore ridicule, insult and privation, is for us in our turn to sow the seed of future opportunities for women."

In introducing Dr. Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, dean of the Junior Women's College of the University of Chicago, Mrs. Park said that she had half the letters of the alphabet attached to her name representing degrees. Dr. Breckinridge also paid a[Pg 227] tribute of gratitude to the National Suffrage Association and began her address: "My faith has three articles. I believe it is the right and the duty of the wage-earning woman to claim the ballot and to have her claim recognized to participate in the political life of her community. Her status as a worker depends in part upon it and only thus can she protect the interests of her group. I believe it is the right and duty of the wife and mother to claim the ballot, for as a housekeeper and carer of her children she cannot do her work economically and satisfactorily without it. It is easy to see why the wage-earning women and the housekeepers need the ballot; but why should we, who do not belong to either of those groups, want it? Every woman should want it because tasks lie before the public so difficult that they can not be fulfilled without the cooperation of all the trained minds in the community, and these problems can be met only by collective action. We want to get hold of the little device that moves the machinery."

Miss Caroline Lexow, president of the New York branch of the league, a graduate of Barnard College, a part of Columbia University, "charmed the audience with her girlish simplicity and with the tribute she paid to the women who more than half a century ago sowed the seeds which have yielded so rich a harvest for the women of today," to quote from an enthusiastic reporter. Of another young speaker the Buffalo Express said: "To the front of the platform stepped a sweet-faced, bright-eyed, rosy English girl, Miss Ray Costello, a graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge University, who spoke on Equal Suffrage among English University Women. She had captured her audience before she started to describe the energetic work of the college women." "In England as in the United States," Miss Costello said, "the pioneers in the demand for higher education were also pioneers in the demand for votes. When the action of the 'militant' suffragettes brought the question into such prominence that the opponents began to state their objections, the college women were aroused and became more and more active, but as a whole they were in favor of peaceful rather than militant tactics." She told also of the growth of favorable sentiment in the men's colleges.[Pg 228]

This was the first appearance at a national suffrage convention of Mrs. Frances Squire Potter, professor of English in the University of Minnesota, and her address on Women and the Vote was one of the ablest ever given before this body which was accustomed to superior addresses. Limited space forbids extended quotation:

Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, received an ovation. "The formation of this National College League," she said, "indicates that college women will be ready to bear their part in the stupendous social change of which the demand for woman suffrage is only the outward symbol," and she continued:

The National College Women's Equal Suffrage League was formally organized as auxiliary to the National American Association, with Dr. Thomas president, Miss Lexow secretary; Dr. Margaret Long, of Smith College, treasurer; Mrs. Park chairman of the organization committee; Dr. Breckinridge, Mrs. C. S. Woodward, adviser to women in the University of Wisconsin, and Miss Frances W. McLean of the University of California were among the vice-presidents. Three thousand dollars were[Pg 230] appropriated for its work the first year from the Anthony Memorial Fund. The following day Mrs. George Howard Lewis gave a beautiful luncheon at the Twentieth Century Club in honor of Dr. Shaw, Dr. Thomas and the college women and it included the officials of the national and State suffrage associations. The tables were decorated with orchids and yellow chrysanthemums and there were corsage bouquets of violets for the guests of honor.

The women ministers in attendance and some of the delegates spoke in various churches Sunday morning. A departure was made from the usual custom of holding religious services in the afternoon and they were replaced by an industrial meeting. One of the city papers thus introduced its account: "Any theatre after a packed house had better advertise a woman's meeting with the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw presiding. At the Star Theatre, where an industrial mass meeting was held under the auspices of the National Suffrage Association yesterday afternoon, when Dr. Shaw stepped to the front of the stage to call it to order, men, as well as women, filled all the seats on the ground floor and packed the galleries and boxes, while many stood during the entire program and many more were turned away. It was the largest meeting in the cause of equal suffrage that Buffalo has ever known. After prayer by the Rev. Robert Freeman and a musical selection by the choir of the First Unitarian Church, Dr. Shaw announced that the audience would rise while Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic was sung. She stood with bowed head as she listened. "Some one asked me this morning if I am very happy," said Dr. Shaw, "and I said yes, for I have everything in the world that is necessary to happiness, good faith, good friends and all the work I can possibly do. I think God's greatest blessing to the human race was when He sent man forth into the world to earn his bread by the sweat of his face. I believe in toil, in the dignity of labor, but I also believe in adequate compensation for that toil."

The report of the committee on Industrial Problems Affecting Women and Children was given by its chairman, Mrs. Kelley, executive secretary of the National Consumers' League, in which she said: "In New York woman can not be deprived of the[Pg 231] sacred right to work all night in factories on pain of dismissal. Such is the recent decision of the Court of Appeals. On the other hand the same Court has within a week held that the law is constitutional which restricts to eight hours the work of men employed by the State, the county or the city. I wish the women who think that 'persuasion' is all-sufficient might have our experience in New York City; we worked for twelve years to get inspectors who should look after the women and children in stores and mercantile establishments. At last an act was passed by which inspectors were to be appointed and for about a year and a half they really inspected and looked after the children and young girls in the stores. Then a great philanthropist, Nathan Straus, who was connected with an establishment employing many young people, got himself appointed, as he frankly said, in order to get the salaries of the inspectors stricken out of the budget and to get sterilized milk put into it. He got the salaries out and the sterilized milk in and then he resigned. The next year his successor got the sterilized milk out and there we were, back just where we had been at the beginning. We had to set to work again and labor for years longer, petitioning all the changing and kaleidoscopic officials who have to do with the finances of New York; and one mayor said frankly to us—to the Consumers' League: "Ladies, why do you keep on coming? You know you will never get anything—there isn't a voter among you!..." Mrs. Kelley said the Consumers' League had been investigating the condition of girls working in stores, away from home, and she gave a heartbreaking account of their destitution and semi-starvation. "Only nineteen States protect grown women at all," she said. "I am very tired of 'persuasion' and from this time on I mean to try other methods."

Intense interest was manifested in the address entitled Noblesse Oblige by Miss Jean Gordon, factory inspector for New Orleans, in which she said in part:

Mrs. Blatch was introduced as "president of the Self-Supporting Women's Suffrage League and the only one in it who was not self-supporting in the accepted sense of the term." "When I hear that there are 5,000,000 working women in this country," said Dr. Shaw, "I always take occasion to say that there are 18,000,000 but only 5,000,000 receive their wages." Mrs. Blatch traced the[Pg 233] changes of the years which have made it necessary for women to go out of the home to earn their bread in factory, shop and mercantile establishments. "Cooperation is the only way out of the present condition of the working women," she asserted. "President Thomas said last night that the gates of knowledge had swung wide open for women. They have not done so for the working girls." She pointed out the many opportunities for the boys to learn the trades which are denied to the girls. "There is only one way to redress their wrongs and that is by the ballot," she declared, and in closing she said: "Of all the people who block the progress of woman suffrage the worst are the women of wealth and leisure who never knew a day's work and never felt a day's want, but who selfishly stand in the way of those women who know what it means to earn the bread they eat by the sternest toil and who, with a voice in the Government, could better themselves in every way."

The last address was made by Dr. Shaw and even the cold, prosaic official report of the convention said: "It was one of the greatest speeches of the entire week." She began by telling of the immense demonstration in London during the past summer when 10,000 women marched through the streets to prove to the Government that women did want to vote, and then she proceeded to tell why American women wanted it and how they were determined to compel some action by the Government. In the evening the officers held a reception for the delegates, speakers and friends in the Lenox Hotel, convention headquarters.

In the Monday afternoon symposium the stock objections to woman suffrage were considered by Miss Lexow, Miss Laura Gregg (Kans.), Mrs. William C. Gannett (N. Y.), Mrs. Kelley and Miss Maude E. Miner, a probation officer in New York. Miss Miner said in answering the objection to "the immoral vote": "Is the fact that immoral women would have the vote a real objection? I do not believe that it is. In the first place such women are a very small proportion of the whole. Fifty to one hundred a night are brought into the night court but we see the same faces over and over again. There are perhaps 5,000 such women in New York City in a population of four million but there is less reason against enfranchising the woman[Pg 234] than for disfranchising some of the men, as there are at least 4,000 men who are living wholly or in part on these women's earnings.... I do not believe that all women who have fallen would use their votes for evil. I have dealt with 250 of them and I am often surprised to see how much sense of honor some of them have and how intelligent they are. At present they are the slaves of the saloon-keepers, and the Raines law hotels and the saloons are at the root of the evil. We ought to do more to protect them from such a life.... It seems to be women's work to deal with such problems and to secure legislation along these lines and we can only do this by having the ballot. With it we can do much more in the way of breaking up the power of the saloon in politics, which is at the bottom of all."

Dr. Shaw was quickly on her feet to say that Miss Miner had touched upon the vital spot in the whole suffrage movement; that the liquor interests were at the bottom of the opposition to it and that in the States where it had been defeated they were responsible. Mrs. Kelley spoke for The Woman at the Bottom of the Heap, who had even greater need of the ballot than her more fortunate sisters. Mrs. Gannett, wife of the Unitarian minister, William C. Gannett of Rochester, N. Y., both loving friends of Miss Anthony, considered the assertion that "women do not want to vote," saying in part:

Miss Gregg discussed The Real Enemy, and, while endorsing all that had been said, asserted that "this enemy is among our own sex." "It is not the anti-suffragist," she said, "she is our unwilling ally, for when there is danger that we might fall asleep she arouses us by buzzing about our ears with her misrepresentations. It is not the indifferent suffragist, she can be galvanized into life. Our real enemy is the dead or dormant suffragist," and then she preached a stirring sermon on the necessity for hard, incessant, faithful work by all who were enlisted heart and soul in this cause.

Mrs. Upton, the treasurer, called attention to the mistaken idea conveyed through the newspapers that the association had unlimited funds. The report that it intended to raise $100,000 had been made to read that it had raised it, and the Garrett-Thomas fund of $12,000 a year had caused many to cease their subscriptions.[59] The new opportunities for effective work caused larger demands for money than ever before and the year 1907 had been the most anxious the board had known. The expenditures had been larger than the receipts and most of the balance that was in the treasury had been used. Even this strong statement,[Pg 236] backed by an appeal from Dr. Shaw, brought pledges only to the amount of $3,600, a less amount than for years, the delegates, many of small means, still feeling that their former subscriptions were not necessary. Dr. Shaw then read to the convention a letter to herself from Mrs. George Howard Lewis of Buffalo, who expressed the pleasure of the New York State suffrage clubs that the 60th anniversary of the first Woman's Rights Convention had been held in this city, at Miss Anthony's expressed wish, and ended: "In memory of Susan B. Anthony will you accept the enclosed check for $10,000 to be used as the national officers deem best in the work, so dear to her and to all true lovers of justice, for the enfranchisement of women?" As she showed the enclosure Dr. Shaw said: "This is the largest check I ever held in my hand." The convention rose in appreciation of Mrs. Lewis's generous gift.

The report of Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer, chairman of the Libraries Committee, the result of a month's research in the Library of Congress in Washington and another month in the Public Library of Boston, was most interesting, as it dealt with old manuscripts and books on the Rights of Women written in the 16th and 17th centuries. The valuable report of Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg, chairman of the Committee on Legislation and Civil Rights, embodied those of presidents of twenty-three State Suffrage Associations, covering school, labor, factory and temperance laws, mercantile inspection, juvenile courts, educational matters, protection of wives and many others relating to the welfare of women and children, most of them showing advance.

The speakers at the Monday evening session were Miss Harriet Grim, winner of the Springer prize for the best essay written by an Illinois college student, who described "The Womanly Woman in Politics"; Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine (Me.), daughter of Thomas B. Reed, the famous Speaker of the lower house of Congress and a staunch suffragist, and the brilliant orator, Mrs. Philip Snowden of England. Mrs. Balentine said in beginning her address that now women were voting in Russia she had the courage to hope that they would sometime obtain the suffrage in New York, Massachusetts and Maine, and continued in part:[Pg 237]

The "militant" suffrage movement in Great Britain, at this time in its early stage, was attracting world-wide attention and Mrs. Snowden devoted much of her address to explaining it, saying in part: "Our methods may seem strange to you, for perhaps you do not fully understand. We have the Municipal vote and have used it for many years. Today an Englishwoman may vote for every official except a member of Parliament; she may sit in every political body except the Parliament and we are after that last right. We have 420 members out of 670 of its members pledged to this reform. When the full suffrage bill went to its second reading the votes stood three to one in favor. We want that vote put through but it is the British Cabinet we must get at to approve finally the act when it has passed the two Houses. It is the Government we are trying to annoy. Our Government never moves in any radical way until it is kicked.[Pg 238] Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, when prime minister, advised the women to harass the Government until they got what they wanted and that is just what we are doing today. The Liberal Government, helped into power by at least 80,000 tax-paying women, promised to grant their rights. How have they kept that promise?"

Speaking of the two "militant" societies Mrs. Snowden said: "Our policy of aggressiveness has been justified by its results. When we began almost every newspaper in England was against us. Now, with one exception, the Times, the London papers are all for us. The 'militancy' thus far has consisted chiefly in 'heckling' speakers; assembling before the House of Commons in large numbers; getting into the gallery and into public meetings and calling out 'Votes for Women' and breaking windows in government buildings, a time-honored English custom of showing disapproval. Many suffragists in the United States, knowing the contemptuous manner in which those of Great Britain and Ireland have been treated by the Government, have felt a good deal of sympathy with these measures." At this convention and the one preceding sympathy was expressed by Dr. Shaw and others and resolutions to this effect were adopted.

One of the Buffalo papers said in regard to the election of officers: "If the way the women vote at the national convention may be taken as a criterion of what they will do when they gain the ballot, there will be very little electioneering. Yesterday's election was characterized by entire absence of wire-pulling. The balloting was done quickly and there was no contest for any office, the women voting as they wished and only a few scattered ballots going for particular friends of voters. The election of the president, first vice-president, corresponding secretary and treasurer was unanimous and the others so nearly so that there was no question of result by the time half the ballots had been counted." Mrs. Sperry retired from the office of second vice-president and Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, president of the Illinois suffrage association, was chosen in her place.

The paper on Some Legal Phases of the Disfranchisement of Women by Mrs. Harriette Johnston Wood, a New York lawyer, was regarded as so important that it was ordered to be printed[Pg 239] for circulation. She quoted from Federal and State constitutions and court decisions to prove that "if properly construed the laws specify the rights and privileges of 'persons' and no distinction is made as to 'sex' in provisions relating to the elective franchise." She encouraged women to try to register for voting and qualify for jury service and urged that bills be presented to legislative bodies covering the following points: First, that citizens shall equally enjoy all civil and political rights and privileges; second, that in the selection of jurors no discrimination shall be made against citizens on account of sex; third, that representation be based on the electorate and that non-voters be non-taxpayers; fourth, that husband and wife have equal right in each other's property; fifth, equal rights in the property of a child; sixth, in case of separation, equal rights to the custody of the children. A visit to the Albright Art Gallery and an automobile ride along the lake front, through Delaware Park and the many handsome avenues of the city, was a much-enjoyed part of this afternoon's program.

At one evening session Miss Grace H. Ballantyne, attorney in the noted City Hall case at Des Moines, Iowa, gave a spirited account of the way in which the women's right to vote on issuing bonds was sustained. Mrs. Kate Trimble Woolsey (Ky.), who had resided some years in England, compared the condition of women in that country and the United States to the disadvantage of the latter, "where," she said, "the women did not profit by the Declaration of Independence but on the contrary lost when the colonies were supplanted by the republic. In this they discover that a republic may endure as a political institution to the end of time without conferring recognition, honors or power on women; that it can exist as an oligarchy of sex, and they say: 'Why should we be loyal to this government?' Thus through women republicanism itself is imperiled and I tell you that if an amendment is not added to the National Constitution giving women the power to vote, this republic, within the living generation, will find that prophecy, 'Woman is the rock upon which our Ship of State is to founder,' will be fulfilled."

As chairman of the Committee on Peace and Arbitration Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead gave a report of its many activities. In 1907[Pg 240] she had attended a plenary session at The Hague Peace Conference, which she described in glowing terms, and she went as a delegate in September to an International Peace Conference in Munich. In July, 1908, she went to one in London, where Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood of Washington, D. C., presented a paper on the Central American Peace Congress, held in that city, and the recently established Arbitration Court, which formed the basis of three resolutions adopted by the congress. She told of the new society, the American School Peace League to improve the teaching of history and in every way promote international fraternity, sympathy and justice.

During business meetings the following were among the recommendations adopted: To recommend to States to continue a systematic and specialized distribution of literature; to secure and present to Congress at an early date a petition asking for a 16th Amendment enfranchising women, the chair to appoint a committee to superintend this work; to try to obtain the appointment of a U. S. Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage favorable to it; to send letters simultaneously to the President of the United States in advance of the time for writing his message, followed by telegrams one week preceding the opening of Congress, expressing the wishes of women for the ballot; to ask their Legislatures for some form of suffrage and follow up this request with systematic legislative work; to urge that States having any form of partial suffrage take measures to secure the largest possible use of it by women. It was decided to appropriate $125 for two months' work in South Dakota to ascertain conditions with a view to the submission of a State amendment.

The resolutions presented by Mr. Blackwell, chairman of the committee, reviewed the wonderful progress made by women since the first convention whose 60th anniversary they were celebrating. They told of the progress of suffrage, as outlined in the Call for the convention, and said: "When that first convention met, one college in the United States admitted women; now hundreds do so. Then there was not a single woman physician or ordained minister or lawyer; now there are 7,000 women physicians and surgeons, 3,000 ordained ministers and[Pg 241] 1,000 lawyers. Then only a few poorly-paid employments were open to women; now they are in more than three hundred occupations and comprise 80 per cent. of our school teachers. Then there were scarcely any organizations of women; now such organizations are numbered by thousands. Then the few women who dared to speak in public, even on philanthropic questions, were overwhelmingly condemned by public opinion; now the women most opposed to woman suffrage travel about the country making speeches to prove that a woman's only place is at home. Then a married woman in most of our States could not control her own person, property or earnings; now in most of them these laws have been largely amended or repealed and it is only in regard to the ballot that the fiction of woman's perpetual minority is still kept up."

Mrs. Catt's powerful address was entitled The Battle to the Strong but nothing is preserved except newspaper clippings. She ended by saying: "In all history there has been no event fraught with more importance for the generations to follow than the present uprising of the women of the world.... Every struggle helps and no movement for right, for reform in this country or in England but has made the woman's movement easier in every other land. We have brought the countries of the world very close together in the last few years. Papers and cables and telegraph spread the news almost instantly to the centres of the earth and then to the obscure corners, so that the women of other nations know what the women here are doing and what they are doing in every other part of the world.... The suffrage campaign in England has become the kind of fanaticism that caused the American Revolution. These women are no longer reformers, they are rebels, and they are going to win.... Woman's hour has struck at last and all along the line there is a mobilization of the woman's army ready for service. We are going forward with flags flying to win. If you are not for us you are against us. Justice for the women of the world is coming. This is to be a battle to the strong—strong in faith, strong in courage, strong in conviction. Women of America, stand up for the citizenship of our own country and[Pg 242] let the world know we are not ashamed of the Declaration of Independence!"

A newspaper account said: "And then Anna Howard Shaw stepped forward, the light of a great purpose shining in her eyes. 'Our International president has asked for recruits,' she said. 'Never have we had so many as now.' She spoke of the immense gains to the suffrage cause within the last few months in America and of the suffrage pioneers and their sufferings, and ended: 'The path has been blazed for us and they have shown us the way. Who shall say that our triumph is to be long delayed? It is the hour for us to rally. We have enlisted for the war. Ninety days? No; for the war! We may not win every battle but we shall win the war. Happy they who are the burden-bearers in a great fight! Happy is any man or woman who is called by the Giver of all to serve Him in the cause of humanity! Friends, come with us and we will do you good; but whether you come or not we are going, and when we enter the promised land of freedom we will try to be just and to show that we understand what freedom is, what the law is. 'God grant us law in liberty and liberty in law!'"

[Pg 243]

CHAPTER IX.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1909.

The invitation to hold the Forty-first annual convention of the association in Seattle was accepted for two special reasons. The Washington Legislature had submitted a woman suffrage amendment to be voted on in 1910; similar action had been taken by the Legislatures of Oregon and South Dakota, and a convention on the Pacific Coast would attract western people and create sentiment in favor of these amendments. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in progress during the summer, by causing reduced railroad rates, would enable those of the east and middle west to attend the convention and visit this beautiful section of the country.[60] The date fixed was July 1-6.

The eastern delegates assembled in Chicago on June 25 to take the "suffrage special" train for Seattle and a reception was given[Pg 244] to them at Hotel Stratford by the Chicago suffragists. At St. Paul the next morning ex-Senator S. A. Stockwell and Mrs. Stockwell, president of the Minnesota Association, with a delegation of suffragists, met them at the station and escorted them to the Woman's Exchange, where a delicious breakfast was served on tables adorned with golden iris and ferns. Many club officials were there and brief addresses were made by Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Florence Kelley, Miss Laura Clay, Mrs. Fanny Garrison Villard, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, Miss Kate M. Gordon and Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton. Mrs. Villard recalled a visit she had made there twenty-six years before with her husband, Henry Villard, who had just completed the Northern Pacific Railroad and his train was making a kind of triumphal tour across the continent. "St. Paul welcomed him with a procession ten miles long," she said, "and Minneapolis, determined not to be outdone, got up one fifteen miles long. It gives me joy to remember that not only my father, William Lloyd Garrison, but also my good German-born husband believed in equal rights for women."

The train sped through the Great Northwest and continuous business meetings were held by the board of officers in what was usually the smoking car until the next stop was made at Spokane, Washington. Here the Chamber of Commerce had appropriated $500 for their entertainment. They were presented with buttons and badges and taken in automobiles through the beautiful residence district, the handsome grounds of the three colleges and to the picturesque Falls. Then they saw the fine exhibits in the Chamber of Commerce and were taken to the Amateur Athletic Club, whose facilities for rest and recreation were placed at their disposal. An elaborate banquet followed with Mrs. May Arkwright Hutton, president of the Spokane Equal Suffrage Club, presiding. Mrs. Emma Smith De Voe, president of the State Suffrage Association, welcomed them to Washington, and Mayor N. S. Pratt to the city. "I have welcomed many organizations to Spokane," he said, "but none with so much pleasure as this. My belief in equal suffrage is no new conviction; I have voted for it twice and hope soon to do so again. The coming of equal rights for women is the inevitable[Pg 245] result of progress and enlightenment." He presented Dr. Shaw with a gavel made of wood from the four suffrage States bound together with a band of Idaho silver and expressed the hope that when she used it to open the convention in Seattle the sound would be like "the shot heard round the world."

The account in the Woman's Journal said: "Dr. Shaw, in returning thanks, said: 'It is an apt simile, for the blow will be struck on the Pacific Coast and it needs to be heard to the Atlantic and not only from the west to the east but from the north to the south. I hope it will be answered by men who, having known themselves what freedom is, wish to give women the benefits of it also. The only man who can be in any way excused for wanting to withhold freedom from women is the man who is himself a slave.' She recalled the times when the suffragists were offered not banquets but abuse and compared them to the pioneer days of clearing the forest. She closed with a beautiful tribute to the pioneer mothers and called upon the men to pay their debt to them next November."

Mrs. Villard, recalling here also her visit of more than a quarter of a century before, said in part: "Never could I have believed that such changes could have been wrought since that historic train. Then there was nothing at Spokane but Indians and cowboys and the beautiful Falls. I am glad you want women to share the full life of the city. 'The woman's cause is man's.' This movement is as wide as the world and will benefit men as well as women. I have come on this trip largely because I like to connect my husband's name not merely with the building of a great railroad but also with the cause of justice to women in which he believed. I wish greater and greater prosperity to Spokane but with her material prosperity let her not forget the larger things which must go hand in hand with it if cities are not to perish from the earth."

Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Portland, Ore., the renowned suffrage pioneer of the northwest, was enthusiastically received and in the course of her interesting reminiscences said: "I remember when 'Old Oregon' comprised most of the Pacific Northwest. At that time I was living in a log cabin engaged in the very domestic occupation of raising a large family of small children....[Pg 246] On my first visit to Spokane I came by stage from Walla Walla. It went bumping and careening over the rocks and the one hotel of the village had not accommodations for the three or four passengers. They made up improvised beds for us on slats and all the food we had for several days was bread and sugar, but I enjoyed it for after such a journey anything tasted good. There was only one little hall in the town and I was importuned by Captain Wilkinson of Portland to speak. So I hired the hall for Sunday and he advised me to offer it to a clergyman there for the afternoon service. I did so and asked him to announce after his sermon that my meeting would be held in the evening. He accepted the use of the hall but failed to give the notice. When I asked him about it he said: 'Do you think I would notice a woman's meeting?' But we had a good one and almost everybody in Spokane subscribed for my paper, the New Northwest. The next time I came here was to celebrate the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad. I had the honor of writing a poem for the occasion and reading it in that little hall and Henry Villard wrote me a letter about it."

A large evening meeting was held in the First Methodist Church with Mrs. LaReine Baker presiding. Henry B. Blackwell and Prof. Frances Squire Potter were among the national speakers. A tired lot of travellers but happy over their cordial welcome took the night train. Next day they stopped for a brief time at North Yakima and Ellensburg and spoke from the rear platform to the crowds awaiting them. Women, girls and children dressed in white greeted them with banners, songs and quantities of the lovely roses for which that section is noted and with fancy baskets of the wonderful cherries and apples. During several hours spent in Tacoma they had the famous ride around the city in special trolley cars, supper at sunset on the veranda of a hotel overlooking the beautiful Puget Sound and a walk through the magnificent park.

The never to be forgotten convention in Seattle was preceded by an evening reception on June 30 in Lincoln Hotel, given by the State suffrage association, whose former president, Mrs. Homer M. Hill, extended its welcome to the delegates. Dr. Shaw, the national president, called the convention to order[Pg 247] the next afternoon in the large Plymouth Congregational Church and the audience sang The March of the Mothers. Mrs. Margaret B. Platt brought the greetings of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, pointing out that "there are wrongs which can never be righted until woman holds in her hand the ballot, symbol of the power to right them." In introducing Mrs. M. B. Lord to speak for the Grange, Dr. Shaw said she herself was a member of it. Mrs. Lord said in part: "From the first of it women came into our organization on a perfect equality and for forty years the Grange has carried on an education for woman suffrage. It was the proudest moment of my life when I got a resolution for it through the New York State Grange. Here in Washington it has increased three-fold in five years and always passes a resolution in favor of suffrage for women." Mrs. De Voe gave a big-hearted welcome from the State and Mrs. Mary S. Sperry, president of the California suffrage association, made a gracious response. By a rising vote the convention sent a message of warm regard to Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt of New York, the former national president, and regret that she was not able to be present. Dr. Shaw spoke of the "masterly way" in which she had presided at the meeting of the International Suffrage Alliance in London in May, "her power and dignity commanding universal respect," and told of the message of greeting from Queen Maud of Norway and other incidents of the congress.

Leaving more formal ceremonies for the evening the convention proceeded to business and listened to the report of the corresponding secretary, Miss Gordon (La.). In referring to the specialized literature which had been sent out, she spoke of the letter of the Brewers' and Wholesale Liquor Dealers' Association, so widely circulated during the recent Oregon Suffrage campaign, calling the attention of all retailers in the State to the necessity of defeating the amendment, and to the postal instructing them how to mark their ballot, with a return card signifying their willingness. This had been put into an "exhibit" by Miss Blackwell and her Literature Committee and Miss Gordon urged that clergymen of all denominations should be circularized with it. She said: "I believe the association should not be dissuaded[Pg 248] from this undertaking because of the amount of work and its costliness. The burden of responsibility rests upon us to prove with such evidence that the worst enemy of the church and the most active enemy of woman suffrage is a mutual foe, the 'organized liquor and vice power.' If in the face of such direct evidence representatives of the church still allow prejudice, ignorance or indifference to woman suffrage to influence them, then they knowingly become the common allies of this power."

Miss Gordon gave instances to show the great change taking place in the attitude of the public toward woman suffrage and said the present difficulty was to utilize the opportunities which presented themselves. She urged more concentrated effort from the national headquarters and a substantial appropriation to enable the chairmen of the standing committees to carry on their work; also that they should be elected instead of appointed and be members of the official board, and she concluded: "It is earnestly recommended that suffragists take steps to politicalize their methods. The primaries, affording in many States an opportunity for women to secure the nominations of favorable candidates; active interest in defeating the election of those opposed to suffrage; the questioning of candidates, etc., are all instances where intelligent interest and activity on the part of suffragists will educate the public far more effectively than debates, lectures and literature—to see that women are determined to take an active part in so-called politics, so intimately associated for weal or woe in their lives."

The reports of the headquarters secretary and national press chairman, Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser (Ohio) were read by Mrs. Upton. The first in speaking of the increased demands on the headquarters began: "In no previous presidential campaign in the United States were the views of candidates on the enfranchisement of women ever so generally commented on by the press. Perhaps never before did candidates consider the question of sufficient importance to have any opinion upon it. Never before did the newspaper interviewer put to every possible personage—politician or preacher, writer or speaker, inventor or explorer, captain of industry, social worker, actor, prize-fighter, maid, matron, widow—the burning query, 'What about votes for women?'" She told of about 30,000 letters having been[Pg 249] sent out and an average of nearly 1,000 pieces of literature a day, as many in the first half of the present year as in all of 1908. The Book Department, in charge of Miss Caroline I. Reilly, reported that the sales of the Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony had amounted to $800; 200 sets of the History of Woman Suffrage had been placed in the libraries of the leading colleges and universities; 100 copies of the Reports of the last two national conventions had been put into the libraries which keep the file.

The delegates to the presidential nominating conventions had been appealed to by letter for a suffrage plank in the platform but without result. The Independence Party convention in Chicago voted it down. The usual work had been done in international and national conventions and many had adopted favorable resolutions, among them those of the International Bricklayers' and Stone Masons' Union meeting in Detroit; the International Cotton Spinners' Union in Boston and the Woman's National Trade Union League in that city: the National Council of Women and the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association. The United Mine Workers of America, meeting at Indianapolis, passed the woman suffrage resolution by unanimous vote and sent to the headquarters 500 copies of it, which were promptly mailed to members of Congress. The American Federation of Labor, representing 2,000,000 members, at its convention in Denver, followed its long established custom of passing this resolution. Dr. Shaw attended the National Conference of Charities and Corrections: Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was received as a fraternal delegate from the National American Suffrage Association by the General Federation of Women's Clubs at its biennial in Boston; Mrs. Stockwell by the convention of the American Library Association; Mrs. Sperry and Mrs. Alice L. Park of California, by the Nurses Associated Alumnæ of the United States; Mrs. Coryell by the American Baptist Home Missionary Society, and the association had representatives at many other conventions. "To summarize, 29 national associations have endorsed woman suffrage; 14 others have taken action on some phase of the question; 20 State Federations of Labor, 16 State Granges and seven State Letter Carriers' Associations have endorsed it. Some of the States have carried on a very[Pg 250] active propaganda in this direction, securing endorsements from hundreds of local organizations representing labor unions, educational and religious societies, Farmers' Institutes, etc."

In the press report Miss Hauser said that 43,000 copies of Progress had been sent out and 52,095 pages of material representing 190 different subjects had been distributed, including 1,262 copies of Mrs. Catt's address to the International Suffrage Alliance. She told of the special articles, of the full pages, of the personal work with editors—a report of remarkable accomplishment, filling eight printed pages of the Minutes. In concluding she said: "The day of old methods has gone by and if new methods are to be successfully developed there must be for press chairman a woman who is not only acquainted with the philosophy and history of the woman suffrage movement but who is possessed of the newspaper instinct and the ability to make friends readily. Nothing but press work should be expected of her and she should be enabled to get in touch with the controlling forces in the newspaper world." This report was supplemented with that of Miss Blackwell, chairman of the Committee on Literature.

As the headquarters were soon to be removed from Warren, Ohio, and Miss Hauser had resigned as secretary, this was the last of her excellent reports and the convention sent her a letter of thanks and appreciation for her admirable work. Dr. Shaw said of her: "There never was a woman who gave more consecrated service; she dreamed of woman suffrage by night and toiled for it by day." [Afterward Miss Hauser went to the headquarters in New York as vice-chairman of the National Press Committee.]

In the evening Mayor John F. Miller welcomed the convention and congratulated the association on the personnel of its members in Washington. "This has been a pioneer State in the woman's rights movement," he said. "In 1854 Arthur Denny introduced a woman suffrage bill in the Territorial Legislature. In 1878 the civil disabilities of married women were removed and this was the first State west of the Rocky Mountains to say that a wife's property should be her own. Women here have all the rights of men except to vote and hold office. I do not know[Pg 251] whether woman suffrage will bring in everything good and abolish everything evil but if it will by all means let us have it." He closed with a tribute to the mothers in the State.

In an eloquent response Mrs. Villard reminded the Mayor that if a cause is just the consequences following in its path need not be feared and said: "I was early taught by my father that moral principle in vigorous exercise is irresistible. It has an immortal essence. It may disappear for a time but it can no more be trod out of existence by the iron foot of time or the ponderous march of iniquity than matter can be annihilated. It lives somewhere, somehow, and rises again in renovated strength. The women of this country who are advocating the cause of woman suffrage are animated by a great moral principle. They are armed with a spiritual weapon of finest caliber and one that is sure to win." She told of the great reception given in 1883 to her husband and his guests when they reached Seattle for the opening of the railroad after its completion; of his response and that of the Hon. Carl Schurz. She described an address made by a young girl, the daughter of Professor Powell of the university, the entire expenses of which Mr. Villard had paid for several years, in which she said he would be remembered more for what he had done for education than for the building of the railroad. "In the retrospect of time," said Mrs. Villard, "I can see her, sweetly modest and gracious, standing as it were with outstretched arms inviting the women who are gathered here today to come and help make the State of Washington free." Then in an appeal for the pending suffrage amendment she said: "Many tributes of respect and admiration have been paid to my noble companion in the great northwest, which are carefully cherished by me and my children, but I crave one more and it is this—that Mr. Villard's keen sense of justice and fair play for women shall find echo in the hearts of the men of Washington, to whose extraordinary development he gave such powerful impetus, so that in November, 1910, they will proclaim with loud accord that the women of Washington are no longer bond but free, no longer disfranchised but regenerated and disenthralled, equal partners in the unending struggle of the human race for nobler laws and higher moral standards."[Pg 252]

The evening session closed with the president's address of Dr. Shaw, which the Woman's Journal described as "inimitable" but not a paragraph of it can be found after the lapse of years. Her speeches always were inspired by the occasion and only a stenographic report could give an adequate idea of them. Miss Anthony mourned because this was not made and others often spoke of it but Dr. Shaw herself was indifferent. There were pressing demands for money and the endless details of these meetings absorbed the time and strength of those who might otherwise have attended to it.

Mrs. Upton in her report as treasurer made a stirring appeal in which she said: "The most important question before this convention is that of money. A grave responsibility rests upon the shoulders of each delegate. She should know how much money we have had in the last year, where it went and why. More than this, she should decide for herself how money for the coming year shall be disbursed and suggest ways of raising the same. No delegate ought to quiet her conscience with the thought that the judgment of the general officers is the best judgment. Each State has entrusted into the hands of its delegates precious business and the responsibility is great and cannot honestly be disregarded. In the long ago we worked until our money gave out. Now, as the beginning of the end of our work is in sight, demands for money are many and if business rules are followed they must be met. The small self-sacrifices must be continued and larger ways of obtaining money created. We are all shouting for a fifth star on our suffrage flag but we must remember that no star was ever placed upon any flag without cost, without sacrifice. Our fifth star will find its place because we explain to voters what a fifth star really means. These voters will not come to us; we must go to them. To go anywhere costs money. To go to the voters of a large and thinly populated State means much money. Shall we be content with four stars or shall we provide the means to get a fifth?"

The total receipts of the past year were $15,420; disbursements, $14,480. She told of the many ways in which the money was being used—over $2,000 added to several other thousands spent in field work in Oklahoma for the next year's amendment[Pg 253] campaign; $3,000 to the College League; headquarters' expenses, literature, posters, etc. Part of the money came from the Anthony Memorial Fund, part from the fund raised by Dr. Thomas and Miss Garrett, the rest from individual subscriptions. The convention, which was not a large one, subscribed over $3,000. The following recommendations of the Business Committee were adopted by the convention: Appropriations shall be made for educational, church and petition work; financial aid shall not be given to States having campaigns on hand unless there be perfect harmony within the ranks of the workers of those States; an organizer shall be sent to Arizona to prepare the Territory for constitutional or legislative work and a campaign organizer to South Dakota.

There was much interest in the question of returning the national headquarters to New York City. It was long the desire of Miss Anthony to do this on a scale befitting so large a city and so important a cause and the funds had never been available. Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont, who had lately come into the suffrage movement, had taken the entire twentieth floor of a new office building for two years and invited the New York State Suffrage Association to occupy a part of it. She now extended an invitation to the National Association to use for this period as many rooms as it needed and she would pay the difference in the rent between these and the headquarters at Warren, O. In addition she would maintain the press bureau. The advantages of this great newspaper and magazine center were recognized by the general officers, executive committee and delegates, the offer was gladly accepted and a rising vote of thanks was sent to Mrs. Belmont.

Miss Perle Penfield (Texas) read the report of Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, chairman of the Committee on Peace and Arbitration. She told of the tenth anniversary this year of The Hague Conference, which was attended by representatives of forty-six instead of twenty-six nations and had made various international agreements that would lessen the likelihood of war. She spoke of attending the second National Peace Congress in Chicago in May, at which all the women who took part were suffragists. Mrs. Mead referred to having spoken eighty-six times during the[Pg 254] year. In pointing out the work that should be done in the United States for peace she said:

Several delegates expressed the need and the right of mothers to strive to prevent war. Mrs. Duniway, Mrs. Philena Everett Johnson and Mrs. DeVoe spoke on the pending amendment campaigns in their respective States of Oregon, South Dakota and Washington. Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby's subject was the American Situation vs. the English Situation and she described the conditions in England which caused the "suffragette" or "militant" movement. Mrs. Florence Kelley, chairman of the Industrial Committee, spoke on the Wage Earning Woman and the Ballot. "Because of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Oregon case," she said, "fourteen State Legislatures in the past year have considered bills for shortening the workday for women and six have enacted laws for it. South Carolina has taken a step backward by changing the hours from ten to twelve. Child labor is constantly increasing in spite of our efforts. I have seen the evolution of modern industry and it has meant the sacrifice of thousands of young lives." At the[Pg 255] close of the afternoon session the delegates enjoyed an automobile ride of many miles amidst scenery which many who had travelled widely declared was unsurpassed in the whole world.

The most brilliant session of the convention probably was that of the College Women's Evening, with Dr. Shaw presiding. Miss Caroline Lexow (N. Y.), secretary of the College Women's League, spoke of its remarkable growth since its organization the preceding year and said that it now had twenty-four branches in as many States and twenty-five chapters in as many colleges. She called attention to the fact that no College Anti-Suffrage Association had ever been formed and said that college women remembered the words of one of the pioneers: "Make the best use you can of your freedom for we have bought it at a great price." Mrs. Eva Emery Dye (Ore.) gave an able address on College Women in Civic Life. The Law and the Woman was the subject considered by Miss Adella M. Parker, a popular lawyer, president of the Washington College League. "I have been looking for years," she said, "to find any legislation that does not affect women, from a tariff on gloves to a declaration of war. The great problems which face the human race demand the genius of both men and women to solve them. The law needs women quite as much as women need the law." The closing address on College Women and Democracy by Frances Squire Potter, professor of English at the University of Minnesota, was a masterly review of the relation of college women to the life of the present, and later it was printed by the College League as a part of its literature. In the course of it she said:

[Pg 257]

The report of Mr. Blackwell on Presidential suffrage was accepted by a rising vote and his report as chairman of the Committee on Resolutions was adopted, as usual, without change.[61] For many years he had served as chairman of these committees. His constitutional argument for the right of Legislatures to grant women a vote for presidential electors always stood unchallenged and his faith that they would do this was eventually justified. One of the founders of the American Suffrage Association in 1869, he had not during forty years missed attending a national suffrage convention, first with his wife, Lucy Stone, and later with his daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell. He had never seemed in better health and spirits than at this one in Seattle but two months later, on September 7, he died at the age of 84, a great loss to the cause of woman suffrage. (Memorials in next chapter.)

The Legislative Evening was in charge of the State suffrage association, Mrs. De Voe in the chair, and it was the intention to have those members of the Legislature who were principally responsible for submitting the amendment address the convention but an extra session at that time spoiled this program. The Hon. Alonzo Wardell spoke for Charles R. Case, president of the State Federation of Labor, which was strongly in favor of the amendment, he said, and had votes enough to carry it if the members would go to the polls. Mrs. Lord represented the Grange, which she said could be depended on for an affirmative vote. Miss Parker gave a graphic description of the "illegal and dishonorable methods" by which the vote was taken away from the women while Washington was a Territory.[62] Mrs. John Moore of Tacoma read a powerful scene from The Spanish Gypsy by George Eliot. After a lively collection speech by Mrs. Upton, Dr. Shaw closed the evening with a mirth-provoking "question box."[Pg 258]

At an afternoon session Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery read the report of the National Committee on the Petition to Congress. It had been the plan of Mrs. Catt, as presented and adopted at the convention of 1908, to have one final petition to Congress for the submission of the Federal Amendment and she had consented to take the chairmanship temporarily. Headquarters had been opened in the Martha Washington, the woman's hotel in New York City, where the headquarters of the Interurban Woman Suffrage Council, of which Mrs. Catt was chairman, were located. Here she and Miss Mary Garrett Hay spent many months from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m., assisted by Miss Minnie J. Reynolds, who did press work and correspondence with the States. Mrs. Priscilla D. Hackstaff of Brooklyn, a former Missourian, took charge of the work in that State from these headquarters and there was an energetic volunteer sub-committee of New York suffragists. The report continued:

[Pg 259]

Later the work was removed to Washington and headquarters established there to finish the petition by 1910.

The report of Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg (Penn.), chairman of the Committee on Civil Rights, showed the usual painstaking year's work. Her letters to all the State presidents for information had brought answers from twenty-two and eleven of these showed advanced legislation for women and children. In some of them it was amended labor laws or new ones; in others for a Juvenile Court, for improving the position of teachers, for the advantage of children in the public schools, for property rights of wives. Maine reported nearly a dozen such new laws. Minnesota was in the lead with thirty Acts of the Legislature.

Mrs. Mary E. Craigie (N. Y.), chairman of the Committee on Church Work, introduced her excellent report by saying: "President Taft recently said in a public address: 'Christianity and the spirit of Christianity are the only basis for the hope of modern civilization and the growth of popular self-government.' ... Women are to-day and always have been the mainstay and chief support of the churches and the leaders in all great moral reforms; yet as a disfranchised class they are powerless to aid in bringing about any reforms that depend upon legislative or governmental action and the church is thereby deprived of more than two-thirds of its power to help extend civic righteousness throughout the land. Now that there is a world-wide movement among women to demand the political power to do their part in the world's work, they have a right to ask and to receive from ministers and from all Christian people support and help in working for this greatest of all reforms." ... Mrs. Craigie told of addressing the ministerial association of Canada at Toronto, where fifteen minutes had been allotted to her but by unanimous insistence she was obliged to keep on for an hour. An interesting discussion followed, after which an endorsement of the principle of woman suffrage was unanimously voted. She spoke at a meeting of the Dominion Temperance Alliance, where there were 600 delegates, many of them clergymen, and a resolution by the chairman endorsing the woman suffrage bill then before the Provincial Legislature was carried without a dissenting vote. Reports were included of the good[Pg 260] work accomplished by the members of her committee in the various States.

The usual Sunday afternoon convention meeting was held in the auditorium on the Exposition grounds, under the auspices of this church committee, with a large audience who listened to an able presentation of The Sacred Duties and Obligations of Citizenship. Dr. Shaw presided and the speakers were the Rev. C. Lyng Hansen, Mrs. Craigie, Professor Potter and Miss Janet Richards. Mrs. Kelley spoke in the First Christian Church, Mrs. Eva Emery Dye in the Second Avenue Congregational Church and the Rev. Mary G. Andrews preached for the Universalists on The Freedom of Truth. At the First Methodist Protestant Church, Miss Laura Clay talked on Christian Citizenship in the morning and Dr. Shaw preached in the evening. Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman spoke at the Boylston Avenue Unitarian Church in the morning and Mrs. Gilman and Mrs. Pauline Steinem at a patriotic service in Plymouth Church in the evening. Mr. Blackwell and Mrs. Steinem spoke in the Jewish synagogue.[63] In the evening the officers of the association were "at home" to the members of the convention and friends at the Lincoln Hotel.

The election of officers took place Monday morning. At Miss Blackwell's request she was permitted to retire from the office of recording secretary, which she had filled for twenty years, and the convention gave her a rising vote of thanks for her most efficient service. Her complete and satisfactory reports of the national conventions in her paper, the Woman's Journal, had formed a standard record that nowhere else could be found. She exchanged places with Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, second auditor, and was thus retained on the board. The remainder of the officers were re-elected but Miss Gordon, the corresponding secretary, stated that with the removal of the headquarters to New York and the increased work which would follow, this officer should[Pg 261] be there all the time, which was impossible for her. Professor Potter was the unanimous choice of the convention, and, after communicating with the university and securing a leave of absense for two years, she accepted the office. Her assistant and friend, Professor Mary Gray Peck, accepted the office of headquarters secretary. Both were prominent in the College Suffrage League in that State. The convention by a rising vote expressed its appreciation of the excellent work Miss Gordon had done, "and for the still greater work that she will yet do," added Dr. Shaw.

It was voted to change the name of the Business Committee to the Official Board and to add Mrs. Catt, the only ex-president, to this board. Urgent invitations were received from Governor Robert S. Vessey of South Dakota and the Mayor and Chamber of Commerce of Sioux Falls to hold the convention of 1910 there, as an amendment was to be voted on in the autumn. Dr. Shaw commented: "Governor Vessey is a man who has convictions and is not afraid to stand by them. I am grateful that he dares to do this while he is in office." A delegate spoke of the appointment of a woman for the first time to an office in her State and immediately delegates from other States gave the same announcement until it was necessary to stop the flood. Miss Penfield, one of a number of national organizers who were kept constantly in the field, told of having worked in six States in the past six months. In Pennsylvania she visited thirty-five small towns, holding parlor meetings, which she advocated as leading to the formation of suffrage clubs. In Kentucky she addressed fifteen colleges and schools. Mrs. Ida Porter Boyer (Penn.), Miss Mary N. Chase (N. H.) and Miss Laura Gregg (Kans.) gave experiences in field work.

Mrs. Villard presided Monday evening and in introducing Mr. Blackwell, whom the audience rose to greet, she said: "It is a pleasure for me to pay also a tribute to the loveliness of his wife, Lucy Stone. To my childish vision she was a type of perpetual sunshine." Mr. Blackwell gave the opinion of a man of long observation and experience on How to Get Votes for Women. Mrs. Craigie spoke on Citizenship—What Is It? Mrs. Stewart relieved Mrs. Upton of her usual task of taking a collection[Pg 262] and among her witty remarks was one on Bartholdi's statue of Liberty. "The real goddesses of Liberty in this country do not spend a large amount of time standing on pedestals in public places; they use their torches to startle the bats in political cellars." Referring to the ignoring of women's work in the histories she said: "When I was a child and studied about the Pilgrim Fathers I supposed they were all bachelors, as I never found a word about their wives." Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's topic was Masculine, Feminine and Human, discussed with her usual keen analysis and illuminated with her pungent epigrams.

A spirited symposium took place on Pre-Election Methods, led by Mrs. Stewart, who outlined the work done in Illinois, where it had been reduced to a system. "We find candidates much less tractable after election than before," she said, "although we always send literature and letters to the members-elect and subscribe for the Woman's Journal for them. We are now strong enough in some districts for pre-election work to elect our friends and defeat our enemies. Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch sent a circular letter to every member of the last Legislature, with questions as to his attitude on woman suffrage and from the answers she compiled a leaflet recommending the election of the men who promised to vote for our measures. She sent this to every paper in Illinois and distributed it as widely as possible among the women's clubs and women at large. She did the same with our Congressmen. Not one of the legislators who promised to vote for our bill voted against it. Our most important measure was lost in the Senate by a majority of only one vote. Eight of the Senators who voted against it are up for re-election and we shall do our best to keep them from going back. Illinois has printed for several years a Roll of Honor of the legislators who have voted right on our bills."

The discussion showed a general opinion that it was high time for action of this kind. Mrs. Kelley asked: "Why not do prenomination work?" and Dr. Shaw said: "I do not know a political method when I see it and I haven't an ounce of political sense but I do believe heartily in this sort of work." Led by Mrs. Ella Hawley Crossett, president of the New York association,[Pg 263] "Should there be concentration on one bill or work for several"? was discussed. Miss Gordon said: "Ask for everything in sight and you will get a little." Mrs. Cornelia Telford Jewett, editor of the Union Signal, brought a fraternal greeting from the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union and when she said that most of the criticism she received was that she gave the readers too much suffrage, Dr. Shaw remarked in her jovial way: "They would get more if I could write, as Mrs. Jewett has often asked me for articles."

Among the symposiums and round table conferences in the morning and afternoon sessions were those on "How to make existing suffrage sentiment politically effective," Miss Clay presiding; "The tariff in its relation to women," and "Taxation without representation is tyranny in 1909 as much as in 1776," Mrs. Villard presiding in place of Mrs. DeVoe, who was ill; "Parents' organizations, their value in creating public sentiment," and "The self-government plan in our public schools as an aid in preparing the coming generations for woman suffrage," Mrs. B. W. Dawley (Ohio), presiding. The report of the Committee on Education, presented by its chairman, Mrs. Steinem, said that the principal work of the half-year had been to carry out the resolutions adopted at the Buffalo convention to investigate the text books on History and Civics used in the public schools and she had secured a valuable expression of opinion through letters sent to 400 superintendents of schools and twenty-six school book publishing houses. Some of them quoted the names of Betsy Ross, Molly Pitcher, Martha Washington and Dolly Madison to show that women were not neglected in the text books. Many declared they had given the subject no thought but were open to conviction. In summing up Mrs. Steinem expressed the belief that this lack of recognition of woman's influence in history was not so much the result of intention as of the masculine point of view which has dominated civilization. "The impression conveyed by our text books," she said, "is that this world has been made by men and for men and the ideals they are putting forth are colored by masculine thought.... Our text books on Civics do not show the slightest appreciation of the significance of the 'woman's movement.' ...[Pg 264]

On the closing night Miss Richards, the noted lecturer of Washington, D. C., made a delightfully clever and sparkling speech on Sex Antagonism, Why and What is the Cure? Professor Potter gave a second splendid address and Dr. Shaw's eloquent farewell sent the audience home in an exalted mood.

The excellent arrangements for the convention and the entertainment of the officers and delegates had been made with much care and judgment by the State association and the Seattle society, which appropriated $1,000 for the purpose.[64] The surpassing beauty of the city and the Exposition was an unceasing delight. Miss Blackwell said in her description in the Woman's Journal: "The splendid setting of the convention was a constant pleasure—the tall firs, the beautiful water and picturesque mountains. Large bunches of sweet peas and of the enormous roses never seen but on the Pacific coast were constantly being handed up to the president and speakers in the course of the convention by the pretty little pages. All the delegates agreed that the display of flowers on the grounds was more beautiful than they had seen at any previous Exposition. Some of the delegates from the Atlantic coast said it was worth coming across the continent just to see this flower garden."

The always-to-be-remembered feature of the week was Suffrage Day at the Exposition, arranged by its officials for the day following the convention. To quote again from Miss Blackwell:

[Pg 266]

CHAPTER X.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1910.

As a national convention had not been held in Washington since 1904 the suffragists were pleased to return to that city with the Forty-second in the long list, which was held April 14-19, 1910.[65] Three special cars were filled by delegates from New York City alone. It had become very difficult to get a suitable place for conventions in the national capital and the experiment was made of holding this one in the large ball room of the Arlington Hotel, which proved entirely inadequate for the audiences. The convention was called to order on the first afternoon by the national president, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, and welcomed by the president of the District of Columbia suffrage association, Miss Harriette J. Hifton, and the president of the District branch of the College Equal Suffrage League, Miss Mabel[Pg 267] Foster. The response for the National Association was made by Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, one of its officers.

The report of the Committee on Church Work was read by its chairman, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, who gave a record of the accomplishments of her committees in the various States and said: "The moral awakening of the churches to a need for more united efforts along lines of social and moral reform carries with it a great responsibility for women, who, representing two-thirds of the numerical power of the churches, are in their present disfranchised condition negative factors in those broader fields of activity which now constitute church work. Women are beginning to realize that they are wasting their efforts and energies in trying to effect moral and social reforms dependent upon legislative action or law enforcement and they are asking: 'Shall we go on with the farce of attacking the constantly growing evils of intemperance, immorality and crime which menace our homes, our children and society at large, knowing that our efforts are useless and futile, or shall we take a stand which will show that we are in earnest and demand the weapon of the ballot which is necessary before we can do our part as Christian citizens in advancing the kingdom of God on earth?'"

The excellent report of the new headquarters secretary, Professor Mary Gray Peck, filled ten pages of the printed Minutes and in addition to the large collection of statistics contained many useful suggestions. Like all of the reports from the headquarters it showed the great advantage of having them in a large center. Referring to the literature department she said: "Local chairmen should see that tables with suffrage literature are placed in all church and charitable bazaars as far as possible and that our papers may be subscribed for at all subscription agencies; also that our publications are on the shelves and on file in the public libraries throughout the State. One of the things Mrs. Pankhurst said when she was looking over our work-room was: 'Don't give away your publications. We found we got rid of much more when we sold and now we give away nothing.' We have always given away ours with considerable freedom and been glad to have them read at our expense but at the low figure we put on them we could draw the gratis line closer without impairing[Pg 268] our popularity.... The average daily output of literature since the opening of headquarters in New York—and this does not include the orders which continued to be filled in Warren—has been 2,742 pieces, or a growth of more than 25 per cent. over the average of last year. Our cash sales from January 1 to April 1 have amounted to $938, or an average of $312 per month as against the average of $89 per month for 1908-9. That is, our cash sales for the past three months are three and a half times greater than they were at the same time last year."

"The propagandist part of the correspondence," said Miss Peck, "soon makes a wise woman of the headquarters secretary. The time for general argument and abstract appeal has largely gone by. The call now is for statistics, laws, definite citations, instances of industrial conditions, legal status of women and children, etc.... The State organizations could do no more valuable service in aiding our efficiency as an information agency than by each getting out a condensed and reliable bulletin of State laws relating to women and children; and also by collecting data as to the property held and taxes paid by women, with illustrative instances where disfranchisement has forced these taxpayers to submit to injustice and unfair discrimination." She told of the increasing call for woman suffrage literature from public libraries to meet the demand and urged the encouragement of debates, saying: "If the State organizations would make a persistent effort to have suffrage debated in the schools and if they advertised the national headquarters as prepared to furnish a volume of debate material for thirty cents, suffrage would receive continuous advertising at no financial expense to us, nor would the good to the movement cease with the debate. Get the young people interested and you catch the mothers. Also by keeping a card register of the young debaters, the State organization would have the names and addresses of an ever-growing list of oncoming citizens interested in the subject. Debaters are a good deal cheaper than organizers. The State University of Wisconsin is sending out through its university extension department our suffrage literature in travelling libraries to meet the demand in the public schools for debate material. I believe most State universities would be glad to do the same for us. Many universities and colleges have[Pg 269] discussed suffrage the past winter, notably Dartmouth, Williams and Brown in their annual intercollegiate debate, Yale in the inter-class debate, the University of Texas against Tulane University of Louisiana, and Stanford will debate with Berkeley, April 16." Miss Peck made many other valuable suggestions from the trained viewpoint of a university woman.

Representative A. W. Rucker was introduced as a proxy for the Colorado association and gave its report with a warm personal endorsement of equal suffrage as it had existed in his State for seventeen years. The convention greeted with enthusiasm the mother of U. S. Senator Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma, who said she could not make a speech but would send her son to do so that evening.

Although national suffrage conventions had been held in Washington since 1869 no official recognition ever had been asked for or given by the President of the United States. The leaders thought that now the movement was of sufficient size and importance to justify them in inviting President Taft to give simply an address of welcome. The invitation was sent with the statement that its acceptance would not be regarded as committing him to an advocacy of woman suffrage and it was accepted with this understanding, although Mrs. Elihu Root presented a request from the Anti-Suffrage Association that he would not accept it. The entire country was interested and on the opening evening, when he was to speak, the auditorium was crowded and lines of people reached to the street. President Taft came in with his escort while Dr. Shaw was in the midst of her annual address but she stopped instantly and welcomed him to the platform. The audience arose and with applause and waving of handkerchiefs remained standing until he was seated. At one point in his brief address there was apparently a slight hissing in the back part of the room. The President paused; Dr. Shaw sprang to her feet exclaiming, "Oh, my children!" and the audience, which was excited and amazed, instantly became quiet and listened respectfully to the rest of his speech, but as he left the room, after shaking hands with Dr. Shaw, a few remained seated. As this incident attracted nation-wide comment and much criticism[Pg 270] it seems advisable to publish the proceedings in full. The address was as follows:

It was at this point the supposed hissing occurred and the President continued:

Some persons thought that the hissing was done by one or more delegates from the equal suffrage States because of the aspersion cast on the class of women who were likely to vote. Others believed there was no hissing but that it was merely an exclamation of "hush" because of the noise caused by the moving of loose chairs, many in the back part of the room standing up on them to get a better view. It was, however, a matter of great concern and regret on the part of the national officers, who met early the next morning and framed the following resolution:

This was adopted at the morning's session of the convention by a unanimous rising vote. At the opening of the afternoon session Dr. Shaw said: "I think one of the saddest hours that I have ever spent in connection with one of our national conventions I spent last night after the occurrence of an incident here for which none of the officers of this association bears the least responsibility and we trust none of the delegates needs to bear any of it, when there was a dissent made to an utterance of President Taft. It seemed to us a most unwise and ungracious act and we feel the keenest possible regret over it. Because of this the Official Board has prepared a letter to the President expressing our regret that the occurrence should have taken place, whether by a member of this body or by a visitor. It is impossible to control a great public audience individually and an organization is not responsible for everything which takes place in its public meetings. While I do not think our organization as a body is at all responsible for what took place last night I feel that, since the President was our guest, it is our duty to express our very deep regret for the incident. I ask, therefore, that, without discussion and without further speech, there shall be concurrence on the part of the convention with the Official Board in sending a letter of regret to the President."

The convention agreed to this instantly with but one dissenting and it was ascertained that she was not only not a delegate but not a member of the association. This justified the general opinion that if there had been any hissing the night before it was done by some of the large number of outsiders in the audience. The letter signed by Professor Frances Squire Potter, as corresponding secretary, read as follows:[Pg 273]

The letter was sent in the afternoon by messenger across Lafayette Square, which separated the Arlington from the White House, and the next morning the following answer was received:

This closed the incident as far as it could be closed but there was a great deal of sympathy with the sentiment expressed by Miss Alice Stone Blackwell in the Woman's Journal: "It was known that while the President was not an anti-suffragist he was not a strong suffragist and might not even be wholly with us. It was, therefore, not expected that he would at the convention 'come out for suffrage.' Indeed, he was not invited to make an address but simply to extend to the convention the welcome of the national capital, not because he was a suffragist but because the convention thought that it was representative enough and of[Pg 274] sufficient size and standing in the country to warrant asking the President to do this one thing. He could have declined the invitation and no one would have been offended. He could have said he was an anti-suffragist. He could have tactfully omitted his opinion and confined his time to greetings and welcome as Chief Executive to the convention as a large organization of the women of the nation. At the point where the supposed hissing occurred, it was as if the speaker had struck those women in the face with a whip. Even those who most resented the President's remarks regretted the expression of open disapproval in such a manner, but, to a person, the audience felt that he had been untactful, and, however unintentionally, had implied an odious comparison; that he had not sufficiently considered this great body of the picked women of the land to choose his language in addressing them."

The President's address was preceded by one given by Professor Potter on The Making of Democracy, which had seldom been equalled in its statesmanlike qualities. This was followed by a powerful argument on Why Women Should Have the Suffrage, by Senator Robert L. Owen (Okla.), one of the ablest speakers in the U. S. Senate and always an uncompromising supporter of the political rights of women.

At an afternoon session Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery (Penn.), who had succeeded Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt as chairman of the Committee on Petition to Congress, took up the report where it had ended at the last convention. She said that, in addition to the 100,000 petitions and 5,000 individual letters sent from New York under Mrs. Catt's supervision, there had gone out from the headquarters after they had been removed to Washington and placed in charge of Mrs. Rachel Brill Ezekiel, 60,000 more petitions, 11,000 more letters and 1,185 postals with appeals. "The petition," she said, "has been a means of introducing suffrage into thousands of households and hundreds of meetings of all kinds in which the subject had not before been mentioned. Even women's clubs have had to listen to suffrage when brought to them by eager seekers after signatures. It has given to many people who have never before done anything for suffrage an opportunity. In some cases whole neighborhoods[Pg 275] have been reached through the work of a single energetic woman willing to go from house to house circulating the petition and leaving literature with families where she found little or no sympathy for our movement. All letters sent out from petition headquarters enclosed suffrage leaflets and carried to thousands of men and women the first suffrage literature they had seen." All this vast work had cost only $4,555, of which Mrs. Catt had contributed $1,000. The most strenuous effort had not succeeded in getting the return of all the petitions in time for the convention but those at hand contained 404,825 names.[66]

The arrangements for the parade which was to carry the petitions to Congress were in the hands of Miss Mary Garrett Hay. Mrs. Helen H. Gardener obtained the use of fifty cars from interested residents of Washington and these were handsomely adorned with the flag of the United States and suffrage banners. The official report said: "The most picturesque incident of the convention was the long line of fifty decorated automobiles which bore the petitions and delegates of each State from the Hotel Arlington to the Capitol, where the petitions were personally delivered to the various Senators and Representatives who were to present them to Congress. The large piles of rolled petitions, the respect of the people who lined the streets, the courtesy of the Congressmen and the crowds which watched the presentation in Senate and House were all impressive. Senator LaFollette brought instant silence when, presenting his share of the petitions, he said, "I hope the time will come when this great body of intelligent people will not find it necessary to petition for that which ought to be accorded as a right in a country of equal opportunities."

At the afternoon session a vote of thanks was given to Senator LaFollette and all the Senators and Representatives who presented the petitions. Deep appreciation was expressed of the labor of Mrs. Catt in connection with the petitions and regret that she[Pg 276] was not able to be present at the Capitol. This was the last of the hundreds of thousands of petitions to Congress for the submission of a National Amendment to enfranchise women which began in 1866.[67]

Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton in her treasurer's report said the past year had been an unusually hard one financially not because of adversity but because of prosperity. Formerly the States had sent their money to the national treasury to be used as the Official Board thought best, but now there were so many campaigns and new lines of work in various States that they wanted to disburse their own money. This was encouraging but hard on the national work. Few were the years between 1899 and 1908 when some legacy was not received, as Miss Anthony never missed an opportunity to urge women to make such bequests. After her death Miss Mary Anthony followed her example but since both had passed away little had been done in this direction. The total receipts for 1909 were $21,466, and the general disbursements $19,814. With the headquarters in New York more money had been received but more also had to be spent. Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont furnished the offices of the Press Committee, paid their rent, the salaries of three workers and all other expenses connected with it. Mrs. William M. Ivins of New York City and Mrs. Mary Ely Parsons of Rye, N. Y., furnished Dr. Shaw's office.

In closing Mrs. Upton said that the duties of the headquarters and of the treasurer's office had been so closely connected that up to this time it had been difficult to separate them. In fact from the time she was elected to date she had always done some work properly belonging to headquarters. From the first a clerk was supplied to her and she was so situated that she could do this and was more than willing to. She had edited twelve reports of annual conventions and was editor and manager of Progress for seven years. She told how letters and requests continued to come to her after the headquarters went to New York and she was obliged to employ another clerk, whose salary she herself paid. In closing she said: "Since 1893 your treasurer has received and disbursed more than $275,000 and she wishes[Pg 277] the treasurer for the coming year could have that full amount for the next twelve months' work." The convention accepted the report with a rising vote of thanks for her many years of continuous service.

The general subscriptions at the convention, including those for the South Dakota campaign, were $4,363. Mrs. Belmont continued her pledge of $600 a month. The association had various funds to draw from, which were supplied by contributions. It was voted to appropriate $150 a month for six and a half months' work in Oklahoma if the amendment was to go to the voters in November.

Memorial services were held on the morning of April 15 for two distinguished members of the association, Henry B. Blackwell, who had died Sept. 7, 1909, and William Lloyd Garrison, five days later. On the program was an extract from a speech made by Mr. Blackwell at a national Woman's Rights Convention in Cleveland, O., in 1853: "The interests of the sexes are inseparably connected and in the elevation of the one lies the salvation of the other. Therefore, I claim a part in this last and grandest movement of the ages, for whatever concerns woman concerns the race." Affectionate and beautiful tributes to Mr. Blackwell's nearly fifty years' devotion to the cause of woman suffrage were paid by those who had known him long and intimately, which are partially quoted here.

Mrs. McCulloch paid a beautiful tribute to the human side of Mr. Blackwell's character, his love of nature and his companionship with children.

[Pg 280]

Dr. Shaw added her own fine appreciation of the two men and speaking from almost a lifetime of acquaintance with Mr. Garrison gave a glowing eulogy of his noble character, lofty convictions and fearless courage, a worthy son of a great father. Among other prominent friends of woman suffrage who had passed away during the year, recorded in the memorial resolutions, were Justice Brewer, of the U. S. Supreme Court; Dr. Borden P. Bowne, head of the department of philosophy and dean of the graduate school in Boston University; Judge Charles B. Waite and Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson of Chicago; Charles Sprague Smith, director of Cooper Institute, New York, and many devoted workers in the various States.

At one interesting evening session Mrs. Kate Trimble Woolsey (Ky.) spoke on Republics versus Women, the title of her book; Mrs. Meta L. Stern on Woman Suffrage from a Socialist's Point of View; Miss Alice Paul on The English Situation. Mrs. Catt's subject was Caught in a Snare and the convention voted to have it printed for circulation. As Miss Alice Stone Blackwell was ill at home, missing the annual convention for the first time, the readers of the Woman's Journal were deprived of her usual comprehensive reports and abstracts of the speeches where the manuscript was not available. That of Miss Paul was published in full. She had recently returned from London, where she had been a member of Mrs. Pankhurst's organization, had been sent to prison, had gone on a "hunger strike" and been forcibly fed, and she felt the situation keenly. A part of her speech was as follows:

The comprehensive report of the corresponding secretary, Professor Potter, filled ten pages of the printed Minutes and was a complete summary of the year's work and that which should be done. Names were given of about forty associations which had passed resolutions for woman suffrage during the year, preceded usually by discussion. These included Federations of Labor, Granges, Temperance Societies, Federations of Women's Clubs, religious bodies and labor organizations. Among the last were the International Typographical Union, International Chair Workers, Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees, American Federation of Labor, National Women's Trade Union League and many others. She called attention to the fact that in many instances the endorsement was unanimous and that the labor resolutions were stronger than ever before, using the phrase "our intention to secure[Pg 282] woman suffrage." The Pennsylvania Federation said: "In selecting candidates for political office we will endeavor to secure men who are committed to a belief in the right of women to vote."

Professor Potter emphasized the need of research experts to bring the statistics up to date, as it was now impossible to answer the requests for information from the best type of those asking it, university graduates working for higher degrees, men and women writing articles, books, plays, etc. She reported the beginning of a card catalogue of subjects and the progress made toward carrying out the instructions of the Seattle convention that the national headquarters undertake a handbook of Federal and State Laws for Women and a bibliography. She described the character of the thousands of letters sent out, covering work for prize essays, poster campaigns, mass meetings, "settlement" work, appointments of women, newspaper and magazine publicity and especially organization along political lines. As she had been asked to act as field lecturer as well as corresponding secretary she reported fifty-four lectures given, not only at State suffrage conventions but before men's leagues, press clubs, labor meetings, churches, universities, etc.

The convention showed by a rising vote its full appreciation of this report, which was the first and last given by Professor Potter as corresponding secretary. Differences in regard to administration had arisen which proved to be irreconcilable and she had declined to stand for re-election. The Official Board was divided in opinion and this led to several changes in its personnel. Dr. Shaw was re-elected president; Mrs. Avery, first vice-president; Mrs. Stewart, second vice-president; Mrs. Upton, treasurer; Miss Clay and Miss Blackwell, first and second auditors. Mrs. Florence Kelley declined re-nomination as second vice-president and Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch was elected. Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett (Mass.) was chosen for corresponding secretary. Later in the convention Mrs. Avery and Mrs. Upton gave in their resignations, which the delegates refused to accept and then both announced that their offices would be vacant in one month. Mrs. Upton had been treasurer of the association since 1893 and the delegates were most reluctant to let her go.[Pg 283] By action of the Executive Committee Mrs. McCulloch was advanced to the office of first vice-president; Miss Kate M. Gordon (La.) was made second vice-president and Miss Jessie Ashley (N. Y.), treasurer.

The National College Equal Suffrage League held business sessions Saturday forenoon and afternoon with its president, Dr. M. Carey Thomas of Bryn Mawr presiding, and a luncheon was given for its delegates. Miss Caroline Lexow made the annual report. At the evening meeting of the convention Mrs. Alice Duer Miller (N. Y.), representing the Equal Franchise Society, of which Mrs. Clarence Mackay was president, spoke on The Sisterhood of Women, saying in part: "We have plenty of work to do but it is not that, it is not the organization, the growth of membership and the spread of theories that make me confident of success. It is the extraordinary spirit that animates the women who are working for suffrage, the sense of comradeship and community among them, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, old and young, mothers and daughters. We have been taught to admire the 18th century because it did so much to dissolve class distinctions. It broke down some of the barriers, not between man and woman, but between groups of men, for within groups men have always had this spirit of comradeship, and oh, how they have valued it! They did not get it in domestic relations, however happy; or in friendships, however warm. They got it, or rather they found a field in which to exercise it, in the impersonal activities of their lives, in their crusades, guilds, colleges, labor unions and clubs. But between women the barriers have been of a more serious type. They have been segregated not only class by class but individual by individual and house by house. Now these barriers too are dissolving. Women are finding an expression for their sense of comradeship, for their impersonal loyalty to their own sex; they are waking up to the fact that a sense of equality is more thrilling to those who have the right stuff in them than any sense of superiority could ever have been."

Miss Harriet E. Grim of Wisconsin University described The Call of the New Age to College Women. Miss Juliet Stuart Poyntz, president of Barnard chapter of the College League, discussed Education and Social Progress. Mrs. Elizabeth M. Gilmer,[Pg 284] "Dorothy Dix," in an address on The Real Reason why Women cannot Vote, gave a delightful imitation of the voice and words of a wise old negro, "Mirandy," from which the following is quoted:

An able address was given by Henry Wilbur, as representative of the Friends' Equal Rights Association. Max Eastman, assistant[Pg 285] professor in Columbia University, representing the New York Men's League for Woman Suffrage, of which he was secretary, taking the broad subject Democracy and Women, said in the course of his speech:

Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch (N. Y.) presided at a symposium on Open Air Meetings, which were then being much discussed, and they were advocated by Miss Ray Costello of England; Mrs. Katherine Dexter McCormick (Mass.), Mrs. Susan W. Fitzgerald (Mass.) and Mrs. Helen LaReine Baker (Wash.). Mrs. Blatch announced a practical demonstration that afternoon at the corner of Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Mrs. Catt presided over a conference on Political District Organization as demonstrated in New York City. An afternoon meeting was devoted to an Industrial Program arranged by Mrs. Myra Strawn Hartshorne of Chicago. Conditions affecting Women as Workers and as Wives and Mothers of Workers were graphically described by Miss Rose Schneiderman (N. Y.), president of the Cap Makers' Union. The Consequences to Motherhood and Womanhood, as demonstrated by the White Slave Traffic, were strikingly pictured by Mrs. Raymond Robins (Ills.), president of the National Women's Trade Union League. A private conference, Mrs. Mary Hutcheson Page (Mass.) presiding, discussed the necessity for defeating anti-suffrage candidates for Congress and Legislatures. Mrs. Florence Kelley, executive secretary of the National Consumers' League, brought greetings from the Southern Conference on Woman and Child Labor, which she had just attended, with a special one from Miss Jean Gordon (La.), and made a striking address. Dr. Anna Mercy, president of the first suffrage club on the East Side of New York, gave practical experiences. Miss Nettie A. Podell and Miss Bertha Ryshpan, representing the Political Equality League, of which Mrs. Belmont was president, told of its gratifying experiments with Political Settlements in New York City. The session closed with a stirring address by Charles Edward Russell on Self-Defense or the Demand for Political Action.

Mrs. Pauline Steinem (Ohio) reported the usual active and efficient work of her Committee on Education, urging among other valuable methods the organization of Mothers' and Parents' Clubs in connection with all public schools. Mrs. McCulloch gave her report as Legal Adviser, which combined sound sense with sparkling[Pg 287] humor. She showed how much money had been lost to the association because those who intended to leave bequests to it delayed making their wills. She urged the women to study the statutes of their States relating to women and said that, while she had been glad to contribute her services as legal adviser and would not accept a salary, the association should employ a competent lawyer who could stay at the national headquarters and give her entire time to compiling the laws for women and giving legal information. The convention Minutes say: "A rising vote of thanks was given to Mrs. McCulloch for her magnificent work as legal adviser for many years." Miss Gordon presented the plan for raising the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Fund; Mrs. Alice C. Dewey (N. Y.), the report on Bibliography; Dr. Mary D. Hussey (N. J.), on Enrollment. Miss Elizabeth J. Hauser read the report of Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, chairman of the National Press Committee, which said in part:

During the convention many prominent visitors were introduced to the audiences, among them Miss Mary Johnston, who had taken a leading part in organizing the State Suffrage Association of Virginia, and its president, Mrs. Lila Meade Valentine; Mrs. Elizabeth Upham Yates, the new president of Rhode Island; J. H. Braly, president of the Men's League of California; J. Luther Langston, secretary and treasurer of the Oklahoma Federation of Labor, and Daniel R. Anthony, M. C., of Kansas. Many greetings were received including one from the Finnish Temperance organizations through Miss Maggie Walz of Michigan and others from Mrs. Caroline M. Severance and Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, pioneer suffragists now living in California. Greetings were sent to Miss Clara Barton of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Julia Ward Howe of Boston; Miss Blackwell; the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell of Elizabeth, N. J.; Mrs. George Howard Lewis of Buffalo; Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne of Auburn, N. Y.; Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller of Geneva, N. Y., all pioneers in suffrage work, and to Mrs. Belmont in New York. A vote of thanks was extended to Miss Belle Bennett (Ky.), president of the Southern Home Mission, for her strong efforts to secure the admission of women to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.[Pg 289]

Through the effort of the District Equal Suffrage Association the spacious Belasco Theater had been secured for the Sunday afternoon meeting. Dr. Shaw presided and Rabbi Abram Simon offered prayer.[68] A large audience listened to forceful addresses by Miss Beatrice Forbes Robertson, Miss Laura Clay, Miss Harriet May Mills, Mrs. Ella S. Stewart and Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the evening the officers of the association received the delegates, speakers and members of the convention in the parlors of the Arlington.

One of the most valuable reports given at the convention was that of Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, chairman of the Standing Committee on Peace and Arbitration. The events of a few years later caused the delegates to remember with renewed interest the extended work and fervent appeals of Mrs. Mead and her associates for settling the world's disputes by peaceful methods. On this occasion she made a special plea to those who were working for the enfranchisement of women.

Professor Potter, Mr. Blackwell's successor as chairman of the committee, presented a set of strong resolutions, international as well as national in character, which were adopted without discussion.

A subject which received much attention was the offer of Miss Blackwell to make the Woman's Journal the official organ of the association. It needed the help of the paper and since the death of her father she needed some one to share the responsibility of its publication. Miss Clay, Mrs. McCulloch, Mrs. Dennett and Miss Mary Garrett of Baltimore were appointed to plan the business details. An agreement was made for one year, Miss Blackwell to continue as editor without salary but the association to employ a business manager and such other help as she required.

A noteworthy program marked the last evening of the convention, which opened with a powerful address by Raymond Robins on The Worker, the Law and the Courts. It was to be followed by a consideration of Scientific Propaganda in Practical Politics, with the Literature discussed by Mrs. Hartshorne but she was ill[Pg 290] and Professor Potter took her place. Plans for activity in behalf of changes of law and its administration that will benefit women and children in particular and society in general were presented by Miss Grace Strachan, president of the New York Federation of Teachers. Special plans in behalf of woman suffrage were submitted by Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw (N. Y.). Dr. Shaw, who presided, called attention to the hearings before the committees of Senate and House the next morning and closed the convention with one of her characteristic speeches which sent the audience home happy and ready for the battle.

The dominant note of the convention was the intention henceforth to enter the field of politics. The New York Evening Post said in its account: "The audiences at all the meetings were too large for the capacity of the room and at the Sunday night public gathering hundreds had to be turned away. Without exception State delegations reported that the work of the next year would consist of active effort along political lines, the organization of woman suffrage 'parties' with membership comprising men and women. Delegations would interview candidates and voters in regard to their suffrage opinions; conduct open-air meetings throughout the summer and be on duty at the polls during elections."

The Woman's Journal said in its summing up: "The personnel of the delegates and speakers was such as to inspire the most hostile, the most conservative and the most despondent student of human nature. When an observer reflected that these delegates represented thousands of women in each State who believe in equal suffrage, and that the speakers and leaders of the convention voiced the thoughts, hopes and aspirations of suffragists the world over, he could not help being stirred profoundly with the conviction not only that equal rights are inevitable in the near future but also with the compelling faith that the world is truly marching on in the very best sense and that it can never again be quite as dark a place to live in as it has been. A notable feature was the absolute conviction with which these representatives of the people speak and the unmistakable determination to win a speedy victory."[Pg 291]

The "hearings" before committees of Senate and House took place on the historic date, April 19, when in 1776 "the shot was fired which was heard around the world" proclaiming the birth of a republic founded on the right of every individual to represent himself by his ballot! Heretofore they had been held in the Marble Room of the Senate Building and the room of the House Judiciary Committee, which could accommodate only a very limited number of the delegates and none of the public. The splendid new office buildings of the two Houses of Congress were now finished and in the spacious rooms assigned for the hearings all of the delegates found seats and many others, although a long line of the disappointed extended down the corridor.

The members of the Senate Committee were Alexander S. Clay (Ga.), chairman; Senators Joseph F. Johnston (Ala.), Elmer J. Burkett (Neb.), George Peabody Wetmore (R. I.), Albert J. Beveridge (Ind.). All were present except Senator Beveridge. Dr. Shaw presided and before introducing the speakers gave a résumé of the petitions which had just been presented to the Congress, called attention to the names of many eminent men and women who had signed them and said: "Believing that the first republic in the world, founded upon the principle of self-government with 'equal rights for all and special privileges for none,' should be among the leaders and not the laggards in this great world movement, your petitioners pray this honorable body to submit to the Legislatures of the several States for ratification an amendment to the Federal Constitution which will enable American women to vote." She continued:

Dr. Shaw then said: "I desire to introduce speakers from the professions and lines of work represented in our petitions: Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Chicago, who has been a practicing lawyer for twenty-four years and was recently re-elected to the office of justice of the peace."

Dr. Shaw: The next speaker will be Miss Eveline Gano, a teacher of history in one of the high schools of New York City, who will speak on behalf of the teachers of the country.

Dr. Shaw: I present now Dr. Anna E. Blount, a physician from Chicago, who will speak in behalf of the medical practitioners.

Dr. Shaw: "I present a lawyer, Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, but she will speak in the capacity of a college woman." After giving her experience in trying to secure better laws for women in the District of Columbia, Mrs. Mussey told of her visits to Norway and Sweden, where as attorney for a legation she had every opportunity to attend the Parliaments, meet the statesmen and leading women and hear their universal testimony in favor of the experiment in woman suffrage. In closing she stated that as chairman of the legislative committee of the General Federation of Women's Clubs she had received reports from hundreds of them regretting their lack of power to obtain legislation and their need of representation on boards of education and of public institutions. Dr. Shaw then introduced Miss Minnie J. Reynolds[Pg 296] of New Jersey, formerly of Colorado, who had supervised the petition of the writers.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, former corresponding secretary of the National Suffrage Association, in speaking of the petition told of one containing 10,000 names which had been gathered in Indiana years ago and presented to the Legislature by Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, often referred to as the mother pictured in "Ben Hur." It was treated with the utmost contempt, one member saying, "These 10,000 women have about as much influence as that many mice." This experience sent that eloquent woman to the suffrage platform for the rest of her life. Mrs. Avery urged the committee to give a favorable report on this great petition as the first step toward making the influence of the thousands of women who had signed it of more value than that of so many mice. [For the address of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, see Appendix for this chapter.]

U. S. Senator John F. Shafroth of Colorado, a consistent supporter of woman suffrage from the very beginning of the movement for it in his State twenty years before, made an address to the committee which was printed in a pamphlet of seven pages and made a part of the propaganda of the National Association. Limited space permits only brief extracts, which give little idea of its compelling arguments.

Governor Shafroth quoted election statistics which showed conclusively that women in Colorado voted in about the same proportion as men and he gave a long list of progressive laws which had been enacted through the support of women. He declared that in no respect had the ideals of womanhood been lowered and closed by saying: "The highest considerations of justice[Pg 299] and good government demand equal suffrage for all women."

Dr. Shaw in closing the hearing said in part:

The Chairman: "In behalf of the committee I desire to thank the ladies for the splendid arguments they have made and to say that we appreciate them most heartily. It is my intention to call the committee together at a very early date and we will give a[Pg 300] careful and intelligent consideration to this measure, and, I hope, make a report on it."

Notwithstanding this promise no further attention was paid to these logical and eloquent appeals or to the immense petition, and no report whatever was made by the committee.

All but four of the members of the House Judiciary Committee were present, including the chairman, Richard Wayne Parker (N. J.), a remarkable attendance, and they showed much interest.[69] Mrs. Florence Kelley, second vice-president of the National Suffrage Association, was in charge of the speakers and the hearing was opened by Representative A. W. Rucker (Col.), who had introduced the resolution for the Federal Amendment, as also had Representative F. W. Mondell (Wyo.). Mrs. Kelley called attention to the petition of 404,823 names, saying: "Among those who have signed the petition are sixteen Governors, a large number of Mayors and many State, county and city officials; many of the best-known instructors and writers on political economy and many presidents of colleges and universities. It includes the names of many Judges of Supreme Courts and among them the Chief Justice and Associate Justice of Hawaii. It contains a long list of the names of persons engaged in various trades and from those in the thirty-three States which are classified are 7,515 professional people, lawyers, doctors, clergymen and others; also 52,603 listed as home keepers."

Mrs. Susan W. Fitzgerald (Mass.) said in part: "I come here to speak for those 52,000 home makers who signed the petition to Congress asking for equal political rights in this democracy.... To ask woman under our modern industrial conditions to care adequately for her home and family without a right to share in the making of the laws and the electing of all those officers who are to enforce the laws is like asking people to make bricks without straw. It cannot be done. We must remember that in the early days of this country a family was practically self-supporting and independent of the rest of the community;[Pg 301] a man and a woman working together could provide for their family all that was necessary for their sustenance; meats, vegetables, grains, milk, eggs, butter, cheese, all were home products. They provided their own lighting and controlled their own water supply. The women spun the thread, wove the cloth, dyed it and made the garments. In every way, if it was necessary, the family could maintain its existence independent of the cooperation of society except in the one matter of defense from violence. None of this is true today." Mrs. Fitzgerald took up the questions of food, drink and clothing as supplied at the present time and showed the great need that women should have a voice in the legislation that controls their production.

It had been announced that all of the arguments would be made along industrial lines. Arthur E. Holder, of the legislative committee of the American Federation of Labor, presented for the record a series of the very positive resolutions for woman suffrage which had been adopted by that body at its annual conventions beginning with 1904 and read the one passed at Toronto in 1909: "The best interests of labor require the admission of women to full citizenship as a matter of justice to them and as a necessary step toward insuring and raising the scale of wages for all." He closed a strong speech by saying: "We want the right of representation for all the people, women as well as men. Women have been disfranchised in our country long enough and we now ask for that measure which will constitutionally grant the right to vote to the women of our land. We believe that women ought to be free agents, free selectors, free voters. The law is no respecter of persons. Women cannot shirk their responsibility because they are women; neither should they be longer denied their normal citizenship rights and privileges because they are women."

In a most convincing address Mrs. Elizabeth Schauss, factory inspector of Ohio, said:

Mrs. Raymond Robins, thoroughly qualified to speak on this question, said in part: "I have the great honor and privilege of representing, as president of the National Women's Trade Union League, something like 75,000 organized working women, and I believe all through our country as well as through all the world there is a growing recognition of the cost of our modern industrial conditions to women. These are such that in many thousands of instances the motherhood of our girls has to be forfeited. No one knows except those who have made a very intimate and careful study of the present cost of social and industrial conditions how great that cost is. When we demanded in Illinois the limiting of the working hours for women to ten a day, many of our women physicians brought forward facts of great value showing the tremendous physical danger to girls of overwork. At present a very interesting and valuable investigation[Pg 303] is going on, led by some of our woman physicians, showing the evil result on the second generation of these industrial conditions.... These facts are of national importance and it is because right there is the crux of the entire situation that we women are working for the ballot, for the sake of protecting the womanhood and motherhood of our 6,000,000 working women, I think half of them under 21 years of age...."

Mrs. Robins gave a number of special instances and in answer to the question how the ballot would remedy these evils, she said: "The women, an unorganized group, get together and take collective action and they find themselves not fighting their industrial battles in the economic field but in the political field and the weapons that are constantly used against them with the greatest success are political weapons. The power of the police and of the courts is used against them in many instances and whenever they try to meet that expression of political power, they are handicapped because there is no force in their hands to help change it...."

In the course of a speech punctuated with lively questions and answers Mrs. Upton said: "I represent the industry of wifehood and housekeeping. I spent many of my childhood days in the room of this committee, my father having been a member of the Judiciary Committee for thirteen years and chairman for several years. He was the only one who ever reported a bill favorably for woman suffrage.... I want to ask you to report against us if you will not report for us. Just tell the world that we must not vote because we cannot fight, because it will destroy the home, anything you please, but break your long years of silence. Is it fair for you not to tell us why you are opposed to us? Women are not fools; on the contrary, they are very intelligent people and sure to be enfranchised before long. If this committee does not help some other will; it is going to be done and it is for you to decide whether your daughters will be able to say years from now, 'My father was one of the men who helped get woman suffrage!' While men of this country have been running after dollars at a terrific rate in recent years women have been studying and preparing themselves in clubs and all sorts of organizations for this right, so that they will be the most intelligent class—if[Pg 304] you call them a class—that was ever enfranchised in all history. Are you afraid of intelligence? All we ask is to let the mother heart, the home element, be expressed in the government.... I beg of you to let all the world know why the women of the United States, who by hundreds of thousands have petitioned you to submit this amendment, ought not have at least this request considered and a report on it made."

Miss Laura J. Graddick, representing a labor union in the District of Columbia, said during an able and earnest address:

In a speech of deep feeling Miss Laura Clay, president of the Kentucky Suffrage Association, said in part: "Gentlemen, when I hear our women making the pleas that they have made, brought up, as I have been, to believe that the manhood of the United States is the grandest in the world, I ask, 'Shall we not find any members of Congress except those who say, 'Can you not get some one else to protect you? Go to your States, go anywhere but do not come to us?' It has been said to me when I have spoken for childhood, 'You have no child?' And I have answered: 'No, I have no child, but just as surely as men in the order of nature are the protectors of womanhood, so surely in the order of nature women are the protectors of childhood. I would dishonor my womanhood to say that I will not do what I can for a child because I have none and I hope the time will never come when women must be ashamed of men because they are not willing to sacrifice something to take this action for women.' Think of it! Must we crawl on our knees to ask you for that which we feel we have a right to demand? You should see that every protection which every lifting hand that it is possible for manhood to offer to womanhood should be extended and your position gives you a great opportunity. I urge that, as far as your official power extends, you will show that the manhood of the United States responds to the pleas of the womanhood of the United States."

The closing address of Mrs. Kelley and the many questions it called for from the committee with her answers filled nearly twelve pages of the printed report of the hearing. A small part only can find space here.[Pg 306]

Mrs. Kelley gave some tragic instances of occurrences during her eight years in Hull House with Miss Jane Addams, where the working of women overtime caused death and permanent invalidism, and continued:

A spirited discussion ensued here between Representative Robert L. Henry (Tex.) and Mrs. Kelley as to whether Congress has the power to coerce a State through a Federal Amendment into giving women the right to vote. Representative Edwin Y. Webb (N. C.) asked if the majority of women wanted to vote and she answered that there was not the slightest doubt of it, that as reasoning beings women could not help desiring a full share in the Government under which they live. Representative Goebel (O.) said that at any time man might be called on to uphold the laws and the Constitution and asked: "Do you think that woman is physically and temperamentally fitted to give any[Pg 308] return to the Government for any privilege she might have in the exercise of her right as a citizen?" Mrs. Kelley answered: "Yes, I think we have always done it. We pay taxes, we teach the children to obey the laws, we fill their hearts with patriotism, but the principal thing is that we furnish the army at the risk of our own lives. Every time an army has been called for in the United States it has been the sons of American women on the whole who have carried the weapons and every son has been born at the risk of his mother's life. Her service is a very much greater contribution than the two or three years of the son's carrying a gun or perhaps dying of typhoid fever while in the service."

Miss Clay could not keep silent but asked if they realized how much the order of society depended on the teaching and the restraining influence of women, on their power to maintain decency of life, not alone by their presence but also by their high ideals of law and society. "When they are recognized as voting citizens," she said, "their idea of civic duty will reach a still higher point and they will have power to see that it is enforced." Members of the committee began to bring forward the stock misrepresentations about the voting of women in Colorado, which called Mr. Rucker to his feet with statistics to show that women voted in quite as large a proportion as men; that, instead of men's controlling the women's votes, women often controlled the men's; that in the hundreds of cases of election frauds only one or two women had been implicated; that less than 15 per cent. of the so-called "ostracized" women go to the polls.

In closing Chairman Parker said: "I wish to render the thanks of the committee for this large and representative audience, which is almost an American Congress. I am all the more pleased and interested to find such strong presentations by those whom I might call, possibly without offense, 'Daughters of the American Congress,' two of whom claim an acquaintance with this committee that goes back at least as far as any of us. I wish to offer all of you our thanks for the earnest consideration that you seem to have given to the great problems, industrial and social, as well as those of the family, which confront us all, and in comparison with which the political powers and actions of this country are[Pg 309] but as nothing. Those who think and work for the good of the family, the home, the workshop, the farm and the school are those to whom the American Congress always owes its thanks."

Although the speakers who addressed these committees represented the very highest of American womanhood; although it was conceded that their arguments had never been exceeded in logic, directness and force; although there was no doubt that they represented a large proportion of the women of the country in the homes, colleges, professions and trades, yet this committee, like that of the Senate, ignored the petitions and the hearing completely and made no report whatever, either favorable or unfavorable.

[Pg 310]

CHAPTER XI.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1911.

The national convention which met in Louisville, Ky., Oct. 19-25, 1911, might well be called a "jubilee" meeting, for it celebrated two of the most important victories yet won for woman suffrage in the United States—the adoption of State amendments by a majority of the voters in Washington in November, 1910, and in California in October, 1911, giving the same franchise rights to women as possessed by men.[70] The sessions were held in the large De Molay Commandery Hall but it was far too small for the evening audiences. This was a new experience for Louisville but it rose finely to the occasion. A message to the Woman's Journal said: "Enthusiasm for equal suffrage runs high in Louisville this week as women from all parts of the country throng its spacious streets morning, afternoon and evening for the annual convention.... Altogether it is a most inspiring[Pg 311] and encouraging convention and we are daily excited with news of the good prospects of more campaign States and more victories in the very near future.... We all have votes-for-women tags on our baggage, yellow badges and pins, California poppies and six-star buttons on our dresses and coats and dainty votes for women butterflies on our shoulders, and as we go about in dozens or scores or hundreds the onlookers receive the fitting psychological impression and we find them thinking of us as victors and conquerors."

The opening of this convention, with Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the national president, in the chair, was a proud moment for Miss Laura Clay, who was one of the organizers of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association in 1888 and had been continually its president. In her address of greeting she said:

Mrs. Patty Blackburn Semple, president of the Louisville Woman's Club, in offering its welcome, said: "When the Woman's Club was organized three subjects were tabooed—religion, politics and woman suffrage. We kept to the resolution for awhile but gradually we found that our efforts in behalf of civic improvements and the correcting of outrageous abuses were handicapped at every turn by politics. Last year an appeal came to the Woman's Club—to the women of Louisville—to take our schools out of politics. It was a gigantic fight but we won. As the climax of our struggle we spent the greater part of election day at the polls and I think at the close of that day every one of us had exhausted all the joys of 'indirect influence,' which is supposed to satisfy every craving of the female heart. Our club will be twenty-one years old in November, and—we want to vote! We will make you most heartily welcome and most of us will also welcome the principles for which you stand."

Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch (Ills.), first vice-president of the National Association, in responding said: "Now we know definitely that all the things we have heard about Kentucky are true; we have met her brave women and handsome colonels. While we remember all the tradition of the past we live in the present. Kentucky is proud of what her men named Clay have done in the past but it is a pleasure to us to know that today when Kentucky wants anything done she appeals to a woman who is either Clay by name or Clay by blood." Another chivalry is coming into the world besides that felt by a strong man for a beautiful woman. It is that felt by strong women for their weaker and less fortunate sisters. It is the chivalry foreshadowed by Spenser in The Færie Queene, in Britomart, the noble knight, herself a woman, who rescued Amoretta and devoted herself to the help of all weak and helpless women."

Assistant District Attorney Omar E. Garwood of Denver, a founder and the secretary of the Men's Defense League, to refute the misrepresentations of the practical working of woman[Pg 313] suffrage in Colorado, was introduced and outlined its work. Mrs. Alexander Pope Humphrey was presented and gave a cordial invitation to a reception for the convention at her home, Truecastle, at the close of the afternoon session, which was as cordially accepted. Mrs. Ben Hardin Helm, a sister of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln, was greeted and expressed her sympathy with the work of the association.

After these pleasant ceremonies at the morning session the convention immediately proceeded to business and listened to the reports from the various committees. That of the new corresponding secretary, Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett, gave a graphic illustration of the rapid increase in the size and scope of the work in her department. After describing the demands from almost every State and saying that the correspondence had doubled during the past year while the output of literature had tripled, she continued:

[Pg 315]

The treasurer's report was divided between Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, who had resigned the office, and Miss Jessie Ashley, her successor, and it showed the receipts from all sources, January, 1910, to January, 1911, to have been $43,844; the disbursements, $34,838. Pledges were made at this convention to the amount of $12,251, including $1,000 from Mrs. George Howard Lewis of Buffalo; $1,000 from Mrs. Donald Hooker of Baltimore, and $3,000 by Dr. Shaw from a contributor not named.

Miss Agnes E. Ryan, business manager of the Woman's Journal, reported the many changes made in the paper during the year since it became the official organ of the association and the removal of its offices from Beacon Street to 585 Bolyston Street in the building with the Massachusetts and Boston woman suffrage associations and the New England Woman's Club. The advertising had increased from $256 a year to $852 and the circulation from 4,000 to nearly 15,000. The methods by which the increase had been obtained were described. The contract with the association was renewed.

Miss Caroline I. Reilly gave her first report as chairman of the Press Committee in the course of which she said:

Miss Reilly complimented the work of the press chairmen in the States, speaking especially of Mrs. D. D. Terry of Little Rock, who furnished material to seventy-five papers in Arkansas and to a syndicate reaching the weekly papers of the southwest.

A conference was held in the afternoon on the Proper Function of the National Association, led by Dr. M. Carey Thomas of[Pg 317] Bryn Mawr and Dr. Anna E. Blount of Chicago. The first evening of the convention was designated as Jubilee Night and Dr. Shaw said in beginning her president's address: "The eighteen months which have elapsed since our last convention have been permeated with suffrage activity. Never in an equal length of time has there been such rapid progress in the enlistment of recruits and the development of active service. By an aggressive out-of-door campaign the message has been carried to a not unwilling people. Never was there a more signal example of manly loyalty to womanhood than in the three-to-one vote for woman suffrage in Washington in 1910. Following close upon it comes the signal victory of California, where as never before were the friends and foes of woman's freedom so equally lined up. Wherever vice, corruption and cupidity held sway, there the vote for woman suffrage was weak. Wherever refinement, education, industry and self-respecting manhood and womanhood dwelt, there the vote in favor of women was strong. These are the battles in this war for justice which have been victorious. Others have been and are being fought at the present time with equal courage."

Graphic accounts were given of the successful campaign in Washington, where the amendment was carried in every county, by Mrs. Caroline M. Smith of Seattle, Mrs. E. A. Shores of Tacoma and Mrs. May Arkwright Hutton of Spokane; and of the one in California by Mrs. Elizabeth Lowe Watson, president of the State Suffrage Association, and J. H. Braly, president of the Political Equality League. Later Miss Frances Wills of Los Angeles; Miss Florence Dwight of Pasadena; Mrs. Mary E. Ringrose, Mrs. Mary S. Sperry of San Francisco, former State president, and Mrs. Rose French were introduced. Mrs. Watson in an eloquent address showed how their success was the culmination of the campaign of 1896 and the result of the years of hard and constant work between that time and the present.

When Mr. Braly began speaking he presented, the association with the State flag of California, saying: "The grizzly bear is the king of all American beasts. On the flag, you see, he has a beautiful golden star above his head—the star of hope that brought our Pilgrim fathers across the sea finally coming to rest[Pg 318] over the Golden State. There that star of hope and progress and freedom hung for more than sixty years, until Oct. 10, 1911, when it flamed forth with a wondrous brilliancy and started all the bells of heaven ringing." He predicted that Oregon, Arizona and Nevada would soon follow the example of California and said: "Then the star will cross the Rocky Mountains and in will come the States of the Middle West!" Continuing the story the speaker said:

Mr. Braly told of going to Washington to the national convention, visiting suffrage headquarters in New York and returning home in June, when "immediately the league's Board of Governors, consisting of nine men, met and proceeded to add to it[Pg 319] nine splendid women. Headquarters were fitted up and business began." He described the vigorous work of their Legislative Committee with the result that every member from the nine southern counties went to the Legislature pledged to vote for submitting a suffrage amendment.

Saturday morning was partly occupied by a conference on How to Reach the Uninterested, in which fifteen members from as many States took an animated part; and by one on Propaganda, led by Mrs. Grace Gallatin Seton (Conn.) and Miss Mary Winsor (Penn.). Throughout all the daytime sessions valuable and interesting reports on the work in the different States were read. The proposed new constitution was vigorously discussed whenever the time permitted. The delegation from Illinois came with a request that the national headquarters be removed to Chicago but the convention decided to have them remain in New York.

The College Equal Suffrage League held a business meeting in the Seelbach Hotel at ten o'clock followed by a luncheon for college and professional women. The president of the League, Dr. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, was toast mistress and Dr. Shaw and Miss Jane Addams were guests of honor. One especially enjoyable feature was Miss Anita C. Whitney's account of the excellent work done by the College League of California in the recent campaign. [For all the above California reports see chapter for that State in Volume VI.]

The report of the National Congressional Committee by its chairman, Miss Emma M. Gillett, a lawyer of Washington, D. C., showed a decided advance in political work over all preceding years. She had placed on her committee Mrs. Upton, Mrs. Elizabeth King Ellicott (Md.), Miss Mary Gray Peck (N. Y.), Mrs. Katharine Reed Balentine (Me. and Cal.) and Miss Belle Kearney (Miss.). State presidents were invited to cooperate and lists of the nominees for Congress in their States were sent to them. The Democratic National Committee furnished the names of its nominees; the Republican National Committee practically refused to do so. Letters asking their opinion on woman suffrage were sent to 378 Democratic and 293 Republican candidates; 135 of the former and 88 of the latter answered; 93 Democrats and 65 Republicans were in favor of full or partial suffrage for women;[Pg 320] 13 of the former and one of the latter were opposed; 29 and 23 non-committal. The letters received were almost without exception of a pleasant nature. The District Suffrage Association paid a stenographer and rent of headquarters for the work of sixteen months. Contributions of only $214 were received for it, $100 from U. S. Senator Isaac Stevenson of Wisconsin.

The report on official endorsements of conventions showed the usual large number, political, religious, agricultural, labor, etc. Mrs. Dennett estimated that such endorsements had now been given by organizations representing 26,000,000 members.

Mrs. Pauline Steinem, chairman of the Committee on Education, reported sub-committees in sixteen States working for suitable text books, encouraging the placing of women on school boards, organizing mothers' and parents' clubs, offering prizes for essays on woman suffrage, encouraging methods of self-government in schools, etc. The chairman for New Jersey announced that Governor Woodrow Wilson approved of School suffrage and that State Senator Joseph S. Frelinghuysen, president of the State Board of Education, recommended it in his last report.

College Women's Evening, as always, attracted one of the largest audiences of the week. In the course of an address on What Women Might Accomplish with the Franchise, Miss Jane Addams said:

Dr. Thomas, who presided, spoke on What Woman Suffrage Means to College Women. Only fragmentary newspaper reports are available but she said in beginning: "We are entering an age of social reconstruction and general betterment and no class today are spending more of their strength and energy to eradicate the wrongs which have resulted from a defective system that denies woman her rights, than the class of women who have received a college education. These efforts, however, amount to little as long as the franchise is denied compared to what is in the reach of possibility. Our efforts have been rewarded to a great extent but until woman has come into her own and is recognized and treated as a citizen of the State on an equal footing with man, our work will continue to be a mere scratching on the surface. Between 30 and 40 per cent. of the college women today are supporting themselves. It is the educated woman who is making the fight for equality and our hope lies in education, the education of both men and women."

Dr. Shaw presided over the Sunday afternoon meeting at which four notable addresses were made. Miss Mary Johnston's subject was Wanted, an Architect, and in eloquent words she showed how woman might be developed physically, mentally and spiritually, with the conclusion: "She can do what she wills and now the thing above all others to be desired is that she wills to act. The time has passed when indifference on her part will be tolerated. Women must rouse themselves to action, the crying needs of the hour demand it. With the ballot in our hands and with the will to produce better conditions our achievements will[Pg 322] be unsurpassed." Professor Sophonisba Breckinridge, dean of the Junior College of Women in Chicago University, considered with keen analysis woman suffrage in its relation to the interests of the wage-earning woman. The Rev. Caroline Bartlett Crane (Mich.) presented A New Phase of Home Rule for Cities, saying in conclusion: "Politics at its best is a noble profession in which we earnestly desire to engage. Woman's age-long experience in home-making and mothering of children has fitted her for politics just as well as have man's activities in trade fitted him."

Dr. Shaw introduced Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, Chief of the Government Bureau of Chemistry, as "the man who is trying to get us women a fair chance to live," and he jokingly answered that in view of the swift advance of the woman suffrage movement it was a question whether men would continue to have a chance to live. His topic was Woman's Influence in Public Affairs, "which," he said, "are the summing up of private affairs." In his address he said:

Sunday evening the officers of the association were "at home" to delegates, speakers and friends in the parlors of the Hotel Seelbach.

Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, who, to the great happiness of suffragists on several continents, had entirely recovered her health, was now making a trip around the world in the interest of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, of which she was president. At one session a letter from her was read, dated at Kimberly, South Africa, which was enthusiastically received. It said in part:

The election resulted in several changes in the board of officers. Dr. Shaw was re-elected. Mrs. McCulloch declined to stand for re-election as first vice-president and Miss Gordon as second and Miss Addams and Professor Breckinridge were chosen. For corresponding secretary Mrs. Dennett was re-elected. Mrs. Stewart withdrew as recording secretary and Mrs. Susan W. Fitzgerald (Mass.) was elected. Miss Ashley was re-elected treasurer. Mrs. Robert M. LaFollette was elected first auditor and Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw (N. Y.) second. Later Mrs. LaFollette declined to serve and Mrs. Katharine Dexter McCormick was appointed by the board.

In all preceding conventions there had been such unanimity in the choice of officers that the secretary had been able to cast the informal ballot for the election. This new division of sentiment was frequently illustrated during the meetings and indicated that an element had come into the movement, which, as usual with newcomers, wanted a change to accord with its ideas. This was particularly noticeable in the discussion of the proposed new constitution but the differences of opinion were peaceably adjusted by compromise.

After the election Mrs. McCormick, who had recently come into close touch with the National Association, spoke on the Effect of Suffrage Work on Women Themselves, saying in part: "So much attention has been given to the growth and development of the movement for woman suffrage that the effect on the women themselves has been lost sight of or has been little considered but today it is becoming clear that the cause of suffrage is more valuable to the individual woman than she is to the cause. The reason is that this movement has the great though silent force of evolution behind it, impelling it slowly forward; whereas the individual is largely dependent for her development on her own powers and especially on those expressions of life with which she brings herself into contact. The woman suffrage[Pg 325] movement offers the broadest field for contact with life. It offers cooperation of the most effective kind with others; it offers responsibility in the life of the community and the nation; it offers opportunity for the most varied and far-reaching service. To come into contact with this movement means to some individuals to enter a larger world of thought than they had known before; to others it means approaching the same world in a more real and effective way. To all it gives a wider horizon in the recognition of one fact—that the broadest human aims and the highest human ideals are an integral part of the lives of women."

The report of the Committee on Church Work by its chairman, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, (N. Y.) began: "It is estimated that there is in the United States a total church membership of 34,517,317 persons. It would mean a great deal to the woman suffrage cause if this great organized force, representing the most thoughtful and influential men and women of every community, could be brought to endorse it and work for it. The experiences of this committee seem to prove that in the transition taking place in the world of religious thought this is the most propitious time to obtain such support." She gave a résumé of the splendid work that had been done by the branch committees in the various States, the religious gatherings that had been addressed, often resulting in the adoption of a resolution for woman suffrage, and the hundreds of letters sent to ministers asking for sermons favorable to the cause, which were many times complied with. She closed by saying: "It needs neither figures nor argument to establish the fact that church attendance and church worship are in a condition of decline. It is a critical period in the history of the church, which is changing from the exercise of power to the employment of influence, and the appeals that are coming to the churches are for service from the men and women who are their real strength. The church is not appreciating the resources that are lying dormant, when two-thirds of its membership—the women—are left powerless to carry on the moral and social reform work, because, as a disfranchised class having no political status, they are not counted as a potential force."

Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates (R. I.), chairman, made the report on Presidential suffrage. The report of the Committee[Pg 326] on Peace and Arbitration, Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead (Mass.), chairman, spoke of the Ginn Endowment of a million dollars for the World's Peace Foundation and of Mr. Carnegie's great gift of ten million dollars, creating a fund to secure the peace of the world. It told of the vast work that was being done for peace by the women in the various States and said: "The world for the first time has seen the head of a great government declare that all questions between nations can be peacefully settled. President Taft's noble effort to secure treaties with other nations, to ensure arbitration between them of every justiciable question, should command the gratitude of every patriotic woman. I had hoped to felicitate you on the ratification of these treaties by the necessary two-thirds of the Senate, but in chagrin and disappointment I must instead appeal to you to endeavor instantly to create such public sentiment as shall result in December in the acceptance of the treaties without amendment. If they are thus ratified they will be secured not only with Great Britain and France but certainly Germany, and I have no doubt Japan and most other nations will agree to identical treaties."

Miss Florence H. Luscomb (Mass.) gave an interesting report of the Sixth Congress of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance held in Stockholm in June, 1911. [See chapter on the Alliance.] Mrs. Agnes M. Jenks, proxy for the president of the New Hampshire association, asked assistance in getting a clause for woman suffrage in the new constitution to be made for that State. Conferences were held throughout the week on legislative work, district organization, publicity, raising money and other branches of the vast activities of the association. The convention Monday afternoon adjourned early in order that the members might enjoy the hospitality of the Woman's Club of Louisville at a "tea" in their attractive rooms, and at another time take the beautiful Riverside Drive. One evening was devoted to light entertainment with two suffrage monologues by Miss Marjorie Benton Cooke; a suffrage slide talk by Mrs. Fitzgerald; a clever speech portraying the results if women voted, by Miss Inez Milholland (N. Y.) and the sparkling play, How the Vote Was Won, read by Miss Fola La Folette. A striking address was given one afternoon by Mrs. T. P. O'Connor, an[Pg 327] American woman but long a resident of England and Ireland, who took for her subject, Let Our Watchword be Unity.

One of the most valuable contributions to the convention was Mrs. McCulloch's report as Legal Adviser. This was the result of a list of forty-four questions sent to presidents of State suffrage associations, Woman's Christian Temperance Unions, Federations of Clubs and leading lawyers, followed up by many letters. One of these questions related to the guardianship of children, of which she said:

The report gave a thorough digest of these guardianship laws filling eight printed pages and this and Mrs. McCulloch's digest of other laws were printed in the Woman's Journal and the Handbook of the convention.

Miss Alice Henry presented greetings from the National Womens' Trade Union League; Miss Caroline Lowe from the Women's National Committee of the Socialist Party; Mrs. A. M.[Pg 328] Harrison from the State Federation of Woman's Clubs; Mrs. Charles Campbell of Toronto from the Canadian Woman Suffrage Association; Mrs. W. S. Stubbs, wife of the Governor, and Mrs. William A. Johnston, wife of the Chief Justice and president of the State Suffrage Association, from Kansas. A letter of love and good wishes with regrets for her absence was ordered sent to Mrs. Catt and one of affectionate sympathy to Mrs. Susan Look Avery (Ky.) for the death of her son, which prevented her attendance. During the convention Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain, author of Aunt Jane of Kentucky, and Miss Eleanor Breckenridge, president of the Texas Suffrage Association, were introduced and said a few words. A telegram of greeting was read from Mrs. Caroline Meriwether Goodlett, a founder of the Daughters of the Confederacy.

The resolutions were presented by the chairman, Miss Bertha Coover, corresponding secretary of the Ohio Suffrage Association, the committee as usual consisting of one member from each State delegation. They urged the ratification of the Arbitration Treaties in the form desired by President Taft; expressed sympathy with Finland in its struggle for liberty; endorsed the proposed Federal Amendment for the election of U. S. Senators by popular vote and demanded that women should have part in this vote; endorsed the campaign for pure food and drugs; called for the same moral standard for men and women and the same legal penalties for those who transgress the moral law; asked the Government to erect a colossal statue of Peace at the entrance to the Panama Canal, and there were others on minor points. Greetings and appreciation were sent to "the justice-loving men of Washington and California, whose example will be an inspiration to the men of other States." Memorial resolutions were adopted for prominent suffragists who had died during the year, among them Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Dr. Emily Blackwell, Ellen C. Sargent, William A. Keith, the artist; Samuel Walter Foss, the poet; Lillian M. Hollister, Elizabeth Smith Miller, Eliza Wright Osborne and Dr. Annice Jeffreys Myers.

There was a long resolution of thanks for the courtesy and hospitality received in Louisville, which included the clergymen[Pg 329] who opened the sessions with prayer, the musicians, who gave their services, the press committees, the hostesses and others.[71]

On the last evening with a large audience present Mrs. Desha Breckinridge spoke on The Prospect for Woman Suffrage in the South. "Although Kentuckians are wont to boast that within these borders is the purest Anglo-Saxon blood now existing, the spirit of their ancestors has departed," she said, and continued:

After showing what had been the results in the South from admitting a great body of illiterate voters she said:

Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst of England, received an ovation when she rose to speak and soon disarmed prejudice by her dignified and womanly manner. She began by pointing out the fallacy that the women of the United States had so many rights and privileges that they did not need the suffrage and in proof she quoted existing laws and conditions that called loudly for a change. She then took up the situation in Great Britain and explained how many years the women had tried to get the franchise by constitutional methods only to be deceived and spurned by the Government. She told how at last a small handful of them started a revolution; how they had grown into an army; how they had suffered imprisonment and brutality; how the suffrage bill had again and again passed the second reading by immense majorities and the Government had refused to let it come[Pg 331] to a final vote. "We asked Prime Minister Asquith to give us a time for this," she said. "For eight long hours in a heavy frost some of the finest women in England stood at the entrance to the House of Commons and waited humbly with petitions in their hands for their rulers and masters to condescend to receive them but the House adjourned while they stood there. The next day, while they waited again, there was an assault by the police, acting under instructions, that I do not like to dwell upon outside of my own country."

Dr. Shaw made the closing address, eloquent with hope and courage for the future and, as always, the final blessing at the convention as the benediction is at church.

In summing up the week the Woman's Journal said: "Only those who attended our national convention at Louisville can understand how really wonderful it was. For hospitality, for good management, for beautiful cooperation and self-effacement, the Kentucky women set a standard that will long be remembered and will be very hard to equal in the future. It made hard work easy and all work a joy. The gratitude of the National Association is theirs forever. They gave much to us, did we give anything to them? Here we can only say we trust that we did and accept with confidence what one of the State's great women said many times: 'This convention has done wonders for Kentucky; it has surpassed my hopes.'"

[Pg 332]

CHAPTER XII.

NATIONAL AMERICAN CONVENTION OF 1912.

The Forty-fourth annual convention, which met in Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia, Nov. 21-26, 1912, celebrated three important victories. At the general election in the early part of the month, Oregon, Arizona and Kansas had amended their constitutions and conferred equal suffrage on women by large majority votes and the result in Michigan was still in doubt. It was the sentiment of the country that the eastward sweep of the movement was now fully under way. There was a new and vibrant tone in the Call and in the speeches and proceedings.[72] The Woman's Journal said in its account: "Another new feature was the enormous crowds that turned out at the convention. Evening after evening, in conservative Philadelphia, ten or a dozen overflow meetings had to be held for the benefit of the people who could not possibly get into the hall. At the Thanksgiving service on Sunday afternoon, not only was the[Pg 333] great Metropolitan Opera House filled to its capacity but for blocks the street outside was jammed with a seething crowd, eager to hear the illustrious speakers. It looked more like an inauguration than like an old-fashioned suffrage meeting."

There was a great out-door rally in Independence Square at the beginning, such as had been witnessed many times on this historic spot conducted by men but never before in the hands of women. Miss Elizabeth Freeman was manager of this meeting, assisted by Miss Jane Campbell, the Rev. Caroline Bartlett Crane, Mrs. Camilla von Klenze, Mrs. Teresa Crowley and Miss Florence Allen. From five platforms over forty well-known speakers demanded that the principles of the Declaration of Independence signed in the ancient hall close by should be applied to women and that the old bell should ring out liberty for all and not for half the people. Mrs. Otis Skinner read the Women's Declaration of Rights, which had been written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage in 1876 and presented at the great centennial celebration in that very square,[73] and a little ceremony was held in honor of Mrs. Charlotte Pierce of Philadelphia, the only one then living who had signed it, with a remembrance presented by Mrs. Anna Anthony Bacon.

The convention was noteworthy for the large number of distinguished speakers on its program. On the opening afternoon, after a moment of silent prayer in memory of Lucretia Mott, the welcome of the city was extended by the widely-known "reform" Mayor Rudolph Blankenburg, who pointed out the vast field of municipal work for women and expressed his firm conviction of their need for the suffrage. He was followed with a greeting by Mrs. Blankenburg, a former president of the State Suffrage Association. Its formal welcome to the delegates was given by the president, Mrs. Ellen H. Price, who said in part: "We hope that you will feel at home in Pennsylvania, for the idea that has called this organization into being—that divine passion for human rights—actuated the great founder of our Commonwealth in setting up his 'holy experiment in government.'" After regretting that a State founded on so broad a conception had not applied it to women Mrs. Price said:[Pg 334]

Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, a national officer, made a graceful response for the association. Fraternal greetings were given by Mrs. Barsels, from the Pennsylvania Woman's Christian Temperance Union; by Mrs. Branstetter of Oklahoma from the National Socialist Party; by Mrs. Campbell McIvor of Toronto from the Canadian Woman Suffrage Association and later by Miss Leonora O'Reilly from the New York Women's Trade Union League.

Miss Laura Clay, chairman of the Membership Committee, announced the admission of nine new societies to the National Association. There were 308 delegates in attendance. Mrs.[Pg 335] Mary Ware Dennett, corresponding secretary and chairman of the Literature Committee, said in the course of her report:

Mrs. Dennett gave a detailed account of the pamphlets, speeches, leaflets, plays, magazine articles, etc., published by the association—250 kinds of printed matter—and said:

COURT HOUSE OF WARREN, OHIO
Headquarters of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1903 to 1910—on the ground floor.

HOME OF SUSAN B. ANTHONY IN ROCHESTER, N. Y.
Headquarters of the National American Woman Suffrage Association until 1895.

The convention accepted the recommendation of the board that it should issue a monthly bulletin of facts and figures to be sent to every paying member, thus establishing a real bond between the association and its thousands of members. The report of the Press Bureau by its chairman, Miss Caroline I. Reilly, showed remarkable progress in public sentiment as expressed by the newspapers. It said in part:

Miss Alice Stone Blackwell made an extended report of the Woman's Journal since it became the official organ of the National American Association in June, 1910, and had been published under its auspices. The expenses had increased and funds had not been supplied to meet them. Committees of conference were appointed and eventually the deficit was paid and the paper was returned to Miss Blackwell, who offered the free use of its columns to the association. The report of the treasurer, Miss Jessie Ashley, was not encouraging. Under the old régime the year always closed with a balance in the treasury but this indebtedness to the Woman's Journal left the association $5,000 in debt.[74] As its work broadened the expense became heavier and the income although far larger than ever before was not sufficient. During the past year it had contributed $18,144 to campaigns in eight States. A very large part of this amount was paid by Dr. Shaw from a fund given to her personally for the purpose by Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw of Boston. At this time and later she gave to Dr. Shaw to be used for campaigns according to her judgment $30,000 and the name of the donor was not revealed until after her death in 1917.

The first evening of the convention was devoted to the president's address and the stories of the successful campaigns for suffrage amendments at the November elections, related by Mrs. William A. Johnston and Miss Helen N. Eaker for Kansas and Mrs. M. L. T. Hidden for Oregon. No one being present from Arizona Dr. Shaw told of the victory there. Mrs. Clara B. Arthur and Mrs. Huntley Russell described the situation in Michigan, where the indications were that the amendment would be lost by fraudulent returns. Dr. Shaw's speech, as usual, was neither written nor stenographically reported but this floating paragraph was found in a newspaper:[Pg 338]

The delegates heard reports from the chairmen of various committees—Ways and Means, Dr. M. Carey Thomas; Enrollment, Mrs. Jean Nelson Penfield; Presidential Suffrage, Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates; Laws for Women, Miss Mary Rutter Towle (D. C.). Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead made her usual comprehensive report as chairman of the Peace and Arbitration Committee. Mrs. Mary E. Craigie in her report of seven printed pages on the extensive and successful efforts of her Committee on Church Work told of a circular letter that had been sent to thousands of clergymen throughout the country asking for a special sermon in support of woman suffrage on Mothers' Day. It pointed out that in the vast moral and social reform work of the churches their women members are denied the weapon of Christian welfare, the ballot, while the forces of evil are fully[Pg 339] enfranchised and the influence of the churches is thus essentially weakened.

Mrs. William Kent, in her report as chairman of the Congressional Committee, said that it had not been necessary to request members to introduce a resolution for a Federal Suffrage Amendment as six were offered by as many Representatives of their own volition. Senator Works of her own State of California had been glad to present it. She told of the "hearings" before the committees of the two Houses on March 13, when the National Association sent representatives to Washington. The preceding day a reception for the speakers was given in her home and many of the guests became interested who had been indifferent. In May the Congressional Committee sent out cards for a "suffrage tea" in her house to the wives of Senators and Representatives; many were present and interesting addresses were made.

Among the resolutions submitted by the chairman of the committee, Mrs. Raymond Brown, and adopted were the following:

A unique feature of the convention was Men's Night, with James Lees Laidlaw of New York, president of the National Men's League for Woman Suffrage of 20,000 members, in the chair and all the speeches made by men. Miss Blackwell said editorially in the Woman's Journal: "From the very beginning of the equal rights movement courageous and justice-loving men have stood by the women and have been invaluable allies in the long fight that is now nearing its triumph but never before have been actually organized to work for the cause. Men old and young, men of the most diverse professions, parties and creeds, spoke with equal earnestness in behalf of equal rights for women." The speakers were the Hon. Frederick C. Howe, Judge Dimner Beeber, president of the Pennsylvania League; A. S. G. Taylor of the Connecticut League; Joseph Fels, the Single Tax leader; Julian Kennedy of Pittsburgh; George Foster Peabody of New York; the Rev. Wm. R. Lord of Massachusetts; Jesse Lynch Williams, J. H. Braly of California and Reginald Wright Kauffman. The last named, whose recently published book, The House of Bondage, had aroused the country on the "white slave traffic," discussed this question as perhaps it never before had been presented in public and he found a sympathetic audience.

The Rev. James Grattan Mythen, of the Prince of Peace Church, Walbrook, Md., made a strong demand for the influence of women in the electorate, in which he said: "Whatever wrongs the law allows must not be laid entirely at the door of paid public servants whom by the franchise we employ to do our public will. Where there are criminals in public office they represent criminals. They represent the active criminals whose debased ballots put them in office, and they represent the passive criminals whose ballot was not cast to keep them out! 'That ye did it not' merits as great a condemnation as 'That ye did it.' What is needed in politics is the reassertion of the moral ideal,[Pg 341] and as men we know that this moral ideal has been, is now and always will be the possession of womankind. For this reason men ought to demand that women come into the body politic and bring with them the same moral standard that they hold for themselves in the home, in the Church, in the hospitals, in the great reform movements which are voiced by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and all other endeavors for righteousness that are always championed by women."

This was not the time and place arranged for taking a collection but the enthusiasm was so great that Mr. Fels started the ball rolling and $2,000 were quickly subscribed. Later at the regular collection the amount was increased to $6,908. Among the largest pledges were those of Miss Kate Gleason of Rochester, N.Y., for $1,200; Mrs. Oliver H.P. Belmont, $1,000; Mrs. Bowen of Chicago, $600; New York State Association, $600; Pennsylvania State Association, $500; Miss Emily Howland, $300. The treasurer, Miss Ashley, stated that the receipts from April 1 to November 1 had been $55,197.

Dr. Shaw had telegraphed the congratulations of the association to the Governors of the four victorious States and telegrams of greetings to the convention were read from Governors Oswald West of Oregon; George P. Hunt of Arizona; W.R. Stubbs of Kansas; and Chase S. Osborn of Michigan. Greetings were received from Miss Martina G. Kramers of Holland, editor of the international suffrage paper; the U.S. National Council of Women, and from Mrs. Champ Clark and her sister, Mrs. Annie Pitzer of Colorado, sent through Miss Nettie Lovisa White of Washington. Telegrams of congratulation were sent to the State presidents, Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon and Mrs. Frances W. Munds of Arizona, and of sympathy to the Rev. Olympia Brown and Miss Ada L. James for the defeat in Wisconsin.

It was voted to continue the national headquarters in New York. There was a flurry of discussion over a proposed amendment to the constitution changing the present method of voting, which allowed the delegates present to cast the entire number of votes to which the State was entitled by its paid membership. The convention finally adopted the amendment that hereafter[Pg 342] the delegates present should cast only their individual votes. The election resulted in a change of but two officers. Professor Breckinridge and Miss Ashley did not stand for re-election and Miss Anita Whitney of California was chosen for second vice-president and Mrs. Louise De Koven Bowen of Chicago for second auditor.

A serious controversy arose during the convention in regard to the deviation of some of the national officers from the time-honored custom of non-partisanship. It had always been the unwritten but carefully observed law of the association that no member of the board should advocate or work for any political party. Mrs. George Howard Lewis, a veteran suffragist of Buffalo, N.Y., sent a resolution to the convention declaring that officers of the association must remain non-partisan and Mrs. Ida Husted Harper presented it and led the contest for it. Dr. Shaw announced before it was discussed that the board recommended that it should not pass.

Women had taken a larger part in the political campaign which had just ended than ever before and one of the officers and many of the delegates present had spoken and worked for the Progressive party because of the suffrage plank in its platform. Other members had done the same for the Socialist and Prohibition parties for a like reason. As a result, while the resolution had some warm support it was defeated by a vote of ten to one, although it applied only to the officers and left individual members free. The consequences of this vote soon began to be realized by the board and the delegates and in the official resolutions was one which said: "The National American Suffrage Association reaffirms the position for which it always has stood, of being an absolutely non-partisan, non-sectarian body." When asked for an interpretation the officers answered that "the association must not declare officially for any political party."[76]

One of the most enjoyable evenings of the convention was the one in charge of the National College Equal Suffrage League, the program consisting of a debate between groups of clever speakers, each with one or more university degrees, half of them[Pg 343] posing as anti-suffragists, with Dr. Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College and of the league, in the chair. A suffrage meeting which touched high water mark was that of Sunday afternoon, when the immense opera house was filled to overflowing and literally thousands stood on the outside in the intense cold and listened to speakers who were hastily sent out to address them. Dr. Shaw presided. The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rt. Rev. Philip Mercer Rhinelander and the music was rendered by the choir, under its director, Samuel J. Riegel, with the audience joining. An eloquent address was given, the Democracy of Sex and Color, by Dr. W.E. Burghardt Du Bois, and one by Miss Addams on the Communion of the Ballot, the necessity for cooperative work by men and women, in which she said: "Take a still graver subject. Everywhere vice regulation is coming up for government action. The white slave traffic is international and it goes on from city to city. I ask you, in the name of common sense, is it safe or wise or sane to entrust to men alone the dealing with this age-long evil? Our laws are superior to those of most European countries. In England, because women have been obliged to appeal to the pity of men against these evils, (for the appeal to chivalry seems to have fallen), there is a disposition to divide into two camps, men in one and women in the other. Any sex antagonism thus engendered arises because these grave moral questions have not been taken up by men and women together. By debarring women from suffrage, we are failing to bring to bear on these questions that vast moral energy which dwells in women.... Whenever there is a great moral awakening it is followed by an extension of the movement for women's rights. The first wave came with the anti-slavery agitation; the second with the prohibition movement and Frances Willard, and now there is coming all over the world this irresistible movement of government to take up great social and industrial questions."

The very fine address of Miss Julia Lathrop, Chief of the National Children's Bureau, on Woman Suffrage and Child Welfare filled over five columns of the Woman's Journal and contained a sufficient argument for the enfranchisement of women if no other ever had been or should be made. "My purpose,"[Pg 344] she began, "is to show that woman suffrage is a natural and inevitable step in the march of society forward; that instead of being incompatible with child welfare it leads toward it and is indeed the next great service to be rendered for the welfare and ennoblement of the home. A little more than one-third of all the people in this country, something over 29,500,000 in actual numbers, are children under the age of fifteen—that is, still in a state of tutelage; and it is of unbounded importance that nothing be done by the rest of us which will injure this budding growth. So it is right to judge in large measure any proposed change in our social fabric by its probable effect on that dependent third of the race to whom we are pledged, for whose succession it is the work of this generation to prepare. What we propose is to give universal suffrage to women."

Answering the question, "Do we propose a mad revolution?" she traced the development in the position of woman, every step of which was condemned at the time as a dangerous innovation. "It was a revolution when women were given equal property rights over their goods and equal rights over their children," she said. "We must blush that there are States in this country where that revolution is still to be accomplished. I have heard an old Illinois lawyer describe the early efforts to secure equal property rights for women in that State and the constant objection that such laws would destroy the family, that there could be no harmony unless the ownership were all in one person and that person the man. It was feared then, as now, that women would become tyrannical and unbearable if they were allowed too much independence. Do children suffer because their mothers own property?" She pointed out the necessity for woman's political influence on humanitarian movements and said: "Suffrage for women is not the final word in human freedom but it is the next step in the onward march, because it is the next step in equalizing the rights and balancing the duties of the two types of individuals who make up the human race."

Miss Lathrop showed the need of legislation for all social reforms and how the experience of women beginning with domestic duties carried them forward to a sense of their obligations in community life and a fitness for it. Referring to the[Pg 345] uneducated women she said: "The ignorant vote is not the working vote. Working women in great organized factories have been having, since they began that work, an education for the suffrage. They are not the ignorant voters nor are wives of workingmen; at least, they know in part what they need to safeguard themselves and their homes. The ignorant vote is the complacent, blind vote of men and of the feminine 'influence' that moves them, which disregards the real problems of setting safe and wholesome standards of life and labor and education and spends its strength in looking backward, insisting upon precedents without seeing that, good and enduring as they may be, all precedents must be daily retranslated into the setting of today. "Women must vote for their own souls' good," she said, "and they must vote to protect the family. The newer conception of the family is one which depends upon giving to both parents the fullest expression on all those matters of common concern."

The address closed with a fine peroration—Pass on the Torch! In the evening the officers of the association gave a largely attended reception to delegates and friends in the banquet hall of Hotel Walton.

The closing night of the convention was one long to be remembered. There was the same vast, eager audience: Dr. Shaw presided and on the platform was the distinguished Apostle of Peace, winner of the Nobel prize, Baroness Bertha von Suttner, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, just returned from a two-years' trip around the world. The meeting was opened by the Rt. Rev. James Henry Darlington, bishop of central Pennsylvania, whose brief address was of great value to the cause. He congratulated the American people on the fact that four more States had been added to the ever-growing list of those which had given the suffrage to women and he called upon all observers to notice that no State which had once voted in woman suffrage had ever voted it out. Once in use, local opposition to it ceased by reason of the self-evident good results. He offered congratulations to those who were humble privates in the ranks and to the famous and brave leaders who organized the victories. "As the Elizabethan and Victorian eras are the most distinguished for philanthropic, literary and economic advancement in the whole[Pg 346] history of Great Britain, though the Kings were many and the Queens were few in the long line," he said, "so no man need be ashamed to follow feminine leadership when it means advancement in every good word and work," and he offered congratulations to little children of the future generations of this and all lands. "When our anti-suffrage sisters throw aside their complacency and selfish ease," he said, "to strive side by side with men to formulate and pass necessary laws to protect and develop the bodies, minds and souls of our present little children and all that are to come through the passing centuries, then will dawn a new day for humanity."

Brief addresses were made by Mrs. Blankenburg, Miss Jane Campbell and Professor Breckinridge of Chicago University. Miss Crystal Eastman gave a graphic account of why the amendment failed in Wisconsin and Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, State president, told in her inimitable way of the campaign that failed in Ohio. Baroness von Suttner made a magnificent plea for the peace of the world and asked for the enfranchisement of women as an absolutely necessary factor in it. The dominant note of Mrs. Catt's speech was the great need for political power in the hands of women to combat the social evil, which she had found intrenched in the governments of every country. These last two addresses, which carried thrilling conviction to every heart, were made without notes and not published.

From the early days of the National Suffrage Association its representatives had appeared before committees of every Congress to ask for the submission of an amendment to the Federal Constitution and during many years this "hearing" took place when the annual convention met in Washington. As it was to be held elsewhere this year and at a time when the Congress was not in session a delegation of speakers had gone before the committees the preceding March by arrangement of Mrs. William Kent, chairman of the association's Congressional Committee.

At the hearing before a joint committee of the Senate Judiciary and Senate Committee on Woman Suffrage March 13 six of the members were present: Senators Overman (N. C.), chairman;[Pg 347] Brandegee (Conn.); Bourne (Ore.); Brown (Neb.); Johnston (Ala.); Wetmore (R. I.). Senator John D. Works of California, who had introduced the resolution in the Senate, presented Dr. Anna Howard Shaw as "one of the best known and most distinguished of those connected with the movement for the enfranchisement of women." As she took charge of the hearing she said in part:

Mrs. Fitzgerald spoke at length in the interest of the home and the family, showing the evolution that had taken place until now "the Government touches upon every phase of our home life and largely dictates its conditions while at the same time the woman is held responsible for them and is working with her hands tied behind her back and she asks the vote in order to do her woman's work better." Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw of New York spoke beautifully of the desire of the mothers of the rising generation that their daughters should not have to enter the hard struggle for the suffrage and pictured the need for the highest[Pg 348] development of the womanly character. Mrs. Elsie Cole Phillips of Wisconsin showed the standpoint of the so-called working classes, saying in part:

James Lees Laidlaw of New York was introduced as president of the National Men's League for Woman Suffrage and after stating that such leagues were being organized throughout the country he spoke of the great change that had taken place in the status of women and said:

Mrs. Ella S. Stewart, president of the Illinois Suffrage Association and member of the national board, contrasted the old academic plea for the ballot with the modern demand for it to[Pg 350] meet the present intensely utilitarian age and continued: "Today we know that the ballot is just a machine. In fact it impresses us as being something like the long-distance telephone which we in this scientific age have grown accustomed to use. We go into the polling booth and call up central (the Government) and when we get the connection we deliver our message with accuracy and speed and then we go about our business. Women have been encouraged during the past to have opinions about governmental matters and there is no denying that we do have opinions. If we could submit to you today the list of bills which the Federations of Women's Clubs of the various States have endorsed and for which they are working you would know that women have a large civic conscience and an intelligent appreciation of the measures which affect both women and the homes. They have been encouraged to have these opinions but to try to influence legislation only in indirect ways. Today, being practical and scientific, we are asking ourselves all the time why should we be limited to expressing our opinion on governmental affairs in our women's clubs? Why should we breathe them only in the prayer meeting or in the parlors of our friends? Why not directly into the governmental ear—the ballot box? Why do we not go into that long-distance telephone booth, get connection with central, and then know that our message has been delivered in the only place where it is recorded. The Government makes no record whatever of the opinions which we express in our women's clubs and our prayer meetings."

Mrs. Caroline A. Lowe of Kansas City, Mo., spoke in behalf of the 7,000,000 wage-earning women of the United States from the standpoint of one who had earned her living since she was eighteen and declared that to them the need of the ballot was a vital one. She gave heart-breaking proofs of this fact and said:

Mrs. Donald Hooker of Baltimore gave striking instances of the conditions in that State regarding the social evil, of the hundreds of virtuous girls who every year are forced into a life of shame, of the thousands of children who die because mothers have no voice in making laws for their protection. "There was never a great act of injustice," she said, "that was not paid for in human life and happiness. A great act of injustice is being perpetrated by denying women the right to vote."

Miss Leonora O'Reilly, a leader among the working women of New York, made an impassioned plea that carried conviction. "I have been a wage-earner since I was thirteen," she said, "and I know whereof I speak. I want to make you realize the lives of hundreds of girls I have seen go down in this struggle for[Pg 352] bread. We working women want the ballot as our right. You say it is not a right but a privilege. Then we demand it as a privilege. All women ought to have it, wage-earning women must have it." After plainer speaking than the committee had ever heard from a woman she concluded: "You may tell us that our place is in the home. There are 8,000,000 of us in these United States who must go out of it to earn our daily bread and we come to tell you that while we are working in the mills, the mines, the factories and the mercantile houses we have not the protection that we should have. You have been making laws for us and the laws you have made have not been good for us. Year after year working women have gone to the Legislature in every State and have tried to tell their story of need in the same old way. They have gone believing in the strength of the big brother, believing that the big brother could do for them what they should, as citizens, do for themselves. They have seen time after time the power of the big interests come behind the big brother and say to him, 'If you grant the request of these working women you die politically.'

"It is because the working women have seen this that they now demand the ballot. In New York and in every other State, we plead for shorter hours. When the legislators learn that women today in every industry are being overspeeded and overworked, most of them would, if they dared, vote protective legislation. Why do they neglect the women? We answer, because those who have the votes have the power to take the legislator's political ladder away from him, a power that we, who have no votes, do not have.... While the doors of the colleges have been opened to the fortunate women of our country, only one woman in a thousand goes into our colleges, while one woman in five must go into industry to earn her living. And it is for the protection of this one woman in every five that I speak...."

Mrs. Jean Nelson Penfield, chairman of the Woman Suffrage Party of New York numbering 60,000 members, said in part:

In closing Dr. Shaw asked that her association might have some printed copies for distribution and was assured that it might have fifteen or twenty thousand if it desired them. She also urged that the committee would report the resolution to the Senate for discussion and as a third request said: "We are told that men are afraid to grant women suffrage lest fearful results should come to the Government and to the women. We have asked for years that Congress would appoint a committee to investigate its practical working in the States where it exists—there are now six of them—and we are entirely willing to risk our case on that investigation. We feel that its results would be[Pg 354] such that we would not have to come here much longer and take up your time with our arguments on the subject."

Franklin W. Collins of Nebraska spoke in opposition, presenting his case in a series of over fifty questions but not attempting to answer any of them. Among the questions were these: If woman by her ballot should plunge the country into war, would she not be in honor bound to fight by the side of man? Will the ballot in the hands of women pour oil on the troubled domestic waters? Has not this movement a strong tendency to encourage the exodus from the land of bondage, otherwise known as matrimony and motherhood? Is it not true that every free-lover, socialist, communist and anarchist the country over is openly in favor of female suffrage?

The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage sent from its bureau in New York a letter of "earnest protest" against the amendment signed by its president, Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge. Its auxiliary in the District of Columbia sent another of greater length signed by its chairman, Mrs. Grace Duffield Goodwin, which not only protested against a Federal Amendment but against the granting of woman suffrage by any method.

Six members of the House of Representatives had introduced the resolution for a Federal Suffrage Amendment—Raker of California; Lafferty of Oregon; Mondell of Wyoming; Berger of Wisconsin; and Taylor and Rucker of Colorado. The hearing before the Judiciary Committee proved to be of unusual interest. Sixteen of this large committee of twenty-one were present and a reason given for the absence of the others. They were an imposing array as they sat in a semi-circle on a raised platform. The chairman, Judge Henry D. Clayton of Alabama, treated the speakers as if they were his personal guests, assured them of all the time they desired and at the close of the hearing was photographed with Miss Addams and Mrs. Harper. Instead of listening in a perfunctory way the members of the committee showed much interest and asked many questions. Miss Jane Addams, first vice-president of the National American Suffrage Association, presided and in presenting her with words of highest[Pg 355] praise Representative Taylor said that all who had introduced the resolution would be pleased to speak in support of it at any time and that personally he wished to put in the record a statement of the results of woman suffrage in Colorado during the past eighteen years with a brief mention of 150 of the wisest, most humane and progressive laws in the country for the protection of home and the betterment of society, which the women of Colorado had caused to be put upon its statute books.

Miss Addams called the attention of the committee to the fact that more than a million women would be eligible to vote for the President of the United States in November. She named the countries where women could vote, saying: "America, far from being in the lead in the universal application of the principle that every adult is entitled to the ballot, is fast falling behind the rest of the world," and continued:

Introducing Representative Raker Miss Addams said smilingly that while the women speakers were allowed ten minutes the men were to have but five. Judge Raker of California referred to the fact that he had pledged himself to this Federal Amendment when he was first a candidate for Congress eight years before and said: "This matter, as it appears to me, has passed beyond the question of sentiment; it has passed beyond the question of advisability; it has passed beyond the question of whether or not women ought to participate in the vote for the benefit of the home or the benefit of the State. As I view it it is a clean-cut question of absolute right and upon that assumption I base my argument—that we today are depriving one-half of the intelligence, one-half of the ability of this republic from participating in public affairs and that from the economic standpoint of better laws, better homes, better government in the country, the city, the State and the nation, we need our wives', our sisters' and our mothers' votes and assistance."

"May I introduce one of my own fellow townswomen, Miss Mary E. McDowell," said Miss Addams, "who has had what I may call a distressing life in the stockyards district of Chicago for many years, and she will tell you what she thinks of the franchise for women." Miss McDowell said in part:

Representative A. W. Lafferty of Oregon said in his brief five minutes: "I believe it is not only practicable but that it would be profitable to the United States to extend equal suffrage to men and women. We have had here this morning a practical demonstration of the ability of the women of this country to participate intelligently in the discussion of public questions. I think that we could not make a mistake in placing the ballot in the hand that rocks the cradle. Having only the best interests of this republic at heart, I believe it would be a good thing if fifty of the mothers of this country were in the House of Representatives today and I wish that at least twenty-five of them were in the Senate. You should consider, as lawyers, as statesmen and as historians that in the history of the civilized world in monarchies women have participated in the Government; it is a shame that in a republic like ours, the best form of government that has ever yet been established, women can not, under the present law, actively participate in it."

The address which Representative Edward T. Taylor put into the Congressional Record on this occasion was also printed in a pamphlet of forty pages and until the end of the movement for woman suffrage was a standard document for distribution by the National Association. He said in the introduction:

Then followed under the head of different years, beginning with 1893, that in which women were enfranchised, a roster of Colorado's unequalled laws. These were followed by a complete analysis of the practical working of woman suffrage during the past eighteen years, with comprehensive answers to all the stereotyped questions and objections.

Several who had addressed the Senate Committee came over to the House office building and spoke to the Judiciary Committee. Mrs. William Kent, wife of a Representative from California, was introduced by Miss Addams as one who was not a member of the House but was eligible. In the course of a winning speech she said: "The United States is committed to a democratic form of government, a government by the people. Those who do not believe in the ideals of democracy are the only ones who can consistently oppose woman suffrage. The hope of democracy is in education. There is food for thought in the[Pg 359] fact that the early education of all the citizens is now administered by a class who have no vote.... Our recent California Legislature when it submitted the amendments which were to be referred to the voters on October 10 did a very sensible and intelligent thing. Speeches for and against each one of these amendments were published in a little pamphlet which was sent to every voter. One man—and he was a good man, too—who argued against woman suffrage said that women should not descend into the dirty mire of politics, that the vote would be of no value to them. In the same speech he said that the women should teach their sons the sacred duties of citizens and to hold the ballot as the most precious inheritance of every American boy. Can we really bring up our sons with a clear sense of the civic responsibility which we ourselves have not? We believe that our children need what we shall learn in becoming voters and that the State needs what we have learned in being mothers and home makers."

"May I present next," said Miss Addams, "Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, of New York? She has been before other Congressional committees with Miss Susan B. Anthony, who for so many years came here to present this cause. Mrs. Harper has written a history of the equal suffrage movement and a very fine biography of Miss Anthony and it is with special pleasure that I present her. She will make the constitutional argument."

Mrs. Harper said in beginning: "This argument shall be based entirely on the Federal Constitution and the only authorities cited will be the utterances of two Presidents of the United States within the past month." She then quoted from speeches of President Taft and former President Roosevelt extolling the Constitution as guaranteeing self-government to all the people with the right to change it when this seems necessary, and she showed the utter fallacy of this statement when applied to women. In closing she said: "Forty-three years in asking Congress for this amendment of the Federal Constitution to enfranchise women they have followed an entirely legal and constitutional method of procedure, which has been so absolutely barren of results that in the past nineteen years the committees have made no report whatever, either favorable or unfavorable. How much longer[Pg 360] do you expect women to treat with respect National and State constitutions and legislative bodies that stand thus an impenetrable barrier between them and their rights as citizens of the United States?" A long colloquy followed which bega